Monthly Message (February 2007) - Our Centenary Year

Dear Friends,

The year 2007 has dawned and it promises to be an exciting year for us at Trinity-Henleaze URC.

It is the year when we shall celebrate the centenary of our church in this place. Over a hundred years ago the visionary people of Bristol's Congregational Churches had planted new churches, one being in Henleaze. Initially it met in the school house that we now call Church House, on the corner. By 1907 they had completed the two year project of building the church we have now - first gathering for worship in the new building on the 9th of January.

They held a grand commissioning service, when the people signed the role of membership and took up their charge to be a church on May 9th 1907. Records of that service reflect the excitement and deep commitment of those first members. They were breaking new ground, looking forward to a new era and a new community.

We shall celebrate the centenary on the 13th May, the nearest Sunday to that commissioning service and we plan to publish the Centenary book that some of our members have been working on over the last year. There are other plans for celebration too - see our Centenary page.

...and of course, the other exciting element to this year is that we have now been granted planning permission for the building project Henleaze at Heart Building Project that we have been considering over the last few years. So it will be a year of looking forward to new beginnings too. In the plans we've made for the buildings we aim to open up the facilities that church is blessed with to serve and welcome our neighbours in the community of Henleaze.

I hope that this year of reflection over the last century will also be for us as a whole church a year of renewal, of rediscovering and strengthening our life together and enthusiasm for the good news that God has called us together to share in this place.

So looking back we should be rightly inspired by the faith of those who have gone before us, the fruits of whose faith and determination we inherit. Looking forward we are challenged to take up faith and determination and celebrate the God who calls on into the ever new adventures of being his people,

Yours,

Tracey.