“Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone to win as many as possible.”
(1 Corinthians 9:19)
Everyone likes to win. This week I went to chess club twice. On the Tuesday, I won my game easily and the other members were complaining, “It’s not fair – he’s got God on his side!” But God has a sense of humour and on the Wednesday, I blundered and lost against someone I’ve never lost to before. My wife’s response to the news was, “Good for humility.”
As with any competition or sport, to become a winner involves both talent and hard work. Top athletes spend hours training each day and top chess players, have to work at studying the game almost full time. Winning is costly. You have to forego freedoms in order to train hard and win.
Paul is concerned to win. But he is not after the prestige associated with winning a competition or the glory of being a top sportsman. His concern is to win people for Christ. That is to share the good news or gospel of God’s salvation through Jesus, so that they might believe and so be forgiven for their sins, be reconciled to God and receive the gift of eternal life. When this happens, there is a sense of success for Paul and rejoicing in heaven, but the greatest reward goes to the one who has been won for Christ.
This week as we look at Paul’s description of his strategy for winning people for Christ in 1 Corinthians 9, as part of our Year of Discernment, we will be considering some questions and suggestions from this week’s study groups:
- Is Paul’s strategy just for those called to be evangelists or all believers?
- How do we maintain Christian integrity, whilst also seeking to ‘be all things to all people’? (1 Cor. 9:22)
- What does ‘running aimlessly’ (1 Cor. 9:26) look like in a believer’s life?
- What is the prize we are seeking to win? (1 Cor. 9:27)
Paul Worledge
This Week’s Sunday Service – 11am
Winning for Christ (1 Corinthians 9:17-27)
This Sunday we continue our Lent series on 1 Corinthians 8-14, looking at 1 Corinthians 9 and Paul’s passion to win people for Christ. Our normal groups for young people are running: Sparklers, which will be for children up to and including the Reception Year at school. Sunday Club (Years 1 to 6) and Pathfinders (Years 7 to 10) will also be running as normal.
St. Luke’s Website
- What’s On – a page which lets you know what is happening this week and gives information about upcoming events.
- Notices – You can read the latest notices on this page.
- Sermons – Read a transcript of a recent sermon or watch the YouTube version recorded at St. Luke’s. You can also listen to the sermon through the podcast website castbox.
Weekly Calendar
Sunday 25th February
Family Service (St. Luke’s Church), Reading: 1 Corinthians 9:17-27,
11:00am-12:00pm
The Event (Queens Road Baptist Church) – 6:00-8:00pm
Monday 26th
Daily Prayer (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Study Group (South Eastern Road) – 7:15-9:30pm
Tuesday 27th
Daily Prayer (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Christ Church Toddlers @ St Luke’s (St. Luke’s Church Hall) – 9:30-11:30am
Study Group (Lyndhurst Road) – 2:30-4:00pm
Wednesday 28th
Study Group (Langdale Avenue) – 10-12 noon
Study Group (South Eastern Road) – 7:30-9:30pm
Thursday 29th
Daily Prayer (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Cafe4All (St. Luke’s Church), Coffee and Chat for all – 10:00-11:30am.
Time4All (St. Luke’s Church) – 11:30-15:00.
Friday 1st March
Play and Praise (St. Luke’s Church Hall) – 10:00-11:30am
Gather, Women’s Drop-In (St. Luke’s Church) – 12:30-2:30pm
Creative Group Singing Practice (St Luke’s Church) – 4:30-6:00pm
Saturday 2nd
Churches Together Prayer Breakfast – (St Ethelbert’s Hall) – 9:00-10:00am
Sunday 3rd
Family Service (St. Luke’s Church), Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1-17,
11:00am-12:00pm
Study Groups through Lent
This Lent our Study Groups will be looking at the passage for the sermon on the upcoming Sunday, reflecting together on it through prayerful discussion, then feeding back their reflections to the preacher and into the overall discernment process. If you are not already part of a Study Group and would like to be, then please let Paul know.
Harvest Appeal – Thank You
A message from International Justice Mission: “A HUGE thank you to St. Luke’s for your Harvest gift to help stop slavery and violence. Your kind donation of £881.34 will help IJM’s work with authorities to bring more children, men, and women to safety and support them as they overcome trauma.”
Planned Giving Update
At the end of last year, we asked people to consider their Planned Giving to St. Luke’s. As a result, we are grateful that some people either started giving regularly to St. Luke’s or increased their giving. However, some other regular gives stopped and reduced their giving and the expected total Planned Giving to St. Luke’s for 2024 is £64,185, which is only £224 more than last year – at a time when many of the church costs have increased by 10% or more.
It is of course not too late to start giving on a regular basis to St. Luke’s. Either take a Planned Giving envelope from the desk at the back of church or sign up using the Parish Giving Scheme.
Planning for an After-School Club
We are considering starting an after-school club for older children and teenagers at St. Luke’s church on Thursday afternoons. Tonya shared the vision at last Sunday’s service, and we are pleased that a few people have already shown interest and there are plans to have a meeting next week. If you are interested in helping with the planning or running of this venture, then please speak to Tonya or Claire as soon as possible.
The Event – Local Churches Joint Youth Meeting
The Event is taking place this Sunday 25th February from 6-8pm @ Queen’s Road Baptist Church, Broadstairs, CT10 1NU.
It is a chance for young people from Year 7 upwards from churches around Thanet to experience true community together, through group activities and encountering God. If you are introduced in attending, please contact Claire (see below).
World Day of Prayer
This year it is on 1st March, 10:30am at St. Laurence Church, Ramsgate. If you would like to take part, then email: drdebbie08@gmail.com.
Snapshot: Youth Survey by the Diocese
This survey has been created by the Canterbury Diocese Youth Council to hear the voices of young people. If you are aged 11 to 24 (not just those involved in churches) we would love for you to complete it. The form is anonymous and we will be collecting the responses to pass on to Bishop Rose.
Snapshots has been designed to create a platform for hearing the voice of young people across our diocese. The Youth Council aim to put out three Snapshot questionnaires a year.
This first one is about church/sharing faith.
Closing date: the end of February.
Safeguarding Training
If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.
If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@stlukesramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.
Online Forms
Under the ‘Contact’ tab on the website, there are now three forms that you can use to help us in managing the church:
- Events Application Form. Use this if you are organising a church event that needs a church room booked, advertising or ticketing.
- Submit a Notice. Use this if you want to ask us to include a prayer request or other notice in the church notice sheet or email.
- Maintenance Reporting Form.Use this to report any non-urgent issues with our buildings or grounds.
Links to Share:
How do the Christian and the Hindu religions view money differently?
In this article Rahil Patel, who used to be a Hindu monk, but is now a Christian, explains the different attitudes to money and wealth in Hinduism and Christianity. Read More…
God saves by helping us through suffering
Sometimes we are called to suffer for our faith. But how can we keep going, when under great pressure to give up? In this article read about an Anglican Bishop caught up in the Japanese capture of Singapore, who was literally beaten for his faith. Read more.
Finally, let’s keep praying that we might win people for Christ.
Yours in Christ
Paul Worledge
(Vicar, St. Luke’s Ramsgate)
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 