At St Paul's we are fortunate enough to have a multi-purpose centre named after one of the Saint Paul's closest companions and fellow worker, Barnabas. The name Barnabas means 'son of encouragement'. Barnabas was known for the way he encouraged all those that he met.It is always good to be encouraged, I have yet to meet someone who doesn't like it!
Our aim at St. Paul's is to allow people to share stories of encouragement. It is always good to hear where God has been at work in people's lives. Sometimes this occurs in big, dramatic ways such as the account of the apostle Paul's encounter with God on the Damascus Road. (You can read about this in Acts 9) However, if we take time to think back and reflect many of us at this church can probably think of lots of much smaller ways where God has been at work in our lives.
Last Sunday I was able to tell the story of a lady who asked me to pray for her a couple of weeks ago. When I saw her a week later she was very quick to tell me how God had answered that prayer. For her it encouraged her that God is living, active and is interested in her life.
I hope we at St Paul's can share more of these stories to encourage one another that God is working in all sorts of ways in our lives and different circumstances.
