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Merry Christmas friends!
This Christmas we have so much to celebrate! Our first 5 months in country have brought a wonderfully new season. A new baby boy, a new country, a new home, a new organization and a new church. This has been a tremendous year of transition unlike any other. Yet, all of this is such a gift from God and is in His Sovereign hands.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! We are so grateful for every single person who has prayed for us, partnered with us, and walked with us on this journey. Thank you for being a part of our testimony and ministry. To God be all the glory!
While this is our Christmas out of country and away from family our new little family of four is thriving as we continue in this new season together. We are so grateful for each person reading this today.
Christmas in London is full of activity, Christmas lights, and Christmas carol services. There are so many remnants of a country that once walked with Jesus. There is the buzz of Oxford Street and the pull of materialism. Our city is full of people looking for their identity in so many of the wrong places.
Continue to pray for the believers here to envision what God might do here once again. We are seeing a need to cast vision for mission here once again and bring unity amongst believers towards the mission of God. Join us in praying that existing pastors and other church leaders would be filled with hope, vision and that they would boldly pray for a move of the Holy Spirit in 2024.
We pray that God might fill you with hope as well. Asking "What could be?", "What if?" What if God answered your prayers? What if God opened that door you've been praying for? What would that mean? As you and your family look ahead to 2024 we pray Romans 15:13 over you. 13 "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."
This Christmas, Jack is our little reminder of what it must have been like to have a new born little boy. Holding Jack in our arms we are reminded that our Savior chose to be born as a baby. A baby who cries, cuddles, and has needs. Our King of Kings humbled humbled himself to be born as a baby fully dependent on His mother and mother. What an incredible God we serve. That the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6
Video recorded outside of Winchester Cathedral. Built in 1079 AD.
Upcoming Events:
Looking ahead to 2024 we are thrilled for all that God has in store! There are some big strategic decisions coming up in the next few months
We are thrilled to share some upcoming events:
Upcoming Preaching at Commission Global Churches this Spring 2024.
Mobilizing specifically from the nations here in London to the nations
A new relational care group for pastors across Commission
Two upcoming international trips to train ministry leaders
As well as a new resource we are thrilled to share soon stay tuned...
Spring Prayer Points:
New discipleship groups across the city
Lucy starting Nursery School this January
The London Commission HUB
Receiving short-term teams this Spring and Summer
Continued support raising efforts
Core team members to take steps to join in church planting
If you want to stay up to date with our upcoming ministry efforts please subscribe or if you would like to join our prayer team please email: awatson@newinternational.org
Would you consider a year-end gift to our ministry efforts?
Three specific ministry efforts that will be directly impacting by your year-end contributions will be:
Church Planting Training and Resources
Resourcing global partners in North Africa
Evangelistic outreach efforts in East London
How can we pray for you?
We we would love to pray for you and your family as we go into this next year. We would love to hear from you!
Please email us your prayer requests at: awatson@newinternational.org 0r lwatson@newinternational.org
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family!
Love the Watsons, Adam, Laura, Lucy and Jack :)
FURTHER CHRISTMAS REFLECTION
Our favorite Advent book is "Come, Let Us Adore Him: A Daily Advent Devotional". As we reflect on all that God has done this Christmas season we are encouraged by one of our favorite authors, Paul Tripp.
Someone asked me the other day which Scripture passage was the best to share with their family at Christmas. That’s like cornering me and demanding I publicly declare which of my four children I love most.
It’s an impossible question, but the passage I return to most is Isaiah 9:6.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”(ESV)
Why do I love this verse so much? Because in these four names of Jesus, you find the complete content of the Christmas story.
Wonderful Counselor. Sin reduces us to fools. At the epicenter of our foolishness is a street-level denial of God—not philosophical atheism, but a denial of our need for God and a belief that we can live life on our own. As the Wonderful Counselor, Jesus comes to rescue fools from themselves.
Mighty God. Sin doesn’t just reduce us to fools; it also renders us unable—unable to be who God designed us to be and do what he created us to do. When God unleashed his might through Jesus to defeat sin and death for all of eternity, he also empowered us to desire and do what we would not be able to do without his Son working in and through us.
Everlasting Father. By his life, death, and resurrection, Jesus welcomes us into his family. He is the door by which we have access to God. He lavishes his fatherly love upon us, and we are blessed with all the rights and privileges of being his children. No longer separated, lost, alienated, and alone, we live forever as the sons and daughters of the King.
Prince of Peace. Sin makes us the enemies of God and casts us into constant conflict with other people. Sin is antisocial and destructive, making us better fighters than lovers. But God had a solution, and it would not be a negotiation. It was a gift. This gift was one that we could never achieve, earn, or deserve—peace with God. And peace with God is the only road to lasting peace with one another.
So yes, I love Isaiah 9:6 perhaps more than all the rest, because you could argue that there is no more stirring, encouraging prophecy of the birth of Jesus than this.
Under the careful direction of the Holy Spirit, Isaiah purposefully chose these four names to communicate how the Messiah Son is precisely what you and I desperately need.
Long before we were born, God had appointed for us the One who would be the remedy for every symptom of the sin that would infect us all.
Perhaps no words more encouraging than these have ever been written!
God bless,
Paul Tripp
REFLECTION QUESTIONS
1. How did you reveal your foolishness this week? Specifically, how did you live as if you did not need God?
2. How did you reveal your spiritual inability this week? Where were you unable to do what you wanted to do because of the sinful nature (see Romans 7)?
3. What are some of the right here, right now privileges of being a child of God? Be specific. How do these privileges give you comfort and strength for what you are facing today?
4. Where were you a better fighter than a lover in a relationship this week? How does the birth of Christ provide a practical solution for your antisocial sinful nature?
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