It is a verse that captures the wonderful “double sided” nature of serving God. We have a responsibility to work with our hands. We are not to be lazy, we are not be careless, we are not to sit around and do nothing. And yet, on the other side, we see that we are absolutely dependent on God to establish the work of our hands. We are weak and sinful, we are foolish and undeserving – but despite all that God has poured out His favour on us through Jesus, the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. As we work with our hands, He is the One who establishes that work for us. He is the One who makes the work effective and who brings fruit for eternity.

We should be praying that we would be “double sided” churches, both in Bush Hill Park and in Enfield Town.

Over the past two years it has been exciting to see God establishing a new gospel church in Bush Hill Park. It all started several years ago as the elders of EEFC began to talk and pray about the possibility of planting a church in this area of Enfield. A group of members of EEFC who lived in the area met as a house group for about 18 months to pray for God to open a door for the work to get started. Then in September 2007 we began holding a weekly afternoon service.

Since then we have seen the work begin to slowly grow. We have seen members of the local community come along and get involved. As a church we have really enjoyed deepening relationships with one another and learning more of Jesus on a Sunday afternoon.

We are now at a stage where it seems right for the church plant to become separate from EEFC. This does not reflect a cooling of relationship with EEFC (far from it!!) but it is important that we don’t settle down into a comfortable situation where EEFC provides all our needs!! There is future work for EEFC to be involved in and time and resources need to shift to the next step for EEFC.

In many ways this is a scary step, as a smaller church our resources are very limited. Yet this is a crucial step for us to take, and if our limited resources force us to rely on God rather than ourselves that can only be a good thing!!

We are so grateful for all the love, prayers, and partnership we have enjoyed with EEFC over the years. For some of us EEFC has been home for a long time. It feels very strange to be finally saying “goodbye” and transferring membership to Bush Hill Park Community Church. Yet we are excited about all that God is doing and will do through the work of our hands in BHP and Enfield Town.

There will be loads of opportunity for future partnership in the gospel and we look forward to serving Jesus together for many years to come.

We will continue to pray for EEFC, that you would be a "double-sided" church and that the Lord would establish the work of your hands and that all the glory would belong to Him.

Jonty Allcock (Pastor - Bush Hill Park Community Church) - July / August 2009