When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you – John 14:20; NLT
To All Friends everywhere,
Loving greetings.
Friends in Christ held its 2026 Annual Gathering at Whitchester Christian Centre, close by the town of Hawick, on the 13th– 15th Days of Tenth Month. This Christian Centre is a beautiful and calming manor house setting in the valleys of the Scottish Borders, bedecked with rich Autumnal colours. There, across three days of worship and study, we were held in Christ’s tender care. We were shown His Will for us to be a ‘safe haven’ for Christ-centred Friends coming to rest in the Lord with us. We were also Led to recognise opportunities to gather together, to share our walk with the Lord. We discerned this may be in small groups face-to-face, through web-conferencing or even by writing Apostolic emails to each other. In this way, we may share our responsibility to nourish our faith. Even, as the need arises, to ‘wash each other’s feet’. These ways are to be in addition to our weekly Third Day online Meetings for Worship and the monthly face-to-face Meeting for Worship in Saffron Walden in Essex. In all of them and through all of them, as Friends in Christ (John 14:20; 15:14-15), we each shall find ourselves Affirmed in our daily striving to place Christ in the centre of our daily lives.
Through the ‘still, small voice’ of the Holy Spirit, we are therefore to follow Jesus Christ of Nazareth as our Inward Teacher, Advocate, Counsellor and Friend. We are Guided to: Remain humble and poor in spirit; stay true to His voice in our hearts; and place the Word as the motivation of all that we do. We are Asked to endeavour not to become distracted by having testimonies as our goal; rather, who we are, comes from our living in Christ. We shall ever place our hope in Him (for “by hope you are saved” George Fox, Ep.230; Rom 8:24), to be able truthfully to say ‘He Arises in us’. Our lives thereby becoming the fruit of Christ’s resurrection, bringing about the inbreaking of the Kingdom in all we do. Our 2026 gathering has encouraged and challenged us to hold up the church of Philadelphia (Rev. 3: 7-13) as a mirror and a guide in that endeavour: Christ has “opened a door for [us]” (Rev.3: 8; George Fox, Ep.293) through which we may grow ever-nearer to the Way, the Truth and the Life! Our walk together is in our Loving Saviour’s care. We strive to stand tall in our identity in Christ, able to hold true to our Servanthood, willing to speak the Word of the Lord as it is given to us.
We pray the Lord continues to make known His Will for you, just as He does for us.
On behalf of Friends in Christ,
Mark Dibben, Clerk at this time.
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