At our Sunday morning meeting in the County Hotel, Skegness, on May 30, 2010, Trinity Sunday, we celebrated our first year of meetings in Skegness.

In his opening address our Pastor, the Rev'd Ian Banks said,

"Modern theology of the Trinity stresses relationship. God lives with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a community in loving harmony and interdependence, each element of the Trinity being distinct and doing distinctive things. I suppose you could liken this to the early model of Church as set out in the Acts of the Apostles and in Paul's letters. Church was, and should be today, a community in loving harmony and interdependence, each person through their individual gifts being distinct and doing distinctive things.

We have seen this as we have been looking at 'Being Church' in our midweek fellowship meetings. We have seen how the model for New Testament Church is that we all are part of the Body of Christ living in community and yet as separate individuals, all with individual gifts to bring to the whole. The Apostle Paul puts it like this in his letter the Ephesians 4: 16b, 'when each separate part works as it should, the whole body grows and builds itself up through love'.

That's the model of Church we are striving for here and I think we can look back over 52 weeks and say that, by and large, we are achieving that model. Church isn't a building, it's people; it's people who believe in Jesus Christ and dedicate themselves to living in our communities as Jesus would have us do in order to make a difference to that community. Furthermore the church isn't confined to this or that denomination, it's universal. Having said that, we are gathered here this morning under the banner of the Church of the Nazarene. That's not because we think the Church of the Nazarene is better than any other church organisation, but because God has called members of this particular faith community to plant a church or churches in and around the area of East Lincolnshire. We started that project 85 weeks ago in Sibsey, on the outskirts of Boston, and through the Grace of God we have now been 52 weeks here in Skegness.

Our purpose as followers of Jesus (as Christians) is to fulfil our calling and respond to Jesus' great commission; Go to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples, baptise them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teach them everything I have taught you'.

What lies behind this is a call by God to plant more and more Churches; Kingdom Churches; God's Kingdom."

We then sang, what has become for us our adopted theme song, I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene.

One of our members, Celia Paley, had made a banner for the occasion which depicts the hands of some of our members and the paws of the two guide dogs who are regular members of the congregation! The heading on the banner reads, 'God has no hands but our hands - and paws.'

Following the meeting some twenty members of the congregation met at the home of Sandra and Pete Newsome who entertained us to a Celebration Lunch. We were joined for the meeting and the lunch by Mavis and Don Percy who attend the Heeley Church of the Nazarene in Sheffield and who were on holiday in Skegness.