When summarising his preaching, and how it changed over the years, Wesley wrote of how, after some 13 years of preaching he finally began to see real fruit when He began speaking continually of Jesus Christ, laying Him only for the foundation of the whole building – making Him all in all, the first and the last; preaching only on this plan, “the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe.”

Perhaps we should not really be surprised that this message has a power all of its own – after all, this was the message that Jesus began with in the first chapter of Mark.

In Netley we have been laying foundations.  A foundation of faith and of relationship with God and with each other.

It is no accident that Wesley’s turning point in preaching came hand-in-hand with the moment when he found himself “strangely warmed”.  When we are impacted and touched by the Holy Spirit our foundations become strong – knowledge becomes experience – faith become tangible, relationship possible.

There is no doubt that we have been laying foundations at Netley – the question we face now is, “what are we going to build on them? What will the fruit look like?”