Church launches new chapter
A WOKINGHAM church celebrated a milestone at a special service on Saturday morning.
The Seventh Day Adventists meet in Wokingham Baptist Church in Milton Road and welcomed special guests, including Wokingham Paper editor Phil Creighton for their reorganisation service.
Led by the church’s pastor Andrei Balan, the event included a sermon from the South East Executive of the church, Dr Emmanuel Osei.
Other special guests included Pastor Douglas McCormac and Pastor Ron Clemow from Newbold Church in Binfield – the denomination’s UK headquarters.
Also present was Wokingham Town Mayor, Cllr Julian McGhee-Sumner, his wife Judith and his attendant, David Dunham.
To mark their visit, the church presented the trio with Bibles and also presented a special offering of £257 which will go to his charity of the year,
Pastor Balan said: “[As a church] we want to be a blessing to Wokingham.”
Cllr McGhee-Sumner said: “Thank you for inviting us to be here today, we’re delighted to be here to celebrate with you.”
In his sermon, Dr Osei looked at the early church and how it relates to the Adventists’ vision for Wokingham.
“We see that God still has plans for the Wokingham church,” he said. “This is a sanctuary that people can come to.”
He encouraged the 70-strong congregation to “come together just so we can serve”.
The church meets every Saturday at Wokingham Baptist from 10am to 1pm.