Looking Ahead to 2026
At the start of a new year, we may be inspired to make new resolutions or draw up plans for the year. Some of us hope to consistently keep up habits and disciplines. Others of us may be looking to try something new in the year.
What about for us as a church? What plans do we have this year?
On one hand, God’s plans and purposes for the church remains the same in this new year. Year after year, God still desires to draw the nations to Himself. Our purpose and call remains the same – “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matt 28:19-20a). He commands us with the authority that He has in heaven and on earth, and we are assured of His constant presence (Matt 28:18, 20b).
In 2026, just as in the years before, we are to continue to persevere in obedience and faith as God works in our world to accomplish His eternal plans and purposes.
As a church, we want to grow and go this year.
Grow
We want to grow in our knowledge and love for the church, as our sermon series on Sundays and the subsequent Care Group discussions focus on this topic. Our sermon series will take us through the following books and topics – Haggai (currently), Ephesians, a short series on church planting, Revelation 1-3 and Numbers. Pastor Eugene shares that from these books, the major theme revolves around the church as God’s saved and gathered people. These books span both the Old and New Testament, and we will see how God’s plans to gather a people and work through them is not new but has been the plan! As we read through these books, they will help us to learn about what growing and building the church looks like and how Jesus is the Head of the church, His body. Ultimately, we want to also see how God’s glory is shown through the church.
Our sermon series in Haggai has started us off by helping us to see how God remains faithful to His plans and promises, despite HIs people’s failures. As we learnt in our sermons, Haggai was written to a people that had returned in part after the exile. God had brought them back to the land, but they were distracted and discouraged by opposition and their own livelihoods and had paused the work on the temple. God called them to behold Him – His glory and greatness – and turn to Him in repentance and faith. “God will not leave us alone if we follow him. He is with us. He will enable us to do what He calls us to do.”
Haggai 2 also helps us to catch a vision for the work that God calls us to. It is not just about rebuilding a physical place of worship. Today, we are not just about building a church building. Rather, as Pastor Eugene preached, “The church is the temple of the Lord. So, building God’s house means helping others to know and follow Jesus.” We are to “build God’s house, not because of what we can see now, but because of what we trust God to do in the future.” God is still working and we are to keep trusting Him, for future glory is coming.
Thus, as the year unfolds and we study other books in the New and Old Testaments, we hope to grow in our understanding of God’s plan for the church, and what He desires to accomplish through the church.
We also desire that as we gather around the Word in the week, we will continue to grow and seek to apply God’s word to our lives. Something new in 2026 is our Training Day, that will take place on 4 Saturdays in the year — 31 January, 9 May, 12 September and 14 November. This will replace our weekly EQUIP sessions on Sundays. Each Training Day will begin with an Ask Anything session, before breaking out into 5 concurrent tracks. These tracks will focus on equipping us with theology and also ways that we can apply God’s word to our life’s circumstances. Our Church Matters — our membership class for prospective members and a refresher on what we believe for members — will also be held during the Training Day. There will also be a children’s track for those aged 3 to 12, and childminding for those below the age of 3. Thus, we hope that this will be a time that the whole church — young and old — can gather to learn and grow together. Find out more about the upcoming Training Day and sign up here!
Go
Note: The Spurgeon Conference is to be on 23 May. An earlier version had it reflected as 24 May, which is a mistake.
Practically, what does this it look like? As a church, let us continue to heed Hebrews 10:24-25 – “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Let us continue to gather on Sundays with hearts ready to hear His word preached and sung with His people. Let us continue to meet in our care groups, smaller discipleship groups, one-to-ones etc in the week, seeking to apply the gospel with one another in different ways. Write to us at info@gracebaptistchurch.sg if you have questions or would like to find out more!
To help the church participate in church life together, we have put together a church calendar for the year. This highlights key dates for our participation. It includes the dates of Members’ Meetings, Prayer Meetings and some of the conferences that we are hosting this year. We encourage members to save the dates, participate in the events, and continue to be praying for our life together.
As the year unfolds, we will be sharing more details about the various events too. One helpful way of keeping updated with church life announcements and updates is to sign up for our weekly newsletter – Grace enews. Through this platform, we will seek to share and highlight what God is doing in this community, ministry needs, and ways the gospel is going out into the community and world.
Jesus promised that He will build His church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matt 16:18). What a wonderful assurance this is! Church, let us cling to this and the other promises of God, and trust Him together in the year ahead!