Wow, it’s been a year since we became, as a church, City on a Hill. I don’t know if a short blog post would ever do justice in trying to describe this year.

For the senior leadership team at the church, we believed that God spoke clearly, led clearly, and has provided everything that we need as we have moved on from being part of Destiny. From the very beginning of our change I have held onto the word that our church is Jesus’ church. He is our Good Shepherd, and He has shown Himself to be so.

To say the provision last year was miraculous is perhaps an understatement.

I want to say thank you. The generosity from churches and leaders across Edinburgh and beyond has been absolutely outstanding – both to us personally, as well as to us as a church and staff team.

Thank you to those of you at City on a Hill that trusted the leadership, supported us with your encouragement, your faith, and financially.

Starting over is a unique moment that you don’t always get. It’s been a time to evaluate what’s most important, who we are as a church family, and for those of us in leadership to ask what kind of leaders are we and do we want to be. This has led us to recently renaming our multi-site sites from being Locations to Communities to help us to continue to focus prioritising people more than the running of events.

For those who are part of City on a Hill you will know that it is not a perfect church and we don’t have any perfect leaders. Thank you for your patience, your understanding and believing that the best days are ahead. We’ll get there together.

Through this year, I’ve started as the Executive Pastor at City on a Hill – a role that’s new to us as a church and staff team. This year has been full of challenges to learn to lead others who are in pain as you go through pain yourself, and while there’s days that I wonder how I ended up doing it (hello imposter syndrome), I’m grateful for the great grace and mercy of God to strengthen us in our weakness. Thank you to everyone who has spoken words of encouragement to me and taken time to pray for me, it’s been truly felt.

I’m convinced that the best days are ahead for us as a church. We’re still on a journey to be healthier and stronger – and maybe this is a journey doesn’t end because church health is something to always work on, improve and adapt to in different seasons.

All glory to God.

Thanks for reading, I’d love to hear from you, drop me a message in the comments on your reflections or any questions that you might have, Dan

Further reading

Necessary endings by Henry Cloud – great for helping navigate when is it time to move on and when is it time to stay.

Escaping the maze of spiritual abuse: Creating healthy Christian cultures by Justin Humphreys and Lisa Oakley – great for developing a vision of a healthy church culture.

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