Welcome to Sunday Online at Encounter Vineyard this weekend and thank you for joining us for our celebration this weekend. We also want to say a ‘Big Thank You’ on this Mothering Sunday to all the amazing mothers and women in the church family.

We pray that you are able to experience being part of our extended community and that you can encounter God’s transformative presence as he brings His restoration, strength and power for daily living.

We are now well into the season of Lent. In a few weeks’ time we will be remembering the most remarkable event in history, a moment that changed everything: the Resurrection of Jesus. However, before we arrive at Easter, ready to celebrate new life on the other side of the resurrection, we journey to the Cross. This is the purpose of the season of Lent.

During Lent, many of us find ourselves choosing to abstain from some of our normal daily accommodations and luxuries – and some things that do not produce spiritual life in us – so that we can depend on the provision of the Holy Spirit in new ways. This Lent we have also given ourselves to journeying through the Gospel of Mark, day by day, as well as having our Sunday Series ‘Sovereign.’ This weekend Mark continues this series as he brings a message called ‘Responding.’

We hope that you enjoy worshipping and celebrating with us today and that our faith is deepened and our convictions strengthened.