We hope you are being blessed! Here is the third monthly Newsletter for 2026: our March newsletter.

Please let the editor know if you want to share something in the next edition.

Friday is here, Sunday is coming - Dave Food

There is something about Friday that feels heavy. Not just the Friday of the crucifixion, though that Friday was the darkest the world has ever known. But the Fridays of life. The diagnosis. The redundancy letter. The relationship that broke apart. The dream that quietly died. Those moments when the stone feels very much in place, and the silence is deafening.

The disciples knew that silence. They had watched the one they believed to be the Son of God taken, tried, beaten and nailed to a cross. Everything they had hoped for appeared to be finished. Friday had won. Or so it seemed. As Isaiah 53:3 reminds us, He was despised and rejected, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. That was Friday in all its brutal reality.

But here is what we know that they did not yet fully understand. Friday never gets the final word. God was not absent on that Friday; He was working in the very heart of it. Romans 8:28 tells us that God works all things together for good for those who love Him. What looked like a catastrophic defeat was in fact the most profound act of redemption in human history. The cross was not plan B. It was always the plan. As Peter declared in Acts 2:23, Jesus was handed over by God's deliberate purpose and foreknowledge. This was never out of control.

And Sunday came. It always does. The angel's words in Matthew 28:6 are simple and world-changing: He is not here, He has risen.

So whatever Friday you are living through right now, whatever feels finished, buried or beyond recovery, hold on. Our God is a resurrection God. He specialises in situations that look hopeless. He is not troubled by sealed tombs, broken dreams or impossible odds. John 11:25 declares it plainly: Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life.

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning, as Psalm 30:5 promises. Friday is here, but Sunday is coming.

And that changes everything.

The Cross – Our Hope of Glory - Salma Qureshi

Each year, during this sacred season, the world pauses to remember the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. It is a moment that calls us not only to reflect, but to truly understand the depth of His love—a love that gave everything for us.

Jesus continues to work in wonderful ways in our lives today. Recently, a friend shared a touching story with me about an elderly man who had forgotten much about himself, yet continued to live sacrificially for the sake of his wife. Even in his frailty, love remained. That moment was a powerful reminder of the beauty of selfless love—a reflection, however small, of the perfect love shown on the cross.

The cross is not just a symbol of suffering; it is the very foundation of our hope and the revelation of God’s glory. Through it, we see a love so deep that it calls us to respond. As believers, we are invited to carry our own cross daily, to live lives marked by humility, obedience, and sacrificial love, just as our Father desires.
Church is a place where this love comes alive. It is where we grow in joy, fellowship, and unity, just as Jesus did with His disciples. It is a space where we are shaped, encouraged, and reminded of who we are in Christ.

Let us not limit this remembrance to a season, but carry it in our hearts every day. Christ is coming again, and as His Church, the Bride, we are called to be ready. Let us share this incredible love story of Jesus with those around us: our families, our friends, our colleagues, and even strangers we meet in everyday places.

May the message of the cross transform us, guide us, and shine through us—so that others may come to know the hope of glory found in Christ.

Trained and Equipped - Dave Food

Here is something worth sitting with for a moment. When Jesus called His disciples, He did not hand them a certificate and send them out immediately. He walked with them. He taught them. He corrected them, challenged them, modelled life before them and then sent them out with both authority and accountability. Training and equipping was not an optional extra in Jesus' ministry. It was central to it.

And it still is. At Runnymede Christian Fellowship, we carry a deep conviction that every believer is called, and that calling comes with a responsibility to grow. Ephesians 4:12 makes it plain — the role of leaders in the church is to equip the saints for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up. Not just the paid staff. Not just the platform people. Every single one of us. You were not saved to sit. You were saved to serve, and serving well requires preparation.

That is why what we encourage at RCF goes far beyond Sunday. Our Academy courses are designed to take you deeper into the Word, make you sharper in your thinking, and make you more confident in your calling. Whether you are just starting out in faith or you have been walking with God for decades, there is always a next level. There is always more to learn, more to unlearn and more to become.

Proverbs 27:17 tells us that iron sharpens iron. There is simply no substitute for a seasoned, godly voice speaking into your life, someone who has navigated the terrain before you, who can see what you cannot yet see and who will tell you the truth in love. Mentoring relationships are not transactional; they can be transformational. They are built on trust, on prayer and on a genuine belief that God is doing something significant in your life that deserves to be nurtured. If someone wants a mentor, please let me know, we will find one and set them up.

And then there is mission. Because of all of this, the study, the mentoring, the community, the growth, is not an end in itself. It is preparation for the field. Jesus did not say go and get comfortable. He said go and make disciples, Matthew 28:19. Mission is not a department in the church. It is the heartbeat of the church. At RCF, we want to equip people to go out, locally and globally, with the confidence that they have been prepared, prayed over and resourced.

Acts 1:8 promises that when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, we will receive power to be witnesses. That power is available to you right now. But power without preparation can be reckless, and preparation without deployment can become self-indulgent. The two belong together.

So come and get trained. Come and get equipped. The Kingdom of God is advancing, and there is a place in it with your name on it.

I can do all things.... - Dave Food

Let me be honest with you. When God first put it on my heart to write a book, my immediate response was not faith. It was laughter. Not the joyful kind. The kind that says, you have got the wrong person. I am not an author. I do not have the vocabulary, the discipline or frankly, the time. There were a hundred reasons why it was impossible and approximately zero reasons why it was not.

And yet. Philippians 4:13 does not say I can do some things through Christ who strengthens me. It does not say I can do the comfortable things, the things I am qualified for, the things that make sense on paper. It says all things. That little word carries enormous weight when God calls you to something that feels completely beyond you.

Because here is what I have discovered in the process of writing. God does not call the equipped. He equips the called. Every time I sat down at that blank page and felt the familiar voice of inadequacy whispering that this was too hard, too big, too much, something else showed up. A thought I had not planned. A sentence that arrived from nowhere. A chapter that seemed to write itself. That was not my talent. That was grace.

Jeremiah 29:11 tells us that God has plans for us, plans to prosper and not to harm, plans to give us a future and a hope. Sometimes those plans look utterly unreasonable from where we are standing. Writing a book felt unreasonable to me. But God is not limited by our reasonableness.

Jesus said in Luke 1:37 that nothing is impossible with God. Nothing. Not the book you feel unqualified to write, not the business you feel unqualified to build, not the ministry you feel unqualified to lead. The question is never whether you are capable. The question is whether you are willing.

So if God has placed something impossible on your heart today, do not negotiate with the fear. Pick up the pen. Open the laptop. Take the first step. He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion. Philippians 1:6. That is not a motivational slogan. That is a promise from the living God.

The impossible is simply where God gets started.

Summer is coming, what can I do? - Dave Food

Here is a question worth sitting with. When summer arrives, and the diary fills up with holidays, barbecues and a welcome change of pace, does your connection with God and His people get quietly packed away alongside the winter coat? For too many of us, the honest answer is yes. And that, frankly, is an opportunity we cannot afford to miss.

R T Kendall was fond of saying that God does not take a summer holiday. Neither does His Spirit, His Word, or His purposes for your life. And at Runnymede Christian Fellowship, neither do we.

Summer at RCF is not a holding pattern. It is a season of genuine opportunity. The doors of Strodes College are open every Sunday at 11 am for worship that is lively, teaching that is rooted in Scripture, and community that is genuinely international. Hebrews 10:25 is not seasonal; it calls us not to give up meeting together, and there is a reason for that. Something happens when the people of God gather that simply cannot be replicated on a sofa.

And keep an eye on the calendar at www.e-runnymede.co.uk for Magna Carta Day 2nd Saturday in June, and Love Egham events with St Johns first week in May, Philippa Hanna COncert on Campus at RHUL on the first Bank holiday in May because the Kingdom does not just operate inside church walls. Matthew 5:16 calls us to let our light shine before others, and that means getting out into Egham and beyond. In the summer holidays a number of us will be going to Wildfires 23rd to 26th July in Sussex.

Summer is not a gap in the story. It might just be where your next chapter begins. Come and join us.

Getting perspective on real life Dave Food

One of the great tragedies of modern Christian living is not that the Holy Spirit has withdrawn from daily life. It is that we have stopped expecting to see Him there. We have compartmentalised the sacred and the secular so effectively that we are genuinely surprised when God shows up on a Tuesday afternoon in a supermarket queue, a difficult conversation at work, or an unexpected encounter with a stranger who needed exactly what we had to give.

A W Tozer warned us about this. He wrote that the Holy Spirit is not an occasional visitor to be welcomed on Sundays but a permanent resident to be recognised and responded to every moment of every day. That is not poetic language. That is theology with shoes on.

Jesus promised in John 16:13 that the Spirit of truth would guide us into all truth. Not some truth. Not Sunday truth. All truth. That guidance does not clock off when the meeting ends. The Holy Spirit is actively present in your commute, your kitchen, your workplace and your waiting. The question is not whether He is moving. The question is whether we are paying attention.

Romans 8:14 tells us that those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. Being led implies movement, responsiveness and a willingness to follow even when the direction is unexpected. So many of us ask God to lead us, but have already decided the route. Real sensitivity to the Spirit requires us to hold our plans loosely and our hearts open.

This is not about chasing experiences or manufacturing spiritual moments. Tozer was clear that much of what passes for Holy Spirit activity is simply human emotion dressed in religious clothing. True awareness of the Spirit is quieter than that. It is the nudge to pray for someone before you know why. It is the check in your spirit when something is not right. It is the inexplicable peace in the middle of a situation that should produce nothing but anxiety. Philippians 4:7 calls it a peace that passes all understanding, and it is available right now, today, in whatever you are walking through.

So slow down. Tune in. Cultivate the inner stillness that Psalm 46:10 commands when it says be still and know that I am God. He is not hiding. He is not silent. The Holy Spirit is at work in our daily life with extraordinary consistency and purpose.

Open your eyes. He is already there.

Some key links

Link to subscribe to the blog so it comes to you rather than you having to go and find it (now available in 10 languages). This is available to both visitors and members.

You can access all our past sermons here.

The conferences we have hosted or participated in here.

We would love contributions to the newsletter from all those involved at RCF.

If you have something you would like to share in the next newsletter, or want to help us to improve it, please email theeditor@e-runnymede.co.uk

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Planning your Visit

Why not plan a visit to try us out?

Whether this is your first time visiting a church or you’ve attended another church for years, we understand that visiting a new church can be a bit overwhelming. To help make it a bit easier, we’ve done our best to answer some questions you may have, so your first experience is a little less overwhelming.

Runnymede Christian Fellowship is a church based in Egham but serving a much larger geographical area. Those who call us home come from Egham, Virginia Water, Staines, Englefield Green, Egham Hythe, Pooley Green, Maidenhead, Ascot, Camberley, Sunbury, Heathrow, Slough, Ashford, Thorpe, Windsor, Woking and beyond.

Our church is a community of believers who gather regularly to share life and demonstrate God's love. We do this by encouraging and serving each other and the community. We believe in the power of prayer and are always happy to pray for you.

Church - What to expect

Our Sunday service is available to stream online at 11 am. You can join us on Livestream or via Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube or X.

The Sunday Venue is Coopers Hall, Strodes College, Strodes College Lane in Egham, open to all, so if you would like to join us, please feel free to do so. If you have any questions, please call us on 01784 637010.

We run a physical Sunday School most weeks. If you would like your children to receive a weekly Sunday School teaching pack that you can do from home, please email us at admin@e-runnymede.co.uk so that we can send you the materials.

Sunday Venue at Coopers Hall, Strodes College, Strodes College Lane, Egham

Our Sunday service starts at 11.00 and typically lasts about 90 minutes.

We begin each service with lively worship, featuring songs from around the world, followed by inspiring, Bible-based teaching. All our sermons are recorded and are available as a podcast after the service.

We have a monthly cycle of Sunday services, with our Communion Service on the first Sunday of each month and an All-Age All-Nation Service on the second. Our other Sunday services include Spirit-focused and teaching services.

We have consciously adopted being a blended church, that is, both online and face-to-face. You are welcome to join us on Livestream or via Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, or X, or catch up with the recordings later.

Joining us in person

Visiting a new and unfamiliar church for the first time can be intimidating, but we want to ensure you feel welcome and enjoy your time with us. A friendly face will be waiting to meet you at the entrance and welcome you.

Doors open at 10:30 for coffee and prayer.
Our Sunday Service starts at 11:00 and typically runs for about 90 minutes, normally followed by tea and coffee.

Driving and Car Parking

Our Sunday Venue is Coopers Hall, Strodes College, Strodes College Lane, Egham, TW20 9DR, which has ample parking.
Click on the link for directions to RCF.

We have plenty of parking spaces right outside the building. Spaces are reserved near the entrance for anyone with mobility issues (those with a blue badge). Please let us know if you need to use one of these spaces, have any special needs, or require any assistance.

The car parking area is a public area, so please ensure that your children are under your control and that, for their safety, they do not run around in the car park.

Visiting with children?

Everyone is welcome at RCF. We encourage everyone, regardless of age, to join the service. We offer Sunday School, which begins after worship and runs concurrently with the sermon for 30 to 40 minutes, serving children aged 4 to 12. On the second Sunday of each month, we have a shorter All-Aged All Nations Service, where the children stay for the worship and the sermon.

After Church

We chat over coffee and biscuits after church on the first, third, fourth and fifth Sundays. If you want to get to know us better, why not join us for Sunday lunch with some of our members? The first meal is on us (Voucher provided). Please contact us and let us know. We would love to share a meal and get to know you better!

Fellowship Feast

Want to connect?

If you're interested in connecting with us, whether to join our online community or attend our Sunday gatherings, please use our connect card.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions, please review our FAQ page. Here, you’ll find answers to many common questions. If you still have questions or concerns, please contact us; we’d love to hear from you.

We look forward to welcoming you to RCF

To contact us or see a map, click here.

Our admin address and Midsweek venue is Virginia Lodge, Heritage Court, Egham
Virginia Lodge Ariel