What’s happening now.

Here we are, summers nearly over and now the nights are drawing in. It won’t be long before we start thinking about Christmas and all the activities involved with that. But before we do that, here is a recap of what we’ve been up to and what’s happening in October.

I knew summer was going to be busy and I wasn’t wrong. We ran the parenting course again which was fully booked and seemed to be enjoyed by those who attended. Thanks to Gillian for running that and also all those who came to help look after the children. We also ran The Messy Church Holiday club which was great fun. We looked at the story of Joseph and made lots of things – we got very messy at times! The children that came were absolutely fantastic and we really enjoyed getting to know them. I think that the consensus of opinion was that we should definitely do it again next year!

So what next? Well, Stretch has re-started at the new day and time (Weds 10.30) and our Alpha course is starting on Tuesday 6th October at 9.30am. If you haven’t signed up for it yet don’t worry, it’s not too late. why not bring a friend with you as well?

Also starting in October is our basic theology course called Explore. This is starting on Saturday 24th October at 9.30am. It is being taught by Rodney Kingstone who used to lead the church here and he is an excellent teacher.

Messy Church has also restarted and that will continue to meet on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. You can find more details here on this website.

Summer activities

Summer is here at last! It usually means that we sit back and take things a little easier – but not this summer. Although The Ark and Stretch will stop for the summer there will still be plenty of things going on. We are running a Parenting Course called 21st Century Parent in place of the Ark on Monday mornings. It will start on 27th July at 10am and finish at 11.30am. We will be running a creche so if you can help please let me know.  If you are interested in the course, ring the office and we can give you more information.

We are also joining with the other churches in Broadwater to man a marquee at the Broadwater Carnival on July 18th. We will be serving refreshments and providing craft activities for the children to do. There will also be face painting and other activities going on throughout the day. Again, helpers are needed.

As if that wasn’t enough, we are also planning to run a holiday club from 11th – 14th August for children aged 5 – 8. This will run from the Tuesday to the Friday from 10am – 12 noon.

One thing that will be a little more relaxed will be our Sunday services during August. Our meetings will be shorter and if the weather is good we’ll arrange to meet up at Goring Gap for a picnic tea. Church around the table will officially stop for the summer but I hope that you’ve been enjoying it so much that you will use the opportunity to invite people to your homes anyway. We will restart in September with a fresh emphasis. (Listen out for more details)

Other things that will be starting in the coming months will be;

The Alpha Course. We will be running a daytime Alpha on Tuesday mornings, starting in October as well as an evening one.  We are also very excited to be able to offer a basic theology course called Explore which will be run on Saturday mornings from 24th October for 6 weeks and lasting only 75 minutes. Bible knowledge patchy? This course will help. The subjects covered are – how to study, interpret and apply scripture, Old Testament overview, New Testament overview. Character and doctrine of God, Character and doctrine of God continued, the cross and perspectives on the attonement.

The teaching will be delivered by Rodney Kingstone who founded and led this church (originally Broadwater Christian Fellowship) for 17 years. He is a respected bible teacher with a recognised prophetic ministy.

I hope this has whetted your appetite and that you take the opportunity to be involved with  some of the many things going on. Who said being a Christian was boring!

PLEASE NOTE THAT STRETCH WILL BE RESTARTING ON A DIFFERENT DAY AND AT A DIFFERENT TIME. IT WILL RESTART ON WEDNESDAY 9TH SEPT AT 10.30AM.

Church around the table

Who would have thought that eating could be such fun! For those of you who don’t know what “Church Around the Table” is, it’s our new way of meeting together. Basically, if you’ve got a dining table or access to a dining table (you can meet in a cafe, restaurant etc) you can invite people to join you around your table and “share life”. I think we all recognise that being “church”  is more than just a quick conversation on a Sunday morning and while Home groups have been great, we only get to know a small number of people. CATT (as I will now refer to it!) allows us the flexibility to meet people  at a time that is convenient rather than trying to fit in with the usual Thursday night slot. So we have been meeting on different days for breakfasts, lunches, teas (lovely cakes!) dinners and suppers, and in our meeting together we have the chance to get to know each other better and to discuss things and pray together in an informal environment. The lovely thing about CATT is that anyone can be involved, from the youngest to the oldest, from the person with no faith, to those who are long standing Christians. There’s a place for everyone.  As we gather around our tables we will be developing friendships with each other that are not just superficial. We need to be honest and open, encouraging each other, building one another up and sharing in the bad as well as the good times. We’ll be praying and learning together and growing in our understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

In a nutshell, it’s all about building deeper relationships, creating a place of encouragement and support, being open to everyone and stimulating growth.

If you haven’t tried it yet, look at the sign up sheet on Sunday and put your name down, or even better, why not host a CATT yourself – can’t cook? no problem, just get people to bring their own food!!

New Year – 24/7 prayer

So much for good intentions! I intended to write here at the beginning of the new year and here we are at the end of January. Christmas seems a long time ago now but I have to say that our services went really well. The Christingle service was a very happy time and all those who took part in the carol service did really well. It was lovely to have so many visitors with us.

I was able to take a couple of days away at the beginning of the month at a lovely place called Penhurst Christian Retreat Centre to spend some time praying and seeking God for this coming year. I came away feeling excited and optimistic about what He was going to do among us this year. We will continue with our various activities like the Ark, Messy Church, Stretch and Liaise but we will be making some changes to our home groups. I’ll give more details about that in a couple of weeks. In the meantime we will continue to meet together on Thursday evenings.

Another thing that I’m excited about is our our 24/7 prayer week which starts on 8th February at 8pm and finishes on 15th February at 8pm. Our prayer weeks have been really special times and can I encourage you all to take time during this week to come to the prayer room. I can guarantee that once you’ve been, you’ll want to come again. You can drop in any time but it would be really helpful if you would put your name on the sign up sheet if you know when you can come. For safety reasons the door will be locked at 10pm and only people who have signed up for the night slots will be able to come in, so get signing! If you want more information you can phone or email me at the church office, 215915.

Christmas and new year

The carol singing last night was fun! Esp the mulled wine at the end! Looking forward to Sunday – but how about a 24/7 in the new year?

Update

I can’t believe that October is here and I’m already thinking about Christmas and the New Year! My head is full of thoughts and ideas about what we should do, what the services should be like and how am I going to fit everything in, and that’s before I have to think about what we will do as a family!

I know that for a lot of people the thought of Christmas this year is a real pressure, with the credit crunch taking hold and affecting what we can spend. However, it might not be a bad thing for us all to take time to think about what’s really important before we launch ourselves into the frenzy of shopping and organising. Maybe this will give us the opportunity to get back to what Christmas is all about – remembering the amazing gift that God has given us – Jesus. Discovering the story of Jesus birth all over again and celebrating His birth together is a lovely thing and if you don’t usually attend a church, we’d love you to join with us as we do that. Details of our Christmas services will be given nearer the time (when I’ve decided what they are!)

If you do find that finances are becoming a big worry and you are in difficulty, Liaise Debt Advice Centre may be able to help. The details are on this website and the help they give is free and impartial.

Well, back to my pondering about Christingles and carols and mincepies ………………………………………

Whats next.

Well here we are, summer’s nearly over, the children are about to go back to school and college and others off to university. We will be sending Katie off  to Moorlands Bible College and our house will seem very quiet without her!

We had great fun taking part in the carnival with all the other Broadwater churches and the magician that came was excellent – even the weather was good! The Parenting Course was a success even though our equipment let us down at the end. So now we look forward to the Autumn and, dare I say it – Christmas.    The Ark, our group for mums and toddlers (and anyone else caring for young children) restarts on 8th September at 10am and Stretch, our keep fit group , will restart on the 9th.

We are starting a new group called “Messy Church” on Weds 10th Sept and meeting once a month. I’m really excited about this as I think it will be great fun. It starts at 3.30 and finishes at 5.30. The format will be: 3.30 – 4pm people arrive, drinks, time to chat and board games, 4 – 5pm crafts,  5 – 5.15 short celebration, 5.15 – 5.30 tea. All the craft activities will help to tell a bible story or something that Jesus taught or said and will will finish by eating tea together. All ages are welcome, from toddlers to grannies and grandads, all that we ask is that children under 13 are accompanied by an adult. So put your old clothes on and come along – we’d love to see you!

We will also be running an Alpha course later in September, so start thinking about who you can invite. Alpha is such a good course to do because it allows people to ask questions and to discover what being a Christian is all about in a non threatening environment. If you do know of someone who would like to do the course please let Denise or Patrick know or contact the church office.

Florida “revival” reflections

Here is an article by Bill Kennedy from Southampton, on the Florida “revival”.  It links to another article by Pete greig about the need to pray in view of all that’s happening at the moment.

http://www.24-7prayer.com/cm/content/888

Events

Just wanted to let you all know that there are plenty of things to get involved with and to plan for over the summer.

First of all there’s the Broadwater Carnival taking place on 19th July. The churches in Broadwater are manning a marquee for the day under the Hope 08 banner. We will be serving refreshments, doing craft activities with the children and showing a Nooma DVD. WE will also have a Christian magician providing entertainment. This is a really good opportunity for the churches in Broadwater to show the community that we can work together and that we actually really like each other!

Then, we have our Parenting course starting on Monday 29th July at 10am and running for 4 consecutive Mondays in place of the Ark. We need people to help with the creche. It’s so important that we help and support families as they bring up their children. If you know anyone that would like to do the course we do have a few places left. Please contact Denise at the church office if you or someone you know is interested.

We will be starting Messy Church on Wednesday 10th September from 3.30 – 5.30pm. We will be running it once a month and is a different way of “doing church”. There will be lots of craft activitites that are used to tell a story or illustrate a theme from the bible. Anyone can join in, children, teenagers and grown ups of any age. After the craft activities there will be a short service in the church and then that is followed by tea, so you don’t have to prepare a meal when you get home! We need volunteers to help with the craft activities, to prepare the activities, help with setting up and clearing away and helping to prepare the food – so no one needs to be bored!!

We will also be running an Alpha course in September so if you know anyone that would like to do it, contact the church office for more details.

Everyone of these activities is an an opportunity for us to make a difference in our community and to share Jesus with people – how good is that!!

Prayer Triplets

I just wanted to encourage everyone to think about forming a prayer triplet. As you know, at the beginning of the year we sensed God calling us to pray like we haven’t prayed before and so far, as we have prayed, we have seen answers to those prayers.  We are still hearing stories of how God spoke to us in the prayer room.

The aim of the prayer triplets is to pray regularly with 2 other people for 3 of our friends and family (9 people in total) until September when we will be running an Alpha course. The good thing about praying with other people is that you can encourage each other. It can be hard when you have been praying for someone for a long time and not seen any change in the situation. There is great encouragement in knowing that someone else is praying and that you can do the same for them. If you want to be in a triplet but don’t know who to ask, speak to Angela and she will help you to find someone. Or if you have already found 2 people to pray with, let her know so we know who’s praying. Let’s pray with expectation that we are going to see God work in peoples hearts and lives and see people coming to know Him.

While I’m on the subject of prayer, can I encourage you to join us for our prayer breakfast on Saturday 26th April in the back hall from 8.15am – 9.30am.