Going for Gold

As we start this year together we can feel the 2012 Olympic fever beginning to build already.

For us as a church we have every reason to “Go for Gold”. It is so exciting to see people coming to faith, getting baptised, bringing their friends and families, sharing Jesus at work, being set free...we really do hold an amazing Gospel in our hands. We really do live in a big story of a God who loves His world so much He sent His son and keeps on sending... sending us as missionaries into the places where we live and work full of the Holy Spirit's power,with hearts full of prayer and showing the hospitality of God to all people.

We are embarking on the learning journey with St Thomas in Sheffield to help us look at better ways to make disciples, go and be church in our communities and train missional
leaders.

We are looking forward to learning together how to live in His presence in our daily lives, together and apart.

To help us reflect on all this and be inspired we are planning a weekend away together at the end of September..please put this in your diaries now...we will be having a wonderful time of teaching and worship together in the beautiful setting of Hothorpe Hall..with activities for the whole family. This will cost around £120 for adults and £60 for children with a special price for families. We will get information to you soon so you can start saving. Of course as a church we will help one another so don't let the cost put you off coming...we want everyone to feel able to be part of this vital time in our journey.

Let's ask and imagine even more this year of the God who promises us more than we can ask or imagine!


Ruth Rice
February 2012

Diary dates for the coming year

Sunday 15th January

- Baptismal service at St Luke’s at 1:30 – No morning service

15th – 22nd January

- Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – Details to follow

Monday 16th January

- Wider leaders meeting at The Barn

Saturday 18th February

- Day Workshop on Forgiveness
  led by Daphne Atkinson and Val Moon at St Luke’s.

Wednesday 22nd February

- Church Meeting

Saturday 12th May

- Acts of Kindness day

28th-30th September

- Church Weekend at Hothorpe Hall.  Please start saving now!

 

Ruth Rice

January 2012

Monthly newsletter December 2011

For my quiet time recently I have been reading Acts 17 to 21. This is an exciting description of how Paul and a number of his friends travelled around some of the Eastern Mediterranean countries sharing their knowledge and experience of Jesus. The reaction to the message was very varied, some were angry, others violently angry, more were indifferent but a good number listened, became disciples of Jesus and joined one of the new churches. Paul was always looking for opportunities to tell people of the one who had changed his life. Often this was at great risk to his friends and himself. On a number of occasions they had to run away but he still shared Jesus at the next stop.

Paul was guided by what happened to him but at other times knew what God wanted him to do and where he had to go. The particular incident that has stood out for me while reading these passages this time is Paul’s certainty that he had to go to Jerusalem, even though many fellow Christians advised him not to. One, Agabus came down to see him when Paul was near Jerusalem . He went up to Paul, took his belt and dramatically tied him self, hands and feet and then said: “The Jews in Jerusalem are going to do this to the man who owns this belt and then hand him over to godless unbelievers.” Paul then said even so I know Jesus wants me to go to Jerusalem and so I must let the Master do what he wants through my obedience.

He doesn’t normally ask us to risk our lives but some Christian have been asked, for example North Koreans have gone back into North Korea to share Jesus there, even though imprisonment and probably death will be the outcome. However we may be asked to do stuff for Him that we find uncomfortable or inconvenient, am I, or are you ready?

David Mash
December 2011

Monthly newsletter November 2011

I think I'm going to look forward to the coming series on hospitality.Now there's a concept that has changed its emphasis since New Testament times. In today's society, hospitality largely consists ofinviting people like yourself round for a meal, often in the expectation that they'll invite you back for a similar offering from the pages of Deliaor Jamie. You may even be saying to yourself, "I suppose we'd better invite them back." Today, there is even a hospitality industry.

As I understand it, the view was rather different in the early church. Not that there is anything wrong in inviting friends for a meal. Far from it, but it would have been seen not as hospitality, but as part of normal social interaction and fellowship. Hospitality was directed towards people who were not in a position to repay you, for whatever reason. It might be that they are visitors, passing through your town, whom you will never see again or it might be that their circumstances would mean they were unable to offer a return meal. It's well expressed in Romans12:13 "Share with God's people who are in need. Practise hospitality" or as the CEV puts it "Take care of God's needy people and welcome strangers into your home." After all, if it's God's hospitality that's our example, there's no way we can get anywhere near repaying that.

This reminds me of the odd times in the past when we've done this, and some of them really were very odd. I'm reminded of the sheer variety of people and situations we came up against. Few if any were in any position to repay in any way. One did try once by giving us a bunch of roses – a delightful gesture spoilt only by the fact that they had almost certainly been nicked from a neighbour's garden. Overall it was a very positive experience, though not without its moments. I look forward to us, as a church, developing hospitality as it was in the early church.You never know what you might end up doing. Come to think of it, it must have been like that in the early church and at least it shouldn't be boring.

John

November 2011