Letters from England : Last Weekend

As I was thinking about what to right for this update it dawned on me that a brief summary of last weekend would give you a good glimpse my life and work here so far.

Friday: One of the ways I am helping the church here is by getting some things done that no one has time to do. This might seem far removed from spreading the gospel, but actually it is very connected. God in his Word has told us how He reaches out to this fallen word and that is through His Church. Therefore, all that I do to support the church here is actually enabling it to better reach out to the community. So Friday, during the day, I was refurbishing one of the signs the church sets out of the community center where it meets. That night I went to the CU meeting at the University of Northumbria. The student side of things has been a bit frustrating and there have been a lot of road blocks, but last Friday I was able to have a few good conversations with students about the struggle we have to value God’s grace. I also had some good friendly conversations about everyday things like music and just felt I was being to break the ice with some of them. So far all I have been able to do is just to try and lay ground work, really. Raising the profile of Gateshead Pres and trying to make personal contact with students and so any little encouragements like this are amazing! Please pray that God would continue to open up doors among students and guide us in how to best reach out to them.

Saturday: Most of Saturday was taken up doing chores around the garden. We have a large hedge that goes all the way around the house and at least one neighbor had let up know that it needed trimming so we barrowed a heavy duty petrol trimmer and away we went. (See pictures on blog) We also had a good conversation with another neighbor and hope to get to know more of them in the near future. Please pray for our witness to them. My housemates are really great Christian guys and their fellowship has definitely been one of the highlights of my time here so far. Then Saturday Evening I organize a social for YP (the youth group or young people’s club). We had the group over to our house and ate sweets, played games, and took a night walk to the lake owned by the subdivision we live in. A great time was had by all!

The Lord’s Day: Sunday was just a normal Lord’s Day. Morning Worship, followed by fellowship after church over tea and biscuits (cookies), followed by open house with the 20 somethings crowd of the church at the house of one of the families in the church, followed by evening worship and more fellowship. It is hard to describe the sweetness of fellowship on these Lord’s Days. One feels spiritual and intellectually stimulated and yet they are wonderfully relaxing too!

Hopefully that gives you a little glimpse into my life and work here. I continue to covet your prayers. Please pray:

For open doors regarding students. Particularly pray for me tonight as I go again to another CU meeting that God would be opening up opportunities for me to build friendships.

For the opportunity I have to help out with the CU in a local public secondary school. This is taking longer than I hoped to get set up, but I am very excited about the opportunity especially because it will give me the opportunity to reach out to new Christians and non Christian students. Please pray that this would get swiftly set up.