Hennie's monthly Blog for November

Dear All,

This morning, 7th November, really did feel like Autumn with a hard frost. No walking Chanty in shorts today, me or her, ski-ing gear seemed more appropriate. But don't worry we didn't embarrass the congregations of St. Mark's or the Lighthouse, neither of us were seen walking down Duke's Drive wearing skis!

Seven months since I arrived, and I feel excited about what might lie ahead? I discern that the spiritual barometer of the church is inching its way upwards, and especially during this past month - there is a sense of momentum and motivation as we continue to seek, and discern, God's direction, and vision, for the church.

There have been some specific occasions in October when we have gathered together to listen to God, and He has spoken to us clearly, and with what I believe is becoming a more united understanding of, 'Who we are, and who He is calling us to be'.

Firstly we had 24hrs of prayer from 5 pm on Friday 30th September to 5 pm Saturday 1st October in preparation for our Parish Weekend Away. The church was laid out with different prayer stations where people could spend time with God listening to what He had to say about ourselves as individuals (our personal discipleship); and as a church (worship, ministry, evangelism, mission, and other areas of our church life). When entering the church one could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit, and that one was standing on Holy Ground. There was, without doubt, a sense of God calling us to a deeper relationship with Himself, and a call to reach further out into the parish, and wider world in mission and service. There was a picture of water running out from underneath the altar, down through the church, and out into the high street of Saltney, gaining speed and depth. Once outside this great powerful river was sweeping people up and taking them along with it - cleansing, healing, watering, and transforming. Let us pray into this picture.

Our 24hrs of prayer was followed by our monthly October Prayer Gathering on Wed 5th October, and again we used the prayer stations in the church to listen, reflect and pray. It was a powerful hour where again the Holy Spirit was present, and where God met with us!

On the evening of Sunday 9th October we had a great evening of celebration praise, where the younger members of the worship band played with Nicola and Pete, and Jack also led the final act of sung worship. We had an extended time of praising God in Spirit and truth, a great sermon from Geoff, and then a time of creative prayer and asking the Holy Spirit to come and minister to us. Over 50 people came that evening, and the majority of people left having felt that the spiritual barometer of that service had definately moved upwards - praise God!

Lastly, but not least we had a great Parish weekend away from Friday 14th -16th October with the Archdeacon of Chester, Mike Gilbertson, as our guest speaker. The theme for the weekend was 'Who are we, and who is God calling us to be'? Mike spoke to us from 1 Corinthians 1: 1-9 and entitled his two talks, 'Called to be his people'. Called to be... as individuals, together, and as part of the worldwide church; called to serve... in God's grace, and with the gifts he gives; called to grow.. in quantity and quality; called for a purpose... past, present and future of God's great plan; called to be God's people in grace, thanks, encouragement and love. He also spoke of the encouragements and challenges that we face at St. Mark's, and in particular the challenge of growing the church numerically with the current structure that we have in place as a medium sized church. Are we prepared for the pain as we strive to break through the glass ceiling barrier?! I pray so......!?

He also encouraged us to think about where God might be calling the church to be in five years time, and what would our priorities need to be in order to get there with regard to our relationship with God, with one another, with the local community, and with others.

On Sunday morning we asked everyone to share one thing that had spoken to them since they had arrived, and that they could not get out of their minds, or hearts, and there were a number of different responses. However there was a thread emerging that people had a real desire to see deeper fellowship with one another (a church without masks); a deeper dependence on prayer; and more intentional mission out into the community. Perhaps confirmation of deeper in, and further out!

We ended the weekend with a service of Holy Communion where I preached on Isaiah 54: v. 2-3 and talked about not only our need to enlarge the place of our tents into the community, but the importance first for us to let the habitations of our hearts be stretched out so that our Lord Jesus Christ can come and dwell in a larger space within us - less of us and more of Him. Again deeper in with Christ, so that we are equipped to go further out with His love.

As we go forward into this month of November can I ask you to pray into all that I have shared with you above, and encourage you to continue to listen to God as we seek to know who He is calling us to be, both individually, and as a church, and where He is calling us to go?

I think there are exciting times ahead for us, but it won't be easy - it could be messy, it well might be painful - but I pray we will be united in our vision, and mission, as we are called to grow & build God's Kingdom here in Lache and Saltney, and well beyond.

God bless you all this November,

love and prayers Hennie