Hennie's October blog

Dear All,

This time last year I can remember beginning my blog by saying that I had been walking Chanty in shorts with the temperature reaching as high as 25 c (rather rare for October). This week walks have been in waterproofs and wellies - and some days waders would have been more appropriate than wellies with a month's rain falling in a few days, and temperature falling as low as 12 c!  

Well that is the temperature of the English weather, but I believe the spiritual temperature of St. Mark's is quietly rising. And I think this started this time last year following our first 24 hours of prayer which we had from Friday 30th September to Saturday 1st October, in preparation for our Parish Weekend Away later in October.  And of course we have just finished our second 24 hrs of prayer which we held from Friday 28th to Sat 29th Sept focussing on putting our Vision into Practice.

There were various different prayer stations where one could focus on Our identity being in Jesus Christ; Our purpose: 'Loving God and making His love known'; Our values - valuing the Word of God and the use of God's spiritual gifts, seeking to become a more open, prayerful, loving, thankful, forgiving, generous and encouraging community for the glory of God; and Our Vision - to be a church called to be God's people, to worship, serve and grow, and to see lives of all ages continualy transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit by deepening our relationship with God, growing our relationship with one another, and developing our relationship with the local community and wider world.  It was a powerful time of prayer as we took time and space to be with God; to listen to Him, to hear from Him, and be ministered to by Him through the work of the Holy Spirit.  People arrived in very different places spiritually, emotionally and physically, but many commented that they really felt the presence of God, and heard Him speak into their personal lives, and into the life of the church.

I have had time today to reflect on what many people felt God saying, and who recorded what they heard by writing in the various notepads that were distributed around the church.  There are number of common threads which I would like to share, and ask all who read this blog to pray into them, and let me have your thoughts. 

A real desire that personal lives, and the life of the church be filled with the Holy Spirit; a recognition that it must be God's will and not ours; a number of people felt God calling them to 'TRUST IN HIM'; an understanding that it is our responsibility to bring people to God, not someone else's; a real desire for the church to be inclusive of all people; and to be humble, honouring others, living in harmony, and respecting others; a greater generosity of hearts within St. Mark's of time, talents, resources and money; not to do things in our own strength but believing that nothing is impossible for God; and how God would love us to love Him with the outrageous love that He loves us with.  These are the common threads, but I thank God for every scripture, prayer or thought that He gave to those who came throughout the 24 hrs.

A word was also shared yesterday in church which I feel God is wanting us to take on board, especially in the climate of change that we are presently experiencing.  When praying about the Church's Vision someone felt God was calling us to be 'All One in Christ Jesus' with the reassurance we are all children of God through faith (Galatians 3: v. 26 - 29). And with this scripture came this picture - 'a piece of knitting is all one thread. Each member of God's family at St. Mark's are individual stitches carefully knitted together. If the stitching is loose there will be gaps which represent divisions between people. If we are tightly 'knitted together' divisions are lessened and we will be effective, interdependent and 'All one in Christ Jesus'. Let us pray that we all might be knitted tightly together as we move foreward into new pastures.

The other area of ministry I would like to draw your attention to is Alpha.  During September we prayed for a number of houses, streets, and cul de sacs, and delivered invitations to Alpha around the Boundary Lane area of the parish. A number of us also attended the Alpha Accelerate Day held at Northgate Church for a day of worship and teaching aimed at those running an Alpha course, with input from Holy Trinity Brompton, London - and was much appreciated by those who attended from St. Mark's. On Thursday 27th September we had two tables at the Alpha Celebration Meal held at the Show Boat, Chester, where over 200 people heard a very powerful testimony from a guy who had been converted to Christianity through the Alpha course while in prison.  Let us pray for all the Alpha courses starting shortly in Chester, and especially ours which starts next Wednesday 10th October.  Pray for the team, especially Geoff Belton, pray for those who have signed up to come; pray for all who have volunteered to help in the catering, serving, welcome, and washing/clearing up.  Pray that lives of all ages will be transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Lastly, I heard a well known Canadian, Guy Chevreau, talk last Tuesday at the Link Up Churches Retreat. He was talking about the vital signs of a healthy church, and he emphasised the importance of generous hearts & healthy prayer lives - especially praying in the secret places. So let's keep on praying in our private lives, and corporately as a church  - Jesus said, 'when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father'. (Matthew 6: v.6).

May God be close to you this month.


Hennie