Friday 31 August 2007

Extra church meeting

There's some stuff on the website here about the extra church meeting taking place after the service on the 9th September.

Refreshments and childcare will be available.

Wednesday 29 August 2007

Summer in the Community

I was going to post this two days ago but I guess better late than never.

Several churches have been hosting the "Summer in the Community" event for the past two days and it will be on again tomorrow. There's free fun for kids who are almost at the end of their Summer holidays. Bouncy castles, face painting etc. are all happening outside HMV.

It's a great opportunity to provide a service, make conversation and maybe even a contact of two.

It's not too late to check it out if you're down that way and it's certainly not too late to pray...

Monday 20 August 2007

Happy Birthday to you

Hazel let slip on her blog that not only is it her birthday today but quite a significant milestone too.

So I thought I'd share that with you all and here's wishing you, Hazel, a wonderful day.

Promised link

Just got back from a week in sunny Norfolk (most days anyway) and I've found the web evangelism link I mentioned a post or two ago. The website is here and the newsletter which you can subscribe to is here.

A lot of it is relevant to America but there are some useful points here and there...

Monday 6 August 2007

We need to do more of this

Some time ago we were brainstorming about how to interact more with each other and with our neighbours, and I shared how I was trying to establish more contact with our care group, particularly with some young families.

Our home group had an end-of-session 'Just Desserts' evening to which we invited all our care group, but the response was very poor. Did any other groups have a better response?

On a more successful and encouraging note, however, one member of our home group who herself has young children invited Robin and myself and two other couples and their children for tea and cake one Saturday afternoon. We were blessed with good weather, and the children all played happily in the garden while the adults chatted and got to know one another better.

We need to do this more! Perhaps some people will always avoid bigger gatherings, but might respond to a more individual, less formal approach. The same format would work just as easily with our non-church-going neigbours.

Has anybody else got any experiences to share?

Thursday 2 August 2007

a seasoned blogger

I just thought I'd alert you to a seasoned blogger in our midst.

Hazel has a wonderful blog of her own here which is dedicated to her other passion of crafting. Check it out and be prepared to be amazed at the glorious cards she makes and in particular, at the wonderful comments she always receives from fellow crafters. I've always thought it is a fantastic example of people really connecting with a shared love of doing the same thing.

Anyway today she and a team of crafty Christians (not in the sense that they are anyway sneaky you understand) from around the world have launched their own blog called the Salt Faith Challenge blog which challenges people to produce something creative and post it - I think that's right but you'll have to check it out for yourself. The first challenge is 'Praise.'

I also subscribe to an online newsletter called Web Evangelism (I've temporarily lost the link but if I find it I'll post it.) and what Hazel is doing is exactly how they suggest we should be using the web to connect with people and share with them. Just join in a conversation on a forum or set up your own blog (it suggests not a Christian one because only Christians read those!) and through that chat about life in general. I love some of the comments on Hazel's blog that ask how she manages to do it - maybe they'll catch a glimpse of that.

All this challenges me and although I can't post a card on their site (although you never know) I will certainly be praying for her and her venture - won't you join me...

Wednesday 1 August 2007

Scripture meme

Lorna, others, If you wanted to read the posts that Liz refers to then Simon's is here and Jonathan's is here