AUGUST

Monthly Bulletin  of Brian Jennings, Missionary of the Fellowship of
Churches of Christ to Ghana serving with Ghana Christian University
College, Accra, Ghana, West Africa. (29/08/09)

Dear Friends,

He told them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the
Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field
Luke 10:2 (ANIV)

GRADUATION DAY!
Saturday 29th August is Graduation Day at Ghana Christian University College
and among those graduating from our various courses will be eleven students
from our degree programme of these six will have upper seconds and five
lower seconds. Their degree certificates from the University of Wales will
be the culmination of four years very hard work! After graduation most of
this group will resume or continue in positions of Christian service and
leadership in Churches or Christian organisations.
Let me tell you about another three of these guys.
Ernest Odei is a leader of a Christian youth organisation and for his final
year dissertation conducted research on mentoring young adults. He will
apply the insights he gained in this project to encouraging young men and
women involved in his organisation to walk closely with the Lord!
Francis Menyi is an outstanding pastoral minister. Francis has studied with
us for seven years - three years in our Higher Certificate programme and
four years in our degree! Francis completed a placement in marriage
counselling for his final year project. In the reflection he wrote on his
experience he demonstrated his capacity to enable husbands and wives to
better understand each other and build their marriage relationship in the
Lord. As he resumes his ministry full-time there is no doubt that he will be
a channel of God's blessing to many families.
Paulina Ansah has worked her way through her degree as the administrator for
her Church as well as coping with the responsibilities of a husband and
family. For her final year project Paulina developed a discipleship
programme for the young people in her congregation. For Paulina her degree,
or rather the enhanced skills and insights she has gained through her
studies, will open new and exciting opportunities of ministry and
leadership.
Please pray for these servants of Jesus and all of their colleagues who will
graduate with them.

THE LIFE OF BRIAN
A missionary's furlough is not a holiday! Since I returned to the UK I have
- Completed the bulk of the literature research for my MA Education
dissertation
- Helped out with marking MA dissertations for Together in Mission
- Worked on some academic quality assurance consultancy
- Started Church visits
- Attended a University of Wales quality assurance conference
- Oh yes - and I did take a holiday a week's cycling in the south of France
where it was hot and sunny!

I've also a fairly busy schedule ahead during September:
- On the 7th and 8th I attending a University of Wales teaching and learning
conference
- From the 10th to 17th I'm visiting the Buckie Church north of Aberdeen
- From the 19th to 26th I'm in Seattle, Washington State USA to attend an
event organised by Bakke Graduate University. BGU are strategic partners
with Ghana Christian University College and I have been seconded by GCUC to
work with BGU as part of that partnership. I'll say more about this next
month.


PRAYER POINTS

Please thank the Lord for:
The graduating class of the University College
A great holiday in hot and sunny France!

Please pray for:
All the new graduates of Ghana Christian University, Ernest, Francis, and
Paulina.
Graduation at Ghana Christian University College
My extensive travels and conversations during Septemper.

My UK contact details are: 153 Northfield Road, Kings Norton, Birmingham,
B30 1EA
Tel.: 01214511854; Mobile: 07887914916

All contributions should be make out to the Fellowship of Churches of Christ
and sent to Tim Herbert, 174 Redland Road, Bristol BS6 6YG, email:
herbsgardens@googlemail.com

Celebration of 60 years in the Ministry for Alan Robinson (02/08/09)

Alan Robinson, celebrates 60 years in the ordained ministry! We are really pleased to be able to share with Alan in a very special service to commemorate the 60^th Anniversary of his ordination. The special service is being held at the church on Sunday 2^nd August. It is hoped Alan will reproduce “His Story” for us in future editions of the Grapevine.

Coffee Morning (01/08/09)

Considering we didn't publicise it, we had a good turnout at the coffee morning today and raised £15. Thanks to all who came and supported us.

JULY 

Holiday Bible Club

Today was the first day of our Holiday Bible Club and we had thirteen kids (14 if you count Finley our little 2 year old grandson who we are looking after for two days). The team, including Mindy, Kyle and Mary, worked really hard on setting up our animal theme and I think the kids really enjoyed it. We had craft, singing, dancing, bible stories, running round and playing team games and then the kids all made their own snack to eat, rice cakes, covered in peanut butter, toffee spread or clover, with four little chocolate buttons and the pads, they made and ate lions paw prints. (Graham and I helped them with this).

The team split the kids into three groups, according to age and they all did an activity, then moved onto the next one.

Can't wait for tomorrow. But must say that Mindy was really good on the mike, she soon had the kids (and adults in line) it suited her.

Will update you tomorrow...

Another fantastic day at Holiday Bible Club, even more kids there today. We sang, danced, talked, made things to eat, things to take home. This team we have is great, all the Americans that is, included our own three, Mindy, Mary and Kyle as well as the guys from Harmony. Last day tomorrow, the kids are planning something to show their parents, we have no idea what is it, but have great expectations. Shall be really sad when it all over, even sadder to say bye to the great team from Harmony. We are so lucky they came to us.

Well it's all over, our Holiday Bible club is finished. Many many thanks to our team, Mindy, Mary and Kyle and the Harmony team, Annette, Gretchen, Kitty, Theresa, Mark and Ty, you all worked so hard and made it such a huge success, the kids all really enjoyed it and got so much from it. Graham and I felt proud to be working alongside you. We really appreciate you coming over and working with our kids. I'm sure Alan also appreciated all the hard 'graft' clearing the back of the church etc.

We hope you have a lovely day tomorrow and that Annette and Gretchen enjoy their further week in Britain and we wish you a safe journey home. You will forever be in our hearts and we will never forget you. We just hope that some day soon we can see you all again.

Our final thanks go to all our wonderful kids for coming along and making our three days such a pleasure. I'm going to download (fingers crossed) some photos for everyone to see what a wonderful time we had. Elaine

What others thought...

Just wanted to say how much Chloe and Jake are enjoying coming to the holiday bible club.They love all the craft making,story telling,everyting about it.So much hard work has been put into it by everyone concerned.............you are all so much appriciated..........thankyou all for all your hard work and dedication.

Thanks all for your hard work and committment to the holiday bible club... Fin loved his 2 days... he told me he had been dancing and singing!!!!.... he loved it... thanks an safe journey home to the team...

From Mindy...

happy everyone had a good time at the holiday bible club. hopefully the kids managed to learn something from it too. it was a good time and i did enjoy kyle getting pied in the face as well. :)

Harmony Christian Church Team

See the photo of four of the five member group coming from Oklahoma in July for the Holiday Bible Club. From left to right: Annette and Gretchen Wilterdink, Mark DeShazo, and Thersa Ridinger (not shown is Kitty Richardson). Pictures in the August Grapevine Bitesize.

The team from Harmony Christian Church, Oklahoma consisting of Ty, Annette, Gretchen, Mark, Theresa and Kitty had been planning and raising finances for this trip for nearly two years. Harmony is the home church of Kyle and Mindy and they said they wanted to come and visit them before they had even left to join us.

The group put on the Holiday Bible Club entitled “Kingdom of the Son” which Mindy organised and led assisted by Elaine, Graham and Mary The club went really well with around13 kids each day enjoying teaching, crafts and singing. On the final day, the kids put on a short show for the parents of the songs and dances they learnt. They also raised an amazing £75 for our Missionary, Brian Jennings who works at Ghana Christian University. In the afternoons, the team helped Alan with church maintenance projects. We had a chance to get to know them a little better at the Sunday Night Alternative and at a BBQ before they returned home. We want to give many thanks to them for all their hard work. 

Covenant Group meets at Kyle and Mindy's to discuss group (15/07/09)

As part of our desire to intentionally help christians grow in their spiritual journey and grow christian community, Kyle and Mindy are launching a Discipleship group later in the summer. They met to discuss how this gorup would function. Details to follow.

Thursday Morning Group meets for the first time (15/07/09)

A morning group has now started. Details to follow.

Harry Potter event "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" (14/07/09)

Taking advantage of our new licence that allows us to show films as part of outreach events and providing there is no charge, we were able to show the last Harry Potter movie to get people into the mood for the release of the latest blockbuster. About 30 kids and adults joined Kyle, Mindy and Mary as they hosted the event and it was a great success.

New Small Groups starting over the Summer (12/07/09)

It is really hard in a small church to provide for everyone's needs, especially if you have people at various stages of their journies of faith from seekers to those who have been christians for a number of years. We are limited in our services to having to provide a balance that is suitable for anyone who comes to the church. that is why, the real in-depth teaching and chrstian discipleship needs to happen in the small group. We have had various small groups over the years but it has been hard to keep these goiing as again, they have had to cater for too wide a range of needs. In an attempt to cater for the differing needs we have, we are finally in a position to start up a number of groups at different times and catering for different needs.

We are hoping to start various small groups in the near future to help cope with the influx of people with different spiritual needs.

Over the next month or so, our normal twice monthly Fellowship Group will be supplemented by other groups meeting more specific needs:

For people seeking on their spiritual journey, an Alpha Group will run. This well known course is for seekers and new christians introducing the principles of the christian faith.  The next course will start soon and will run at Rose's house. Dates TBC.

For those wishing to go deeper into their faith, a Covenant Group will be formed. A weekly Fellowship Group to explore the scriptures and get deeper into God's Word and Covenant Living. A preliminary meeting is being held from 6pm this Thursday at Kyle and Mindy's house to discuss what the group will look like. It is hoped to start the group properly in August.

Not everyone can get to a group in the evening, ans so we are hoping to develop groups at different times and days. Initially, a Morning Group is to be set up on a Thursday. An initial meeting is being held at the church this Thursday morning to discuss what the group will cover.

The Learning Zone will run further in depth courses at the church, but now these will generally be on Saturdays. Future courses will include a repeat of the Caoching 101, Pastoral Listenning Skills and the Confident Communicator course.

Other groups will be started as we have the interest and need.

Alpha Course (06/06/09)

There has been a lot of interest shown in running an alpha course. We will be starting one later in the summer, once the main holidays have been taken. Rose has very kindly offered to host the course which will be on a Thursday night. More information to follow. 

Coffee Morning and American Independence Day (04/07/09) 

We celebrated American Independence Day with a coffee morning supplying large quantities of chocolate brownies and muffins.

OLD NEWS ITEMS

JUNE

Graham and Elaine's Blessing of Wedding Vows (28/06/09)

We were pleased to be able to undertake the blessing of graham and Elaine's wedding vows in light of their Ruby Wedding Anniversary. The church was packed and the service was well received by all the visitors and guests.  

Mary Ellis Arrives (17/06/09)

Mary Ellis is a third year student at Lincoln Christian University. She is undertaking a 6 month internship at the church during which time whe will shadow Kyle and Mindy in their missionary activities.

BBQ (13/06/09)

Another outstanding success. Many thanks to Graham and Elaine.

Coaching 101 Course (06/06/09)

Facilitated by Mary Ann and Bruce Robertson who both have years of training and counselling skills between them, the course focused on the skills required to become and effective coach , to come alongside people and to help them unlock their potential. the course was very well received, and will be run again as a number of interested parties were unable to attend.

Coffee Morning (06/06/09)

Another highly successful coffee morning raising money for charity and the building fund. Many thanks to everyone who helped out, especially to Sandra for the cakes.

Celtic Service at SNA (24/05/09)

graham led his first complete service at the Sunday Night Alternative. it was a Celtic meditation service followed by several requested songs.

Mary Ann and Bruce Robertson visit (10/05/09)

We were pleased to have Mary Ann and Bruce with us today and for mary Ann to deliver the message. They will be returning in June to deliver the Coaching 101 course.

Alan to have knee operation (08/05/09)

Alan is to have an operation on one of his knees. He will only be in hospital overnight, but it may take a few months before he is able to go up ladders and clamber over the roof again. We wish him every luck for the success of the operation and our prayers obviously go with him.

National Delegates Conference (02/05/09)

We were delighted to host this year's National fellowship Delegate's Conference, Family Fun Day and Celebration Conference. It was a hectic day and a lot of people helped out to set up the event and run it on the day. WE provided two meals for around 100 people. The Family Fun day was also well attended, and we had a great celebration service to round off the day with Tamil dancing and a keynote address reflecting on the first 30 years of the fellowship delivered by Revd Dr martin Robinson, head of the Together in Mission MA. 

Ordination of Kyle Duncan (02/05/09)

Kyle Duncan, one of our Missionaries from New Mission Systems International was ordained at the National Fellowship Conference in recognition of his calling and training.

APRIL 

Easter Sunday (12/04/09)

Alan and Kyle cooked the breakfasts for our traditional Easter breakfast. WE had about 20 people eat before the service. We had a great service to celebrate the Resurrection Hope of Jesus and were able to use the microphones for the first time!

Good Friday (10/04/09)

We had our traditional short service on Good Friday morning. Just half an hour of quiet reflection to start the day off right. Following that, we retired to the coffee bar for hot cross buns.

MARCH

Mary Ann and Bruce Robertson visit (29/03/09)

It was lovely to see Mary Ann and Bruce Robertson with us on Sunday. They first came to see us as part of a team with the Fittros a number of years ago when they helped us run a vision day. Since then we have seen them both on numerous occaisions, but this was the first time mary Ann has prehed for us. She did run a very successful ladies event last year.

Mary Ann spoke on Christian attitudes and posed some very thoughtful questions for us to ponder.

Baptismal Service (22/03/09)

We had around 70 people turn out on Sunday to support Rose and Sylvia as they came forward for Baptism. There were around 20 members of the CMA supporting Rose.

Jen took the baptisms after ahving personally helped Rose come to faith an had taken both her ans Sylvia for the baptismal classes.

The service was great, the baptistry got its own "baptism" and there was plenty of food to share aterwards.

Sylvia and rose both shared their stories which though very different, were both very powerful and moving and just show what a difference having  Jesus in your life and belonging to a supportive church can make to a person's life.

What a wonderful service, and the first of many uses of the baptistry!

The first bikers from CMA arrive escorting John, Sylvia's son.

Kyle directs the parking. The work of a Community Minister is varied to say the least!

Who says men can't multi-task? Kyle can direct traffic and drink tea at the same time too!

Jen and Rose test the water to make sure its not freezing cold! The steps etc. remain to be carpeted. You can just see the exit door to the rear hall (top left).

The heater made sure the water was a comfortable temperature! Thankfully, it was not a turkish bath either! The steps were recycled from our original baptistry. Not the excellent tiling from Pip!

The congregation continues to filter in for the start of the service. We had people from afar afield as Doncaster and Swindon! Around 70 people attended.

Sylvia, Jen and Rose. Rose and Sylvia had just given their testimonies and had heard the call to baptism and been prayed for and just had a moment to pose for photoes before heading into the baptistry.

Rose was baptised first, using the traditional backwards method. This is just before she went under the water.

Sylvia opted to go face forwards.

Spot the smallest Biker in Britain (Daniel). His dedication will be coming up soon. Details to follow.

We will be getting a couple of videos of the baptism soon. They will probably be posted to You Tube and you will be able to get to them from a link here.

Thanks to Chris for taking the photoes and Rose and Sylvia for giving their permission to put them on the website.

Clothes Swop (21/03/09)

The Clothes swap Saturday (21st March, 7.00pm). People brought up to 5 items of new or fairly new clothing or accessories to swop. They also brought some food to share too. The cost was a  mere £1. A number of people got some great swops and everyone had a great evening. many thanks to Marie-Anne for organising the event and for the £35 raised! Pictures to follow.  

Marie-Anne explaining how the event works to the attendees.

A happy customer showing off their new red suit

Baptistry News (21/03/09)

Well, thanks to tremendous work by Alan, Chas, Pip, Norm and Kyle, it's useable!

There is still some work to do to finish it off, but it's ready in time for our first baptisms on Sunday 22nd March!Well done to everyone for such great work and to Andy (Alan's son) who built the steps.

Pictures to follow.

Baptistry showing close up of tiling and steps.

The inlet valves have yet to be finished. As you can see they are currently just bare copper pipes. to the left you can see the perspex top that provides a better view of the baptism candidates.

The heater is one of our originals and is connected to one of two special wal sockets mounted to the right of the baptistry.

Up the steps and to the left is the exit door to the rear hall. Currently the steps are in place but are designed to fold up into the space between the doors. This is an exceptionally complex bit of carpentry undertaken by Andy (Alan's son) and fitted by chas.

FEBRUARY

Italian Evening raises £150 (28/02/09)

A general view of the Italian evening

We had a great evening and raised £150 for the Building Fund too! Many thanks to Kyle for making the Pizzas, Elaine, Graham and Den for providing the rest of the food and for Elaine and Graham and Carol serving. There were about 10 different flavours of pizza and we had about 50 guests including 15 from the Lighthouse too!

Initial tests for audio and music go well 03/02/09

After purchasing a mixer desk off eBay, Mark has been helping us to sort out what audio equipment we need to help in setting up the audio and media suite. This monumental step forward in helping to control and enhance the music and other audio and visual elements to our worship and other services including conferencens and training was very much the vision of Alan Sykes. It is in no small part owing to him and the generosity of his family that his vision is now in the process of becoming reality. It is hoped that the suite will soon be operational and then we can hold our long awaited memorial service for Alan with the fruit of his vision.

JANUARY

Coffee Morning, Cake and Rummage Sale 31/01/09

We had a great day with numerous stalls with a host of nearly new bargains. We had quite a few visitors throughout the day and lots ofinteresting conversations with visitors too. Many thanks to everyone who provided rummage or cakes and to those who helped set up and run thee stalls. o far we have raised £136 towards th building fund. Well done everyone. 

Have you ever wanted to help others on their journey? 29/01/09

You have probably had help on your journey when various people have journied alongside you, helping you by their encouragement and asking the right questions. If you have kids, you do it yourself, all the time. Sportsmen and women have professionals to help them perfect their skills.

In simple terms, this thing that most of us actually have experienced or have helped with others is called "coaching". Done properly, it is a very powerful tool, and we feel that it could be used by the church in many ways to help people in their lives.

Would you be interested in helping other people in this way?

If so, we are planning to run a "coaching 101 conference" in the near future.

Details to follow....

Women's Conference 29/01/09

 Carol has been hoping to put on a special event for empowering women for sometime. Now, with the help of Mary Ann Robinson (CMF) who is a trained counsellor and has years of experience in running such events, this dream is beginning to take shape.

A date has to be set, and details will follow, but the theme for the day conference to be held at CentralAvenue, is "Making a Difference".

Sunday School prizes 25/01/09

We have been awarding our first Sunday School prizes for outstanding attendance.

List to follow.

Joint Service with the Lighthouse 18/01/09

                                                                            We also enjoyed a joint Sunday morning service with the Lighthouse. W split all the normal duties down the middle with both churches providing people to help in all the areas of the service. We had superb music from Fran and Jan who led our worship and the singing from so many was excellent.  

 A general view of the congregation at the joint service. Just visible is Joe who operated the projector for us.

We had a short puppet sketch in which we learnt "not to look back , but to press on towards the goal". Richard preached to us on "Winning the prize" -our citizenship in Heaven.

Richard Greasley giving the word at the joint service 

Curry Night with the Lighthouse 17/01/09

We had a fantastic night with the Lighthouse. Alan made over 10 different curries and there were also other dishes from Jan and numerous deserts provided by Graham and Elaine and Rene. We catered for over 60 people!

Well done to Alan. This is just the first of our joint events with the Lighthouse and look forward to many more in the future. BBQs have been mentioned!

Baby Shower for Mindy and Kyle 10/01/09

Our second "Baby Shower", this time for Oscar. WE had a great evening, again organised by Jan with the catering and washing up provided by her PAs!

A really lovely evening. We are getting the hang of these now!

Kaitlin Visit

It was great to have kaitlin visit us over Christmas. She is now at college doing a Ministry Course. Wewish her every success with her studies and look forward to seeing her again very soon.

Christmas Meal 

Many thanks to everyone who helped inthe setting up, cooking, serving, or clearing up for the meal. We had a fantastic time and raised £250 for the builing fund. 

Christmas Fayre

We had our Christmas Coffee Morning and Fayre on Saturday 22nd November. Many thanks to all who took part and provided goods or helped set up or run the event. A special thanks to Santa who made a special visit too!

We raised over £320 towardsthe building fund. 

Harvest Service  and supper in new hall

We had our first service in the new hall in great style with our Harvest Service. Whilst there are still various small jobs to compelte, the new hall is now operational. The official opening will be inthe new year.

The harvest display created by Graham Wiggins. 

Den Turner honoured by National Blood Service

Den Turner, our Assistant Treasurer and husband to Jan was recently honoured at a special meal at the Leicester Hilton Hotel hosted by the national Blood Service. Den along with other awardees was there after completing over 75 blood doner sessions. They were treated to a fantastic meal and met a number of people whose lives had been saved by blood transfusions. Well Done Den , who "did something amazing!".

If you want to know more about becoming a blood donor, visit

www.blood.co.uk

Cream Tea,  Saturday (26/07/08)

Another food fest, with scones by Appointment!

Sandra off to see the Queen (22/07/08)

Sandra Mattock (Oadby and Wigston Citizen of the Year 2008)

is off to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen  on Tuesday. She will be taken to the event by the Mayor in his own limo to attend a garden party with the Queen.  

East Midlands Group (11/07/08)

The bi-monthly meeting of the East Midland's Churches took place at Central Avenue with ourselves, The Lighthouse, Selston, West Bridgeford and Trinity Lane Hickley represented.

After a time of prayer and worship the churches shared news and prayed for each other's needs. There are many encouraging things going on in the East Midlands at the moment. It's an exciting place to be. 

Sunday Night Alternative "Your Favourite Hymns" (06/07/08)

Graham put together and led the service in which people shared their favourite hymns, choruses, poems and readings and the reasons why they were so special to them. Kyle led the worship on the guitar with Alan accompanying on the African drum. It was a great service and we look forward to the next one.

Sunday Morning (06/07/08)

We had 38 people to the Sunday morning service, a record for a normal service. Get herre early for a seat!

BBQ (05/07/08)

Graham and Elaine ran the BBQ with a whole host of sausages, beefburgers and chicken on offer. they did a grand job and what's more, the rain held off until we had finished! We raised £78 for the building fund too.

Coffee Morning (05/07/08)

Phill and Carol hosted the coffee morning this month. Many thanks to all who brought such wonderful cakes and things to share. We had a great morning , despite the rain, and raised £78 for the Building Fund and charity.

Alan's Funeral (30/06/08)

The funeral took place at Gilrose at 10am Monday morning. It was a lovely sunny day which was apt to say goodbye to a lovely sunny man. Unfortunately, Alan Robinson was very unwell and unable to take the service, so Phill stepped in at the last minute.

The service was well attended, and Olive rang Phill afterwards to convey thanks from the family.

Death of Alan Sykes (22/06/08)

It is with great sadness we report the death of a much loved long-term member of the congregation. Alan had been a part of the congregation for many years, and a faithful attender. Despite sufferring from Parkinsons Disease over the last couple of years, alan still attended almost every week until fairly recently when  he suffered from numerous chest infections. He died peacefully on Sunday morning at the Royal Infirmary after a final bout of illness. He leaves his wife Olive and 2 grown up children. Alan will be foundly remembered for his great faith, commitment, prayer and wonderful jokes. He was heavily involved in music (which he loved) and healing ministries for many years.

The funeral is at Gilrose next Monday. We are planning to have a proper celebration of his life and ministry once the main hall is completed.

On the Road for Jesus and the CMA head for Ireland (14/06/08)

Zippy and Ellie (David and Elise) are heading over to Ireland on a week long mission with OTRFJ and CMA. A group of about 8 is heading over to Ireland by motorcycle and will be sharing the Gospel and carrying out various activities to show Jesus' love in actions as well as words. Please pray for them as they step out in faith in the Emerald Isle.

Death of Revd Hugh Thompson

It is with great sadness that we have to report the death of Revd Hugh Thompson, who was minister of Central Avenue in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He succeeded Bob Hartman at Junction Road and was the first minister of the church at Central Avenue.

Our thoughts and prayers go to his wife Dianne and her family. A short biography will appear in the next issue of the Grapevine.

June Coffee Morning (07/06/08)

We had a great morning on Saturday for our June Coffee Morning. Many thanks again to Graham and Elaine for running the vent and to those who helped in the kitchen. many thanks also to those who provided the cakes for sale. Many were sold before Graham even had a chance to get them out of the tins! We raised over £100!

BUILDING WORK PRESSES

The special insulation and pine cladding is all up and the recessed lights are now in place. The main hall is really taking shape. Well done to Alan and the Buiding team for all their hard work.

Work is progressing fast on the building. Have a look at the Building News tab for some new photoes.

The timber cladding ready to be varnished

The roof is on and the tiles have been cleaned and put back on.

KAITLIN RETURNS TO THE US (12/05/08)

After seven months of hard work, Kaitlin, our Youth Worker from the USA has returned home. She has made a fantastic contribution to the church and made lots of friends here and will be greatly missed. She will be returning to the UK in the Autumn to take part in the MNet course and will be interned at another church in the Midlands.

CELEBRATION SERVICE (04/05/08)

Our first Evening service for a couple of years. We hope to have a  monthly service on the first Sunday of the month. Each service will have a different theme, content ans . structure. The first service was a good old fashioned praise service featuring a mixture of traditional and contemporary music. The next one will feature favourite hymns, poems and readings.

David led the service (his first time in leading at Central Avenue), and like Graham who led for the first time in the morning service, both did brilliantly.

COFFEE MORNING (03/05/08)

Another successful Coffee morning. thanks to Graham and elaine for running it and for all the cakes people brought in. A special thanks to Sandra and jan for the home made cakes too.

We are now looking at what charities to donate the money to.

KYLE AND MINDY ARRIVE (02/05/08)

Kyle and Mindy, our Missionaries from the US ahve arrived safely. They flew in to Birnmingham International Airport last Friday after a short stop over in Dublin. A little jaded after over 18 hours of travel, they soon started to look themselves by the next morning at the the Coffee Morning.

They were welcomed at the Sunday morning service and interviewed by Alan at the Celebration Service in the evening.

They are part of new Mission International and will be working alongside the church for 3 years in the first instance (though they hope to stay longer). At present, theyare living in the ground-floor flat next to the church.

Kyle first came to the church 5 years ago as part of our first Summer Team. Kyle and Mindy have been married 2 years and are expecting their first  child at the end of this year.

JOINT SERVICE WITH THE LIGHTHOUSE AND CMA 20/04/08

We had a great joint service with our Brothers and Sisters at the Lighthouse church in Oadby. It coincided with our Biker Service. We were priviledges to have the president of the CMA (Mike) give an address on what the CMA does. Pete (Sofa) also gave a powerful testimony and Jan sharedabout her miracle. Phill preached on faith in Action.

Many thanks to Fran for leading the worship brilliantly, and for Ricahrd for leading the service. Remember, Richard is getting ordained at the delegates's conference in June!

FELLOWSHIP GROUPS

After a long absence, the fellowship group has started off again. At present, we are meeting bi-weekly in member's homes and enjoying prayer, fellowship and study.

We have suffered from a lack of Bible Study Leaders for a long time, which is one reaswon why the Leanring Zone has been concentrating on Bible study skills for the last 12 months.

We now have soem new leaders who will be preparign and leading studies. As more people join the groups, we will launch new groups to keep the numbers in each below 10.

To date, we have met in David and Elise's house and at Graham and Elaine's house and were greatly looked after in each.

SUNDAY SERVICE IN REAR HALL

Until further notice, all services will be held in the Rear Hall. There is currently no access to the Reaar Hall from the front of the church and so you are requested to wlak down the side of the church. A ramp has been built to allow wheelchair access. No handrails have been fitted as yet owing to the access required to move materials into the church and building site area.

Please bear with us during this time. 

BUILDING WORK - THE ROOF COMES OFF! 01/04/08

See Building News tab for more pictures!

BUILDING WORK STARTS (30/03/08)

After the Sunday Service and a faith lunch, a group of volunteers and our friends who have been helping with the building work got started in getting the main hall eady for the building work.

The hall was cleared, the carpet tiles pulled up, the wall behind the baptistry demolished and the windows taken out. Building work is now well underway.

See Building News tab for more pictures!

EASTER BREAKFAST AND SERVICE (23/03/08)

Despite the harrowing experience of looking after so many kids for the weekend, Grahama nd elaine donned their aprons and valiently went to work producing another first class Easter breakfast. We were, as usual, packed out in the coffee bar, and the smell of bacon and eggs permeated the whole church.

We had a fantastic service with 50 people in attendance including a number of visitors. Jan had an impromtu music group for the preservice music made up of a number of kids from the sleepover. The kids spot went really well and the whole service had a great joyous feel. Essentially what easter is all about, a fresh start and new life.

What a fantastic weekend.

KID'S FUN DAY AND SLEEP OVER (22&23/03/08)

Our first sleepover at the church! Something Graham and Elaine have been planning for ages. We met up on Staurday morning and started the day by outlining the rules of the weekend, playing some games and some craft work. After lunch we headed off to the Meridian Bowls for an afternoon of ten pin bowling. Everyone had great fun and several of the kids scored over 100!

After tea (pizza and chips) and some more games we had our evening prayers and lesson led by Graham on the theme of "Light in the Darkness".

Following supper and rehearsals for the kids spot for the Sunday service, everyone settled down to sleep (eventually). It snowed overnight, and in the morning everyone helped etting the church back to looking more like a church and less like a tornado had passed through.

A special thanks to Elaine and Graham for all the behind the scenes preperation, fire drills, rules and all the other paperwork and planning they had to do. To Lynne, Sylvia, Kaitlin, Carol and Phill for helping out.

There are rumours that Graham and Elaine are thinking of another sleepover sometime in the next 20 years (Possibly after they have retired!). Stay tuned!

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING SERVICE (21/03/08) 

We had a really powerful and moving service on Good Friday morning, with an excellent attendance (25) including a lot of visitors. The service ran like our Chirstmas one, without interruption, simply telling the story of Jesus' Passion from the Gospel of Mark and a couple of moving poems. We were also blessed by someone making a commitment after the service. What a way to celebrate Easter.

CARE AND SHARE GROUPS (09/03/08)

Owing to the building work going on in the church building, the Learning Zone will be taking a break over the summer. What we will be doing, and hopefully putting into practice some of what we have been learning, is starting off our Care and Share Fellowship Home Groups. We will be running at least one group on Thursday evenings, but if we can get a couple of volunteers, we hope to be running groups at other times too. They will run at people's homes and the group will run it's own Bible Studies.

However, as part of our "Raise the Roof" campiagn for the summer, we will be encouraging each group to spend a lot of time in prayer, listening and waiting on God and asking for refreshment and power so that when we come back into the building with the new roof raised, we will be able to "Raise the Roof" in prayer and worship.

Great things have been happening in our church, even greater things are about to happen!

NATIONAL LEADER'S DAY AT HINCKLEY CHURCH (01/03/08)

Alan, Phill, Carol, Graham, Elaine and Kaitlin went to the Hinckley church on Saturday for the National Leader's Day. We had a great day of fellowship, inspirational worship, prayer and hearing of how greatly God is blessing our fellow churches around the country. God is doing some amzing things in our movement at themement.

There were talks on how the movement had reached where it is today, going back through the history of the Fellowship and the vision for churchplanting.

Many thanks to everyone who organised the day.

OADBY AND WIGSTON CITIZEN OF THE YEAR (24/02/08)

Many of you know just what a huge amount of work Sandra does, lokking after Maxine, running her ladies club, looking after her neighbour , making jams and serving in the coffee bar. Well, her next door neighbour was so thankful, she wrote a four page letter to the Mayor of Oadby and Wigston and as a result, Sandra has been made O&W citizen of the year.She will be receiving a plaque in May, and in July will be taken by limousine to see the Queen at Buckingham Palace! Well done Sandra, you deserve it!

March Coffee Morning (23/02/08)

A week early as the leadersare off to Hickley on the first week in march. Raised another £50 for the Building Fund. Thanks to Graham, Elaine, Sandra and Kaitlin for serving. Sandra for some lovely cakes, and Alan for the curry puffs!

Alysen's Farewell Service

We said goodbye to Alysen. There was a party with the Mum's and Tot's group and a farewell lunch at the church. Alysen is now Small Group Pastor at our Bourneville church. Many thanks to her for all her hard work here over the last two and a half years.