Friends & Neighbours Lunch

The staff team abandoned computers & pulpit on Wednesday and put on their aprons to cook and serve a festive meal for anyone in church to invite their friends and neighbours to. Almost 50 people sat down to roast turkey & Christmas pud, with all the trimmings, expertly prepared by head chef for the day, Neil, and his multi-talented crew, Judy, Di, Tammie and Ellie! Everyone was most complementary about the food - one guest even remarked that it must be an especially 'holy' lunch served by such saintly people!

After the feasting, we sang some lovely old carols, accompanied by Melanie, while we sipped our coffee and chocolate mints. Then Mike Snelling spoke, basing his message on the angel's announcement of Jesus' birth to the shepherds. He reminded us that Christmas means that we no longer need to fear, that we shouldn't misinterpret joy and above all that we shouldn't miss out on the Good News that Jesus' birth is for all of us.

(Image courtesy of FreeFoto.com)

Celebrating 128 years of Ministry

Norman & Margaret Moss from Partners in Harvest were our special guests last weekend to help us celebrate our 128th Anniversary.

Norman was Senior Pastor of Queen's Road Baptist Church, Wimbledon for 31 years. Under God they were both used to bring their congregation into renewal in the 1970's. Since then the Church has grown steadily and has been widely known as a centre of Renewal. Norman & Margaret now travel widely to be with leaders and churches around the UK and overseas. Their desire is to encourage Churches and groups - regardless of size - who are hungry for more of the Holy Spirit.

On Saturday evening Norman & Margaret joined with our leadership team (pastors, elders and deacons) for dinner and they shared their experiences of fifty years in ministry - from a tiny church on the Isles of Scilly, to Wimbledon, Toronto and Partners in Harvest. Their humble attitude and openness to the leading of the Lord in their ministry was evident and is a great example to us.

On Sunday they joined in with our morning prayer time, when we were also visited by Arnie Swiegers of Oasis South Africa. During the service, Margaret shared testimonies of healing and Norman talked about the Father's love and the importance of forgiveness, forgiveness as a key to healing, Jesus as our friend and Father God loving us as much as He loves Jesus. Norman closed with a time of ministry, inviting people to come to Jesus for the first time, and also ministering to those wanting to be filled with Holy Spirit. You can hear the message in our podcasts, which you can get to from the website home page

Also during the service we took up thank-offerings and pledges towards a new building project. Members and regular attenders are encouraged to ask the Lord how much he would have you sow into this 'seed-offering'. Our target is £20,000 and the opportunity to give to this remains open - simply put your offering in an envelope marked 'New Building Project.'

After the service lots of us stayed behind to enjoy a fellowship lunch together, and there was an open Q&A time about Partners in Harvest, and what becoming a member church would mean. Thanks from everyone to those who served us in the kitchen and did such a great job of it.

Heaven's Gates & Hell's Flames

Well over 200 people attended the 3 performances of "Heaven's Gates & Hell's Flames" at church lastweek and at least 35 people responded to the invitation to commit their lives to Jesus, many of whom will be joining the new Alpha Course to help them grow in their new-found faith. All those involved with the production experienced a powerful sense of unity and rejoiced together at what God was doing in people’s lives.

If you were to die tomorrow, do you know where you would go afterwards? This question is at the heart of the drama, produced in conjunction with Reality Ministries and acted entirely by church members. It confronts us all with the eternal consequences of the choices we make in this life. It asserts the controversial but Biblical truth that no matter how ‘good’ or ‘religious’ we think we are, and despite the excuses we make for not living with God at the centre of our lives, we must all face God’s judgment. From the opening graphic scenes depicting the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, it makes clear that only those who consciously choose to repent from their sins and put their faith in Him will receive forgiveness and have their names written in the Book of Life.

Take a look at Chris & Deb's photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hghf/sets/72157622657083185/

Church Anniversary & Gift Day

On Sunday 22nd November we will be celebrating our 128th Anniversary as a church. We have invited Norman & Margaret Moss of Partners in Harvest as our guest speakers and we will be having a Fellowship lunch together after the service. After lunch there will be opportunity for church members to ask Normal & Margaret any questions they may have about our proposal to become members of PIH. Please book the date in your diary now and be ready to book your lunch ticket over the next few weeks.

Each year on our Anniversary Sunday we take a special Thanksgiving offering to devote to a special project or cause as a way of thanking God for His faithfulness to us over the years. Our church has been so richly blessed in the past as many thousands of people have worshipped and served together in George Lane and elsewhere. The blessings continue to grow as more are healed and saved right now.

In recent days we have sensed an even more urgent calling from God to reach our community for the Kingdom of God. This has been accompanied by prophecies, dreams and visions showing us that he is sending rivers of His presence, power and love which will flow out into our community. This is very exciting, but also very challenging as we must each change our thinking and increase our commitment if we are to see the many new disciples we believe God has promised us.

You may be aware that we have been praying for many months about building a new Church Centre near to our existing site. A small task force has drawn up an outline of our initial proposals as a first step to present to Redbridge Council in the near future. So far we have not spent any extra money on the project but we will need significant sums of money before we can move on to the next phase which will involve hiring professionals.

We have therefore decided to make our Anniversary a Gift Day for the new building project. We were encouraged recently in receiving a gift of £1300 from a non-member specifically for this purpose so we have opened a separate fund. We are now asking all church members and regular attenders to make a special gift, over and above your normal tithe, as ‘seed’ money for the project - a step of faith. We want to raise at least a further £20,000.

Please take time to pray about this and ask God how much he wants you to give. We will take the offering on 22nd November, but if you cannot give at that time, we encourage you to make a written pledge of both the amount and when you will give this and put this in the offering bag. As you consider this before the Lord, we suggest that you read 1 Corinthians 9:6-15. May the Lord continue to bless you more abundantly.

New Website

Welcome to our new website. The site is still under construction, so keep checking back for new pages and new features. Already online are podcasts, our calendar, photos from Vision 2009 to South Africa and details about our Youth & Children's work.