“Reaching out to reclaim the world with His love”

Summer at St George’s is always a great time to focus on mission. Our Romania Team are going out again to bless Hunedoara and play their part in our global passion. There are people serving on summer camps and short term trips too. We have the June Project LS6 demonstrating God’s love on our doorstep in the Hyde Park area.  We will also be producing a prayer card so that we can all play our part in supporting St George’s overseas mission partners. God is always at work in mission, reaching out to reclaim the world with His love; we are privileged to be invited to join him this summer.

Another key focus in our services is baptism. I will be teaching on the meaning of baptism at both services for four weeks in our new series ‘Plunge’, then on Pentecost Sunday there will be the chance for people to get baptised or to reaffirm their baptism vows for themselves.

Jesus was very clear; all His followers must be baptised (Matt 28:18-20). Of all the commitments we make in life, none are as important as the promises made in baptism. Of all the things that are true about us, nothing is as vital as the fact we mark in baptism; that Christ claims us for his own.

Mark

May/14: Thank you

Answers to prayer:

Jazz Night
It was a great success bringing 121 guests; we thank God for the provision of hospitality team, leaders, refreshments and talented musicians.

The Alpha Course (Started 30 April)
We are thankful for the opportunity to advertise the course on Millennium Square on the 23 April with Bridge Cafe.  Thankful also for the 9 new team members.

ACM and Our Vision
Give thanks for the commitment of church members who support Our Vision financially, and for those stepping down from roles who have served through the years, and for those stepping into new roles.

 

May/14: Pray for

Points to pray for this month…

The Alpha Course
Pray for those who have come with questions and are seeking answers.  Please pray for the team and table leaders also, that they have the
wisdom to help find answers and can be an encouragement to others.

Our Staff Team
Pray as we appoint a Children’s Pastor, Assistant Student Pastor and finalise the Intern team for 2014-2015.

The Event
Pray for the Romania Fundraiser, that people come forward to help with the entertainment and hospitality, but that the event will be a success and provide help for the Bethlehem Centre in Hunedoara.

Request prayer from our PrayerNet team by email, or visit the link and write a message in the box, or pick up a Contact Card in the foyer. Messages are only shared with our PrayerNet team confidentially.

May/14: Mission Partners

Lucy Jones and Fran Tanner, Angola, Short Term Mission

Lucy and Fran are on short term mission in Angola with ‘Serving in Mission’.  They spent a month in Portugal learning Portuguese and flew out to Lubango in the south of Angola in mid-April.  They are both doctors, and are working in the Evangelical Medical Centre of Lubango Hospital until mid-July.

We are asked to pray that they will quickly learn and acquire new skills, and adapt their medical skills to a poor-resource setting.  Pray that they will fit into the hospital environment and be a blessing to the hospital staff.  Pray too for opportunities to share the gospel and for boldness and clarity as they seek to share their faith.  Pray that they will continue to improve their language skills,  for safety, particularly during travel, and that they will remain in good health.

Andrew and Uta Buckler, Thomas 15, Samuel 14, Daniel 12, Lois 8, Amélie 5, Paris, France

In their latest prayer letter, Andy and Uta have asked us particularly to pray for them as a family.

Thomas loved a summer camp with ‘Young Life’ and being a young leader at ‘New Wine’.  Give thanks for this and that he passed his Brevet (French equivalent of GCSEs). Samuel has spent valuable time in the UK with Tim, his uncle; some will remember Tim growing up with Andy in St G’s.  Give thanks for this relationship with Tim. Last year Samuel joined the Youth Section of the Fire Brigade.  Daniel started boarding school in September where he loves learning to play rugby and wave board.  Give thanks that he is well looked after in his school. Lois and Amélie go to the local primary school. Lois is outgoing, imaginative and loves reading; Amélie is reserved, stubborn and writes her name backwards. They complement each other well.

Uta works part time near Paris, runs the ‘family enterprise’ and has recently taken on the children’s work (7-9s and 10-12s) in their church. Pray for her that she can fulfil all these responsibilities well.  Uta’s father was killed in an accident last year.  Give thanks that her family have grown closer through this tragedy.

Andy continues to be amazed by the ministry opportunities that open up through his national leadership role. Building a new team (15 people) to oversee and head up training and evangelism initiatives was a particular challenge. We should continue to pray for Andy in this strategic role.

For more visit stgeorgesleeds.org.uk/bucklers

Meet the interns: Cecilia

Tell us about yourself… I grew up in China and came to the UK for postgraduate study in 2012. I graduated from Leeds University in 2013. I am currently enjoying life in the UK, playing tennis, reading and painting on my days off.

How do you know Jesus? I started to pray without knowing God’s existence when I was 13. I did not go to church or meet any Christians before I came to the UK. I felt strongly touched the first time I visited St George’s; I felt God’s presence and the power of prayer which helped me to make the decision to follow Jesus.

What is your role at St G’s?
I am the International Students’ intern. There are a variety of activities going on in our Network with the help of lovely and devoted leaders. We put on big celebrations to introduce the gospel to faith seekers; study the bible on Fridays and Sundays; watch Christianity based movies on Wednesdays; go on retreat trips and much more. It’s such a privilege to see more internationals come to church, build a relationship with God and become one of our brothers and sisters.

“The International Network is not only a place for us to explore faith together, but also a place to support each other in life as family in this foreign land.”

Where have you seen God at work? Throughout the internship, God has humbled me and challenged me in loads of different ways. Moreover, it is very encouraging for me to realise that He never lets me walk on my own. Two of the students in our Network were baptised in December; this is strong evidence to prove God is real and at work!

What can St G’s pray? It is amazing to see international students come to church and engage in lots of activities. Please pray that God will bless our ministry and give us wisdom in how to serve him better. Pray also that we will see more fruit in this ministry, by his grace.

Find out more about the internship at St George’s here.

“Incredible Testament to Gods Faithfulness”

In April our 11-18s Network, Roots, were sharing life and loving Leeds by reaching out to bless Cottingley in a week of IMPACT.  Lottie Jones and our Roots team alongside Ali Gilfillan, who currently works and serves as part of the Cottingley Youth Project, led our young people to serve the community by running a week of activities for other young people and families.  They put on a Community Cafe, dance workshops, kids clubs and a family fun day. However, the Roots Network were also getting their hands dirty by litter picking, gardening and generally showing God’s love in practical ways to the community.

‘Those who hope in the lord will renew their strength, they will run not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’

 

We asked Roots Network what was their highlight of Cottingley Impact week?
“Hanging out as a group.”
“Spending time together in the evening.”
“Spending time with everyone.”
“Old people’s smiles and compliments…and the food.”
“Bouncy castle!” “The fundraiser.”
“People’s interest in our work.”

How did the week make an Impact on the Network?

Every time we go away together, community gets better. Friendships are strengthened by spending quality time together.

“We have such an amazing bunch of young people, and we should continue to invest in them.”

We had some young people stepping up and understanding what Impact week was really about, then leading others in that.  All the young people worked and they had bounds and bounds of energy which showed the love of Jesus in practical ways. We have such an amazing bunch of young people, and we should continue to invest in them.

How did the week Impact you?
“Making new friends and creating stronger friends.”
“Making new friends.”
“Through working for the community.”
“It showed me how God works through us.”
“Showed that we could help people and still have fun.”
“I saw that God shows his love in any way and in any situation.”
“I think I could feel God working in me.”
“I realised how much litter is around but how much a couple of hours of work can do.”

Where did you see God working?

The thing that God taught me personally through Impact week was his faithfulness because I realised that we can often try to do things in our own strength.  Unless we rely on God, things will never be as good as they could possibly be.  God was speaking to me before Impact week about when we get tired, remembering to continue to love one another and rely on Him. So everyday we prayed as a team, but remembered to  ask God to show how we could love each other as a team, how we could model that to the young people and to Cottingley, and also what fruit of the spirit did we need to sustain us.

“Unless we rely on God, things will never be as good as they could possibly be.”

I was reminded of that verse that ‘those who hope in the lord will renew their strength, they will run not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.’ So we need to wait on the lord to renew our strength and sustain us, and the difference that it made was just incredible.

After the weekend ‘at home’ at the end of January, most of us as leaders felt so tired and drained, whereas at the end of Cottingley Impact week, while we were tired, actually God sustained us right through the week; he helped us to continue to love and encourage the young people and we even had energy at that end! That was just an incredible testament to Gods faithfulness and the fact that we need to always be relying on Him above our own ability and our own strength.

Where did you see God making an Impact?
“Kids club.” “The fun day!”
“Litter picking, because everyone was really grateful.”
“With the smiles and sharing of the young children in the Community Cafe.”
“When we were doing litter picking because the wind was awful but we had loads of fun.”

Find out more about Roots at St George’s here.

“Dance undignified for Him”

Dan Hebden, Worship Assistant (left) and Ben Lees, Worship Intern (right), took a team to Spring Harvest conference in April to serve as part of the worship team for 11-14’s.

Tell us what you did…

Dan: At the start of April I took a team, with Ben, to lead worship at Spring Harvest Minehead, on the Distinctive team who lead the 11-14’s venue at the conference.  The team included 4 of us from St G’s and 1 from Audacious Church in Manchester.

One of the best things was being part of a team that had come from a real mix of different churches around the UK; not just being on the worship team.  It was great to experience different times of worship, engaging kids in dancing and inviting the spirit to move in times of ministry.

“I think sometimes we put boundaries on God, dictating when he can move and speak, giving time slots in services for example. The spirit will move when He wants to.”

Where was God at work?

Ben: As well as leading worship we also had the opportunity to lead small group sessions alongside the wider Distinctive team. Although these times were often cut short, and there were a quite a lot of young people in one group to encourage any meaningful discussion, or get to know each other very well.  I was really encouraged one time when we were talking about the Holy Spirit; the kids didn’t really know who He was, so while being rushed to end the session I just prayed, ‘God we welcome your spirit’ and asked God to show us his spirit with words and pictures.  Straight away 3 young people said they felt the Holy Spirit and one shared a picture with the rest of the group, but as none of us really knew what it meant, I prayed again for an interpretation. 10 seconds later, one person had an interpretation, which completely spoke into the situation of some of those young people right there.  They were really encouraged by this and left the meeting filled with joy having met with God.

I think sometimes we put boundaries on God, dictating when he can move and speak, giving time slots in services for example. The spirit will move when He wants to; it was just as easy as saying quickly, ‘God, come and minister to these young people’, and He spoke to them.

“…we really felt commissioned to be there with the backing and prayer support of our church family, which allowed us to serve with confidence.”

Why is it important to send leaders out?

Dan: We really appreciate being sent out by St G’s to serve at Spring Harvest; we really felt commissioned to be there with the backing and prayer support of our church family, which allowed us to serve with confidence.

A leader going out into a different context has lots of benefits. They can use their experiences in a local church context to benefit the new context.  The leader can also learn to be adaptable and is less likely to get stuck in a mould or routine.

What can the rest of St G’s learn from your experience?

Ben: 11-14s don’t seem to engage with what we often portray as the ‘deep and meaningful’ stuff; they don’t understand what’s expected of them and need clear guidance. I found that if you take away the reserve we quite often get in church before it’s developed, this can enable them worship freely.  So in response to this we did a lot of songs about Jesus being alive in us, inviting people to jump about and be joyful.  I want to bring this kind of attitude to worship back to Roots and encourage our young people to be free in worship.

“I think we need more freedom to be joyful in our worship.”

Dan: The bible talks about having a childlike faith. Kids’ worship is so joyful stating simple truths about who God is. In some sense that’s all you need and at times I think we can over complicate worship. I think we need more freedom to be joyful in our worship, and now I have learned about this at the conference, I would be more confident to lead at St George’s in that way.

“…dance undignified for Him…”

Ben: We went to a seminar where Pete James was discussing the new songs Spring Harvest were introducing; one he was talking about was one of his own which included a lyric ‘dance undignified for Him’. Someone raised the issue that their church ‘doesn’t like to let go and just dance’, so could they change the lyric to ‘dance dignified for Him’? Pete replied, no, ‘dance undignified’ was written because this is exactly what David in the bible did, and this should teach us to be free. So instead of trying to control our worship depending on what our congregation is like, we should be showing them how to be free with our bodies in worship.

Find out more about the worship ministry at St George’s here.