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REVIEW OF THE YEAR - 2007Welcome to the Bluntisham Baptist Church ‘Review of the Year 2007’. The purpose of this document is to help us look back on this past year of our church’s life, and to look ahead to the challenges and opportunities that face us in the year ahead. It is organised according to the different ‘streams’ of our church’s life, each section beginning with an introduction from a deacon responsible for that stream. This is followed by paragraphs written by people involved in the many aspects of church life. Here you will find reasons to give thanks to God, and requests for help and prayer as we look forward. As ever, I hope you will be able to read between the lines of what is written here, and consider the richness of the ways we are seeking to serve God, one another and those around us in the name of Christ, and the many and various ways that people are making their contribution, using the gifts, skills and resources that he has given us. If you have been part of the story of this year in whatever way, be it large or small, prominent or behind the scenes, pleasurable or sacrificial, can I thank you for serving God in this way. In particular I’d like to thank the Leadership Team and everyone else who took on extra responsibilities or made adjustments to enable me to take my Sabbatical last summer. I came back feeling refreshed, with new energy and even a few new ideas! We have seen significant changes to the Leadership Team over the year as Darren Young, Karen Smith and David Henry stepped down. Sometimes it is not understood how much work the deacons do behind the scenes, and we are grateful to God for their valuable serving in this way over many years. We were glad to welcome Aggie Durkin and Dan Horrex to the team. As I look ahead to 2008 I’m keen that we remember the Apostle Paul’s call to the church in Philippi, to be ‘one in spirit and purpose’. To be ‘one in spirit’ is to value the ‘team spirit’ that we enjoy, and to do all we can to foster it in our dealings with one another. To be ‘one in purpose’ is to work together towards our common goals, and in 2008 a key focus will be fundraising for, and giving to, the Renewal Project. To that end, one thing you will find from time to time as you read through this
Review is people’s reflections on how the proposed Renewal Project will make a
difference to various areas of our church’s life. The intention is to remind us
of why we are working so hard to give and fundraise towards the project, and to
spur us on in our efforts over the coming 12 months. Hence I hope you will find
that this ‘Review of the Year 2007’ both encourages you and spurs you on to
further involvement with God’s purposes for us in 2008. WORSHIP – honouring God, in all we do, all the time and through accessible, energising and transforming services.This area of our church’s life tends to focus on Sundays. For Christians worship cannot be simply a Sunday activity, but there is something special about the times when we gather together as God’s people, in his presence, to meet with him, to worship him, to encourage one another, and to learn from the Bible. There have been all sorts of emotions this year: there’s been a lot of fun and laughter, joy as we’ve seen God moving in people’s lives, encouragement as people have been baptised and come into membership, and there have been tears as we’ve said goodbye to longstanding members of the fellowship, or struggled with the challenges that life brings. This year we’ve tried to introduce opportunities for greater interaction during the services, and to make allowances for the different ways that people prefer to learn and respond to God. We’ve got lots to learn in this, of course, but I’m grateful to God for how positively people respond to new things. I’d like to include a challenge here: one thing we’ve become conscious of over this past year has been the tendency for some to maintain loose ties with the church, but to attend less frequently. It’s important we ask ourselves: is this out of necessity, or something forced by the surrounding culture? Is it a sign of letting other things take God’s place in our priorities, or something we must simply accept? Surely a question worth pondering, as we work hard ‘our end’ to make the services as valuable as we can. There have been lots of positives, however, not least some very encouraging carol services over the Christmas period, for the school, the district Guides group, Little Fishes, Sunday School, a very encouraging event at Earith school, and a record attendance at the Christmas Eve Carol Service with over 400 present in the chapel and ‘overflow hall’. Taking the last two together, that’s around 10% of the population of the three villages. None of these things would happen without dedicated volunteers who plan, prepare and make them work. How will the Renewal Project make a difference to the worship life of our
church family? Where to begin? The seating arrangements of our Victorian
forebears are no longer appropriate for today’s congregations: so often we long
to be able to rearrange the seats to suit different things we want to do – to
have a smaller evening congregation gathered in an arc down at the front of the
room; to seat people in a circle to share communion, or divide the congregation
into small groups for easier interaction; to clear the seats out of the way
altogether to accommodate various prayer activities, or create a central ‘aisle’
for a bride to walk down to meet her groom! How wonderful it would be to have
the stage only slightly raised, rather than being 5 foot up in the air! How much
more welcoming it would be for a visitor to sit through one of my sermons on a
comfortable seat! How urgent it is to remove the hazard of the hot heating pipes
in winter, and to get rid of those tired looking cushions! How much the
floorboards need repairing…I could go on, but I hope you’re as inspired as I am!
May our commitment to the Renewal Project be an act of worship to our God.
Music and Technical TeamWe thank God for his sustaining power throughout the year, particularly the second half of 2007 when James was away ill and away from rehearsals. As we look ahead to 2008, and a change to rehearsal patterns, we ask for prayer that we would make the best of the time we have together, in practice, prayer and conversations. We also ask for prayer that we would enable the congregation to explore, through sung worship, the depth and height of God’s love for them. The Renewal Project will see a significant
re-ordering of the corporate worship space: this will enable us all to explore
new, exciting and challenging ways of worshipping together: new ways to use our
bodies and all of our senses to discover both the richness of God and the
diversity of our responses to him. Flower Rota TeamWe would like to give thanks to God for bringing us newcomers to the flower team this year. They have brought with them wonderful enthusiasm as well as creativity with flowers. We have also been blessed with extra help in preparation for special celebration services, notably Easter and Harvest, and we give thanks for the time given by everyone on these occasions. Our prayers this year as a team are that we will continue to be able to provide
beautiful examples of God’s creation for all of our regular services throughout
the year and that we will receive inspiration for new designs with flowers as
well as lots of help with the preparation for our special celebration services. Service Planning TeamThis small but dedicated team has met every few weeks this year to consider the themes to the forthcoming services, and to think up imaginative ways to bring those themes alive, in order to fulfil the Mission Statement of making our services “accessible, energising and transforming”. We’ve had everything from a ‘Family Fortunes’ quiz to dramatic monologues; from a Doctor Who clip to writing prayers on post-its; from video interviews to different ways of celebrating communion. Our prayer request is simply that God would continue to guide and inspire the
team as we seek to communicate the Bible’s message in ways that help the
congregation to worship and to learn. FELLOWSHIP – building a united, inclusive, loving community where everyone can find a place to belongCARING FOR ONE ANOTHER – Ann WassallThanks to everyone who belongs to this fellowship and demonstrates the Lord’s love to all they meet. Please continue to let the Lord’s light shine in your lives. The Renewal Project is something that we can all be involved in. Whether we are young or old, it gives us an opportunity to demonstrate our commitment to the church family by being involved in the endeavour to raise the money to improve the buildings. Visiting TeamA big thank you to all for informing us when people need visiting. This is
essential to our work so no-one is missed. Communion is taken into homes if
requested when members cannot get to church. Next year we would love to see more
people on the team. Our church family is growing; more needs will have to be
addressed. Ladies’ FellowshipThanks must go to the ladies who organise the meetings and arrange for speakers
and activities week by week. Please remember the women who attend the meetings,
as there are a number who don’t attend church in the group. They all need our
prayers. The Renewal Project is giving each of us the opportunity to demonstrate
our love for Christ and each other by giving and sharing what we have. This may
be our talent, time or money. Prayer Ministry TeamI must thank all the members who give their time to pray for others during, and
following, specific services. Please continue to pray for these people even
after the service to support them in their need. Once the money has been raised
and the building work finished we will find it easier to pray for each other in
a quiet private room set aside for this specific ministry. House of Prayer 2In May the House of Prayer returned! A week was set aside to encourage anyone to
spend time in church praying – no previous experience necessary! There was time
to be in church and use appropriate resources to be inspired to talk to God.
Sitting in the baptistery, sending up a heart-shaped heart-felt prayer,
dissolving a Milton tablet and praying about being cleansed by God. Sadly it was
right to use the church for a funeral so the week became half a week but it was
a good time for those who were able to make time to pray. Hopefully, House of
Prayer 3 will just get bigger and better, building on those foundations, and
will help us all to learn how to grow in prayer. ADMINISTRATION – Bruce DanielsTime really does fly by. It was only this time last year that we were welcoming Miriam as the Church Administrator. One year on and we’ve met regularly through 2007 to plan agendas, upcoming dates, discuss legislation and handle seemingly mountains of paperwork along with a few thousand emails. A big thank you must go to Miriam for keeping up to date on all the meetings, administrative matters, organisation (often behind the scenes) and assisting Nick, so helping the practicalities of church life to happen. A prayer request for the admin team in 2008 is to cope with the increase in the administrative tasks, and to continue to improve communications for all the elements of work and outreach we undertake as a church. The Renewal Project will mean some more administrative work, though we hope to have a helper dedicated to that shortly, but the main benefit will be an office at church for Miriam to work in, giving us a presence there during the week. CHURCH FINANCES – Gillian SugdenGiving to general funds has declined considerably during 2007, with regular income falling considerably short of regular essential expenses, but we need to give thanks for a slight improvement in bank income during November and December. Please pray that this improvement will continue. Giving for Home Mission and BMS was also well below our target, and we all need to consider how to balance our giving in the way that will serve God best in 2008. The Renewal Project gives us great scope to expand our work for the Lord, both during fundraising and later when we have improved and extended our buildings, and this expansion should bring about both increased income and increased expenditure. Media TeamTwo more excellent editions of Vision were produced this year, with Phil Knight and Lynn Lee stepping up to the editing, proof reading, collating, inspiring, laying out and general making it happen. Programmes were produced for a number of events including Praise in the Park and Carols by Candlelight. Posters for events and for church notice boards were produced. The website, overseen by John Smith, goes from strength to strength, now including details of the Renewal Project and ‘Buy-at’ scheme. It also has a very full “back catalogue” of podcasts of sermons for 2007, so do catch up on any series you may have missed. Our thanks go to Karen Smith, Graham Harris and Lisa Knight, who have recently
stepped down, for all the excellent work they have done as part of the Media
Team. Please pray for others to come forward now and join the team to help share
the gospel via the many forms of media we use. DISCIPLESHIP – Teaching and equipping people of all ages to become lifelong followers of JesusGROWING INTO MATURITY – Dan HorrexThere are 8 home groups that regularly meet for Bible studies, socials and other activities. Home groups are a great place for discussion and learning. Many thanks to the home group leaders as their efforts continue to make the home groups function effectively. Thanks also to those home groups that have led an evening service. The number of home groups has grown over the past year. We are thankful for the new members who have joined a home group over the past 12 months. It is hoped that the new discipleship series and other series will help encourage individuals within the groups to make the best use of their God-given talents, develop Christian faith and promote the advantages of belonging to a home group. As the newly appointed Deacon for Discipleship, I will be supporting the work of home group leaders and encouraging others to join the groups. SPACEOnce again children start school, mums go back to work and as a group SPACE changes. We are sad to say goodbye to people but encouraged to be joined by new people. Among other topics we have enjoyed studying Women of the New Testament, and the Psalms. Just before the end of the year we had the privilege of meeting our new Link Missionary, Anne Wiles and asking her lots of questions about what she does. The Renewal Project would mean we weren’t so cold meeting in church in the
winter months and we would be able to provide a much safer, suitable place for
the creche and… let’s not forget how much nice toilets mean to us ladies and
children! YOUTH AND CHILDREN’S WORK – Angharad DurkinFor me, looking back over 2007, the Youth and Children’s work has been in a time of transition. We need to give thanks for all the things that have happened over the last year. Some Sunday School teachers and helpers stepped down, and other new faces joined the team. All-Age Sunday School was introduced, and some events were held for the teenagers. Holiday Bible Club drew in children from the surrounding villages, and the teenagers who helped made a big difference. 2007 also saw our students scattered round the country again, some for the first time. We also held training on the Baptist Union’s Child Protection Policy ‘Safe to Grow’. Looking ahead to 2008, we still need help to reach the children and young people that we have contact with. Please remember our students away at university: although they are not here they are still part of our church family. Please pray for our Sunday School, for the children, teachers and helpers. Please pray for our teenagers that they will not miss out in finding out about Jesus in a way they connect with. Looking forward to the Building Project, I came across a verse in Matthew that I think applies: when challenged by the chief priests [in part] because the children were shouting ‘Hosanna to the Son of David’ in the temple, Jesus replies ‘have you never read, “from the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise”?’ (Matthew 21v16) Let’s pray the new building will ring with their praises! Sunday SchoolWow! What a wonderful year: more children are coming to share in our worship and activities. They are so enthusiastic in all they do. What a great Christmas Carol service we had! Our teaching team stay focused and committed. They work together with the sole aim of building God's future Church on strong biblical foundations. We thank God for them all. In September we said Goodbye to Sheila Henry who is taking a well-earned break from teaching ' Trailblazers’. God answered our prayers, providing for our needs as he always does. Catrin Horrex and Ann Storey joined us in ‘Little Gems’ and ‘Twinklers’. Each group has a parent rota without which we would not be able to function. We follow the children/adult ratios laid down in our Safe to Grow policy. Hallowe’en night saw us entertaining 20+ children to a ‘Light Party’ thanks to Tim Wilson and Darren Young, the chief organisers, and their many helpers. Looking forward to January 2008, we need 3 temporary teachers as 1 of our team is on maternity leave and another 2 are out of action for a short time. Could you help? We are continuing our new venture of All-Age Sunday School planned and run by Alan Webb and Bruce Daniels along with our All-Age services. February sees 12 of our children from ‘Trailblazers’ going to a Christian weekend in Ely. The youth group have been joining other churches for different activities. We are excited about the Renewal Project, looking forward to each group having their own space. This will unite us all under the same roof rather than two groups crossing the road to the Old School Hall. It really cannot come quickly enough. Finally thank you for your support whether by teaching, parent rotas, organising
music groups, or setting up TVs and DVD players, but most of all for your
prayers. Holiday Bible ClubWasteWatchers were ready to go on Monday 23rd July after 7 months of preparation, and boy did we need to be ready! Record numbers of children arrived and we had to create a ninth team to accommodate them all. It was a busy week; even the weather couldn’t dampen our spirits as we shared the good news about Jesus with over 140 children and made an appearance on local TV. Sunday’s Celebration service saw us pack the church and over 200 people joined in the BBQ afterwards. There are so many people to thank for that amazing week. The prayer tower, the administration, the catering, the games, the warm up, the “Pink Crew” in the crèche, the techies, the BBQ team, the children for coming, the group leaders who really made it possible and openly shared their faith, and Dan Berry for soldiering on with his broken ankle. Our prayer is that we can build on the positives from this year, see even more children come to learn about Jesus and what he can mean in their lives, meeting and evangelising with more of the parents, that the new dates will see an increase in Sunday School with children keen to continue that journey of faith, and good weather all week. The Renewal Project will mean more space available in the main church and hall
for activities and arranging the groups. It will give us more freedom in the
events and should improve the group times by not being stuck in pews. And of
course, with ever more children attending, we need more toilets! MINISTRY – enabling people to use their gifts to serve God, by serving each other, our community and those in needFINDING A PLACE TO SERVE – JOHN HOLMESAs part of our service to God, we should be serving others, both in the fellowship and the communities where we live. During the past year, we have seen many within the fellowship step forward to help with the various activities. In particular, the outreach through the Beacon Café and the Little Fishes has continued to develop. We give thanks for those who have helped with these and in many other ways. We need to remember that each one has its place in God’s plan, no matter how insignificant or humble it may seem to human eyes. I particularly commend in this respect the babysitting service, which gives parents of young children the opportunity both to take part in fellowship activities and serve others. We pray that in 2008, every person can find their place to serve. We know that there will be a place for everyone. The Beacon CaféWe give thanks for the dedication and generosity of our team of volunteer ‘staff’ and home bakers who have enabled the café to remain open for another 12 months, including nearly all of the school holiday periods! Lisa Knight has now stood down as Manager and we are thankful for all her hard work and her continuing support on the Beacon Café Committee. The tasks of managing the café in the future will be shared by a team of people with the help and support of our ‘Beacon Deacon’ John Holmes. Manda Lusmore is now responsible for the finances and accounts; Lynn Lee is in charge of the volunteer Staff rota; Margaret Taylor continues to organise the Baking rota; Michelle Gore is monitoring and ordering our supplies and I am acting as Co-ordinator/Manager. We would value prayer for: • the committee and the management team as we continue the work of outreach through the café ministry • more volunteers to help staff the café sessions The
Renewal Project is very important to us because the improved hall, kitchen
and toilet facilities would enable us to provide a more efficient and
comfortable service to our customers and friends. Little FishesThe Little Fishes team has been able to welcome many new families this year both
from Bluntisham and other villages. We pray that we can continue to serve
parents and their young children through our activities. As a group we are
particularly keen to see the Renewal Project completed as this will allow us
better storage for our toys and most important of all, toilets in the hall (so
much better than running to the vestry in the rain with a toddler in tow!). FABRIC AND FACILITIES - ROB GOREI’ve only been the Deacon for Fabric and Facilities a few months, but in that time I’ve quickly realised the amount of general maintenance required to keep our wonderful buildings functioning. It’s been a busy year that has seen us carry out lots of work inside and out with gravestones being made safe, pipe work being boxed in, woodwork painted, gardens maintained and lots lots more. One downside is that we recently suffered a theft of the lead roofing covering the entrance to the Vestry. We hope to have the roof replaced early in the new year with something that is in keeping, more modern, cost effective and that is less attractive to thieves! We recently had a new quinquennial report carried out which detailed lots of ‘essential’ maintenance work just to get the buildings up to standard, work that is estimated will cost £57,000. Some of the work would be covered during the Renewal Project, but a lot won't so the majority is in addition to the funds we need to raise as part of the Renewal Project. However, it’s not all bad: we can reduce that cost significantly by doing some of the work ourselves, so we’ll be arranging a number of work days during 2008 with a schedule of works to be carried out to bring essentials up to standard and where possible, carry out some preventative work too. Please support the work days as much as possible, whether that be a whole
morning, a couple of hours, half an hour or if you’re unable to help in person,
please support us in your prayers. To plagiarise, ‘Every Little Helps’. The Renewal Project – at the Heart of the VillagesOne year in! It seems hard to believe that we’re already one year into our quest to raise £195,000 of the £650,000 we need to complete the project. Our aim is to raise the £195,000 by the end of 2008, so to be on track, strictly speaking we should have raised just under £100,000 by now. The current total is just under £70,000. That’s a good start, but there is clearly more to do to get back on track, and preferably beat our target. We are about to commence the process of applying for grants towards the project, but we haven’t a clue how much that will raise, so we really need to focus on that being a bonus on top of the funds we give and raise ourselves. There are more exciting fundraising events on the way, so keep an eye out for these and support them as much as you can. Please give thanks for the progress we’ve made this year, for all the people
within our wider community that the project has touched and brought closer to
the church, and for blessings on all those who have given of their time, money
or knowledge for the project. Please also continue to support the Renewal
Project in any way you can, whether it be financially, practically or
prayerfully. MISSION – Representing God locally, nationally and globally, by participating in his mission through praying, giving and goingCOMMUNITY EVANGELISM – Nick HudsonIn the paragraphs that follow you will find some examples of how we’ve organised outreach programmes and events in order to share our faith with people in our local community. Here I must mention Vision Magazine, produced by our dedicated Media Team, which provides a vital bridge into households we wouldn’t otherwise reach. We held two Alpha Courses, one evening and one daytime, which were smaller in number than some recent courses, but big on encouraging fruit. We used the Party in the Park event to raise our profile in the village in various ways, with a stall dedicated to the Renewal Project, the Praise in the Park on Sunday morning, and the memorable ‘Human Table Football’, of which more below. Community Evangelism is about so much more than programmes and events, however. It’s about the day to day witness of ordinary Christians, going about their business in ways that honour God and point people to Jesus. These apparently insignificant things produce fruit for the Kingdom all the time. You may not find a paragraph about them in what follows, but it’s the heart and soul of our church’s witness to the people of these villages and beyond. How would our community evangelism be helped by the Renewal Project? Our ability to put on really good events for visitors will be hugely enhanced by better facilities, especially new kitchens and toilets. I long to see the day when we can hold a really good evangelistic meal – perhaps an Alpha Supper? – in the larger space of the chapel. Generally speaking, a set of buildings that are well presented and in good repair will speak volumes to the people of our villages, witnessing to the fact that the Christian faith is not a crumbling Victorian edifice, but is alive and relevant for us all in the 21st Century. Christians in SportThe Cambridgeshire Churches Football League folded last season due to the lack of teams, but this has not deterred us from continuing to train on Wednesday evenings between 9.30pm and 10.30pm. We continue to attract new faces to train with us and it still provides the opportunity to meet with people in a non-pressurised atmosphere. We have again entered the National Christian Trophy. Some members of the team have joined forces with players from four teams previously of the Churches League to form Cambridge Ambassadors. Its mission as a football club is to provide an environment through which players, officials and supporters can develop friendships, with the aim of sharing the good news at the appropriate time, and to be a witness to those who play with them and against them. They play in Cambridgeshire BIS League 5A on a Saturday. In June we organised a six aside and invited local churches to come along. The initial tournament attracted six teams from Histon, St Ives Christian Fellowship, Crossways, Somersham and Haddenham, and we have since had teams from Cambourne and Warboys. Unfortunately this was a well attended event until October, but your prayers would be welcome to encourage churches to enter teams and see the benefits of using football as outreach. A big thanks to Jon Sanders of Cambourne who has been very supportive of this event. Finally with the help of Dan Berry we have started Circuit Training at the
School Hall on Monday nights between 8.00pm and 9.00pm. We hope that this will
also develop into a useful form of outreach and that any profits can be directed
towards the Renewal Project fund. Human Table FootballIt was at the annual Party in the Park at St Helen’s School, on a beautiful July
day, that the Human Table Football was inflated and a fun afternoon was under
way. The table is an inflatable rectangle with a goal at each end and bars
across, to which the ‘players’ are firmly velcroed – a human replica of the
traditional Table Football. Add two teams, a football and a referee and the game
begins. What appears a very simple idea provides great fun for the players (and
laughter for the spectators) as they try to come to terms with being attached to
a bar and having to co-ordinate their sideways-only movement with the team mate
attached to the same bar as well as trying to kick a ball vaguely in the right
direction. A BBC team was on hand to take on all comers, and the game proved
very popular, being used continuously throughout the day. It was successful in
raising the profile of BBC within the community in a fun way and in raising
money for the Renewal Project. Thanks go to everyone who took part (especially
those who were so keen they had to be forcibly removed!) and also to Dan Collins
who supplied the equipment free of charge. ALPHAA course which explains the basics of the Christian Faith and is run by many churches internationally. We have recently finished an Alpha Course that started in September 2007. The format of each session is a meal, and then a short talk followed by a discussion. Our group watched a DVD series by Nicky Gumbel, which proved to be very thought provoking. We had an excellent day away in Histon where Paul Mazumdar from St Barnabas Church, Cambridge gave a talk about the Holy Spirit. The Alpha course enables the attendees to understand what Christians believe and
it has helped to grow a number of people in their Christian faith. Many thanks
to all the helpers, those who cooked a meal, to Graham and Janet Harris for
opening their home, and all the leaders. Please pray that more people will be
encouraged to come along to the next course, and for new leaders. Sunday Half HourWe have much to be thankful for in the past year: both the opportunity to meet new friends and sit down with people who we don’t always have the time to talk with in a relaxed atmosphere. We have lost several regulars in the past twelve months. In particular, we think of Edna Nunn, Win Hiam, and John Ashcroft, all of whom are greatly missed. In the coming year, we would like to see more in the fellowship join us for the
short service and the chance of getting to know people over tea, sandwiches, and
cake. If the work on the Hall, as proposed by the Renewal Project, is completed,
it would enable us to be more adventurous in the food we offer. We could even
consider making it more of a regular fellowship meal. HOME MISSIONHome Mission continues quietly behind the scenes for most of the time and despite being overshadowed by other activities the giving remains at a significant level. Again I would like to thank everyone for the continued support, for this is fundamental in supporting the work of outreach within the UK. If anyone would be interested in helping develop Home Mission then please speak to Malcolm. The aim for 2008 is to develop our visibility for Home Mission both prayerfully and financially so that God’s Kingdom may grow where it is needed. The Renewal Project when completed will provide facilities that may be used for
many new activities or events in the area. This will enable us to open up our
own Home Mission-based projects and will be a major contributor for outreach to
the local community. Earith GroupThis outreach would not work if it wasn’t for a core of dedicated folk from Willingham Baptist Church, St Helen’s Colne and, of course, our church. Thank you all for your commitment. Please don’t let us give up. The improvement of our buildings will ensure that there will be better
facilities for anyone in the locality to use. Perhaps the Lord will answer our
prayers and send more folk from Earith to join us. WORLD MISSIONWorld Mission remains a key part of our focus and again a big thank you to the fellowship for supporting all our activities throughout the year by giving and praying. 2007 was a year of change as our link missionary Mat Wilson (and family) returned home from Albania and we established a new link with Anne who works in N. Africa. Anne visited us in December while on home assignment and we now appreciate many of the challenges she faces in her role, especially as she is moving to a new location this January. We continue to support the Way of Hope Church in Tirana, and a “mini team” visited at the end of November. The work and the growth there is a great encouragement to us all. Steph Allum went to Kenya working with the Tentelini project over the summer which was quite an experience for her, plus we still continued to pray for the Karen people in Burma. Rogifel, the young boy in S. America that the Ladies’ Fellowship are supporting caused a scare by not returning to school on time; however, he did return and we pray that he will be able to make the most of his education. One activity which started in 2007 and which will continue in 2008 is ‘In
transit’ which aims to stop modern-day trafficking of people. This is the main
area in which we will be asking for support in this coming year. Of course there
may be the odd little trip to Albania, so if you would be interested then please
let Malcolm or Bruce know. Zoti Ju Bekofte (God Bless You) Taking it further…Thank you for reading through this Annual Review. We hope you have been encouraged and challenged to pray for our church’s work, and indeed for the Renewal Project. Please consider what part you might play, both in giving and fundraising for the Renewal Project, and in the wider life of our church family. Someone has said: ‘Churches grow in the power of the Spirit, through the skilled effort of people.’ None of the above could happen without the committed involvement of willing volunteers. And the wonderful promise is that as we obediently step up to serve Him, God empowers us by his Spirit! So if, after reading about it here, you want to get involved in some area, please don’t delay! Speak to John Holmes (Deacon for Ministry) or directly to the person who wrote the article concerned. A special thank you to those who wrote the reports, and to Miriam Webb who compiled and edited this Review, Lynn Lee for proof reading, Alan Webb for lay out and Bruce Daniels for printing! May we all know God’s blessing and equipping in 2008!
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