The bell to ring again

Last term we ran Alpha where we saw one young lady commit her life to following Jesus. This last weekend I also heard of another young lady, Becky, who whilst at home over Christmas realised that she too believed in Christ and she committed her life to following him also. This same young lady took part in communion for the first time on Sunday morning and was baptised in the Holy Spirit.

we shall therefore be having another bell ringing on Friday night at the prayer meeting to celebrate another saint being rescued from the darkness and being brought into the light.

This excites me so much and fuels my desire to see more lives changed. Not for me, but to bring glory to the Father through his Son, Jesus. It's what I want to see more of as we take our step of faith this Sunday in starting the evening meeting; as we continue with Alpha in April; and as men and women and children of RFC go out into the workplaces, schools, mum and toddler groups, university halls and houses, wherever it may be and shine bright for Jesus in word and deed.

I trust that this year we will once again be ringing the bell of salvation more than once a month, but with a greater frequency. If you have any stories of opportunities you have had in sharing your faith either through words or through actions please let me know either here or on my email.

God is good and so is his gospel that we steward, let's get it out there and see more Becky's welcomed into his kingdom and the church.

Prayer

I love praying with others in our church and with brothers and sisters from other churches. There's something about it that just builds my faith and leaves me hungry for more of my King. To that end please see this from Sitho:

We are not far from the launch of the evening meeting, the start of the marriage course, the planting of new life groups and lots more that God has put on our hearts for this year. As with everything else in our own lives, the bible is clear that "by prayer & petition, with thanksgiving present your requests to God."

Let's gather together to rejoice for all that the Lord has been doing among us and to boldly come before our Father in heaven as we submit to Him all the challenges before us & ask for breakthrough in all that He has called us to in Reading.

Please decide if you are able to fast, when you will set aside time to do this, and also try to arrange some prayer time with a friend(s) during next week. Corporately, we will meet at the following times :

· WEDNESDAY 3^rd February @ The Church Office, 8pm – 9:30pm

· THURSDAY 4^th February @ The Church Office, 8pm-10pm

· FRIDAY 5^th February @ The Church Office, 8pm - 10pm

* The Thursday meeting will be a combined meeting with our friends from Thameside Church.

May I encourage you to make the prayer meetings a priority next week, there are few things in life that matter more - Jesus said his house would be called a house of prayer.

I don't know what you planned to next week, but make prayer top of your list - it's not going to be convenient, but I know we'll meet with God!

Good times...

Over the past two weekends we have had some great experiences as a church.

On Sunday 17th January, we met at South Streets Arts Centre in the town centre, for

our vision evening. 105 people (including babies) turned out to hear what is in store for us this year which in itself was exciting. The most exciting thing though was worshipping in a new venue. This will be the venue that we use for the evening meetings kicking off on Sunday 7th Feb and it rocked. It gave us a foretaste of what is to come as we open a new door into the town which God has called us to love and reach with the gospel.

Then this weekend we gathered 222 people over two venues - 149 here in Reading and 73 down in Bognor at Butlins (Newfrontiers weekend away). Howie Kellett preached in Reading, Kat lead worship and Simon anchored. By all accounts, people met with the living God and were challenged by the message. At Butlins many were inspired by good teaching and enjoyed fellowship, whilst a small group served the 350+ youth over four meetings. The RFC band that played were fantastic and lead the young people and the leaders into the presence of God, Nicholas (from Catford), Dave (from Ascot) and our very own Sitho, preached well, but more importantly, we met with the Holy Spirit.

It was fantastic to see so many young people responding to be baptised in the Spirit for the first time and for others to be filled again. What a joy and what a privilege to be part of the weekend. My role was to be DJ and ministry team member: I must confess it was brilliant to once again to play my trance tunes loud and with purpose in a way that I have not done for over 9 years. Hopefully more chances like that will come along!!!

In all what these two weekends has shown me is that God has plans for us as a church to help serve the wider body in out region and in our town, but also we are a church called to be dynamic in the way that we approach our town and love her in order to reach her for Jesus. In faith we shall pray about this for three days at the end of next week - more details to come

What a remarkable family

As I read this this evening I couldn't help but shed a tear and reflect on the fact that I have the privilege of knowing this family. This godly couple have had such an influence on the lives of B and myself. They continue to have that influence as they show is what it is to face the end and yet still do all they can to enjoy the last few days. Their reliance on God through their faith in Christ is inspiring to say the least. This is the post from Craig's blog today:

A decisive step on the journey....

Karena was quite sick through the night. As expected, her bowel has now stopped functioning....so they have stopped the laxatives and given her some more meds to dry things up in the stomach and to stop her sickness, and she has also stopped eating as a consequence. So she has not been sick today, which has been much better for her. We both had a jolly good cry earlier today as it feels like another very decisive step on the journey we are all on. They have told us that Karena should live at least another 3 days, but probably less than 10. One of the drugs they are now using will make her even more tired/sleepy than she already is.
She is still strong in heart though and we had some giggles tonight as we read "Christmas Chaos for the 100mph dog". Most amusing - a funny family read !
Tomorrow I have taken the children out of school in order to spend the day with their mum. We will finish the book hopefully and perhaps watch a video, look at some photos and play a game or two. Karena will be he hub of our attention of course (when she is awake). Should be fun - these are very precious days.

So it looks like by the end of next week Karena will meet Jesus face-to-face.

Rom 8:38-39
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.