God's Healing Power

On Sunday evening I had a great conversation with one of our young ladies at our 6pm meeting, so I asked her to write it down:

"For about 10 years, suffered with low mood, developing into depression and anxiety, always in and out of counselling and different therapies. I battled with self harm and suicidal thoughts for what felt like forever, and if I'm being honest, that really made me struggle in my walk with God. I was put on increasing amounts of medication as I became increasingly dependent on them - I was on the highest dose of anti-depressants that they could offer.

In the autumn of 2015, I experienced a horrible trauma, and was put under emergency care, my medication increased even further, and was having visits from nurses every other day, to try and combat the voices in my head that were very real to me. I had PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), and I didn't ever see myself getting better.

One night in November 2016, I was having a flashback when I called on one of my closest friends, and spilt my whole story to them. They prayed for me continuously throughout the night, even once I'd finally fallen asleep, pleading God for peace, and praying for healing once and for all. I prayed that week with the same person and others, until one morning I woke up totally different - I didn't take my tablets that morning, and haven't since - I don't need them, and I feel happier in myself than I ever did before, medication or otherwise.

I praise God that I'm here, and I'm alive, because without him, I dread to think what would have become of me."

Praise God!!!

Cakes at Reading Girls School

Not every one will know this, but every half term Judy, Bea and Alan go into Reading Girls School with cakes baked by our army of outstanding RFC bakers!!!

Bea was in on Wednesday and one teacher said to her that the cakes bring them together and makes them socialise.

Another teacher who regularly works in school on a Sunday, asked where we had been this last Sunday.  Bea told her about the Mad Stad One Church event and she said that she likes it that we are there when she comes to work!

It's so good that we get to express our love for the staff at the school in this way and to see that it is making a small impact.  Building unity and bringing comfort is part of what it is to be ambassadors of Christ.

Stories from the Mad Stad

We had a great time at our One Church celebration on Sunday.  It was brilliant to start with good news stories of answers to prayer and what God is doing in our lives.

Ethan told of how they have been learning about religions at school and he took in his bible.  His teacher read from the bible at the end of the day and he was able to have a couple of conversations with children in his class about how they could be Christians!

Mick told of how he posted a card of encouragement through the neighbours door; Saffy told us of how she had desired the gift of tongues, asked for it at a youth weekend away and ended up speaking in a language that she hadn't learnt!!!

These were just some of the stories that were told publicly on the morning.

As I left on Sunday morning, the security guy was genuinely delighted to see how people had all left smiling and joyful on the morning.  It turns out that someone else had had a great conversation with him earlier and he had shown a great interest.

God is on the move amongst us, let's be alert to what he is doing and let's encourage each other by taking every opportunity to share the good news stories, whether that be answers to prayer, opportunities to pray for others or being able to do good works to help someone out that brings light into someones life.  

Two Sunday's, Two decisions for Jesus

Two Sunday's ago I heard the great news that a guy who has been coming along to RFC with one of our regulars, has made a commitment to Jesus.  He has also on the Alpha course on a Tuesday night via Facetime as he lives in East London!!!!  

Then this Sunday one of our students brought along a girl from his course.  She had been to CU and had been chatting to Christians on campus for a while.  At the end of the meeting she went for prayer with the prayer team and then committed her life to Jesus then and there.  She too will be coming along on Alpha this week.

Let's pray that these stories will be multiplied many times as we continue to share our faith wherever we may find ourselves as ambassadors of Christ!!!

Referendum Cafe

Fraser and Cheriel from our evening congregation came up with a brilliant idea.  Cheriel tells us all about it:

"About a month ago my husband and I ran a free pop-up cafe in the centre of Reading to give people a public forum in which to discuss the result of the EU referendum. It was the weekend after the referendum result, and we had planned it for a week and put it on. We had been surprised and taken aback by the Brexit vote, and were concerned by a few things in the immediate aftermath:

1. Many Remain voters were angry and upset, and some voices from the Leave side were protesting that they felt maligned and misrepresented in the media 2. Everyone seemed to be talking about the referendum with their family and friends, but there didn't seem to be any spaces for constructive public discussion (and Facebook tends not to be the most constructive of spaces) 3. Despite the almost 50/50 split of the vote, the vast majority of our friends and family seemed to have voted the same way as us.

Put together, this seemed to suggest that the split of the vote was not only driven by individual opinion, but also by a vast difference in perception, both of what would be best for the nation and the voters on the other side, and by social (and quite possibly economic) differences.

This has been said a great deal since, but the referendum highlighted some very profound divides in our country. We wanted to do something that would strengthen civil society in our local community and enable people to put a human face to the opinions and perceptions of the other side of the vote. The wisdom of the Bible tells us that 'a soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger' (Proverbs 15:1) and that we should 'put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace' (Ephesians 6:15). We wanted to bring something of peace and hope at a time when it would have been easy to respond in inflammatory ways.

We spent the week planning and praying for good weather, begged and borrowed tables and camping chairs from Reading Family Church and our friends, recruited other members of the church to help man the stall, and filled out the necessary paperwork from the council. On the Saturday, we set our gazebo, table and signs up on Broad Street in the morning and were immediately in business. Lots of people stopped because they were intrigued by the offer of free cake and homemade lemonade, and a good many stayed to chat. While rain did put a damper on things for a little while, we estimate that by the end of the day we had spoken to over 120 people and families.

We spoke to people on both sides of the vote, and tried to encourage conversation. Many Remain voters spoke about a sense of devastation and outrage, while Leave voters spoke about optimism and feeling unfairly judged. On both sides there was apprehension about political uncertainty ('The UK has no government'). We spoke to immigrants from Europe who felt disappointed, unwelcome and angry. Wherever possible, we tried to encourage the people we spoke with to consider what the vote said about society and local communities in the UK, and what we could most productively do as individuals and as a community moving forward. One of our friends, a Remain voter, had a long conversation with a couple who had voted Leave about the thought processes and motives that had led them to vote the way they did. They came away with the realisation that, though they had chosen opposite sides of the vote, they had very similar interests at heart.

While not all conversations resulted in that degree of convergence, we found ourselves challenged and humbled by differences of opinion in the people we met. The conversations we had helped us to consider more deeply the importance of speaking our perception of truth lovingly in public debate. We hope and believe (at least, from the feedback of others) that many people came away from the pop-up cafe feeling a little more encouraged, a little more understood, and a little more willing to seek a constructive, diverse conversation. We all find it hard to be truly neutral about issues that affect us deeply, but with a little loving work we could perhaps create a society where we can deal with difference in ways that strengthen our communities."

Reaching our town is not all about 'the church' centralising and doing outreach, it is about Christians who are the church taking the initiative and bringing the gospel through their own unique way.  The bible is clear, 'Blessed are the peacemakers' and that's what Fraser and Cheriel and friends were doing that day being peacemakers.

Reading Festival This Weekend

Well it's the August Bank Holiday which means this week some 80,000 extra people, from all over the UK, will start to descend on Reading for the annual music festival.  Aligned with the festival in Leeds, this is the biggest event that hits our town each year and is one fo the cornerstone events in the British music calendar.

For years now churches in Reading have played their part in the festival by helping festival goers who find themselves in problems, by feeding hungry revellers and of course, buy offering them the good news of Jesus.

This year sees followers of Jesus in Reading unite again to come alongside the 80,000 to help, encourage and share the gospel.

Here's a link to the website Jesusdiedfor.me, to tell you all about what is going on.

If you are here in Reading and are a Christian, please will you consider getting along to get involved.

If you are a festival goer and a Christian, please look out for these guys and encourage them as well as being a good witness yourself.

If you are not a Christian, then why not take the time to see what Christians really believe as you spend time in between the bands that you have come to Reading to enjoy. You may just find yourself surprised, that this is exactly the sort of festival where Jesus would have found himself as he walked on this earth.

Praying for a colleagues knee

Flo Keith sent me this yesterday, it's a brilliant read:

A couple of Mondays ago, I went to one of my colleagues in the English Department after a crazy day at work and we sat and had a chat. She mentioned that she was going to her dance class tonight which was why she was working late (she also teaches dance at school!) but her knee was really sore. As soon as she told me, I felt prompting me to pray for her "Do it, do it," and with everything in me scared to, I just blurted out "do you want me to pray for your knee?" To my surprise, she said yes, so I asked if I could lay hands on and then prayed for the pain to go and a general blessing.

Now, she wasn't healed, but what happened after was just as awesome! She sent me an email about 10 mins later titled "The power of prayer" and this was her response:

Thank you so much for your prayer today, I really appreciate it. God was clearly listening – the one lady who usually comes to Fitsteps on a Wednesday has just messaged me to say she can’t come tonight, meaning I can have an evening resting my knee :)

Have a lovely evening.

x

So God answers prayer in the most unexpected way, and when I asked her about her knee on Friday afternoon, she said that the pain had gone a while ago.

So it wasn't a moment of "Wow, immediate pain gone!" but in my opinion, still an amazing opportunity (plus now she's not in pain, and I have no idea where her walk with God is, but I think her email back and the language she's used is really encouraging!


Let's all be a little more like Flo and take the opportunities that come our way!

Always being ready...

Peter speaks about always being ready to give a reason for the hope that we have.  Here are a couple of stories from our kids worker, Sarah, who did just that:

I was at the chiropractor’s and I said something about church and she started telling me that she wished she’d been brought up with a faith. I told her I hadn’t been either, but that I’d become a Christian at 18 and was able to tell my story of how and why I’d become a Christian. She told me she has other patients who are Christians who have also spoken with her about their faith. I don’t know them, but I feel like we’re working “on team” to help this chiropractor come to faith J.

I was walking down London Road and a guy looked drunk and as though he was going to fall into the road. I considered walking past, but  decided this might be a Holy Spirit moment, so asked if he was ok and started chatting with him. We ended up walking along the road together chatting. I was asking the Holy Spirit if He wanted to say anything. I had the guy’s mum on my mind so asked about her. She is dead and he misses her and various other family hurts came out. I told him I’m a Christian, about Jesus dying for him and God being a good father. He listened and asked questions. I don’t imagine I’ll ever see him again, but I hope our conversation will have contributed to his understanding of our good God in a hurting world and maybe one day he’ll come to faith.

That's Sarah, just taking the opportunities that come her way!  Let's be praying for her chiropractor and this guy on London Road.

A God encounter causes pain to leave!

Here's a story from one of our great students, Charis:

A few days ago, God challenged me in how I don’t need to ‘feel’ full of faith for God to move through me powerfully. Both humbling and exciting!

I was walking back from one of the Church’s mid week meetings, and two people stopped me and asked for money just outside the hospital. I didn't have any spare change, but one was in a wheelchair so I asked if I could pray for him. The lady with him got really excited, and said that she's a Christian, and that God totally changed her life after struggling with alcoholism. So I knelt down and ask him where the most pain is, as he suffered from wounds after serving in the army and now lives with a lot of pain. So I asked him if I could lay my hand on the area of pain, his shin, and told him that God could heal him. After a brief prayer, he looks surprised and said, "I just felt warmth all down my leg….. Can you pray for my other one?"

When I say I had no faith, literally the whole time I felt nothing, no excited feeling, no 'surge of power' or anything! 

So I prayed for the other leg, and then he said he felt shooting warmth all through his leg this time. I asked him to stand up and walk around to see if anything had happened, and HE HAD NO PAIN! He didn't even want to try walking at first, but he got up and hobbled around, slowly, then more confidently. The woman with him said she hadn't seen him walk like that in a long time! She then told me that she went to RFC once and a woman prayed for her leg, and skin that was all black on her thigh got healed! After talking with them for a while about the goodness of God,  they say have a nice night and walk away.

I was so stunned that something had happened, I forgot to tell them more about Jesus, so 30 seconds later I felt like a bit of an idiot! But I thought it was incredible that God can use my lack of faith to reveal the reality and mystery of a present God, and that the lady with him actually knows the Lord so can tell him more and (hopefully) take him to Church! I have faith that God is gonna work in this guy's life!


It’s such an adventure to live to live in step with the Spirit of God! He loves it when His kids ask for the big things!

Amazing stuff! It's always good to take the opportunities that are presented to us.  You never know what God will do!

Many links over many years!

Here's a story from Sarah Rooke from our 9am congregation, I found it so encouraging when thinking about persevering in prayer and in love for friends who don't yet know Jesus.

"Although we were different as teenagers my friend Sarah and I were good friends all through secondary school.She knew I was a Christian and we would have the odd chat about this.During our late teens she and I talked on a more deeper level often coming back to my faith and how this played out in my life.She agreed to come on a Christianity Explored course with me and was struck by the love and welcome there, she often asked questions and kept coming. There was no conclusion for her following this and soon after she moved to Southampton.
We continued to be close friends, especially seeing each other more at times like when she had her first baby. Through various life events we would often quickly get to a deep and meaningful conversation especially  during the tough times.I remember clearly she said she couldn't have any faith or believe there was a God at one point and I felt so sad about this but prayed for her eyes to be opened spiritually.

Now in our early thirties we remain close and conversations have been around prayer this past year. We prayed for her to have a healthy pregnancy and baby,we prayed for a difficult housing situation and both of these prayers were answered in an amazing way -that she could see too! At my baby's thanksgiving a few weeks ago Sarah prayed something for her daughter and was very excited the next day that her prayer had been answered!Praise God! She has since started to go to the church on the estate she lives on and her children had been involved in youth activities there for a while. She went to a guest service about healing and her and her partner prayed with someone from the church after,they've been reading booklets on prayer they've been given and are booked to start Christianity Explored next week! We speak on the phone most days and it's so exciting to see God working so powerfully and how God can choose to use us or choose to speak directly with people without needing us- a real reminder that there's often many links over many years." 

It's good to share stories to encourage one another and it means we too can pray for Sarah's friend Sarah!

Being a good neighbour

This term I am running a group called Being Ambassadors as part of our life group system. It's basically an opportunity to share stories and be encouraged.  As part of that the guys involved have agreed to share their stories on the blog as well.  So here's the first from Glodine:

Something I am learning about being an ambassador for Christ is that I no longer have to put pressure on myself to see conversion or an immediate change in someone's life. With time I have come to appreciate that coming to faith is a journey and it is God's responsibility to get my friends saved, my role is to walk the Christian faith in a way that showcases who Jesus is through love, patience and grace. Earlier this week my neighbours gifted me with lovely flowers and a card that read 'Thank you for bearing with our renovations so gracefully!' This made me smile, encouraged me to keep loving people the way Jesus loves me. I am incredibly grateful for the wonderful people in my life.

Katie also sent this through to our what's app group:

Buzzing today after being at my cousins baptism in Birmingham, she bought loads of her non-Christian friends and people gave their lives to Jesus!  So exciting to see God moving everywhere we go.

Restarting with Purpose

For 15 years now, evangelism has been going on around RFC.  By evangelism, I don't mean programmes or Alpha courses, I mean real people connecting with other real people.  Over the years we have been going we have seen 104 people make a response to the gospel.

Some of those have matured and are going on with God at RFC; others have gone on and are living out their Christian lives in other towns and countries of the world.  There are others still who we have lost contact with and don't know where they are.  But each of these responses shows us that God is still at work today.  Each one of those responses has a story behind it, and often a story that involves at least one person who is following Jesus.

As followers of Jesus we get the great opportunity to make real friends with real people and love them regardless of whether they follow Jesus or not.  In the midst of that friendship, our expectation should be that there will come an opportunity to share our faith with our friends or family.  We pray for the right opportunity and we take them when they come along.

That could be an act of kindness that goes above and beyond, it's an 'extra mile' type of act.  You didn't have to, but you did!  Now that is not unique to Christians, but maybe just finding the right words to say to display that you are doing it because of Jesus in your life, sets it apart.

Over the years people have loved their friends and their friends have noticed it which has given them the opportunity to share the good news of Jesus with them.

Evangelism is not about clinching the deal - only God can do that - rather it is about representing Jesus wherever we find ourselves - living as he lived, around the people that he would have spent time with, responding how he would have responded, asking questions as he did, and ultimately giving people the opportunity to meet him.

It's not something that we do, it's the very essence of who we are - ambassadors of Jesus.

As a church we want to celebrate the times that we have been ambassadors.  That's why I have reignited this blog.  It's mainly to record the ambassadorial stories of RFC - those ambassadorial moments when you have shared your story, prayed with someone, had a word of knowledge and shared it: whatever it may be and whether it was received well or not!  Let's get into the habit of sharing our stories in order to spur us and others on in our calling to represent Jesus.

Carol Singing Life Group!

One of our life groups, on the initiative of Geoff White, went out carol singing last night.  They visited many homes around West Village, the new development of flats and houses down near the Oxford Road Tesco's. An intrepid bunch went knocking on doors and singing. Left people surprised as instead of being asked for money, they were given chocolates by the carollers!  

It had such an impact that not only did the official West Village Face Book page thank the RFC carol singers but they have also advertised our carol concert on their page!  Quality!

Something to think about and store away for next year maybe!

Attitudes of a Leader @ RFC # 5

(Week five of this 5 week series taken from a talk given at the RFC Leadership Summit.)

5: Ready to learn

This is our 5^th and final attitude.

As we look at leaders at RFC and actually across the board, we must be those who never got to a point when we think we have made it.  We will always be a faint reflection of the great leadership that Jesus brought to bear as he walked on the earth and we must recognise that and remember that we are a work in progress.  

his takes great humility. Being learners means we need to acknowledge we are not the finished article and that we are just on a journey of developing our gift the same as any one else.

We need to be those who are learning about ourselves constantly.  Now to deliver this with integrity, you need to know that I find self reflection very hard.  It’s not natural for me and so I have to work on it.  Sean is a trusted friend who is able to draw stuff out of me to help me to reflect and over time I have become better at this, but it isn't my default way of thinking. 

As leaders we are under the microscope and we make mistakes.  It’s not always easy to hear that especially when we feel we are giving our all. Over the years I have received criticism that has been really painful and at times have felt that it has been harsh, but at the very core of what has been said there has been something to learn from. If we shut out criticism and don’t sift it we will miss the learning point.  Even the harshest criticism will teach us something if we let it.  This therefore means we will be teachable, ready to receive criticism well and ready to learn from wherever the learning may come, even if it’s from the new person on the team!

Being ready to learn also means that we will take seriously our walk with Jesus. As his disciples we constantly need to be growing in our understanding and knowledge of our God, who sent his son to display these five attitudes and more.

Attitudes of a Leader # 4

(Week four of this 5 week series taken from a talk given at the RFC Leadership Summit.)

4: Eager to listen

As a guy with a reasonably strong leadership gift and the experience I have this is something that I am constantly working on.  

Have you found yourself in a position when you have been trying to speak about something but all you sense is that the person has heard your first statement and is just waiting to put forward their wisdom, their expert take, their opinion that of course is the considered best practice! 

Actually you just want help to process an issue or just want to be listened to. 

I know that I have been that person who hasn’t listened and I know  that that has not been constructive at all, but I want to be a leader that is eager to listen.  

To know when to speak and when to be silent.  

To feedback reflectively when someone is speaking to me.  

To take time to really hear what the person is concerned about or is proposing.

The truth is when someone feels listened to, you may not agree with the content and you may not come to an accord on it, but the person will feel valued.  They will feel their voice has been heard, that they haven’t wasted your time and it keeps the relational bridge open. This results in everyone being able to move forward together living with differing opinions.

Let's work our attitude of being eager to listen.

Attitudes of a Leader @ RFC #3

(Week three of this 5 week series taken from a talk given at the RFC Leadership Summit.)

3: Easy to lead

Are you easy to lead or more like this dog?

At a leadership summit we must be aware that a leader must be one who can also be led and led easily.  How could you ever expect anyone you lead to have a good attitude to leadership if you yourself do not display that?

What does this mean?  

It certainly does not mean being yes people.  Being easy to lead doesn't mean you just have to agree, although agreeing is also fine. 

It means that we are 'can do', willing to see problems, but talk about them positively, with potential solutions. 

It means we are flexible, the very nature of working with volunteers in a growing setting, where the Holy Spirit can lead, means we can’t just live in our trenches or silos of thinking.  Flexibility is so important in an ever changing environment.  Now this does of course meaning having a positive attitude to change, I know that I don’t like change but I have tried to cultivate a positive attitude towards it because change is inevitable as the kingdom of God advances.

It means we are willing to do whatever is needed.  Again we will not always be engaged with the things we feel we are necessarily good at.  I remember being the church administrator for a while, now for some of you that know me well you will now that this was me playing well out of position, but as leaders at RFC we need to be those who are willing to do whatever the church needs, whatever will help her to flourish.

Do we exhibit an attitude that says that we are easy to lead, or is this something that we need to ask for God's help on? 

ITP update #2

This Monday I went for my specialist appointment at he hospital.  I've got to be honest I went with high expectations of getting some more clarity as to what the next treatment was going to be.  This drug that they were going to apply to put me on.

As I sat in his room he told me that he was pleased that the platelet count was over 30 and that we could leave it now for a while to see how things will progress.  At this point I asked about playing badminton and cycling, after al he had said he was happy with my count.  At this he scoffed and said that I should still steer clear of those things!  He also said that the drug that had been suggested the week before was not actually the next line of treatment, the next line of treatment was to remove my spleen.  ( I thought that the ritoxamab was instead of this.)

He also sent me for another blood test to check for some stomach bug that may cause ITP to come on.  in fact this specialist was surprised I hadn't been checked for this already.

So in all it was a visit that left me with little clarity at all.  I see a specialist again in 4 weeks time to see how the count is doing, as they are leaving time for the ritoxamab to work. In the meantime I remain on a low dosage of steroids reducing slowly over a longer period than was first stated to reduce the side effects of withdrawal.

The only thing that did bring some clarity was some understanding as to why I feel tired most of the time.  He was very clear that the reason for this is because of the low platelet count.  he is the first of the doctors and nurses who have treated me to make this clear to me, it's not the steroids or any other treatments, it's the fact I have low platelets.

The last thing I want is for anyone to read this is as me moaning.  This must be such a hard thing to treat as there is no clear cause and I know that it is all trial and error and having to wait.  I have been generally looked after so well and I now have to get used to the long haul care of a people who are stretched to the limits.  My prayers are with the medical staff and I ask that yours would be too.

Attitudes of a Leader @ RFC #2

2: Embracing generosity

Generosity is a thing we practice but starts as a heart attitude.  Generosity basically says I am open handed with what I have.  Of course it does have financial implications.  As leaders at RFC we know that we are given the great responsibility of being stewards of the resources that God has given to us and we take that seriously and with great joy.  When we lead others into gift days and regular giving we can only do that if we have a positive attitude ourselves, an attitude that says this is not always easy or convenient, but is a blessing to us that helps us to display our faith and trust in Jesus.

This has time implications. Leadership often means that we will be those who go the extra mile and put in the extra hours and that takes a positive attitude as time is precious and there is so much we can do with it.  With a generous attitude we can guide against bitterness and thinking others should be doing more.

However embracing generosity also means that we are generous with our words, with praise with affirmation and with encouragement.  We can be so keen to get the job done that we forget to take time to congratulate and recognise effort, and this needs to be done far more than we think.

Anticipating meeting with God

This Saturday the RFC Alpha course travels to Beaconsfield for the Alpha Day Away. There are 24 of us travelling over and we look forward to a time where we will further build relationships with each other and eat good food.  

However I am also in anticipation that we are going to encounter God powerfully. I am believing that the Holy Spirit will change hearts and minds as he comes and meets with individuals just as he did in the home of Cornelius in Acts 10.  I am also looking forward to meeting him again personally as I speak through three sessions and lay hands on those who come forward for prayer.  

Our God is a Father who loves to see his family grow and I am believing that Saturday will be a day of growth!  Please pray for salvation and tangible experiences of meeting with our God, that get people moving further on in their journey with Jesus.

 

Latest news from the ITP journey

So I have had a couple of blood tests since first I blogged about the ITP thing.  One recorded a drop to 26 and the latest has recorded a rise whereby the platelet count is currently at 32.  this is still a long way off 150!

Whilst on the phone to the hospital they told me to reduce my steroid intake again which is good and there now seems to be an end to that treatment and they also told me that they are looking into another line of treatment that will boost production of my platelets.  This will either be by tablet or injection.  I guess I will have to wait until the specialist appointment on Monday to know whether they will pursue this course of treatment with me or not.

In the meantime please pray for energy levels and clarity of thought as I do all I need to do this week.