Only 5 days to go to Alpha@CoffeeRepublic

So Alpha starts in 5 days. The team are in place, the venue is secured and the resources are being prepared. I am so looking forward to gathering again at Coffee Republic to meet new people, drink great coffee and share opinions about Jesus. Although we do present an orthodox Christian view, the conversations are always varied and the views are always wide and from different points of view. I love leading Alpha because it feels like you really connect with people, regardless of whether they follow Jesus as a result or not.

If you are reading this and are from Reading or the surrounding area and you have never done an Alpha course then I would like to invite you to come to the first evening. It starts at 8pm next Tuesday at Coffee Republic in the town centre. If you are a member of RFC or another church and have someone you would like to invite then please bring them along. If you know already that you are coming yourself or know of someone who is coming, please could you let me know.

If you cannot make the evening then please be praying for relationships, conversations and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

Bell ringing! Let's go again!

It's been almost a month now since we last rang the salvation bell here in the office. That said we have had he great joy of ringing it 13 times this year; that's 13 responses to the good news that Jesus came and died for our sin and rose again to declare victory over death.

This term will see Alpha once again run at Coffee Republic. This is one way in which we will corporately be involved in sharing the good news of Jesus. However for this to be successful we must all be taking the responsibility as individuals to be witnesses to who Jesus is and what he has done in our lives. We have the invite in our hands to give to our friends in order that they may know this Jesus and the hope that you have in him. Without our friends, work colleagues or family members, the Alpha course will comprise of a few Christians who already know about Jesus gathering to rue the fact that we didn't invite anyone!

This Sunday we will be looking at what it would be like to be in a church where we are seeing people who are being saved, added to us daily. We will also be putting an invite to Alpha on every chair. It is my prayer that both of these things spur us on, not just to invite to Alpha, but to continue to grow into a company of campanologists who are ringing the bell on a daily basis as we see those we respect, love, care for come to know the transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ through us living a life that reflects Christ in thought, word and deed.

Thoughts on the transfer window and football finance

So transfer deadline day came and went, the international season kicks off this weekend and the Premiership is in full swing. Football has definitely finished it's Summer Vacation! Who would have thought that in the midst of a recession, the crazy football world still manages to spend £450, 000, 000 on new players. The merry-go-round has been even stranger this year with Man City choosing to buy proven premiership players from other premiership clubs, with the likes of Arsenal and Man Utd not exempt from the lure of their money (although granted, Man Utd didn't get a penny from the Tevez deal as he still belonged to a third party!)

As we see all this happening we hear of Portsmouth who so very nearly went under and of course my West Ham who, according to the government, made a loss of £32, 000, 000 in the last year. They also managed to stave off collapse only because of the generousness of banks in not recalling all the debt due to late payments.

I'm sure these two clubs are not the only two in this situation in the top flight. Now I think both will come through it and will be okay, but surely the money thing has to stop and grass roots players will need to come through. I am proud of West Ham in the fact that it still develops and PLAYS, young talent that comes through the ranks. They take kids from around the area (and a few from other areas and abroad, but predominantly locals) and Tony Carr turns them into decent young footballers. He did it with the likes of Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, Glenn Johnson, Joe Cole, Jermain Defoe (from age 15, Charlton before that!), and Michael Carrick all of whom now play for the England first team. Add to that the promising youngsters now of James Tomkins, Freddie Sears, Junior Stanislas, Josh Payne, Jack Collison and of course Mark Noble, and you have a fairly good side.

Will West Ham ever challenge for major honours, probably not, because to balance the empty books they will inevitably have to sell some of our better players at some point, however I for one, in this crazy messed up world of football finance, hope that we continue to be a team that relies on it's youth policy more than they do their transfer policy and that we develop homegrown talent rather than buying in players with big names and big wage demands. We tried that a couple of years ago and look where that got us - in the red big time!! The England team will continue to flourish as long as we keep producing!!!

New interns - an adventure with God

Over this past year, Samantha, Hannah and Andrew have served the church magnificently as trainees on our intern programme. Next week we welcome in our new interns. Joe and Claire are great people who arfe giving a year of their life to serve God by volunteering for the local church. They are both graduates with excellent degree qualifications, but are choosing to delay any career moves to serve Him.

Joe will be involved in students, film media and youth, whilst Claire will be doing the day to day media, worship and administration. They will both be extremely busy, have no money (it is in fact costing them money to do the year), and will need lots of support and encouragement.

I know that these two will have a massive impact on the church as they are both hard working and full of the Holy Spirit. They both love Jesus and want to do all they can to grow in Him. Please pray for them and maybe even consider supporting them financially in this coming year as they embark on their newest adventure in God.

Also let this be a timely reminder to us all that we are all on an adventure. Ours may not be volunteering for the church for a year, but it may be starting a new job, a new hobby or maybe starting a family or seeing the last of the children leave home. Things in life are always changing and we can embrace these changes with the knowledge that God is in control and although the adventure maybe harder than we thought, we can count on the fact that He is there for us. Alternatively we can shy away from the changes, reject them and stay in the status quo. Who ever grows in the staus quo? What adventure are you embarking on in this coming term?

Lifegroups together

Last night B and I gathered the Whitley lifegroups together for a big joint lifegroup at the church offices. It was really good to see the groups well represented, although it is still Summer so it wasn't as big as it usually would be.

As an icebreaker, we played a game trying to guess what the 10 most searched verses are on biblegateway.com. Unsurprisingly John 3:16 was top! This proved to be more fun than it may sound, with people bringing up all sorts of obscure verses with different rationales for their choices.

During the worship time there were specific words for individuals and there were pictures and bible readings that really spoke to people. As we prayed for each other in response to these things you could really sense the presence of the Spirit. It was great to be part of it.

Tom and Nicola then divided the group in two and lead us in the word - which they did with skill and obviously lots of preparation. Finally we caught up about the fun day and had some feedback from Chris who had been on the organising group and we also prayed that we would be those who invite our friends on Alpha.

The evening was a great success and I enjoyed it immensely. It was refreshing to meet with people you wouldn't usually meet with and to worship Jesus in a bigger group of people outside of Sunday morning. As I looked around the room last night, the nations were represented, we had people from different age groups and people who ranged from being currently unemployed in the workplace, to being mums, to being IT people. A diverse group of people drawn together by one man, Jesus.

Me thinks we shall plan another evening like this at some point in the not too distant future.

Saddened and disappointed

As a West Ham fan of many years I am saddened and disappointed by the events that transpired outside and inside the ground last night. To see the people running onto the pitch was sheer lunacy, middle aged guys as well as teenagers just letting emotion run wild and not thinking about the consequences After all the trouble and negative press West Ham United has had to deal with through the Tevez affair, the banking collapse in Iceland and the constant rumours of us having to sell our best players to balance the books - what were these so called fans of this great East London club thinking of?

In what world does hooliganism on any scale seem right? That world is the world we live in. Somehow the bitter rivalry between the two teams 'firms' was such that they didn't spare a thought for the actual reason that the two sets of fans would be at the ground - a football match. These guys were not interested in football and cannot call themselves followers of football. You are not a more passionate supporter if you fight with the oppositions supporters or invade the pitch - why, because you bring the club into disrepute. You show no affection to the club whatsoever.

Hooliganism is selfish and shows one of the ugliest sides of our sinful nature. The sheer tribalism that these men would more than likely have shouted off about when the Kenyan elections went so disastrously wrong, is exactly what they are involved in. Only this could be deemed as even more mindless as they were just rioting for rioting sake, not to try to seize power or demand that things are done fairly.

Men ranging from early teems to mid fifties, becoming like our barbarian ancestors all in the name of a sport that condemns it. Actually our country has not only condemned it, but has also become the world leader in tackling it. My guess would be that most of those involved in last nights trouble would have been those who had previously be banned from grounds for many years, rearing up only because it is Millwall against West Ham.

As you can see this has struck a nerve with me. I hate the fact that football hooliganism happens at all, but when it happens at my club, it frustrates me. Two young lads who have been brought through the academy at West Ham played their hearts out last night and scored the goals that saw the team through to the next round of the cup. That will not be remembered. A great last breath comeback which wold have been hailed as a great achievement in different circumstances, will not be reported on. Only the actions of these mindless few who heap slander on all football fans. I pray that we will not see scenes like these again and pray that justice will be served.

Christs light is the only thing that will serve to transform the lives of men who are otherwise determined to damage each other all in the name of football, but actually it's in the name of violence and hatred. The rage shown last night makes me resolve in my heart all the more to stay hidden in Christ and endeavour to constantly choose to put off my old self and clothe myself in the Spirit of God and the Gospel of peace.

Photo Competition

As a church we have partnered with the Reading Chronicle to find talented photographers in Reading. The competition is to get interesting pictures of Reading whether black and white or colour, that offer an 'interesting' perspective of our town. You can find out more information at:

www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/roundup/articles/2009/08/09/40460-can-you-snap-up-churchs-top-prize/

or on our church website:

http://www.readingfamilychurch.org.uk/