According to Wikipedia, a nation is a human, cultural and social community. If that's the case then we have nations surrounding us here in sunny Woking by the bucket load...
Tuesday night was Outside Light in Old Woking. My day leading up to this had been somewhat strange and as I settle into my new role as an evangelist working for St John the Baptist Church in St John's, one of the challenges I face is being able to switch off, knowing when work stops and rest starts, trying to find those quiet moments to re-charge.
Tuesday night was Outside Light in Old Woking. My day leading up to this had been somewhat strange and as I settle into my new role as an evangelist working for St John the Baptist Church in St John's, one of the challenges I face is being able to switch off, knowing when work stops and rest starts, trying to find those quiet moments to re-charge.
In all honesty I've been feeling really tired and drained. So in a funny way, arriving at Old Woking on Tuesday was encouraging - but not in ways you might expect. EVERYONE was feeling awful, tired, family issues, work obstacles, illness and so on. We had prayed the night before for a big night, we were expecting more from God, we just hoped it would be someone else doing it! On reflection the encouragement was, however, that our experience tells us that these are usually the best nights. When we are at our weakest, God's strength is able to shine out. It's actually more fun going out for Him when you feel least like doing it!
We decided to visit the young lad's family, the lad that is in prison. Once again we were welcomed in. We had been speaking with the prison about arranging an official visit, but this option was only open to official ministers. Tonight we wanted to talk to the family about visiting and to see how the young lad was.
We spent the next hour in a God-ordained, Holy Spirit-filled, Jesus-centred meeting of people. This gypsy/traveller family were so open and welcoming and it was fascinating to hear about their backgrounds, their stories, their lives. The Mum has a strong background of knowing Jesus personally although this was some 20 years ago. When she spoke of it there was a tenderness and for my part you could see Jesus in her, albeit tucked away.
We decided to visit the young lad's family, the lad that is in prison. Once again we were welcomed in. We had been speaking with the prison about arranging an official visit, but this option was only open to official ministers. Tonight we wanted to talk to the family about visiting and to see how the young lad was.
We spent the next hour in a God-ordained, Holy Spirit-filled, Jesus-centred meeting of people. This gypsy/traveller family were so open and welcoming and it was fascinating to hear about their backgrounds, their stories, their lives. The Mum has a strong background of knowing Jesus personally although this was some 20 years ago. When she spoke of it there was a tenderness and for my part you could see Jesus in her, albeit tucked away.
She had been a committed Christian, until another family had treated them appallingly; death threats, accusations and all the hallmarks of Satan's handiwork. Unfortunately this had created unforgiveness and eventually this kept her away from the church. As you're reading this, please pray with all your might and wrestle with the Lord for Him to bring his daughter back.
The young lad's sister was there and she kept saying, "This is really nice, I am really enjoying talking to you's, keep praying for us". We prayed for them at the end and it was a touching moment; my heart was so touched for this family by God when I was praying and all through the night. The sister went off and brought back a leather bookmark that she wanted to give us, it was a real token of how touched she had been. This was a present bound for her brother but she wanted to give it to us. They have talked about coming to church, keep praying.
Before we go out each evening we pray and talk through the plan. Two of the young girls who we usually meet, arrived at the church and wanted to join us. We asked them to wait in the lounge as we didn't want them to know the intimate details of those we were praying for; however halfway through they entered the room and sat there praying with us. We prayed for them. The room was full of the Holy Spirit and it was a special moment. One of the girls said to me afterwards, "Did you pray for me because you love me?" My answer is not important, God is touching their hearts.
Nancy and Helen had some special moments with some of the young people on the rec, some persecution too. There is a sense of deepening relationships and a bonding between us on the team as we go out to serve, I felt so much unity in our struggles and supporting each other. Helen and Nancy had some one-on-one time with some of the girls and the difference in their mood when they came back was tangible.
I hope as you read this you don't feel that we are parading good deeds before men, announcing our news with trumpets. We really want to encourage people, more than anything, that God is moving and he is using us ordinary, sin-filled, jars of clay to do his work and it is amazing and inspiring. We want you to share in that, come and join us. Take that plunge...
Before we go out each evening we pray and talk through the plan. Two of the young girls who we usually meet, arrived at the church and wanted to join us. We asked them to wait in the lounge as we didn't want them to know the intimate details of those we were praying for; however halfway through they entered the room and sat there praying with us. We prayed for them. The room was full of the Holy Spirit and it was a special moment. One of the girls said to me afterwards, "Did you pray for me because you love me?" My answer is not important, God is touching their hearts.
Nancy and Helen had some special moments with some of the young people on the rec, some persecution too. There is a sense of deepening relationships and a bonding between us on the team as we go out to serve, I felt so much unity in our struggles and supporting each other. Helen and Nancy had some one-on-one time with some of the girls and the difference in their mood when they came back was tangible.
I hope as you read this you don't feel that we are parading good deeds before men, announcing our news with trumpets. We really want to encourage people, more than anything, that God is moving and he is using us ordinary, sin-filled, jars of clay to do his work and it is amazing and inspiring. We want you to share in that, come and join us. Take that plunge...
George
Monday
I echo George's feelings about what happened on Tuesday. This has been a strange week tiring yet exciting - and all of it positive.
The newspaper printed their story about the young people at Alexandra Gardens, along with our photo and, (with my permission), my telephone number. This resulted in quite a long call on Sunday afternoon from a parent who was quite angry that a small boy who was shown in that photo, had hit his son which - along with my positive comments about the young people - was taken as me condoning the 'beating up' of his son. Nothing of course could be further from the truth but interestingly the parent's tone didn't really soften until I said that we have regular talks with the kids, in groups, about God. The idea being that kids who are prepared to engage intelligently about God and are prepared to listen, can't all be that bad.
Additional to the above, I had new calls from two councillors, one a lovely Christian lady Rosie Sharpley, who believes in what we're doing and will do her best to obtain support for us. Cllr Johns has already been a great help, and Cllr Kingsbury has also kindly made contact and made some suggestions. The Police have also been very supportive - my grateful thanks to everyone who is interested in what we're doing, and especially those who are prepared to help.
I'll say here again, that I have never witnessed violence when I've been out to the young people in that location. I suppose anything is possible but to date it hasn't happened in my sight. Tomorrow, (Friday) there's a meeting of residents, Police and, hopefully, youth at Holy Trinity Church Hall at 7pm. Phil will be there, I cannot be. Please pray for Phil, the residents, young people and Police/Council attendees that they might look at this whole issue calmly and seek a positive outcome for all concerned.
Most of my evening was taken up getting signatures for the KRA petition for improved youth facilities. This gave me opportunity, however, to speak to a lot of young people, many of them sitting in cars - not unlike me at that age. Again, any swearing in my presence was swiftly pounced on by others who were talking to me, they were all polite, helpful and said they understood the issues that residents have with them, but there's nowhere else for them to go to meet up. Surely the answer is to find somewhere. BUT, it has to be a place that they'll go to. It's no good otherwise, because they'll just gravitate back to the car park.
Please pray that the Council will look seriously at providing floodlights for the Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) - it's well away from houses and that's where the kids really want to be if it's able to be lit up. Also, almost without exception, the boys all want to play football. If anyone knows anything about how Winston Churchill's excellent floodlit facilities can be accessed, please will they talk to me about that. It could be that we'll be able to organise for them to put teams together to enter a league - don't know, these are just early thoughts that I haven't yet discussed with my Outside Light brothers and sisters.
The rest of the evening was spent with someone I knew from years ago, who came along to the field as a result of the newspaper article. I have to confess that at first I found this awkward, because I really wanted to chat to the young people and encourage them to go to the meeting on Friday. But it turned out that this man and I had a really interesting talk about evolution vs creation. When you stop to think about the bits of the evolution story that don't add up, such as - what are the chances of male and female of each species evolving simultaneously for purposes of reproduction? Missing fossils (scales to feathers etc) where are they? Inability of different species to reproduce with one another, so how do you get from single cell creatures to the huge variety of species we have now? Missing link, where is the evidence? etc etc etc - it appears that the theory of evolution is much less believable than the idea of creation and therefore, (it hurts to say this but I believe it's accurate) requires greater faith. He wasn't so certain of his belief by the end of the evening. Another for your prayer list, please.
Wednesday evening we met at St John's church to consider the direction that we believe God is pointing Outside Light towards. At the meeting we agreed to apply to the Inland Revenue so that we might be able to be recognised as a charity. It's getting late now so I'll not go into the where's and whyfors about this tonight, except to say that we're all truly excited about moving forward with this project and, hopefully, encouraging others to experience the fellowship that comes when you step out together with fellow believers as Jesus intended.
I'll echo George's invitation. If you want to come along for a taster to see what it's all about, experience heartfelt prayer, witness God at work in the lives of young and not so young people, then give me a call - 01483 474737 - no obligation. I'll be pleased to tell you where and when we're next meeting. You'd be more than welcome.
God bless and thanks - sorry it's another long one.
Love
John
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