Faith the size of mustard seed

We had a strange night last Friday. We met and prayed together after considering the redemption Jesus offered the “sinful woman” by allowing her to anoint Him with expensive perfume (quite possibly an essential tool of her trade!) and wash his feet with her hair in response to his love and acceptance of her (Luke 7:36-50). I am sure that many of the people we have got to know through Outside Light on Fridays would have been viewed in a similar way to this woman.

Anyway, we went out and set up as usual at 10:00pm but for some reason it was pretty quiet until fairly late on in our time at the table. We did speak to some people and gave some literature away but there simply weren’t that many people around.

Then, about 11:45pm we were approached by two young men who just seem so interested and open to The Gospel and had so many genuine questions. I found myself talking to one of them until about 12:20am, with the table and all the kit having been packed down and taken away. At the end of our conversation I was able to really naturally share John 3:16 & 17 with him, give him a John’s Gospel and bless him before heading off to join the team back at the Y-Pod.

I always worry a bit if we will attract people to the table but whenever I have a conversation like that, it reminds me that, even if we only share the Gospel with one person, the whole evening is worth it because we simply don’t know what God can do through one person. Somebody shared the Gospel with Billy Graham and look what happened there!

Just when you think nothing is going to happen...

Hi all

I want to share what happened last Friday evening with Outside Light in Woking Town Centre.  We had a very small team of three and wondered at one point if we could really have a lot of impact.  The evening had generally gone quite well but the town centre was fairly quiet compared to usual.

Towards the end of the evening a couple approached us and started to talk.  While he was really interested in debating the arguements for and against biblical truth and church practice, his girlfriend struck up a conversation about healing at which point she made an emotional plea for us to pray for her grandmother who was unwell.

We prayed for the couple and the young lady's grandmonther and it was quite an emotinal experience for all of us.

It reminded me that its just when you think nothing of any real significance is going to happen and that you may be wasting your time, you're probably just on the brink of seeing God do something wonderful.

Many people have given up just before the miracle happens, but as it says in 1 Corinthians 13:7 & 8a:

"It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

Love never fails."

Let's keep going till we see the miracle.

Amazing time on Friday night

Hi all

I just wanted to put a quick post up about last Friday night outreach in the town centre.  We met at 9:30pm (the usual time) at the Y-Pod and went out on the streets, under the station canopy from 10:00pm to 12:00 midnight.

We had a team of six which is a great number, and we spoke to several people over the evening.  We prayed for one person generally, who had stopped for prayer before and who seemed to be impacted by that.  I had the privelage of praying for somebody who was supernaturally healed.  A young man approached the table and started talking and asking questions.  Quickly he told me that some of his family were Greek Orthodox Christians and that he had thought about matters of faith but remained an unbeliever.

I shared my testimony about being healed from a disease (Trigeminal Neuralgia)  and he said that didn't believe and he explained that he would want to see scientific proof that God exists, or that people are healed through prayer.  I asked him if he would believe if he saw a healing himself, and he said he probably would.  I then asked him "Is there anything you would like me to pray for you, for healing" at which point he shared that he had a neurological condition himself that caused his left hand to move in mirror image to his right, which was involuntary, and that he had Attention Deficit Disorder.

I prayed for the young man, both for his ADD and his hand problem and after that he said he thought that there was a definite improvement in his hand.  So, I asked him if I could pray again, and he agreed, after which he said his hand seemed even better.  I offered to pray for him a third time and after this his hand was almost completely better.

I asked him if it had ever been as good has it then was on its own and he said that it had always been the same and nothing previously had made it any better.  I asked him if he believed "now" and he said that he was more likely to!

This is just an example but we are speaking to people, praying for people and giving out christian literature most Friday evenings.  I really feel like God is starting to do something amazing through what we are doing.

Praise the Lord!

A snapshot of some of the work of Outside Light....

We would love more people to join us, to spread the fragrance of Christ's love in our communities - email us at......info@outsidelight.org

Open doors on a Friday....

The last outing on a Friday night was amazing, we were down to 4 people and felt somewhat depleted but have found time and time again that when we feel weakest is when God shines all the more!
There were so many open doors, we shared Christ with many people, somebody wanted to pray to get back right with God, he had met Christ in prison but wondering away, two other lads want to come to church and we exchanged numbers. There were conversations for each of us through the whole evening, some very drunk girls helped to get on their way, some others helped with food and friendship. It is amazing to be out and trying to help and show people who Christ is.

Outside Light prayer

We are meeting for prayer on the 15th September and will be meeting one Friday every month from 7.30pm at the Ypod in WOking.

do send us an email at info@outsidelight.org for more details...

Saturday Morning....

Hi,

A quick reminder; we will be going out this coming again Saturday
morning meeting at 10:30 am at Christ Church.

Please let me know if you can make it.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Thanks,

Richard
richardahilluk@yahoo.co.uk

see you in September!!

Last night was a great way to end the 2010/11 season! Lots of kids, lots of volunteers, and lots of burgers! The fact that we had over ten regular volunteers around yesterday and that the sense of camaraderie and "in it together"was so strong is testament I believe to how far we've come in ten months.

I really want to thank everyone who has contributed to the work in Old Woking over the past year (and in previous years), it is very much appreciated. We don't win these battles in isolation but as a united front!!

This year has seen many more helpers assimilated into the team. Its seen the deepening of friendships with the children. Its seen the beginning of "interrogate". It has witnessed the sharing of the Gospel and regular prayer with some of the kids.

I believe this is just the beginning. God has enabled us (and others) to prepare the ground over these past years. The future I believe is potentially so exciting as we witness God gather in His harvest, as we see lives transformed and Gods blessing poured out. Have a great summer everybody, we look forward to partnering once again in this mission come September.

God bless you, Paul.

many, many thanks.

many, many thanks.

Test

Gotta Roll With the Punches

Difficult evening people! A lot of kids, just a couple of volunteers....snatches of conversation in amongst the noise, the flying beanbags (think we need to suspend the beanbags!!), and the high spirits! A visit from the old bill at the bidding of a local resident brings on an array of discrete hand gestures!!

Called time on the whole thing early! Are we downcast? Maybe a little, but Christ reigns above all! Are we beaten!? Not at all, we simply dig in, persevere in prayer and faith, put on the full armour of God and eagerly await the next bout!!! Sometimes, for the love of Jesus  and the extension of His Kingdom, I guess you've gotta roll with the punches.....bring it on.....

Old Woking - Relationships Growing

Wow what a night, who would have thought that we'd get so much breakthrough in one evening (and without Silver fox and Paul)~!!!

Averagely there were 24 young people around, but there were about 40 in total, lots of new older youngsters.

There was a definite tangible presence of God on the rec, the young people could actually listen to what we were saying and were able to talk about things calmly. The football was a pleasure to watch as there seemed to be no division between the Outside Light team members and the young people. There were conversations held by the girls and a number of the lads about a social action project over the summer and Soul Survivor. There was only one lone voice who had something negative to say about God/Jesus, the rest just accepted us the way we accept them. In fact i'd say there was a lot of Godly attributes being reflected, mostly by the young people who were not even aware of how they were behaving. One of the mum's also visited to find out more about who we are and what we were doing. She stayed till the end and said she'll come to the BBQ we invited her to next week.

 

All in all it was one of the nicest evenings i've ever had with them and it flew by.

Esther

Outside Light - Saturday Morning - Town Centre Outreach

Hi,

Thanks again for today, what a team.

Glory to God.

Here is the photo as promised.

Next date is planned for Saturday 23rd July, please put in your diary or let me know
if you can't make it.

Thanks,


Richard Hill

(Calvary Church)

 

Interrogate update

Dear all,

Thankyou again for commiting to pray and support what God is most definitely doing in Kingfield on a Monday and Tuesday evening.

Monday night was good fun, Esther in particular had a good conversations with the girls in the playground.

We had about 10 boys and 2 girls on Tuesday, with volunteers in the old post office and Elaine and Adi literally praying right behind us in the prayer room!

We talked around "heaven" for some time and what we all thought heaven might be like! We have one girl (B) who is ready to make a commitment to follow Jesus and has gone away this week to pray and think about what that means. Please pray that God would "seal" everything that Jo and Bex talked over with her.

Another lad (O) told me five minutes before the end that "he believed all this stuff, thought of himself as a Christian, but couldn't much see the point to life".

We were privilegedto be able to pray with him after we had dismissed everybody else. Please pray that Jesuswould give him a sense of hope/optimism, and that he would want to really commit his whole life to the Lord.

Please also keep praying for "R" who we didn't see this week.

Another great two days, seeing God move powerfully!! The Holy Spirit is at work!! Praise Him!!

Paul.

Interrogate update

 

Thank you for your continued prayers and participation in this exciting move of God! Last night was a great night!! Our Tuesday night group is beginning to see real  moves….

We had really good conversations about whether Jesus was who he said h was and lots and lots of good participation from the children.

Please pray for B who is just so hungry to know more about Jesus and took away a youth Bible, and also R who we have had a lot of involvement with and were able to pray privately for afterwards. Great beginnings of what I believe is Gods Great Move....

All Glory to Him

Paul

Thursdays - All Quiet on the MUGA-front

Just Eric and I went out last night- please pray for Sassi and Clive who did not feel up to going out.

We headed to the Vyne Field- in the MUGA ( Multi-use games Area) a large group of boys and young men were playing, on one of the benches sat 2 young people.  We headed to the two young people, not wanting to disturb those playing in the Muga but as we walked past one of the youngsters in the Muga asked if we had biscuits.  You can imagine what happened- before we the hot water had hit the chocolate powder a packet of biscuits had been consumed. 

Conversations were had with a few of the young people and it was good to hear one (Luke) was holding down a job and seemingly enjoying it/ the money from it.  Another – via I believe a God directed conversation- has come across the Woking Outside Light team and I was able to tell him that we are out on the street because we and God think they are important. He said his name was Tony but I’m not sure if that is his true name.

On Waterer’s Park there was a couple but we felt it was inappropriate to approach them.  Otherwise we saw no young people in the village centre and at the Corrisbrook way playground.

Mary

“Running the race” – Believe it or not I used to quite like running at one point, the feeling of increased fitness, the chance to sweat a little and the feeling you get when you know there is only a few yards left! What was weird was I used to like running up hill too, the challenge but also the joy when you get to the top and the accompanying feeling of accomplishment, ahh the days! The reason I mention all this is because we are running a race in Outside Light, a marathon, not a sprint, not a 100 metre dash, a long and rewarding marathon. It feels somewhat like we have just got to the top of the hill, it has been a hard slog these last few months, obstacles being faced, wind blowing, rain pouring up hill battle, but friends let yourselves hear us say this it is marvellous now at the top. We don’t kid ourselves that we have no more hills or even that running down them is easy but we want to look on and press on toward that prize. Can we encourage you to join us in pressing on, pressing in and seeking Christ, sweat on your brow keep running!

 

We have met recently as a team to bring clarity to our aims, to discuss pressing on, to strap up the trainers and to encourage each other to keep going. We are all so encouraged to be united in our aims as a team and an organisation and to remind ourselves of the vision we have. We broke it down as the following in order to help us remember it and pass it on to the teams and volunteers; LIGHT = L – Love in action, I – Inspiring churches, G – Gospel proclamation, H – Healing, T – Teamwork. Each member of the team is a light and that is what we would encourage all of us to represent, those 5 things when we are serving OL, this works out in outreach to the homeless, marginalised, youth, lost and many more!

 

Love in action is seeing us not just talk about our faith but putting it into action and showing people what Christ’s love is all about, we don’t want to be merley hearers of the word and so deceive ourselves we want to do something.

Inspiring churches is about seeing churches catch the vision to be going out into their communities, to be going to the lost rather than asking them to come, to be encouraging those people within church who want to do something but don’t know how. We want to inspire them as to the possibilities we have with God on our side!

Gospel proclaimation is about telling people about who Jesus is and why he came, telling people the good news that they can be rescued, we don’t want to be an organisation that is merely doing good things alone we want to be telling people why, we are not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God for salvation! We believe seeing God’s word demonstrated in word and deed is the perfect recipe.

Healing is about seeing God’s power working in peoples lives, seeing a demonstration of God’s power through prayer, this is our fuel, we want to be people who believe God for miracles, who seek him and point others to him.

Team work is about deep fellowship where we care about the people on our teams as well as those we meet, we believe we are in a battle together and we want to do all we can to support and encourage one another to reach our full potential for the glory of Christ. We love our volunteers, they are the real workers and we praise God for them!

 

So when we go OUTSIDE that is the LIGHT. We want to encourage all our groups to remind each other of these aims each time we go out on the street, open a drop in, work with the homeless, hold a barbecue….

 

We don’t pretend to have attained all this but we press on toward the prize for which Christ has already worked and attained. Thank you for your continued support, prayer and encouragement we so value it.

 

Friday night outreach - Woking Town Centre

I assume that Outreach by its nature is always challenging for believers. Over the last couple of months we have struggled with low numbers for the Friday outreach and yet still God had used the people able to be there. Last two weeks have seen a good turnout and please pray that this trend will continue.    

 

It seems as though God has crossed our paths with quite a few people from completely different backgrounds and with different values who simply want to talk in depth about what is on their minds. The time we are living in seems to be one of great confusion, with so many contradictory ideas about right and wrong, and we need God’s truth and revelation through His word to be able to cut to heart of matters.

 

Some of the people we’ve spoken with such as Paul; a guy with a great generosity of spirit, but very troubled about injustice. Why are people who do wrong getting away with it, was his main question. Why is there so much injustice and trouble for ‘good’ people? It’s a big question and we know that one day God will judge all things, but what about now? These are the kinds of questions people have & if we’re honest we certainly don’t always have the answers. But we can know that God does and sometimes even just pointing a person to Him is a seed well sown.

 

What’s the difference between a Christian and a Roman Catholic? That question has been broached in at least three recent conversations. Our answer has generally been, I think, that we’re all Christians, but that different denominations are different expressions of the same thing ultimately. We are united by what we believe about Jesus.

 

On the lighter side of things, it’s amazing how many people do not understand the idea of giving something away for free? Why not take a collection and then donate it to good causes we are asked? But of course we know that the Gospel is about more than just free tea, coffee and sweets. It’s great though that something as simple as that can peek so much curiosity.

 

This is just scratching the surface by way of update, but if you are curious enough to help with dishing out sweets, hot drinks and of course Gospel Tracts when the 11.30 rush hits with teenagers & young adults piling off the Guildford train, you would be most welcome. God Bless you & see you soon.

 

Friday nights – meet at the YMCA Chobham Road (near BHS) at 9.30pm and the Outreach is between 10pm & 12.00am each Friday night under the cover town-side next to Woking Station.

 

Miracles are happening in Woking!

We had a great time again last night at the town centre outreach.  We had a small team of five but had a significant presence and impact in Woking Town Centre nonetheless.  At one point a guy called Josh came up and asked for a cup of coffee.  I recognised him from a time he had come to the table just before Christmas.  When we saw Josh then, he was in a fairly desperate state because his young daughter was seriously ill with Cancer.  He described how her illness had dominated his family’s life for some time and how he was really struggling to cope with things now that the illness had become “really serious”.  Josh explained that he usually wouldn’t normally go out into Woking of a Friday evening but that he had simply needed to get away from everything.  At that time we prayed for Josh and entrusted him and his family to God.

 

When Josh came last night he was a different person.  He shared with us that since that time of prayer his daughter’s health had improved and that the doctors had just put her into “maintenance”, which apparently means that there is no more Cancer in her body.  What a great testimony!  Let’s pray that God will continue to use these events to speak to Josh and his family for some time to come.

 

We also spoke to others struggling with illness, homelessness, relationship breakdown, injustice and of course those who simply don’t believe.  As always God was with us and gave us several opportunities to talk to people and pray with others.

 

God was with us tonight

Tuesday 25th Outside Drop In Blog .


It didn't take long for the text messages to arrive on the Tuesday from some of the regular guys . “Are you opening tonight Silver Fox (their nickname for me)”. "Yes", I replied. 


We'd taken a week’s break for a team meeting and prayer and there were over 20 of the regular guys waiting for us when we arrived.


A few of the girls and guys were let in early to help us get set up which is a great help and good to get them involved. We had a good team turn out  - Esther, Dave and Nancy and of course me. Not long after we opened, Shaun and Carolyn joined us. The guys were really happy to see them, Carolyn
bought some craft materials with her, a few of the girls started to work with her.


A number of old faces also turned up during the evening it was good to catch up with them. One of the girls who had been coming down for a number of years had just been offered a part-time job working in a hairdresser's - which was great news. Another lad had been doing his work experience at Jamie Oliver’s restaurant in Guildford. He was so excited to tell me as he wanted to train as a chef.


We had the girls and one of the regular lads helping in the kitchen preparing the milkshakes and hot dogs. Esther was making flapjacks with some of the guys which I must say were very nice. Paul and Dave spent the evening chatting with the guys.


It was Nancy’s last evening as she is moving to Putney; a few of the regular girls had made her a card. This really touched Nancy. We are all very sad to lose Nancy from our team especially as six years ago she was instrumental in setting up the work that we are now doing.Thanks Nancy for all your hard
work,friendship and support and we wish you all the best in the future. However we will not lose touch and I am sure we have not seen the last of you!!


It was a great evening and it was a real pleasure to spend time with these guys and the team; we praise God for the that.


Well, the evening was over; we did have a very excited young person who had made a start on her fashion book with mini material dresses in. We look forward to the coming weeks - relationships building, young people growing.


Please continue to pray for the work we are doing.


Nick Hill

Drop-In Struggles

We'd appreciate prayer please for Old Woking and Knaphill, both of which are struggling in part because the kids are proving difficult to handle, and in another part because some of us leaders are under attack.

This week instead of opening Old Woking drop-in leaders prayed. Knaphill also didn't open and a decision has been made here for the time-being instead to go out to the kids with hot chocolate etc. A notice will be put in the King's House window explaining that the closure is down to 'bad behaviour'. It's expected that we will open again at some time but we'll have to feel right in the spirit before we do - and hopefully the kids will by then place a bit more value on the drop-in being open and learn to respect the volunteers and building. We're also hoping to talk to people at the YMCA as they're specialists in managing the behaviour of young people.

I've very much taken a back seat in both drop-ins this past few weeks - I've struggled for personal reasons. I know that some of my colleagues have had even greater reason for struggle. But I know in my heart we're not beaten, we're a bit bruised and choosing to stay down for the count whilst praying that the end of the round will come before ten is reached. 

I'd like to thank the other volunteers who have stepped in - Clive, Bob, Eric, Mary, Chris and all the others including Dave and Esther, who have stepped up to the plate and taken over. I'd also like to thank those who have been a personal support to me - Nick H, Jackie, Jo and so on. I know that the other volunteers who aren't feeling their best right now, really value the fellowship they've received during these struggles, as do I. THANKS.

I've a great sense that God is in what's happening right now and I'm convinced that Outside Light will emerge from this period of darkness shining even more brightly.

Monday evening madness

If you see this man – do not approach him!  Only joking, this photo was a moment of fun in our Monday evening Bible Study for homeless people.  As usual God turned up in power and we had a great time in his presence.  We had five of our regulars come along plus one more who popped in for a short while.

We started off with some hot dogs, made by Judy and Sarah.  We then looked at the parable of the lost son and talked about inheritance.

“How would you feel if somebody who you didn’t like inherited £10 million and a big house in the country?”

That got a few people talking.  We went on to discuss how salvation and a relationship with God, just like an inheritance, are neither earned nor deserved by those who receive them.  We then spent time praying for each person, for them to receive the full inheritance that God has stored up for them in Jesus.

We also helped one person practically with finding accommodation and help with addiction.  God seems to be doing great things through Monday evenings.  If you want to get involved, get in touch here: http://www.outsidelight.org/contact-outside-light.php.  And, no, crash helmets are not usually required, only a loving heart and faith that God will turn up.

Matthew 18:21 "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."

So, as per usual, a small group of us met on Friday at the Y-Pod at 9:30pm to pray before going out to witness to those out and about in the town centre.  Before we even got out of the building a man we shall call R. who has a history of homelessness and who we have got to know through the Friday evening outreach explained to us that for the first time he is beginning to believe the Gospel we have shared with him!  Praise the Lord!  There was a real sense of God's presence with us as we encouraged ourselves with the words of a Psalm and then as we went out, it was as if God was directing people right to us.  An early encounter was with a passer-by who was clearly impacted by our presence and couldn't stop asking us why we were there.  He thought that what we were doing was so great that he came back shortly afterwards and asked for some details about how he can get involved himself!  We don't even know if he's a Christian!

Throughout the evening we had a fairly constant stream of people who stopped to chat, debate or simply get a cup of tea on a very cold night - nearly all of whom asked us why we were there which gave us the opportunity to share the Gospel with them.  As the evening finished we met a young man, who we shall call D.  D. is facing serious problems in his life and had been asked to leave his home that day, making him homeless.  As we listened to him and accepted him, he opened up to us which led to us praying for him before buying him some dinner.  D. seemed to really appreciate the prayer he received and said that he would like to join our Monday evening Bible Study.  Please pray for R. and D. as they are both clearly on a spiritual journey and God has His hand on their lives.

For me, God never fails to turn up on a Friday evening and always does more than we expect.  As the weather starts to warm up (hopefully soon!) it would be great if the Friday evening team were to grow.  It really is a case of the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few!  Please pray with us for more people to get involved.