New Look Blog - and Latest News

This is Outside Light's new blogspot, we've moved it to this location so that all leaders will be able to post to it rather than have to send their content to me.


Tomorrow is the first of a series of church services in which Outside Light will be making a presentation. This one's at Calvary Church - which meets at Goldsworth Primary School at 10am next to Bridge Barn.


This is George's new video that'll get first showing tomorrow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLN1eSRqWFE


The couple who were about to be made homeless have moved into a semi-detached house that's owned by St Mary of Bethany Church. There's no doubt in our minds that this only came about because of God's intervention - starting with Nancy feeling that she should telephone St Mary of Bethany Church because she'd heard that they sometimes let property. She didn't know at that time that the house had become empty only a couple of weeks earlier. 


The response from members of New Life Church to Phil's appeal for funds, was amazing. Others at New Life negotiated with the previous landlord's agent for a 'stay of execution' for a couple of weeks. It was only after the successful outcome of that negotiation that the other property was 'discovered' by Nancy. The paperwork for the new property was done and dusted in super-quick time so that it was possible for the couple to move in last Saturday - which was the day by which they had to move out! All glory to God.


Tuesday night at Old Woking
The drop-in restarted earlier this week, with a bbq that attracted 30 or so youngsters. This was generally a good evening although the youngsters were in high spirits ( a little too high on occasion ).


Thursday night at Knaphill
We started the new drop-in at The King's House two Thursdays ago - and couldn't have hoped for a better start. John Holland's vision and enthusiasm has really helped this off to a great start - with activities such as nail painting (provided by Trina, John's wife) and friendship bracelet making (with Mary). There was a small incident on the first night with one girl trying to take a policeman's hat. But the evening ended with another girl coming back after all the others had left, to apologise for their behaviour and to say thanks for putting on a 'great evening'.


Friday and Monday Nights
Hopefully Phil and George will update us shortly.

What can I say?

Humble apologies for the length of time we've been off-line. The youth teams did have a quiet August but in truth by the end of July we needed the rest. :o) That's not to say that all of the Outside Light Team rested - far from it!


During August the Friday night team has been going to the town centre between 8pm and 12 of a Friday night. They've taken drinks and sweets and met with clubbers/drinkers/revellers, as you might expect, and also with some people who are homeless and others who have massive problems with drugs and alcoholism. They've prayed with people, chatted to them, answered questions, valued them.


Coming from this a small Bible group has started on a Monday night, meeting at New Life Church. Phil will write more about this in due course, but he's been busy trying to help one particular couple who are threatened with imminent homelessness. (It's complicated). 


Both Old Woking and Knaphill drop-ins will be starting up again next week, Nick and Paul will be leading the Old Woking group based at New Life Church. John Holland is heading-up the new Thursday evening drop-in which is to be based at The King's House. Tonight several of us walked around Knaphill handing out leaflets promoting the new Thursday drop-in and we met around eight or so of the kids who are well-known to us and are looking forward to the free pizza. Free pizza's always guaranteed to get their attention. Thing is though, they saw us walking toward them in the park and while we were still 20 yards away they were shouting hi to us and were really chatty and pleased to see us.


We're hoping to be able to provide activities for them so we're really, really praying for Christians with skills such as nail painting, crafts, smoothie-making etc etc, anything that'll be interesting to the young people, to make some occasional time available on either or both Tuesday and Thursday evenings. 


There's a need for young people to have positive contact with adults. It's rewarding when there's trust built. Anyone who does this for the first time might well have their perception of young people challenged. If you're thinking of coming along, you'll find it's worth it just for that experience.


Prayer-needs: 

• A young woman and her younger brother (well-known to us at Outside Light) who's mother has been diagnosed with bowel and liver cancer. The boy hasn't been to school because there wasn't the money to buy uniform. Nick will be sorting something out there in the next couple of days on behalf of Outside Light.
• The couple who will be homeless on the 18th of this month who need nothing short of a miracle to help them.
• The re-start of both the drop-in's at Old Woking and Knaphill. Please especially pray for John Holland who's taking this on as leader for the first time. And give thanks for his enthusiasm and sense of fun too.
• Phil and the time and effort he's putting into Friday nights and to the young couple who are about to become homeless.
• The Friday night team  - which goes out faithfully every week
• Christians to come forward on an occasional basis on Tuesdays/Thursdays, and share any skills with young people.
• The young people we meet, their growth, relationships and most of all the change in their lives that can come from only one source.

Hot Stuff

Things are hotting up not just in the weather but outside on the streets. Outside Light is continuing its outreach in the streets of Woking. One of the problems in the summer is the ground gets a little harder, this is certainly true spiritually too, people have hearts that are hard to the good news of Jesus Christ.

Friday night we continue to venture out into the heart of Woking between 10.00pm and 12.00am every week, giving out tea & coffee, sweets, helping people and sharing the good news of Christ. There is always a steady stream of people to talk to and conversations to be had. We have seen a real breakthrough with a group of people who are now regularly coming to a bible study on another evening. A homeless guy has given his life to Christ and is now starting that journey of recovery and we would love your prayers for him and his addictions. We have also met a young woman who is going to begin a bible study course in August and is keen to learn more about Jesus. It is safe to say we meet lots of other people who seem un-interested, who are sometimes argumentative, we are always fully aware, as Paul wrote in Corinthians, that to some we will be the aroma of life and to others the aroma of death, but we rejoice in stepping out for Christ.

The team that ventures out in Knaphill have now moved their day to Thursday evening and are looking to open up a drop-in centre in the Kings House coffee shop Knaphill, some new volunteers will be joining this team and John Holland has now begun heading up the group and has some great ideas and passion.

Tuesday nights are potentially looking to help another group in Old Woking towards the end of the summer to get a group going in Westfield, it is so encouraging to see where God is leading and what he wants to do across Woking.

It is a race and we are in it for the long haul, this is not a sprint but a marathon. There are times when we are running up-hill and wondering when the end is going to come. There are glorious days when we are running down hill wind in our face revelling in the opportunity. There are times when it is just steady and plodding along. 

One thing we know is we are not giving up 'till we CROSS that finish line into the arms of our Lord and Saviour arms stretched out wide his scarred hands wrapping around us welcoming us home. In the meantime keep pressing on!

We really need more workers too for all the opportunities that are opening up at the moment, will you join us, do you know someone who could or would benefit, do you know someone who could do with a visit? Please drop us a line.... info@outsidelight.org. You could join us just to make a cup of tea for the volunteers - or to help clear up after a busy night. You could join us and pray, but not take part in the various activities. If we were a football team we'd have a trainer, physio, manager, striker, defender and mid-fielders. There's be someone to launder the kit, someone else to cut the grass on the football field and so on. If you're a grass-cutter then come along. If you're a tea-maker, we love drinking tea (or coffee in my case). You  might not be able to make it every week. Fine! if we had loads of people prepared to help out then we could all take it in turns and ease the pressure on the few who turn up every week - sometimes two or three times a week.


We need all kinds of people to help. This is the Lord's work and he's given you gifts to use for his glory - so this is an opportunity for you to use them - and to walk with God and see him at work, close-up.

Blessings

George

What's Happening on Friday Nights

The Town Centre team visits each Friday night, starting at 10pm and finishing around midnight. The conversations we have at that time are "awesome". Drinkers and others find it hard to understand why we'd be interested in them or their safety'.


Where?

"Outside the station in Woking town centre

When?
Friday nights 10pm -12 midnight.

What?
Outside Light is hitting the streets with the Gospel of our Precious Lord Jesus Christ.

Who?
Mid March of 2010 a new team was formed.
 
What an encouragement it has been to join together with like-minded people spreading the good news of Jesus late at night.

Why?

We are taking the gospel to where the people are - and on a Friday night they are in Woking around the bars and the clubs.

How?
UNITY, BOLDNESS, GOD'S POWER is the key.

It's simple, all you need is a table, sweets, bottles of water, tea in a flask, gospel booklets and a team with a willingness to listen, talk and pray. AND GOD with us. Immanuel.

Results
So far in two weeks we have talked and been friendly to loads of people, given out lots of tea and sweets, shared our faith, prayed with people, returned a potted tree to its owner and listened to a rendition of the best guitarists in the sixties and seventies performed by Dave on air guitar after he took a break from his night out to educate us in the art of guitar playing. We've also met up (as a direct result) with some who are homeless, showing them they're treasured and as much loved by our precious Jesus as we are.

It's a buzz to be out there, most of the time friendly and extremely fulfilling. This is where the church of Jesus should be, on the streets, outside the building, getting involved.

This is where true fellowship and growth happen.

We are going forward together.  WATCH THIS SPACE.

Want to see action? Want to see Jesus at work - really at work - not just words from the Bible but the Bible coming to life? Come along and be a part of it. Email me at philhazelden@hotmail.co.uk - we'd love to welcome you along.

Phil

Outside Light Meets With Some Who Are Homeless

On Tuesday three of us ventured out into Woking to find two homeless guys.

Myself, Malcolm and new Outside Light team member my wife Judi, it's great to see her wearing an Outside Light Jacket.

The initial contact came via the Friday night town centre outreach where we met G, a homeless guy since 2003.

The contact has been a strong one with G bringing along friends on a Friday to meet the team and have hot drinks etc.

We have talked with these guys, prayed with them, accepted them, they've accepted us and a good bond is beginning to develop.

There are many needs here, some of them food, athletes foot powder, waterproof bags, hot drinks all of which we need to provide with genuine care.

Friday is not enough, how can we not do more when we know the need these guys have and they are literally 10 mins walk away?

So this week for the first time an Outside Light team (and first time for me) ventured into Woking bearing gifts of food and treats pre-arranged with one of G's friends.

We met up and sat on a bench talking for an hour, read a bit from the bible at their request and shared out the food and stuff.

We came away with a small list of other essentials to bring next time and a sense that caring for others is rewarding in so many ways.

This has been a most exciting evening and we hope that it's a small beginning to something much larger.

God Bless.

We Don't Want to Give Up Ground

 Another difficult night. That’s not to say that there weren’t some positives to be had from this week’s drop-in in Old Woking – some good conversations early on, some encouraging signs with one or two of the youths, and a very positive visit from Woking Borough Council’s anti-social behaviour officer.

The last thirty minutes was tough however. A lot of disruptive, unruly behaviour which eventually resulted in £100 of damage from discharged fire extinguishers, a lot of threatening verbal abuse, a break-in into the building site next door (resulting in more damage), and oh yes, urination up the outside of the Church wall!

I hate it when we end up being policeman, constantly monitoring every move in case of potential damage. I hate it more than the actual damage/aggro/language because it completely wipes out any chance we might get of having a decent conversation or in fact, any kind of meaningful interaction.

By the end of the evening we had had to “red card” two more members (two week ban). For those who are generally well behaved you begin to wonder what kind of effect the repeated aggro on Tuesday nights has. Following on from the evening in the drop-in, I had a disturbed night’s sleep- I felt oppressed even in my sleep.

So once again we ask ourselves, how should we respond!? Positively of course! We have to remember who we're representing. We need to recognise as much as ever that we are in the midst of conflict. We know that three or four of these kids are actively engaged in occult activities and we see that that influence manifests itself sometimes on a Tuesday night.

We had an encouraging letter this week from a member of the Jesus Army in London who has engaged in this kind of stuff before. She reminded us that before Jackie Pullinger had any kind of breakthrough in the Walled City the youths came in and destroyed the club-house. Her response was to continually pray. Soon after that incident came the big breakthrough.

As I write this we are still deciding whether to bring forward the closure date of the drop-in by a few weeks (we would normally close by the time the clocks go forward so that we can back out on the streets). We need to be really wise about this, and thoughtful. We're not wanting to give up any ground that's been gained.

Paul

Catching Up

Apologies everyone for the lack of reporting here recently. There's been quite a lot happening so I'll make it easier on you (and me) by giving you some bullet points as below:

1. Our association with The Matrix Trust is moving forward. Our Treasurer and theirs are due to meet very shortly and tie up the loose ends. Following this we'll have access to better training, formal mentoring, charitable status (without the hassle), and a wider network. We'd hope that in return OL will bring an added dimension to TMT that they'll find helpful - however the benefit of this association is mostly to us. We are, therefore, extremely grateful.
   
2. Monday nights - we're spending these scouting the area around Goldsworth Park at the moment. Mostly this involves walking around and occasionally saying "hi" to small groups of young people. We met one such group this Monday just gone and a couple of them turned out to know us. One used to meet us at The Vyne playing field, and another knew Olly from his visit to Christ Church. This preparation time is, from a secular viewpoint, mostly about building networks, getting to know the patch and, hopefully, getting to know any other youth leaders and resources in the area.
   
3. Tuesdays - this week was interesting because illness and other unavoidable problems left us with just three leaders. Remember that we've had challenges of recent with some of the young people being red-carded because of their bad behaviour. This week there was a different attitude and the atmosphere was very relaxed. Given that there were just three of us we were in two minds about opening - we're really glad we did!
   
4. Fridays commencing 19th March - George and Phil are working on the new town-centre initiative and plan to be out during the hours of 10 and midnight. There'll be training first (on the 5th and the 12th of March) and anyone who's interested in this is more than welcome to come along. Please email George for details: georgeosborn@avantiministries.com.
   
5. Inside Light - For anyone who doesn't know what this is about, we believe there are a lot of people (some elderly/some with disability) who are trapped at home and who would benefit from human contact. From my viewpoint I've lost count of the number of older people who've said, "Never mind helping the young, what about the elderly?" We've still a lot of detail to think through but Phil and Nancy are proposing to walk detached from the Tuesday Drop-In, visiting homes, speaking to people and so on. This is, we hope, a small beginning; a toe in the water to see whether there's a good response and one that can be replicated elsewhere.

That's it for now, folks. Thanks everyone for your support. One final note, the local police told us recently that since we started our work in Knaphill, street crime here has dipped significantly. We find that really encouraging and it's not unlike the experience in Barnstaple where a Christian police inspector has reported crime stats falling following prayer and work with Street Pastors.