Delirious

Twenty members and friends joined with our youth ministries officer, for an evenings concert with Delirious in Maidstone last evening (monday 30th october)

GLOW

Glow community group today welcomed Reverend Richard Grocott as our after dinner speaker. Revd Grocott had previous to being appointed to the Ashford Methodist Circuit, been a 'missionary' in Italty, and shared a little about his time there.

Being The Light - Gary Chittenden

So far this blog has highlighted the way in which we as a church community are seeking to make a difference to the lives of as many as we can - to be The Light. Some time ago we were blessed to meet Gary Chittenden and Jan Chittenden. Since then we have journeyed with them to seeing them accept Christ as their friend and Saviour, and they are now members of our church community - and a real blessing to us all. Gary has shared here a little of the way Jesus Christ has changed his life. You can also read this on Garys Blog at garychittenden-beingthelight.blogspot.com

july 97 my world fell apart.my wifewas haveing an affair.i went to find this man.i was well over the limit and came off my motorbike.whilst laying in the road my wife 3 children and 2 grandchildren went to the wifes parents and didnt come back only for their things. i returned to an empty house where i had a breakdown. i tried to commit suicide.after i came out of hospital i tried again it wasnt to be. i met jan at a daycentre she was married but was going through a terrible time like myself.jan left this man.i hold my hands up we had got togeather.i belive from the bottom of my heart the lord had a plan for me and it was to get well and look after a wonderful lady called jan.we have been togeather for 9 yrs.we are soon to be married in our church with our new family. we could not do this sooner. on the thursday before good friday i stood in front of the cross.i said i did not want alchol to be a part of my new life.on feb 16th 06 i had my last drink. i have not had eny since. when i hit rock bottom i was in a deep hole. our lord and savior jesus christ reached down and offered me his hand.the hand of hope the hand of love friendship i rose up ihave been saved and reborn thankyou jesus jan curtis new family from gary

Sunday 29th October

God blessed us today, with new faces and older faces – people of all ages and generations – coming together to worship and Praise God together. Our assistant senior leader, Carl, started the meeting by laying a great foundation – encouraging us to expect that that God of the Bible, to be present among us – a God of wonders, a God of miracles and more! Our senior leader, Ian, took the meeting from here and shared the importance of us hearing the words of Jesus – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after Him! Ian shared how we stuff ourselves with the things of the world, that we leave little space for needing Jesus in our lives – but we need to realise that only He satisfies, and our longing needs to be Him – only then will we know full blessing. Songs of Praise and Worship helped us to celebrate the Greatness of our God, and Pam Quinn in her all age presentation, helped us to celebrate a God that we can serve and respond too. Trevor James, our youth ministries officer, in his first sermon ever, shared a little about the Greatness of God in his life, and then led us to see how God teaches us through Johns Gospel the need to be obedient to Him out of love; to grow in Him and to share Him – almost summing up our mission statement!!!! Trevor encouraged us to go our and share the love of Jesus with the world – and many of us did that through our monthly community church outreach: we enjoyed a meal together and then took time out on our new estate in south willesborough, to prayer walk, where God again blessed us by highlighting situations to pray for, chatting with people out treat and treating (we did saved and sanctifying at the doors!) and more. It was great to put Trevors Word from God into action. At the end of our meeting this morning in time to pray and respond God challenged many, some coming forward to pray, and others not able to because God was meeting them where they were – it was great,

Members are encouraged to comment on the meeting today and what God challenged you with, or said to you. Others also are invited to make comments.

Being Different - the evidence

Being Different will be evident among us tomorrow morning. Trevor James, our youth ministries officer, will preach his first sermon! Trevor asked!!!! Some months ago, Trevor committed his life to Jesus in a new way, and since has been seeking to grow to be different, and stand out as a follower of Jesus Christ. His ministry among youth has been a real witness to being different, but bigger than that, his ministry as a leader within the Christian Church and a teacher in 'the world' means people take notice - and those of you who know trevor, know you dare not! We thank God that His Power is at work in His People today.

All Change?!?!?!?!?

There is always arguements within the Christian Church about change. Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Some argue that if it is not broken then we should not fit it. Others joke - how many Christians would it take to change a light bulb? the response - change, whats change?!? No one would want to admit to thinking we should change things for the sake of it, and no one would want to make changes that would disrupt the whole of the Christian Church, and damage what God has been doing.

Local Supermarkets will often change their products to different places in the store - why - because we notice it, and in that will often see products we have not seen before. Whilst on summer placement at Ashford in 2004, Cadet Nick Hanover, commented on how he was encouraged that things were always different at our cente, because it made things fresh and alive, and new. Maybe it is not about change, its about being different! After all, if everything is always the same, will people notice? If our church communities are always offering the same 'old' things - will people take them up? It is important that we are fresh and alive - simply because our God, that we preach and we serve, is alive, is attractive, is relevant to every generation. Someone once said, that whatever it takes, they will do it, if it gets someone into the Kingdom. The methods of our early forefathers in the Christian Church, and the early Salvationists, certainly got them noticed - it got some of them into prison because they upset so many......

Is it good to be different? Recently many have commented from other Salvation Army Corps, that Ashford Salvation Army is different! But we are assured that is okay. We may do things in a different way, we may look a little different, BUT, we have to say that there are a number of people taking notice. Within the church community people have gone deeper in their relationship with Jesus - some event commenting that they have started to have one. After a recent week of prayer someone who has been attending the church for some years, many years, text our senior leaders to say 'thank you for helping me to get to know Jesus and see Jesus in a very different way'. Something was different for this lady to see that. At a recent gathering of our prayer team, one of the members, again a long time attender of the church, commented on how what she sees now is very different to some years ago. That is not because everything has changed - because our God is the same, yesterday, today and forever - but He is also alive and at work in the world today - so He will make Himself known in different ways. It is our role as a church to ensure that we are not different in a rebellious way, but are different in a living way - to be able to reach the people other groups cannot reach in the way the Christian Gospel can - and to be able to reach the world, in a way that only Christ can do so!

So, yes we are different - and we are proud to be. By rearranging the presentation of the 'goods' we have seen established Christians find faith alive, we have seen new people find Jesus Christ, we have seen children and young people getting passionate about their Jesus, we have seen people link to our various mission programme activities, and asking questions they would not have at groups that other organisations provide. We do not apologise for being a Christian Church, and we are proud to be part of The Salvation Army.

After all, a former senior leader within The Salvation Army wrote what we believe: I dare to be different, I dare to believe, I dare to be different, God's Spirit receive; I dare to be different, my life sacrificied, I dare to be different, by living like Christ! (Commissioner Harry Read)

Would be great to hear how being different has helped you to see Jesus!

Getting Started

Welcome to Being The Light! This is the collection of thoughts, reflections and the journey that we as a church community are taking in these days. We have had an exciting few years, and God keeps telling us that the best is yet to come. We have seen so many changes among us, and in that seen a team of leaders being raised up, a pastoral team, and now district pastors. We have seen new ministres, and seen new faces to all our activities and events throughout the week, as well as on Sundays. Its been an exciting journey so far - but we have a long way to go. We are far from profession, we are not perfect - and we have a lot to learn. Yet, we are in that place where God is teaching us much, and through His Gracious Spirit, giving us more and more of Himself through some amazing ways. We look forward to sharing with you some of the things God is teaching us; some of the challenges we are knowing; prayers we are praying; miracles we are seeing - and more....and too, we would value hearing from you, hearing what God is saying to you, and how we might, as a church family and community, be able to support you.