SUNDAY 6TH APRIL 2008

A beautiful spring morning, welcomed snow outside! But inside the school hall today saw a crowded hall of people coming together to enjoy THE EVENT. The great and exciting thing about this being that again new faces were seen!!! Part of the purpose of this event is not to provide yet another worship meeting for our members to come and enjoy, but is to provide space for those who may not usually come to church, to be able to come and enjoy time in an informal setting, exploring matters of faith, and being allowed then to make decisions for themselves, and decide what to do with it all. William Booth himself believed that it was important to feed the soul and the stomach, and we do both that - or at least try. We share THE EVENT, we share a meal together, and we then conclude with a final thought to take home with us. Today we looked at ONLY JOKING, and started with a good laugh! People shared jokes, others took part in juggling, whilst others took part in the gurning competition. A quiz of funny people followed, and then revealed a face of Jesus - recognising that there was a lot of people who found Him funny and laughed a lot at Him - but that actually there is a lot that He said that is worth taking serious and is No Joke! Two speakers helped explore how they take their faith seriously - Elsie and Gavin - and then Ian concluded by looking at the I AM statements made by Jesus - hearing that GOD said them and how they relate to us. Is it not worth taking them seriously? Following this, we enjoyed our family meal, and concluded with THE FINALE. In this, we heard the importance of recognising that we are NO JOKE.....and that God wants us to recognise that our lives can have purpose and meaning. We concluded by recognising that YES, JESUS LOVES ME. It appears from what we heard and saw that God touched some peoples lives....and challenged them too. So, if thats been what happened, today has been more than worth coming together again. Thank you so much to all those involved in someway in today.