BLESSED BE HIS NAME

This week in our Daily Reflections we have been considering whether or not we are people who Bless the Name of The Lord. Recently while chatting with some 'mature' Christians, they discussed with our senior leaders how they 'wished' that what is being taught to them now, they knew years ago, so they could have got so much more out of their relationship with God. It is a sad fact that there seem to have been numerous Christans who have been failed in being taught about a 24/7 relationship with God, and what are our responsibilities. Salvation is not a gift to be kept to ourselves, it is one t be shared with our neighbours, our friends, our family, and of course our church community too.

So this week, we have been challenged to consider how we are blessing the Name of the Lord where we live, to the people God has entrusted to us to care and love, and wider than that as well. How are we blessing God in our conversations, actions, viewing, discussions and thoughts? Its not an opitional extra that comes as we grow in our faith - it needs to start once born again, so it becomes the most natural way of living.

BEING THE LIGHT BEYOND THE NORM

We are not content with being a church stuck on a building sharing our faith with each other. We are more than aware that there are communities beyond where we worship as a community, that do not know Jesus. We are more than aware there are hurting, lonely, burdened people who need the Light of JEsus to be shone on them. The Christian Church should always be aware of that. Some wise person once said that the Christian Church exists for those who are not yet members! We should always have a burden for those who are lost. It is not good enough that there are more people outside our church buildings than within on a Sunday morning - or at least that is what we think. We have some brilliantly times when we worship together inside - so much so, that if we shared those experiences with the people in our communities, it would be brilliant for them too. For just over a year now we have been holding Community Church. Once a month we close our evening meeting, so people do not have an excuse that this is an extra activity - and we go out to be The Light in the communities we live. This has seen our town split into three, mainly where good clusters of our members live. The aim is everyone will want to be The Light and share Jesus with others, beyond the normal building we rely on! Some do, some are yet to graps this amazing opportunity given to us as a church. We have engaged in all sorts of things from open houses, to worship events, prayer warfare, litter picking and door to door discussions. Its great! Its evangelism, Its Mission. Its an opportunity to reach the people on our door step, but together, rather than having to go alone. We have seen God use these opportunities in amazing ways, and we do thank God for that. Today groups have met to invite friends for a meal; a group met together to pray for that community and enjoy a tea together; a group went out onto the streets and (wait for it) sang and played carols. The streets with decorations are proclaiming Christmas, so we make the most of that opportunities too. Its been good. Please pray that others would grasp this vision too!

Today our morning worship celebration was well attended, with our assistant senior leader for worship (gavin drake) leading worshp, and our assistant senior leader for mission (luke johnson) sharing The Ministry of The Word. We thank God for them both

DAILY REFLECTIONS - REFRESHING THE HEARTS OF THE SAINTS

Every week our church publishes 'Daily Reflections'. We are not sure how many read these - not anyone reads them - but they came as a reaction to our leaderships pastoral ministry and the reality that many did not use daily reading notes, not know where to start when it comes to a daily meditation on God. Daily Reflections is the basis for our spiritual growth programme, that we will reflect who God is, in and through our lives. There is a short Bible Passage to read, then some notes, followed by a prayer reflection. Sometimes these notes follow on from the teaching ministry of that week.

Refreshing the Hearts of the Saints was the focus of this past week. In it we explored a short section of Philemon (not that its that long anyway). The section looks at how if God's people bless each other, if God's people encourage each other; if God's people bless what God is doing and where God is leading people - His people will be refreshed - will be in a better place than not. How we all need refreshing, and how amazing that is when God's people share encouragement and blessing with each other. Sadly, the reality for many of us is that we are criticised, we are mocked, we have people standing against us, and we have people that will not understand where God is directing us.

Part of this week has been to encourage people to bless other people - to pray for their leaders, to pray for church members and friends - to encourage what God is doing in peoples lives and not stand against it. We are on a campaign to get people blessing and building each other up - and not pulling down - after all when pulling down takes place, how much do people feel it. When building up happens - how much better does Gods people feel and look!

How are you helping to refresh the hearts of the saints

THE PRAYER OF FAITH.....

Every Wednesday our prayer support team meets. In this time they set aside a good chunk of earthly time to pray! They pray for all the members and friends of the church, they pray for the mission and ministry of the church. They pray for issues in Ashford and the wider world! They pray for other churches and believers - in essence just about everything and anything. Today in our time together we set two prayers of faith, and we would ask you to join us in making this a focus of your prayers too (whether you are members of this church or just linked to us someway).

Ashford District Christmas Celebration. This takes place Saturday 2nd December. We are believing for 200 (or more) people at this event. If you live in ashford we would love to see you too. PLEASE join with us in this prayer of faith

Christmas Outreach and Collections. We have a massive need for finance for the mission and ministry of this church - and we trust in God for this. We have many opportunities this year to help increase our income, and we are believing for an income this Christmas of £8000. Please pray with us in this too.

We are always ready and willing to pray for you too. Please send your requests at anytime. Additionally, please let us know you are standing with us on these prayers - the prayer of faith (James)

AN AWESOME RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

The School we used for worship was full today with lots of people (obviously) coming together to worship God. The Salvation Army's International Secretary for Personnel - Commissioner Lynette Pearce - was our guest leader. The Commissioner took as her text Psalm 13, and reminded us that like David, we too go through struggles, pain and situations that cause us to doubt and run, but that our God is there. The Psalm concludes with David focussing on God again, and recognising His presence. The world around him has not changed, but he has! He stood on his feet in Praise of God!

The Commissioner was also the speaker at our Disciple College event, which is held on the 2nd and 3rd Sunday in every month. Our senior leader, Ian, led the worship and the Commissioner spoke. Time and time again this evening we heard how God is totally committed to us, and He is not going anywhere. The Commissioner took the Lords Prayer as her basis for teaching on how prayer is about relationship with God - letting Him in, whenever and wherever. Prayer really is an awesome thing, and we thank God again for allowing us to hear these amazing truths, and for sending his servant, Commissioner Lyn, to share this with us.

A MISSIONARY CHURCH

One of the things we recognise as a church is that we do not exist for ourselves, and mission is important to us. There are too many people outside our fellowship - and not enough part of it quite yet. We believe we should not be content! Whilst we are growing and have seen a large amount of new members and friends we believe the Good News is worth sharing more and more and more - and we have a responsibility to do it. Throughout the year we always look for opportunities to engage in mission events, which do not always set out to expect Salvation through them, but do expect to be opportunities to meet our people, and to build relationships. Today (18th November) we had two missionary events. One held at our centre, is a regular Mini Market - yes about raising money, but also about helping people to get to know we are not that bad! We see people return time and time again, and today were thrilled that a lot of our Kingdom Kid Families shared the event with us. We event raised £450 which is the most we have raised at such an event at our centre - and as you can see from the picture Father Christmas also visited us - free of charge. Here he is pictured with Envoy Val!!!

But don't be too confused, because we are also told that Father Christmas was in Ashford Town! Some of our fellowship today engaged in mission in the town as Campbells celebrated their 50th anniversary in Ashford, and the Christmas Lights were lit. A group of musicians, some of our own, others from around Kent, shared with us, and our assistant senior leader arranged for people to be available to chat, and also a stall was also arranged. Loads of further missionary opportnities were ours, and we thank God so much for this gift. AND this opportunity raised just over £600.

We knows its not about money, although we do need it to continue the mission here in Ashford. We certainly know its about people, and we love them dearly, and will continue to ensure we are doing all we can to meet people, chat with people and serve people in the Name of Jesus.

OFFICERS BUSINESS DAY

Officers from throughout the London South East Division met together today for a business day. It was not as dull as it sounds. We continue to be challenged about the reality that business means mission - what is God's business all about! We have so much potential as The Salvation Army - but many have a tough work ahead when its about getting on with the business. Its a challenge for many officers in their leadership, its a challenge for many church members, its a challenge for us all. YET, we have to ensure we are honouring God together. We thank God for a focussed Mission Team at Headquarters and are so blessed to be able to work in partnership with them.

YOUTHWORK CONFERENCE

Youth Ministries Officer Trevor James is off to Eastbourne this weekend for the Youth work conference. We pray that God will speak to him, inspire him and help him to see more of God's plan and purposes for his leadership within youth ministry in our church community.

TO OUR WIDER READERS....

It has been really encouraging to have word from our site counter that well over a hundred people have visited this blog since its launch. That great - thank you, and keep visiting. Several of our members have now started to blog too - and they are getting more comments than us. So please, comment.....about anything if you cannot think of anything else to say.

Also, we would value your support for what we do as a church, and would value you reading the following which has been sent out to our friends and contacts in the hope some might be able to do something to help this church at this time:

The Salvation Army in Ashford is a fast growing Christian Community. It consists of people of many ages, and in recent years has seen some amazing growth and development. This year has seen a change in that we have had to cease using our church building, on Sundays and Fridays, as we have outgrown the building, and now are meeting in the local school. Our building is still used in the week, but limits much of our programme and mission, because it is so small. However we continue to do all we can to make ‘church’ an exciting place to be, and this year we have seen many new faces, again of people of all ages – many coming to find Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Whilst it can be hard work at times, we are blest and rewarded in so many ways. However at times, the struggle financially is a real burden, and we feel very helpless at times keep asking our people for more, because at times we realistically need to be giving to them.

You can discover more about this church community at www.ashfordsalvationarmy.org.uk, and our blog is http://being-The-Light.blogspot.com.

We write to you as a friend, church leader, contact, to see whether you would be willing (or even your whole church community willing) to sponsor us in an event we are holding in January on the 6th. To help raise money for this church, and to help us to continue to reach into the lives of others, we need to raise a lot of money. On 6th January we will be holding a sponsored silence for the day (we avoided the Sunday as everyone loves to hear us preach!!!!!!!!!!). We would be really grateful if you would consider sponsoring us £1 or more, and if you are able and willing to do so, if you could kindly respond at sometime and let us know how much you can commit to. We do totally understand if this is not possible, and no response to this will be understood and not taken as an offence at all. We recognise there are many projects that could be supported, and therefore understand if you feel you cannot help at this time.

We continue to thank God for you, and thank you for your time working through these words.
With sincere love

Sue and Ian Woodgate
Ashford Salvation Army Christian Centre

WHAT TYPE OF CHURCH ARE WE?

As you may have read in a previous article our church leaders recently met to explore where we are as a church community and where we should be. Few would believe where we have travelled in a few years, and guess so much is down to God, and the amazing people that form the church community here and want to embrace all that God has for us. In the summer our senior leaders were challenged through a book they read by the Reverend Steve Chalke, entitled Intelligent Church. It explores how the church can journey towards being a Christ Centred Community. Like Canon Robert Warrens book on church health, it looks at several aspects of what is essential within a church community, and what really needs to be assessed and explored. Of course the book is not the answer to all our problems as churches, and neither is it ideal and complete in everyway, but it is a starting point to explore what is happening in our church community, and what we need to seriously be considering at this time. As a church we recognise we have a long way to go. We are far from perfect, we are not professionals at what we do (thankfully), but do have a deep desire to honour and bless God, and He has answered those prayers among us. We have been sent a lot of new people - many have stayed. We sense for some the chaos of our church community is not acceptable, and the style is not for everyone. Thats why it is great we use a team of different people to preach and teach, and not just our 'ministers' do it - they believe that we are all 'ministers' to God and to His People.

So, we are at a new point for this church community. We need to assess where we should be going. We need to question what we are about, and we need to ensure we keep in line with the mission and ministry God has called us to, and not go on and do it all ourselves. It can be very easy to be in that place. We also want to leave a future for this church for those who are not yet born, those who are not yet born again, and ensure that The Salvation Army in Ashford continues to honour Him.

We will continue to explore, ask questions, and seek to find the answers, not through endless discussions and meetings, but by recognising where we are, and doing something about it. We are currently then asking what type of church are we, in order to reflect a Christ Community.

Are we:

Inclusive? Messy? Honest? Purposeful? Generous? Vulnerable? Politcal? Diverse? Dependent? Transforming?

We would love to hear what you think - and after all, everyone matters and has a right to say what they see, experience and know.