We really enjoyed gathering together online again this Sunday – if you didn’t manage to join us live the gathering is available here. We mentioned a number of things in the gathering and wanted to give you the details.
Kibogora Gift Day
A few weeks ago we heard about the work of Kibogora Hospital and in particular the work of the Social Work team.
Today is our gift day towards that work.
If you would like to give you have a few options:
Click on “Donate” on fulwoodfmc.net and follow the instructions. This will allow you to select a “One Off Donation” and take you through the process. These screens will, this time, say that the money is going into “Regular Giving”, please be assured that your money will go toward Kibogora.
Make a bank transfer to the Kibogora Initiative directly:
Sort code: 40-23-66
Account: 40001279
Reference: Please use the Reference “GD Your Name“
Send a cheque to the church building.
The donate page is currently using a Direct Debit method of payment to collect your donations, we are working to have a Card Payment option available also.
Book and CD Reviews
Please find below a CD review and a couple of book reviews from the Christian Resources Centre in Preston. You can still ordeer from them via email on cbcpreston@aol.com which is now the only way to get in touch with the Christian Resource Centre, the shop is closed as per the Government guidelines. Some of their suppliers have closed so they are limited to what they can source but they have a few of each of these in stock.
Let There Be Wonder – Matt Redman CD £12.99
New album from Matt Redman, he says of the album “Worship songs will never be able to paint the full picture of God’s glory, but it’s so important that we aim high and give our best effort to conveying Him as fully as we can. When we do this, it’s much more honouring to God and it’s much more helpful to us. My hope and prayer for this new record is that we’d find ourselves caught up in the life-giving worship of the true and living God. Let there be wonder!”
Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible
Life in an Ordinary World
9781400203758 Bob Goff £10.99
What fuels Bob Goff’s impact? It’s Love. But not the kind of love that stops at thoughts and feelings, Bob’s love takes action!
Light and fun, unique and profound, the lessons drawn from Bob’s life and attitude might just inspire YOU to be secretly incredible too.
Love Does will push you to refocus your life and energy on what is most significant and become part of what God can do with your potential.
Disappointment with
God
9780310285878 Philip Yancey £9.99
In this book Philip Yancey poses 3 questions that Christians often wrestle with:
Is God fair?
Is God silent?
Is God hidden
This insightful and deeply personal book points to the odd disparity between our concept of God and the realities of life.
Why does God seem so distant sometimes?
If He cares for us, why do bad things happen?
Yancey answers these questions with biblical assurance that takes us beyond the things that make for despair and disillusionment.
Energize Resources
Emma mentioned a number of resources for you this morning:
In Energize we use The Little Worship Company and they have a YouTube channel.
This is the introduction to the channel:
Here are some of the stories that you will love at Bible time:
Here is a compilation of the songs that Emma was encouraging us all to learn:
Ignite Resources
Dan and Nicki highlighted some resources for those of you of Ignite age:
This week we will, again, be meeting on YouTube as we look towards Easter and the hope that Jesus death and resurrection brings.
The link for this week is here, or simply watch below – see you there at 10:00am. The video will be available for replay a short time after the end of the gathering.
We will probably meet afterwards on Zoom for a virtual coffee, look out for comments on YouTube and Facebook for details.
Tomorrow morning at 10:00am we will be gathering together online via YouTube.
This won’t be church as you may be expecting it. We were planning to broadcast from the church building, but have decided to take extra care and will be running a service where we are all at home.
You’ll still be able to sing along in worship, join us in prayer, and Pastor Andrew will be considering the times that we are living through.
We won’t be serving refreshments after the service, that’s down to you 😀🥐🍪☕️
The staff team met for a long time this morning discussing potential strategies for our church events and programmes in the light of the Coronavirus Outbreak.
This has since been reviewed in light of the Prime Ministers announcement this afternoon that “Everyone should avoid gatherings and crowded places, such as pubs, clubs and theatres.”
After discussion with the Church Board of Trustees we are putting the following in place:
As of Midnight tonight, Monday 16th March, we will be cancelling ALL our church events and ministries until further notice.
We hope to live stream a service on Sunday but again we will let everyone know how and when.
If you or anyone you know is struggling in anyway please get in touch and if we can help we will. The church mobile will be with a staff member at all times – 07850 269328
Please be aware of the following information for this coming weekend.
The roadworks on Tom Benson Way will close the road between Nog Tow roundabout and the junction with Lightfoot Lane overnight.
This is the section where there has been traffic lights in recent weeks building a new roundabout.
The closures will be from 7:00pm to 6:00am across three nights from Friday 25th January to Monday 28th January. So if you are travelling to any of the Friday evening events or this Sunday’s evening gathering via this route please be aware that this will impact you.
Beginnings can be exciting, sometimes they come with anticipation, at other times they come with dread or even intrigue. However you viewed the opening of the first page of catching the wave today I pray that as we progress along this journey your emotions will be turned to amazement and wonder as you see what God is doing as you pray.
We start our journey by thinking about three things:
My three friends – praying for people to become Christians.
My big issue – that situation, person or trial into which you want to ask God to intervene.
Catching the wave – praying for revival for “communities saturated with the presence of God.”
If you are new to prayer, or even if you aren’t, those might seem like strange things for you to pray. The reality is, these are all things that God cares about. He cares about you three friends more than you do. He cares about your big issue and knows about it. He cares about the people in your area.
How does He care? He cares as a Father, and that’s where we are starting our journey, thinking about God as “Our Father”. Here on the very first day we are thinking about God as a protecting father; a father who is looking out for us and a father who wants good things for us. Our Bible reading for today are some words of Jesus:
9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone?10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:9-11
There’s a promise for you in those words: “how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!” I’m not sure I need to say anymore.
There’s still time to get involved in catching the wave, it’s not to late to get started. If you want a book there’s still some available from Fulwood Free Methodist Church. There’s also an option to get the daily prayer thoughts delivered to your email via our friends at trypraying via this link. Enter your name and email address and you’ll be subscribed to the list once you’ve verified who you are by clicking on a link in the email they send you.
These 40 days of prayer are part of our Focus on 40 as we look forward to celebrating our 40th Anniversary as a community nearer the end of this month We don’t want to just be looking back on the 40 years that have already been, we want to be looking forward to the next generation and all that God has planned. Let’s continue to ask God for our “three friends”, our “big issue” and for “a new wave of revival”:
