Weekend Reflections: Annual Conference & Richard Taylor

Monday, 11 May 2009 | Weekend Reflections

This weekend was a busy one at Fulwood Free Methodist Church.

As our name suggests we are a part of a movement called the Free Methodist Church. There are a number of church across the UK and each year we get together to hear from God and to consider the way ahead for the coming year. It’s also the place where pastors are appointed to the different churches. It’s a great gathering.

We started the weekend on Friday night with a time of praise, worship and celebration. The building was full of people who had come together from across  the country. David Roller (our Bishop) was the speaker; his message to us was an encouragement to move on and move out (available on the podcast).

On Saturday we had a special guest speaker from KingsGate Community Church in Peterborough, David Smith; again the focus was on growth and movement.

From a personal perspective it was great to hear David’s heart coming through, his heart for the church to reach the local community and on to the nations. Rather than giving us a set of methods David gave us a set of principles. From my perspective principles are always more useful that methods, it’s a bit like the difference between giving someone a fish and teaching them to fish.

David spoke in two sessions How to Start a (Thriving) Church from Nothing and Principles for Church Growth. If you are in a leadership role of any kind you should listen along.

Our speaker for Sunday, following on from Annual Conference, was Richard Taylor; speaking both morning and evening. I can’t really comment on the morning service because we had some technical issue that I was busy sorting out. In the evening Richard told his story and it was a blessing to see people responding. Both services are available on the podcast.

Richard has a wonderful testimony, a story of God’s transforming power. If you are ever in a position where you doubt whether God can really change lives listening to Richards story will make you realise that God can and does.

We are just starting out on this series of posts on Weekend Reflections and we’d love to hear your stories so please leave your comments.

Weekend Reflections: A New Series

Monday, 11 May 2009 | Weekend Reflections

Over the coming months we are embarking on a new series of blogs. Our aim is to reflect upon the things that God has done and is doing within the people called Fulwood Free Methodist Church.

The heart that we are trying to reflect is that of the thankful Samaritan who was healed of leprosy:

Ten Healed of Leprosy

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus travelled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13and called out in a loud voice, "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!"

When he saw them, he said, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." And as they went, they were cleansed.

One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

Jesus asked, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" Then he said to him, "Rise and go; your faith has made you well."

Luke 17

God is doing things amongst us, and we want to give our thanks to Him by telling some of the story.

I (Graham Chastney) will be the primary writer. In many ways I’m just an ordinary member of the church. I’m not a member of the staff, I’m not a member of the leadership team, I do lead a ministry and I do love the people that God has brought together. So that’s the perspective that I’ll be writing from.

We’d love to hear your stories and reflections too. I can only see and reflect upon a tiny part of what God is doing so we’d love to hear about the things that God is doing in your life. Please feel free to leave us a comment here on the blog, we’d love to be able to include your stories in future posts.