We are going to every Sunday from September! The first service of the new term is on the 7th September and from then on we will meet every Sunday - no need to check - just turn up!

We have Hugh and Ginny Cryer speaking at a special meeting on Sunday night to explain about the Lakeland outpouring (watch it here on The God Channel) and minister to us.
They are an anointed couple with a powerful ministry, added to which they have just returned from Lakeland and are keen to impart what they have received.
It will be at St Budeaux Community Hall at 7.30pm - all are welcome.
Added to this I am visiting Dudley on Friday night and hope to experience first hand some of the amazing things that God has been doing (http://www.revivalfires.org.uk/conf/index.html).

I have to report a stunning vistory over Vineyard by Mutley Baptist last Sunday. They beat us 7-1 but don’t be fooled by the score. We were much the better team - our large (and noisy) group of supporting WAGs thought us more attractive and much more stylish. We hadn’t played as a team before and for some of us it was the first grown up game of football since the early 1950’s. The weather was appalling, as the photo shows, and our captain Lawro was immense. The scorer of our only goal (a miraculous effor from outside the box) is looking forward to the next team that get rolled out to face the mighty PVC.

Friday 4th July - Sunday 6th, including pub quiz, wine tasting, sport, cream teas, fireworks, hog roast, film night, young people’s activities, breakfast, lunch and dinner provided, Great Big God for the youngies and a Sunday service for all on……. Sunday. You can camp or go posh in the Manor House. It’s good value.

Email me for a booking form or sign up at church.

This Sunday we are pleased to welcome John Mumford (National Director of Vineyard Churches UK). To those unfamiliar with Vineyard leadership structures he is our humble equivalent of the Archbishop.

This week (21st - 25th) we have a week of prayer and fasting. Notes on fasting and a special prayer journal for the week are available in the resources section for you to download.

We have a prayer meeting each evening of the week at 182 Mannamead Road between 8pm and 9pm so please get along to as many as you can, and you can use the topics in the prayer journal to pray at home. If you feel God saying anything over the course of the week jot it down and bring the journals along on Friday for a sharing session.

On the 8th of January we had an evening together at Compton School to present last year’s accounts and share the plans for the year ahead.

The accounts will be soon published on the Charity Commission’s web site, but if you are a church member and would like a copy of the notes and powerpoints from the evening I would be delighted to send you them on request.

We went carol singing on Tuesday evening and gave out chocolates. On Sunday evening we had a very successful (if busy) Candlelight Service. That does it now in terms of church Christmas events. Time for a rest I think! It’s been an amazing year and we’re all looking forward to next year, kicking off with a service on the 6th Jan and a Vision evening on the 8th. This will be at Compton School and we will review the year, present the accounts and share the vision and plans for the year ahead. Please try and get along - it should prove a significant evening.

God bless!

Bill Hybels writes;

We made a mistake. What we should have done when people crossed the line of faith and become Christians, we should have started telling people and teaching people that they have to take responsibility to become ‘self feeders.’ We should have gotten people, taught people, how to read their bible between service, how to do the spiritual practices much more aggressively on their own.

Read more here ‘Willow Creek Repents?’

This is why we prioritise people and relationship over programmes, and don’t put our energies into spoonfeeding people with what they should believe through directive teaching, but rather train people to interpret the Bible for themselves and encourage them to do it. I meet people who have been christians for a long time who don’t know their Bible or read it much - a failure of the current model of congregational non-participation and professional pastorship don’t you think?

We had a significant response to Sunday’s talk on the above topic, and it was frustrating only to spend a short time on it. I would like to do a workshop where we can explore the material in more depth, but until then I have posted the Powerpoint and emotional needs material in the resources section. Unfortunately the talk didn’t record adequately so you can’t access it as you normally can.