Dear friends,
I want to start by thanking all who look up this blog on a fairly basis. I do value your interest and prayers.
The days of the past week have mainly been spent focused on either my church at Yelvertoft or Action for Christ, the mission organisation I have been drafted in to help.
Yelvertoft
Despite quite a number being absent because of health problems or on holiday we managed to have a reasonable congregation on Sunday morning for a church in a small village. If we managed to get everyone of our regular folk together we would now be over 20, having started with around four. We praise God. Meetings are always a great encouragement to me.
On Monday evening we held a Church Meeting (this is the governing meeting within Congregational churches) where some good work was done. Particularly encouraging was progress with our building alterations. The total project which will make substantial improvements for disabled access and facilities, reorder our kitchen and put semi-glazed doors in the porch, will cost just over £20,000. This seemed a high mountain to climb but a gift day brought in around £6,000 and this has grown to around £8,000. We have some investments that can be drawn down (though the church has been dependent upon interest income) so we have enough to start the first phase.
News reached me last Sunday of a man in the village who had died in tragic circumstances. During the week this man's mother phoned and I have been asked to help them organise the funeral service. I was in Sussex when this request came through but have visited his parents on my return. Chris was well known in the village and the nature of his death will have impact. Please pray as I support those who feel this loss most intensely.
On Thursday we welcomed a visit from friends at Hinckley URC and it was our joy to bless them with hospitality.
Action for Christ
As a result of the sale of property in the past this organisation, in which I worked from 1963 to 1988, had a healthy bank balance up to about three years ago. Since then it has generously supported three people in their ministry and provided a free design and print service for small churches. This generosity and some other factors had significantly reduced the assets of the organisation. Meanwhile the trustees were having difficulty obtaining information needed to run the organisation efficiently. Once this situation became known, about the same time I was appointed a trustee, the right steps were taken.
Making all the much needed changes has been somewhat like turning around an oil tanker travelling at full speed at sea. We are not quite there yet. Fortunately we have an excellent trustee team and a loyal and dedicated staff. Tough decisions have had to be made - and may yet have to be made. Quite apart from the funds that have been given away the organisation seems to have been running for several years with expenditure greater than income.
You will understand that dealing with this has taken up a substantial amount of my time. It has had to take priority over other activities, but I have felt that providing help is the right thing to do. I would have felt like the Levite and Priest who "passed by on the other side" had I not stopped to help. Though I think that the Good Samaritan was more generous than I have been!
On Tuesday evening I travelled to East Sussex and on Wednesday I spent the morning and afternoon at the mission's offices helping the former Development Director remove personal property he had stored there. In the evening I travelled to Dunks Green, a small hamlet near Tonbridge, Kent where the charity owns a church building. Here I found a small but enthusiastic group of Christians who have maintained the only visible Christian presence in that community. I was delighted to find them in good heart and the interior of the building clearly well maintained. What was even more delightful was that some of them remembered the outreach many years before in which I was involved, and could name the team members and describe the activities.
On returning home there have been many phone conversations, a Skype Video Conference, and time spent drafting a letter to the organisation's supporters. If the organisation is to have a future it will need to refocus its vision and will need a sufficient support base of prayer partners and individual and church sponsors.
A Certain Irony
While the time spent on activities at Yelvertoft are an existing and regular part of my rural ministry (I am engaged and paid for two days each week), helping to steer AfC through this difficult time is additional work on top of a busy agenda. The irony is that while seeking to help AfC, our own rural ministry is in need! As I shared last week, despite operating economically, income to my part of Sunrise Ministries (the charity name of Rural Sunrise/ Rural Mission Solutions) has not matched the ministry costs since the credit crunch of 2008.
But our experience of salvation is rooted in the generosity of God. It is a generosity that is immensely costly. "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich" 2Corinthians 8:9 (para). In the light of such indescribable generosity, and when others are in need, we have no option but to put others before ourselves. Our trust is in the Lord.
Prayer Points:
Barry
I want to start by thanking all who look up this blog on a fairly basis. I do value your interest and prayers.
The days of the past week have mainly been spent focused on either my church at Yelvertoft or Action for Christ, the mission organisation I have been drafted in to help.
Yelvertoft
Despite quite a number being absent because of health problems or on holiday we managed to have a reasonable congregation on Sunday morning for a church in a small village. If we managed to get everyone of our regular folk together we would now be over 20, having started with around four. We praise God. Meetings are always a great encouragement to me.
On Monday evening we held a Church Meeting (this is the governing meeting within Congregational churches) where some good work was done. Particularly encouraging was progress with our building alterations. The total project which will make substantial improvements for disabled access and facilities, reorder our kitchen and put semi-glazed doors in the porch, will cost just over £20,000. This seemed a high mountain to climb but a gift day brought in around £6,000 and this has grown to around £8,000. We have some investments that can be drawn down (though the church has been dependent upon interest income) so we have enough to start the first phase.
News reached me last Sunday of a man in the village who had died in tragic circumstances. During the week this man's mother phoned and I have been asked to help them organise the funeral service. I was in Sussex when this request came through but have visited his parents on my return. Chris was well known in the village and the nature of his death will have impact. Please pray as I support those who feel this loss most intensely.
On Thursday we welcomed a visit from friends at Hinckley URC and it was our joy to bless them with hospitality.
Action for Christ
As a result of the sale of property in the past this organisation, in which I worked from 1963 to 1988, had a healthy bank balance up to about three years ago. Since then it has generously supported three people in their ministry and provided a free design and print service for small churches. This generosity and some other factors had significantly reduced the assets of the organisation. Meanwhile the trustees were having difficulty obtaining information needed to run the organisation efficiently. Once this situation became known, about the same time I was appointed a trustee, the right steps were taken.
Making all the much needed changes has been somewhat like turning around an oil tanker travelling at full speed at sea. We are not quite there yet. Fortunately we have an excellent trustee team and a loyal and dedicated staff. Tough decisions have had to be made - and may yet have to be made. Quite apart from the funds that have been given away the organisation seems to have been running for several years with expenditure greater than income.
You will understand that dealing with this has taken up a substantial amount of my time. It has had to take priority over other activities, but I have felt that providing help is the right thing to do. I would have felt like the Levite and Priest who "passed by on the other side" had I not stopped to help. Though I think that the Good Samaritan was more generous than I have been!
On Tuesday evening I travelled to East Sussex and on Wednesday I spent the morning and afternoon at the mission's offices helping the former Development Director remove personal property he had stored there. In the evening I travelled to Dunks Green, a small hamlet near Tonbridge, Kent where the charity owns a church building. Here I found a small but enthusiastic group of Christians who have maintained the only visible Christian presence in that community. I was delighted to find them in good heart and the interior of the building clearly well maintained. What was even more delightful was that some of them remembered the outreach many years before in which I was involved, and could name the team members and describe the activities.
On returning home there have been many phone conversations, a Skype Video Conference, and time spent drafting a letter to the organisation's supporters. If the organisation is to have a future it will need to refocus its vision and will need a sufficient support base of prayer partners and individual and church sponsors.
A Certain Irony
While the time spent on activities at Yelvertoft are an existing and regular part of my rural ministry (I am engaged and paid for two days each week), helping to steer AfC through this difficult time is additional work on top of a busy agenda. The irony is that while seeking to help AfC, our own rural ministry is in need! As I shared last week, despite operating economically, income to my part of Sunrise Ministries (the charity name of Rural Sunrise/ Rural Mission Solutions) has not matched the ministry costs since the credit crunch of 2008.
But our experience of salvation is rooted in the generosity of God. It is a generosity that is immensely costly. "Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, that we through his poverty might become rich" 2Corinthians 8:9 (para). In the light of such indescribable generosity, and when others are in need, we have no option but to put others before ourselves. Our trust is in the Lord.
Prayer Points:
- Give thanks for God's faithfulness and goodness in our lives
- Give thanks for the teamwork within AfC and also within Yelvertoft Congregational Church
- Give thanks for the existing body of prayer partners and supporters both for AfC and Rural Mission Solutions
- For wisdom for the AfC trustees as we seek to manage the present challenging situation
- For a refreshed or renewed vision for the ministry of AfC
- For the development of a solid prayer and support base for the ministry of AfC
- That arrangements for the move of AfC offices will go smoothly
- For the parents and brother of Chris, the man who has died in tragic circumstances
- For wisdom in planning funeral arrangements as this will impact the village
- For a continuing fruitful ministry in the village of Yelvertoft
- For wisdom - and practical help - to enable me to manage other demands on my time in ministry while AfC has to become a priority at the present
Barry
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