It was encouraging to welcome a number of visitors to our 'harvest with a difference' service last Sunday at Yelvertoft. We had encouraged people in the village to bring supplies for our nearest Foodbank at Rugby and filled up the back of a car after the meeting with tins and packets to help people in times of crisis. To find out more about Foodbanks go to www.trusselltrust.org.
On Tuesday evening I met with two colleagues to review the applications for the position of Children and Families Worker for the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation. This covers some 33 churches, many of which are rural. We short-listed four applications and have arranged interviews for later this month. Please pray for all involved. We are conscious that each applicant is precious to the Lord and we need his wisdom and guidance.
On Wednesday I met with members of my local rural ministry management group to whom I am accountable. I was grateful for their support and wise counsel. That evening my plans for Thursday were about to be turned upside down. At around 8.45 Doreen, my wife, announced that she was tired and was going to bed. Unknown to me she had been suffering from bleeding from her back passage for several days, and had experienced a severe bleed Wednesday morning. I had understood she had a tummy upset.
At around 9.20 she appeared down in the living room and informed me that twice in the previous half hour she had experienced substantial fresh bleeds from her back passage. I called the out of hours doctor and an ambulance arrived not long afterwards. Because A&E at the hospital was already backed up with patients, and Doreen's blood pressure was only a little low and she had a strong pulse they decided to leave her resting at home. At around 4.00am she had her fourth substantial bleed. Her pulse was still strong so I made her comfortable and we waited for morning to break.
We arrived at hospital A&E in Leicester at 9.15 having first visited our GP. Doreen was examined, questioned, and put on a drip. We then had to wait 90 minutes for a transfer to another Leicester hospital where she was to be admitted onto a surgery ward. This ward had experienced a high level of admissions and it wasn't until around 7.00 pm that we finally saw a senior doctor (in fact two came along almost at once). He was very caring and there was more questing and probing. There had been no further bleeding and he concluded that she would be more comfortable at home, gave both Doreen and me very firm instructions and sent us away to await for outpatients appointments for further examinations.
It is amazing how tiring standing around in hospital for ten hours can be! Doreen was exhausted and I had to review my Friday programme which was to include a meeting with a solicitor in Cambridge at 11.00 followed by a drive to Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire for an important meeting related to Action for Christ (AfC). We both slept fairly well and concluded that I should keep my Friday appointments. As I prepared to leave for Cambridge and did as much administration as I could, Doreen took herself off on her mobility scooter to the doctor. As I was about to leave home for Cambridge the solicitor rang suggesting that she could proceed with the work without the need for me to travel to Cambridge.
The journey that afternoon to Yorkshire was tiring because heavy traffic doubled the travel time. Together with another trustee I met with representatives of the rural church. AfC had been sponsoring the pastor of this church and had also spent around £180,000 on essential building repairs to enable a local rural-based ministry to continue and develop. Unfortunately both the trustees of AfC and the local trustees had been misinformed regarding resources available and in June 2012, when I became a trustee it was only then discovered that there were insufficient funds to complete the project or the sponsorship of this pastor and two others in Kent.
The pain that the trustees have been caused and the work we have had to do has been exacerbated by the knowledge that the folk in Yorkshire have been misled and let down by someone acting in our name, having also misled us. This situation will not easily be resolved. Our primary concern is to minimise the problems for the local people and to do all in our power to help and support them. However, in some respects our hands are tied and we have not been helped by the withdrawal of the services of our (AfC) solicitor just when he is needed most! All this pushes more work on me. Please pray firstly for our friends in Yorkshire that they will be guided aright. Secondly for AfC as we seek to manage it through this deep crisis. Thirdly, for the AfC prayer partners and supporters that they will stand by the organisation at this time. Please pray for me as I seek to juggle this with my other responsibilities.
So it was that I returned to Market Harborough this afternoon, after spending the night with friends and former colleagues, Sue and Tony Newnham in Bradford. I managed a few hours sleep this afternoon and prepared for the Joint Remembrance Day Service this evening.
Activities this week for which your prayers are asked
Sunday morning there is an act of remembrance at 11.00 in the village of Yelvertoft followed by a joint service at the Parish Church where I am preaching.
Monday 12th I will be attending a meeting of the Sunrise Ministries trustees in London. Before this I have yet to prepare the papers for this meeting, having lost Thursday. Sunrise Ministries is the proper name of the charity under which Rural Sunrise and now Rural Mission Solutions operates.
On Tuesday I will be at HMP Gartree for my regular work with the prisoners in the choir.
On Wednesday I fly to Belfast and on Thursday I will be leading a half day event for rural ministers in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. In the afternoon I will be meeting with one of the leaders of the Faith Mission in Ireland. The Faith Mission is a partner organisation within the Rural Evangelism Network that I administer.
I will then travel to the Republic where I shall be staying with an Anglican friend for whom I and others conducted rural outreach work when he was in Cumbria. I welcome the opportunity to learn more about the particular circumstances for rural churches in Ireland. Plans are now also afoot for subsequent work with other mainline denominations.
I fly back from Dublin on Saturday morning ready for the Sunday morning meeting in Yelvertoft and another busy week which will include activities in Cormwall and Devon.
Please pray for safety in journeys and no hitches along the way, for sensitivity in the situations where I will be working, for God's wisdom in all I say and do, and that fruit will abound for his glory.
Thanks you.
Barry
On Tuesday evening I met with two colleagues to review the applications for the position of Children and Families Worker for the East Midlands Area of the Congregational Federation. This covers some 33 churches, many of which are rural. We short-listed four applications and have arranged interviews for later this month. Please pray for all involved. We are conscious that each applicant is precious to the Lord and we need his wisdom and guidance.
On Wednesday I met with members of my local rural ministry management group to whom I am accountable. I was grateful for their support and wise counsel. That evening my plans for Thursday were about to be turned upside down. At around 8.45 Doreen, my wife, announced that she was tired and was going to bed. Unknown to me she had been suffering from bleeding from her back passage for several days, and had experienced a severe bleed Wednesday morning. I had understood she had a tummy upset.
At around 9.20 she appeared down in the living room and informed me that twice in the previous half hour she had experienced substantial fresh bleeds from her back passage. I called the out of hours doctor and an ambulance arrived not long afterwards. Because A&E at the hospital was already backed up with patients, and Doreen's blood pressure was only a little low and she had a strong pulse they decided to leave her resting at home. At around 4.00am she had her fourth substantial bleed. Her pulse was still strong so I made her comfortable and we waited for morning to break.
We arrived at hospital A&E in Leicester at 9.15 having first visited our GP. Doreen was examined, questioned, and put on a drip. We then had to wait 90 minutes for a transfer to another Leicester hospital where she was to be admitted onto a surgery ward. This ward had experienced a high level of admissions and it wasn't until around 7.00 pm that we finally saw a senior doctor (in fact two came along almost at once). He was very caring and there was more questing and probing. There had been no further bleeding and he concluded that she would be more comfortable at home, gave both Doreen and me very firm instructions and sent us away to await for outpatients appointments for further examinations.
It is amazing how tiring standing around in hospital for ten hours can be! Doreen was exhausted and I had to review my Friday programme which was to include a meeting with a solicitor in Cambridge at 11.00 followed by a drive to Hebden Bridge in Yorkshire for an important meeting related to Action for Christ (AfC). We both slept fairly well and concluded that I should keep my Friday appointments. As I prepared to leave for Cambridge and did as much administration as I could, Doreen took herself off on her mobility scooter to the doctor. As I was about to leave home for Cambridge the solicitor rang suggesting that she could proceed with the work without the need for me to travel to Cambridge.
The journey that afternoon to Yorkshire was tiring because heavy traffic doubled the travel time. Together with another trustee I met with representatives of the rural church. AfC had been sponsoring the pastor of this church and had also spent around £180,000 on essential building repairs to enable a local rural-based ministry to continue and develop. Unfortunately both the trustees of AfC and the local trustees had been misinformed regarding resources available and in June 2012, when I became a trustee it was only then discovered that there were insufficient funds to complete the project or the sponsorship of this pastor and two others in Kent.
The pain that the trustees have been caused and the work we have had to do has been exacerbated by the knowledge that the folk in Yorkshire have been misled and let down by someone acting in our name, having also misled us. This situation will not easily be resolved. Our primary concern is to minimise the problems for the local people and to do all in our power to help and support them. However, in some respects our hands are tied and we have not been helped by the withdrawal of the services of our (AfC) solicitor just when he is needed most! All this pushes more work on me. Please pray firstly for our friends in Yorkshire that they will be guided aright. Secondly for AfC as we seek to manage it through this deep crisis. Thirdly, for the AfC prayer partners and supporters that they will stand by the organisation at this time. Please pray for me as I seek to juggle this with my other responsibilities.
So it was that I returned to Market Harborough this afternoon, after spending the night with friends and former colleagues, Sue and Tony Newnham in Bradford. I managed a few hours sleep this afternoon and prepared for the Joint Remembrance Day Service this evening.
Activities this week for which your prayers are asked
Sunday morning there is an act of remembrance at 11.00 in the village of Yelvertoft followed by a joint service at the Parish Church where I am preaching.
Monday 12th I will be attending a meeting of the Sunrise Ministries trustees in London. Before this I have yet to prepare the papers for this meeting, having lost Thursday. Sunrise Ministries is the proper name of the charity under which Rural Sunrise and now Rural Mission Solutions operates.
On Tuesday I will be at HMP Gartree for my regular work with the prisoners in the choir.
On Wednesday I fly to Belfast and on Thursday I will be leading a half day event for rural ministers in the Presbyterian Church of Ireland. In the afternoon I will be meeting with one of the leaders of the Faith Mission in Ireland. The Faith Mission is a partner organisation within the Rural Evangelism Network that I administer.
I will then travel to the Republic where I shall be staying with an Anglican friend for whom I and others conducted rural outreach work when he was in Cumbria. I welcome the opportunity to learn more about the particular circumstances for rural churches in Ireland. Plans are now also afoot for subsequent work with other mainline denominations.
I fly back from Dublin on Saturday morning ready for the Sunday morning meeting in Yelvertoft and another busy week which will include activities in Cormwall and Devon.
Please pray for safety in journeys and no hitches along the way, for sensitivity in the situations where I will be working, for God's wisdom in all I say and do, and that fruit will abound for his glory.
Thanks you.
Barry
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