Last night we had a ‘Churches Together’ meeting at the Salvation Army. The theme looked at ‘Getting out of the Boat’, with Alison, Amy-Joy & Shaun being involved in a sketch illustrating Matt 14:27-32.
Peter as a fisherman was used to rough seas and bad weather, but it took courage and faith to step out of the boat to walk to Jesus. When he lost focus on Jesus and focussed on the waves, he was afraid and started to sink, but no matter how fierce the storms are, Jesus is with us. He challenges us to leave the comfort of our boats and get out onto the water, secure that He is with us and able to help us to do so much more in Goldthorpe than if we remain in our own safety zone.
The boat/ holiday theme was continued with activities: writing postcards to people offering messages of hope:
… and making boats to sail in our own mini-lake!
We also had testimonies of what God is doing in different churches, including updates about the food bank at the Salvation Army, where two food banks are run on Mondays, one for referrals (with food provided centrally) and one by the church itself (supported by other local churches.) It was exciting to hear that Bibles are being distributed along with food, spiritual hunger being met as well as physical hunger.
The next ‘Churches Together’ meeting will be held later this year, hopefully at the parish church. Watch this space for further details!