What’s Happening

Who Am I?

Sep 1, 2024

Tonight in our ‘Little Big Church’ service, we looked at the question of ‘Who Am I?’ We played games guessing the identity of hidden characters on screen before watching a video of Casting Crowns’ song ‘Who Am I?’ There, we are reminded that our identity ultimately is found in God: ‘You’ve told me who I am: I am Yours.’

In life, we may have different identities, known to different people in different capacities (daughter or son, wife or husband, mother or father, grandparent, worker, friend and so on), but our fundamental identity lies in being created in God’s image and being loved by Him. Knowing that we belong to God and can be born again into His family (John 1:12) brings security and peace to our lives.

Praying For The New Term

Sep 1, 2024

Tonight, at the start of our service, we prayed for the children present who will be going to school – some for the first time, others to new classes – and prayed for the schools in our area and the schools associated with church member’s families. Schools need our prayers! We prayed for staff and students alike, and prayed especially that love and truth will be at the foundation of all that is taught.

Schooldays can be the happiest days of our life, but they can also be difficult times. Bullying, anxiety and relationship problems can be prevalent; there are many pressures, not all related to academic achievement. Our board naming schools and children is a reminder to us all to pray continually for young people and for our community, not simply at the start of a new school year.

Please pray for:

Goldthorpe Primary Academy, Sacred Heart RC Primary School and Highgate Primary Academy in Goldthorpe
Gooseacre Primary Academy, The Hill Primary Academy and the Robert Ogden School in Thurnscoe
Heathergarth, Lacewood and Carrfield schools in Bolton-on-Dearne
Secondary schools (Astrea Academy Dearne in Goldthorpe, Saint Pius X and Wath Academy in Wath-on-Dearne) and Netherwood in Wombwell

Please pray for the children we know in schools locally.

The Power of Testimony

Sep 1, 2024

This morning Dave spoke from John 4:39-42 about the power of personal testimony. In meeting with the Samaritan woman at the well, Jesus chose to engage with someone whom Jews traditionally did not regard highly. Samaritans were in some respects at odds with Jews, and women were not highly regarded by men at this period, but Jesus took the time to speak with her, to accept her and to understand her. This led to a change in the woman’s attitudes, for this stranger, whilst not condoning her lifestyle, clearly was not rejecting her or looking down on her.

The woman was so struck by her meeting with Jesus that she went back to all in her town and testified about this man. Her curiosity and passion about this encounter clearly aroused the curiosity in other people, for they too came to see what all the fuss was about. We too are called to be evangelists, but so often feel we cannot do this. All we are asked to do, in reality, is to tell our story to others, to speak about what God has done. ‘Come and see someone who has changed my life’ is at the heart of every Christian testimony.

This is all that evangelism is – simply telling others what God has done for us. Many people came to faith as a result of this woman’s testimony, and the same can be true for us too.

Why Christmas Matters In August

Aug 30, 2024

It’s 117 days to Christmas and already some shops have Christmas items for sale. Most of us groan at the notion of Christmas being thrust at us in August. It feels, somehow, wrong.

People like me who love to plan ahead are secretly quite pleased to have access to Christmas items all year round (it spreads the cost and facilitates planning – I live in a world where my head is six months ahead of the calendar date most of the time!) But over recent years I have come to appreciate the all-year-round message of Christmas more and more and do not object to frequent reminders.

Christmas, to me, is all about Jesus, and the name ‘Immanuel’ is one we remember especially at that time. Christmas remembers, and celebrates, ‘God with us’, God in human form, God taking on flesh and dwelling among us.

And the truth is, I need Jesus in August. I need Him in March. I need Him every day of the year. I’m living in ‘the messy middle’ of the story, when the world’s not all as it should be and I can’t always see a way out of trouble. I need, therefore, the reassurance that God is with us, not simply on special occasion days in dark December but also on 30th August, which isn’t a special date in my calendar. He’s there in the everyday and the mundane. He’s there in the ordinary. He’s there in the mess.

So whilst you may not be thrilled at seeing Christmas goods in shops, whilst you may balk about thinking about Christmas yet, don’t push Jesus out of the everyday. We need Immanuel every single day of our lives.

The Power of Story

Aug 30, 2024

Every Thursday in term-time I take my youngest granddaughter to the Lil’ Beatz dance class run by the Clayton School Of Dance & Performing Art’s at The Play House & Cafe Thurnscoe. Music and movement are so important to children’s development, and she is now beginning to join in all the actions and understand the songs that are sung to her.

One song tells the story of various nursery rhymes and the chorus starts, ‘I’ll tell you a story’, promising to take us on adventures to new worlds. That is what stories do. At this age, we go to the Caribbean car wash with pompoms to clean our imaginary cars and we swim like fish in our imaginary ocean. We row our imaginary boats past crocodiles and beep the horn on our imaginary buses. I don’t know about my granddaughter, but it’s welcome therapy for me!

This is because we all need stories in our lives. We need daily reminders that story is at the heart of life. Somehow we adults believe that stories are just for children and that we have outgrown them. Nothing could be further from the truth, and I relish my weekly dose of reality framed in the medium of dancing story.

The Bible is a large, sprawling story made up of 66 books. Northrop Frye comments that ‘the entrie Bible is enclosed in a narrative framework’, and I agree. It can be easy to forget that when bogged down in Levitical laws or genealogies of unprounouncable names in Chronicles, but the Bible contains the basic elements of all good stories:

1. a beginning and an ending

2. a catastrophe that has marred the original design and separates us from our good end

3. a plot of salvation, of rescue

4. developing characters who reflect our human nature and show us what God can do with people

5. meaning, significance (life is not simply random.)

This brings not only reassurance but reality to our everyday lives. We know all about beginnings and endings (we celebrate births and remember deaths). We know all about the messy middle (sorrow, pain, tragedy). We yearn for the happy endings and daily watch growth and development around us. Deep down, we love the personal touch.

The Bible tells us the whole story of humanity, which can’t be told, it declares, without reference to God. Let the Bible’s story bring as much joy to you as my weekly foray into Lil’Beatz’s world does. Let story shape your week.

Thurnscoe Picnic In The Park

Aug 28, 2024

We held the last of the summer ‘Picnics In The Park’ today at Thurnscoe Plaza. Funded by the Dearne North and South Ward Alliances and the Snap Tin Community Hub, these picnics have seen families coming together to eat and to enjoy sporting acitivities, face painting, forest school skills and creative thankfulness!

Our thanks to Dan Jarvis for his nerf gun wars1