As we continue to pray for salvation in 2016, our prayer topic for March focuses on our Easter outreaches:

• the ‘Churches Together’ Palm Sunday procession at Phoenix Park on Sunday 20th March (leaving church at 10 a.m., meeting for prayer at Houghton Road Centre in Thurnscoe at 10.15 a.m. and then meeting at Phoenix Park at 10.50 a.m.)
• the ‘Churches Together’ March of Hope through Goldthorpe on Easter Saturday (26th March), leaving our church at 10.15 a.m. and returning for a light lunch
• Easter services at GPCC on Good Friday (25th March) at 6 p.m. and on Easter Sunday (27th March) at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Pray for good conversations with people as we are out on the streets; we’ll be giving out ‘goody bags’ with leaflets and Easter eggs and are looking to God to connect us with people who are ready to hear the good news of salvation.

Speaking of Easter, a new film called ‘Risen’ is due to be released in the UK on 18th March. This has been produced by Affirm Films (makers of ‘War Room’, ‘Courageous’ and ‘Fireproof’) and is being distributed by Sony Films. It aims to tell the story of Christ’s resurrection as seen through the eyes of a Roman soldier (played by Joseph Fiennes) who is given the task of solving the mystery of what happened to Jesus in the weeks following the crucifixion, in order to disprove the rumours of a risen Messiah and prevent an uprising in Jerusalem. Pray that this film will have an impact on all who see it and that it will cause people to ponder again on the tremendous truths of Easter.

Yan also spoke about 3 barriers to evangelism:

1. Sometimes we feel that evangelism is ‘not our calling’ and therefore we are not equipped to do it. William Booth used to say that it was not a question of not being called, but a question of not hearing the call. Whilst we may not have the gifting of an evangelist, we are all called to share our testimony and witness to God’s saving grace.
2. Sometimes we feel that the church is not ready, but we will never reach a state of complete readiness! The church which does not evangelise will fossilise. The Word of God clearly tells us that we are to commit to reaping the harvest that is ready (see John 4:35) and we need to pray not only for those who will actually evangelise but for all who will hear and respond to the gospel message.
3. Perhaps the most common barrier to evangelism is the feeling we have that we are not qualified to do this; a sense of our own inadequacy often holds us back. Jesus is able to change us, however: His first disciples were fishermen whom He changed to become ‘fishers of men’. All we are required to do is tell what God has done. This is the task of the whole church; we have received from God and need to give freely. Josh 3:5 reminds us that all God requires is our consecration to Him; He is the one who will then do amazing things.

Yan Hadley spoke on the subject of effective evangelism tonight, reminding us that evangelism must not be forgotten in our everyday busyness; it needs to be our highest priority.

Four essentials in evangelism are:

1. clear vision (where there is no vision, people perish; Acts 26:19-20 reminds us that we must not be disobedient to the heavenly vision God gives.) Matt 13:3 reminds us that the sower went out (see also Luke 14:23) and we need to be involved in our community, for the Great Commission is a command to be obeyed.
2. creative imagination (as our Bible studies have shown, we have to use all possible means at our disposal; we need to seek God for the ‘how’ relevant to our particular situations, such as the South Korean woman who moved to a high rise flat and asked God for how to evangelise, to be told to ride in the lifts for two hours each day as a means of getting to know people!) Door-to-door evangelism and street ministries can still be effective, even today.
3. compelling message (we need to be attractive, not awkward, in our presentation of the Gospel; Acts 4:13 reminds us that people recognised the apostles had been with Jesus, and we need that same attractiveness in our demeanours which can only come from a personal relationship with Christ. ) We have a testimony to share and a story to tell; we need to use both word and deed in our evangelism. We also need to pursue the power of God as validation of our testimonies (in Acts 2, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit led to 3000 being saved; in Acts 3, the healing of the lame man led to 5000 being saved and in Acts 9, 2 whole villages were saved.)
4. consuming motivation (for Jesus, the ‘zeal for Your house consumes me’ and we too must be consumed by zeal for God’s honour, not evangelising out of a sense of duty but because we are so thrilled by our own amazing discovery of salvation that we want to share this with others. John 4:39 reminds us that the woman at the well wanted to tell everyone about her encounter with Jesus – we should be the same!)

Mark continued his series on the story of Joseph this morning, looking at the blessings given by God after he was reunited with his family.

In Gen 47:25-28, we see how Jacob and the rest of Joseph’s family settled in Egypt and lived there for 17 years; ‘they were fruitful and increased greatly in number.’ God’s blessings on them were enormous, with the foreigner and visitor (Jacob) blessed abundantly because of his relationship with God. No matter where we work or live or worship, nothing can stop God blessing those who live in right relationship with Him.

Gen 47:29-31 shows us Jacob making Joseph promise to take his body back to Canaan when he had died. Not only was this promise fulfilled, but Jacob’s prophetic word (Gen 48:21) that Joseph’s bones would be taken back to the land of his birth was also later fulfilled by Moses. God is able to look after our long-term futures!

In Gen 48:1-4, we see how Jacob counted it as a double blessing that not only had he been reunited with Joseph, but he had lived to see Joseph’s two sons. He remembers his life-changing dream at Bethel (Luz) (see Gen 28:12-19) and God’s promise of blessing to all peoples on earth through him and his offspring. God chooses and uses the most unlikely people, for Jacob was a runaway who had stolen his brother’s birthright, yet he was part of God’s plan of salvation and blessing for the whole world.

In Gen 48:8-22, Jacob blesses Joseph’s sons, but chooses to bless the younger (Ephraim) with his right hand, reversing the expected order of blessing. This reminds us that God’s blessing is given as He wills (Joseph tried to persuade his father not to do this, but Jacob would not be swayed.) It also shows us that God does not do things in the ‘traditional’, ‘expected’ manner, but does whatever needs to be done to bless. Even if we try and divert God from blessing, God will bless those He wants to bless and will not be thwarted! God often shocks us with who He uses and how He uses them, but His awesome blessings are seen in this story as being for those who have dared to dream. It’s good to dare to dream in God and to live to receive God’s blessings.

Tonight’s ‘Churches Together’ service looked at the theme of love and to celebrate this, a beautiful cake had been made:

We sang songs celebrating God’s amazing, unending love:

Alison spoke about how God’s love cannot be measured. We might try to measure things in different ways, using a measuring cup, for example:

However, Ps 23:5 reminds us that ‘you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows’, so clearly this kind of measuring won’t be able to contain God’s love! We might try to measure the length and height of God’s love using a tape measure, but Ps 108:4 reminds us that God’s love is higher than the heavens. We might try to measure God’s love using a watch, wondering how long it will last, but Ps 103:17 reminds us that God’s love is everlasting. All in all, God’s love is so much greater than anything we ask or can even imagine (see Eph 3:14-21); all He wants is for us to receive and revel in His immeasurable love.

There were craft activities to be involved in (decorating hearts, making heart-shaped cushions and decorating cups with words from Ps 23):

All in all, we had a great night, with Alison able to share about how Asda had donated £300 worth of food to the food bank and people testifying of how God had helped them in different situations this week:

What was particularly encouraging was to see how many local churches were represented: from Goldthorpe, sisters from the convent attended, along with members of the Salvation Army, GPCC and parish church, and members from Furlong Road Methodist Church and St Andrew’s in Bolton-on-Dearne were also present. It’s so good to see God working in all the local churches and drawing us together in unity and love.

The next ‘Churches Together’ will be outdoors: the Palm Sunday procession at Phoenix Park (20th March, 11 a.m.) and the Easter March of Hope (Saturday 26th March at 10.30 a.m.) Following that, we will be celebrating Pentecost with a ‘Churches Together’ meeting on Saturday 14th May at 6 p.m. at Furlong Road Methodist Church.

We have received a letter from Fritzner Prince, leader of the Child Development Centre of the Nazarene Church of Sarranzins in Mirebalais, Haiti, which Bedline attends. The centre pays 75% of the children’s tuition there (supported through Compassion) and help also with health care. Children and their families have received funds from Compassion for houses and goats, thus helping them to become self-supporting. As children at the centre grow older, they learn a trade so that they can be equipped to work when they leave school. Recently, the centre received a water tank that benefits the whole community, not just the centre, and a gift given last year allowed them to finish building the latrines, which reduces health risks to the children by providing better sewage and drainage and keeping water clean.

Thanks to your generosity, we have been able to give an additional gift to the centre as well as a gift to Bedline’s family. We pray all the support will help Fritzner Prince to continue the great work at the centre and will bless Bedline and her family.