14:27

For nine years Fiona and I have lived in the small village of Crossford, Fife, just north of Edinburgh.  During that time we have started our family. We now have two well loved sons, Michael (7) and Benjy (5). For the past five years Fiona has been closely involved in village life as the village newsletter editor. This has given her a place of trust in the community, and on the village community council.

Crossford Village Hall

Crossford is a small village about two miles due west of Dunfermline, with a population of about 3000 people. It boasts a few shops, a scout hall, a play-park, a golf course, a post office, two hotels and has the best kept village hall in Fife. This old village dates back to medieval times and apparently gets its name from being the place where monks crossed over a stream when in pilgrimage between Dunfermline and Culross abbeys.

Joint Edinburgh-Crossford meeting

There is something however, which makes this pleasant old village stand out in stark contrast from the others in West Fife around it. It is not just the fact that strangers will just stop and talk to you when you’re out for a walk in the spring sunshine, no it is something else entirely–there is something that is missing in village life–Crossford has no church of its own–no place for Christians to meet. God places things on our heart which simply do not go away and it is fair to say that I sat on this one for a while. Recently however, a door in Crossford has started to open, the village hall door to be precise, and a weekly prayer meeting has started on Thursdays (7 - 8pm). When the friendly hall keeper trustingly gave us our permanent set of keys, Fiona remarked, that I felt as if I’d been given the keys to the village!

Discussion after services

Once a month Perth church make the journey down and fill out the hall a bit more as we meet for a short reading and exposition of scripture, occasionally some live Christian music, and a time of sharing and prayer. We have ads in the local village newsletter (put in free as agreed by the local village council), in the local shop and now the post office. Small beginnings, but we hope that this Christian service to the village might one day grow into something bigger.

The best part of any service

Sometimes church itself comes to Crossford, this has been in the form of Perth church and the occasional joint services between both Perth and Edinburgh. Slowly, we hope that Crossford might develop a Christian heart; that the Cross might be put back into Crossford. Whether this outreach remains simply a place of weekly prayer, and the occasional church meeting, or develops into something more, it will be in God’s good time and according to his plan. Please add your prayers to mine, that God might be glorified in this village, I know that those prayers will make a difference.

The Tororo brethren, in Eastern Uganda, can now enjoy worship services in their own church building. Built with thanks to financial assistance from the Churches in the UK and Ireland, the building is a welcome sight in the rural Tororo village of Poyameri. The building, constructed of white-painted brick and roofed with blue corrugated metal sheets, can seat over one hundred people. The structure is divided into a meeting hall, reception and a small office, and sits on a parcel of land which is large enough to allow various other activities such as socials or sporting activities. Ownership of the building enables the Ugandan church to renew its national registration.

Ugandan Church Building

The WCG East Africa Area Pastor, Mr. Kimani Ndungu, officially opened the church building on Saturday, September 27, 2008. It was a colourful ceremony attended by several representatives of the Uganda government, various leaders from other church denominations and the local people. Also in attendance were several church leaders from Kenya; Stephen Ochana (Teso & Bungoma churches), John Amadala (Western Kenya Region Overseer), Anne and Kagema Muriuki (Shalom Church, Nairobi) and Mary Wainaina (Shalom Church, Nairobi).

Ugandan Congregation

Mr. William Othieno, pastor of the Tororo congregation, gave a brief history of the church, starting from the humble beginning of two baptised members in 1966. As a matter of interest, Mr. Othieno and Mr. Eldad Opiyo, a deacon in the Tororo church, were the first two members of the church in the East African region.

Podium of the new Church building

“This building is not just for the Worldwide Church of God members,” said Mr. Othieno, “it is for all the people in this area. It is for use by the surrounding community, provided it is not used for activities which do not glorify God or are contrary to the government of Uganda. ”

“This is a wonderful moment for the church in Uganda, as we celebrate the first church building ever built for the Worldwide Church of God in this country,” Mr. Ndungu said in his brief speech before cutting the ribbon across the door of the meeting hall. Representing WCG Church administration, Mr. Ndungu thanked the brethren of the UK and Ireland churches for their love for their brethren in Tororo. “This building is a visible sign of the international ties between members of the Worldwide Church of God locally and overseas.”

Ugandan Congregation

After cutting the ribbon at the entrance, church members sang and danced their way into the meeting hall. Mr. Ochana then led the worshippers in a rousing praise and worship session featuring a lively mix of songs in the English and Kiswahili languages. The Tororo church worship team enthralled the congregation with a medley of songs accompanied by local drums and stringed instruments made from wood, strings and dried cowhide.

Mr. Amadala, in the sermonette, talked about recognising God’s direct involvement in the church in Tororo. Later, in the first sermon preached in the new hall, Mr. Ndungu talked about the functions of the church as the body of Christ. The activities of the day closed with a feast of chicken, beef, rice and a local dish prepared with a mixture of maize meal, millet and cassava. It was a memorable day for all who attended, and a springboard for growth for the local Tororo church.

 

 

Baptism in Loch Lomond!

Since the middle of July there have been seven baptisms within the WCG UK. Three took place during SEP with some of the older campers who wanted to make a commitment to Christ (Glen Thompson, Mark and Anise Francis). Two more baptisms took place in Loch Lomond - Darren Glennie’s occurred during SEP set-up and Steve Dickson’s took place at the end of SEP take-down.  They are both from the Glasgow congregation.  Another one took place on Saturday 26th July, as members from WCG Nottingham gathered to celebrate the baptism of Paul Bescoby in Lincoln.  A Bible Study is held there once a month, which Paul started attending after being invited by his friend, Daniel Gray.  The baptism was performed by the WCG Nottingham Pastor, Ian Woodley. Sebastian Woolford’s baptism took place during the first part of August in London.  To all of the people involved, a warm welcome to the body of Christ and we rejoice with them.

  

 

 

"Chill-Out" Tent

On Saturday 12th July, members from WCG Nottingham helped out at the HOPE 08 “Chill-Out” tent during the Beeston (in Nottingham) carnival.

The Chill-Out tent was placed next door to a children’s activity tent, also run by HOPE 08.  The idea was to give members of the public an opportunity to rest, have a drink, read the day’s newspaper (supplied by the tent) or read other literature placed on display.

The day started slowly, but by mid afternoon, there was a point where all room was taken!  Under the banner of HOPE 08, a number of churches have combined resources to run a series of activities in Nottingham.  The aim of these events is to give the general public opportunities to hear, or read more, about Jesus Christ.

The day went very well and proved that simple ideas can often give the foundation for outreach.

Prayer Postcard

A member of the Watford congregation, Margaret Channon, decided to put her photographic and artistic talents to evangelical use by making postcards offering to pray for people.  The idea is to put them in mailboxes in the area near Garston Community Church where the Watford congregation meets.  This is a follow-up from Margaret. 

 “I handed out a few of those postcards on Saturday. I must have accidentally given one young man two stuck together. A little while later a car pulled up across the road, out he jumped, dashed over to me and handed two prayers for his family, and dashed back. At the prayer meeting after service we prayed for him and his family. I have given some more cards to Irene Wilson to hand out next Saturday. She said that she would put some stamps on them to show we care. We will see what happens next.”

New Banner outside the Cardiff Church

When the Pastoral Council of Cardiff was discussing a possible use of some of the mission fund for Cardiff with the congregation, we decided to begin with a banner announcing services.  We wanted it to say a lot, but realised we needed to keep it brief in order that people could take it in easily.  We wanted to convey the message that all were welcome in the form of an invitation but we wanted also to emphasise the concepts of Christian worship and fellowship, and we needed to tell people when and where – in a way it could be read from a reasonable distance.  Gary Glenister had the brainwave of arranging the words to give the two main messages using a common beginning.  Welcome to Worship, and Welcome Christian Fellowship.  We researched the web and local area to ensure we were not infringing or innocently duplicating anyone else’s branding, and whilst there are two other ‘Christian Fellowships’ in the Cardiff area, they were each clearly independent of one another, and they both prefixed this part of their name by the area they were serving.  Two weeks after we put up our banner we were encouraged by a visit from a member of the neighbouring Rhiwbina Baptist Church who stayed during our service and said she may pop in occasionally as our service time suits her schedule in playing taxi to her children on a Saturday.  This is our first simple attempt to make our presence known in the area, but it is reasonably effective and was well within the budget for our congregation’s mission fund.

Angelo (right), Melina Catania (left) and Barbara Marcellino (Centre)

A baptism always causes great joy, how much more when there are three in a row. Yesterday we had 3 baptisms in the Catania, Sicily, congregation:

Melina and Angelo Catania worked in a supermarket where one of our Catania member’s family does their shopping. Mr. Catania knew our member from childhood, since they used to live in the same district of the town. Our members became good clients and friends and shared their faith with them. One year ago, Melina and Angelo started to attend our worship services. This had a very positive impact upon them and caused them to want to get to know the Lord more and to get baptized. An additional factor was the testimony of their children who noticed major changes in their lives, especially in the father.

The Catania Congregation.

Barbara Marcellino lived near a couple of our member ladies who many times asked for prayers for Barbara’s daughter Monica. Mrs Marcellino has started attending our congregation almost two years ago and since the beginning was touched very much by the way we prayed and sang worship hymns to God. Initially, as a practising Catholic, she did not feel a necessity to get baptized for a second time. But after getting to better know the Scriptures she felt that she had to get baptized and receive the Holy Spirit.

As a result of Eric Wood’s involvement with Prison Fellowship of Parc Prison, Bridgend for the past four years, the Worldwide Church of God in West Wales has begun to conduct the occasional service at Parc Prison, Bridgend. Parc Prison is the largest prison in Wales and its capacity exceeds all the other prisons combined. These Sunday morning services are shared between chaplains and local churches.  

On Sunday 27th April, a combined Cardiff and West Wales Worldwide Church of God team ran the two morning services at the prison.  Allan Austin did the song leading for both services.  Sharon Austin accompanying on the keyboard and Deborah Glenister playing her Saxophone, spiced up the music.  Eric Wood gave the message in the 9am service to about twenty prisoners classed as being vulnerable. These people tend to be very Bible literate and so a stronger message was able to be given.  Gary Glenister gave the message in the 10am service, attended by forty four general prisoners.  Only a maximum of eight people from the church are allowed to be involved in conducting this service and the Worldwide Church of God has been asked to provide a service three times during 2008.