would you pray this daily for us?

 We hope your looking forward to what Sept has in stall for your church, for those of us on the Hill we can't wait to see how God continues to shapes the little community here, but we need workers( Steve and Lauren left in July). So every day in sept we're praying the following prayer, will you join us in praying it daily with us?

"Father we thank You for Your call to those who serve Your kingdom on Harold Hill. You have given them so many opportunities to share the good news of Your Son, and yet they feel their hands are full to overflowing. We ask that Your Spirit nudge, speak and encourage others to join them and share in this kingdom work."

Mr Grey!

So it seems to me everyone and i mean everyone is reading Mr Grey and most of my mates on Harold Hill are seems to be enjoying the experience (Female mates that is!)
So as a follower if Jesus what should my response be? I did ask the question by twitter, but no one seem interested or had an answer.

So for what it's worth here are some thoughts from someone who has only read the 'contract' part of the book, but has had tons of banter with people who have!

• This is not new, earlier generations had mills and boon! 
• Is this a challenge to men to be engaging in sex that listens to what a woman wants?
• God loves sex, he made it and so I think Jesus would have an opinion on this. 
• The contract part of the book ( the contract is basically about the man owning the woman for sex as he wants it and when he wants it, without relationship or true commitment) made me think that this mirrors the unhealthy way so many men view their relationship with women, just without the contract.  
• Relationship based on this sort of one side contract, could work, but can't be healthy. It seems to my that most of the bible is about us understanding who God is and how to be in relationship with Him and the others around us, these relationships are based on giving for the benefit of the other, not just about taking. I'm not sure Mr Grey is in this for anyone other then himself. 
• It has been suggested to me that Mr Gray is teaching this lady what she really wants and maybe she(and those reading about their sex) are learning about sex, but can you really learn about the wonder of Sex without being in an truly commitment relationship? 
• Most worryingly is this book encouraging a view of sex which is not about sex but about victimising and violence towards women. I'd probably need to read it which i'm not going to do to be able to explained on this point more, but if it is about the abuse of women, even subtly then it's not healthy, women were made by God to mirror who He is not to be 'objects' owned by men!

Note to church leader types! 

• Why is the church so quiet about this book- we don't think sex is bad and our silence about a cultural event shows that yet again we're running behind the real lives of those we would love to know about Jesus and the hope He breathes into our relationships. And if this book is endorsing violence  against women then surely we should be speaking up! 

Kids pamper

Today we have a kids pamper party- letting kids know loved and made by God( while having fun) .

dads

Hi there, sorry it's been a while, Alison and I are spending time working out what we will continue with and what needs to be left until we have a bigger community/ team. Sorry keeping in touch has been neglected, going to try and be better ( i think i've said that before!)

Fathers day, my kids spoilt me rotten and i have an excellent dad so Father day never brings me pain or sadness. ( This year we played rugby in the back garden. Caleb, Anya and me vs Alison, her dad and Jess. Wish i could say that it was good natured game but there was one point there were three kids on the floor crying with the adults playing on!!oops). 

However on the thursday before I had breakfast with some of my mates. One is a widower of 5 kids under 13, one was a step dad for 6 and who didn't know who his own father was, another was step dad to 3 and hasn't spoken his dad for a couple of years.( 4 dads, 17 kids between us) I asked about plans for fathers day and it was not an easy conversation.  It wasn't just that there was loads of pain about my friends situations it just that there was little concept about what it would be like to know a loving male role model. 

I need to think carefully about what to do next year on fathers day in the community, but we also need your prayers. God gives us an amazing and beyond understand of what relationship and parenting is, my hope is that we see restoration of some of these relationships, but that also these men come to know what being a man of God is all about. Only God the father, son and Holy Spirit can do. 

My Pentecost prayer

Loving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Fill us.

Loving God, help us see how You are sending Your Spirit .

Powerful God, remind us that Your spirit has no limit.

God of Mission, inspire us to dream of where You could send Your Spirit.

Faithful God, remind us of how Your Spirit dwells with those who know and follow you.

Almighty God Father Son and Holy Spirit, send the Spirit to make us more like Jesus, to guide us in truth and righteousness.

Father and Creator send the Spirit to renew us into the image of Your Son.

Jesus send the Spirit to enable us to know and connect deeper with what the cross and tomb were really all about.

Spirit come and refine and renew us so that the world would see Jesus in us.

Father, send the Spirit so that we might connect more with the fatherless in our communities

Jesus, send the Spirit that we might follow You in going to the lonely and rejected.

Spirit remind us that You dwell in the young and old, the well and the unwell, the liked and the dispised, the lonely and the popular, the happy and the sad, those who are contended and those who are unsatisfied.  With those who mourn and with those who grief. With those who know where they are going and with those who are desperate for guidance.

And you dwell with them because You Love them, because You care for them and because You are God.

Father remind us that you sent the Spirit, because we need to be filled with God

Jesus remind us that being like you is only something we can do in your strengthen no ours.

Spirit come and fill us for without you we are nothing, but empty shells of the humanity you created and planned for us.

Spirit fill you church that we may serve those whose lives are empty shells of what you created. Those who are poor, rejected, marginised, hopeless and lost. Those who are victims and those who are perpetrators. Those who should know better and those who have never had a Good model or example in life.

Loving God, help us see how You are sending us out in the power of Your Spirit.

Powerful God, remind us that the Spirit which dwells within Your followers has no limit.

God of Mission, inspire us to dream of where and to whom you want to send your Spirit filled Church.

Loving God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Fill us. 

Welcome Lily.......

We are pleased to announce that Lily Tinning was born on the 4th May, as a family they are doing great. Here is some of us saying welcome Lily.............

David Dimbleby- Baptist?

Well I'm not sure what David Dimbleby's relationship with God is, but one thing I'm sure is we could learn a lot from him. Being in the Question Time audience was a great, the debate that night was ok, but it was watching David D. in action which was a real eye opener.

As Baptist we believe that our ability to be congregational is one of the values/ practices which set us apart as different. Question Time is not a baptist church meeting because those gathered there aren't a local community, nor are they their to seek the common good for their community, nor, and most importantly, are they their to try to hear what God is saying to them through the whisper of the Holy to their souls and through the others gathered there, but still there was stuff David could teach us about a church meeting and the way we relate to each other at different times as we gather.

Some of these things you can only see if your there as he's not aways on camera.

• At the start he encouraged people to take part! This was to make the debate fun, but for us Baptist we need to be open to hearing many voices bring ideas, questions, challenges, ( all in christ like way!). Are most baptist church happy with a short 'quiet' church meeting or one which is lively, christ like and participated in? 
• He made people aware that he didn't think the panel were more important/ special than the audience. All church members are equal, we trust our leaders, but trusting doesn't mean we don;t have dialog with them. All church members deserve respect, but only together can we discern what God is saying, church leaders need the members and vis verse, which is why it was great to see a discussion take place. Are Baptist church leaders to be left with the role of 'leading' or do we seek to hear what God is saying though the church rather than a few? 
• It was encouraged to challenge! As uncomfortable as it was, it was the challenge of a statement/ idea which created discussion. Something we're not sure if it's christ like to challenge ( read the Gospels if your not sure!) Certainly I've seen people challenge other at church meetings in almost ungodly way, this too should be challenged, but in the discussion what challenged me was I was drawn to the members of the panel, who were most open to listen and changing their mind as a result of a challenge.  Their leadership style was open to the process! Are Baptist church leaders open to this process? 
• We heard the nutters(not a nice way of describing people but it paints the right picture)!! David D was not afraid to hear the nutter's ask questions! God speaks through nutters and often we try to silence them, those with extremist views or mental health issues or a real eye for detail and so ask question after question. Do we value theses voices, if we don't i suspect we don't value most of the writers of the second half of the OT!

There is more i could write, but if non believers can have debate and in many ways behave/ follow practices which are better than many Baptist church meetings- shouldn't we be challenged to go further than the rest of the world and be more like Jesus than they are. I hope that as we develop a Congregational community here the way in which i serve our friends learns from, but goes further than David D.

Love and Prayers.

rich