Wildfire Issue 7

Church in the Peak

Wildfire

MAY 2012

READY STEADY GO! In ‣ ‣ ‣ ‣

this issue: Ready Steady Go Finance Update Choices Community Trust Jigsaw

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Baby & Toddler Group Men’s Ministry Tim & Rachel Heath, Talin Sarah Earlam, Melbourne

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Finding Treasure

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Sarah Smith, Ghana

lorem ipsum dolor met set quam nunc parum SOWING SEEDS: Updates on our Baby & Toddler Group and Mens Ministry.

Anniversary 25 YEARS: Church in the Peak celebrates 25 years. Get the dates for your diary.

TO THE NATIONS: Updates from Sarah Earlam, Sarah Smith and Tim & Rachel Heath.

READY STEADY GO! - By Dave Harper Handovers matter. If they are done well things prosper, done badly then everything can fall apart.

A dropped baton, the wrong appointment, a misjudged strategy and it can all go wrong very quickly. Jesus had to get it right. What he had 'begun to do and to teach' (Acts 1:1) was to be continued by his followers, they were to do what he had been doing!

Quite a tall order, but Jesus had said that anyone who had faith in him would do the things he had been doing ( John 14:12). The Book of Acts is testimony to a successful handover as revival spread across the Roman empire.

Jesus had prepared his disciples for the handover and they obeyed and followed his instruction. So what were the essential ingredients to the handover? Three things stand out.

First, he gave clear instructions after his resurrection as to what his followers were to do. They where to 'go'. (Matt 28:19). This command was to propel them into the world

telling people about Jesus. Evangelism has been described as ‘those who know Jesus, telling those who don’t know him’. They went with his authority (28:18) and with the promise that he would always be with them .

Secondly, in the 40 days after his resurrection we are told in Acts 1:2-3 that Jesus gave the disciples instruction and spoke about the kingdom of God. The theology of the Kingdom gives understanding and acts as a powerful motivator to action. The kingdom of God is God's rule breaking into this world, revealing the heart and the power of God to set people free.

Thirdly, they needed the power of the Holy Spirit to fulfil this divine plan. They had to wait for this empowering, but once the Holy Spirit came, there was no stopping them!

In summary, they were to go out into the world, advancing God's kingdom in the power of the Holy Spirit. We would like to spend time learning and reflecting on Jesus’ method for gospel advance and considering how we can put these ingredients into action.

Contact Details: E: admin@churchinthepeak.org.uk W: www.churchinthepeak.org.uk T: 01629 584 783 A: Unit 4, Olde Englishe Road, Matlock, DE4 3RR Church in the Peak, Matlock is a Registered Charity: No 702245

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Finance Update At the February Church News Night we presented the finances for 2012, highlighting the faith challenges for us as a church family for the year ahead.

We are going to provide regular finance feedback through future News Nights and also here in Wildfire.

Choices Community Trust At the start of 2012 we were able t o g i ve £ 2 , 0 0 0 t o C h o i c e s Community Trust (CCT). CCT is a ministry that has come out of the N ewfrontiers c hurc h in East Manchester that is led by Colin Baron. It is a registered charity with a focus in Gorton - one of the most deprived areas of East Manchester. CCT is passionate about ‘giving people more choice’ a n d t h e c h a r i t y s e r ve s t h e community through three key areas, enabling them to give increased opportunities, activities and skills.

Through the Urban Youth Work, Adult Mentoring Programme and Bac k t o Wor k Sc heme t hey support people of all ages to make positive life choices and fulfil their potential. Based at a shop front premises in the heart of the Gorton community, they meet about 100 people a week who don’t always seem to access the choices that others may take for granted.

Whether delivering music workshops, suppor ting individuals on their personal journey or encouraging employment, it is an exciting work that see the lives of others changed, one at a time, as Choices journey with them.

For the first quarter of 2012 our income was £34,087.64, and expenditure was £36,218.13. This represents a shortfall (deficit) of £2,130.49 for the first quarter. It should be noted that these figures are for our regular budget income and expenditure and do not include the gift days and other designated gifts.

This shortfall is less than we had originally planned for at the start of the year, but still presents a faith target for us all.

Our response to such circumstances should primarily be to look to Jesus as it is His church. He is the head and He is building His church. Our confidence needs to be in Him and His plans and not just in our planning capabilities. Good stewardship of finances is of course vitally important.

I want to encourage you to pray for the following: • New growth: That we would see the church family and finances grow through new individuals and families being added to us and giving.

• New jobs and income increase: In a climate when things are tough we can be heads down and forget who holds the resources of Heaven! Pray for your own situation, and for others in the church. Ask for promotions, increases, bonuses and new jobs. Our Father delights in the prayers and heart requests of His children.

• New joy challenges: Giving is part of our worship to God, it comes from a heart attitude of thanks and believes that Father God will provide our every need. Ask for increased joy as you give each month. God loves a hilarious giver!

• New faith adventures: Giving is always a faith adventure, we give into His kingdom trusting Him to provide. Jesus said, ‘it is more blessed to give than to receive’! Review your giving with God and believe Him for provision for any increase He speaks about.

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Celebrating Church in the Peak’s Save the dates

Anniversary

Saturday 10th November - Evening Party at County Hall Sunday 11th November - Morning Celebration at County Hall

Jigsaw -

By Deb Haworth

All of the Jigsaw ministries continue to reach out to the poor, those in need and the homeless in the Derbyshire Dales. Our befriending work helps by supporting people through change and standing with them in difficulty. All of the services we offer through Jigsaw provide opportunities for this befriending. We currently provide a household goods service, on average, once a month and we are looking forward to purchasing our van and putting it to use.

Ways in which you can help Jigsaw: • Prayer – the work we do is practical but the battles we face are spiritual and we need the constant prayer cover of our brothers and sisters in Christ; • Recycle – clothes for the clothes bank, especially for boys and teenagers – most of our clients are young single people or families with children; • Tins – non-perishable goods can be left in the Tin Bin on a Sunday morning and go into our crisis food parcels; • Treats – our market garden parcels regularly provide meat, vegetables, bread and eggs to 17 local households. We try to supplement this with groceries and the occasional treat and any contributions are very welcome; • Donate – your unwanted household goods could be the start of someone’s new home. We provide everything that is needed from tea towels to washing machines.

Tin Bin Every Sunday there is a black plastic ‘Tin Bin’ near the Tea & Coffee table. Any tins given are used for the crisis food parcels for p e o p l e referred to Jigsaw. Please give non-perishable goods only.

Egg Boxes Empty egg boxes can now be put into the Tin Bin as well. The boxes will be filled with eggs for the weekly Market Garden Food Parcels.

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Catalyst Festival 25th - 28th May 2013 • A weekend for Newfrontiers churches, held at Stoneleigh NAC, nr Coventry.

• Activities for all the family.

• Brochures and booking forms available in August.

Finding Treasure -

By Justyn Pride

I’ve come to realise, recently, how life in the Kingdom of God is full of wonderful truths that in one way appear to oppose each other, but in fact need to be held in healthly tension. An example of this is when you read the Parable of the Lost Coin (Luke 15:8-10), and the Parable of the Pearl of Great Value (Matt 13:45-46). One is about a widow (God) searching for the lost coin (you and me) until it is found. The other is about how someone (you and me before knowing Jesus) finds a pearl of great prize (the good news about Jesus) and sells everything in order to go and buy it. The coin is lost and is sought out, the other is stumbled across and everything given up for it. The reality is that both truths are correct. God is searching for lost coins, and those that are lost can find the great prize unexpectedly. It is with these truths in mind that we are looking to pursue two, ‘go’ activities (over the coming months).

Firstly, Treasure Hunting will become a regular activity in the church.

This is when we partner with God’s treasure clues (words of knowledge) to find the lost treasure of people out on the street and then bring the kingdom of God into their lives by praying for them.

This could be for physical or emotional healing, a break through of some kind or whatever their needs are. The first date for a Treasure Hunt is Saturday, 9th June in Matlock. Details on how to get involved1will be communicated in the newsletter and on the website.

3_Alpha.indd Secondly, we will be running an Alpha Course at the end of September, with the simple aim of ‘Invite a friend for dinner’. The Alpha Course worldwide has seen phenomenal success and we have seen many make life changing commitments through previous courses. We want to start building fresh evangelistic momentum through this course, but starting with one location and doing it well.

Please pray about who you might want to ‘invite to dinner’, and whether you could be involved practically through helping with the regular prayer support, food preparation, serving or venue setup. If you are interested in helping please talk to Gill Harper or Justyn Pride.

INVITE A FRIEND FOR DINNER

Starts September

Treasure Hunting

18/04/2011 12:0

June 9th July 7th August 4th September 1st Meet 9:30am at the Riverside, Matlock Page 5

Sowing Seeds BABY AND TODDLER GROUP - TOTZONE. By Angela Hay The middle of February saw the start of ‘Baby and Toddler’ group. We were all pleased and surprised by the numbers that attended; we have had up to twenty families at one time. We now seem to have around ten to twelve on a regular basis, and this is a good number as it gives us time and space to talk and build relationship with the mums, carers and dads. The majority, at the moment, are not part of Church In The Peak. Each session we have a time of open play, the children get a snack and drink, parents get coffee and biscuits throughout the morning, we do a simple craft activity and finish with a story and songs. We run from 9:30 until 11:30 term time only.

I would like to thank the team who have helped make all this happen, so thanks go to Pam Beech, Lorna Sewell, Jill Harrison and Louise Crowley, we also welcome Josie Pride who has now joined us.

Thanks also to those who come and help in the morning sessions, making coffee, clearing up and chatting to the parents, we will be doing a rota for this next term so if you would like to help please see Louise Crowley. Thanks also to the church family and leadership for their support; financially and prayerfully.

As we start this next term, we hope to build on the relationships, to reach out to any feeling lonely

and isolated with small children, also to do some fun things like a teddy bears picnic in the park and other events. We would value your prayers for this ministry.

MEN’S MINISTRY.

By Paul Hay.

In March we held the first of 3 social events planned for this year, when 31 of us went Bowling at the Genesis centre at Alfreton. Almost half of those present were guests. The feedback was good, one of the guests there said what a great bunch of friendly guys we were!

The next event is a visit to Peak Brewery at Chatsworth on May 11th at 7:30pm. The 20 limited places were rapidly filled with a good number of guests.

On Saturday June 30th we have planned our 3rd Social event which is an Orienteering Competition at Black Rocks, Cromford, with a prize for the winner and a BBQ afterwards. Don't worry if you don't know how to Orienteer as instructions will be given. Again we want to see as many guests there, so get inviting your friends and relatives.

We plan to have 2 “Meetings with a Message” in the autumn to which we want to invite the friends who have been to our social events. The first will be a meal with a guest speaker, a sportsman from “Christians in Sport” and possibly a Sports Quiz.

Further details will follow soon.

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To the Nations 27/04/2012 12:41

Address Tallinn Estonia

Tim & Rachel Heath, Tallinn In March 2012 we moved from St Petersburg in Russia to Tallinn, the Capital of Estonia, to plant another church. Estonia is one off the most Godless nations in the world - and the least in Europe.

you can read about on the blog. And just a month after arriving, Tim preached at a church here already, which will be followed up with three more as he takes them through the book of Ruth and shares some of the values of the Newfrontiers church plant here in Tallinn.

As well as helping start a grace-filled, God-loving church in the capital, Tallinn, we will also continue to build relationships with others, and especially some new church plants happening 'nearby' these are in Riga, which has been going about a year already, and in Helsinki, which hasn't yet started. We will continue to be involved in St Petersburg, travelling back often and continuing to serve that city and see what God does in that nation.

It's a very different situation we face compared to the life in the UK or in Russia - where people at least said they believed in some form of God even if it was nothing like the God of the Bible here people say they have no belief.

But there are some churches in Tallinn and we've started to build relationships with a few as we look to just learn what church looks like in Estonia and understand the culture in Tallinn. We arrive, again, as learners. God has been so gracious and we've started meeting people already - actually from the very first day here as

Tallinn is to be a church planting church - we aim to be planting our first church after a few years into another city in Estonia. And for this we need a great team with us. We praise God that we see this starting to come together.

We are so grateful that we are not alone in this, and that you as a church are praying for us, supporting us as together we team to reach another nation with the same message that we've been living in the good of for so many years.

You can contact Tim & Rac hel by emailing timintallinn@gmail.com and can keep up with news via the blog http://hearingmyheart.blogspot.co.uk.

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Update from Sarah Earlam, Melbourne

Update from Sarah Smith, Ghana

Things are going well over here, God is good and faithful.

Loving Melbourne and very thankful for what God has done and is doing.

I have been offered a job that comes with a two year sponsorship visa, which I have said yes to. It hasn’t been finalized yet, but looking very hopeful! My normal visa runs out this September, I feel like things are taking shape more and more each week in my life and the church. So I didn’t want to leave!

KidZone is certainly taking up more of my time here in Ghana. The Saturday club continues to grow and the library is proving very popular with some children coming every day to change their books. It’s great to see their growing enthusiasm and interest for reading.

In many families children are seen just as useful around the home to do chores and they are given little time and attention by adults. This isn’t how Jesus viewed or treated children and KidZone aims to show children love and to give them time. I’ve been busy writing a KidZone manual full of good practice and ideas for people wanting to work with children and start their own clubs. I’ve eventually got all the resources that I need, including orange paper for the cover, so can start producing and handing them out.

I’ve travelled to Atkasi, a small town in the Volta Region of Ghana to visit a friend called Eyram.

He used to help me with KidZone here at my house and has now started a KidZone club there.

He has modelled what he is doing on the club here and it was exciting to see it in action in another location.

I have also been to Togo to see my friends Sewa and Tanty who lead the Newfrontiers church in Lome, the capital city. It was good to see what they are doing and also to discuss KidZone with them. They are now thinking about starting a small club in their home on Saturday mornings with songs and stories. So KidZone is spreading and becoming truly international!!

Life of course has its ups and downs and the difficulties and frustrations of living here often seem a bit overwhelming and so I remain very thankful for your support and prayers.

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Grace church Camberwell is going well; we have a core group of 15 people (including kids) It’s small and has great family vibe, relationships are building, and we’re just having fun really.

We have about 18 - 20 people on a Sunday.

Last week there were two new girls from England who are joining us for 8 weeks, they are on a working holiday visa. We are still praying for more people to be part of the core group, as often people come and feel a bit exposed.

We have a faith and expectation that God is going to do something big and awesome.

Like Matlock church is central and plants out into surrounding areas, we feel that is what God is going to do with Camberwell. As well as saving many people from darkness!

We had our first baptism a few weeks ago in a friend’s swimming pool, it was really lovely.

There are other stories of how people have walked through the park that’s outside, and dropped their kids off for us to teach them about Jesus.

Its great, and other people who have just walked in because it was raining, and let us tell them about God and then they have came back again.