JUNE 2016
ISSUE 19
K I NGFI S H E R FAMILY The pillar of cloud by day and fire by night Back in January of this year, we had our annual Vision Morning, where we looked together at where we believe God is leading us this year and beyond. I was saying that the major shift that I believe will be occurring this year is the shift from WHAT IS to WHAT IF? WHAT IS represents things as they currently are. Our physical environment and spiritual state as we currently have them. Our expectations being that the status quo will be maintained. WHAT IF represents things as they could be; as they SHOULD be because God wants them to be. The shift from WHAT IS to WHAT IF was depicted as the experience the Israelites had when wandering in the desert having escaped from Egypt. They were guided by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When the pillar was at rest, the people camped, sometimes for a few days, sometimes for an extended period of time. But when the cloud lifted and started to move, the Israelites had to break camp and follow. The pillar was God’s way of saying ‘What Is is about to become What If. The status quo is about to change!’
Project has been launched with a target of raising £60,000 to refurbish the church building and make it fit for purpose, ready for the growth and new ventures that Jesus Christ has in store. New chairs have already been bought, nearly £10,000 has already been raised, we are applying for a grant to fund the air-conditioning throughout the building, and the painting of the outside of the building is about to start.
‘What Is’ is about to become ‘What If’. The status quo is about to change!
We are now half way through the year and it is a fair question to ask, has the pillar moved, and have we moved with it? Are we still in WHAT IS mode, or have we begun to embrace WHAT IF mode - and if so, what does WHAT IF look like?
The pillar is moving at Kingsway in terms of momentum. The church has grown in terms of new people, the toddler group, Little Fishes, is seeing record numbers of families coming along, and there is a real sense in the church of things taking off. The number of Connect groups has risen this year, from just one to four and a new monthly church prayer meeting has been established with encouraging results. With a new pastor - Sturt Gray - in place, Kingsway is set for some exciting times.
The pillar is moving at Tredworth, as God challenges us to change the ‘what is’ of our physical environment. The Regeneration
The pillar is moving at the Social Enterprise. As outlined in a recent leaders’ celebration event and then at an evening service, the social
outreach of this group is growing rapidly as God continues to open new doors. A new service, offering help and support for adults and children who are in crisis is opening soon at the Cavern. The adult support has already been agreed by the Clinical Commissioning Group and hopefully the children’s part of this will follow soon. The Cavern is also becoming increasingly well-known as a live music venue, with the profile being raised massively by the recent staging of a regional heat of The Voice by ITV. Teenagers who would normally be presenting the police with ongoing challenges are finding a home there on Friday nights - the pilar is moving as God says, ‘What if you trusted me and followed me into radical social outreach?’ The pilar is moving internationally as well. James is travelling to The Philippines in June in response to a God-given opportunity to establish the Kingfisher Family out there. He is travelling with Norlie Bulacan who has recently joined Kingfisher with his family and who has been called by God to reach out to the villages in the Sierra Madre mountains to the north of that country. Meanwhile, Kingfisher in India has just baptised 18 new believers and Kingfisher in Malawi and Mozambique continue to grow and expand. In the next edition of The Family, we will be looking at some of the results from the recent International Day of Prayer. The pillar of cloud by day and fire by night is definitely on the move and Kingfisher is responding. What Is is no longer an option - we are headed towards the What If!
News from Kingfisher Social Enterprise ITV’s The Voice comes to The Cavern Last month we had scouters from ITV's The Voice come to The Cavern for our Open Mic night! We had about 40 acts signed up to perform and The Cavern was packed! The Cavern has quickly become a key venue for local musicians to come and perform. and it is great that ITV have acknowledged that by contacting and choosing us to send their team to! What’s also great is that The Cavern is constantly being referred to as a 'hidden treasure', a 'safe place' and 'the place to be'. It was a great night and we as a team are so privileged and blessed to be able to play a part in building community in Gloucester!
News from Kingfisher Social Enterprise Treasure Seeker’s Got Talent Show The most recent TSPA show was a celebration of individual talents and team contribution. Playing to two packed houses at the police headquarters in Waterwells, we were entertained with solo performances, dance numbers and our unique choir! A video presentation also showed some great work from the art group and Aaron White, Aaron Appleby and Luke Barnes shared the positive impact they have seen in their lives as they have been involved with Treasure Seekers. TSPA’s next show is on 14th and 15th July and will be based on Grease - why not come and join us?
News from Kingfisher Social Enterprise and Africa A new look Creative room and additions to the Cavern Treasure Seekers Social Enterprise have recently received a very kind donation by System Force IT who held a Gala event to raise money for us to renovate our Creative Room. We have used the money to replace our carpet tiles which were slipping and becoming unsafe with some great new flooring. We had also received grant funding for some new furniture which, together with the generous donation from System Force IT, meant that we had enough money to properly furnish the space with appropriate and comfortable furniture!
a go and are available to play whenever The Cavern is open. We will be holding high score competitions on certain games, and our board game night will shortly be rebranding to be games night with organised tournaments on the arcade machines. We are so excited about these machines and the fact that The Cavern is one of the coolest venues in Gloucester!
Have you seen our latest additions to The Cavern. These are two retro style arcade machines. The upright machine has 600 different games, mostly from the early 90s including many Sega type games. The tabletop machine has 60 games, mostly from the 80s including games like PacMan, Space Invaders and Donkey Kong. These machines are only 50p
The International Day of Prayer in Africa Wherever you live, the Kingfisher Churches in Africa were praying for you on 10th April during our International Day of Prayer. People gathered that day wherever they meet as church in Malawi and Mozambique. Some in buildings, some under trees. But all focussed on holding up the rest of us in their prayers.
News from The Kingfisher Family LIV Village Youth Choir comes to Kingfisher Kingfisher church has the privilege of hosting a concert by the LIV Village Youth Choir. LIV is a community in South Africa (where Sophie Bond and Beth Kelly are currently volunteering) that was created to place parentless children into families where they receive unconditional love, spiritual discipleship, care and nurturing, with the church at the centre of the community. The concert will take place on Thursday 21st July, 7pm at Kingsway Primary School and is really one not to be missed! Tickets will be available soon.
Little Fishes at Kingsway Little Fishes in Kingsway is growing rapidly - we now have between 40-60 children and their families coming each week! We offer them a welcoming, friendly and warm place to come and play, sing and chat. Each year we hold fundraising events with the money going towards paying for the children to go on our summer trip to Cattle Country, and for our Christmas party. So far this school year we have held two cake sales and on Sunday 5th June we are holding a ‘Soft Toy Tombola’ at the Kingsway Big Lunch event in the hope that we raise a lot more. If you have any good quality soft toys or teddies that you would like to donate please call Kirsty Dalley on 07443 595702 or come along to the event and have a go on our tombola!
News from The Kingfisher Family Underwater Adventure holiday club As most of you know, every summer during the holidays Kingfisher Church puts on a themed holiday club week (one in Tredworth and one in Kingsway), and this year the theme is Underwater Adventure, based on ‘Finding Nemo’ and the new Disney movie ‘Finding Dory’. Around 260 primary school children enjoy a week of fun, games, craft, competitions and music and it's all free!
If you are wondering how to fill a week of the school summer holidays, and you want to transform boredom into exiting activity, then make sure you register your child for Underwater Adventure asap!
To book your child’s place please fill out a registration form which are on the information areas of both churches, or contact the church office on 01452 304339 or email us at info@kingfisher.org.uk.
The dates are: Monday, August 1st Friday August 5th at Kingfisher Tredworth and Monday, August 8th - Friday August 12th at Kingsway Primary School, each day from 10am - 12 noon.
If you would like to help at the holiday club please contact Rach Bennett (07875 497306) for Tredworth or Kirsty Dalley (07443 595702) for Kingsway.
Baptism Service
HOLIDAY CLUB FOR RECEPTION TO YEAR 6
On May 1st we celebrated with five more people as they took the plunge and made their public declaration of faith by getting baptised. It's always so inspiring to hear of the journeys that have bought people to Kingfisher and to an encounter with Jesus. Please continue to pray for Carol, Jian, Richard, Ken and Tim as they grow in faith.
Monday 1st - Friday 5th August Kingfisher Church Tredworth Monday 8th - Friday 12th August Kingsway Primary School 10am - Noon
Welcoming Nathaniel Baker into the Kingfisher family On Sunday May 1st we had a dedication service for Nathaniel Baker, where we thanked God for his safe birth, welcomed him into our Kingfisher family and prayed for Bean and Sarah for their roles as Nathaniel's parents.
News from The Kingfisher Family In memory of Bill Cooper The month of May has been a difficult one for many of us at Kingfisher, with the sad loss of Bill Cooper. Bill has been central to the life of the Kingfisher Family for many years, and has touched the lives of so many over those years. The funeral service, which was held at Kingfisher Tredworth on Friday 29th April, followed by the Thanksgiving service a week later were both absolutely packed with people whose lives had been blessed in some way by Bill. Family, friends from his RAF days, church family, and many others came in their hundreds to celebrate his life. Bill was a person who was able to connect with just about everyone, whatever their background, age or outlook. He was the Entertainments Manager for Treasure Seekers, and brought people together with his Elvis performances, his Pam Ayres impersonations and so much more. He was a founding member of the Kingfisher Church Golf Society and a keen supporter of Manchester United.
Bill was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour just over six months ago. On Sunday, 17th April, Bill died with his family around him and with Jan holding him. He died peacefully, with Jan just having prayed with him.
respect for Bill. We thank God for all that Bill has meant to us. The next TSPA show - Moments from Grease (14th - 15th July) will be in memory of Bill.
Bill leaves an enormous hole in the family of Kingfisher, especially in the TSPA ministry. He also leaves a wonderful legacy of lives that have been touched and impacted by someone who had a generous, giving heart and who would do all that he could for anyone in need. Bill came to faith and was baptised at Kingfisher, and has lived out his faith in so many ways since then. He went on a mission trip to Malawi three years ago and made connections with many people in that country. Church leaders in Malawi met together to pray for Kingfisher in the UK during the time of the Thanksgiving service as a mark of their love and
On Sunday 22nd May we had the pleasure of welcoming Ollie’s dad Ron Bennett to speak on the last in the My Generation series. He was a great encouragement to us all in how we can be challenged to serve and grow in our faith as we enter a time in our lives when society dictates that we should start to slow down.
GET INVOLVED WITH THE NEWSLETTER! In order for this newsletter to grow and develop, we need your help! If you go to any Kingfisher event and have taken a great photo, then please email it to Kirsty at info@kingfisher.org.uk. The copy deadline for the next issue (due out in September) is 22nd August. Or if you would like to get involved in the production of the next newsletter then email us with your particular area of interest. Hope you enjoy hearing all that is happening across the Kingfisher Network!
Kingfisher Network Kingfisher Church Moor Street Tredworth Gloucester GL1 4NJ www.kingfisher.org.uk info@kingfisher.org.uk +441452 304339 Š Kingfisher Church, 2013