MARCH 2016
ISSUE 18
T H E N E T W O RK What’s in a name? Names are important. In the Bible they tended to signify what God wanted to say about a person or a place. In fact, names were changed at strategic times to signify a new direction or calling that God had on a person’s life. Thus, Abram means High father, or Exalter father. However, in Genesis 17 Abram had his name changed to Abraham, when it was revealed that he would be the father of the Hebrew nation. Jacob means ‘he grasps the heal’ or ‘supplanter’, illustrating both the nature of Jacob’s birth and his character as he grew into a young man. However, after Jacob had spent the night wrestling with God (see Genesis 32), he was given a new name: Israel, meaning ‘He struggles with God’, or ‘Triumphant with God’. Simon came to be known as Peter (‘The Rock’), Saul came to use the name Paul, and there are many more examples. Names are important!
together churches and ministries internationally in order to see lost people be transformed into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
“An everexpanding family of God’s people expressing the Kingdom of God in how we care for, support and encourage each other. This is family!”
But we are more than just an organisation. Jesus Christ has called us to care for each other as if we are one big family. We express that care in practical ways, such as when we raise money to provide clean water in Since the launch of our ministry Africa, leadership training many years ago in Africa, materials in India and so on. We Kingfisher has been called also express the understanding of Kingfisher Network. The vision that God gave us 25 years ago was family when we pray together, as we are doing this April 10th with to be a network of churches, our International Day of Prayer. initially around Gloucester, but ultimately around the world. Today Family is a good description of who we are, whether that family is that network has expanded to to be found in a village in include the UK, Malawi, Mozambique, in the middle of a Mozambique, India and, this year, city in India, in a rural community we welcome The Philippines. But does the word ‘Network’ still best in The Philippines, expressed in the describe us? On an organisational work of a Social Enterprise or in a local church in Gloucester, UK. We level, it is still an adequate are family. description - we are networking
To express this, it is time for a name change. Kingfisher Network is becoming Kingfisher Family. What’s in a name? A name gives identity, reflects the plans and purposes that God has for a person or a group of people, helps us to understand how God sees us and our place in the world. Isn’t family what this fragmented, suspicious, cynical world needs? Not a carefully worked-out plan to expand around the world; not a numbers game; not just an organisation, but an everexpanding family of God’s people expressing the Kingdom of God in how we care for, support and encourage each other. This is family! So, welcome to The Kingfisher Family! I hope that you will be inspired on April 10th to join with over 6000 brothers and sisters around the world to pray for your family and the countries in which your family is living.
Sunday 10th April Our network of churches will be joining together as thousands of brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for each other, our communities and our countries, that we will see God move in power in our lives and ministries in the coming year and beyond.
News from Kingfisher Kingsway New pastor at Kingsway - Stuart Gray My family and I arrived in Gloucester during the summer of 1998. We had been living in Bracknell, Berkshire, and through a series of God inspired events we found ourselves moving to live in Gloucester. But we didn’t move because we liked the area, or my job demanded it. No – we moved specifically because we felt God wanted us to become part of Kingfisher Church. At that time, there was a fledgling Kingfisher International Ministry and there was no Treasure Seekers Social Enterprise. One small church with a big vision and growing numbers was meeting in a school. We strongly felt that God had brought us to Gloucester serve him. But we also knew we were here for us to personally grow. Over the past 18 years we have done just that. Speaking for myself, I have not always found it easy. But I can honestly say that as I have said yes to God, and surrendered my agendas and my fears to him…I have made steps forward in my life. Back in 2014, I was listening to a talk on leadership by a well-known
Christian leader. And I felt God’s affirming hand on my life as I listened. It felt like God was saying, “Well done Stuart.You’ve been faithful to me through these past years. And now my question to you – is this. Will you continue trusting me? Will you continue serving me in and through the local church? Do you have another 20 years in you for that?” And of course – full of confidence and much ignorance – I blurted out, “YES!!” Fast forward 6 months. I found myself redundant from a well-paid software job, and facing a massive crossroads in my life.Yet my experience of God from 6 months previously came back to me. “Yes Lord…sign me up for 20 more years.” It came sharply into focus as the opportunity was presented to me by James to explore becoming the Pastor of Kingfisher Church in Kingsway. I find the prospect of this role both daunting, yet tremendously exciting. I will not be doing it full time to begin with. Janet and I run an IT consulting business, and I do that 3 days a week. Becoming Pastor of Kingfisher Kingsway is
not an easy challenge.Yet it is such an important role that God is giving me. I am not alone in this because Janet and I are doing it together while Rebecca and Naomi are cheering us on. And I am just one part of an incredibly supportive and insightful Kingfisher Family leadership team. Someone asked me recently, “What is a Pastor anyway?” Well – I am convinced that God calls Pastors to a vital job. It’s a job where you get to help people discover what their life means and how important they really are! With God’s help, Pastors help people discover where they are going…and ultimately help them to connect with the one who made them and who loves them deeply. Jesus Christ. Lastly, as we launch into this new role, our hearts echo the words of Proverbs 3:5-8 (The Msg). Trust GOD from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for GOD’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track. Don’t assume that you know it all. Run to GOD!
Christingle and Nativity services
News from Kingfisher Kingsway Little Fishes Christmas Party We had a lovely Christmas Party in December to finish off another fantastic year at Little Fishes! With a bouncy castle, toys, party food, Christmas raffle and presents all the children had a great time!
News from Kingfisher Tredworth Tredworth - Are you UP for it? I’ve been thinking a lot about the word regenerate over the last few months. Kingfisher is 23 years old and our mission has always been the same, to reach lost people and see them transformed into fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ. But we have undergone some regenerations over the years as people have left and others have come, or as we’ve moved into new buildings and expanded into new areas of ministry. It might look a little different (or a lot different) to how it did back in that tyre factory in 1993, but our heart and vision is the same and we’ve always had a greater desire to keep moving forward into the new than we ever have in trying to hold on to the old. Things change around here all the time and we’ve had good times and difficult times. This last two or three years especially has felt like a regeneration, with the growth and development of Treasure Seekers, a clearer model of what Network Family looks like and with a changing leadership, and that transition has been unsettling at times for many, if not all of us who have been here, but I’m sensing that things have stabilised over this last year especially and we’re in a new and exciting era in the life of our church.
done before. I know we all want to see our building transformed but are we UP for what it will take?
God is challenging us to move forward as a church, He wants to grow us as a family and use us for greater influence and good, to reach more lost people and lead them to Jesus, but I know a lot of people are already feeling over stretched and there isn’t much margin or capacity for more so are we really UP for that? We want to invest in our home here in Tredworth and see it invigorated and regenerated this year, to make it fitter for purpose so that it will still be safe and useable in another ten years time, but it’s going to mean stepping up in ways that we may have not
Seriously though, if we are going to achieve what God wants us to achieve, if our church is going to be a strong, vibrant, force for good in this world then we need to be clear and intentional about those things that will keep us moving in that upward trajectory. As a church, we’ve known what it is to walk through some valleys where the mountainsides look almost too steep to climb, but God has been with us and His promise and presence has kept us walking and He has led us safely to greener pastures – but you’ve not seen anything yet church believe me! We might have been going 23
UP – it’s a funny little word and we use it all the time in a variety of ways. We all know what it means, yes? Going upwards towards the sky, but when we awaken in the morning, why do we wake UP? At a meeting, why does a topic come UP? Why do we speak UP and why are the candidates UP for election and why is it UP to the secretary to write UP a report? We call UP our friends. We brighten UP a room, work UP an appetite, warm UP the leftovers and clean UP the kitchen. We lock UP the house and fix UP an old car. People stir UP trouble, and think UP excuses. To be dressed is one thing but to be dressed UP is special. A drain must be opened UP because it is blocked UP. When it threatens to rain, we say it is clouding UP. When the sun comes out we say it is clearing UP. We open UP our shop in the morning but we close it UP at night. When we get things wrong we say we’ve messed UP. I could go on and on, but I need to wrap it UP, otherwise I’ll use all my space UP, so it is time to shut UP about UP!
years but this is barely the start of what God wants to do with us. Towards the end of last year we did a whole series in Tredworth exploring those things that are going to keep us up. We started with ‘Rise UP!’ The need to look UP to Jesus (get our eyes off just what is), lift UP our hands in surrender and prayer, lift UP our voices with a positive confession and with praise, stand UP and start walking. Nothing can change until we make that decision to rise UP. We continued with ‘Dress UP’, the need to be intentional about what we are putting on spiritually, putting on God’s armour as described in Ephesians 6: truth, righteousness, salvation and peace as well as putting on our new nature, clothing ourselves with Christ. We followed that with ‘Man UP’, the need to stop allowing fears and anxieties to set the agenda of our lives. If God is calling us to believe for things that by human standards look impossible then we are going to need His mind, His Spirit, His perspective and His resources in order to take those faith steps needed to do what He wants us to do. We considered the need for our shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit (The Word of God) which will help us make progress. The Bible’s most common command is ‘Do not fear!’, because God is with you. Next we looked at ‘Grow UP’, allowing God to be the gardener of our lives (John 15), pruning that which isn’t fruitful to make us more fruitful. For a garden to grow healthy we need to deal with the weeds, those things that can choke out the good plants and we need to be clear about what we want to grow, knowing what we need to sow, understanding Continued on page 5
News from Kingfisher Tredworth Detonate and One Eighty We had a great end to the year at the Detonate Christmas social in December where we had a fab disco dome and 3 mega pizzas! About 17 young people came and we had a great time! Detonate has really started to grow and as our main outreach we are seeing it reach more young people outside of church. We have an exciting programme of events running up to Easter including an overnight lock in! Because Detonate is growing we always need help so if anybody feels they want to get involved in helping with Detonate come and talk to me (Rosie) or pastor Ollie.
Continued from page 4
regeneration project so watch this space for further information on what they will be doing to help raise money! Root small group, led by Bean and Sarah Baker has now opened up to year 11. So is now available for school year 11 age to college, which is an exciting development to enable the older youth to explore and discuss the bible in more detail, to equip them in the transition to adulthood!
One Eighty are currently hard at work planning some fundraising events for the Youth night for years 7 - 11 HANG OUT NIGHT
TEAM NIGHT LAUNCH
26th February and 11th March
4th March
Pool // Table Tennis // PS3 // XBOX // Music // Drinks // Chill
Team honour will be at stake!
OVERNIGHT LOCK IN 18th March Films // Food // Onesies Essential
that growth takes time, faithfulness, patience and perseverance which will determine how much we actually grow. James finished the series looking at ‘Build UP’ which really set us up for our series, ‘Regenerate’ at the start of this New Year. God has called us to build and it’s time for us to rally together, to pool our resources, to share our gifts, to encourage and motivate each other. This is the strength of the church and as we play our part the sum total will be more than what any of us can do alone, and the result will be regeneration, new life, restored hope, community where life change really does happen. Are you UP for it? I so am! Ollie
Baptism service This year’s first Baptism service took place on January 31st at Kingfisher Tredworth. Many people came to celebrate and cheer on Phil Price, Rosie Noonan and Ellie Jones as they shared their testomonies and got baptised!
News from Kingfisher Tredworth and the Network Pre-school Christmas parties
The Nativity service
New Year’s Eve Thanksgiving Supper On New Year’s Eve we joined together to celebrate the end of a great year by sharing a meal and thanking God for His faithfulness, His protection and His ongoing plans for our church Network. The evening was punctuated by video clips of all the many events that have happened in 2015, courtesy of Sophie Evans and we ended the evening by welcoming in the New Year (a few hours early!) A big thank you to Steve for hosting a fantastic evening of celebration!
News from Treasure Seekers Social Enterprise TSPA Christmas Show 3rd and 4th December 2015
Senior Citizens Christmas Lunch On Tuesday December 22nd we hosted a Christmas lunch for about 40 senior citizens from the local area. The event was supported by Gloucester City Homes and the Police. A big thank you to Steve Evans who organised the lunch and to the many people who helped make this a fantastic day for some of our community’s most vulnerable and lonely people.
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 June) is 23rd May. 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