It’s been a while since I’ve blogged on here, and plenty of people have recently been voicing an interest in a subject close to my heart, that I am very passionate about. That subject is Apologetics.
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Some of our team are over in Mumbai, India at the moment with our great friend Ps Biju Thampy and the Vision Rescue team! They’re out helping out on some of the largest slums in India, and have sent us some pictures of the work they’re doing, check out some of the photos below.
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We’re well underway in the Mindmap series (check out the Mindmap website here), exploring how, with God’s Grace, our minds can be renewed which will transform our lives (Rom 12:2).
And yesterday, Pastor Ed set out a challenge for all of us: grow by 20 in a week! We’re putting an extra 20 chairs out next Sunday in both services, and it’s everyone’s job to get them filled! Of course, it’s not just about filling seats… but every chair represents someone important to God, who He loves and who He died for.
So, who can you invite to church? Who has God placed in your sphere of influence so that you can have an impact in their life? Who is God placing on your heart even as you read this?
As Pastor Ed said yesterday, God has got opportunities lined up for each and every one of us this week. Opportunities to help connect people to Christ! All we need to do is look for those opportunities and take them! Let’s see the chairs packed and the curtains taken down.
See you Sunday!
P.S. Use the hashtag #20ExtraChairs on Twitter this week to spread the word!
For those who missed it, yesterday was a GREAT day in church. If you weren’t there, you can download the messages here.
Here’s a quick recap of Pastor Ed’s main points -
The Local Church should be -
- The home for everyone. The doors of the church should be open for all and everybody! (Gal 3:28; 1 Jn 4:21)
- The hospital for the injured. The church is not for the healthy, but for the sick! (Lk 10, Jam 5, Acts 3)
- The forest to grow in. Get in community, and get planted! (Ps 92:12)
- The palace of blessing. If you are a Christian, you are an adopted son or daughter of the Most High God! The palace is yours!
- The engine room of war. We are a community mobilised for spiritual warfare! (Eph 6:10)
That’s a LOT of amazing truth! Keep coming back for frequent updates and info on church life.
Be blessed!
Dear Church,
WE ARE IN! Today we received the final go-ahead on the planning application to turn Fourfields House into Ribble Valley Church! So, starting on Sunday, we will be holding our regular Sunday services there at the normal times of 10:30am and 6pm.
Are you free tonight? If so, why not help us move! We are meeting at the High School at 6pm to bring across all the gear in time for Sunday. And we’ll need help tomorrow to get everything ready, so if you’re free, please come join us from 10am.
Talk about just in the nick of time! We are in such an exciting season, so make sure you’re in church this week for the very first services to be held in our new building. We can also announce special guest speaker Richard Scholes will be with us in the morning to bring the Word.
You don’t want to miss it, because we’ll also be making some VERY exciting announcements about the next few months. Don’t miss this opportunity to invite friends, family and neighbours as we step into this amazing season that God has for us!
Praise God!
Ed & Michele
Dear Church,
As you know, we have recently been approved planning permission to hold worship services at our new building! There were a few conditions we needed to meet, and after working with an architect we believe we have fulfilled those conditions. A big thank you to everyone who has been helping practically, praying, donating items (which you can still do! See the list here). We are still awaiting a response from the council for these conditions. This means we will not be moving yet!
So, at least for the next three Sundays, we will be meeting at our regular venue; Walton-Le-Dale High School, hoping to be able to move our services in to the new building by the end of August. This leaves us a few extra weeks to prepare and kick off the Autumn with style!
We’re in a very exciting season! So make sure that you’re in church every Sunday for God-encounters, powerful messages and opporunities to hang out with great people!
Be blessed
Ed & Michele
If you have any of the following items going spare, we would love it if you’d consider donating them for use in our new building!
Please take a look:
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Healthy Home Week One
Yesterday, we began our Healthy Home series, discussing and learning from God’s Word what it means to have a healthy home and for the Church to be a home.
We heard two unbelievable messages from Pastor Ed and Andy Carter. You can download the audio here.
In Connect Groups over the next couple of weeks, we will be further discussing these topics and you will have much more opportunity to ask questions for the live Q&A. Once again, here are the details for how to ask a question -
Email to questions@ribblevalleychurch.net
Tweet us at @valley_church
Text us at 07760430115
Or fill out a paper slip in the Cafe on Sundays
We will attempt to answer EVERY question within the topic, so if we run out of time on the day, stay tuned here to read answers in the near future.
Why not ask a question now?
Hey everyone!
What a season we are in, Six Hot Weekends has been amazing, with each speaker bringing something timely and powerful into the life of our church. You can get all the podcasts here.
PLUS, we received the keys for our new offices last week. If you were in church yesterday, you had a small sneak peak at the potential of this building. Stay tuned for more details as and when they come.
And as for yesterday, we had a fantastic time in church, celebrating all God has done over Six Hot Weekends, seeing record attendance at the evening service, Skyping our team in Brazil and witnessing three people take the next step in their walk with Jesus by getting baptised. Amazing!
We thought you might like to watch the Six Hot Weekends Recap video again, so here it is!
How exciting has church been these last few weeks?! We are so aware of how much God is blessing us through the Six Hot Weekends series. Michele and I can’t believe how quick it’s all happened.
As I was saying on Sunday in our services, we have found new office space… and potentially space for our church to gather and worship each Sunday as well. The planning application has been submitted and now I would ask that every person take time to pray for that process.
So, on the 26th July and the 2nd August, I’d like to encourage all Connect Groups to come together, pray and fast for what we believe will be the next big step in the history of our church. Pray that the process would be quick, smooth and that we would be able to move our services into the new building as soon as possible.
So what does it all mean? Well, yesterday we received the keys and signed the lease agreement, which means we will move our base of operations there at the end of the week. This means that there is a LOT to do! So, as well as praying for this project, I want to ask everyone to DO something about it and muck in!
If you have any time at all this week, starting today (Wednesday 5th) at 9:30am to help get the place ready, we would hugely appreciate your help. Here’s how you can get in touch to volunteer -
email volunteer@ribblevalleychurch.net with the subject “Count Me In”
Text to 07760 430115
Tweet @Valley_Church #CountMeIn
Thanks in advance, church really wouldn’t be church without YOU!
- Ed & Michele