‘Enlarge 07′ will be a dynamic, inspiring and empowering weekend where the focus is on releasing you for greater effectiveness.
Serious4God & Serious4Kids are hosting this combined Youth & Childrens Workers conference with an excellent line up of speakers with track-records of effectiveness.
Highly recommended!
Go to the Serious4God site to book.
Abortion Bill, June 5th, 2007. Write to your MP without delay urging support.
Ann Winterton MP – supported by Labour, Lib-Dem and Conservative MPs - will be introducing a Bill on Tuesday, June 5th.
The aim is to ensure that women receive proper counselling warning them of possible dangers to their physical and mental health, informing them of alternative help available, and providing them with a delay of seven days before making a final decision.
The Bill will also require doctors to state on the notification forms whether the abortion was carried out on physical OR on mental grounds (instead of grouping the two together as at present and thus obscuring the real reasons for the abortion).
Please write to your MP at the House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA. Or you can telephone him/her at 020 7219 3000. Ask for your MP (by name) or his/her secretary. Give your name and address to show that you are a constituent. Alternatively, you can find out who your MP is and email them at www.writetothem.com
Urge the MP to attend the debate on Tuesday, June 5th and to vote in support of the Bill.
See TheMorningFlight.com for more.
Dawkins, a frequently ferocious critic of religion, told Times reporter Ruth Gledhill that he subscribes to ‘Einsteinian religion’. He defined this as a ‘reverence for the Universe and life, which has nothing to do with the supernatural’.
He says he is open to Einstein’s belief in ’something that our mind cannot grasp’ that is behind everything, but he wouldn’t call it God.
See TheMorningFlight.com for more details.
It is great to have so many young people from so many different nations worshipping among us. And when we see them coming to faith in Christ we celebrate with them.
It is also exciting to hear of their adventures after they have gone from us. We think of them as our “global church”. We have just heard some great news from a young man who came to Christ among us about 18 months ago. He still visits from time to time when he is in York.
Go to his blog to hear about how Jesus has been at work in his mum’s life.
Don’t miss his next instalment!
Those of you who remember Harry and Debee will be delighted to hear that Debee gave birth to a daughter on Thursday evening - Roshani Sara Grace. We praise God for her safe arrival and pray God’s blessing on the family.
We will update this post with a photo when we have one.
Harry has been in touch.
Mother and baby are doing well and are already home.
He says,
Apparently for the poor girl, she has my eyes and nose. She is quite good with the sleep - she can sleep for 4 hours at a time which isn’t bad. We have a very good midwife and today I was allowed to give Roshani a bath :)
Weight :- 8lbs 0.5oz (3.65kg)
Length:- 20 inches (50cm)
Click for big pics:
Do you come to our church or could get a reference from a church we know? Then why not come and be part of one of the teams that make Elim Youth Camp happen!
Do you have a gift or talent that could bless others? Jobs include catering, sports officer, youth/children’s teams, musicians, putting up tents etc.
The camp runs from Sat 28th July to Sat 11th August, you can come for one week or two, the cost is £50 which includes 3 good meals a day, we can also provide you with accommodation if needed. The camp takes place at Fraisthorpe Sands near Bridlington on the East Yorkshire coast (about 1hr travel time from York). We may be able to help with transport.
Or perhaps you’d like to help with setting up the camp (from Fri 20th July onwards), or taking everything down on the final day (Sat 11th August). If you’d like to know more please contact us or visit www.fraithorpecamp.com
Hello everyone! In case you’ve forgotten me, my name’s Abi and I was at Elim church, York while at University (2003-2006). Since graduating last summer, I spent 8 months at home searching for work and trying every day to trust that God would provide something amazing…He is so faithful!
Three weeks ago, I flew out to Nigeria where I will be based for the next year working as PA/secretary to a Nigerian King! I am living in the grounds of the Palace and so far, things are going very well – apart from an escaped ostrich on my doorstep every now and then!! I have settled in here and am slowly learning the job – I say slowly as there’s a lot of sitting around and waiting for things to do, so it can be boring at times. But I’m not complaining as it’s a great adventure and I’m learning so much already, even in 3 weeks!It’s a little overwhelming to consider how much I’ll learn in a year! So here I am and I’m ready and desiring for God to use me however He chooses. He’s brought me here for His purpose and I really hope I’ll be a blessing to people over here. I would really value your prayers and assure you that you will be in mine. Thank you for your love and support since I came to York in 2003, and hope to see you in a year’s time!!
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20)
This is part 2 of this series. Here we look at Chapter 1 of Zechariah
To download pdf of notes - DOWNLOAD
In an article on the BBC web site (‘Catholic Church tested in Brazil’ by Gary Duffy, Sao Paulo) the Pentecostals are mentioned.
The Pentecostal churches, referred to here under the umbrella title of “evangelicals” - which includes other Protestant churches - are a powerful force in Brazil, with growing media empires, significant political representation, and more than 24 million followers.
Brazil still enjoys the position as the largest Catholic country in the world, with some 125 million followers recorded in 2000.
But according to the US Pew Forum on Religion and Public life, successive Brazilian censuses show the Catholic share of the population decreased by 4.1% in the 20 years from 1960 to 1980, and dropped almost three times as much in the next 20 years.
By contrast, the number of Protestants increased by 2.6% between 1960 and 1980, but more than tripled the rate of increase in the following 20 years.
The country’s best-known RC priest, known to everyone as Padre Marcelo. The former aerobics teacher turned cleric is now very popular.
He conducts “charismatic”-style masses. The article goes on to claim that one form of response from the Catholic Church to this growing challenge has been, “To imitate at least some of the spontaneous style of the Pentecostal services.”
My friend Tim Barton (from our church but who now lives in Barcelona) has told me that following the murder (martyrdom) of Christians in Turkey a few weeks ago, Christians around Spain decided to hold a half-hour silent vigil in front of town halls.
Over 2000 turned up in Barcelona. These first two videos here are of Barcelona: http://www.cristianosperseguidos.blogspot.com/
Tim says the videos don’t quite capture what a special time it was, but they’re worth watching anyway.
See my previous post for more background.
This image is of Jesus Christ from Hagia Sophia, Istanbul. For more great images go to the gallery at the Turkey tourism site.
Turkish Christians feature in the New Testament, notably the Apostle Paul who came from Southern Turkey. I can not image what the church would have been without the great Turkish Christians who were at the birth of the Christian church.
