We had a great International cafe last night – with four new people from Lithuania joining the regulars.
Each week we start by drinking coffee and tea, eat snacks and chatting. Then there is an informal English lesson based around a theme which leads towards watching a clip from the Jesus Film. We found some great material to do gospel ESOL lessons using the Jesus Film, which we are adapting for our cafe.

This week Basia took the theme, which was transport and time – so while the Non English speakers practiced telling the time, I learned the Lithuanian numbers from one to twelve! The whole team got involved one to one with people to help practice the time – so well done Corrie, Kath, Basia, Beth from the Baptist Church and Paul from London Road Methodist and to Tatiana who also helped translate along with her hubby David!

I took the Jesus Film clip which was Jesus staying at the Temple and spoke about how Jesus already knew he was God and Man and how significant that is for the Gospel to work.
Paul then finished up as usual by taking his guitar out and teaching us a song.

We worked hard last night, but had a lot of fun.

You’d be most welcome to join us at The International Cafe which meets at London Road Methodist Church at 7.30pm on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of the month.

Each year I have to write a short report on the Church for the annual accounts – not usually riveting stuff, but as I reflected back on the last year I was pleasantly surprised at what God has done in what felt like a pretty challenging and hard year for the Gateway Church.

Here’s the activity section…

Activities:
2011-2012 was a challenging year for The Gateway Church. Daniel & Alisa Foytik’s Russian outreach project came to an end in June 2011and a number of families moved on to other churches.
We moved venue to Gaywood Community Primary School, which offers more flexible facilities for a lower price.
 In September we launched a fortnightly youth club which is growing and already resulted in one teenager becoming a Christian.
 We relaunched the Eastern European outreach project by running a fortnightly International Café, which is advancing the Christian faith through ESOL lessons based around the Jesus Film.
 Two adults became Christians through a Start Course
The Gateway Church has also been instrumental in helping run the King’s Lynn Foodbank to provide emergency food to needy families referred by other agencies.
Average Sunday attendance for 2011-2010: 43 adults,12 children (6% increase on 2010-2011)
Small Groups: 3
New Converts: 2 adults, 1 teenager

God is good! Average attendance increased but more importantly we had our first converts! Come on Lord! We also ended the financial year accounting wise with a small surplus for the reserves of £1000. God is so good!

Keep praying! Keep inviting friends and chatting to them about Jesus. Keep gathering together on Sundays and in Life Groups. Keep giving generously and sacrificiallly to see His Kingdom established here in West Norfolk.

Above all look to God and who He is to empower you for life and mission. We are going to see some great promises from God fulfilled over coming years, so these are exciting days!

We have hovered around the 50 mark for a while now and it’s a wall we are going to punch through! It’s a size of church that can feel comfortable for regulars but uncomfortable for newcomers too. Fifty people feels like an overgrown family – you do know everyone’s name but once we get regularly past it you won’t.

So should we break it?

1) God wants everyone to get a chance to repent of their sin and receive the good news of Jesus Christ and become part of His body, the Church (2 Pet 3:9), so sticking at fifty because it is nice is not really an option!
2) Jesus told a story of a banquet – the invited guests didn’t come so the host sent out the servants to go get people from the highways to enjoy the feast. We have a great church, where we feast in worship, hearing and applying the Bible and getting connected, growing and serving in our small groups. Jesus’ banquet story in Luke 14 is an invitation to go out and get more people to thefeast. If some don’t respond, go find some others!
3) In 1Cor 3:6 Pauls tells his experience – Paul planted, Apollos watered and God gave the growth. All of us have a part to play – some plant, some water but at the end of the day God is the One who will give the growth!
Should we break 50? Yes – its not about numbers it’s about people, who are finding Christ.

<h2>I want to be able to look around one Sunday in a few years time and see…</h2>

• A Svetlana who found Christ through the international Cafe
• Harry and Freddie who became Christians in the youth club and are doing a GAP year before going off to university
• Anna who used to go to church, but stopped in her teens, ended up coming with Emma to a small group social and is now on fire for God
• Tim and Anna, who still have plenty of questions but have made some great friends while playing badminton every Monday

To blast past 50, we will need to make some changes – there will be more small groups, more leaders be trained and released, a bigger pastoral team, an outreach strategy and great process to help people get connected.

Here’s the 6 steps we will be working through

1. Pray We need to get praying, get God’s heart for our area and feel for it the way He does. Then we need to pray expectantly and listening for what He wants us to do both strategically as a church and in the day to day that will resultinKingdom buidling life change encounters with friends, family, neighbours and total strangers!
2. Identify the Obstacles Take a good look at any obstacles to us growing: from simple stuff like car parking to small groups and finding leaders.
3. Cast Vision Over the next few months, we will be getting vision from God of that preferable future for The Gateway Church that will inspire us to go for it. Alongside it will be some goals and plans onhow to put legs on the vision.
4. Prepare – We need to start thinking like a church twice our size and working out how we can do it – from kids work, to ministries to youth and venue.
5. Act Go for it! Hudson Taylor said “Expect great things from God, attempt great things for God”. We will go for more evangelistic and community impact, build for those high Sundays like baptisms, Christmas and Easter and follow up everyone!
6. Leave the rest to God – There’s a balance to church life of working hard and God working on our behalf.
   “The Christian’s motto should not be ‘Let go and let God’ but ‘trust God and get going!’” —J.I. Packer
   At the end of the day we rely on God to bring the growth and pour out his blessing on His Kingdom and His Church. Eph 3:20 “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work in us,to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.”

It’s been a while since I posted a Terry Virgo 5 min video interview – here is part 2 of grace

Gospel of grace pt 2

Part one is here

There is a King’s Lynn Foodbank benefit concert being held at London Road Methodist Church on Sat 9th June at 7.30pm.

Our very own Andy King and band will be performing his new worship album Establishing My Heart and Paul Lucas will be performing a set too! It will be a great local Christian music gig .

Entry is by suggested donation of £5 – for King’s Lynn Foodbank and both Andy King and Paul Lucas will have CD’s for sale.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills by michaelatacker on flikr.com

David and his band of men had just returned to Ziklag to find the town burned and their wives and children carried off by the Amelekites. To say that they were discouraged is a mighty understatement. They wept bitter tears until they could weap no more. Then they talked of killing David their leader! He was in trouble, demoralised, discouraged, dreams shattered wondering whether they would ever be fulfilled. It could have destroyed him and his leadesrhip completely, except for one thing/ David enouraged himself in the Lord his God (1 Sam 30:6).

It was a big choice he had to make. There was no-one around to encourage him. He had to get courage again to get going again. So he encouraged himself, not in himself, but in his God. David’s life and mission wasn’t just about himself, it was about what God had called him to do. Having encouraged himself, he was able to get going and solve the problems.

You do not have to stay discouraged.

1) As a Christian in relationship with Jesus Christ, He has committed himself to care for you and be with you in every situation. Hebrews 13:5 “Never will I leave you or forsake you.” Think on how God does that. Most likely David would have chewed on one of his Psalms – 103
“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
Reviewing the benefits of knowing God is pretty encouraging! The New Testament exhorts us to pray without ceasing and with thankfulness. Making a list of things to be thankful for it a great courage builder.

2) Stop listening to yourself and start speaking to yourself. It’s one of my favourite Martyn Lloyd Jones quotes – he says to many people sprend too much time listening to themselves rather than preaching to themselves.

• Stop listening to the lives of the devil; start speaking the promises of God
• Stop speaking out of fear and start speaking out of faith
• Stop talking about your problems and start speaking out solutions

Find what the Bible says about your situation and start speaking it out in faith!
One of the Hebrew words for meditate translates literally as “Murmur” – start murmuring faith!

3)Anchor your joy in Jesus and his presence, rather than self medicating with alcohol, chocolate, shopping or pornography.
Psalm 100:4 exhorts us “Enter his gates with thanksgiving,and his courts with praise!Give thanks to him; bless his name!”
In the book of Nehemiah, the Israelites have finished rebuilding the wall round Jerusalem and are shocked to discover how wayward they have been in their relationship with God. Nehemiah sends them off to feast, send food to the poor and re-anchor their joy in God Neh 8:10 “Then he said to them, ‘Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.’” There is something very encouraging about enjoying good food and wine with friends and anchoring your joy in God at the same time. It brings strength and encouragement.

4) Put on the armour of God! Paul uses the Roman armour as a metaphor for secure protection in God

• We have the truth of God’s Word, the righteousness of Christ and the gospel of peace at work on our behalf.
• We have the helmet of salvation to guide and direct our thoughts.
• We have the shield of faith to quench the enemy’s fiery darts. Discouragement is most certainly one of the devil’s fiery darts.
• 
  And we have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. This is the offensive weaponthat silences the voice of discouragement and all the lies of the devil. Praying in the Spirit and especially in tongues is a great courage builder

5)What has God promised? After the first four steps, it’s time to review what God has promised propehtically and in Scripture and pray it in to being, trusting in God to do it and to work hard at going for it, knowing that God works in you!

When in sorrow…..call John 14
When people fail you…..call Psalm 27
If you want to be fruitful…..call John 15
When you have sinned…..call Psalm 51
When you worry…..call Matthew 6:19-34

When you are in danger…..call Psalm 91
When God seems far away…..call Pslam 139
When your faith needs stirring…..call Hebrews 11
When you are lonely and fearful…..call Psalm 23
When you grow bitter and critical…..call I Corinthians 13
For Paul’s secret to happiness…..call Colossians 3:12-17
For understanding of Christianity…..call II Corinthians 5:5-19

When you feel down and out…..call Romans 8:31
When you want peace and rest…..call Matthew 1:25-30
When the world seems bigger than God…..call Psalm 90
When you want Christian assurance…..call Romans 8:1-30
When you leave home for labor or travel…..call Psalm 121
When your prayers grow narrow or selfish…..call Psalm 67
For a great invention/opportunity…..call Isaiah 55

When you want courage for a task….call Joshua 1
When you need to get along with others…..call Romans 12
When you think of investments and returns…..call Mark 10
If you are depressed…..call Psalm 27
If your pocket book is empty…..call Psalm 37
If you are losing confidence in people…..call I Corinthians 13
If people seem unkind…..call John 15
If discouraged about your work…..call Psalm 126
If you find the world growing small and yourself great…..call Psalm 19

For dealing with fear…..call Psalm 34:7
For security…..Psalm 121:3
For assurance…..Mark 8:35

From http://gotbible.blogspot.com/2007/07/emergency-phone-numbersthe-bible.html?spref=fb via Peter Collinson

The next video in the series of 5mins Newfrontiers Values video interviews with Terry Virgo is “3a The Gospel of Grace”

One Year ESV Bible from Amazon.co.uk

This Sunday we will be looking at Romans 8:1-13 and seeing how that as believers we have a new position (in the Spirit not in the flesh) a new mindset and that we need to live in the good of our new position and mindset by putting to death sin by the Spirit.

Thankfully the Spirit gives us a big sword to kill sin, which is the Word of God. If you have ever read about the temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 his answer to every one of Satan’s temptation was a Scripture quote from Deuteronomy. Sin offers instant pleasure and promises to better God – but the truth is that God has better promises that are eternal and yes and amen! God’s promises lead to life and peace, sin lead to death.

I have used many different ways to read and study the Bible over the years. In 2011 I worked through Matthew, Mark and Luke and used the Bible Speaks Today commentaries to help. This year I want to get an overview of the whole Bible again, so I am using the Murray McCheyne plan.

Here is a round up of different Bible reading plans – I’m old school in that I like to print it out and tick it off – but you can get apps and feeds and things like that from www.youversion.com

For those new to bible reading, I would recommend
The 5x5x5 Bible Reading Plan5 minutes per day, 5 days per week, 5 ways to dig deeper. Takes you through one chapter each day. Read the New Testament in one year.

For families there is a great 20 verses a day plan to give an overview of the Bible – we are doing it at breakfast time during the week

Murray McCheyne – Whole Bible in 365 days with one chapter from Law, Gospels,Prophets, Epistles. Can feel a little disjointed reading from four differnt places each day, but stops you getting bogged down in Leviticus!

Book-at-a-Time Bible Reading Plan – Intersperses Old and New Testament books in each month’s readings, with the four gospels spread throughout the year. Read the complete Bible in one year.

The Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan – Read four places in God’s Word every day to better grasp the unity of the Scriptures. Read the complete Bible in one year. My favourite plan, but this year I wanted a change!!!

One Year Bible ® plan Another option, also published in many different versions as a hardback
.

Ladies – come and join women from our churches around the region for worship, teaching, friendship and good food!

We are so excited that Wendy Virgo is able to join us and we know we will be very blessed by her wisdom, humour and insight. Wendy is a popular speaker, travelling widely both in the UK and internationally. She has written many books including Leading Ladies, Women Set Free, Mainly for Mothers and Mary: Mother of Jesus. She is married to Terry and they have five grown–up children.

More information to follow in the new year. Put the date in your diary and make sure you don’t miss this excellent event!

Rachel Nightingale, Floss Watkins and Angie Hope