To help you get started, I have prepared some prayer points some of which are requests from those involved in the ministries and some of which are suggestions. This is not an exhaustive list, so please don’t be constrained by it but pray as the Spirit leads you. You may like to begin by reading a psalm of praise and praising God for all He is and has done for us in Christ. (Some suggestions – Psalm 8, 96, 103, 145, 146.)

Our vision is to be a “gospel-centred church”, aiming to make disciples, reach out to the local community with the love and truth of God and to play our part in taking the gospel to the “ends of the earth”. (Acts 1:8) With this in mind, let’s lift the ministries of our church to God in prayer!

LEADERSHIP TEAM

Eddie Larkman, Rob Durant, Dan Ovens, Alan Christie, Ian Holmes, Norman Fuggle, Adrian Pillinger, Alan Kember, Roger Hammett, Joan Cooper, Wendy Rowe, Martin Sheringham, Matt Grylls, Rhiannon Price, Paul Garcia.

Pray for them in their

• Leadership roles
• Work life
• Home life
• Their walk with God
• Wisdom as they seek to structure the leadership team to better serve the growing congregations

WHERE NEXT? GOSPEL EXPANSION

Where is God opening up doors?

• Doors to open and the courage to pursue opportunities when they arise
  Pray that God would so fill our hearts with the love of Christ that it overflows to those around us
• Praise God for the work He is doing in Wadswick Green – pray for Norman and Pat Fuggle as they share the gospel there – that hearts would be softened and eyes opened in that community
• Possibility of helping Josh and Alanna Parmar transition from youth ministry to pastoral oversight of a church. God’s wisdom as to if we should pursue this and how we should pursue this. God’s wisdom and guidance for Josh and Alanna concerning their future service

MEN’S MINISTRY

Praise God for His continued blessing on this ministry

• Men in our fellowship that God would increase in them the desire to know Him and to love Him more each day
• Those who lead alongside Ian Holmes – Paul Kelly,Tom Bailey, Mike Pillinger, Tim Hogg and Tim Mills
• Men’s weekend in September

PRISON MINISTRY

Those involved in leading Christianity Explored, Discipleship Explored, preaching and leading services
Prison guards and prisoners

LADIES’ MINISTRY

Thank God for His blessing on this ministry

• Pray for the women in our fellowship that God would increase in them the desire to know Him and to love Him more each day
• That God would help them to keep on “one anothering”
• Those who lead, teach, prepare and serve refreshments, contribute to the blog etc.
• Preparations for Ladies’ Retreat

YOUTH & CHILDREN’S MINISTRY

Thank God for the many children and young people connected to the church
Pray for Dan Ovens, Rhiannon Price and the many teachers and helpers involved in this ministry

• Junior Church – that the teachers, helpers and children will continue to learn about God and grow in faith and love for Him
• That God would work in people’s hearts to bring forward the right people to fill the gaps in the Junior Church rotas across the congregations
  Friday evening groups – Encounter (ages 5-7), Engage (ages 7-10) and Energize (ages 10-12) – more helpers – good relationships between the children and that they would learn about God and find Him for themselves
• Praise God for Rhiannon’s witness in St. Patrick’s School:
• Prayer group for parents – that more would come and pray collectively for their children, the school and the community
• Taking the Bible Society’s “Open the Book” material into the school to teach Bible stories to years 1, 3 and 4 – that the children’s desire and excitement to hear Bible stories would grow
• Praise God for the opportunities to witness in Corsham School, the good relations established and pray that this will continue to grow after some staff changes and a new head teacher
• Christian Union in the school
• The young people themselves as they stand up for Jesus in their schools
• Those young people leaving home for university and elsewhere
• Pray that God would continue to lead and use the young people as they prepare and deliver their contributions to the study groups
• Pray God would use opportunities to serve at New Wine, Noise Bristol and the time at Soul Survivor to deepen young people’s faith in Him and that as they let their light shine, those around them may see their good deeds and glorify our Father in heaven
• For Dan as he is involved in community youth work at the Hub on Fridays – possible opportunities at Lackham College
• Pray that all our children and young people would desire to know God and that they would continue to learn about Him and grow in faith and love for Him

THE ARK

Thank God for all those involved in running this ministry – Heather Chilcott, the puppeteers, those providing refreshments, those involved in craft, music, sound, lighting etc.

• Pray for the “church” children to bring their friends
• Pray for God’s continued blessing on this ministry
• That the team would grow together in the unity of Christ
• That people would continue to come and that God would work in their hearts, drawing them to Himself

TODDLER GROUP

Team will reflect God’s love and everyone will feel welcome and cared for
God will be at work in people’s hearts and will use the Bible verses and songs to speak to them

• The team will have wisdom and discernment when talking to the adults who attend
• The children will be safe in their play and will have fun
• People will want to go to the Ark and other Christian activities and that God will be drawing them to Himself
• Praise God that He has provided enough helpers each week for the number of children and carers
• Ask God to provide a new leader and to continue to provide enough helpers each week
• Pray for the team – Sue Sapiano, Kathy Larkman, Jenny Gaisford, Heather Chilcott, Helen Christie, Vanessa Naish, Jean Prosser, Ted Killingback, Margaret Hunt, Zelda Ritchie, Julie King, Claire King, Colin Whiting

MID-WEEK SERVICE

Praise God for the spiritual growth that has occurred in many attendees of this congregation – for new believers and baptisms and pray for more conversions and baptisms

• Pray for those faithfully leading and running the service e.g. Eric Seager, David Morrell, key-board players, tea and cake makers, lift givers
• Pray for the pastoral needs of the congregation

CHURCH ON THE GREEN

Thank God for His provision over the last year

• Pray for their leaders and families – Rob Durant, Adrian Pillinger, Paul Garcia
• Growth in Christian maturity within the fellowship
• Multiple opportunities to rejoice over new followers of Christ
• Protection over the congregation
• They would continue to deepen in fellowship with Christ and with one another
• Gospel opportunities and the boldness, perseverance and courage to take them
• The community of Rudloe and its representatives in government and local authorities
• The closing of Rudloe Community Centre has meant that Café on the Green and Rudloe Tots have stopped. Please pray that COTG would be able to continue to grow the relationships they have already begun through these ministries and take every opportunity to share the gospel
• Have wisdom to know what new ministry/ministries they might begin in their place to see the gospel furthered in Rudloe

WELCOME AND IN-SERVICE MINISTRY

Praise God for the many services we have

• Pray for the many people involved in serving before, during and after our services e.g.
  The Welcome Team on the door
• Those who prepare and clear away Communion
• Those involved with taking up the offering and counting it afterwards
• Those who serve teas and coffees
• Those involved in prayer, leading worship, the overhead, the sound desk, preaching………..
• The duty elders and deacons

PA MINISTRY

Pray for the sound system operators – Steve Chilcott, John Godwin, Ben Ross, Dominic Hurley, Matt Grylls, Xander Grylls, Mike Blaikley, Tim Harding, Matt Wingrave, Mark Lilley, Emily Pillinger, Tom Price, Callum Turnbull

• Pray for new volunteers to join the team
• Wisdom in maintaining and improving the system

WORSHIP AND MUSIC MINISTRY

Praise God for the many gifted musicians and worship leaders He has given us

• Pray that they would all grow in their walk with God as they serve in this ministry
  Ask God to raise up others gifted to serve in this way
• Pray for David Morrell as he oversees the 11.15 worship teams and Joey Pillinger as he oversees the 9.15 worship teams
• Pray that we would all grow in worshipping God in spirit and truth

LIFE GROUPS

Praise God that there are so many Life Groups but pray that more people would join groups and grow through the fellowship of being together

• Pray for the leaders of all the groups that they would grow in wisdom and strength: Sharon Durant, Adrian and Jo Pillinger, Jen and Mike Pillinger, Paul Garcia, Pam Mitchell, Abi Bailey, Kathy Larkman, Vicky and Tim Stephenson, Katherine Mortimer, Edna and Terry Pollard, Esther and Nigel Albon, Helen and Phil Osmond, Hannah and Reinier Spruijt, Mike and Sarah Blaikley, Sue and David Morrell
• Ask God to raise up more leaders
• Ask God to raise up someone to manage/co-ordinate the Life Groups at the 11.15 congregation
• A growing balance within the groups across all four areas in the LIFE principles i.e. Loving God, Individually known, Fellowship and Evangelism

PASTORAL MINISTRY

Pray that God would help us all to reflect His love in caring for our brothers and sisters

• Pray for the sick and housebound and those who visit them
• For Joan Cooper as she seeks to oversee and meet the growing pastoral needs of the fellowship
• Those organising, preparing and distributing meals

PRAYER MINISTRY

Praise God for the many opportunities to meet together to pray

• The Prayer Chain – many answered prayers – those who administer it and those who pray
• Those who lead us in intercessory prayer and those who pray with us after services
• Pray that God would give us all the desire to draw closer to Him in prayer

MISSION AND THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

• Steve and Ruth in Tanzania – with AIM
• Gill and Steve in UK – with WEC
• Neal and Lesley in Austria – with Oasis
• Compassion and the children sponsored by church members
• The Bible Society – Sue Wingrave and Alan Kember who work there
• Short term mission
• Persecuted Christians around the world

CORSHAM MONEY & DEBT ADVICE CENTRE

Pray for those involved in this ministry – Brenda New, John Godwin, Colin Whiting, Dave New, Roger Hammett, Alan Christie and Alan Simon as he leads the ministry

• Keep the ministry rooted in prayer and gospel centred
• Clients – their financial situations and opportunities to speak the gospel to them

COMMUNICATIONS

For all those involved in assisting our church in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ and giving God all the glory e.g. those who design and distribute flyers, those who provide information about our church and our ministries

• Pray for Louise Du Toit as she processes and uploads the Priory Street sermons and looks into doing the same for COTG
• Pray for Tim Stephenson as he co-ordinates communications and his work on the web site.
• Pray that God would be glorified and that all our communications would always point to Him, not us!

HEALTH AND SAFETY

Praise God for a good health and safety record within our congregations

• Tim Mills as he oversees this ministry
• Raise up others with the necessary gifts to serve in this ministry

CRAFT GROUP

Thank God for this opportunity for fellowship within the church and pray for more opportunities to reach out to non-church ladies

• Pray for Pam Mitchell and Hazel Hammett as they lead this group

OTHER ACTIVITIES

Christianity and Discipleship Explored groups, walking groups, one-to-ones etc.
Pray that in all our activities we would seek to point others to Jesus, to share the gospel with unbelievers, to encourage and disciple one another and to give all the glory to God

It has been a wee while since the last email and all for good reason – we have been working really hard this week in particular, in an effort to complete the toilet and shower block (built by the Corsham team in June) and make sure that everything functions as it should and that it looks fairly presentable, ready for the Oak Hall group arriving on Thursday from the UK. The plumbing is now nearly completed but we have yet to install the solar hot-water system on the roof and fit the doors, so it will be a last big push through to Thursday and then hopefully collapse in a heap on Friday (us, not the shower block!) As we have worked all week up till today we are already having a little practice at collapsing in a heap, so today we are mostly doing nothing!

We are SO thankful for a lovely place in which to rest! Sitting on the verandah, overlooking the huge variety of trees and greenery here I would say it is peaceful and in a way it is but adding their voices to the silence are the numerous neighbourhood cockerels competing for top spot in the pecking order, several gangs of combatting sparrows nesting in the eaves above our heads and the intriguing chatter and song of passers by who wander up and down the cut-through alley way at the side of the house which leads down to a stream and then eventually onto the road where Steve and Ruth live. The monkeys have yet to make an appearance…

Steve and Ruth will be leading the group from Oak Hall and have been working hard, planning and getting covered in dust along with us down at the Sanga Sanga site. They have also been very supportive this week especially as it did not start in a good way…

So Tuesday was probably the worst day we have had so far, in saying that though it was the only really difficult day we have had so far, which all things considered is pretty good!
It has been dubbed Leaky Tuesday as every pipe we plumbed or laid, well you guessed it, leaked; it seemed as if every connection failed and hours were spent fixing other leaky things on site before getting on with our main work. That in itself was just frustrating, just part of life but we were so tired at the end! The other issue which left us feeling a little vulnerable was that one of the guard dogs belonging to the house where we are staying became ill very quickly and died that evening. It all happened within hours and not knowing the system here and feeling quite responsible for someone else’s dog was difficult. At the end of a long story, we watched and waited with Luka, the night guard, as the poor dog breathed its last.
Not to mention the other animal death earlier that same day…

George, the calf born on site this year, became ill on Monday and when we arrived on Tuesday morning the first thing we ask is

‘How is George?’

‘Oh, George is dead…come and see’

I follow Amos the guy who looks after the 3 cows (now 2) through to the field behind the cowshed expecting to see poor George’s body…instead there is George, in 3 buckets, being dissected and examined. Francis holds up (a little too closely) the lungs and heart for me to comment on…

‘Look,’ he says, ‘You can see the bad bit there!’
‘Yes, quite…thank you…’

Later we see some of George bubbling away in a pot on the campfire – the dogs dinner of course – waste not want not, a far cry from the plastic wrapped joint from the supermarket.
For those interested parties, the campfires have been very useful in heating pipes so that we can bend them to make them fit – always think outside the box!

The song in our heads this week…

‘And we the redeemed shall be strong, in purpose and unity.
Declaring aloud, praise and glory, wisdom and thanks, honour and power and strength.
Be to our God forever and ever!’

We pray for the ability to get done what needs to be done this week and to stay wholly reliant on Him!

Love to all,
Jo and Martin

PS Thanks for all the snippets of news and info we get from folks back home!

“Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”
Matt. 18:33

The amount discussed in the parable is huge, something like 20 years salary. God has forgiven us a similarly immense debt. We live in a culture of “you get what you deserve” and “what goes around comes around” but it’s wrong.

God does not believe in karma!

And if God is so abounding in mercy, how can we hold on to our grudges?

When the Saducees tried to catch Jesus out, His response was telling:

“…have you not read what God said to you…?” Mat 22:31

Jesus has read it, that’s why he was able to quote 24 books of the OT during his ministry [says Simon P, I’ve not checked!]

The devil’s read it, that’s why opponents of Christ from ancient Rome to ISIS are so keen to ban it.

But what about you? “To drop the Bible is to lose the plot”, says Simon, to coin a phrase.

“Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?” John:14-9

The Lord invites and wants us to know Him better. No matter if he’s talking to Philip and the other disciples that had spent night and day with him for 3 years or someone in Corsham with a few tentative questions.

Either way, His answer is not a dismissive “Haven’t you got it yet?”, remember it was Adam and Eve that hid from God, He went looking for them.