Reckless Abandon is the stage adaptation of this inspiring true story of love, forgiveness and fearless faith.

In partnership with the MAF, 4Front Theatre are proud to present Reckless Abandon, the true and inspiring story of Elisabeth Elliot and the ‘Operation Auca’ missionaries.

Reckless Abandon is a feature length production (2hrs inc. 15 min interval) starring 10 actors.

Tickets priced £7 + booking fee. Ticket price goes fully to support the actors. Book at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/reckless-abandon-corsham-baptist-church-tickets-60866242570 or reserve a ticket through the office to pay on the night.

To help you get started, we have some prayer stations set up in the church and 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!

I’ve split the notes up so there will be a daily update but if you want to get them all now click here.

MISSION AND THE PERSECUTED CHURCH

• Steve and Ruth in Tanzania – with AIM

• Gill and Steve in UK – with WEC

• Praise God for the time Neal and Lesley spent in Austria with Oasis and pray for them as they prepare to return there in February

• Compassion and the children sponsored by church members

• The Bible Society – Sue W, Alan K and Esther K who work there

• Short term mission – trip to Tanzania in October

• The Littles on Mercy Ships

• Persecuted Christians around the world

CORSHAM MONEY & DEBT ADVICE CENTRE

• Pray for those involved in this ministry – Brenda, John G, Colin W, Alan C and Alan S 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 produce banners, those who provide information about our church and our ministries

• Pray for Louise as she processes and uploads the morning sermons at Priory Street and COTG

• Pray for Tim S as he works 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

• Thank God for the opportunities that have been taken to improve Health and Safety

• Tim M as he oversees this ministry

• Raise up others with the necessary gifts to serve in this ministry

CRAFT GROUP

• Praise God for His blessing on this group

• Pray that whilst sharing craft ideas and techniques, they would be building deeper relationships with one another

• Pray that the church ladies would be bold in inviting their non-church friends

• Pray for opportunities to speak of Jesus to these friends

• Pray for Pam M and Hazel H 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 shows you that mission is not difficult and anyone can do it!

What could God be calling YOU to do to change your town or village?

The course will focus especially on mission and ministry in a rural context, in market towns and villages like Chippenham and the surrounding area.

This taster session is taking place on 11th November 10am-1pm in Chippenham. The speaker is Tim Lea from Fresh Expressions.

The course will launch on 27th January 2018. Please speak to Phil Osmond, visit missionshapedministry.org or contact the course runners directly at msmnorthwilts@gmail.com for further details of this exciting initiative!

They’ve arrived, found their accommodation and are starting to find their way around. Tomorrow is the first meeting with refugees and it sounds like they’re approaching it with a mix of excitement and trepidation. But don’t take my word for it, jump over to here and read for yourselves. And while you’re doing it please send up a prayer for the refugees to catch a vision of God’s love for them and for Neil and Lesley too as they jump into this work.

A new post from Neal and Lesley is available here. Hopefully we’ll alert you as these come out both here and on social media.

Our intention is to update it weekly (but time will tell if this is feasible or not). In future blogs I’d also love to include some photos and of course some of the refugees’ stories, praise reports and prayer requests as they occur. Of course, it’s unlikely we’ll be able to use photos of the refugees themselves, but I’ll do my best to keep you informed whilst being sensitive to individuals’ privacy.

Thanks again to you all for the love, support, prayer and financial blessings that have enabled us to go. We will carry you all with us in our hearts, and we’ll miss you all dreadfully, for sure!

With love in Jesus
N&L
xx

Romans 10:14-15 “How then can they call on One they have not believed in, and how can they believe in One of whom they have not heard? How can they hear without someone preaching to them, and how can they preach unless they are sent?”

We are thrilled that Corsham Baptist Church has given us the amazing opportunity to join the ministry team at Oasis, in Traiskirchen, Austria for 3 months later this year. We leave the UK on 5th August 2016 and expect to return towards the end of October.
As part of the team we will be reaching out to refugees who are seeking asylum in the West, our desire being to reflect the heart of God by offering them the hope, life and refuge that can only be found in Jesus.

The Oasis team’s focus is to equip those who come to faith to be able to share Jesus with others, including their own people, both in Austria and in their countries of origin. Its aim is to walk alongside refugees, offering them the Living Water of Jesus Christ whilst supporting them both practically and emotionally.

During our time at Oasis we will be involved in various areas of service including men’s, women’s, children’s and teens’ ministries; personal and group Bible studies; discipleship classes; visiting refugees; relief ministry and practical assistance. We will also take part in evenings where the gospel is explained, help run a coffee bar where the Jesus film is shown and assist in the distribution of clothing and Bibles & Christian literature in the mother tongues of the refugees.

It is also our desire to be a source of blessing and encouragement to the long-term staff at Oasis.

Prayer Requests: That the Lord will direct our steps according to His Word, and bring us into contact with the ones He wants us to reach.

Neal and Lesley Grindrod.

The challenges faced by all of our workers there are renewing and keeping visas to allow them to stay, rising prosperity making many people more materialistic and less open to talk about spiritual issues, and suspicion of anything that isn’t Islam or the Russian Orthodox Church.

For our families there is the additional challenge of the children’s education. Away from the main cities with their international schools, the only realistic options are home-based education or the Russian-language schools with a strong emphasis on rote learning and heavy use of public shaming as a discipline method; shaming that extends to the parents of under-performing children

There were several seminars with both parents and older children on internet safety and positive internet use. In one town he taught a series on returning to the passport country to a group of senior children who will all be facing that experience soon to study at college or university. For almost all children growing up in another culture this “return” is one of the biggest challenges they face as it is much more like moving to a foreign country. He led other sessions during an education conference on living in restrictive societies, and including local Central Asian studies in the curriculum. Added to that were school visits and many discussions with parents and older students about their higher education study plans.

Many thanks to those who prayed while he was away.

• Good travel there and back and within Central Asia. Road travel within this region can be challenging.

Travel dates:
7th-8th April, fly to T via Istanbul.
19th April fly to K.
24th-25th April fly back home via Istanbul.

• Planning for sessions with children – approximately 8 hours with senior school children on “re-entry” (return to the passport country), and around 3 hours with junior age children. This is all in a small cooperative school where several families have joined together to share in teaching their children.
• Planning for 4 or 5 seminars and a devotional talk for an adult audience, in T. Three seminars at the SHARE Educational Services conference in one city and the others for a team of foreign workers in another city.
• Remaining planning for a programme from 19th – 24th April in K.
• Encouraging and effective communication in all of the lessons, seminars and devotionals.
• For Gill and the family, protection and blessing while Steve is away.