With the start of our prayer groups last week, it seems that there is a bit of momentum, or at least there is a definite stirring of enthusiasm for what we are going to see God do as a result of a small group of people in a tiny little church in the south of England coming together to commit this work to the Lord on a weekly basis.
As we look at the date of our last blog, we both sit here and wonder where the time has gone. Let’s start with what was the largest turnout EVER for Dads and Tots last Saturday. Eleven men showed up for bacon rolls and to enjoy letting their little ones play in the warmth of our sweet little building. Ray Cole is quite the bacon roll chef and as he busied himself in the kitchen, David Bosley and Dennis visited with the Dads. After the experience of being with 20-30 Mums on Mondays, Dennis was very happy to sit and visit with the guys. He spent most of his time visiting with a young man named David and had a chance to invite him to bring his “partner” and come to church. They have a darling little 16 month old boy who usually comes to Mums and Tots with his grandmother on Mondays. David reappeared with his Mother on Monday morning for Mums and Tots and so he and Dennis had an opportunity to visit for a while longer. Hopefully that will result in additional opportunities for conversation that will lead to him eventually coming to church or at least open the door for Dennis to spend some more time with him in hopes of sharing Christ.
Sunday’s service was attended by all but 2 of our regular folks and I discovered for the first time that some of our very familiar old hymns are sung to very different tunes here in England. Dennis was teaching on discipleship and so I selected the wonderful old hymn “Take My Life and Let It Be.” It was in their hymnbook and I thought it would be a great discipleship song. Wwwwweeeeellllllllllllllllllllllllll . . . . by the end of the first verse, I realized that even though they were singing, it just didn’t sound the same as back home. They were kind enough to let me know at the end of the service that my tune was very different, “but quite nice.” So, I’ll be checking that out more carefully in the future.
On Tuesday, we had the great pleasure of being invited to the pastor’s home in Eynsham which is about 6 miles from here. Jean Andrews has pastored Eynsham Baptist Church for several years. Jean is wonderful and has a fabulous heart for evangelism and her little church. She trained at Regent Park’s College at Oxford which is where many of our professors at Southwestern come to train. Female pastors are not at all unusual in the UK and her church has experienced solid growth under her care. We loved being in her home and sharing insights into ministry with her and two other area pastors she had invited to join us. We were greatly encouraged by their individual experiences as well as their insights into Ducklington Baptist Church. Each of them had at one time or another traveled to Ducklington to fill in on a Sunday morning during these past 17 months that the church has been without a pastor. Each of these pastors offered the help of their own congregations for events or projects that we plan in the future to aid in growing this little church.
Our Wednesday prayer times are off to a great start as we had four in attendance at the afternoon time and seven yesterday evening. Contacts are consistently being made with neighbors and we are currently exploring ideas which will heighten the visibility of the church here in the village. We are still praying for the Lord’s guidance concerning childrens Sunday School and the logistics of that type of ministry on a regular basis.
We enjoyed a visit today from the Regional Minister of the South Counties of the British Baptist Association. Grenville Overton has served this area for many years and is quite familiar with our little church and its struggles over the past several years. He was very encouraging and definitely made us feel that he was available to us should we ever have questions or need his services.
We still enjoy walking the streets and are continually encouraged by those we meet. The British are friendly and quick to engage in conversations, so we are very sure that at some point in the future the Lord will bless our efforts and our prayers by deepening those relationships to the point that we will see a harvest.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
" . . . one all-round good egg"
We have now finished our third week in this beautiful country and continue to be blessed and amazed by these that the Lord has seen fit to send us to. We’ve just returned home from our Monday evening Bible Study and were so encouraged by the interest and participation of this sweet group of folks. Lent begins on Wednesday, February 17, and Dennis has decided in the meantime to go through the little letter of Philemon with our Monday evening faithfuls. Since we have been actively working with our South Side family in Abilene on learning how to correctly observe, interpret, and apply Scripture, we decided to take our Ducklington group through that same process using Philemon. They quickly jumped into the process tonight by discovering all they could about the persons of Paul, Philemon and Onesimous. Janice Bosley summed up the observations on the person of Philemon with the quote of the evening when she said, “Philemon was one all-round good egg.” We told her immediately that she would get honorable mention on The Blog this evening. We may have to bring the Bosleys back to Abilene with us. They are such a blessing! (Yes, Janice, you are now “notorious”:) )
Mums & Tots was again the fastest hour and a half of our week. Apparently, Chicken Pox is working its way through the village. Therefore, several of our regulars were not with us this morning. We continue to visit with the women as we serve their tea and the children are beginning to warm up to us as we are becoming familiar faces to them. Our desire has been to gracefully move this group in a more spiritual direction and today Janice incorporated the song “The Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock” into the repertoire. It was obvious that this was not a new song. As Janice and I visited about children’s songs, I discovered that “Zaccheus Was a Wee Little Man” is not known in the UK. She was quite amused when I stood in the kitchen and sang it for her . . . complete with the motions. I hated to admit that I’ve probably been singing that particular song for about _____ years.
We were blessed yesterday when a new couple showed up for the Sunday service. They had started attending DBC about 6 months ago, but left in November to spend the holiday season in New Zealand with their children. They returned last week and were back in church yesterday. They were also at Bible Study this evening and plan to join us for our newly scheduled weekly prayer time on Wednesday evening here at our house. Everyone seems very excited about this prayer emphasis and we are anticipating at least 8 people on Wednesday evening. That’s 50% of our total congregation which is a really good percentage. The other 50% are quite elderly but have expressed interest in having a prayer time if we would be willing to do it in Witney during the daytime hours. Jo and Alec Matthews, who we’ve talked about in earlier blogs have already offered their home and so we anticipate a start for that by next week. Not many churches can boast of 50% of their congregation attending Bible Study and 100% attending prayer meetings. So, we believe that God is going to bless these faithful servants and their diligence to study His Word and seek Him through prayer.
Mums & Tots was again the fastest hour and a half of our week. Apparently, Chicken Pox is working its way through the village. Therefore, several of our regulars were not with us this morning. We continue to visit with the women as we serve their tea and the children are beginning to warm up to us as we are becoming familiar faces to them. Our desire has been to gracefully move this group in a more spiritual direction and today Janice incorporated the song “The Wise Man Built His House Upon A Rock” into the repertoire. It was obvious that this was not a new song. As Janice and I visited about children’s songs, I discovered that “Zaccheus Was a Wee Little Man” is not known in the UK. She was quite amused when I stood in the kitchen and sang it for her . . . complete with the motions. I hated to admit that I’ve probably been singing that particular song for about _____ years.
We were blessed yesterday when a new couple showed up for the Sunday service. They had started attending DBC about 6 months ago, but left in November to spend the holiday season in New Zealand with their children. They returned last week and were back in church yesterday. They were also at Bible Study this evening and plan to join us for our newly scheduled weekly prayer time on Wednesday evening here at our house. Everyone seems very excited about this prayer emphasis and we are anticipating at least 8 people on Wednesday evening. That’s 50% of our total congregation which is a really good percentage. The other 50% are quite elderly but have expressed interest in having a prayer time if we would be willing to do it in Witney during the daytime hours. Jo and Alec Matthews, who we’ve talked about in earlier blogs have already offered their home and so we anticipate a start for that by next week. Not many churches can boast of 50% of their congregation attending Bible Study and 100% attending prayer meetings. So, we believe that God is going to bless these faithful servants and their diligence to study His Word and seek Him through prayer.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Continuing to Anticipate the Lord at Work in Ducklington
It seems that we have found a bit of a routine here in our little village. Our days are very quiet as we spend time walking the streets, praying and meeting those who live around us. This is a very different existence from what we are familiar with living in Abilene. With gasoline around $7.00 per gallon, most folks drive only when absolutely necessary. Therefore, foot traffic up and down our street as well as on Witney Road is a normal pattern and we seldom walk anywhere without being able to stop and visit along the way. It is a 4 minute walk to the church and we are beginning to see familiar faces and sense some recognition on their part as well.
We have decided that we will eat at one of the 2 pubs each week. They are warm and lively places and we find the locals to be very quick to notice our accents and want to know what we are doing there. Like we’ve said in earlier blogs, this is not an area frequented by tourist except to pass through going from London into The Cotswolds region; therefore, they engage us quickly and seem happy that we are living in their little community.
Church attendance was a bit discouraging this past Sunday as there were only 10 of us. Since the majority of our members are 80+ y/o, the cold, damp weather was really not conducive to their getting out for church. We had hoped to see the young man and his family that Dennis met and invited last week at Mums and Tots, but they did not come. We are hoping that they will not forget and possibly attend in the future. I had put a roast in the slow cooker for lunch just in case they came, so we were delighted to share that roast with Ray. His house is a little further from the church than ours, so as he joined us to walk home we invited him to share our lunch. It turned into another wonderful afternoon of learning more about this intriguing country as well as personal testimonies of how God’s hand has been revealed in his life since coming to know Christ in his 20s. We continued to be so blessed by Ray and his love for the Lord and especially his love and burden for this little village.
After the overflow crowd at Mums and Tots last week, we enjoyed a smaller group of 20 Mums this week and their 30+ toddlers. Dennis took up the job of serving tea as I walked around with a plate of biscuits (Cookies, remember?). In doing that simple act of serving, we were drawn into some of the little groups of 3 or 4 young women and it didn’t take them long to include us in their conversations. As always, Dennis is a hit with the little ones, so it probably won’t be long until he will be a regular down on the floor playing with them.
You will remember that we had asked you to pray specifically for a young woman named Stacy whom Dennis visited with on our first week at Mums in Tots. She is there every week and this past Monday I spent about 15-20 minutes in conversation with her and another young woman as their little ones put puzzles together around a small table. They had many questions about our churches in the States and especially about what we do there. I shared about the young women at South Side and how much I love ministering with them. I was able to tell them how as a young woman I found Scripture to be the best training for how to be a good Mum and wife. Stacy listens intently when Dennis or I talk and I believe that the Holy Spirit is drawing her. At this point, I really want to build her trust and develop a friendship with her. She and her sweet little Ashley have already won our hearts and we are asking the Lord to open her mind and heart to desire to know more about us and ultimately about Him.
I had another conversation with a young woman who lives around the corner from us. She has a little girl who struggles with allergies and a little asthma so we made an instant connection as I was able to sympathize with her after raising Wes. She is going to come have tea with me some afternoon and I will enjoy that very much. We continue to think that the Mums and Tots ministry is the key to opening up what God has planned for Ducklington. Some of the women attend St. Bartholomew, but the vast majority does not go to church at all, so “the fields are white . . .”
Ray finished our study of angels Monday evening. He would say that his leadership in this study has moved him “out of his comfort zone,” but he knows it is God’s doing and he is a very willing servant to whatever it is that God wants to do in his life. Lent is a very important observation in all the churches, so Dennis is praying about what we will study next and the emphasis on this season leading up to Easter. Last night Sue and David came to the house for our first Deacons’ Meeting. We all sense the importance of an additional evening of intentional prayer as we wait for God’s direction. We will begin that next Wednesday evening here at our house. Dennis and I will also attempt to designate a time one afternoon during each week when we will invite (and at times may even transport) the more elderly of our little Body to meet at someone’s house for a time of prayer. These sweet saints want to be involved, but their age complicates their participation in evening activities so we will do our best to accommodate them.
Our strategy right now is to pray. Please pray with us concerning activities for children in a church where there currently are no children. We must be ready! We will meet with Sue and David again in 2 weeks to discuss some practical things we can put in place so that we will not be caught off guard in the event that a family shows up on Sunday with small children. We will also make plans to regularly involve our fellow servants as we prayerwalk the village. When Dennis and I walk the perimeter of the village, it takes less time than walking the outside track at Redbud Park and within that area there are about 3000 people who need to know Christ’s love for them. So, if you walk at Redbud, pray for Ducklington as you walk.
We have decided that we will eat at one of the 2 pubs each week. They are warm and lively places and we find the locals to be very quick to notice our accents and want to know what we are doing there. Like we’ve said in earlier blogs, this is not an area frequented by tourist except to pass through going from London into The Cotswolds region; therefore, they engage us quickly and seem happy that we are living in their little community.
Church attendance was a bit discouraging this past Sunday as there were only 10 of us. Since the majority of our members are 80+ y/o, the cold, damp weather was really not conducive to their getting out for church. We had hoped to see the young man and his family that Dennis met and invited last week at Mums and Tots, but they did not come. We are hoping that they will not forget and possibly attend in the future. I had put a roast in the slow cooker for lunch just in case they came, so we were delighted to share that roast with Ray. His house is a little further from the church than ours, so as he joined us to walk home we invited him to share our lunch. It turned into another wonderful afternoon of learning more about this intriguing country as well as personal testimonies of how God’s hand has been revealed in his life since coming to know Christ in his 20s. We continued to be so blessed by Ray and his love for the Lord and especially his love and burden for this little village.
After the overflow crowd at Mums and Tots last week, we enjoyed a smaller group of 20 Mums this week and their 30+ toddlers. Dennis took up the job of serving tea as I walked around with a plate of biscuits (Cookies, remember?). In doing that simple act of serving, we were drawn into some of the little groups of 3 or 4 young women and it didn’t take them long to include us in their conversations. As always, Dennis is a hit with the little ones, so it probably won’t be long until he will be a regular down on the floor playing with them.
You will remember that we had asked you to pray specifically for a young woman named Stacy whom Dennis visited with on our first week at Mums in Tots. She is there every week and this past Monday I spent about 15-20 minutes in conversation with her and another young woman as their little ones put puzzles together around a small table. They had many questions about our churches in the States and especially about what we do there. I shared about the young women at South Side and how much I love ministering with them. I was able to tell them how as a young woman I found Scripture to be the best training for how to be a good Mum and wife. Stacy listens intently when Dennis or I talk and I believe that the Holy Spirit is drawing her. At this point, I really want to build her trust and develop a friendship with her. She and her sweet little Ashley have already won our hearts and we are asking the Lord to open her mind and heart to desire to know more about us and ultimately about Him.
I had another conversation with a young woman who lives around the corner from us. She has a little girl who struggles with allergies and a little asthma so we made an instant connection as I was able to sympathize with her after raising Wes. She is going to come have tea with me some afternoon and I will enjoy that very much. We continue to think that the Mums and Tots ministry is the key to opening up what God has planned for Ducklington. Some of the women attend St. Bartholomew, but the vast majority does not go to church at all, so “the fields are white . . .”
Ray finished our study of angels Monday evening. He would say that his leadership in this study has moved him “out of his comfort zone,” but he knows it is God’s doing and he is a very willing servant to whatever it is that God wants to do in his life. Lent is a very important observation in all the churches, so Dennis is praying about what we will study next and the emphasis on this season leading up to Easter. Last night Sue and David came to the house for our first Deacons’ Meeting. We all sense the importance of an additional evening of intentional prayer as we wait for God’s direction. We will begin that next Wednesday evening here at our house. Dennis and I will also attempt to designate a time one afternoon during each week when we will invite (and at times may even transport) the more elderly of our little Body to meet at someone’s house for a time of prayer. These sweet saints want to be involved, but their age complicates their participation in evening activities so we will do our best to accommodate them.
Our strategy right now is to pray. Please pray with us concerning activities for children in a church where there currently are no children. We must be ready! We will meet with Sue and David again in 2 weeks to discuss some practical things we can put in place so that we will not be caught off guard in the event that a family shows up on Sunday with small children. We will also make plans to regularly involve our fellow servants as we prayerwalk the village. When Dennis and I walk the perimeter of the village, it takes less time than walking the outside track at Redbud Park and within that area there are about 3000 people who need to know Christ’s love for them. So, if you walk at Redbud, pray for Ducklington as you walk.
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