Too Busy to Blog! . . . but Finally . . .

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.