IN TOUCH September/October 2015
Newday 2015 01263 733332 info@aylshamcommunitychurch.org aylshamcommunitychurch.org twitter.com/aylshamcc facebook.com/aylshamcc
Jubilee Family Centre Norwich Road Aylsham Norfolk NR11 6JG
Aylsham Community Church, a Relational Mission church, part of Newfrontiers
Your Kingdom Come “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Kingdom is not man-made theory but Spirit-fuelled life (1 Corinthians 4:20).
Have 14 other words ever expressed such an explosive idea as these 14 words?
Jesus was the ultimate Kingdom-Bringer. When He announced “The Kingdom is heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17) it was not because He had new ideas to teach but because He was there, and He was full of the life of the Spirit! Likewise when He sent out His disciples (Matthew 10:7,8). And now by God’s grace we have inherited His kingdom in our lives (James 2:5) and we carry it everywhere with us.
The rule and reign of God being seen and lived out all over our world just like it is in heaven! Yet doesn’t it sound like such a HUGE thing to pray for? When we think of how perfectly God’s rule and reign is expressed and delighted over in heaven, and how completely His will is done by those around the throne? And then when we look around and see how far mankind has pulled away from God’s ways? Don’t the two current realities of heaven and earth seem so far apart as to make this prayer seem like a pipe-dream at least until Christ returns? And yet this is exactly the request that Jesus instructed us to have on the tip of our tongues each time we call on our heavenly Father. And while we should pray this prayer with half an (excited) eye on Jesus coming again, the rest of the Lord’s Prayer is rooted very firmly in the here-and-now, so surely this part is no different? The Bible tells us that God’s rule and reign is not expressed through religious activity but through lives transformed and full of the righteousness, peace and joy of God’s Spirit (Romans 14:17) - His
So when we pray “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” one of the key things we are praying is “Lord, may I be so filled with Your righteousness, peace and joy that everywhere I go your beautiful and powerful life will come near to those I meet”. The earth may not be visibly filled with God’s glory yet He promises our light will shine like a supernova (Philippians 2:15) and all of creation will be impacted (Isaiah 55:12,13) when His Kingdom comes through His people. Simon Gallagher Lead Elder | Aylsham Community Church
Autumn Preaching Series Consider Him our autumn series looking at the person and character of God to build our faith, inspire our worship and fuel our prayer September 13th—The God-ness of God 20th—The Fatherhood (& motherhood) of God 27th—Merciful & Just October 4th—Jesus, Great High Priest 11th—Jesus, The Way, The Truth & The Life 18th—Jesus, Lion & Lamb 25th—Holy Spirit, Our Helper November 1st—God is Faithful & True 8th—God Speaks 15th—God is our Shepherd 22nd—God is our Strength & our Song 29th—The Only Wise God December 6th—Word Become Flesh
Sunday 6th 7.00pm Jubilee Family Centre
September
Growth Group Leaders Meeting
Tuesday 8th Wednesday 9th Thursday 10th 7.30pm Jubilee Family Centre Encounter Prayer
2015 Saturday 12th 10am-12noon Aylsham Marketplace
Sunday 20th 7.00pm Jubilee Family Centre
Marketplace Outreach as part of the tour of Britain cycle race activities
Church Family Meeting
Sunday 4th 7.00pm Jubilee Family Centre
Friday 9th 7.30pm Jubilee Family Centre
Encounter Prayer
Worship Team Evening
Sunday 11th 10.30am Jubilee Family Centre
Saturday 17th 10am-12noon Aylsham Marketplace
Sundays 18th & 25th 10.30am Jubilee Family Centre
Baptismal Service
Marketplace Outreach
Gift Days more details to be given at the church family meeting on 20th Sept
Friday 22nd Jubilee Family Centre
Sunday 25th 7.00pm Jubilee Family Centre
October 2015
School of Worship Day for young people
Encounter Prayer
Saturday 31st 6.00pm-8.00pm Jubilee Family Centre
ACC Light Party an evening of food, quizzes & games for all ages, superhero/princess fancy dress optional (nothing scary please!) Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th Jubilee Family Centre
November 2015
Adrian Horner Leader, Open Door Church, Kettering Adrian will be with us for the weekend and speaking on Sunday morning.
Friday 13th King’s Centre, Norwich
Friday 13th-Sunday 15th Letton Hall
Friday 27th Aylsham Marketplace
Enough Relational Mission half night of prayer
Youth Weekend Away
Marketplace Outreach at Turning on of the Christmas Lights
“...it’s really inspiring and fun to play. I love that you can be part of the stories & the daily question has helped me think about the Bible…” Jess Gallagher
Guardians of Ancora is a world-class digital game – an amazing virtual world that 8 to 11 year olds can enter and a place where Bible stories come alive! It has been developed by Scripture Union and is available for free download on Apple, Android and Kindle Fire devices. If you would like to know more please visit guardiansofancora.com or see Ann Gallagher for a leaflet.
Serbia Update Summer, for us was a time of well deserved rest. Behind us is a good time of God’s blessings. We have witnessed more than ever a growth of visitors in the church and a development of fruitful ministries. Our recently started youth ministry is gathering quite a number of non-church youth around music and is breaking stereotypes of church and Christianity. Through fun and friendship they are exposed to Christian values, and we see amazing openness among the youth and their parents. For quite some time we’ve regularly held Saturday lunches for ladies. Every lady likes to be served and treated well and we work hard to provide a good atmosphere and food while someone shares their personal story with God. We’ve had a good number of them visiting our Sunday service. We had 25 children (more than last year), mostly from non-Christian families going on our Children’s Summer Camp. This camp is one of the things that is becoming more and more
popular among children and parents. We had a great opportunity this summer to take a number of our youth to a Christian music camp in the Czech Republic. For most of them this is a first contact with something like this. Pray for our youth their salvation and protection. We feel as a church that we are in a different place than in recent years. We have seen many blessings and we take them as an encouragement for building our faith. Pray for Vlada to have wisdom and insight in leading the church in this new season. This is just a little taste of what God is doing among us. You can find out more through our regular video updates. If you would like to receive them please email Vlada Stojanovic at: vladaserb@gmail.com Vlada Stojanovic Good News Church | Nis | Serbia
Book Review
The Life You Never Expected Andrew & Rachel Wilson I read this book over the summer and found it an amazingly helpful read. It is great because it: •
is honest about how we feel when life doesn’t turn out as we expected and the affect that has on us.
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is practical in sharing ways to handle and see things with chapters such as ‘Thankfulness in a world of entitlement’ and ‘Learning to pray’.
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focuses on the importance of ‘getting happy in God each day’ in order to be of use to anyone!
Although this book is written by parents about living with two special needs children and the real life challenges this entails, it is a great book for anyone facing difficult or unexpected changes and challenges in their life. I thoroughly recommend it! Sue Atthill The Life You Never Expected by Andrew & Rachel Wilson
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£8.99 Paperback from Amazon
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£8.54 Kindle from Amazon
Other Recommended Books By Andrew Wilson
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Incomparable: Explorations in the Character of God
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GodStories: Explorations in the Gospel of God
Prayer Matters •
For Ann Gallagher as she started her new role as Children & Families Worker at the beginning of September.
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For Iva Stojanovic, now living with the Atthills so that she can attend college in the UK. Pray too for Vlada, Sonja and Milos back home in Serbia.
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Pray for our children and young people returning to school, college and university in the next few days and weeks. Pray for Yasmin Atthill, Libby Rusbridge, Taylor De Lucchi and Tom Sutton as they start their first year at university.
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For Ann Everett, whose ex-husband Tom passed away in his sleep recently. Ann thanks everyone for their prayers, and asks us to continue to lift the family in prayer over the next few difficult weeks.
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For Becky Woodhead whose mum has been diagnosed with cancer. Pray for healing and for Becky's mum to encounter Jesus.
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For Glenda Crick for a quick healing for her broken wrist.
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For Keith & Julie Harris as they move to Diss in the next few weeks. Pray that they will find the right church.
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For Val Shaw who is recovering from a Pacemaker Implantation.
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For Eric Hilsdon who is still unwell.
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For Sue Baker as she awaits test results.
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For John and Margaret Potter as they await a new date for John's operation.
Baptismal Service Sunday 11th October, 10.30am If you are interested in being baptised or want to know more then please speak to one of the Elders or contact the church office.