IN TOUCH S E P T E M B E R / O C TO B E R 2 0 1 6
EXODUS now we are free NEW PREACHING SERIES STARTING 18TH SEPTEMBER
FEAR OR FAITH? “So where are we going to get enough food for all these people to eat?” Imagine being Philip, faced with a crowd of thousands and an empty wallet, hearing this question from Jesus! As the local boy Philip might well have known the location of the best bakers in the neighbourhood but that wasn’t the point. “Look at them all, Jesus… we’re talking 8 month’s wages even to give them a bite -size snack each!” (Whatever you think of Philip’s response you have to admire the mental arithmetic…) John – inspired by the Holy Spirit in his recounting of the ‘Feeding of the 5,000’ miracle – then gives us this very interesting comment about Jesus’ question to Philip: “He asked this only to test him, for He already had in mind what he was going to do.” (John 6:6) Doesn’t that sound a bit unfair to you? Jesus putting Philip on-the-spot like that when He already knew the answer to His own question? After all Jesus could have got on with performing the miracle without ever worrying His disciples with the problem, couldn’t He? But that’s not very Jesus-like, is it?
Jesus doesn’t want his followers to float through life oblivious to challenges, but instead to learn to look to Him, and learn to trust Him, in the face of adversity. These are not tests designed to catch us out, make us look foolish or fill our minds with stress, rather they are tests to help us grow in our faith in Him. Over the last few weeks God has been speaking to us at Aylsham Community Church about learning to respond to challenges with faith, rather than fear. How do we do this? Exactly as Philip and the other disciples learnt to do: by keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus and doing exactly what He tells us to do. And by remembering that whatever the challenges we face, God already has in mind exactly how He is going to meet our needs perfectly through His Son, Jesus. Simon Gallagher Lead Elder | Aylsham Community Church
Sunday •
Praise & Prayer 10.30am
Monday •
Morning 6.30am-7.30am
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Evening 7.30pm-9.00pm
Tuesday •
Morning 6.30am-7.30am
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Evening 7.30pm-9.00pm
Wednesday •
Morning 6.30am-7.30am
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Evening 7.30pm-9.00pm
Thursday •
Morning 6.30am-7.30am
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Evening 7.30pm-9.00pm
Friday •
Morning 6.30am-7.30am
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Evening 7.30pm-10.00pm
“Encountering THE ONE who is faithful draws us into a relationship of trust and risk. Faith is really nothing more or less than being confident in who HE is.”
DIARY SEPTEMBER Sunday 4th | 10.30am Praise & Prayer Monday - Friday Week of Prayer (see separate page for details) Sunday 11th | 10.30am Baptism Service If you would like to be baptised or are considering the possibility, please speak to one of the elders. Saturday 17th Men’s BBQ | Reepham Sunday 18th | 10.30am Now We Are Free 1 - ‘God hears you groaning’ Saturday 24th | 9.00am - 5.00pm First Aid Training Course Sunday 25th | 10.30am Now We Are Free 2 - ‘Why all this trouble?’ Sunday 25th | 7.00pm-8.30pm Church Family Meeting
OCTOBER Saturday 1st | 10.00am - 5.00pm Shape youth leaders and teams training day King’s Centre, Norwich Sunday 2nd | 10.30am Life Truth Sunday Sunday 9th | 10.30am | GIFT DAY Now We Are Free 3 - ‘Out of slavery’ Sunday 9th | 7.00pm-8.30pm Encounter Prayer
Sunday 16th | 10.30am | GIFT DAY Now We Are Free 4 - ’Road to freedom’ Sunday 16th | 6.30pm Churches Together Prayer Friends Meeting House Pegg’s Yard, Red Lion Street Friday 21st | 7.30pm Prophetic Training with Adrian Horner Sunday 23rd | 10.30am Adrian & Koreen Horner We are excited that Adrian and Koreen Horner will be with us from Friday 21st to Sunday 23rd October. Adrian leads the Open Door church in Kettering which is part of the Catalyst apostolic sphere led by Dave Devenish. Adrian and Koreen served us so well in November 2015 when they last visited. On the Friday evening Adrian will be leading a training session for those who want to step out and grow in their prophetic gifting. (For more information see Simon Gallagher) Adrian and Koreen will also be ministering to us at our Sunday morning service. Sunday 30th | 10.30am Now We Are Free 5 - ’Complaint hotline’
NOVEMBER Friday 4th | 7pm-Midnight ENOUGH Half Night of Prayer King’s Centre, Norwich Sunday 6th | 10.30am Life Truth Service Sunday 13th | 10.30am Now We Are Free 6 - ’Make us some gods!’ Friday 18th - Sunday 20th Youth Weekend Away | Letton Hall Sunday 20th | 10.30am Now We Are Free 7 - ’Hope for lasting change #1’ Sunday 27th | 10.30am Now We Are Free 8 - ’Hope for lasting change #2’
THREE GENERATIONS OF NEWDAY While we’re all church family, for the Greens and the Houghtons newday is more than a festival: it’s quite literally a family reunion. Grandparents Stuart and Linda Green are servers, as are four of their children and three of their spouses, and they’re camping with ten grandchildren too. Their son Ben Green is married to Sam Houghton, parents David and Sue are here too. Then within the Houghton family there are another three generations - one extended family across three generations, serving and worshipping together. “I enjoy it all really. But I’ll never get tired of seeing the youngsters enjoying themselves,” says Stuart. “We thought this could be the last year here, but I think we’ll miss getting together as a family. With two daughters living down south, the rest in Norfolk, we don’t get that many chances to be all together.” Stuart has been attending newday since 2006, when it moved to Uttoxeter racecourse. He previously served in the kitchen, in 12-14s ministry and maintenance and for the last four years he has served on the outreach team, loading up coaches. This year, he says, he was delighted to watch his grandson Isaac go on outreach for
the first year. “Seeing youth from our church go out on outreach and come back so excited is great,” he said. “They all get on the coaches enthusiastic, but when they come back feeling excited too you know something has gone well!” Isaac, 14, and his brother Sol, 12, are here for the sixth year. After coming up through the kids’ ministry, they’ve been part of youth work for two years now. Sol says that his favourite part is the worship in the big top. Isaac, who has signed up for three days with outreach bootcamp, said: “It’s really cool having our whole family here. We can wander down to the other sites and see everyone else. It’s so amazing to spend time with family and with God at the same time.”
Emma Yeomans Reproduced with permission from Newday Servers Newsletter 2016
MakeLunch @ Jubilee ‘Filling the holiday hunger gap’ Free school meals make a huge difference to more than 1.2 million children in the UK but when schools are closed in the school holidays, so are the kitchens. In Aylsham primary schools and the surrounding villages there are over 300 children who are eligible for a free school meal. This is where MakeLunch comes in! MakeLunch @ Jubilee this year.
We are really excited to have launched
So far this year MakeLunch @ Jubilee has been open on Wednesdays throughout the Easter and summer holidays from 11.30am-1.15pm. We have had great fun with activities such as table football, air hockey, giant Connect 4 and Super Mario! There have been some amazing crafts made in the Crafty Corner and our very young members have had fun in their own Toddler Zone. And then there’s the food! We all sit down together and enjoy a hot, delicious and nutritious meal. Homemade burgers with pitta bread, pasta bolognaise and ice-cream factory are just a few dishes that have been served! This summer... •
10 new families visited MakeLunch this summer – 9 more than once!
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154 meals yummy meals served
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19 people served on the MakeLunch Team
We are incredibly grateful to our amazing team of volunteers and the support and encouragement we have received from Cromer and District Foodbank. Ann Gallagher Children and Families Worker
BUILDING PROJECT UPDATE As I have previously shared, the building project comes from a practical need regarding the existing mobile classroom and the 2020 Vision that we have been considering and praying into together as a church. The initial plans have been available for comment and feedback for some time and I want to take this opportunity to thank you for the overwhelming positive support you have given to us as an Eldership Team regarding these proposed developments. A minor change to the layout of the windows in the far end wall of the main hall has been made and the plans have now been agreed. SMG Architects have submitted these plans to Broadland District Council for Planning Permission on our behalf. Once we have the necessary Planning Permission (what we are going to build) we can then proceed with obtaining Building Control (how it is going to be built) and quotes for the work to be done. When this has been completed we can then hopefully answer questions such as when will building work start, how long will it take and how much will it cost?
GIFT DAYS We need to continue to seek God for the resources for all that we need in serving His Kingdom purposes here in Norfolk. He has been so faithful in providing for us as a family and also for us as a church over many years and I have no reason to doubt that He will continue to do so. My faith has certainly been lifted by hearing the recent testimony of Hope Church, Wymondham who recently raised approx. ÂŁ400,000 towards their building project! The picture above is myself and Simon holding a ÂŁ5 note. The significance of that fiver? The first money already given by a member of the church, which opened our building fund! We have set aside 9th and 16th October as Gift Days and part of our giving will be towards our building fund. Can I ask everyone to prayerfully consider what God would like them to give in faith. Peter Atthill on behalf of the Elders
Thank you to everyone using Give As You Live. So far you’ve raised a total of £176 for Jubilee Family Centre!
ACC KIDS We are having a name change for our children's work on Sundays at Aylsham Community Church. The children's work is bring renamed from ‘Lighthouse Kids’ to ‘ACC Kids’. The group names are changing too: •
Explorers (18 months - pre-school)
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Adventurers (reception - year 3)
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Trailblazers (year 4 - year 6)
We feel these names reflect how exciting and adventurous finding out about our faith is and how God has a special plan for each of our children’s lives that they can start living out now. Ann Gallagher Children and Families Worker
North Norfolk Cluster Weekend 3rd-5th March 2017 With Mike Betts Apostolic Team Leader Relational Mission
YOUTH WEEKEND AWAY 18TH-20TH NOVEMBER 2016 YWA is a residential weekend for young people in High School and College. It’s full of fun, excellent worship, dynamic teaching, great food and loads of friends. It all takes place in the amazing grounds of Letton Hall. It’s a huge manor house with loads of outside space to explore, a go-kart track, and woods. Its the best place to get away, have loads of fun and grow in your faith in Jesus.
ywa.org.uk price break 31st August For more information speak to Ed or Tara Osborne
Pray for Simon, Ann, Eve and Jess who are on holiday until 5th September. 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