TFM Newsletter - December 2023 by Through Faith Missions

TFM Newsletter December 2023 THE MASTER, THE MISSION & THE MESSAGE

changed, but our mission remains fixed in stone (Matt 28:16-20). It’s not for four months’ time, THE HARVEST IS NOW.

Then he said to his disciples, The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Matt 9:37-38

Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest. (John 4:35)

What a year it has been: plenty of pain, fruitfulness and change all mixed up together in God’s melting pot. When everything else is shaken (Heb 12:27) it’s essential for our spiritual health, even survival, to return to the basics. We return to the building blocks of our faith, right back to our foundational purpose as individuals and as a missional organisation. What follows are the timely truths I believe the Spirit whispered to me at this time, which I also preached from at our annual conference.

THE MASTER

Jesus is the start, middle, future, and end for TFM. He is the LORD, the master, not me, and not you. He is extremely invested in TFM. At an away day in May, Bible Teacher Chris Hill our invited guest, encouraged us that God sees TFM as invaluable, we are vital to His purposes in this country and beyond. He encouraged us that the best is yet to come. My spirit’s regular prayer echoes that of Moses: If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. Ex 33:15 Wolverhampton, Basingstoke, North Norfolk, Download, Winchester, Stratford; all these mission locations have provided wonderful evidence of God’s manifest presence with us. Jesus is MASTER of our future; we await His orders.

THE MISSION

Our culture may have changed, our staff team may have changed, our networks may have

So, where do we invest our energy and finite resources? Who do we network with? I am passionate about the gifts of the Spirit combining with evangelism, hence the prophetic evangelism course and book. Also, please join me in praying for the next generation of TFMers to hear the call and join our ranks, as the prophet Jeremiah stated, It is good for a man to bear the yoke while he is young. Lam 3:27

THE MESSAGE

Finally, the gospel is the sword in our hand and the fire in our hearts. Despite our changing circumstances it retains all of its power, terror to the devil and it is imperative we share it. May we truly understand the gospel in our hearts, speak it with utter conviction and let it be a sword that pierces hearts as we courageously preach it in its fulness. May we flesh it out with our whole lives, preaching it in every season while falling in love with Jesus over and over again. Dan Holland For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. Romans 1:16

Wow what a year 2023 has been! Lynsey Stone shares her testimony and how she became involved with TFM. For me it has been a year of highs and lows as I’m sure it has for most. I began the year coming to terms with losing my earthly father who went into hospital on January 4th and passed away on January 5th. Although the grief was real and painful, I could still praise God for blessing us with time to say ‘Goodbye’ and letting us hold Dads’ hand as he slipped into eternity to meet his Saviour.

The day after an Alpha evening I prayed “Lord you have done so much for me over the years and carried me through so much but what can I do for you Lord?” I was tidying up at the time and the TFM leaflet I’d been given back in 2005 dropped at my feet along with the KGP! I looked online for TFM and saw a forthcoming mission due to take place on my doorstep in Torbay! So I booked onto the training day. I had already been christened and confirmed when I was younger so questioned if I needed to be baptised but felt actually ‘Yes. Now I do’!

As the days went by, I began reflecting on my own journey into finding Jesus and thanked God again for both my parents. The best thing they ever did and particularly my mum did was write a post-it-note with my name on it which was prayed over at Spring Harvest as they prayed for prodigals to come “home”. The day before my baptism, I went to the Royal Mail sorting office to collect a mystery parcel and as I opened it I couldn’t recall ordering anything blue!! It was my sweatshirt with “how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

A few months after that in 2005 I met with TFM on the street corner during Walk South Devon. As I talked to these two team members we chatted about God and went through the KGP. I prayed the prayer at the end and that night had a thousand questions! I needed to find these people again which I did and was able to meet them the next day. We talked about my life, looked up relevant scripture and from that I went on to do the Alpha course. I wrote to Daniel Cozens at TFM regularly and always found his letters back so encouraging.

At my baptism in the sea off the coast of Torbay, I shared about how Jesus had carried me through so much and meeting with TFM. I felt a real sense of doing what God wanted me to do and felt an amazing sense of Joy when doing the Torbay mission in September 2021. What a privilege to share the gospel with people as we chatted and prayed with them.

I was hungry for more of God I was hungry for more of God, to share more of Jesus love, seeking more of the Holy Spirit. I went on to do the follow up Torbay and Basingstoke weekends in 2022, then Wolverhampton and Basingstoke in 2023. I can honestly say I have loved working alongside every person I’ve encountered in the TFM teams. It has felt like family; times of being able to bless others but also being blessed too. I have learned so much about evangelism from the wealth of experience

Fast forward to 2021 and I was repeating Alpha supporting others doing it for their first time. I found it easy to talk to people about Gods’ love for them but God took me back to the start of my own journey. © Through Faith Missions 18 Tannery Road Sawston CB22 3UW admin@throughfaithmissions.org

within TFM and am so grateful to everyone who prays for TFM and gives up time too to come on missions.

responses were very positive and we glad that ‘followup’ was such a high priority for our hosts.

It has been a real honour talking to people about their own beliefs and then witnessing others praying their own prayer of accepting Jesus as their Lord and saviour. For me there is nothing comparable, such an enormous privilege! So thank you to everyone at TFM for the incredible year of 2023, I hope to see many of you again on mission in 2024. Lynsey xx

Return to Basingstoke 9 - 17 Sept 2023 Team Leaders Ross Healey and George Gorniak reflect on the mission. Never before has TFM returned so often to one location, new opportunities and new challenges as we plan and do mission. Lots of new initiatives - two teams with Dan as mission leader, visiting Sunday services at local churches, big outside worship event with Dan preaching, open church initiative, Tao’s postit prayers, three evening events, a training event and lots more. The mission felt fresh and inspired. Also, lots of opportunities to engage with other churches about future mission work, both in Basingstoke and beyond.

The ‘Popley Team’ worked with Melrose Christian Fellowship and New Life Church, lovely fellowships. This was a breakthrough mission with much openness and positive results with people of all ages both on the door-to-door visits and also outside local shopping centres. The prayer preparation has been critical in opening up a spiritual window and opportunity to bring hope and good news to many disillusioned people living in very difficult circumstances. The

The other team served Wessex Christian Fellowship (WCF) and Healing Springs in south Basingstoke. A great team, experienced and very focussed on the mission. We concentrated on the area around the WCF building - very local door to door and keeping the church building open as often as we could (offering company and tea and coffee). This was so fruitful. Many, many in depth conversations, often using the ‘Knowing God Personally’ booklet and with repeat conversations. It really felt that the area had been prepared and was ready to hear the Good News. Our unannounced visits to other local churches to ask if we could ‘say a few words’ about the mission during their services also went very well, with only one refusal.

Successful sowing and starting new relationships for the future. Our host churches and our hosts were terrific, we love them. Under God’s guidance, so much went so well. So many successful new initiatives that can be developed for the next mission, and yes - our host churches have invited TFM back. Many surveys completed and so many people willing to listen to the Gospel.

laughter, and unity of purpose. A high point was going out to worship at the local shopping arcade over the lunch break, some 35 of us. Hallelujah!’

Prophetic Evangelism Littleport - Oct 2023 Dan Holland reflects on this the eighth roll out of the course.

What next is in God’s hands but the Lord may want more outdoor preaching and proclamation, more local open church and invitations and more churches in Basingstoke and beyond inspired for mission.

Conference 2023 Wolverhampton Approximately 60 people What a day! gathered to worship together and hear about what TFM are 1 doing in Wolverhampton, the location of a recent joint mission with St Mary's Bushbury, International Life Centre and Hope Church.

David West and I were generously hosted by the Vine Community Church and Littleport Churches Together (LCT). The day was, aptly enough, brimming with prophetic significance. It was the first Christian ‘conference’ held in Littleport in living memory, despite the churches working well together. It was a great way to stir the embers of TFM again in an area that once was very engaged. There were TFMers there, close friends of Dan Cozens, some who had been trustees in the past. The ‘old’ and the ‘new’ TFM coalesced in a way that only God could orchestrate. The 34 delegates enjoyed a lively and interactive day!

You can read about the mission and hear the talks from the conference through our website News pages. Dan Holland writes, ‘The annual conference was well attended and full of encouragement. Under the general theme of ‘The fields are white to harvest’ the four speakers; Rev Ian, Pastor Graham, Pastor Emmanuel and myself, brought complementary messages with a prophetic edge for TFM. We had a small film crew at the conference putting together a new promo video (out in January), they were delighted with the footage they got.

I was intrigued to learn that both my grandads, independently of each other, used to visit Littleport to preach. What would they have said about their grandson following in their footsteps half a century or more later? Another good TFM new friend John Lillyman travelled all the way from Nebraska, USA to join the course and who knows where this will lead. The icing on the cake was that the worship band from my church, St Ives Christian Fellowship, came to provide worship. This was a lovely symbol of how much SICF have come to support TFM.

As always there was lovely fellowship between TFMers and local churches, particularly so as this conference was hosted in Wolverhampton by the leaders above. We thank God for the May mission there this year. The day was characterised by worship, thankfulness, © Through Faith Missions 18 Tannery Road Sawston CB22 3UW admin@throughfaithmissions.org