It's been quite some time since I've done an actual update on the things that are going on with what God has called me to here in England. In fact it was probably going to even be a longer amount of time before i wrote anything at all, but by God's providence, my cousin's wife sent me a message asking me about things here and it turned out to be everything i really should be typing in an update. So praise the Lord! :)
ON TO THE UPDATE!!!
In general, things here are going really well. I've been meeting loads of people. God has also been using me to reach loads of people with the gospel, and about a dozen people so far have started to regularly come to the church and get ministered to and start to become part of the church community, though only time will tell about the genuineness of their conversion. I would say though, that by regularly come to the church, i don't mean on Sunday morning, rather they come at various times of the week for prayer or to read the bible or just to talk and I'll write more specifically about that below.
I don't know how many of you know, but we're trying to open a coffee shop to be more involved in the community and to get people more comfortable with who we are and what we are all about here. Most people here think of church as either in a steeple or as a cult. They don't have anywhere near the concept of church as Americans do and so there is a huge cultural gap that we are trying to bridge to better reach more people. As for the practical set-up goes, it's a ton of work and we're really not even close to being done with it. we still need furniture, some equipment, more people to volunteer to help out with it, and to do a semi remodel with the front of the shop. please pray for us about this.
I've been looking to get involved with the college in Stockport and reach out to those kids (college here is 16-18 sometimes to 20) but I'm still unsure exactly how to go about getting involved. It's not an easy process and email thus far hasn't worked. In the next week or so I'm gonna go down to meet with the chaplain Lord willing and set something up.
We do a youth club which is an outreach on Wednesday nights for the kids of the community, it's not a youth group for Christian kids, and about 3-5 of the kids are regularly going through the Bible with me once a week on Tuesday and claim to either be Christians or want to be Christians. These are kids who live in the projects, so temptation is high and hope is low for them. They could totally use prayer.
By God's grace i saved this guy from getting his head kicked in and let him into the church building once the guys that were robbing him ran off and he's been coming by the church 1-3 nights a week to hang out and talk. He doesn't believe in Jesus, but he says that he "desperately wants to believe in something" and that he "always comes to the church when he needs to get away from his problems" so, Lord willing he will get saved and become a part of the church community here.
And, finally, there are about 10ish other people that a few of the guys and I are reaching out to on the weekends. Getting food, playing pool, watching a movie, etc. and taking all the opportunities we can to share about Jesus with them. Please pray for us, and them, and our relationships that they would both grow and that they would be God honoring and glorifying.
That said, I'm coming back to the States at the end of August and I'm actually both terrified and excited about coming back. I'm learning so much here and I'm stoked about that, getting prepared to plant a church, going through the Porterbrook course work, and seeing what real Christian community should look like. It is definitely a life changing experience for me and something i desperately needed, but some stuff about coming home, or really the next steps of life are kinda gnarly. I have no home church, no sending church/s, no church or organization to guide and support me, no job, no place to stay, almost no money to tide me over till i get a job, etc. (i put etc. because there's more but it's not really beneficial to list out all my problems one by one, you know?)
So its kinda freaky to think about coming back, and the thereafter, but its good at the same time.
So, things to pray for:
- the people we've been ministering the gospel to
- the kids of the community
- the community itself
- the coffee shop
- the church
- that I would stay on mission no matter where I'm at or what I'm called to do.
Love you guys, hope this blessed you in some way, and i hope to hear from and see you all soon. :)
In His Grace Love and Peace
-Andrew
Sweet video to check out BTW
http://vimeo.com/20960385
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