One of the wonderful benefits of having such a diverse congregation at Rosedale Community Church is the quite amazing variety of meals that one can enjoy. At Rosedale we actively celebrate our church of many colours by holding an annual Multi-cultural Meal. On Saturday 20thJuly we came together for a fundraising event for Lord’s work in Sierra Leone.

Greek salad, Jollof rice, spicy chicken noodles, vegetable lasagne, chocolate brownies, cinnamon buns, Gypsy tart, and many more dishes provided an amazing feast. With the donations of food and a charge of £3 per plate, we hoped to both raise money and make the celebration accessible to as many of our congregation and their guests as possible.

David, a retired concert pianist provided back ground music whilst Becky, Deborah and Hannah entertained with some solos. In the church foyer the kids were taking selfies in the pop-up photo booth. Donated gifts, including a mountain bike, were auctioned by John to raise further funds.

Bethany provided an updated account of what God is currently doing in Sierra Leone under the ministry of Magnus and the wonderful school that work Janet O’Shea has just completed. She also reminded people of the opportunity to go salvaging at Reading Festival at the end of August.

By 9pm everyone was full of food and clutching their auction pieces. Over £300 was raised and everyone had thoroughly enjoyed the evening of fellowship.

We are pleased to be able to provide you with a link to recordings of the main talks from our 2019 Annual Conference. Offering the Connexion Community a chance to hear them again - or listen in for the first time.

The talks include the President's Address, by our new President, Ken Hart, who opened the Conference asking, 'What is a missional church?'

This is followed by three teaching sessions from our Keynote Speaker, Dr Michael Quicke, who reflects on the important subjects of Welcoming, Supporting and Networking in missional churches.

Click on the link below, which will take you to the selection of four recordings. Please note that there is some variation in the quality of sound in Talks 3 and 4, but we didn't want this to prevent you from hearing them!

 

Main Talks from Conference 2019

 

Zion Community Church in St Ives are delighted to be welcoming the Fore Street Methodist Church (FSMC) Choir for a special performance on the evening of Saturday 11 May.

The FSMC Choir is a well-rehearsed four part harmony choir which performs Christian musicals under the expert eye of Musical Director, William Thomas, himself a renowned soloist in the county. 

The evening will include a collection in aid of the Sierra Leone Mission, a Christian Charity that supports the work of The Connexion in Sierra Leone, West Africa.

Thank you for visiting us online. Our aim is to continue to support and grow the Connexion Community. Linking you with each other and keeping you in touch with our network of 22 churches. 

Check out What's New? to catch up with activities, events, mission news and recorded sermons.

Click on Short Thought for a 60-second sound byte of inspiration and entertainment from Simon Allaby.

Follow, comment and like us on Facebook and Twitter to share bible verses, news items and events, joining in with our growing social media community.

We welcome your participation in helping our members and friends to connect and build a strong and supportive Christian network!

Each Thursday morning for the past ten years (with only a few exceptions) Goring Free Church has been open to anyone who’d like to Drop-in for coffee, cake, conversation and friendship between 10.30am and 12.30pm.

Drop-In celebrated its 10th anniversary on Sunday 25 March, with a special cream tea followed by a thanksgiving service.

Pastor, Simon Gordon-Potts, says: ‘We are thrilled to be able to provide this service within our community and are delighted to have regular visits from those within the community as well as others from further afield.

We are truly grateful to those on the team who give so much time and energy to running Drop-in, and thankful to the Lord God Almighty for their commitment to him, their love for the people who come, and his faithfulness to us over the years’.

This past weekend, our church celebrated its 357th Anniversary, with a special service on Saturday evening, and then a special focus at our usual Sunday morning service. We had the privilege of having Dave & Phyl Sweetman with us, Dave is the current president of the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion.

Doing the maths

If you subtract 357 from 2019 you get 1662, which is the year we were founded. In an act of 'costly conscientiousness' about 2,000 ministers at that time lost their livelihoods and their homes for taking a principled stand for biblical truth. Various issues surround the The Book of Common Prayer meant that ministers felt they had no option but to establish independent churches. We prayed for ministers who face a similar challenge today.

J I Packer writes of our founders: "They kept a good conscience in the only way open to them, or to any Christian - by following truth as it appears from Scripture, and refusing to sell it, or betray it, for any consideration in the world".

Selina, Countess of Huntingdon

Likewise, Selina, despite a very wealthy but very unhappy upbringing, also decided to devote herself to the Lord following her conversion in her early 30s. We learnt of her reaching out to the nobility, monarchy and commoners alike with the gospel, as her position gave her unique opportunity to do so. We thanked God for her training of ministers, her founding of a Bible College and he support for George Whitefield, and prayed that God would raise up more like them.

It is said of Selina: “Thousands, I may say tens of thousands, in various parts of the kingdom heard the gospel through her instrumentality that in all probability would never have heard it at all; and I believe through eternity will have cause to bless God that she ever existed."

Preaching the Word

Dave Sweetman brought us two messages, 'Hope for the Church' from the healing of the leper in Matthew 8, and 'Hope for the world' from Romans 8. It was wonderful to have the storyline of the Bible brought out of just six verses in Matthew and to see Jesus so clearly. It was also very encouraging to have our gaze lifted to all that God has promised to do in the future.

The Future

In the light of our founders faithfulness to God's word, we long and pray that we might be faithful in our day too. In the light of Selina's life, we pray that we might use the resources and opportunities that we have for the progress of the gospel. And in the light of what Jesus has done and will do, we renew our hope in him as the Saviour of the world.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
One generation commends your works to another;
they tell of your mighty acts.
Psalm 145:3-4

May God be glorified in our generation, and indeed in the next generation, as he has been in the lives of those who have gone before us.

With our love

Tim Dennick and the members of Zion Community Church

International speaker Don Egan visited Mortimer West End Chapel for a special ‘Healing Today’ service on Sunday 3 March. 

Don is the founder of the RSVP Trust, which seeks to eradicate poverty, empower the poor, and transform the lives of adults and children through spiritual  teaching.

He was trained with Church Army, and worked in Anglican parishes for 11 years in Manchester and Suffolk. In 1993 and 1994, he visited the Philippines and then Africa, which led him to form the RSVP Trust.

Don’s ministry is faith for breakthrough, particularly physical healing. He has travelled the world and reached hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, Europe, Asia and Africa.

Don has pioneered a number of key projects, including Child Sponsorship, House of Mercy and Gifts of Hope, and is the author of more than 25 books, mostly on spirituality, healing, and personal development. He is currently exploring how to integrate monastic spirituality into modern life.

 

 

We are delighted to announce the launch of Simon Allaby’s new book "‘Why Turn the Page?: Reasons to consider the Christian Faith". 

The book is available on Amazon as a Kindle Unlimited edition.

 

Why Turn the Page?

Is there more life than this? Most of us ask that question from time to time, but what does the 'more' look like and where do we find it? This book begins to explore the answers to these questions by identifying four things we all seem to believe in - a moral code, justice, hope and love - and asking whether they could exist in a world without God.

 

Print copies of the book are also available from CPO

Young people aged 13 to 18 years, from our Connexion Community of Churches throughout the UK, will be stepping out in prayer at the Youth Conference in April.

The Youth Conference forms an integral part of the 2019 Connexion Conference, which takes place from Monday 15th to Wednesday 17th April at High Leigh in Hoddesdon, Hertfordshire.

The Connexion Conference is a hugely popular event for all ages. Families are made very welcome and there is plenty to do for children and young people, with many opportunities to make new friends.. 

A booking form is below. The deadline for Conference bookings is Friday 22 March 2019.

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

2019 Conference Booking Form

Twice a year ministers from The Connexion Network meet together for 24 hours to share information and pray for one another.

These retreats present a great opportunity for ministers to get to know each other better and also to learn more about the churches they lead.

In November they met at Stanton House, a Christian Retreat in Stanton St John, Oxford.

It was a great time for ministers to get together for worship, prayer and discussion to deepen relationships and refocus before Christmas.