The 20/20 vision of our local Peninsula Gospel Partnership is to see a Christ-centered, Bible-teaching, people-loving church available to every community in Devon & Cornwall. At Zion Community Church in St Ives, this is our vision too.

Turning the Tide

Turning the Tide (TTT) is an initiative launched in the Spring of last year with the goal of seeing our church established in the next 3 years. That means we are looking to the Lord to be a church of 30 people in 3 years time, self-sufficient financially and further able to make an impact with the gospel in St. Ives and West Cornwall. So far we have been hugely encouraged by the support we have received and with encouragements from the Lord.

Please pray Psalm 90:17 with us: May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us - yes, establish the work of our hands

Gospel Outreach

Wyatt Gwin heads up Emmanuel & Associates based out of Atlanta and through a mutual friend he got in touch to see if they could bring a mission team to us, once a year, for the next three years. Obviously we would be delighted to host and receive such a team and so we are in the planning stages now trying to arrange the first team for this summer.

Please pray that the Lord would be making disciples of local people in St. Ives through this partnership in the gospel.

Jonathan Steeds

For quite a while now we have been praying for the Lord to send workers to join us (Matt. 9:38). In the Spring last year Jonathan Steeds, who has many historical links with the town and church, committed to joining us for a year. He has been and is a huge help in preaching, leading, visiting, helping out with the young people's activities and being part of the church family. We are very grateful to the Lord for him.

Please join us in thanking God for sending us a worker to join us here for this year, and for all the help Jonathan gives us.

Building Upgrades

The Lord has also provided financially for us such that we have been able to install a new audio-visual system, to replace the last one installed over 20 years ago. We hope this we enable to gospel to be heard much more clearly, and also engage our younger people in actively taking part in the services and having more visual content.

Please join us in thanking God for his provision for various upgrades to the church.

Church Family

The church family are good heart and health, and very aware of the Lord sustaining us. Sadly Steve Traylor has decided to leave the church, and so we wish him well. Our young people are full of energy and enthusiasm and continue to be an encouragement to us.

Please pray for us to be faithful gospel witnesses in St. Ives and that the Lord might use us to be a lasting witness both in St. Ives and West Cornwall.

Regional Instability

We feel our need to be in the town more than ever. The current movements within Methodism nationally are creating a real storm for faithful methodists here in West Cornwall, in addition to the normal challenges some local churches are facing. We long to be a lasting, faithful, vibrant witness to the gospel here. (Map Data © 2020 Google).

Please pray for the gospel to bear fruit and grow in St. Ives and West Cornwall.

Visiting St Ives

If you are going to be in St Ives in 2020, we'd love to see you, please do drop into the bookshop, or to our main morning service at 10:45 on Sundays.

With our love

Tim Dennick and the members of Zion

Women's Day

Women from The Connexion church communities in Sierra Leone traditionally come together for friendship, prayer and worship at a special day of their own during the week before the start of the main Conference.

Invited Speaker

This year Women’s Day took place on 31 January at St Mark’s Cathedral in Waterloo, and featured invited speaker Ebun Dekam, who is the General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Sierra Leone.

The Council of Churches is a communion of 24 Protestant churches in Sierra Leone and eight affiliate churches and organisations. In recent years, they have played a significant role in areas of advocacy, peace mediation, disaster relief and election monitoring.

 Conference 2020

The main three-day Annual Conference for 2020, which is open to the entire Connexion church ministers and members, took place at St Mark’s Cathedral from Friday 7 to Sunday 9 February. The theme for this year was Psalm 23 ‘The Lord is our Shepherd’ and the conference concluded with a special Thanksgiving Service on Sunday.

Many thanks to Magnus Bendu for sending over the photographs and keeping us in touch with people and events in Sierra Leone. Pictured below are ministers and clergy members entering St Mark's Cathedral. 

Visiting the school at Mile 91 – so named because it is exactly 91 miles from Freetown – Magnus brought the children a treat of fresh bread to eat after the chapel service. 

It is lovely, but also quite humbling to see the expressions of delight on the children’s faces as they eat the bread, and a reminder of how in the West so many of us can take this food, and very much more, for granted. 

Your prayers are always welcomed for the Connexion schools, orphanage, churches and local communities in Sierra Leone, and the following prayer points are particularly requested for February. 

Sierra Leone Connexion Conference

Please pray for those in leadership positions in as they make final preparations for this year’s Conference at St Mark’s Cathedral, Waterloo, Sierra Leone.

Please also pray for speakers and receptive listeners, for wisdom in any decisions that need to be made, and for unity and God’s presence throughout the event from 7 to 9 February.

Sierra Leone Leaders

Magnus has requested prayer for the National Leaders in Sierra Leone, as currently there is much animosity between the two main political parties.

Containers from UK

Two containers arrived in Sierra Leone from the UK on 5 December, but they are still awaiting one signature from a Government Official before they can be released to complete the remainder of their journey. Please pray that this will happen quickly and that the cost of ‘port rental’ will be minimal.

Donate

If you would like to contribute towards the important work of The Connexion both in the UK and in Sierra Leone, please click on Donate. All donations, no matter how small, are of huge value to enable us to continue the legacy of the Countess of Huntingdon.

The new nursery in Kono, Sierra Leone, is now accommodating 15 children. Magnus asks for our prayers for this new outreach. A group of the children are pictured here with Magnus during one of his visits - looking rather pleased with their shoe bags. One boy seems to wearing his!

... and pictured below with shoe bags and a mixture of expressions are the children from Hastings, Sierra Leone. 

To complete the picture, click on the link below to see a short video of the Kono nursery children

Video Kono Nursery

Don't forget to click on Short Thought each week to hear a new 60-second message from Simon Allaby. 

Simon's recordings are always inspiring and entertaining. In this week's message 'A Right Royal Dilemma' Simon considers the decisions Prince Harry and Meghan are currently facing, and Jesus' role as the Son of the Father, the King of all Kings.

To listen to the recordings just go to the SHORT THOUGHT button, which appears at the top of every website page.

Simon apologises for being a tad croaky this week - he was in danger of losing his voice!

Happy listening!

Link to: A Right Royal Dilemma

The children at Songo Loko, Sierra Leone send their thanks for the shoe bags they received at Christmas.

Every year shoe bags are put together by volunteers, and sent to the children at our churches, schools and orphanage in Sierra Leone. The bags contain donated treats of toys, small items of clothing and other useful products.

We are pleased to pass on huge thanks to the whole of the Connexion Community involved with this mission. It is certainly worth every bit of effort, to see the delighted faces of the recipients!

News from Sierra Leone reports that the children from Bethesda Orphanage and The Connexion schools and churches had a very enjoyable Christmas and were delighted with their shoe bag gifts.

Pictured above are children inside St Marks Church in Waterloo - waiting for their shoe bags...

... before going outside to receive them!

And below are the children from Ebenezer Manallo, looking equally pleased to receive their bags.

Finally, please click on the link below to receive a 'We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year' message from the children at Bethesda Orphanage. The recording is slightly pixelated and a bit jumpy, but very fine to see and hear!

Bethesda Video Christmas morning

On behalf of the children in Sierra Leone, please may we pass on very many thanks to the amazing Connexion community and volunteers who make it possible for them to receive these treats on Christmas Day.

The Connexion pastors in Sierra Leone were able to enjoy their annual retreat in December at a luxurious resort, The Makambo in Makeni City. In usual circumstances the centre would have been off limits, due to its cost, but they were granted an extremely generous discount of 30%.

Magnus Bendu said: ‘It was my aim to let our ministers stay in a very decent and comfortable place this year and God answered my prayers. Many of our Ministers are from very remote villages like myself, and having the comfort of sleeping in a room with a TV and air conditioning is a once in a lifetime luxury!’

The retreats provide a valuable opportunity for ministers to come together for reflection, discussion, worship and prayer, and also take time out to rest and re-charge their batteries. 

Magnus sends his thanks to The Connexion community for their prayers and support, which contributed to making this retreat a very special event.  

Donate

If you would like to contribute towards the important work of The Connexion both in the UK and in Sierra Leone, please click on Donations at the top of the web page. All donations, no matter how small, are of huge value to enable us to continue the legacy of the Countess of Huntingdon.

The Connexion initially received a request from Hailsham Gospel Mission for a grant in the region of £8,500 to assist with the replacement of their church hall roof covering.

The Trustees were able to agree to the funds, and work duly began. However, it wasn’t long before alarm bells started ringing, following an assessment by the contractor who discovered that the roof’s structural timbers were moving.

As a result, all work was quickly halted and the site was quarantined off for safety reasons.

Hailsham’s Connexion Trustee, Glynn Phillips, visited the church site and arranged for Rand Associates Consultancy to carry out a detailed inspection. Their survey revealed that the sidewalls of the building had moved outwards, which would make it necessary to carry out more extensive works. In fact, a whole new roof was required.

Following the survey, detailed drawings and structural calculations were required for building control purposes, and work was unable to begin before the necessary permissions were granted. The process took several months during which time the building was protected with temporary coverings to safeguard it from bad weather. 

Finally, a major reconstruction was completed, bearing a cost in the region of £23,000, which necessitated additional funds from The Connexion. The work involved rebuilding the walls, and creating a completely new roof structure and covering, plus internally the building needed a replacement ceiling and new lighting.

After almost four months from the initial start, Hailsham Gospel Mission are extremely pleased with the new roof and internal refurbishments, which has enabled church activities to take place in the hall once again. 

Donate

If you would like to contribute towards the important work of The Connexion to support our member churches and maintain and preserve our buildings, many of which are historical, we would be very grateful. All donations, no matter how small, are of huge value to enable us to continue the legacy of the Countess of Huntingdon. Please click on Donations at the top of our website page and make your gift to the Connexion Mission. With very many thanks.

Magnus Bendu has been delighted to report the success of the School Chaplain Training Day, which took place on Friday 29 November at St Mark’s Church, Waterloo in Sierra Leone.

The event was able to accommodate 27 trainee pastors from both local and more far-reaching schools in the provinces, which means a growing number of schools will now benefit from having their own School Chaplain.

Magnus said: ‘I am really excited that after a long interval there will be chaplains in schools again to bring the Word of God to the children, who will then pass it on to their families.’

Following their training, the chaplains will be able to train staff to improve their bible teaching in school assemblies and scripture lessons.

Magnus sends a big thank you to everyone who has prayed and generated donations to enable the training day to take place for so many individuals.

He asks for us to continue to pray for the schools, pupils, teachers and chaplains.

 Donate

If you would like to contribute towards the important work of The Connexion both in the UK and in Sierra Leone, please click on Donate. All donations, no matter how small, are of huge value to enable us to continue the legacy of the Countess of Huntingdon.