Kings Church - Boston Spa

This was my first visit to this excellent church that is affiliated to Elim and was pioneered fifteen years ago from a home Bible Study group. There were no spare seats in the packed Sunday morning service. Stephen Thompson, one of our finest Bible teachers, (pictured with his wife Ruth and daughter Christel) has led the church since it was planted and is totally committed to its future. This warm and welcoming congregation is an excellent testimony in the small town that it serves.

AoG leaders Regional Day

This was my third visit in the past four years to the Assemblies of God Regional Day based outside Cambridge for the fifty churches that are covered by Regional Superintendent, David Puddle. David and his wife Jackie were young people in the Cheltenham Elim church when I pastored it twenty-five years ago. It was good, once again, to be with them and leaders of Elim's sister fellowship.

Dunamis - House of Praise CD

In a previous Blog I referred to my visit to Ealing Dunamis and the album that has recently been produced by the Dunamis Collective. The easy thing to do would have been to make a praise album. They decided instead, generously, to profile several of the different musical genres represented by artists that are part of this innovative Elim congregation - a number of which are professional musicians. The result is an album featuring styles through jazz, hip-hop and rap. To sample the music and to find out how to secure the album go to www.myspace.com/thedunamiscollective. I keep this CD permanently in my car. It is a prime example of the best in professionally produced contemporary Christian music.

The Flame - Blackheath

The Flame is a special church in more ways than one. Three years ago two churches, one Assemblies of God and the other Elim, embarked on an experiment. Both congregations were relatively small and they began the journey of working together to combine the two churches under the their two respective pastors. I was present of the launch of the courageous venture and was looking forward to seeing what had transpired since I was last there. The results were impressive and it was good to meet the pastors Dave Willets (Elim) and Alan Silver (AoG). Through good relationship and tenacity the Flames has grown both numerically and spiritually. I met with the leadership over lunch and listened as Alan and David, and the rest of the leadership, shared their vision for the future.

Ealing - Dunamis

I often refer to the increasingly high quality of musicians in the worship teams in our churches. Ealing Dunamis is pastored by Charles and Theresa Hammond (pictured). They have a church that has a high proportion of people who come from the London music and media scene - several of whom are professional artists. Charles, who before coming into the ministry was an architect, and Theresa who was a professional photographer - have sacrificed in many ways to get the church to where it is today. I was massively impressed by this warm, inviting and relevant church. For details of how to secure a CD showcasing the various styles reflected in the music coming out of Dunamis - see a later Blog.

Wembley Christian Centre 15th Anniversary

Soke-Mun Ho is the pastor of Wembley Christian Centre - an Elim church planted fifteen years ago with just twenty people. The Saturday celebrations were held at the Quality Hotel situated next door to the new Wembley football stadium. In the morning I met with leaders of the church - which numbered more than the original congregation. In the afternoon the convention was opened to the entire church. The following day meetings were held at the church and the speaker was Wynne Lewis who was the pastor of Kensington Temple at the time WCC was birthed.

Christian and Jenna's wedding - more photos

Wedding of Christian and Jenna Carpenter

Neath Elim church is a great church pastored by Wayne Carpenter who yesterday officiated at the wedding at which his son Christian and his lovely bride, Jenna, were married.

Christian and Jenna are typical of the fine young people within our Movement who are committed to Christ and to the local church. Christian, a professional musician, leads the worship at the Neath church and many will also know him as one of the lead musicians at The Gathering.

When Christian and Jenna invited me to speak at their wedding I knew that it, and the reception that followed, would be a clear testimony to their vibrant faith in Christ. It was all of that and more beside. We wish them every blessing in their new life together.

Apostle Appiah visits Cheltemham

In a recent posting I reported on the fact that Apostle Amegatcher had returned to Ghana after having responsibility for the leadership of the Church of Pentecost in the UK.

This week Apostle Appiah, who now takes up this important role, made his first visit to our International Offices in Cheltenham accompanied by a delegation of senior leaders. We look forward to a long and meaningful relationship with him and his team.

There are over two million members of the Church of Pentecost world wide and this Denomination has very close ties with the Elim Pentecostal church. The number of Pentecostals world-wide is currently estimated at over 500 million

Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland

It was great to be with John and Trish Waller (pictured) at Ballyfermot. The church has doubled in the few years they have been there and this was very evident from the numbers at the Sunday morning service. It is a warm and friendly family church that has a desire, not just to experience blessing within the church, but to create an impact though its ministry of care within the community.

Republic of Ireland Leaders Day

There was great support for the leaders day in the Republic of Ireland that was led by Pastor John McEvoy and hosted by Pastor Richard Macwhinney in Navan. Many of the churches throughout the Republic are many miles apart and so the value of the day is as much about fellowship as it is about teaching.

A special night at Wells

It says a lot both for the church and the leadership that such a high proportion of the congregation was present for the mid-week service. Stephen and Gill Fowler are the right people in the right place at the right time - a fantastic couple. The meeting was designed as means of encountering God and it proved to be a memorable occasion.

Several years ago Gill, who was the first to become a Christian, invited her lawyer husband to an evangelistic outreach. He still remembers the trepidation in which he entered the church - little knowing that years later, having come to faith, he would one day be the pastor of the church. It was a joy to be with them.

Selly Oak - 70th Anniversary

A full church gathered on the Sunday morning of the anniversary celebrations. Senior minister, Maldwyn Jones, has been there for the past fifteen years and has seen the church evolve in a variety of ways not least in the reduction of the average age of the congregation which has a higher than average proportion of students and young people. Tribute was given to the Elder, affectionately known as "Blackie" who was first brought to the church when he was four and has been there all of the churches 70 years.

Funeral of David Khan

David Khan, one of our highhly respected pastors, had a long a successful ministry within Elim. Over five hundred people packed the venue in Croydon for one of the most memorable funeral services I have attended in a long time. David Campbell, regional leader for the area, preached powerfully and several responded to the appeal. Many fellow-pastors were present in tribute to their colleague. Our thoughts and prayers are with Florence and the family. 

Ireland - Alexandra Park Avenue

This was my first opportunity to see the new building since it opened. It is 'state-of-the art' functionally and technically and it was good to spend some time with pastor Brian Madden and his wife Martine. The Irish churches have something to teach the rest of us when it comes to the numbers of non-Christian that they attract to their Sunday night services which often are the largest attended meeting of the week. I felt very much 'at home' preaching at a church that had great music, drama and mime presentations but especially to witness those who came to Christ at the close of the service.

Ireland - Belfast South

I was with Paul and Gail Dunn a couple of years ago in Dromore and now it was great to see how God is blessing them in South Belfast - a growing church with a strong evangelistic focus. As so often is the case, I notice in our churches worship groups that are of the highest calibre and were the congregation many times the size would need to change little.- this churtch was no exception

Two Days in Scotland

I flew up to Motherwell, Scotland to speak at the Celebration of Ivan and Margaret Pott's 40 years in ministry. The following day was spent with Kevin and Margaret Peat (pictured) and to minister to Elim leaders at the Scottish Regional Day held in Falkirk. Kevin is a member of Elim's National Leadership Team and Margaret is one of the leaders of Elim's womens ministry, "Aspire". The comittment of Scottish leaders to Regional events has always been phenominal and on the day there were several who had travelled hundreds of miles in order to attend. Kevin designed the time together with a perfect balance of teaching, encouragement, testimony and worship.

Special day at Wallasey

One of the best parts of ministering in our churches is spending time with our pastors and their families. I get to meet some tremendous people and the Clark family is no exception. Pictured here are Mel and Ruth with their three fantastic daughters (left to right) Danielle, Aimee and Hannah.

The morning service was with the Oasis church in Wallasey and the evening consisted of three churches coming together as the leaders of the local Kings church and Wirral Christian Centre attended together with their respective congregations. The Wallsey church was packed to capacity. WCC is pastored by Paul Epton who served with distinction as Elims Director of Evangelism for many years.

 

Irish Ordination Service

I have already mentioned the service in a previous blog and a fuller report will appear in a future edition of Direction. The top photo shows the ordinands and their wives together with Eric and Ruth McComb and Marilyn and myself. The second photoi is of the ordinands confirming their ordination pledge to a packed church.
 

Regents Theological College Graduation

Nigel Tween, Director of Training , opened the Graduation service at St Mary's Nantwhich at which 43 students received their degrees.
The mayor and mayoress of Nantwhich were present for the first PhD award which was presented to Marijke Hock