Session Report - Nov 08

Over the past 6 months there have been many encouragements in our church life. As a session we continue to meet twice a month, once to discuss church business and once to pray for the work of the church. As a session we have been talking about extending the eldership. At present Iain has joined us in our meetings and Graham is in the middle of a 4 month sabbatical, while he serves as Moderator of the Presbytery.

We as a church have looked at various Psalms, Obadiah, Jonah, Mark and 1 Corinthians. Over the next 6 months we plan to continue to look at Mark and 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians raises issues of living out the gospel in a pagan culture. It’s a letter which at first reading is not easy but gets under the skin and addresses issues that every church has to deal with – marriage, divorce, how to you relate to the world around you, caring for your brothers and sisters welfare and so on. It’s so relevant to a church like ours.

We are conscious of the need to be praying for the congregation at this time of economic uncertainty, we know that some of our congregation have lost their jobs and others face uncertainty. It is a great comfort to know that our God is sovereign over all these things, He is not rocked by the credit crunch and we can rest in him and in his purposes. We are hoping to put in place practical help for people in the church who are in need with the deacons. We are commanded in the Bible to do good to everyone especially the household of faith (Gal 6:10).

As a session and a church we have been much in prayer for Mark and Su, Emily Charlotte and May. Although we are thrilled to have them back with us, they are still in need of our prayers and care as a church.

3 new members have joined in the last 6 months - Iain Clements, John Silva and William Patterson. There are a number of new people in the congregation which is very encouraging and we hope to welcome them into church membership soon. We will be having a new members class in the new year.

We have seen Iain Clements join us as the Assistant to the Pastor with a view to becoming the Assistant Pastor. Iain has been involved in various areas of church life - leading services, preaching, leading house-groups, bible handling sessions, helping out with 24:7. It has been a joy for us to work with him.

The 3 bible handling sessions went very well and people who came enjoyed it. We hope they enabled people to understand and interpret the bible better. We are hoping that Iain might be able to run this course in the Liss IPC congregation. We plan to run more short training courses in the future. We’d value your prayers for continued wisdom in planning such activities. Book of the term is a new venture, started this term. The first - ‘The shadow of the Cross’ was bought, (and hopefully read!), by lots of people. The discussion evening will have taken place by the time of the church meeting. It is a great privilege to have so many good Christian books.

Our 2 Cornhill students Hristo and Kicheol have started their second year. This has involved more study for both of them. They finish the course in June and in the longer term both plan to head home.

The Church Weekend in June was a great time. Iver Martin, from Stornoway, spoke powerfully from John 17. It was a good to be able to spend more time together as a church family. It was another opportunity to build the church community, be involved with one another and encourage each other to godliness.

We made the decision to start a new house-group as one of the groups was full. It has made a very good start. We hope to present a vision for house-groups at the church meeting.

Amir and Chuck continue with the Thursday night bible study, a number of their regular attendees have moved out of London so do pray that there would be new people that would come. The book table in Greenford, and monthly street outreach team have been encouraging. It’s also been good to read David’s regular reports. If you would like to help out with either of these please speak to Amir or David.

The Children’s Clubs continue to go well with good numbers attending Club 16 and 24:7. 24:7 leaders particularly would appreciate prayer for discipline issues. Holiday Bible Club this year focused on the life of the Apostle Paul. It was a joy to see so many children coming and also to work together as a church family. As well as these formal church activities it has been very encouraging to see so many in the church take an interest in the local children. Each Saturday afternoon a group play football with on the Green and have built good relationships with both children who come to our clubs and others who would otherwise have no contact with the church. It has been encouraging to see some of these children and young people come regularly to Sunday services. Let’s make a special effort to pray for these children their families.

The Language Class started up again at the end of September and although Jill Peistrup has moved to East London, the class has continued and we are very grateful to all the helpers involved, particularly Jennifer Courtney. On Thursday mornings there is now a bible study meeting at the Lefroys’ home for women from the language class. So far there have been 3 women who have come. The book club continues to meet once a month over lunch on Wednesdays. The 3 other women’s bible studies continue to be a blessing to those who attend.

We are grateful for all those who have volunteered for the hospitality scheme, do be praying there would be many that sign up to come to it.

A Christianity Explored Course took place at the end of the summer/ early autumn. It has been encouraging to see some people who were on the course join a house-group, continue to pray for the seed that was sown. All those who lead were very grateful for your prayers.

Regular services have been held at the Shaftsbury Home with Martin Fox and Chris Roberts speaking. We plan to have a Christmas Carol service there on Monday 16th December. David Barnes has visited the Downhurst home each month to speak. If you would like to be involved with either of these ministries please speak to Paul L. We continue to seek to develop closer links with the South Ealing London City Mission centre. Steve Frost and Tom Button, their two workers, attend IPC on a Sunday evenings. Martin Fox, Paul Meiners and Graham Weeks have all preached there this term. We hope that we can continue to help by sending preachers.

As we look to the coming months we are excited at the prospect of being able to reach out into the community this Christmas time we have quite a packed schedule:

Tuesday 9th December - Early Morning Prayer Meeting – (6.30-8am)
Tuesday 9th December - Tea on the Green – (3-4pm)
Thursady 11th December – Club 16/24:7 Christmas End of term parties
Friday 12th December - English Class Christmas Party
Saturday 13th December - Street Outreach Team at Ealing (B'way 12-2pm)
Sunday 14th December - Church Carol service 6pm
Monday 15th December - Shaftesbury Home Carol Service 7pm
Tuesday 16th December - Carol singing - 2-5pm

Please do be praying for these events. Pray that there would be much fruit as a result of this outreach.

A walk is planned with the IPC Liss congregation at some point during the New Year.

Please continue to pray for the work here, we’re conscious that unless the Lord builds the house we labour in vain.