APRIL 2010
Penny and I have settled into Waterloo
Cottage in Erwood (originally built in 1816, one year after the
battle of Waterloo). It's a lovely place and we are blessed and
fortunate to be here. Our ducks are in seventh heaven in that they
now have clean running water to swim in, as well as the seven foot
waterfall further upstream. The neighbours are very friendly and
helpful, even to the extent that one of them brought over a barrow
load of logs for our fire! When we first arrived we were quite taken
aback with the warmth of the welcome,with 8 or 10 people knocking on
our door to say hello during the first couple of weeks. I met more of
the locals when I went to the pub to watch the rugby, and Penny met a
completely different set of locals when she joined the WI. We must
have made an impression somewhere because I have received the great
honour of being invited to open the Church and Chapel fête in July!
We have also found a warm welcome in
the chapels we have visited, with everyone pleased to see us, and
many promising to pray for us in our new venture. Although God has
given us some clear ideas about what he wants us to do, we felt it
was best to concentrate first on getting to know people before we
rushed into any organised events or groups. We go to different
chapels every Sunday and I have preached or led a Bible Study on 7
different occasions so far, as well as sitting in the congregation
and getting to know the people. I was invited to share our calling at
a meeting of the Congregational Church, and also invited to the
inauguration of the Talgarth Free Church, a result of the Baptist,
Presbyterian and URC churches in Talgarth coming together. Sadly the
total membership of the new church is only 12 people, a sad
reflection on the state of the chapels in this area. We have also
spent time with people from three different house churches in Brecon,
Builth Wells, and Llandrindod, and met for coffee with a number of
Christian contacts, as well as meeting with the ministers of the Rads
and Monts Association at their regular fraternal. We spent the best
part of a day with a group from a Catholic church in Hay, and have
joined several other groups for prayer. We have had quite a few meals
with people round about, and are planning to invite others to us when
Penny has fully recovered from her operation. This week we helped out
at a New Wine Cymru Kingdom Intensive course in Cardiff. It was a
timely reminder that our call to Brecon is to start new work, which
includes sharing the Good News that Jesus is King, and that he is as
powerful and relevant today as he was 2000 years ago.
We are extremely fortunate
that both Baptist Unions are fully supportive of our calling, and
jointly funding my salary. Nick Bradshaw from the BUGB and Marc Owen
from the BUW are part of a support group which has been set up, and
they will both be taking part in our Commissioning Service at
Watergate Baptist Church in Brecon, 5pm on Sunday May 16th.
You are very welcome to join us and stay for refreshments afterwards.
It would really encourage the Brecon churches to see a good crowd
joining together on that occasion, and it would encourage us as well!
PRAYER POINTS
- that we would continue to meet and build relationships with people across Breconshire
- that God would lead us to 'people of peace' who might be open to hosting Alpha etc
- that we would be led by God and not rush into doing things because we feel 'we ought'
- that Penny's healing would continue and her frustration would not!
- that our own walk with God would deepen day by day and that we would hear his voice
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