It's been pretty busy the last few days.
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| Elisha and Hazael |
1. Sunday morning I preached here in Childs Hill on 2 Kings 8:7-15 on God holds the future. This was the eighteenth in a series on Elisha. My two main points were that God holds the future and reveals some things about it and that he holds the future, which is not always rosy. We had a good number present including visitors around for Mothers Day and a new couple from the Philippines.
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| Durands |
2. In the afternoon I popped out to nearby Muswell Hill to collect Emmanuel Durand who had been preaching for Chris Bennett so that after tea with us he could preach and speak about the UFM work he is involved in, in Britanny. He enjoyed speaking Welsh with us at tea and a bit of French with members who speak it in church. Thankfully he preached the sermon and gave his report in English. It was great to hear. (Also see here and here)
3. On Monday they had workshops on creation at one of the schools in Childs Hill. I had the opportunity to present the Christian view from Genesis. I began by reading Genesis 1 from the NIrV, getting them to count off Day 1, 2, 3, etc. I then gave a simple powerpoint presentation of the material, touching on Genesis 2, before taking questions. The first group were a little slow getting off the blocks but got going eventually. They wanted to talk about the end of the word as well as the beginning but, while making the point that you can't understand the one without the other, I tried to keep on track. Someone asked me in the afternoon if Adam was a Muslim. Each workshop finished with the kids making posters showing the six days of creation. (I also showed the first group this). There was also a final whole school report back. Most of the workshops had done the Christian view and one the Jewish (pretty much the same). Islam I gather accepts six day creation to some extent but not the biblical account. There were also workshops on some of the more exotic creation stories among Native Americans, etc. (See here). So it was good opportunity and I certainly enjoyed it.
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| Asghers |
4. In the evening I was over in Hounslow for a series of meetings about the church planting work in Cranford. That went well. We are now moving into a new phase of the work with support coming through a trust rather than FIEC. Robin Asgher again had news to report of contacts with Asian people and opportunities to speak to Buddhists, Muslims and others. Always encouraging.
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| PfS Reading |
5. Then this morning I was standing in at the FIEC's PfS course in Reading giving a seminar on Proverbs 9. Around 30 men and women of different ages were present, most of whom I'd not met before, and I think we had a good time. Chris Bennett followed me on the doctrine of Christ. As a WelshmanI've been through Reading a hundred times or more but I don't recall ever being there before so that was good. The Cooks are a lovely couple and made me feel very welcome.
