Market Church
March 9, 2010 by irishmark
Filed under Market Church, Outthere
Market CHURCH
Hello Marketeers
Happy Birthday!!
We are 3!!!
Wow, 3 years…
- That’s over 20,000 cups of drinks…
- That’s about 20,000 conversations…
- That’s definitely some prays….
- That’s a lot of practice at grace and patience…
- That’s rain, sleet, snow, wind, sun, ice…
- That’s sustained mission…
And that’s not bad going for a church ‘waiting’ for a building!
I believe we have learnt so much as a team and as a church through serving in Acton Market. Here’s to continuing to learn…
MarketTRAINING on 20th March will be a bit of a celebration of the 3 years on the Market, a bit of new info about the general running of the stall and some space for us to re-visit ‘how to promote healthy boundaries’ with those who visit the stall and some specific pointers on offering prayer in our context.
________________________
THIS WEEK:
STALL: 2 spaces 10-12, 2 spaces 12-2.
HOTs: 2 spaces 10-11 and 11-12.
(also MarketFAMILIES had to be postponed from last week to this so if you are a family and free for a bit of time 11-1pm please come along and help Lisa!)
________________________
Thank you thank you thank you for all you have given and continue to give to the people of Acton.
Mark Bishop
Market Family – Easter Extravaganza
March 5, 2010 by MarkB
Filed under Events, Market Church
Market Family are celebrating Easter Weekend!
Details to follow.
Market Church
March 5, 2010 by irishmark
Filed under Market Church, Outthere
Market CHURCH
Hello Marketeers
And there's nothing like the rain of the city, kicking up all the dirt and getting right to your skin.
It's my own experience that much of February is gloomy... weather, my attitude, my feelings.
We see it in the Market too, the people who like their homes stay there, or rush through without stopping.
Those who don't like to stay at home because they're lonely, cold or homeless come out, often gloomy, often getting right to your skin.
There are clear seasons not just in our own lives that affect us but also in those around us (Ecclesiastes 3). Our job on the market is not to solve these issues in an instant (although let's always pray for that!) Our job is to look through the gloom, to trudge through the rain, and to look for the sunshine... more to the point... Our job is to look through the issues of our lives and of others and to look for the Son (Romans 4:1-3, Matthew 25:40).
________________________ This week!Market FAMILIES is on 11-1pm - if you are a family or not do come and help/hang out! AND...Can you give some time? STALL: 2 spaces 10-12, 1 space 12-2 HOTs: 2 spaces 10-11, 2 spaces 11-12
_________________________Mark Bishop
Market Church
February 16, 2010 by irishmark
Filed under Market Church
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Market CHURCH
Hello Marketeers
So there has been a lot of talk about politicians recently. In fact one politician, as part of the series Tower block of commons (click here to go to 4OD page with Acton episode),
stayed with a mum and her kids on the South Acton Estate. It’s amazing how often politicians get distanced from the very people they believe they are representing.
And let’s face it, it’s amazing how often we all get removed from the very people we are called to represent and serve (Isaiah 58:6-8).
This program, along with others like “Secret Millionaire” are fascinating to me because I love seeing people choose to close the gap between the have’s and have not’s.
But I don’t think you need to be a millionaire to close this gap. You don’t even need to be able to make someone fully better (whatever you perceive that to be), in fact Jesus
was controversial because he implied we even get that the wrong way around, the have’s and have nots, the blessed and the not blessed (Matt 5:1-12). Who’s really blessed here?
In all of these T.V. programs one thing strikes me… We need to be blessed by have/have not as much as the have/have not needs us to bless us (delete as you feel appropriate!).
The Market is not a place of solutions but of beginning to work together, we pray, for the glory of God (Matt. 25: 34-40).
____________________
Can you give some time this weekend or any other up to May?
STALL – One space 10-12. Two spaces 12-2pm.
HOTS - 2 spaces on both 10-11 and 11-12.
____________________
Let me know!
God bless you.
Mark Bishop
Market Church – 13th Feb 2010
February 9, 2010 by irishmark
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Market CHURCH
Hello Marketeers
You are Naturally Supernatural…
Today I was walking across south acton and I said hello to a guy who was, well, lurking on a corner.
As I said hello he smiled a toothless grin and took his roll-up down from his lips, ‘Alright mate’, ‘what you up to?’…
‘I’m just visiting someone who lives on the estate’ I said innocently. ‘Ah!’ he says, ‘Same reason I am then!’. At this point what
little street savi I have kicked into gear and I realised he looked like a drug user, and it seemed he thought I did too! So I reply…
‘Urm, I’m not sure mate, I’m a pastor in a church off to meet someone who I know’. The man stopped, shock showed across that broken face,
‘Oh, urm, I’m sorry mate, bless you, obviously not then, sorry to bother you…’. As a continued walking I assured him he’d no need to apologise
and that it was nice to meet him. I said that I hoped he would take care. I then went off to peddle the highs of grace and hope in a flat on the estate as best I could.
So what’s my point here?
On the market, and in the rest of our daily lives we have the opportunity to surprise people with our choice to follow Jesus, whatever we might look like.
We may be mistaken as someone who doesn’t but as we naturally feed on the grace we are given we can deal it to others (2 Cor. 1:3-4).
In this way we can be naturally supernatural. Not visible from a mile off by our holy glow. Often underestimated. Often scared. But learning that God has made us naturally supernatural.
We want HOTs and the Market stall to be places we are all naturally supernatural.
Three practical places you can sign-up and go to over the next months are these events. I recommend them to learn more:
- Naturally Supernatural, Soul Survivor Watford. link.
- Next Generation prayer event. (Pete Greig – 24-7 founder is speaking) link.
- Catch the Fire London Conference (Heidi Baker) link.
Got time to give this Saturday?
Market stall shifts: AM(10-12): one space. PM (12-2): one space
HOTS shifts: (10-11) two spaces, (11-12), two spaces
God bless you.
Mark Bishop
Market Church – 6th Feb 2010
February 2, 2010 by irishmark
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Market CHURCH
Hello Marketeers
The Market is a total free-for-all, no strings, no minimum purchase price! It is free no matter who you are or where you are from.
Mark Bishop
24-7 Prayer Requests
31st Jan 2010 – 7th Feb 2010
If you would like prayer for any reason please fill out the form below.
Emails are being checked daily so it will be added within 24 hours.
more info on this week of prayer available here
Market Church – 30 Jan 2010
January 26, 2010 by MarkB
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Market CHURCH
Hello Marketeers
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8467833.stm
Last week the BBC ran an article on the history of great British confectioners and I was interested to read that many of the firms were started by Quakers.
The article said:
The move into chocolate began with cocoa drinks in the 19th Century as a reaction against the perceived misery and deprivation caused by alcohol, says Quaker historian Helen Rowlands.
“Quakers and other non-conformists at the time were concerned about levels of alcohol misuse in the population at large, they were part of the temperance movement.
“Cocoa was a way of providing cheap and available drink. It was healthy because you had to boil the water to make it when they didn’t have good water supplies.”
As you hand out your next Hot Chocolate at the market – you can think of the legacy Hot Chocolate has in reaching out to the poor!!
Bish’s macbook is poorly this week whilst he is at Ridley – so he has asked me to email out for him this week.
This Saturday at the market we are only doing the morning shift because of Helping Hands and setting up the 24/7 Prayer Room. Bish says one or two volunteers would be very welcome!
A reminder that if you have anything for the Prayer Room – or if you want to help set up our creative boiler room of prayer – we will be in 216 from 10am – 3pm this Saturday.
Thanks for all you are and do,
Ruthx
24-7 Prayer Room
CLICK HERE FOR PRAYER REQUEST FORM
This is a key year for OakTree:
- Moving into 216,
- CAP,
- 3 years of serving on the streets every week,
a 17 year journey now landing OakTree in the middle of Acton – Let’s carry on PRAYING our way onwards.
So, quite a few people have heard of a movement called 24/7 prayer. They have brought together a story that God has been writing, encouraging churches and groups of Christians to pray non-stop 24 hours a day, 7 days a week…
They say about themselves:
“24/7 is an accidental prayer movement that began in September 1999. A bunch of young people who found praying difficult set themselves the challenge of praying non-stop for a month. God turned up and they didn’t stop praying till Christmas! People who wouldn’t walk into a church service came to experience God’s presence in the Prayer Room: some even gave their life to the Lord. The idea of praying night and day spread fast! All it takes is 24 people to pray an hour a day to fill a week. You can use the space to talk to God about anything you wish and try new ways of praying using the arts, music and activities.”
And there are so many testimonies from people who have taken part in this…
“And there are stories of salvation. People who would call themselves Christians are asking for prayer, spontaneous conversations are taking place about God and a girl walked into a prayer room on her university campus in Surrey said ‘it was like coming home’”
“In a prayer room in Scotland a cancerous tumor disappeared from a woman’s body in answer to prayer. Doctors at Ayr hospital and Glasgow royal infirmary are astounded”.
“An atheist walked into a prayer room and said, ‘you can really feel God in here’”
Last time 24-7 counted there had been over six thousand three hundred 24-7 prayer rooms in over 96 different nations! On every continent but Antarctica! There have been prayer rooms run in place from Catholic Churches in England to brothels in Mexico. This is a contagious movement.
We are going to participate with them and for ACTON from
after our service,
7pm 31st Jan – midnight of 6th Feb.
God has called us to pray.
God is calling us to pray.
This is an exciting way to do it!
The danger is that the more mature members think it’s for young people and the young people think it’s for the adults….THIS IS FOR ALL OF US AND IS GOING TO TAKE ALL OF US TO ACHIEVE IT….
Practicalities…
- There will be a sign up sheet on Sundays.
- We would like everyone to pray and consider doing 2 or more shifts during the week.
- We would like a team to get involved in various bits the whole week, from helping keep the prayer room tidy to running some prayer activities.
- If you are interested in this then get in contact with Mark Bishop or Ruth Robinson.
ROTA and PROGRAM… to come?
http://www.oaktree.org.uk/oak_media//2010/01/whatis247prayer.flv
More info about what the 24-7 Prayer Movement is all about can be found here
CLICK HERE FOR PRAYER REQUEST FORM
Market Church – Saturday 23rd January 2010
January 19, 2010 by MarkB
Filed under Market Church
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Market CHURCH
Hello Marketeers
I am here, help me be a blessing.
This person has some issues, please help them be whole.
This person is homeless I think, please provide a home for them.
This person has never spoken to a Christian, would you be sweet to them.
This person who has never been to church, can I invite them?
I’m cold, keep me warm.
I’m tired, sustain me!
As we start back this new year I want to encourage everyone to be praying that little bit more on the market.
As we get ready to pray 24-7 the first week of Feb let’s also refresh Oaktree ministries with more prayer.
As part of the stall this week we will have “prayer request cards” that people can fill out. They then will go into the prayer room to be prayed for during our week of 24-7 prayer.
THIS WEEK: 3 spaces 10am-12noon and 2 spaces 12noon-2pm
PLEASE DO BOOK IN FOR THE REST OF THE TERM TOO… have you got time you can give?
God bless your prayer life.
Mark Bishop
