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.
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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!)
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Thank you thank you thank you for all you have given and continue to give to the people of Acton.

Mark Bishop

Details to follow.

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).

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

All welcome.

4:30pm, Twyford School Cafe, W3

YOU are personally invited.  For those of you who receive this in Canada, New Zealand and who knows where you are excused!

Sozo = saved, healed and delivered.

Tuesday evening is our monthly CHURCH CENTRAL which this month is being held at Acton Green Church, Cunnington Street, W4.  We shall start to look at some of the Sozo training course which has come out of Bethel Church in Redding, USA.

At times in church history there has been an obsession with getting people saved.  To put it bluntly “you must know Jesus before you die or you will be lost in Hell for eternity”.  In more recent times, and I realise I am generalising to an enormous extent, the church has rightly declared that salvation is about more than getting people “saved”.  It is about the kind of life the Christian lives on earth not just the reality of Heaven once they die.  I think it was Christian Aid that declared at one time that they believed “in life before death”.

The Greek word used for salvation is sozo which encompasses both understandings above and more.  It means to be saved, healed and delivered.  It includes this life and the next because in reality there is no such divide.  Once a person comes to Christ they are delivered at that point from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light and eternal life has already begun!  Physical death is just something you go through en route!

The training is something which I hope will stretch those who have previously done prayer ministry training.  It will also serve to get some of you started.  If you are new to the idea of praying for others in the manner we often do on a Sunday, then this course will really help get you going.

MY VISION FOR A SOZO TEAM INCLUDES YOU.  That is those on the present ministry team and those not yet!

It will take more than one Church Central to cover the training indeed several will be required.  But I want us to add to our present prayer ministry both in terms of personnel and the tools required to more effectively get people saved, healed and delivered.

But my vision is to have a team that can further expand Oak Trees ministry to other churches and beyond.  I believe we have great opportunities to do this. My role as leader of the international networks for New Wine (see www.new-wine.org) means that I have the great privilege of facilitating and speaking at conferences all over the world as well as close to home.  I would love to take YOU with me.

Until now I have randomly invited a few Oaks to join me from time to time.  But I want to raise the bar. I want a team to form that is passionately obsessed with being like Jesus Christ and doing His ministry (see John 14:12).  This will require standards of discipleship that include matters of character as well as a commitment to the supernatural ministry of Jesus.

If you want to know more come on Tuesday evening. If you really cannot but with more notice you would have liked to, then let me know.

I hope to see you at the meeting where more of my thinking will be outlined.  8pm, Acton Green Church, Cunnington Street, W4

Blessings,

Mark

Hello Marketeers

Mark Bishop

What answers to prayer did we have last week?

Well judging by the many testimonies this past Sunday they were numerous and diverse in nature.  Here is some of the fruit as I have received it from others and in my own experience:

-The twelve year old nephew of one Oak family fell about 5 metres from a balcony on to his head.  Despite the initial fears he is now fully recovered.

- The new born baby of another family was thought to have an infection but hospitals tests all came back negative.

-The sister of another Oak was prayed for during 24-7 because Doctors could not get any heart beat from the 8 week old foetus she is carrying.  All looked extremely bleak but today we have heard that all is well!

Are they answers to prayer or just coincidence?  Nobody knows but as Archbishop William Taylor said many years ago “all I know is that when I pray coincidences happen and when I don’t they don’t”.

Others testified to depression lifting; the presence of God weighing on them; the joy of prayer and to hearing His voice.  Personally I delighted and marvelled at the enormous creativity that so many demonstrated.

One Oak struggling to enjoy her work situation and feeling “taken advantage of” to her surprise was offered a 25% pay rise!  How can I get that anointing?

Prayer was offered up for new accommodation for a man known to Oak Tree who had remarked that he wanted to live closer to Acton. He has been found somewhere nearer.

Other answers include the provision of work; new Christian friends, new creative opportunities at work and much more.

I know that one of the obvious responses might be to ask about the prayers that have NOT been answered yet.  Certainly that is a valid point but for now let us celebrate what God has done and is doing.  The whole subject of prayer raises as many questions as it does answers but what is not in doubt is that prayer is vital to a healthy Christian discipleship.  Jesus prayed often and the Apostle Paul even taught we need to “pray without ceasing”.

So do let me know more of your testimonies regarding the power of prayer, and do go on learning and encouraging others to learn how to pray more effectively.

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.  Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops”. James 5:16f

You are as righteous as Elijah for you are the righteousness of God (see 2 Corinthians 5:21).   So keep praying.

In His love,

Mark

Oak Tree Steering Group meets to discuss vision and direction for Oak Tree.

Members of Steering Group:

Mark Aldridge – Minister in Charge

Sarah Miller – Church Warden

Steve Jupe – Church Warden

Jonathan Mead – Treasurer

Ruth Roff