Here is the latest King's Church Cockermouth Newsletter.
This edition, we have news from friends at King's, book suggestions and updates on things that have been happening.
We hope this newsletter finds you well during lockdown.
Pray! by Roger Bye There is no doubt that throughout this year God has been waking the church across the nations to a new devotion to prayer. And now this month, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Pete Greig from 24/7 Prayer plus others are encouraging us to pray with a fresh urgency and faith to see God’s breakthrough in our nation and beyond. I love Pete Greig’s quote…'Can I be honest with you? I’m actually not into prayer. I’m into Jesus, so we talk.' I don’t believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the power of God. So I ask for his help. A lot! Let’s be stirred and look for ways to encourage each other in prayer this month.
Some Suggestions: - Global Prayer... this coming Friday we have another opportunity to join with thousands across the world in prayer. https://prayersofmany.org These prayer events are accessible for all ages and are superbly led to engage us in praying for others. It’s easy to register and free!
- A prayer walk…we are allowed to walk outside with one other person. Let’s use this as an opportunity to walk and prayer together. You could ‘target’ a particular area in town, or your village, or walk local hills that give a good view of town. There are many ways of doing it, whichever works for you! Why not contact someone and organise it together?
- Thursday morning prayer… we meet at 7am every Thursday for an hour of prayer. Our numbers have grown since we meet on Zoom and I know that for some these have become ‘un-missable’ times of learning to pray together. Contact Alix for Zoom details.
- Wednesday evening prayer…each week there is prayer for revival. Praying for God to break through in our nation with a new wave of His power, grace and truth. Praying that many would be saved! Contact Alison Fielden for more details.
- Prayer triplets/ clusters…there are a number of people who already are connecting to pray together. Obviously, at present, there are physical restrictions to this, but we can make technology work for us. If you’d like to be part of one of these, but not sure who to pray with, then contact us at pastoral@kingscc.org and we’ll see what we can help organise.
Let’s hear this call for the church to rise up and pray in these times. We are alive in rapidly changing and very challenging times, God’s mandate to us is clear. Let’s pray!
Lock down with Will Sellar As a result of Covid-19 lock-down measures, some of us may have lost immediate contact with the wider church community, more so if self-isolating. Roger asked me to relate something about my personal story during this period. After almost 24 years at West Cumberland Hospital, I retired at the end of January. The following day I developed very obvious double vision while driving home. I had been feeling very tired and found it difficult to keep my head up some evenings but thought I was just exhausted from finishing work and trying to get talks ready for a day of GP teaching and a lecture trip to Albania planned for mid-February. Over the following two weeks, I became unsteady walking. By the day before my trip to Albania, I realised I probably had a rare condition called myaesthenia gravis, so managed to get initial medication from my GP late on the evening before leaving. Thankfully, I managed through the weekend, but on returning home was admitted to hospital for a week to confirm the diagnosis and for increased medication. Two weeks later, on "lock-down day", I needed emergency re-admission to the RVI Newcastle because I was no longer able to chew, swallow or move properly and was losing weight. Generalised myaesthenia gravis was diagnosed – an auto-immune disease affecting conduction from nerves to muscles. For the next 8 weeks, while those on furlough enjoyed a beautiful spring outside, I was confined to the ward, fed by naso-gastric tube and then unappetizing pureed meals. CT scan showed an associated thymoma in my chest, a condition found in 1 in 7 with myaesthenia. A thymectomy was planned, but not possible because of Covid related delays to elective surgery. I was finally allowed home and readmitted in August for surgery at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle. Thankfully, I was a lot stronger by then, surgery went well and it has since been possible to reduce immuno-suppression medication. As a scientist and not greatly enthusiastic about poetry, the Psalms have not always been my favourite book, (I prefer Luke, but am clearly biased as a doctor!), but during admission I was struck by how the Psalms helped me pray when lost for words and when concentration was limited. As in Psalm 16:8, I was able to say “I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken”. I came to the conclusion, as did Paul, that suffering of any sort is to humble us, limit our self-opinion and increase our dependence and attention on God and our appreciation of others. I want to thank those of you who have faithfully prayed for me through all of this, who have kept in contact and encouraged me or kindly provided transport when I could not drive, and for the lovely bunch of flowers brought to our home from King's. I also thank God for safety from Covid while immuno-suppressed, and for his healing and considerable improvement in my health with the help of a good neurologist and surgeon. Please pray that one day I might no longer need medication and that this disease may soon be history! God bless, Will Sellar
Lake District Mobility Update - Julia Walker What is Lake District Mobility and why did you set it up? Lake District Mobility is a charity that puts all terrain mobility scooters into outdoor attractions, so that people with limited mobility can go for a walk with everyone else in the mountains. It was set up so that people didn't have to be left at home or in the cafe and could join along with memories, taking photographs, picnics and looking at the views. What have been the challenges through lockdown? The challenge of lockdown was that since getting charity status in April 2017, a lot of my job was networking and getting new sites on board, we had three new sites coming on board in spring and summer 2020 and none of this happened. Also the sites have now less money to cater for new ventures in helping the disabled cause rightly they are trying to protect jobs or even their business, so sites will be more hesitant to become a site. What have been encouragements over the last few months?
People getting back out on the Trampers from 4th July.
Seeing lots of new photos of people enjoying themselves, that without us wouldn't be possible.
Going and doing staff training and catching up with staff at all our sites in the Lake district and North York Moors.
Keeping in touch with sites that will hopefully come on board (a year delayed) and finding out even newer sites that want us in the future.
What would you like the church to be praying for Lake District Mobility? I deeply appreciate your prayer for wisdom as the manager, to look after the staff and volunteers, financially I am making Gods choices and also for protection of our four sites we have and the future sites, if they are of God, that He will protect them as they come into fruition. Also wisdom into the work I do making Cumbria become more accessible with the National Park and getting 'Accessible Cumbria' up and running again after covid. Last but not least, losing a year's progress, so also losing a year's revenue of money, for God to provide in his way and his timing. Current Sites: Whinlatter Langdale Sutton Bank Ravenscar Visitor Centre Future Sites: Calvert Trust Orrest Head Tarn How Rosedale Abbey I have a WhatsApp prayer group for LDM, so if God encourages you to prayer more specifically, please text me and I will include you (I promise there is no more than 1 message a month, at most). Please get in touch in you want to know more for any reason: julia@lakedistrictmobility.org Please have a look at our website too: www.lakedistrictmobility.org Massive thankyou, God bless, Julia
News from the Safe Families Team - Lynn Graham 'The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace…' Numbers 6: 24-26. Blessings are going out across our communities from the churches to reach vulnerable families here in West Cumbria. We are finding more and more that the people of God love to give so generously to this. We thank you for your incredible input to those who need help and especially in the times we are facing as a global population. A local story from a family: “I have a large family and one of my children has challenging behaviour. I was really struggling and so were the children. I seemed to have no time to do anything and I was always waiting for the school to call me about one of them. It takes me a while to trust people, as I have had a lot of professionals working with me and I cancelled a few appointments with Ruth, my family support manager. I had a family friend that went out with me and my 2 youngest children. We went to ‘Funtastics’, an indoor play area. I would have never dreamed of doing this on my own as I would have felt like people were watching me. Going with someone gave me the confidence to go. The family friend offered to buy me a hot chocolate while we watched the children play. I have never had anyone do that for me. She is very kind. My children loved it. Mealtimes were really difficult as we didn’t have anywhere to sit. I mentioned this to Safe Families, and they provided a table and chairs for our family. The children now sit round the table and eat. They are better behaved, and I feel less stressed.” Such a heart-warming story and A Family Friend is just one of the ways you could volunteer to help a family find hope and connection. Team News: We are so happy to have Naomi Fielden join us as Community Volunteer Administrator. She will join myself, Lynn, Ruth and Jess on the Safe Families team for Cumbria. For your prayers - Praise and thanks: - For the opportunities for the church and local community to reach out to 150 children over the last 2 years here in Cumbria through Safe Families: this is wonderful! - For the pioneering hearts of faithful people in the churches and team over the last 2 years - For the continuation of families being supported throughout the high restrictions due to Covid -19
Asking God: - For the blessing of God on volunteers who now need a break and those who are needing to step back for a while - For more volunteers to meet the surge of needy families across our area - For wisdom and discernment going forward with supporting families in the current restrictions
For the ‘more’ of God in every situation: Thank you for taking time to read our news. May the blessing of God be upon us in the church and community, and may his light shine through our lives for Him.
With our love and prayers, Lynn and the Safe Families Team in Cumbria
The Global Leadership Summit 2020
The Global Leadership Summit (GLS) 1-Day Online Experience is your opportunity to access a wealth of leadership insight from a world-class faculty ready to equip and inspire you—no matter where you have influence. When you grow in your leadership and use your influence for good, you can strengthen your relationships, maximise the impact of your church, business or organisation, and even ignite transformation in your community! There are 5 main reasons why you don't want to miss the opportunity to join The Global Leadership Summit in the next 3 weeks.
8+ world-class, diverse speakers ready to share their unique perspectives
Leadership insights, concepts and principles you can immediately apply
A statistically-proven, positive return on investment when you apply what you learn
The most accessible and affordable leadership conference online – it's FREE (with optional donation) and direct to your device
Inspiration and encouragement to forge ahead on your leadership journey in a complex world
Your leadership matters now more than ever. #GLS20 is one of the best ways to get equipped, encouraged and inspired.
Your seat is waiting! Secure your place now at :
- Friday 13th November
- Saturday 14th November
For more info, go to: https://globalleadershipnetwork.org.uk/events/gls/
Book Suggestions
A Call to Act by Natalie Williams and Martin Charlesworth
Equip yourself and your Church with practical ways to enable your day to day lifestyle to reflect the Biblical calling to live justly and to care for those most in need. Christians across the UK and around the world are increasingly convinced that to be a follower of Christ is to live out the justice and mercy of God to the neediest in our midst. A Call to Act provides practical advice and solutions, and insight understand what the Bible teaches about those most in need in our society (and around the world), and how the Church can help.
The One True Story: Daily Readings for Advent from Genesis to Jesus - Tim Chester Everyone loves the Christmas story. But the story of the baby in the manger is the culmination of a thousand other stories. It is the focus of the story of the Bible and the story of human history. This book has 24 short meditative readings working through Bible stories from Genesis to Jesus. Each day includes ideas for reflection, prayer and application, designed to excite you about the gospel message in the run-up to Christmas Day. As you prepare for Christmas, get a fresh insight into the full script of the nativity, the story of our world, and the plotline for the rest of your life... Music Suggestions
Chris Tomlin and Friends Album The Chris Tomlin & Friends album finds the acclaimed worship leader/songwriter, Chris Tomlin, collaborating with some high profile artists, including several in the country music community, bringing them into his musical world. This album blossomed from a chance meeting between Chris and Tyler Hubbard that led to them writing songs together and Chris joining Florida Georgia Line for a moment during their shows in Atlanta and Las Vegas last year. The project, that was created out of friendships and faith, includes artists like Thomas Rhett, Lady A and Russell Dickerson. A Jolly Irish Christmas by Rend Collective Featuring 6 Christmas classics and 6 Christmas originals, Rend Collective brings you "A Jolly Irish Christmas (Vol. 2) , with special guests: We The Kingdom, Keith & Kristen Getty, We Are Messengers, and Ellie Holcomb. This album ushers you into the Christmas spirit with Rend Collective s iconic Irish charm married with these classic Christmas tunes. Adding to their Christmas music repertoire, this new album captures the joy of the Christmas season in the energetic and unique way only Rend Collective can.