Life @ Kings - November 2023

Photo kindly given by Samantha Aumonier

Here is some of the news from King's Church Cockermouth this month.

If you have any questions or want to know more about anything below, please get in touch at: admin@kingscc.or

Blaithwaite Weekend Away… By Roger Bye

It was great to be away together as a church in so many ways – the food, fun, time together and powerful times of worship and hearing from God as a church family. Huge thanks to everyone who made it possible and served so brilliantly.

At the heart of all that Allen and Sarah shared was the passion to see people saved and how through friendship and relationships we can be those who can win others to Christ. The stories they shared are to stir us for the adventure of waking up each day knowing that God can use us. God has stories for us to be part of in sharing the gospel with those who don’t know Him yet. He can speak through us, and we can be good news to the people we meet in the communities we are part of, our work colleagues, friends, neighbours, and families.

In our post-Christian cultural times we need to see the importance of reaching out through relationship and friendship.

A key scripture Allen shared was…I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some – 1 Corinthians 9 v 22.

Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. Let’s give ourselves to making friends and sharing Jesus!

Your Feedback about the Blaithwaite Church Weekend Away "It was 10 years since we were last on a church weekend to Blaithwaite and was super impressed with the upgraded accommodation. We had a fabulous time, the food was outstanding and we appreciated all the hard work involved in organising and preparing it. We enjoyed spending time with our church family. Hopefully it won’t be 10 years until the next one!" Alison "I must admit that when the church weekend at Blaithwaite was first announced I did not want to go – it would be the first time I would be going to such a church weekend on my own, not as a couple and I thought I would feel like a fish out of water. Luckily, several friends persuaded me that I should go and that I would enjoy it. So I did, and I did. There was a real family gathering atmosphere, able to mix and talk with no time pressure in a way that you can’t on a Sunday. The food was excellent (Christine and her kitchen crews did a first class job), and it was good to see how many helped clearing and tidying even though they were not on the rota. I enjoyed the discussion groups, which made me realise how blessed I have been when you listened to the issues others have had to deal with. The evening ceilidh was great fun when virtually everybody from 6 to 70+ got up, happy to have a go even when we hadn’t a clue what we should be doing! The weekend will have involved a lot of planning and preparation, so thank you to all who were involved in making it a great success." Tony "Church weekends are always so great to go on as you have time to spend being with new, and established, friends. This weekend was no exception- it was a little quieter for me as I was recovering from a slipped disc, but that just meant more time to sit and chat!! The food was wonderful, main teaching helpful and provoking, and different seminars homed in thoughtfully on specific areas. A social Saturday evening ceilidh was great for all ages and abilities. Sunday morning was so good as more of our church community, who weren’t able to stay over, arrived and felt Gods touch-the barn was packed!! All who served did a great job, thank you. A thoroughly enjoyable and worthwhile weekend." Cheryl We had a fantastic time at Blaithwaite. To spend such quality time as a church family was invaluable. Getting to know newer members of the church was amazing and Nathan really valued the time getting to know people better. Nathan had a lot happen over the weekend, his spiritual journey made significant jumps and a lot of that was down to the prophetic seminar. We both really enjoyed the joint times in worship, the quiz, and especially the ceilidh. We're really looking forward to the next one. Debbie and Nathan

"I loved the kids work. It was really fun and I thought that Beth and Jess were really nice. These are the things that I loved:

Our caravan
The worship times
The ceilidh
The quiz (we won!)
The park"

Molly

It was fun. It was fun to spend the weekend with my friends. I really liked playing in the park where there were also farm animals. The chicks were very cute. Parker

Photo: 'Strawberry Lace Challenge'

Mobilise

This term at Mobilise youth group (for school years 6-8), we have been looking at people who met Jesus in the Bible. We have had a few new young people join us on Monday nights (7pm - 8:30pm at the Hub) and it's been good to hear what they think about the different stories about Jesus. We have also played a lot of games, including their favourite... toilet brush hockey!

Last week, Zoe led a session where we looked at Jesus going to Mary and Martha's house and we asked the young people,

"If you met Jesus and could ask him any question, what would it be?" Below are some of their responses.

Why is there disease in the world, if you created everything?
Can I have my cat back from heaven?
Are you good at Fortnite (a computer/console game)?
Why do people die?
Please could you turn water into Coca-Cola?

We then asked them, "If Jesus is the best teacher, what would you want to learn from him?"

Maths
How to do miracles
What Jesus does in heaven
All about God

A few weeks ago, we looked another story where Jesus met someone and the young people acted out the story. See if you can guess the story from the photo below:

New Church Administrator

Hi! I'm Samantha and have recently moved to the area with Matthew and our boys, William

and Edward. I'm pleased to take on the role as King's Church's new administrator and am learning the ropes from Joelle (thank you!) We relocated at the end of August as we love the outdoors, getting out in nature, and we love the Lakes! A couple of job opportunities popped up for us and we thought - let's go for it! Our boys are settling well into their new school, and we’re adjusting to life back up north, having been in Coventry since university (we’re originally from the northeast). In our spare time, as a family, you can usually find us enjoying pizza and movie nights, playing board games, exploring the lakes, doing DIY or gardening. Please say hello to us at church (and remind us of your names…there’s lots to learn) – we look forward to getting to know you all better. Thank you for making us feel so welcome – we really enjoyed the Blaithwaite weekend away!

The Youth Weekend Away at Knock by Joelle Raby

From the 13th - 15th October, Zoe and I took a group of young people from Mobilise, Move and Amplify to the Knock Weekend away which is run by Solway Network Youth Church, where we joined young people and youth leaders from other groups in West Cumbria.

We had a great weekend with teaching themed around miracles Jesus did. Throughout the weekend, there were lots of activities for the young people to join in, including a full camp game of Bible Smugglers outside in the dark on the first night and then a dance party outside on the second night with a mocktail bar. The young people could also choose activities through the weekend to do, with lots of different crafts (sea glass art, button canvasses, book hedgehogs), pamper sessions, nerf wars, woodwork Jenga guns, sports (dodgeball, spike ball, football), archery and music. There were also youth services each day with worship, a talk about Jesus' miracles and then some time to chat or pray. The young people had a fantastic time and it was great to see them all getting involved in all the activities. We're now beginning to plan the next weekend away, which will be the 2nd - 4th February 2024. If you would like to know more or would like a form for the weekend (for school years 6-13), please email Joelle: joelle@kingscc.org. Thank you to everyone who gave us cardboard, plastic, etc for the scrapheap challenge, the young people really enjoyed it. Below are some of their creations (vehicle themed). The junk was taken to the recycling centre the next day.