Tag: Family Service

Family Service and BBQ – 4th September 2011

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Some forty people gathered for our latest Family Service and BBQ today.

With the planned speaker being unable to attend at the last minute it fell to Alan Michael to take up the baton in his place.

The service was once again chaired by David Hedges and began with the singing of Come and see followed by prayer.

Those present were tasked with choosing new team names for the Sunday Club teams and decided upon Bangers and Mash.

We then had a number of children’s choruses as usual before the memory verse for the month – Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies”. – John 11:25.

Alan then came to speak on the subject of the raising of Lazarus, taken from John 11, and introduced Lazarus, Mary and Martha.

Lazarus then becomes ill and dies and Alan brought out the question as to why God allows suffering and bad things to happen to people who love him.  Lazarus died that God might be glorified through his death.  The Bible tells us that when Christians die it is like sleep as we have a great hope to look forward to when Jesus returns.

Jesus proves that He is the resurrection and the life by raising Lazarus back to life.  Many believed in Him as a result.

Jesus met the needs of Lazarus, Mary and Martha in different ways.

  • Remember – Look back and know that God loves you.
  • Review – Look at present circumstances.  God is with us.
  • Re-focus – Do we need to change our direction?  Are we disciples?  Remember that Jesus said ‘I am the resurrection and the life’.

We finished the service by singing Low in the grave and prayer.

The planned BBQ and games in the park had to be somewhat scaled back due to monsoon rainfall that fell during and after the Family Service.

Photo by Paul Cogger
Robert and Phil manning the BBQ in monsoon conditions

We had earlier set up a marquee to cook under, but ended up serving food in the back room and putting round tables in the main hall rather than in the park.

Photo by Paul Cogger
Burger or sausage, anyone?

 

Family Service – 7th August 2011

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We had around 40 people at our August Family Service, which was chaired by Victor Michael.

Victor’s opening hymn was All things bright and beautiful which was followed by prayer.

Victor welcomed those present and highlighted the next Family Service, on 4th September, as well as our upcoming Friends and Neighbours BBQ on 13th August.

It was then over to some of the children’s favourite choruses from Sunday Club before Alan came up with a general knowledge quiz to form this month’s memory verse –

Jesus said ‘I am the light of the world.’ – John 8: 12

Following Alan’s quiz, we sung For the beauty of the earth before Paul Cogger came up to speak, in his own unique style.

Paul spoke, using various visual aids to enhance his talk, on the healing of the blind man from John 9 and focussed on various ‘Ps’ from story finishing with Jesus’ purpose in carrying out the miracle, before closing in prayer.

Click on the image to view or download Paul’s presentation.

Family Service and BBQ – 3rd July 2011

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We were able to welcome around 70 people to our latest Family Service, a big increase on numbers last month.

The service was once again chaired by David Hedges who had selected Jesus is Lord as an opening hymn before he opened in prayer.

Alan then ran though this month’s memory verse in the form of a short quiz.  The verse is John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Afterwards we watched this amazing video.

This was followed by a number of children’s choruses which ended with I’m special before our visiting speaker, John Davies, from Reading came to speak.

John spoke simply and effectively and began by asking two questions:

    • How much does God think you’re worth?
    • How much is God worth?

God owns billions of stars and galaxies and has infinite resources available to Him. (Psalm 8)  In comparison, we are nothing.

God sold everything He had because He saw each of us as treasure.  The Son of God loved us and gave Himself for us.  When God gave His son for each of us, he gave everything.  God loves each of us more than anybody could love and spent everything that we can have forgiveness.  All we have to do is believe and trust Him and we can have eternal life, peace and joy.

The closing chorus was Come and see followed by prayer.

Everyone then ventured out into the summer sunshine to enjoy freshly cooked BBQ food followed by a variety of puddings.

A smoky scene in the car park
Some of those gathered in the park

There was plenty of time to sit and chat in the park and before long a game or three of Kubb was underway.

A game of Kubb in full swing
Happy couple, Judith and Brian take a break from the game

It was an excellent afternoon which went on until after 3pm before the final clearing up and dismantling of the marquee.  Next time it will be used will be our Friends and Neighbours BBQ which is scheduled for August 13th.

I’m grateful to Lesley’s excellent notes from the Family Service which helped greatly with this post.

Family Service – 5th June 2011

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Around 30 people gathered for the latest in our series of Family Services this morning.

This time David Hedges was at the helm chairing and opened with the hymn Be Still for the presence of the Lord and prayer.

This was followed by What kind of love is this before introducing this month’s memory verse Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding – Proverbs 3:5.  Audience participation was encouraged with both heart and lean!

We then enjoyed a number of the children’s choruses from Sunday Club before Alan Michael came to speak.

Alan’s subject this month was the Healing at the Pool of Bethesda taken from John 5 and he began with looking at the purpose of different signs before linking this in to Jesus’ miracle of the healing of the lame man and the fact that it was a sign for the Leaders.  He finished by summarising the miracle using the six questions ‘What?‘, ‘Who?‘. ‘Where?‘, ‘When?‘, ‘How?‘ and ‘Why?‘, leaving the final question unanswered for those gathered to think about.

We finished with the singing of I stand amazed in the presence and prayer.

After the service, Alan showed a number of amusing photos from the recent TVCC camp in Romsey.

Our next Family Service will be on July 3rd at 11.30am and will be followed by a BBQ.

Family Service – 1st May 2011

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We had around 40 people in for the latest in our series of monthly Family Services.

Today’s was chaired by Alan Michael in his own unique and entertaining way and began with the hymn ‘God sent His son – they call Him Jesus‘ and prayer.

We then enjoyed a number of children’s choruses aided by a couple of willing participants at the front to help out with actions.

Like the previous Family Service, there was another Memory Verse to learn, this time from Hebrews 11:1 ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see‘.  Alan went on to explain a little about the verse before gradually hiding it to aid the learning process.Our second hymn, following on the theme of Faith was ‘Faithful One‘.

Following this, David Hedges came up to speak.  He took us through the healing of The Nobleman’s son mentioned in John 4 (verses 46 to 54).  After recounting the story, he went on to relate it to us with a number of questions under the heading ‘So what?‘.

Finally, we finished the service with singing ‘I know not why God’s wondrous grace‘ before Alan closed in prayer.