CTIB Forum November 2013

St Godwald’s Church Finstall

13 November 2013.

The Chair welcomed everyone and stated the format for the Evening.

1. Worship taken by Rev Carey Saleh
She spoke about Halleluiah and its meaning, read Psalm 136 and sang the Gloria with everyone taking part.

2. Talk by Paul Norris on Grace Church
This is a frontier Church formed in the 1960s. They embrace all and have many young families and teenagers, the latter who actually take notes during 45 minute sermons! They do not have a liturgy as such but preach the Word of God from the Scriptures. Their vision is to bring others to know the love of God, saying everyone is important and a part of the ‘Church’. Their mission is that everyone is consumed by God and to glorify Him as such. Their Church is growing but has no permanent base and meets in St John’s School at 4.00pm on Sundays. They also have an Alpha course running on Tuesday evenings at The Swan at Wychbold.

3. CTiB website launch carried out by the Chair.
Yvonne took the meeting through the functionality of the website with a selection of screenshots. Everyone was most impressed by the structure and that all the Churches were linked in and by placing the cursor on one Church, this would link in to the activities of that Church and its Services. All the CTIB backed events that are happening in Bromsgrove are on the site, so we should all be better informed providing we have access to a computer!

4. Evelyn Reston gave a report on 24/7 Prayer week
Craig unfortunately could not be present. She has produced a scrapbook of comments from the week. Millfields School were thanked for all that they contributed over 3 days of having Paul Lewis with them, the children’s prayers & banner showing great insight and thought. Thanks were given to Evelyn and Craig for all they did to organise this event and to all the Methodists for their welcome. Leonie was thanked for the wonderful painting.

5. The market stall was open for the first time last Saturday.
John Notman said that bridges were built with the nearest stall holders, but care needs to be taken not to upset them. 28 prayer cards were filled in over the day. Some Fair Trade items were sold. There was no negative reaction from passers by to the stall. More volunteers for the stall are needed. The next Saturday stall will be on 14 December 2013.

6. Pregnancy Advisory Service
An update was given on Grace Church’s proposal for a Pregnancy Advisory Service. This was discussed in some detail at the last fellowship meeting, but more information was requested by all the churches. Dr Coleman is still updating the packs to send to the Churches.

7. Rev Paul Lewis closed the meeting with prayer