Who says you can’t have fun at a Home Group?

Home Group Curry Night

What better than a meet up with friends from our Home Group, and you can’t beat a good curry!

And earlier in the year……..

Celebrating Birthdays at our Home Group

A cake for Carolyn

Barbecue followed by cake and other treats.

Just what the doctor ordered and a great way to spend the afternoon following the Steps to Christ in the morning.

All in all a perfect day.

Dear all,

It is a quiet Sunday evening so it seems a good time to let you know how things are going here in Moldova. We have been here for four weeks now and getting to know the town of Cahul quite well. The weather has mostly been good since we arrived so we have been out as much as possible to explore and to enjoy becoming more familiar with everything.

We started teaching three weeks ago. It all seems to be going OK and we have met some lovely young people, all very respectful and mostly keen to learn. Ages range from about 13years to adults – including an accountant, teacher, car mechanic, council officer, bank worker and a full time Mum. We have been for lunch with several of the other teachers to get to know them better as well, two from the USA and some Moldovans who will help us with conversational Romanian. The English lessons are held in the building of the Baptist Church that we are linked with. Lessons are held after school hours, so from 2.30pm and can go on until about 8pm. Conversations in the class on different topics does give the opportunity to share our faith- please pray for this.

It’s great to meet folk at church on Sunday morning and they have been very welcoming. There are a few English speakers but communication is a bit limited still! One of the more advanced students from the English lessons translates for us and does brilliantly. As well as the church services Arleen is now part of a small ladies’ prayer group and has even been hospital visiting with the pastor’s wife. She and the pastor, Anatole, are a great encouragement and seem to have time and energy for many needs.
We are staying in a shared flat belonging to the church in the block shown here and it is about five minutes’ walk from the main shops and fifteen from the church where we are teaching. It is wonderful to be car free as, so far, we have all that we need within 15/20 minutes’ walk.

As well as a couple of new supermarkets and a range of shops there is a great market nearby; loads of fresh fruit and veg at the moment. The right time of year I suppose. We even made some plum jam this week as the plums are so plentiful and only about 25p per pound.

We are one block away from what seems to be the only real park in the town, but a great place to sit, people watch and eat an ice cream on a warm evening.

At the moment we are here on a ninety-day tourist stay but in the next month or so we will need to visit the capital, Chisinau, probably three times in order to get a visa for our stay here. This will involve a three-hour bus journey each way and possibly a stay overnight with visits to various offices. Please pray that this will go smoothly and that the various pieces of paperwork that we have been told that we need will be in order.

We hope things are going well and are always pleased to hear from friends

Thanks for your ongoing interest and God bless                Mark and Arleen

Evangelism – taking message of the love of God out to those who don’t have much or any experience or knowledge of Him.

Following our recent ‘Evangelism Consultation’ that took place on Tuesday 25th June 2019 we have decided that evangelism needs to be a high priority at Gleneagles Church and that we should take action to increase the ways in which we, as a Church, are reaching out to our community with God’s love.

We decided to begin to do occasional outreach events.  On 6^th July we worked alongside the Street Pastors using their gazebo as a prayer tent.  We gave out leaflets inviting people to ask for prayer.  The rain literally put a damper on things, however we prayed with three people and had several other significant chats with people.

On 17^th August we are planning to have a Prayer Activity tent at the Wellingborough Beach – see separate message.

We will be considering other such activities during the autumn, possibly based in our parish.

In the longer term, we will run the Diocesan evangelism training course, “Sharing your faith” early in 2020 and then Lent will have an evangelism emphasis for the whole church.

We will continue to meet to develop the programme and to review.

Rev Melvyn Pereira

5^th August 2019

October 2018 was an exciting time for Gleneagles Church when the purchase of a house in Wellingborough, to ‘house the homeless’, was made. Members of Gleneagles church, together with investors found by the charity Hope Into Action, had raised the required funds.

After the purchase, it took a few months to complete the  furnishing and equipping of the house  to make it ready and welcoming for the first tenants. Many household items were donated by members of the church.

Happily, our first tenant moved in on June 22^nd this year and it is hoped a second tenant will soon follow.

The tenants are supported by an Empowerment Worker, Jayne Jones, and the Gleneagles Church Friendship and Support group.  They will be helped and encouraged to make positive choices in their lives, find regular employment, manage household tasks and finances and eventually be able to move on to independent living so that the church can help a succession of homeless people to leave life on the streets.

Please pray with us for Jayne and the Friendship and Support Group which she leads, for our first tenant KP (name not made public for confidentiality reasons) and for a second tenant to be found.

God bless,

Melvyn

Freedom in Christ course.

People on the earlier courses found it to be excellent so do speak to Melvyn for more information and let him or June know if you would like to do it (melvynpereira@gleneaglesanglicanchurch.co.uk   or    junemvpereira@yahoo.co.uk).

Many people benefited from the teaching and discussions in the Freedom in Christ course and the Steps to Freedom.

Here are some of the participants’ comments about their experiences of the course:

• “the course is gentle and is gently transformative. It’s not ‘preachy’ or heavy handed or what I would call overly evangelical”
• “this is a developmental programme, which requires thought as well as attendance.”
• “The course materials make it possible to revisit on my own  as I feel there is much to be gained from devoting extra time. “
• “The course has helped me hugely in understanding how to be free from the lies I’ve believed about myself.”
• “This was a good course with a balance of reassurance and challenge.  I’d encourage others to sign up!!”
• “Thoroughly enjoyable, thought provoking and enlightening.  Potentially life changing.  Extremely well presented in a clear and non-threatening way, with practical tools.  One of the best Christian courses I’ve attended.”
• “Freedom in Christ – achieves what it promises in its title!”
• “I found the course material excellent.  I now feel equipped with the tools to tackle strongholds in my life, deepen my relationship with Jesus and mature in my faith.”
• “I would recommend it for all Christians at some point on their Christian journey, probably the sooner the better.”
• “The course has been very helpful.  I have really liked the ‘I CAN DO’ lists.  I found them very empowering and will repeat them again from time to time and of course, the ‘Steps to Freedom’ away day was very good.”
• “It is rooted in the truth of the bible and that is one of the main revelations for me”
• “if we believe the Bible, then we believe all of it, no matter how we might feel about it.”
• ” I suspect up until now I’ve been guilty of ‘interpreting’ the bible to some extent and applying my human ‘wisdom’ to it.”
• “What I feel challenged on, and somewhat relieved by is that if I believe the Bible to be THE TRUTH then it truly is the foundation stone on which to base the rest of my life in Christ.”
• “I’d like to repeat it sometime in the future” with “a separate time set aside, say an evening on another day in the week to think through what I’ve taken in and introduce personal behavioral change” supporting “the old adage: ‘do it once for thought, the second time for action”.
• “I’d like a longer Saturday training day with breaks for thinking, prayer and meditation”
• “Great experience!”
• “I’d encourage others to sign up!!”

Latest info updated 25/09/19

3rd – 5th July 2020

at Kings Park Conference Centre, Northampton

You will have seen the details of our AMAZING Church Weekend Away 3rd – 5th July 2020.

We have it at a great price because Kings Park Conference Centre offer a 33% reduction for one weekend in the year.

We already have over 50 people booked in.   We would love everyone to attend and no-one to miss out.  So if you haven’t done so already, please seriously consider booking your place as soon as possible.

Church weekends are a fantastic opportunity for all in the church family to enjoy some special time together.
What a great event to include in our 30th Birthday celebrations!

We want everyone to be a part of it.

As a Church, we don’t want you to miss this great opportunity for a truly memorable weekend away together.

Why not Spread the Cost!?  Set up a Standing Order

If you have paid your deposit, a monthly Standing Order to Gleneagles Church, beginning on 31st May 2019, of just £10 per person will mean that your weekend away will be paid for by the payment due date (29th February 2020)

This is all you need:

Sort Code: 40-52-40
Account no: 00015116
Reference: Weekend and Your name 

And if you haven’t yet booked and would like to go please click here for an electronic copy of the leaflet with full details and booking form, or pick one up a  at the back of the church.

THANK YOU!

“Light of the World”
Church Family Weekend Away 2020
Our 30th Birthday Year

Friday 3rd – Sunday 5th July
at Kings Park Conference Centre, Northampton

09:00 – 11:00 am Saturday 6th July – venue to be confirmed

Guest speakers – Mark and Arleen Rowell who will be sharing about their upcoming mission to Moldova.  Mark and Arleen go for an initial two years in a couple of months’ time.  Come and hear about how God called them to Moldova, where they are going and what they will be doing. .

Cost £2.50    To book your place please email June Pereira at  junemvpereira@yahoo.co.uk

To read more about their calling and their testimony visit the Mark and Arleen Rowell page under Our Mission Partners on this website