Worshipping God, Following Jesus, Loving our town.
Church Magazine
The copy date for the next issue is Saturday 21 st September. Contributions to Colin or Rosalie please.
Malvern and Upton Deanery
You are invited to join in with the Creation and Sacred Space Prayer walk on Wednesday 25th September. Meeting at 2.15pm at All Saints Hollybush HR8 1EX. Led by the Revd Stephen Sealy. Further information / to register interest contact Maria mtoffice@btinternet.com
Help BBGA with their fundraising
We get about £30 a quarter from easyfundraising. This can be reached at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/1 stmalvernbb. You click from there to your online shopping sites and they give us a percentage of what you spend. It includes Amazon. Please can you help us get more money this way to keep the subs down.
Printer Ink Cartridges
We have signed up with Recycle4Charity and are now collecting original manufacturers inkjet printer cartridges. Please give you cartridges to Angela or Andy Noble Again, this is a way you can help offset costs, without providing funds. Please ask family and friends to save them for us too.
The list of acceptable cartridges can be found at https://www.recycle4charity.co.uk/InkjetCartridges.
Christmas Angel Project 2024
If you enjoy knitting or crochet and would like to be part of this year’s ‘Angel Project’ come along to the Welcome Room Lansdowne Crescent Methodist Church on a Friday from 2-4pm, to knit or crochet the angels, meet new people, chat and enjoy a cup of tea. The first ‘angel knit in’ will be on Friday 13th September. Wool and patterns provided. All are welcome If you would like more information, please contact Jenny Bull 01 684 561 307 or email jennybull1 0@btinternet.com.
From Vicky Ayling
Dear Friends,
I worked at Camp Iawah in Ontario (north of Kingston) this summer. This brought many joys as well as many challenges! I am so grateful to have had this opportunity to work with such precious young people. I recently heard about how forgetful we humans can be which is why God instructed annual festivals, stone pillars, etc. to be set up to be a reminder for his people and for all nations to know what he has done. I hope that my year as a Navigators intern will be a stone pillar for me that I will return to many times to remember what God has done for me and how his heart is for the nations.
A Personal Pillar
Looking back at this year I can recognise that through the challenges that I faced I was given multiple opportunities to grow as a leader and in my faith. One of these areas that stands out to me is public speaking. I used to have bad stage fright but with repeatedly welcoming people to Nav Night, leading various activities, facilitating Bible study, teaching at Nav Nights, and MCing at the Basecamp student conference, I have grown in confidence and comfort in speaking from the front at large gatherings! I could not have done my job at Camp Iawah co-leading the CREW youth leadership program without the growth that God has done in me!
I am so grateful to have been pushed out of my comfort zone so that I could grow in these areas. It has also been wonderful to have prayed for help in each of these circumstances and seen God's faithfulness in the times when I was stressed about each of these events. Thank you for your faithfulness in praying for me and the Navigators community here in Ottawa!
Community
I remember last summer on a Teams call with Emily and Gerdion we planned some Fall launch events for the incoming students and prayed for good community. God has brought so many amazing people into our community, some are old-timers, some are freshmen and some had been at Carleton already but only came to join the Navs community this past year. I am so grateful for each and every one of them and look forward to reconnecting as the university year begins fully. This past year has taught me that I love people far more than I thought I did (as someone with more introverted tendencies this came as a surprise!) I think I have been growing in how to love people better and I want to continue to grow in this! The Gospel accounts of how Jesus interacts with people are amazing. Who in my life can I say loves as well as he did? I want to take his open-arms approach into my next workplaces seeking to love my colleagues and all those whom I serve in whatever roles I have. Some things I particularly need Jesus' help with is following up with people I have invested in this year, pouring into new people, persisting as a faithful presence, and I am always in need of knowing his love for me and others better.
Some reflections
Way back in the fall term our Bible study was on "Hope". We looked at what it means to have hope and how faith in Jesus gives us someone to trust and wait on as we sit amidst really difficult situations and longings. In the spring we moved onto reading 1 and 2 Peter learning from the encouragements and instructions given to the early churches that Peter wrote to. And lastly, this summer we read Jonah and asked ourselves questions like: how do we respond to God giving favour to people that we don't think deserve it? It has been special studying the Bible with the students and learning alongside them as well as being able to share things that I have thought are really exciting about the Bible!
I am especially grateful for the one-on-one meetings that I have had over this year. It was so sweet to be able to give undivided attention to the condition of the heart of the person I was meeting. It is a privilege to have such conversations and to give to others the sort of attention that I really valued from my mentor Emily when I was a student here at Carleton.
I am also thankful for the development training and books that we studied for the internship. It was really helpful to be challenged to think about spiritual and leadership areas to grow in.
Coming soon
I will soon begin working part time in a local coffee shop! This is an amazing opportunity and I am excited to get to know some more locals and serve in my community. I am also pursuing some other job opportunities to further my experience. One of these is that I hope to work as a hospital porter to gain health care experience as I discern whether to retrain.
Praise and Prayer Requests
Thank you for your interest in my service with The Navigators! Please reach out via email if you have any questions or if there is anything that I can be praying with you for. I am so grateful to be with you on this adventure!
Love and blessings,
Vicky Ayling
vickya@navigators.ca
And finally…
This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:25 NLT