All Saints' News & Events

Spring Letter from Steve

Monday 8th April 2013 6:16 PM

'And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere..."

Acts 1.8 New Living Translation.

Are we called as Christians to represent Christ in our workplace, or should our faith be kept for the home and church?

That's a question that's been much in the headlines recently, with mixed messages coming through thick and fast from those in authority. Only a few weeks ago, the European Court of Human Rights, upheld one Christian's right to wear a cross at work, while rejecting the hopes of other Christians who felt it was right to bring their faith into their work, but who felt they were being unfairly restricted.

It's not all about wearing crosses at work, but more about making sure our lives aren't getting so compartmentalised that we as Christians don't see the connection between work and faith. Another way to look at it is, what does it mean for us to minister to others as Christians in the work place? It was only a few weeks ago that a Christian said to me, when I meet difficulties at work, the first thing I do is pray - it often changes things!

What do you think? I hope the following testimonies are useful, as you consider this important question.

Your Friend in Christ,
Steve

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GOD OF SOLUTIONS

Monday 4th March 2013 5:56 PM

I bumped into an ex-colleague the other day who made the observation that these days, those of us who are in paid work are doing longer hours and under increasing pressure just to maintain the status quo. Many of us, including me, have the added prospect lurking in the background of possible imminent redundancy. Yet, strangely enough, as a Christian I feel more motivated, driven, engaged and enthusiastic about my job than ever before. During the last couple of years, I have had a tangible sense of God's presence when at work and confirmation that while I am at the office or out in schools delivering music lessons, therein lies my frontline ministry.

Time and time again He has revealed Himself with that still, small voice, presenting an amazing solution to a problem, bringing just the right person with the perfect word of reassurance, and creating opportunities which give me hope for the future. There is no better feeling than knowing that God is walking with you and I have been amazed by how much joy and strength I have experienced in the midst of ongoing uncertainty and confusion. My response has been to seek more of Him in my place of work and I am often bursting to pass on the joy.

I never would have thought I could feel excited about the prospect of going to work!

'The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness, O Lord.'

Kim Atkinson

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God at University - Matt MacGregor

Tuesday 19th February 2013 9:50 AM

University - particularly Cambridge, where I am studying - is a very bizarre environment: you have all these people living essentially in each other's pockets for three very brief, but incredibly crucial and formative years, with an atmosphere conducive for some of the most open-minded discussions that you will ever have in life (oh... and at any posh dos everyone dresses up like Harry Potter!). For any Christians in this environment - like me - this is a very interesting, exciting and challenging place to be.

In my year-and-a-half at university, I've been bowled over by just how many Biblical truths are relevant here: at the end of Matthew's Gospel, we are commanded to 'go and make disciples of all nations' (Matthew 28:19), a task made incredibly easy and, therefore, especially pertinent by the fact that there are so many international students; effectively, all nations have come to us. We're also warned by Peter to 'always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.' (1 Peter 3:15) And with the sheer amount of intellect and general geekiness that permeates this place, I can definitely vouch for Peter being right. You also learn the value of applying the second half of that verse: God is interested in saving people, not just tallying up how many people at whom you've thrown a gospel. In short, at university, faith is very public, a fact that forces you to really make sure you know what you believe, and that you trust that 'in all things God works for the good of those who love him.' (Romans 8:28)

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God at Work

Thursday 14th February 2013 5:52 PM

It took me a while to work out that God was actually with me in my place of work and that the work I did was not only a gift from Him but also the place where He wanted me to share His love and light; that my worship on a Sunday in church was to extend into Monday and the fellowship I had with my Christian friends on Sunday I needed to develop with my work colleagues on Monday.

In fact one of the words in Hebrew, the language used for the Old Testament part of the Bible, avodah, can be translated as both work and worship. My part of the great Commission Jesus gave us, to share His good news, was to do it where He had put me already and my work was part of my worship to God.

That changed everything for me. In my workplace I am God's representative, working to allow Him to bring His Kingdom values in, demonstrating His love and peace in a stressful environment and sharing with and praying for my colleagues.

Linda Maslen

In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Matthew 5:16

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God at School

Thursday 14th February 2013 5:47 PM

I am a teacher and I work with children of primary and secondary age who have learning difficulties and behavioural problems. I became a Christian in my second year at college and I know God led me into this career because I love it. I have moved into different areas of Special Needs teaching over the years and each setting has needed different skills and personal changes to adapt to the needs of the children, families and teachers I have been expected to support.

God has supported me to develop these skills. Prayer and listening to God have been a corner stone for me. I have prayed for violent children to be calm and adults to be safe. I have prayed for children to learn to read, for staff who are exhausted and at the end of their ability to cope, for a peaceful atmosphere in a difficult class, for wisdom to know what to suggest to families when things are difficult and often for help when I am writing reports (not my strongest quality!).

I work with a team of eleven others and God always helps me if things are stressful and demanding. He supports me when I'm tired or frustrated, when I feel angry and upset about the situations I become a part of. But He's also there when I feel a sense of achievement which gives me a real buzz. God is my perfect team mate, I wouldn't be without Him any time, any place, anywhere!

Angie Hook

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New Wine 2013

Tuesday 12th February 2013 8:38 PM

Experience renewal, fresh vision and new ideas!

• Encounter God in heartfelt worship
• Learn through his Word and from his Spirit
• Be renewed to know him better
• Be healed and transformed in body, mind and spirit
• Get equipped to serve him in new ways
• Gain fresh vision from what he is doing elsewhere in the world
• Be part of something that's bigger than any local church

North & East: Saturday 3 August - Friday 9 August
Newark & Nottinghamshire County Showground, Newark.

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Jesus, Gods Gift

Tuesday 13th November 2012 7:32 PM

'Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be a slave.'
Matthew 20. 26,27

Which party will you attend this Christmas? If you're looking for social status, you'll want to know who else is attending - any celebrities? Even a class 'B' celeb is better than none!

If face-book had been around two thousand years ago, the last thing someone looking for status would have posted, was that they were involved with Jesus. It would have been social suicide - you might as well put 'loser' on your face-book page.... follow the life of a loser

St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian church openly admitted that to talk about Jesus was to place a great big stumbling block before Jews, and just to sound foolish to non Jews.

Jesus was, in fact, re-writing the etiquette guide to throwing parties. He was turning life upside down, because he came amongst us as 'one who serves' at parties. As the greatest 'celebrity' ever, he comes to our party as the one who 'humbled himself ever to death on a cross.
The stories that follow in this Christmas and winter edition of our Newsletter aren't from 'celebs', they're from ordinary people who've seen the point of Christmas, and some of them will be serving alongside Jesus at Christmas parties this year. Enjoy.

Your Friend in Christ, Steve

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African Childrens Choir to perform in Halifax

Tuesday 2nd October 2012 8:30 PM

The African Children's Choir who appeared at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations earlier this year will be coming to Halifax in December!

The choir has now gained a worldwide reputation and has also performed to two US Presidents, and has worked with legendary artists including Sir Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Mariah Carey, Alecia Keys, Bono, and many more.

In spite of the tragedy that has marred their young lives, the children are radiant with hope, musically gifted and always wonderfully entertaining.
As part of their UK tour, they will be performing at Halifax Minster on Saturday 1st December at 7:30pm

Admission is by ticket priced at £7.50 (concessions available for families). These can be purchased from Christine Henderson 07708 968 029.
All proceeds will go directly to the choir, enabling them to continue to raise global awareness of the plight of millions of orphaned and abandoned children in Africa. Funds will also contribute to the expansion of education programmes for both the current choir children and the thousands of other students in Africa that they represent.

Date: 1st December 2012 Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Halifax Minster, Causeway, Halifax HX1 1QL
Tickets: £7.50 Family Ticket £15 (2 adults, 2 children)
Contact: Christine Henderson 07708 968 029

[If you are interested in finding out more about the African Children's choir, see www.africanchildrenschoir.com]

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France Mission

Tuesday 28th August 2012 5:16 PM

I really do hope and pray that the relationship building between some members of the church of All Saints in Halifax and the Evangelical Church in Pontivy can be something others can be inspired by and seek to develop themselves between their own church in the UK and one within France.

Our involvement is only small, we do not really feel up to the job before us. But Jesus never asked for our considerations, but our actions. So we stepped out and did. Our latest support is in the refurbishment of the exterior of the church building.

Others within our church body in the UK have supported in other ways. Louise is a lady who has developed a ministry making and sending encouraging cards with the lord's biblical truths written on them to many parts of the world. She seeks out opportunities and has cards sent to all walks of life. Obviously she was very interested to produce a resource for this French church and sent many hundreds. These are handed out by members of the church and used within discussions. Our church has also been able to send financial assistance to the Pontivy church to go towards funding part of the refurbishment. However much the church there needs the money, it needed manpower even more…

An appeal went out to give up a portion of holiday to assist with the manual building of the Pontivy church. This went out after Easter, obviously several had already made plans for their summer and though interested could not commit. In the end a few came together to make up a working party. The idea was to work the mornings, have a communal lunch provided by the church each day then have the afternoon and evening as a holiday.

The weather was fantastic; the heat was wonderful, the beaches sizzling the sea warm and welcoming. It was going to be very hard!! Would we be up to the job? Firstly it needs to be realised that God uses those that give themselves to him, he asks for the willing and those that love him above the CV that would fit the task. Reflecting back, I don't know if we improved the building or relationships more. Part of the team has just texted to say they have been made three offers of accommodation for future visits.

So who were this intrepid band of Missioners who bravely went forth to these demanding places, giving their all to the sun tan and soirees?
Charles is our Engineer, in Church he plays the base guitar. What he was doing in Pontivy was wonderful, he really was sent to fulfil a certain task. With 9'' angle grinder in hand he was cutting away huge steel panels, sparks flying everywhere!! Really! (until he cut through the mains cable feeding the church). He was often balanced on a scaffold with a rope around his waist, cutting away.

Cath is a worship leader, and very talented. Maybe the most remarkable thing she did was to quietly pray with Chantelle about the mains cable being fixed on a sunny Friday afternoon. Jean Francoise, the husband to one of the church ladies assured me that there was no way it could be fixed till next week, he put it simply, "its France, 35 hours per week, Friday afternoon, and very sunny and hot, everybody is going home……lets have lunch and do the same". Steve the Elder (translates as 'ancien', so I call him 'ancient Steve'), and Charles calmly fetched a generator. Yves (the Pastor) rang EDF (French electric board) who said they would come out immediately. Cath and Chantelle told me they had been praying! We had lunch…..God was in control….obviously!

Sheila learnt how to wire brush girders, repaint them, climb scaffold, and use a pedallo on the river Blavet. Christine learnt how to change the cutting disk of an angle grinder for a wire brush attachment, machine the girders, use scaffold, and produce a French lunch for 15. Cath learnt how to cement render, pressure wash concrete, and improve her tan. Chantelle learnt how to climb scaffold, paint the girders and walls, and manage a swing of 'merlin' the 14lb sledge hammer for the camera in front of a line up of five men!! David learnt rendering skills and 'merlin' swinging for as Yves put it, 'merlin est pour les jaune', and BBQ appreciation.

A funny story. Cath, tanned from several hours on the beach, pedallo and street café labouring hard in the burning sun, and John stood waiting to cross the road, along came a young French chap in his white van, waving frantically at Cath, she never saw him, but being polite John waved back instead!! The French van drove on, 'going to be one of those days' he must have thought to himself.

So what next? For us, it would be good to support this church into the future, where relationships take precedence over work rotas. Maybe we can support them with spiritual building, whatever it might be it is really excellent to be here at this stage, to be involved in the building and developing growth of a church with massive wheat fields around it.

Welcome to the book of Acts, ever wondered how exciting it must have been then? We know, we are there, fancy joining us? God's there!! So what next for you?

Can you build a link with a church in France? Your UK church has loads of skills and oodles of generosity; could they be used to support a FM church? Do you fancy joining us in living in the book of Acts? If so start by contacting FM, use their web site. See where their churches are……but make a move!

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Autumn - Letter from Steve

Thursday 23rd August 2012 5:09 PM

'Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it?'

Isaiah: 43.19 The Message Translation.

Letter from Rev Steve Lees Vicar of All Saints'

When Jesus burst onto the scene in Palestine 2000 years ago, he fulfilled all the Old Testament expectations, but was infinitely more than any man or woman could conceive. God had arrived in human form, and from that point on, life could hold so much more for all of us.

Think of the invention of TV or the mass media of today and the impact it's had on what we can know and access. Well, it's as nothing compared to what we can access and know through Jesus, who can bring us into a sustaining, deeply satisfying and eternal relationship with God.

In his lifetime Jesus talked of knowing God intimately, he called God 'Abba' in Aramaic, which roughly translates to 'Daddy' in English, and he encouraged us to do the same. He spoke of himself being one with His Father, and then invited us into the family.

At All Saints', we've been slowly learning to enter into a relationship of trust with our Heavenly Father.

Please download and read the Autumn newsletter, Inside you'll find a version of the Lord's Prayer, and some stories from members of All Saints' who are learning what it means to call God their Father. Autumn Newsletter

Your Friend in Christ,

Steve.

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Autumn Term

Tuesday 14th August 2012 6:09 PM

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Spring Message from the Vicar

Wednesday 25th April 2012 11:28 AM

"What a huge harvest! And how few the harvest hands. So on your knees; ask the God of the harvest to send harvest hands." Luke 10.12 ( The Message )

As I look at our All Saints' harvest in 2011/12, I'm thankful for all he has done, and the harvest hands who make it all possible. Our range of activities is broad, ranging from supporting international mission to caring for the poor and ill on our doorstep. We are fully engaged in at least a dozen relatively new initiatives and our week to week worship and commitment is wonderful.

Yet when we look around with Jesus' eyes, we see that the harvest fields are huge and there's much more to be done. Only this
week I've attended a meeting of our Children and youth team, and heard that our teenagers desperately needs new leaders. Also this week, talking with our Cluster leaders, I'm aware that we need new small group leaders, so that people new to All Saints' aren't left without a welcoming and supportive place to belong.

I believe God has provided the harvest hands, and all the resources in skills and finance that All Saints' needs, but it's not someone else more skilled, more outgoing, more experienced, it's you, walking behind Jesus, with the rest of the team, learning as we go, and gradually getting it more right than wrong!

The harvest truly is huge, so I hope you'll be joining me 'on my knees' to pray for disciples who are thankful for all God has done for us in Jesus, and are prepared to step out in faith and get stuck in.

Your Friend in Christ

Steve

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Prayer: 24-7, now and then, or never?

Monday 16th April 2012 7:34 PM

A really good article taken from the New Wine magazine 2012

by Ian Nicholson

What do Christ's Soldiers in Kenya have in common with Churches Together in Ilkley or the Millersville Intercessors of Pennsylvania? Is there a link between Elhogar Cristiano in Madrid, Crash Japan and the Generating Station in Malta? What could connect a caravan in Guildford, with a hotel room in Turkey, a school classroom in Uganda or a tin shack in a South African township? The answer is that they have all participated in an unprecedented movement of continual 24-7 prayer, which is expressed through various networks, and is building in momentum year by year. All boundaries of class, culture and style are being crossed as the global church prays continually, night and day, as never before.

In my hometown, Guildford, we have now hosted about 50 weeks of 24-7 prayer during the last decade in many churches, but also shops, cafés and schools. Within 24-7 Prayer in the UK and Ireland there has been a rapid growth in the number of prayer rooms in the last two years, partly triggered by years of continuous prayer in Scotland and Ireland. During 2012, as the Olympics and Paralympics bring the nations to
our door, thousands of churches will be uniting in a giant, unbroken year-long prayer meeting, Kingdom Come UK (KC:UK/KC:IRL).
As we embark on this exciting and unpredictable journey, I want to highlight three keys for keeping our personal prayer lives fresh and alive.

'I am both aware of the power and necessity of prayer but also how fallible and ordinary our prayer lives can seem'
1. Keep it simple

As a leader in a prayer movement I am both aware of the power and necessity of prayer but also how fallible and ordinary our prayer lives can seem. Life is frantic, work is relentless and it can be frequently disheartening when Sunday morning's good intentions seem to dissipate by Monday!

IAN NICHOLSON FROM 24/7 PRAYER GIVES SOME SIMPLE STEPS TO HELP PUSH PRAYER BACK UP OUR LIST OF PRIORITIES

TEACHING
Jesus recognised this struggle in warning his disciples that 'the spirit is willing but the body is weak' (Matt 26:41) - but they still failed to stay awake to pray for the critical hour in Gethsemane, as the future of humankind hung in the balance.

We should not be discouraged that it is frequently a struggle to maintain a regular prayer life; infact, perhaps we should take it as an encouragement that small steps in prayer can bring extraordinary changes to our relationship with God. The most common barrier to 'ordinary' believers participating in a 24-7 prayer room is that they have never prayed for a whole hour and don't think they could ever last that long - it seems too daunting! The reality is that prayer is the simplest, most accessible and life-giving activity known to humankind - you are ready and equipped! Prayer can be a few minutes on the train to work, a regular walk in the park at lunchtime or a few minutes of quiet at home once the children are asleep.

A growing number of friends set their alarms for midday in order to take a few moments to pray the Lord's Prayer. Bob from Northampton emailed recently to say, 'I had recently taken up the idea of programming in the Lord's Prayer at 12 every day on my phone, when I found myself talking to a street fundraiser outside Marks and Spencer. She was a student and mentioned that she used to be a Christian before going to university. We started chatting about Jesus and prayer and the problem of evil, when the alarm on my phone beeped. I explained what it was and suggested we could pray together. So we prayed for God's kingdom to come. Celia now wants to return to God and she will let
me know what happens!'

Don't be daunted or discouraged by the demands of prayer - see it as a journey of discovery and keep it as simple as possible. Small steps will make a significant difference.

2. Seek friendship

'What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us' AW Tozer.

How we view somebody determines our relationship with them. No-one wants to spend an hour with a hypercritical tyrant, or a patronising and self-centred bore. When I was a new Christian, God usually felt distant and impersonal. However, after a time of seeking God and encountering his Spirit, I found my prayer times transformed; they became times of friendship with my Father, who loved me just as I was, not how I thought I should be. As I considered Jesus' teaching and parables relating to prayer it became clear that his priority was relationship. He took time to be alone with his Father and only did what he saw his Father doing. He commanded would-be pray-ers not to babble with many words or put their religious credentials on public display (Matt 6: 5-13). In response to the disciples' request to 'teach us to pray' (Luke 11:1), Jesus' first word of instruction was simple: Father.

'The reality is that prayer is the simplest, most accessible and life-giving activity known to humankind'

Prayer is,
first and foremost,
an encounter with our Father.

In Finland recently someone commented that 'The presence of God was so intense that I almost couldn't keep away from the prayer room.' A young person in the UK made a simple but life-changing discovery: 'I am seeking God and he is speaking to me!' The most common stories from 24-7 prayer rooms around the world are simply that people have felt God close to them, and been changed as a result.

Recognise that God's priority for you is to be friends with him; ask him to reveal more of himself to you.

3. Express yourself
One of the most encouraging discoveries about prayer for me over recent years has been an appreciation that different personality types can express their prayer life in different ways. Some people respond well to having a very fixed and solitary routine while others prefer variety and creative stimulus. 24-7 prayer rooms often have zones with different emphases such as minimalist and simple areas, or a paint-strewn and messy creative space.

The New Testament has examples of prayer alone and in groups, loud and bold as well as quiet and reflective. There are daily prayer disciplines and patterns, spontaneous prayer encounters, prayer in rooms, on streets and roof tops, in prisons and in the marketplace. Being a fairly spontaneous person, I find I need variety and stimulus as I pray, but also benefit from the constraint and commitment to pray regularly as part of a prayer room.

Prayer is about relationship and it is also about expressing who you are. Think of fresh ways to pray that fit with your lifestyle and personality.

Encounters and adventures
'This, then, is how you should pray: Our Father who is in Heaven, hallowed be your name, your Kingdom come, your will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven...' (Matt 6: 9,10).

If we are honest we all struggle
at times to pray, but as we spend time together with the Father his kingdom will come, as seeds of faith, compassion, mission, justice and renewal are planted in our lives. You can spend an hour in prayer, pray the Lord's Prayer, prayer walk, get students praying, unite prayer across cities or plant a prayer stake - the opportunities are endless. As we embark on KC:UK/IRL there are a host of online resources available to help you get started: www.247prayer. co.uk/kingdomcome. The Father is ready and waiting - keep it simple and enjoy yourself!
For further information email kingdomcome@24-7prayer.com.

You can also Tweet about your experiences using #KingdomCome2012, @KingdomCome2012

or find us on facebook: KingdomCome2012

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Connected Easter Service Report

Tuesday 10th April 2012 12:51 PM

Although the day began like the middle of winter under several inches of snow, by 2.00p.m. the snow had gone and the pavements cleared the way to our multi-media Easter Service reflecting on why Easter happened.

We thought about how God had created us in his own image, how everything was very good and the way that human selfishness had subsequently separated us from God. Through poetry, song and extracts from Handel's Messiah, we focused on the price Jesus paid to give us a way back to God.

Later, we enjoyed time talking together over tea and cakes in the lounge.

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Untamed

Tuesday 3rd April 2012 12:23 PM

Our new term of study for 9.00am and 10.30am services based around the book Untamed by Alan Hirsch

Discipleship is costly. Are we willing to critique and even challenge much we've been taught for the sake of the kingdom? For this is the radical nature of the discipleship to which Jesus calls us. He did not allow the outside culture to hold him captive; instead he established the kingdom of God and turned the world on its head. Jesus was untamed, and he calls his church to be the same.

In this provocative and compelling book, internationally known missiologists Alan and Debra Hirsch overthrow culturised understandings of theology and culture, and cast a vision for a distinctly mission-shaped way of living the Christian life. Written for any Christian serious about issue of discipleship, Untamed covers such topics as church, humans as bearers of the image of God, family life, culture, and sexuality. Through it all they seek to answer the question, how are we to think and live day to day as followers of Jesus?


Having been believers and ministers for over 25 years now has given Debs and I an appreciation for just how hard it is to be an authentic follower of our Lord and Saviour. To be an authentically radical disciple requires a relentless evaluation of life's priorities and concerns-together with an ongoing, rigorous, critique of our culture-to ensure we are not adopting values that subvert the very life and message we are called to live out. For true followers of Jesus, discipleship is not simply the first step toward a promising career of being a Christian, rather it is itself the fulfilment of our destiny. So, Debs and I have decided to write a book on what we call "missional discipleship." Appropriately called Untamed, it is meant to be a penetrating look into the things that keep us from becoming all we were made to be and has many practical suggestions about how to become wild followers of Jesus again.

The truth is that discipleship, at least the way the Bible understands it, cannot be limited to a personal exercise in personal spirituality. There are much greater, perhaps even global, consequences at stake in our becoming more like Jesus. So much so that we have actually come to believe that discipleship is a frontier issue for the people of God at this time in history. Why? Because most commentators would now agree that the Western Church, because of its deep embedding into the prevailing consumerist culture, has all but lost the art of discipleship. Reggie McNeal has concluded that "church culture in North America is now a vestige of the original [Christian] movement, an institutional expression of religion that is in part a civil religion and in part a club where religious people can hang out with other people whose politics, worldview, and lifestyle match theirs."

If this is indeed the case, we should be clear that this is not what the church is called to be, and is, in fact, directly caused by a failure in discipleship and disciple-making. And it will have to be addressed if we are to give faithful witness to our century. Therefore, rediscovering what it means to radically follow Jesus is now an area of strategic-and definitely missional-concern. To recover mission we are going to have to take discipleship seriously again, but the reverse is also true; to rediscover discipleship we are also going to have to take mission seriously. We cannot be true disciples without also being missionaries (sent ones) to our worlds.

The gospel is the power of God for the salvation of the world (Rom. 1:16), and God wants to redeem the broken and lost world around us and through us. Our lives, individual and corporate, play a vital role in the unfolding of the grand purposes of God. The gospel cannot be limited to being about my personal healing and wholeness, but rather extends in and through my salvation to the salvation of the world. To fail in discipleship and disciple-making is therefore to fail in the primary mission (or "sentness") of the church. And it does not take a genius to realise that we have all but lost the art of disciple-making in the contemporary Western church. No wonder Dallas Willard calls the systematic non-discipleship of the Western Church "the great omission" in his book by that name.

There is much talk about missional church in our time-and we completely agree. The church must become missional or fade into increasing irrelevance in the 21st Century. But we simply cannot get there from here without factoring discipleship into the equation. We can't have one without the other: if there be no mission there can be no discipleship, and if there is no discipleship there will be no mission. And there can be no missional church if there is no disciple-making church-it's as simple as that. If ever there was a time to recover the true meaning of the Great Commission to make disciples of the nations it is now. The future health and viability of Western Christianity is at stake. We must not waste time.

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PrayerNet

Thursday 1st March 2012 9:23 PM

For many years at All Saints' Church we have understood the power of intercessory prayer. Prayer requests have been received and disseminated by word of mouth, by telephone and in recent years, via email. We are now offering an additional opportunity to broaden access to prayer in church and amongst members of the wider community by creating a prayer request page on the church website.

By clicking on Prayer Request, a page will open in which anyone can type a prayer request which will then be sent automatically by email to the intercessors. The initiator will have the option to remain anonymous or write their name and email address if they would like some feedback. It will be made clear on the webpage that the people praying are all trusted members of the church who pray in complete confidence.

If you are a member of All Saints' church and feel you have a ministry as an intercessor, you have time to pray and would like to be part of the website prayer group, would you please email the church office admin@allsaintshalifax.org.uk so we can add you to the recipient group. If you are already an email intercessor and want to be included in the new service, please also send an email to the above address. When you have sent your email address to the office, you will receive a reply which includes information about the necessary PrayerNet protocols.

The PrayerNet service can offer prayer for church members and local people alike and means that there are always people available to pick up prayer requests, regardless of holidays etc. and gives us another opportunity to show our intention to serve the community.

Many thanks
Margaret Binns

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New Wine Summer Festival

Tuesday 27th December 2011 12:30 PM

Why not consider coming and joining us for 5 fantastic days of fun, fellowship, teaching and worship. There is always a great gang who camp together, or if camping isn't your thing come and stay at the local travelodge. For more information contact George Smith or Linda Maslen or look on the New Wine Website http://www.new-wine.org/summer

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All Saints Facebook

Tuesday 27th December 2011 12:09 PM

Why not look us up on facebook All Saints Halifax and find out what All the Saints' at All Saints are saying

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The Bishop comes for tea!

Thursday 3rd November 2011 5:17 PM

We marked the beginning of Advent this year with a special service where we welcomed Bishop Stephen to our celebration in the Parish Hall. Leyland Smith gave a thought provoking talk about the time of waiting and preparation before Christmas. Everyone received the gift of an advent candle to symbolise the way in which we need to take our light into the world.

The Bishop spoke to us about the gifts older people have to share in the community and thanked the Connected Cluster for the things that are happening in the parish. When the service was ended, we tucked into gorgeous buns, cakes, biscuits and shortbread provided by members of the Cluster.

We're now looking forward to the Christmas Service at All Saints' Church on Wednesday 14th December at 2.30p.m. We hope you can join us.

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Peace - Christmas Communion

Wednesday 2nd November 2011 1:39 AM

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