14th February 2010
Beyond Sunday—To ensure our fellowship are kept up to date with events, etc. the BS will now be emailed to all those on the Church database every week. If you are not on the database, but would like to be, then please contact Christina on (01437) 710934
The Church minutes and agenda will be issued similarly. At the moment, the paper copies of BS will continue until people are familiar with the new system, but it is hoped that those on the electronic mailing list will use their electronic copy and not pick one up at the Church service.
BUW Conference, Carmarthen is 18/19th June. Please collect an application form from Glenys Evans. Deadline for applications 30th April.
'Congratulations to Andrew Stammers who has passed his Greek exam'.
1st February 2010
Business as usual.
Preaching and teaching from February.
Business as usual.
From February onwards we will be following a number of series in order to maintain continuity of ministry and growth as a fellowship.
Learning from the work of our involvement in the Pembrokeshire Preaching team we have set up teams of people who will take responsibility for delivering the these series and bring us into the presence of God so that he can challenge and encourage us and develop our future as a fellowship.
This will be supplemented by visiting preachers and teachers.
The team has been meeting and preparing for this role and will be having additional training and input on the Biblical material
Francis and Phill
31st January 2010
The End of an Era
Ifor & Penny Leave for Brecon.
Today is a strange day in the life of our church family. I pray that both Ifor and Penny, and all of us, will look back to this weekend as a time when we began a new journey, listening for God's word to us and following in the footsteps of our Lord and Saviour. He said, "Love God, and Love your neighbour as yourself", and if we all follow that advice we will not go far wrong, Yona
22 November 2009
Andrew Stammers Update
Thanks to all at BH for prayer support for the Baptism service. The service went really well and I believe God touched a number of people deeply.
I managed not to forget the vows or hit the head of the 6'6'' man on the edge of the pool! I spoke on how the spirit of God came down on Jesus after his baptism like a dove. The dove being (as per the original Greek) a 'Rock Dove' which is more at home in rocky desert places - Spirit of God can still come into us even though we are not perfect; we kind of offer God at times a desert habitat, however he prepares us and uses us.
Many Blessings
September 23rd 2009
IFOR AND PENNY’S CALL TO BRECON
What I am about to relate is a ‘God Story’. It started many years ago when I first became aware that the churches in the Breconshire Assoc were in dire straits. I have watched the situation in that County go from bad to worse over the years, to the extent that there are now 20 Baptist churches with not a single full time minister between them. The churches average 8 members, most of whom are very elderly, and some of these churches only meet once a month.
At the end of March this year Penny and I spent two days at Ffald y Brenin retreat centre, praying and planning for the next stage of the work at Broad Haven. On the second day we stood before a large Cross erected on the hillside, and we felt led to give our whole life and ministry back to God, to do with as he pleased. What he did do was rather unexpected. The following night I woke up at 3am and all I could think about was Brecon. It was as though God was downloading in my mind a strategy of how to start a new work throughout the County of Breconshire. I was so excited by these thoughts that I couldn’t get back to sleep. I got up and made myself a drink and started writing down what I felt God was saying. There was so much that I never went back to bed! Later that day I shared this with Penny, saying that I felt God was calling us to move to Brecon and start a new work there. Over the years Penny has shared some of my concern for Brecon but she did not agree that it was time to leave Broad Haven. She wondered whether the church here could release me a few days a month to work in Brecon, but I felt we needed to move. We agreed to disagree.
The next day I was at a Baptist Union of Wales (BUW) meeting where the situation in Brecon was discussed in depth. Everyone was very concerned and agreed that something had to be done. At the end of that meeting I approached the Church Life Secretary, Marc Owen, and asked for an appointment. When he asked what it was about I said it was about me and Brecon, and at that point I choked up with emotion. We agreed to meet some weeks later. At that meeting Penny and I were still in disagreement. Marc was excited to see someone was sensing a call to Brecon, but could see we were at odds with each other and suggested that we go away and pray about it.
The following week I travelled to a conference in California with some other Welsh church leaders, and some interesting things happened. On the very first day three different people, in the morning, afternoon, and evening, all prayed over me and said the same thing. They all said that God was giving me strategies or blueprints for a new work. At the end of that week each of us received prophecy from a group of people who didn’t know us, and that prophecy was recorded on tape and given to us before we left. Listening to that prophecy I felt God was confirming the call to Brecon, but I knew I might be just reading into it what I wanted to hear. On my return I encouraged Penny to listen to the tape. She did so and ended up in tears because she felt God was clearly calling us to Brecon, but she didn’t feel at all ready to leave Broad Haven. A week or so later I attended a ‘feedback’ meeting of those who had gone to California, and I shared with the others what I felt God was saying, and asked them to pray about it. They didn’t need to pray. One by one they all confirmed that they felt this was clearly from God.
One of the group had visited Broad Haven for the first time some weeks earlier. He had walked into the chapel and turned to his wife and said, “Ifor is not going to be here much longer. I felt it as soon as I walked in.” Another member of the group had been praying for me in California and had felt God saying that he was shaking my roots and preparing me for a move. I didn’t feel it was fair to share all this with Penny, so I left it with God. God however, was doing his own work in Penny’s heart. She became increasingly aware of the strong pull to Brecon and one day she went up into our bedroom and let go. She handed over to God the strong sense of call to Broad Haven that she had had for over 20 years, and asked him to lead. I was out visiting at the time and she sent me a text saying, “I’ve just let go. I feel like jelly”.
The next morning was amazing. She woke up after a good night’s sleep and felt completely at peace. She realised straight away that her sense of call to Broad Haven had gone. Disappeared overnight. Suddenly she could feel the strong call to Brecon that I had known for the previous seven weeks. We phoned Marc Owen and arranged another meeting, this time with Marc, Peter Thomas the General Sec of the BUW, and also Nick Bradshaw, the Regional Minister for the Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB). We shared with them the strategies that God was giving us, and our joint sense of call. They were thrilled and excited, and we discussed how this sense of call could be facilitated. We agreed that I was not being called as a minister to one of the Breconshire churches, but that both of us were called to start a new work in different villages throughout the County, by seeking out “people of peace” who might be interested in hosting an Alpha course or similar, and using their own networks of friends and family to draw a group together. Part of the strategy was to continue to support these groups afterwards, so that any new Christians could be discipled in depth, and where appropriate, encouraged to repeat the process. In time these groups could be brought together for celebration and teaching, and lead to the formation of a new “church” to serve the whole county, meeting locally in different homes or halls.
Peter and Marc felt that it would be right for the BUW to appoint us to this task, and for the BUW to pay my stipend direct, employing me as a church planter to establish a new form of church in the county of Brecon. Nick was also keen for BUGB to join in this initiative, and offer their endorsement and support. This proposal was presented and endorsed at the Superintendents Meeting on the morning of Sept 23rd, and then presented to the Ministry Board of the BUW and approved that afternoon. At the Church Meeting at Broad Haven that evening I told the church of our sense of call and offered my resignation as minister, with effect from Jan 31st, 2010.
I have written this letter because I wanted everyone to hear the full story of our call to Brecon, but there is another story unfolding even now, which is equally important. God has a new chapter in store for the church at Broad Haven. What we have all built over the years is the foundation for what God wants to do next. Every member of the church has a key role to play in the coming months and years, and God is already preparing the next person to lead the church. Let us go forward together in faith and love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. It has been a wonderful privilege to be your minister for the last 21 years, but God is calling us all to move on to the future.
Ifor
|
