Stories
Schools:
Colin Symes (Edinburgh) – Graffiti Artist
We invited a team of young Slovaks from Catholic mission communities to come and be involved in an ecumenical outreach with us in the Edinburgh Festival. The highlight was a day in a local high school, where they spoke of their experiences under communism, being the fortieth anniversary of the Prague spring, and their own journey of faith into the era of freedom. They spoke in all the RE classes for one day, and used drama and video to communicate the reality of their faith. At a youth event on the Friday evening at King’s Hall, one of the team, Majo, a graffiti artist, did a ‘live street art’ session for three hours on the street, attracting a lot of interest from bypassers, and producing a superb 2m x 1m canvas on the theme of resurrection.
‘Global Village’ – interactive mission display for schools
Under the banner of HOPE this initiative is a unified approach by a number of mission agencies designed to both raise the profile of participating mission agencies through the curriculum and highlight careers in relief and development. Hopefully this can lead to the agencies’ continued involvement in the schools: class visits, assembly presentations, etc.. These agencies have first hand knowledge of issues which plague geographical regions of the world. Their knowledge has also led to involvement in relief and development projects which are making a difference in the lives of indigenous peoples in those regions. What better way to generate interest in these issues and possible solutions than to bring the textbooks alive to S1 – S4 pupils with real life examples. Teachers will receive a packet of materials to use in follow up classroom lessons. This project meets Curriculum For Excellence guidelines. It can also be used in churches and youth groups.
Puppets of Penicuik – Joan (Penicuik)
We are just a little group – six primary school youngsters plus two adults and a lot of puppets – but that doesn’t hold us back.
After a successful Easter performance to a group of largely churched parents and friends, the young people asked to do something at Christmas to take God’s message out to people who might not otherwise hear it. Their idea: take something into their schools.
So, after rather restricted rehearsal time ( that’s the problem with busy leaders!) and some concentrated letter writing and phone conversations, we found ourselves welcomed into three of our local primary schools (two in one morning …. we’d rather not do that again!) with our performance of “Countdown to Christmas”. We performed to two large groups of all the children from P3 to P7, and one smaller group (two large P6 classes). Our story was well received, so much so that we have been asked by two of the schools to come back, one of them specifically to tell the Easter story! We should record our thanks to the head teachers who let us into, and the children out of, school as required.
We also managed to take the same performance into our local Town Hall monthly Open House – a Saturday morning where there is coffee and chat and a chance for people in the community to share their interest. We performed to two pretty full houses and again the overtly Christian message was well received….. yes, there too we have been asked back.
The children are already working on what we can do in the future: watch this space!!
Arts and Media:
Scottish Bible Society
The SBS partnered with us in printing a new resource for churches…a small leaflet, ‘Where to look in the Gospels’. This is really a promises leaflet that churches can use at any outreach event which enables the user to then know where to find ‘Hope when they worry’ or ‘Hope when they doubt’, etc. The Hope info website is also included so that people have another tool to use as they search for answers. Churches can also include their own church contact details in a space provided.
HOPE@Hogmanay – Jim McNair (Glasgow Cathedral)
Hogmanay was an exciting opportunity for churches to celebrate and bring in the New Year together in Glasgow Cathedral; it seemed the fitting place to launch HOPE 08 as this place represents nine centuries of Christian witness. The Cathedral was filled with people from every denomination; all with a desire to ask God for Hope for Glasgow in 08. Over 700 people attended the night and worship was led by many from the Praise Gathering choir. We joined with a local singer and songwriter to reclaim our motto for the city, “let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the word and the praising of His name”. We followed this up with another event ringing in the new year for 2009 with over 500 people in attendance claiming that HOPE ALBA is still going. The cathedral audience heard of young people who had brought hope to neighbourhoods in Bridgeton and Dalmarnock through CONNECT – a project in which teenagers rub shoulders along with their unchurched peers. The Roman Catholic Archbishop spoke of how the arts with a godly grounding could bring hope rather than despair. Based on the prodigal son story, Rev Tom Nelson challenged everyone to come home to God during 2009. At midnight the cathedral bell sounded forth to our community as those within faced the challenge of following that sound by Building Communities with our Hours of Kindness.
Prior to the service we had enthusiastic teams of people giving out water as an act of kindness in George Square in the city centre. Over 40 people joined together to hand out nearly 800 bottles of water. We teamed up with the Buddies Bus from the International Christian College and the party goers were given water and flip flops for those with sore feet! People from churches all across the city found a common desire to reach out and literally give a bottle of water in Jesus Name. It was great to be there. 2009 will be a year of Building Communities through our churches. We have enlisted for the task and been commissioned to get started.
‘Nights of Joy- a Family Reunion’ – Glasgow
This initiative resulted from a house group from a Nazarene church participating in 40 days of community. Each house group was responsible for doing some act of kindness in their community. This house group also saw the Body of Christ as a community that needed attention as well since most churches weren’t doing things together at the time. The idea was for churches to come together for a night of praise and worship. Each time different groups would perform in a new location fostering the building of relationships with churches in that community. These nights have been full of joy as we have celebrated together the love of God and the fact that we are all one family. The first Night of Joy we had over 100 people from 4 churches; musical groups represented across the denominations (Nazarene, Church of Scotland and Charismatic Catholics for Renewal). Our second night was enjoyable as well drawing a crowd of over 100 again with participation from three different churches (Nazarene, Church of Scotland and Episcopal) in another area of the city. The one comment people have always made is that it is so nice to see everyone worshipping together. They may live in the same community, but they don’t worship together. These nights created an atmosphere of fellowship as we share tea and coffee afterwards. The question is always the same, ‘when’s the next one?’ Watch this space……..
Bethlehem Experience – Dave (Parkhead), Darnell (Perth)
Parkhead Cross in Glasgow saw an amazing Community Christmas Experience on Sunday 14th December. In previous years the local Nazarene church had run the event on their own but this year with the principles of the Hope initiative at the forefront of the planning process, five local churches came together and transformed an entire street into a bustling scene from Bethlehem 2000 years ago, complete with interactive Christmas stalls, carol singers, nativity dramas, and even a stable containing a pair of live donkeys!
The event, known as “The Bethlehem Experience”, brought the churches and local community together to focus on the theme of ‘Light into Darkness’ and in recognition of the commitment to Hope 08, the Bethlehem Experience finished with a Community Carol Walk. Carols were sung outside the local Nazarene, Catholic, Congregational and Presbyterian churches and also outside the Salvation Army Hall. The Rev Ian Wills commented that “…bringing people together is at the heart of the Christmas story. The arrival of baby Jesus brought together all kinds of people from all kinds of places and backgrounds and the Bethlehem Experience symbolised the same. This has been a wonderful community event that celebrated the value and power of a community coming together.”
In Perth, an estimated 2400 people attended two nativity shows held in the town hall, with many of the local churches involved in organising and supporting the event. Pastor Darnell Starks said that “the response from the community was amazing…..tickets sold out weeks in advance”. It is hoped that this year’s event will be even bigger!
X_ALT – Lynn Howson (East End Glasgow)
X-alt is a monthly event for young people in Glasgow’s East End. Hundreds of young people have been able to gather for a fun and friendly event with music, drama and great talks. These events have always been organised by the young people in FireStarters and many young people from around the city have attended.
Each month young FireStarters are partnering with churches in urban Glasgow to bring hope by offering activities for children and young people, clearing playground areas of rubbish, offering coats and hot drinks to homeless people and praying everywhere we go, inviting God to use us to show His love to the people of the city.
Wells of Praise – Chris McCrosson (Perthshire, Scotland)
An exciting vision to facilitate groups of Christians across Scotland in coming together regularly to worship, listen, and respond to what they hear God saying, not labeled with any particular church denomination but simply ‘being the church’. This initiative works to establish a regular pattern of praise and worship where the focus is on glorifying God but where God moves through the power of His Holy Spirit and people are taken into new depths of relationship with Him. Wells of Praise is about creating a rippling effect of His glory being reflected back into the community. It is about receiving His blessings and allowing His love to permeate throughout the community via the praise of His people. Thereby it begins to impact on the rest of God’s plans for that area.
We achieve this by sectioning off an area of a 20 to 30 miles radius where the different worship leaders within these parameters support the ongoing running of a Well of Praise. Once this is established throughout the Nation the ongoing rippling effect begins to impact on each other thereby creating an EMP effect across the country – a pulsating wave of praise and prayer creating a solid foundation on which to build upon and deflect enemy activity in our communities. The rippling sound of the name of Jesus cascading over the country by the Holy Spirit drawing together the body of Christ giving glory to God in unison. We are simply looking to encourage, support and serve communities across Scotland in the establishment of their own Well of Praise which can only be achieved through unity in the body of Christ. Wells of Praise have been established now in Auchterarder for a number of years, and we have experienced people being healed and brought to a new depth of intimacy with the Lord. Recently, there has been a Well of Praise added in Kinross.
If different worship leaders will join a Scottish national registry being identified within each sector it would be possible to share the commitment to service the surrounding communities whilst keeping each ‘Well’ fresh by providing new and inspired input.
Carol Event – Joan (Penicuik)
In the course of one of our meetings comment was made that all of our church Christmas events in Penicuik take place within church buildings – not entirely helpful for those people in the community who have issues with the very idea of coming into church.
Thus was born the idea of the churches holding a Carol Event outwith any church building – this sort of thing is usually left in our town to the schools, or the Silver Band or some such group. The Town hall was duly booked, a team of musicians roped in from a couple of the churches, and an invitation put out to all the churches to produce some people to lead the singing. Requirement – to be able to sing and to attend at least one of two rehearsals. Readings – all from Scripture in different versions – were chosen, and an excellent sketch found (Thank you BRF– it was a corker!).
In the event, we had an almost full hall (lots of the people not from any church), a “choir” of a couple of dozen, plus another eight or so readers and actors, made up from all of the local churches, plus the help of the local Silver Band and the Puppets of Penicuik. We sang lots of traditional carols, as well as a couple of very new ones. No sermon – but the puppet gave a brilliant two minute message! And no collection!
It was good to be able to make contact with people in this way, to get people of different traditions working together, and to hear people, both those “performing” and the “audience” voicing a hope that there will be other such events in the near future.
Festivals of HOPE
Many churches across Scotland already come together to participate in city-wide festivals. The idea behind ‘Festivals of Hope’ takes it further as churches come together in regions across Scotland and organize festivals using music, art/drama, food, fun and community service projects so that people’s lives are touched and communities are changed.
This was piloted in the summer of 2008 as a Family Fun Day by a youth ministry called FireStarters and was very successful. A group of young people from many different churches gathered for a week to do service projects in neighbouring communities. At the end of the week the culmination was the Family Fun Day in a local park. There was music, puppets, bouncy castles, football cage and a few speakers. Families could also visit a marquee filled with a number of displays about Fair Trade, Healing Rooms (where many received prayer), and tuck shop. Kids loved the free popcorn……ok, adults too! It was definitely a fun day out. The young people that put this together felt really encouraged. A local church made their facilities available for accommodation which allowed the young people an opportunity to build real relationships with one another and share in times of worship, prayer and devotions together. As a result, this year we are hoping that churches in other areas around Scotland will take this on and bless their communities through a ‘Festival of Hope’.
Something we hope to add this year is a balloon distribution. (HOPE balloons can be purchased from CPO) Churches participating in any festival, Gala Day or community event can distribute small cards on a Sunday morning prior to the event. People are asked to write a blessing/prayer on their card which will then be collected and tied to the string attached to each balloon. These balloons are then freely distributed to children at the festival.
Reaching Young People:
Powerprayze – Claire (Strathaven)
1 Timothy 4:12 tells us not to let anyone look down on us because we are young, which is exactly what 5 young people did when they had a vision for PowerPrayze. Initially this was going to be a small event to bring several local youth groups together, but with God’s prompting and encouragement it has now become one of the largest youth events in central Scotland under the HOPE banner.
The vision behind PowerPrayze is to bring together young Christians in central Scotland for a fun filled night of praise, worship, teaching, sharing and fellowship. We believe that spending time with other Christians your age is essential for growing in your faith. All too often however youth groups become self absorbed and do not realise the fantastic opportunities that meeting other youth groups can offer. With this in mind, the PowerPrayze team was born, sharing a common vision to see young people praising God together under one roof. Thanks to the power of God, PowerPrayze was a success right from the start with over 200 people attending the very first event in November 2007, and it has grown ever since.
The quarterly evenings consist of worship led by the PowerPrayze band, a very contemporary group made up of members of local churches. Our speakers always give the young people a challenging message on a theme of Christian living. Part of the programme is called “The Slot” which is run by a different youth group every time to do whatever they want. Whether it is to perform a drama or show a video the decision is completely theirs. This is a fantastic way of getting youth groups involved and included. Afterwards there are many stalls and a café to browse, allowing the young people to chat and mingle and get to know one another.
As a team we are so thankful to God for the amazing work he has been achieving in our area, not just through PowerPrayze but in the local churches as well. We thank him for the strength he has given us to reach so many young people through this event and we pray that we will be able to equip and encourage young people to recreate similar events in their own area in the future. Please do visit our website at www.powerprayze.co.uk
Being a Good Neighbour:
Penicuik Prayer Post Boxes – Joan (Penicuik)
Two of our local churches operate a “prayer drop” to houses in their parish for ten months of the year: homes receive a letter inviting them to ask for prayer, and a week or so later someone calls to collect their prayers, which are in turn prayed over in a designated prayer meeting. Realising that December is one of the months when the folks who do this take a break, our little inter church group felt that it would nevertheless be good to offer something at a time when people often feel very pressured. The idea of a prayer letter box was proposed.
Our local supermarkets, Tesco and Somerfield, agreed to give us space for a prayer box for the whole month. These were duly constructed and put in place, complete with pen and paper, with notices clearly indicating their purpose. The boxes were emptied (almost) daily, by a rota of people from the different churches. Existing prayer groups undertook to pray at different points in the week. The response was variable – we received about 70 prayers in total, on subjects ranging from the very general (war/peace/the financial situation etc) to the very specific and sometimes very moving. There were also a fair number of “spoilt papers”: we prayed for a number of folks who, to judge from their comments, appeared to have issues with God and the church, or who just needed help. There were prayers from young children and from old people, there were short prayers and long.
At the end of the month we agreed that this had been a good exercise: it involved all sorts of people – some of the “collectors” were people who for their own reasons are not comfortable in a prayer group, but could be involved in this important way. One or two housebound people undertook to pray over some of the concerns raised. All of our churches were involved in some way and at their own level.. And from the comments, the effort was clearly appreciated.
We are now considering whether this is something we should repeat in the future (Easter?) or something we could offer on a year round basis. No doubt you will hear all about it as it develops.
Houses Of Prayer Everywhere – across Scotland
Four years ago I moved to a new housing development in Perthshire. Houses were still being built, but one of my new neighbours is a Christian and we started to meet weekly to pray for our street. We prayed that God would send more Christians into the new houses, and that through His Holy Spirit great things would happen in our neighbourhood.
Two years later, getting near Christmas time, we felt God tell us to “do an act of kindness” for our neighbours. So we made a variety of sweets, packaged them attractively with a card explaining who we were and saying that we were praying for our neighbours, and delivered them personally two days before Christmas. We were amazed at the very positive response we received. Some people had tears in their eyes when we introduced ourselves and handed over the gift we had made for them. The act of kindness had touched their hearts. One lady said we would never know what a wonderful thing we had done for her that day!
Today our prayer times have become a ’Lighthouse of Prayer’ in the street. No longer are there just two people praying together. Now there are five of us praying, caring and sharing, and we know of others in the estate who are potential pray-ers. God has answered our prayer for houses to be occupied by Christians. But this is only one of the answers to prayer we have had as God’s Spirit is at work in our neighbourhood. There is no limit to what God can do through Christians getting together to ‘Pray, Care and Share’ for their neighbours. Grace (Perthshire)
I recently completed a training weekend on lighthouses of prayer and how communities can be impacted by prayer, caring and sharing. Little did I know that within just 24 hours I would be on the receiving end of much needed community support and prayer like I have never needed it before. I had a phone call to tell me the most shocking and upsetting news imaginable. My darling brother who lived in Florida had committed suicide. I was utterly devastated and completely shocked and grief stricken. My parents live in Cambridge and I had only very recently moved to Orkney. So I felt very far away and helpless.
Initially the thought of being able to fly out to Florida to be with my parents and sister for his funeral seemed impossible. I didn’t have the funds. I had two children in school to consider and didn’t feel I knew people well enough here to be able to ask for their help. However I realised very quickly that I didn’t need to ask. Help was there and readily offered without my needing to do anything.
Thanks to the love and support of neighbours in the local community I was completely cared for and found myself on a plane bound for Florida within 48 hours. Networking was taking place while I lay on the sofa and sobbed. There was a constant stream of friends and neighbours round as soon as they heard the news. One lady cried with me; others brought hot soup. I was given donations of money to pay for my flight and others offered to have the children so I could go and not worry about a thing here. Someone turned up with 3 bags of shopping. Another took care of my dog. Everything was beautifully taken are of so I didn’t have to ask for anything.
All of this was a tremendous witness for my family. They were helped in their grief knowing that even though I was miles away I was being loved and cared for. Knowing I was prayed for I had the strength to share the gospel message with many people out in Florida and pray for people who were hurting while in the midst of my own grief. I very much valued the prayers both online and on the phone. The fruit of this loving community has been enormous and has enabled me to move forward into a new place and keen to help others. I know first hand how valuable lighthouses of prayer are. I am so thankful to each and every person who helped me through the most difficult and traumatic time of my life. It will never be forgotten. Sarah (Orkney)
Bags of Hope – Phillip (Govanhill)
This Christmas, a church in Glasgow sent out “Bags of Hope” - bags full of food and drinks - to individuals and families in various parts of the city. This was not a ministry only to the poor but a message of hope to friends, neighbours or colleagues of church members. Quality items were brought in to a storehouse ready for the bags to be filled. The colourful bags, labelled with the tagline “Jesus - adds colour to the season” were filled with the groceries then some Christmas crackers and a copy of “The Gift of Hope”, a booklet exploring why Jesus is the greatest Gift of Hope, written by Andy Hawthorne.
Church members registered how many bags they would like to fill and distribute, and others donated financially so that the church could give Bags of Hope to members of the local community. Each mother at the weekly mothers and toddlers group also received a bag. In all, nearly 150 Bags of Hope were distributed and the message of hope touched many families. Here are what some had to say:
“I couldn’t believe that a church would do something like this.”
“When I gave her the bag and explained it was a free gift from the church, she began to cry and said she really needed hope this year. I cried, too.”
“Money is tight and the things in the bag were all things I needed. It’s like everything was hand-picked for me.”
At a time when many were losing jobs and were uncertain about the future, we pray the Lord uses this initiative to help men, women and children in our community find hope in Jesus Christ.
Gift of Hope – across Scotland
A minister in Edinburgh came up with the idea of churches coming together under the Hope banner partnering with the national blood donor service in Scotland. He had recently learned that only about 5% of Scots donate blood. That means there are an awful lot more of us who can take time out to drop into our local donor centre or go to one of the many sessions organised throughout the year by the SNBTS outside main cities, to simply give an hour of kindness. He shared this idea with a group of ministers meeting to talk about HOPE and all agreed this was a great way for churches to get involved in the ‘hours of kindness’. Everyone felt it really fit in well with the Easter theme:
Remember….a blood donor saved your life…..Jesus!
The blood service representative that he met with was excited as well and has been one of our strongest advocates of HOPE as a result. The ‘Gift of Hope’ aims to enlist Christians in Scotland who are healthy and aged between 17 and 65, to give blood through the Scottish National Blood Transfusion Service (SNBTS). When you enter a blood donation centre please be sure and mention that you are there as part of HOPE so that we can tally how effective the project has been and log our hours of kindness towards the one million hour national target.
As a result of going to donate blood as part of this initiative one woman learned that platelet donors are also in short supply in Scotland; there are only about 1000. Platelets are used for chemo patients and other treatments. This woman had lost her father to lung cancer and felt that donating platelets would be a way to remember him and celebrate his life. There is a process involved in becoming a platelet donor so find out more by contacting your local donor centre.
The SNBTS transfusion centres are sited in major medical centres in Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow. Please phone the contact centre at 08453017270 or visit the SNBTS website www.scotblood.co.uk/wheretodonate for your local donor centre contact information. The sheer number of people who need medical and surgical treatment means that SNBTS must collect around a thousand donations daily to keep Scotland supplied.
A Hope Story from a Heart to Heart client.
I would say that right from the beginning of the end of my marriage, I held in my heart the hope and intention that my ex and I would keep what we had when we first met - a mutual respect - and that we would keep talking. At times I wanted him to disappear from my life, but as we have children, that is not an option. The children were my biggest concern and worry, and I knew that a good ongoing relationship with my ex was the best for them.
Now, after 7 years of ups and downs, and a final separation 18 months ago, I think we have achieved that. I’m glad I never let go of that vision, and I’m eternally grateful to my ex for sharing it, and not letting things spiral into negativity.