Saturday 2 February 2008

Partners in the gospel

So the long fortnight of mission in Lancaster has now finished, with hundreds of students having heard something of the gospel. Across the two campuses over the past weeks, there have been dozens of Christian students involved, 19 talks, a number of small group events and one amazing evening which led to the gospel being shared in Newcastle!

One of the real highlights was working alongside some of my very best friends, including Chris (a former Relay Worker that I supervised), friends who were fellow students in Bristol days, family (including my sister-in-law, Sarah), folks I know from church in Lancaster, and my good mate Michael.

There's something very special about working alongside friends. I guess there's always the danger that things just become nostalgic, but Paul seemed to craved working alongside his friends and partners in the gospel. It's great to work alongside people knowing the sort of way in which they think, how they will react in certain situations and how their gifts can be best utilised.

It's exciting that the merry band that assembled to partner us in Lancaster are spread across the country, serving Jesus in many different contexts, but I hope and pray that this won't have been the last time working with them.

3 comments:

Dave K said...

Sounds great... tell us more!

For me one of the reasons it is so great to be working alongside friends is seeing Jesus in them. Just in their living they rebuke and encourage you to reflect the Father as well by the power of the Spirit. It's a beautiful thing.

As John says: "No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us."

peterdray said...

Amen, Dave!

The fortnight was excellent. Amy, Daf and Michael all presented the gospel really clearly and there was a tangible increase in momentum across the fortnight. Particularly exciting to see gospel proclamation at the University of Cumbria campus, where I think it's fair to say proclamation has traditionally been weaker.

Bitesize courses start tonight at Lancaster University and a week on Thursday at Cumbria so we'll be praying for gospel fruit!

I'm sure Gareth will be on here soon and he can tell the Newcastle story... it's worth it!

gazleaney said...

The Newcastle Story is definitely worth it, and it has been much told in Southend already! But it's much too good for the comments section, where people might not read it! Sadly, I didn't get time to blogjack while I was up there, or I would have told it...