Where’s the Party?

Sunday afternoon, 4.30pm on Bognor beach… we had a great time!  This is how we like to ‘do’ church.  MTV Unplugged style live music filling the air with cool sounds and loads of people, mostly but not exclusively from the Opengate church community, enjoying the best of Bognor’s summer sun next to Wild Wickies Beach Cafe…  chatting, chilling, sharing… generally being blessed.  The to top it, two of the guys from opengate who wanted to publicaly say they are choosing to live life the Jesus way got baptised to mark that decision in their lives…pic’s below.  For us it felt so good… genuine… just a really excellent expression of the way church is.

Julia just after being baptised

Scott coming up too!

Something in the order of 150 people were by the sea watching as we did this, quite a few who were on the beach were asking lots of questions about what it meant and one couple in particular expressing how special they felt it was…. Jesus has a profound impact on people.

Openhand… being practical

We were talking amongst some friends recently who expressed genuine surprise when they learned that we did not have a salary from any church or organisation.  After that chat it occurred to us that they were probably not alone in this misunderstanding and that we should be more open about our ‘faith walk’ in ministry. Like so many in the current economic climate we have not found things easy either, but we have a sure and certain hope in the Lord as our provider…. in every form that this comes!  We remain totally certain of God’s call on our lives for ministry and to see Jesus known in our community and beyond, and so in these times we know we have to do as Paul did with his tent-making and find practical ways to keep going in the call God has given.   For this reason I am seeking opportunities for short-term work…  please have a look at the ’business card’ (click on it to enlarge) and pass it on to anyone you know that needs some work done.  If it helps I have some references from recent work completed.   For ideas of what I can to click here.

Our heartfelt desire is to fulfill more and more our call to pastor and lead here in Bognor Regis.  We know this is the Lord’s direction for us.  We also have a heart for the nations, growing out of the local community.  Those of you who have followed our journey know that Belgium, Italy, Uganda and Burundi are constantly in our thoughts as we grow in relationship with people from these beautiful nations.  Please pray with us for the right opportunities to fulfill this call.  Thank you.

Mission hearts unite

I’ve just had a great evening with 6 people who share one heart for mission, and it was good!  Exploring together ways of getting communication right to bring Good News to people in places such as Nepal, India, Romania and of course, Bognor Regis.  I’m excited to see churches working together, denominational boundaries forgotten and mission hearted men and women getting real about how to work out vision on the frontline.  For my part, I may be helping them with getting some web tools working so that more people can participate in the work of the ‘Ron Hellyer Foundation’ in the afore-mentioned areas…. I’ll let you know how things develop.