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Bulletin 124 Date : 1st Feb 2008
Church is Fun!

What do you get when you mix a Church Anniversary, a Cliff College Mission Team including Steve Wild, two contemporary Christian worship groups (My Spoon and Ignited) with an enthusiastic, mission-minded congregation? The answer is simple – Church Growth and plenty of fun!

This weekend at Harrowby Lane, Grantham, the Methodist Church celebrated its 4th anniversary in its rebuilt church. Steve Wild, the Director of Evangelism for the Methodist Church, based at Cliff College, came with a mission team of young people to engage in mission in the local schools and pubs and to celebrate the anniversary at which Steve preached at two services.

During Friday day time, My spoon went into the local grammar school to share the Gospel in words and music. In the evening they were joined by Ignited and some of the older young people from the church as they went into pubs and clubs in town to share their faith and invite people to the Gig the following evening.

On Saturday morning, a group of us descended upon the George Centre shopping arcade to supervise a prayer room which the church had set up in a vacant shop. We chatted with passers by and invited them to share their prayer concerns and use the prayer labyrinth. Some of us went to the surrounding shops to talk with the shop assistants, explaining why we were there and asking them for prayer requests.

On Saturday afternoon the children’s anniversary party was led by Steve Wild, ably assisted by Clarence the Frog and other companions of the ‘stuffed’ variety. Steve’s ability to communicate the gospel in a non-diluted fashion to children through the use of puppets is without equal. The children loved every minute of it and went home with a good understanding of the parable of the Good Samaritan. And then, between 70 and 80 young folks, many with no church connection, came to the Saturday night gig.

The Sunday morning service was led in terms of worship by My Spoon. TV film cameras were in position to capture the occasion which is likely to be shown on Christian television later in the year. Steve preached, again involving the young children as they baked a birthday cake during the service. The afternoon service was a more traditional style of worship but very moving. Steve preached again at this service.

Weeks of preparation had gone into the weekend by a committed and enthusiastic church who worked in partnership with Steve, the Cliff team and the music groups over the weekend. The dividends were there for all to see in the faces of the children and the joy of worshippers. The event showed to people in Grantham that the church is not a place of mournful people but a place of fun and enthusiasm, empowered by the Spirit of God. In short – Church is Fun!