3 days of Prayer

You maybe heard the announcement in church on Sunday. This year as part of the week of prayer we are encouraging people in the church to spend some time in the church praying for the year ahead. The idea is that that the Lawther school will be set up as a prayer room and that we have people 'booked' into the room for 3 days.

This is a great opportunity for individuals, small groups, families, teams of leaders, groups of friends to come down to pray together for the church, friends, family and the local community.

Prayer is the backbone to all of the things we want to do. This is an opportunity for us to reflect on the positive power of prayer and for us to remember how our prayers can change situations and lives.

There are 44 slots available over the weekend and we really encourage you to sign up. We also have a few sessions where you can come down for group prayer and worship times.

Look up the online calendar to see what is available

24/3 Prayer calendar

You can then sign up by emailing me or of course fill in the sign up sheet in the church!

Make a point of joining us!

A few changes . . . .

With the summer (what summer?) almost at an end it is time to start turning our minds towards the things of the Lord again! As you may know - Network is an organisation for Muckamore Presbyterian church. There are 2 elements - we organise a network of small groups that meet on a regular basis across the wider area of the church. In addition we have in the past organised a worship/teaching night on Sat nights.

The small groups will be continuing and we will be inviting other people in the church to come and join with us.

In addition we are planning some changes to the network worship nights - these are going to change and hopefully will become a time for worship, praise and prayer.

We will be releasing more information about what is going to be happening in network this year, over the next few weeks - so watch this space for more.

All the best

Tim

Introducing Worship Central in Carnmoney!

A few months ago Helen and I headed over to London for a one day conference with Worship Central. It was a great day of worship, praise, prayer and renewal. I emailed Tim Hughes when I got home and asked him when we could get him over to Northern Ireland. The rotters at Carnmoney got in before me and WC is coming over to do a worship and teaching night on Sat 18th Oct. It only costs £5 per ticket and I really, highly, highly recommend that you go online to WC and book your ticket right now. If you end up going drop me an email at tmanson@thinkgeography.org.uk so I can keep track of the posse going down.

Seriously - you do not want to miss this - Tim Hughes and Al Gordon will be hosting and hopefully leading worship too as they are both fantastic worship leaders. Many of Tim's songs are already modern classsics.

Get your tickets now!

Tim

Worship Central website

Next Network Night - Sat 24th May at 7.30

The next network night is due to take place in Muckamore Pres church at 7.30. You are very welcome to come and join us as we think about the final 'I am' saying of Jesus when he claimed to be the way, the truth and the life. Come to think about the direction where your life is heading . . . are you going the right way . . . . . are you doing the right thing . . . . are you putting energy and time into the right things as you try to look for and serve God.

This is a great time to reflect and to refresh yourself and to commit yourself to God. It is the last 'proper' network night until September. We will be having a more informal get together night on Sat 28th June and then thats it over the summer! But dont worry - the network small groups will be continuing to meet as much as possible through the summer holidays.

So - do join with us this Saturday. Rick Hill will be leading the worship and the speaker is Graeme Thompson who is a Youth Development Officer with the Presbyterian Church.

Engage with us

We are coming close to the first year of network. There have been many highs and lows in the journey. What about you? What the high and low lights for you? Let us know! We are pretty sure that network is NOT the one size fits all solution for the church. It is only an attempt to engage and to do things differently. We have messed up a few times along the way and sometimes things have not quite been the way that we expect them to have been . . . but we believe that we have been guided by God and that as we faithfully try to serve Him and you, that change will happen.

We need you to engage with us! We need to hear what you are thinking -how can we make things better for everyone? How can we take things to the next step? How can we make a bigger impact in the lives of our local community? Thats the challenge. We need more people to help us out next year to take a job and faithfully do it and complete it for the whole year. Is this something that you can do? What are the gifts and skills that God has given to you and wants to see used in his service?

Let's hear from you!

tmanson@thinkgeography.org.uk

Thanks

Tim

Next Network Night - Sat 26th April 2008 7.30pm

The countdown is on for the next Network Celebration night. On Sat 26th April 2008 at 7.30pm we will be meeting in Muckamore Presbyterian Church for our 6th night. The theme for the night is 'I am the bread of life' and we are really pleased that Rev John Dickinson (from Carnmoney Pres Church) will be speaking. As always, the evening will be a relaxed affair and will combine teaching with an opportunity to worship God in a personal and alternative way. Do come and join with us!

Thoughts on worship . . . .

Over the last month I have been doing a lot of thinking about worship. What does it mean to me? How can I get involved in it more? What exactly does God expect me to bring to Him as my worship?

I know that my life is meant to be 'an act of worship' and I really hope it is. Though, recently I have been thinking about how I actually respond to God in and through times of corporate worship in church and in meetings. For a long time I have always played the Presbyterian card and have thought that as long as the worship is in my heart as I sing, my worship is valuable and authentic. But, what about those times when all I do is mumble the words? What about the time when that is all I do?

I have been rediscovering how worship is a chance for me to actively respond to God - what do you think about this? How do you respond to God in worship? When we sing together in church what are you doing? What are you thinking about? How are you trying to get your heart to connect with God? Does the style of worship matter? Does it matter what instruments are used?

One of my most favourite traditional pieces of worship is St Patrick's breastplate and one of Tim Hughes new songs reminds me of this. He has a song called 'Everything' and it goes . . . .

God in my living, there in my breathing,
God in my waking, God in my sleeping.
God in my resting, there in my working,
God in my thinking, God in my speaking.
Be my everything,
Be my everything;
Be my everything,
Be my everything.


God in my hoping, there in my dreaming,
God in my watching, God in my waiting.
God in my laughing, there in my weeping,
God in my hurting, God in my healing.
Be my everything, be my everything;
Be my everything, be my everything.


If God is in everything then our worship is worth it. God wants to be involved in our lives - our lives our living sacrifices. He wants us to respond to Him. To include Him. To love with His glory seeping out of every pore in our bodies. He wants to be our everything!