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!

Reflecting on the last network night . . . . .

Sat 1st March: I am the light of the world!

It was great to have so many people join with us on Sat 1st March for a rather chilled out night of fun, worship and teaching. We were joined by the rather excellent singer Mel Wiggins who sang some great tunes for us at the start of the evening. Watch out for her upcoming releases. We were treated to a first, as Stuarty Marks, our home grown talent led the worship made up of a band made up of people from Derryvogie and our own church! Tim Manson (aka me!) was the main speaker and issued a big challenge for all of us to step out of our comfort zones and do something for God! He looked at various occurrence of light in the Old and New testament and investigated how we try and be the light that Jesus wants us to be in our local communities and places of work.

Links
Mel Wiggins
Link to Tim's site for Network talk and PowerPoint

Next Network Night - Sat 1st March

Happy Valentine's Day!

I can never really decide if I like Valentine's day or not. I suppose if one day in the year actually stimulates some people to to actually open up and tell someone that they love them . . . it might just be worth it.

A lot of single people feel that their singleness is what makes them incomplete. I dont think so. God has a plan for us all and some will get married and some won't. I know that this can be hard for many people to come to terms with and maybe it is up to those of us who are married to actually try and help out a bit here. Do we make it easy or hard? How often do good friendships get wiped out because of relationships? How often do couples invite their single friends along to stuff? I know many people who are single and I do hope and pray that they get their desire . . . as long as it is in God's plan and will make them happy. How many people today are struggling to stay together?

So - my single friends - hang in there and wait for God to reveal his plan for you and to my married and coupled up friends - please be sensitive to your single friends and maybe this valentine day do something special for them as well as each other.