Newsletter
October 2000
Bringing God's grace and healing love
to people with life-disrupting problems
ENCOURAGEMENT
= from Thesaurus
cheer, development, hope, inspiration, boost, catalyst,
comfort, confidence, motivation, reassurance, strength, support .
. . . .
Your response to the recent letter from the Chairman of our
Council of Management has been tremendous. THANK YOU SO
MUCH for your encouragement; your prayers and donations.
With your help, the immediate financial difficulties have been
covered and we do ask you to please continue to pray regarding our
ongoing needs and expenses. Again, we have proved God to be
faithful, and we value your continuing participation more than we
could say.
What is it that you are participating in? We have been
operating now for 16 years (a long time for this sort of
organisation) and still have the same aims - to impact the
community we serve with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by providing an
inner city resource for people with life-controlling problems.
We are not ashamed of the fact that we are a Christian
organisation, and we count it a privilege to work alongside
various groups (Christian and non-Christian, voluntary and
statutory) in our attempt to provide a full service to our
clients.
The needs in the inner city have not diminished over 16 years.
Those who use our Centre still bring with them very
complicated life experiences. Coming alongside people who
have the hallmark of God on their lives (God's creation) but whose
identity, purpose and potential seems to be crushed by their
lifestyle and behaviour is humbling and challenging.
Just to give you some examples, today a young man came into the
Centre. It's difficult to tell his age because he looks as
if life has been hard for him. He was saying that he drinks
heavily and has for some time - he could not imagine a life
without alcohol. His dream, when I asked what it might be,
is to have a weekend holiday away from Bristol! But that is
outside of his reach when all his money is being used on alcohol.
There are those who do make the decision to break away from
addiction. One client is presently facing the issues
involved in this, and also the fact that he has previously tried
many different ways to deal with the addiction but so far has not
been successful. To try again is not easy for him.
It is so hard for him to believe that it is possible to change; so
hard, in fact, that he hesitates to invest much in his present
attempts in case it fails again. Once he's tried
everything, what does he do?
There are also those who use our Centre who presently have no
conception of change or the possibility of their life experience
being different. They continue to scheme and struggle to
survive and try to hold together the little they have. And
there are those who still struggle and maybe continue to drink or
use drugs, but who have come to know God, who have a hope in their
lives and have experienced the new start God brings.
Your participation makes it possible for us to continue to
offer a resource to people with life-controlling problems.
Again, thank you so much.
[Back...]
Jayne and Paul were married in August. What an occasion!
The weather was brilliant. Our thanks to Bristol
Christian Fellowship for the use of The Ark in Cotham for the
wedding, to Ian Davies for leading worship at the wedding and to
the many people who helped with the wedding preparations and
reception.
As well as the commitment Jayne and Paul made to each other
before God (and quite an emotional experience that was!), this was
a tremendous celebration of the new life they both have in God, of
the changes which have already taken place and of their hope for
the future.
[Back...]
The 'invisible' helpers: those generous people who serve the
ministry but never get noticed. Many thanks to -
- Margaret, who launders our towels and tea towels every
week
- Sue and her family who often put together our books of meal
vouchers - a very time-consuming task
- Alan who himself bakes cakes for us every week, and arranges
for others in his church to do the same
- The many supporters who regularly pray for us.
[Back...]
We are so grateful for the harvest goods which have been
donated to us by churches and other groups. Over the last
couple of weeks, it has not been unusual for us to receive carrier
bags and boxes of apples, potatoes, pears, grapes, carrots, swede,
marrow, tomatoes, corn and also many tinned and packet items.
We can serve a really good stuffed marrow (courtesy Jayne,
one of our team), should you be in St Pauls and thinking of
visiting!
As well as the harvest goods, there are those churches and
individuals who demonstrate their support of us by regularly
baking cakes, casseroles and other meals. We are so very
grateful for their involvement in this way.
These donations make such a difference to The Missing Peace,
supplementing our supplies and helping us to continue to provide a
good resource.
Food is a powerful communicator for our clients, many of whom
are those who beg on the streets, "hungry and homeless". It
is a significant part of the service we offer in The Missing
Peace, and often the means by which we make contact with people
and introduce them to the other services we provide.
With this very practical support, and also the number of new
volunteers, we are now able to extend the openings times again.
Our hope is to be open regularly on at least five days and
two evenings of the week; to be an accessible resource for our
clients. We do still need more volunteers for this to
happen and if this is something in which you may be interested,
then please contact the office - details on the back of this
Newsletter.
For those of you who support us in prayer, we ask you to please
continue to pray specifically regarding our need for more
volunteers.
[Back...]
Aiming to provide accessible training towards work and
further employment for people with life-controlling
problems.
Motivation is quite an issue for the people to whom this course
is offered. Many have never worked and have little belief
in themselves regarding being able to achieve in education or
work. It is a risk for them to undertake training as
previous life experience may well have taught them to expect
failure.
The motivation to join a training course can therefore be a
very significant step forward, but if it is not available at the
right time then the opportunity may be lost. In response to
this, our course is now operating on a carousel basis, whereby
people are able to join it at the start of any week the course is
running. The training period is part-time over 13 weeks and
includes a residential week of outdoor activities - climbing,
abseiling, canoeing etc: fun, team building and achievement.
One of the exciting aspects of this course is witnessing growth
and development in those who join it. We see their
potential begin to be realised, hope being born and enthusiasm
developing.
Andy Luxford heads up this aspect of our work. Paul, who
was mentioned in our previous Newsletter, was previously a trainee
on the course, graduated to be Assistant to Andy and has now moved
on to full-time employment elsewhere.
[Back...]
This has been running for a number of years, providing a
Christian fellowship experience for our clients, many of whom
would find it very difficult to be part of a more formal church
experience. Our aim is to work with other churches across
the city to provide a 'bridge' from street to formal church.
With this in mind, we welcome the involvement of various
different Christian denominations.
Part of Bridgehead Church has been a home group, specifically
for our clients who have become Christians and are looking for
this form of meeting. The home group has been running for a
number of months and is planning to 'host' monthly meeting at The
Missing Peace over the next three months - one Thursday evening
each month.
Small groups from three different churches have been invited to
participate and the meetings will be open to any of our clients
who would like to come. We will have the opportunity to
review this at the end of the year with the hope of seeing a
regular Thursday evening Christian Fellowship meeting established,
with the regular involvement of various churches in Bristol.
We would appreciate your prayers for this aspect of the
ministry. This is a time when there a number of our clients
who have been talking about God and some have asked for 'church'
at the Centre. As we see the interest they are expressing,
it would be so good to respond.
If you or your church would like further information on this
aspect of our work, would like to be involved or to visit, then
please contact the office - details on the back of this
Newsletter.
[Back...]
CCM now has a General Manager, providing support to the
Director by taking on responsibility for the day-to-day running of
the Centre. Welcome to Paul Hazelden, who took up this post
at the beginning of October.
He writes: "Sue (my wife) and I were born in the East End of
London, not far from the derelict area where the Dome is built.
We moved away, met again, and got married in Guildford.
We did a lot of pastoral work in our local church, and over
the years, we managed to get involved in almost every area of the
church's life.
"We have always believed that following Jesus must include both
believing the things He taught ('sound doctrine'!) and
demonstrating His love to other people in practical ways... but
you don't want this to turn into a sermon. In 1999, I gave
up my paid job in order to work for Europe Now - part of Open Air
Campaigners International - and we moved to Bristol with our three
boys (now 13, 10 and 8 years old) because it was a better base
than Guildford for our training programme.
"For the last year, much of my work has involved training people
in evangelism. I brought the students down to CCM's Coffee
Shop, The Missing Peace, and we worked to share the love of God
with the people we met, in the Coffee Shop and on the streets.
We got to know the staff and some of the volunteers, and
were increasingly impressed by the work done by The Crisis
Centre.
"At about the same time, Sue was approached by Anni Davey and
asked if she would go onto the Council of Management, so we found
ourselves involved in the work of The Crisis Centre at several
levels. It has been really exciting to see the way God is
changing lives, and we are thrilled to be a part of this work.
"If you would like to find out more about us, please feel free
to get in touch. You can phone or write to The Crisis
Centre, or you can visit our web site. It tells you about
Europe Now, our hobbies and other interests, and contains some of
the teaching material we have used over the years. You can
find it at http://www.hazelden.org.uk."
[Back...]
A huge
THANK YOU
to Shirley Marshall
for her contribution to the ministry and to The Missing Peace
in particular. She left us at the end of September, and is
already greatly missed. She is now moving on to develop her
vision to work with children and young people in inner city
areas.
With her departure, we have a
JOB VACANCY
for the part-time post (22 hours per week)
of Project Leader
for our Drop-in Centre.
This is a paid position carrying considerable responsibility
and the successful applicant will have vision to work with the
underprivileged in the inner city within a Christian context, the
ability to develop and manage a team of volunteers, network with
local organisations and develop the work of The Missing Peace.
Previous relevant training and experience will be an asset,
as will be a current driving licence.
Further information, together with application form and job
description are available from the CCM office - contact details on
the back of this Newsletter. Responses by 5 December 2000,
please.
[Back...]
How can you be involved in helping CCM?
FINANCE:
Gift Aid. If you are paying tax, any donation
(whatever the amount) can be Gift Aided - ie. we can claim back
tax of 28p in each £1. We are more than happy to provide
the relevant form - just one form covers any donation you make
and you are free to change your mind at any time.
Cheque/Postal Order
Standing Order. Regular payments direct from your
bank account - this has the added benefit for us of guaranteeing
an income each month. Again, we can provide the relevant
form.
MEAL VOUCHER SCHEME:
We provide the opportunity for you to purchase from us books of
meal vouchers (£5 for a book of five vouchers). These
can be handed out to those begging on the streets, and redeemed by
them in The Missing Peace. As well as providing people with
a nourishing, hot meal this scheme makes it possible for us to
introduce clients to the services we have available.
VOLUNTEERING:
If you are over 18 years of age (no upper age limit) and can
offer one half day or evening on a regular basis (weekly,
fortnightly, monthly), then please contact us for more information
on volunteering.
BAKING:
Cakes, sausage rolls etc. and also meals such as lasagne,
chilli, bolognaise sauce, casseroles etc. are really helpful in
The Missing Peace.
DIY:
If you have DIY skills and can offer us some of your time
occasionally, we would love to hear from you.
For further information on any of the above, please contact the
office.
[Back...]
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