Prayer Letter
December 2000
Praying for Crisis Centre Ministries,
its work, staff and
clients
in the context of Bristol's inner city
areas.
It is so good that you are praying for us.
Sometimes this can be a difficult place to work (physically, emotionally and spiritually) and we would really appreciate your prayers for protection for the staff and for the good team spirit which is among us to continue and grow.
Bridgehead Church seems to be doing well. The November meeting was good - we started with an ice-breaker (a team game with balloons) and it was interesting to watch people's responses. One person refused to join in and sat with his legs crossed and arms folded (not his thing, I think!). Others were a bit hesitant then began to relax and enjoy themselves. It was light-hearted and good fun, and at the same time really positive (this sort of fun is not something which features much in the lives of our clients and can bring with it a sense of family, acceptance, belonging etc). The team I was in lost! (aah!). Andrew Kellett from City Road Baptist spoke - and what he said was very relevant to our clients in general and particularly significant to some of those present. A good ratio of workers to clients and God was good to us.
The next meeting is Thursday, 14 December. We're planning something Christmassy (ie. carols). Stewart North from Ebenezer is coming with a team of people - to do the talk and the singing. Please pray.
From January, we hope to have weekly meetings of Bridgehead Church at the Centre, most likely on Wednesdays. We want these to be genuinely relevant to clients and it seems the various components which can help this happen do not necessarily work together well. We need to be open for any of our clients to come in at any time during the evening, we want to be evangelistic and to see people challenged by the presence and word of God. We also want people to gain a sense of acceptance and belonging, to feel at home with us and be relaxed with us (this will be a new or unusual experience to many of our clients whose own home experience may not have been good). We also want to involve churches across the city. When I say 'we want', what I mean is that we have picked up on the needs of our clients and our vision is to work together with God to respond to the needs. I do feel that God is 'for' this and your prayers are a vital part.
Coffee Shop: We have advertised the post of Project Leader (Coffee Shop Manager) and will be interviewing later this month. Please pray about the interviews and appointment - that the one who is appointed will be God's best for this post at this point in time.
Thank you so much for your prayers for volunteers. We have so many new ones it's quite difficult to keep up with them all. We are now open on Tuesday evenings (this is new). It would be good to be able to open one more day per week so please keep praying regarding staff. Volunteers are essential to what we do, and we also need those who are able to take on some responsibility and the commitment that goes with that.
LITE: is actually going extremely well, though the students don't necessarily turn up every day and their lives don't fall nicely into place. We were able to arrange work experience placements for the two who completed the course recently, but it seems they are not continuing with these. We are still in touch with people who completed the course over a year ago - some drop in from time to time just to let us know how they're going on. It would be really good if all the students turned up regularly. 6 to 8 would be a good number. Please continue to pray for Andy as he leads the course.
Clients: We thought it might be helpful to give you people's names. Confidentiality is an issue so we do not want to identify people, but we hope it's helpful to give you a name to pray for:
- Tony is at the Schools for Mission at Dudley and is presently in India with them
- 'K' has started going to a church again - be really good if he can settle there
- Lee has made a commitment in the past. Is finding sleep difficult - hearing voices
- Richard - not seen for a little while, he's possibly in detox. He has been asking questions about God
- Vicky wants to meet up with her natural mother (she was adopted) and we've been praying with her about that
- Angie and Stu moved back to Scotland to be with her children. Pray that they'll continue to stay off drugs
Please get back to me with any comments, feedback, scriptures etc.
Again, a huge thanks for praying for us
Trudie Lane
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