Prayer Letter
April 2001
Praying for Crisis Centre Ministries,
its work, staff and
clients
in the context of Bristol's inner city
areas.
BRIDGEHEAD CHURCH
We are beginning to see a small group forming: thank you so much for your prayers about this. There are about 4 clients who see Bridgehead Church as a safe place to be, who seem to 'own' it as their group and are comfortable to be with us and share with us things which are concerning them. One lady talks about the difference God is making in her life - yet does not seem to know who God is! She came in one week clearly feeling desperate and was saying there was no reason for her to live. Now she comes and tells other people that God has made a difference in her life, that she does see a reason to live and that they too can experience this.
We have been so privileged to have the involvement of a number of church leaders across the city and we are very grateful to them for this. As we plan ahead with Bridgehead, please pray that we will be sensitive to what is important to God with this group. We are building slowly, reviewing and planning as we go and we now feel that it is time to identify clearly core issues for Bridgehead Church.
Please also pray that we will see people born again. We are asking God for his anointing which brings salvation and redemption to people.
COFFEE SHOP
Please pray for stability for the shop. Recently there have been many staff changes and this is unsettling for volunteers and clients. The lives of our clients are chaotic, and for us to bring good news we want to be able to introduce stability, a 'safe place'. To do this we are challenging the disruption which features so strongly with our clients, and there does seem to be a spiritual element involved. This is why we ask you to pray - for a God-given stability and order which demonstrates His presence, authority and intervention.
At the same time, please pray that we will be able to introduce and implement procedures which will work alongside this stability and reinforce it (with changing staff it is easy to lose some procedures and systems).
We are tremendously grateful to Jayne for the very hard work she has put into the coffee shop for many years. It would be good for her and Paul (her husband) to know God’s blessing and encouragement.
LITE
Andy is presently reviewing the LITE Course. Please pray for him as he does this, that he will know God’s wisdom.
It is a challenge to provide training to people who are often de-motivated: many of our clients may want to move forward in their lives but lose that motivation very easily. There can be many reasons for this, one of which would be a lack of achievement so far in their lives and the resulting lack of confidence and sense of hopelessness. The potential is for LITE to introduce hope, purpose and potential and here is the element of God's intervention. Your prayers will be strategic in the ongoing operation and development of this course.
VOLUNTEERS
We presently have about 25 people working with us on a voluntary basis and without these people the ministry would not operate. Please pray for these people, that they will be encouraged and challenged by their involvement with us. We would also appreciate your prayers for us as a team that we will appropriately support, train and encourage our volunteers.
GENERAL
The size and shape of the coffee shop limits the work we are able to do with clients, and we are needing to consider the possibility of extending the property or moving.
There are presently some ongoing maintenance needs regarding
the property which will require expenditure and we are faced with the question 'to what extent do we become involved in alterations and repairs when there is the possibility of moving?'
Finance generally is a major issue at present, a significant contributory factor being the end of SRB2 funding for LITE with effect from at the end of March and the fact that we have yet to secure alternative funding.
Thank you for your prayers and your interest in CCM. It's easy to say that prayer is vital to the ministry and this can sound glib, but in fact it is truth and you are very significantly partnering us in the ministry.
Trudie Lane
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