Prayer Letter
June 2001
Praying for Crisis Centre Ministries,
its work, staff and
clients
in the context of Bristol's inner city
areas.
BRIDGEHEAD CHURCH
Last week we took Bridgehead Church to 'God in the Park' at Eastville Park. One of our group was baptised in the Holy Spirit, one responded to God in making a commitment to him - received prayer for addiction and then tipped away the cider she had with her, another was also prayed for about addiction but is uncertain about God about God at the moment.
The previous week, a few clients dropped in at the end of the meeting, affected to various levels by their recent consumption of whatever drug it is they are using - yet all were open to talk about God and one said he had recently become a Christian and was really wanting to stop using drugs and try to get his life together - he has four children and would like to meet with them with he is 'straight'.
Without a doubt, God is moving in the lives of many of the people who use our Centre. The frustration for us can be that at present not many 'clients' are coming to Bridgehead Church. I feel a tug in my spirit to pray specifically into/for Bridgehead Church and would appreciate your prayers, too.
COFFEE SHOP
So much is happening. With the introduction of our food policy (ie soup and bread for free or a donation, but for a main course pudding and drink people need to pay or give us a meal voucher), there has been a reduction in the number of people using the shop generally. We will be concentrating some effort on outreach and promoting meal vouchers to help address this - but at the same time as the numbers generally are decreasing, we are finding there is an increase in the number of people asking us for help and wanting to change. When 40+ people have come into the shop in a day, there has been very little chance to have a conversation with someone, but now with fewer people, we are able to engage more with individuals.
A couple of people became Christians in the shop recently - but it's not a straightforward situation. One left shortly afterwards to 'score' - get her drugs. The other has not maintained contact with us. The person mentioned in the section on Bridgehead Church who tipped away her cider is, we think, now drinking again - not surprising, really, when she has been drinking for many years, her first waking thought and need is for alcohol and there are undoubtedly issues in her life which she is 'handling' (escaping from) through alcohol. The miracle is that she spent one whole day, after responding to God, without alcohol. She said she had not drunk coffee for years, yet was doing so with us, and she had also chosen to buy and drink lemonade rather than cider - and she made a point of making one of our team taste the lemonade so that we knew for sure it is not alcohol! We want to see the potential of these situations realised and, for this to happen, we believe we need to appoint someone to take responsibility for the Christian ministry aspect of the shop. This would involve being able to appoint the right person, and also being able to pay them a salary. At present our finances would not cover this and so we ask you, please, to pray that God will open the doors for this to happen.
We mentioned last month that we would like to become more proactive regarding our finances and funding and this is something we continue to pursue - it would be good to have a fund-raiser or someone to co-ordinate fund-raising on the team. Your prayers would be brilliant and also, if you know of someone who may be interested, get them to contact us please.
We are very privileged to have volunteering with us skilled, enthusiastic and motivated people. These people are answers to your prayers - thank you so much. Last month I mentioned we'd like to open on a Friday and there are some volunteers who would like to work then - but not enough to open the shop regularly each Friday and obviously this is not something we will introduce until we can staff it sufficiently. Please pray.
Again last month, I mentioned that we'd like some of our volunteers to take on more responsibility and become Team Leaders. This is important if we are to open the shop regularly and more days of the week. We have now put together notes outlining what would be involved for someone to be a Team Leader and it would be good if you could please pray with us to see this happen.
LITE
Andy continues to review the LITE programme and also undertake some fund raising. There are deadlines coming up very soon regarding LITE funding and this is likely to involve Andy in a lot of work. A huge thank you to Mike and Ann Banks for helping him with thus. Please pray that Andy stays sane (his request - he says he hasn't got much hair to lose), and that we are successful in securing the funding we need. Also, we'd really appreciate loads of wisdom from God regarding the future format of the course.
GENERAL
The property continues to be an issue. Problems with the joists of the floor of the shop make it potentially unsafe (it's OK at present but needs early attention). The repair work will involve removing the coffee shop floor and all the cupboards, fridges, cooker etc, to allow access to the affected area. This then presents us with an empty kitchen and we'll need to re-equip it. There is also a damp problem in the basement which seems to be related to the property to the rear of us. To have all the necessary work done to deal with these two issues is likely to take 2 weeks - this does not include refitting the kitchen. We are arranging quotes for the work, but have no figures yet. Please pray - regarding the work, the finance and the logistics (we could possible try to operate the coffee shop from another location while the work is being carried out).
We continue to need more space, as mentioned last month, and the possibilities could be to think of extending next door to move to another building completely.
I am astounded at the way God is providing for us financially - not yet in abundance, but enough to meet our outgoings. We have some major expenditures coming up for maintenance and salaries. We need money and we need someone who can be involved in proactive funding.
Above all, people's lives are changing, God is working miracles and we want to continually be learning to work alongside him in what he is doing.
It was so good to receive a letter from one of our supporters in response to our February newsletter, telling us he's praying for us and the sort of information which helps him do this. If you have any comments, scriptures, prophecies, I would love to hear from you.
P. S.
Since I sent out the prayer sheet - an hour or so ago - the lady who became a Christian and was prayed for about her addiction (at God in the Park) has come into the Centre. She is asking for help to stay off the booze - it takes quite a lot of courage to actually come into us and ask for help. We talked about what might help and she agreed that a Christian community that would support her to stay off alcohol would be good and she thought it would be good to go out of Bristol so that she can get away from the people she has been drinking with. We phoned Betel, a Christian Community in Birmingham which has a women's centre. They have interviewed her over the phone and promised her a place in July. She will need to give up smoking and give up her benefits. Please pray for her - that she'll keep her motivation over the next couple of weeks, that her probation officer will be supportive of this, that she will continue to be encouraged by God. I'll talk with her again tomorrow and ask her if she is happy for people to pray for her by name (I think it's good to be able to do that) so if it would be helpful to you to have her name, please phone me tomorrow.
Trudie Lane
| 
