Prayer Letter
February 2002
Praying for Crisis Centre Ministries,
its work, staff and
clients
in the context of Bristol's inner city
areas.
YOU ARE INVITED TO A CCM PRAYER MEETING ON MONDAY 18 FEBRUARY AT 7.30 PM AT THE CENTRE.
FOR YOUR DIARY, future prayer meetings have been arranged for 15 April and 17 June, 7.30 pm at The Centre.
Hope you've received the Newsletter. If you haven't and you'd like to please let me know.
As a team we are all very busy and sometimes we don't manage to get done everything we would like to. This is one reason why the prayer sheet is late - again.
For me, personally, I'm now doing a university course each Tuesday which means I am try to be really organised about how I use my time when I'm here at The Crisis Centre. That is easier said than done because of the issues which can come up in a day.
BRIDGEHEAD LUNCH
This is doing well. Two of the students on the present LITE Course (which started only a week or so ago) are part of this, together with 1 from the previous course and other clients from the shop. As well as staff, we have a few volunteers who've chosen to become involved in this and have the opportunity to develop their skills and abilities in teaching and discipleship. Clients are coming to staff asking for help and teaching on handling temptation! People are genuinely looking for a way forward in their lives - to stop using drugs and to follow God. Please pray - for this group and also regarding our plans to do something evangelistic on an evening in the shop (preferably basement). For us to use the basement, it needs to be refurbished!
COFFEE SHOP AND PASTORAL CARE
We started opening the shop on Friday evenings from the end of December and this is now beginning to be estbalished. The difficulty has been around staffing it each week. We are now open 3 evenings a week and 3 days. We want to use the time well.
Evenings have a totally different feel to the daytimes. Would you pray, please, for wisdom for the staff in the evenings to make the most of the opportunities and to develop the potential. Praying the same for the daytime would be brilliant. There is much more opportunity during the day to be in contact with other agencies and we're looking at ways of enabling other agencies to do surgeries, or bring their knowledge and expertise to the shop.
We need to get hold of health, safety and security issues and, though that might sound straightforward, so far it hasn't been and we would like your prayers about this. There remains the issue about property - the balance between repairing, maintaining, redecorating, refurbishing what we have and planning for another building. We do need to make full use of what we have and that does seem to be coming together slowly, but it can be a source of frustration that we don't at present, have space for group work and the room we use for confidential sessions is a small cupboard under the stairs!
Please pray for Sam (Pastoral Care Co-ordinator) as she develops her role, and for Jayne (Catering Co-ordinator). Jayne's husband, Paul, has recently been in hospital with angina.
LITE
Just started a new course with 6 students and everything was beautiful for the first week. However, the honeymoon period seems to be over quickly and there are signs of some being unsettled. This is par for the course, but we do want to engage with all who express an interest in the course and we'd really appreciate your prayers collectively for the students on this course. Andy has the support of a number of volunteers - some with particular skills such as careers guidance, leading art workshops etc, and some who are giving their time to offer general support where it's needed. We are so encouraged by this level of support - tremendously grateful to God. Why not celebrate with us the amazing abundant provision of God, as well as pray that we will have wisdom to use resources well.
The funding issue is ongoing: at present CCM finances are meeting the need but that is affecting the availability of finance to other aspects of the ministry.
ADMINISTRATION
I don't think I've mentioned this before for prayer. Because of my mother's health, I have not been around as much as I would have liked for a few months and, adding to this an office swap in December, it has been a case of trying to make sure all the urgent things are covered. At present 4 volunteers are helping with admin and I'd value your prayers regarding using this opportunity well. As well as getting help with the work demands, we also want to give opportunity to people to experience a work setting where they may not have had this opportunity before, or where they are looking at starting out again and one of the present volunteers is in this category.
NETWORKING
This is an exciting area. We are building significant relationships with a number of churches in the city with whom we have previously had a level of contact. Some church leaders are taking the initiative and asking to be more involved in us - and volunteering in the shop! The new relationships are in addition to the very valuable ones which have been established over the years and, in some cases, those which had become a bit distant because of time are being renewed. Also there are our relationships with Christian organisations locally, nationally and internationally and links are developing with these - new connections on old foundations.
BCAN is a significant group in the city, and an important expression of this at present is the Homeless Forum. Your prayers into and around this would be great! One possibility is for a joint voice with the city council; other possibilities are around the various groups involved supporting each other and together offering a fuller, more responsible resource to clients. Groups involved include churches and others (primarily Christian) involved in responding to homelessness in the city.
As well as contact with churches and Christian organisations, some of Paul's time is involved networking with statutory and voluntary groups locally and nationally. This is an important part of our role and something about which we'd value prayer.
OTHER
People are becoming Christians! Those who have made a commitment in the past are in touch again and talking about making good decisions to bring change in their lives. It isn't all wonderful, but you wouldn't expect that. What is evident, I believe, is a token of the power of God to bring change, with the potential for that to develop.
I would love to hear from you. Particularly, if you are able/would be interested in meeting together with others to pray. Also, if you sense from God scriptures, pictures, directions, concerns etc.
Trudie Lane
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