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to people with life-disrupting problems |
Prayer Letter
August 2003
Praying for Crisis Centre Ministries,
its work, staff
and clients
in the context of Bristol's inner city areas.
Dear Prayer supporters
Coffee Shop Manager
In the last prayer sheet, we mentioned the appointment of a full-time coffee shop manager and this position has been offered to James Preston. Thank you for praying for the interview panel and the candidates. It was not an easy decision as each applicant would have brought valuable life experience, vision and skill to the post and to the ministry. Please pray for James who takes up this post at the beginning of September.
The Wild Goose
This is physically in upheaval at present, because the kitchen is being refurbished. We are indebted to Anne Senel for her help in the organisation of this. The shop is not operational for 3 weeks and we have been offered the use of a shop a few doors down from us - thanks to Anne and Jim White - which means that we can continue to offer a service to our clients. We'd appreciate your prayers about the practical aspects of this as well as client contact.
The ministry of The Wild Goose continues during the refurbishment and there is much we would like you to pray for. Ideally, we would like to be in a position to have people we can call on to pray about difficult situations in the lives of our clients. Please pray about the organisation of this and contact us if you'd like to know more. We are developing the pastoral care side of the work and have already had a number of people offer to be involved in hospital visiting. This is a new development and your prayers will be valuable for the practicalities involved as well as the contacts made in this way.
Lifeskills Initial Training for Employment (LITE)
Andy is receiving many invitations to be involved in training in various places and would appreciate your prayers that he and the team might have wisdom to know which to pursue.
Andrew House is going well and Andy is enjoying the training he is providing there. Lifeskills training is an optional aspect of the Andrew House programme and, of the ten residents, six are regularly involved and most are well motivated and keen to move on in their lives.
With LITE at CCM, Andy continues to provide one-off style training opportunities and is supported in this by a number of volunteers. He finds that it is still difficult to motivate people to be involved in learning or other activities.
Finances
Historically, CCM has experienced very difficult times financially, but this has not been the case over recent months. However, records show that our income has not been meeting our outgoings and we are now at a time of year when generally income is lower. This situation is heightened by the cost of the essential refurbishment work, already mentioned, and the appointment of a full-time coffee shop manager and the salary involved in this. We are so grateful to our supporters for their generosity. Please continue to pray for our finances, that our income will increase to meet the needs.
Staff Team, Volunteers and Trustees
Please continue to pray for the staff: Paul, Trudie, Andy, Nick and Jayne and their families, and for our amazing volunteers. Also for the Trustees: Anni, Martin, Richard, Ann, Sue, Dave W, David J, Andy R, Anne-Marie,Graham.
Dates
- Open evening, celebrating refurbished coffee shop kitchen, Wednesday 10 September 7.30 pm
- Prayer Meeting Monday, 15 September 7.30 pm here at The Crisis Centre. All welcome.
- AGM Monday, 13 October at 7.30 pm. Please pray regarding all the arrangements for this. All welcome.
Trudie Lane, 5.8.03