HI Sandwellians,
Hope you are well and enjoying the Sun! Please find below more info regarding opportunities for the church of Sandwell to meet together, pray together, support one another and learn from one another.
TOGETHER we are STRONGER!
Jon Grant
Sandwell NET Coordinator
Sandwell Net Office
Sandwell Christian Centre
Langley Crescent
Oldbury
West Midlands
B688RE
0121 552 5556
IN THIS ISSUE
March 31st Prayer night – THIS WEEK! – Praying for those facing redundancy and those impacted by Sandwell Local Authority cuts –
Leaders Net – 24th May 9.30 am start
Oak tree Counselling Service – A professional Christian counselling service
LOVE Sandwell – A brilliant, simple, powerful idea..
GENnet dates and info
DATE FOR THE DIARY! Gathering the Church of Sandwell to join with the world in seeking God’s face GLOBAL DAY OF PRAYER 2011 The evening of Sunday JUNE 12TH WEST BROM TOWN HALL – More info coming soon..
March 31st Prayer Night 11pm – 12.30am at Sandwell Net office, Sandwell Christian Centre, Langley Crescent, Oldbury West Midlands.
I’m sure a lot of you are aware of the drastic cuts that Sandwell local authority has had to make over the last few months. Krunch works very closely with the local authority and has seen, and continues to see the impact it is having on staff and families. We all know that the current financial climate is not just affecting people that work for the council but it effects all professions. I’m sure all of you know of someone who is loosing their job the end of March, have already being made redundant or is at risk. Someone from my congregation thought it would be a great idea to gather Christians to pray for those Sandwellians that are impacted by the current financial climate. What a great idea!! I think it would also be good to pray for those in authority (Sandwell Council leaders/MP’s etc.) for wisdom and integrity. The Bible instructs us to do so!
1 Timothy 2
1 I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.
It would be great to see as many as possible to pray for our borough. I have already had great opportunities to talk to non Christian and Christian employees and will be informing the powers that be in Sandwell Council of our prayer night. Would be great to see you!!
Jon
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LEADERS NET 24th May – The Church at Junction 10 – 9.30am start
We thank God for our last time together in February where we heard Paul Miller share with us on the Fathers Heart for Unity. Paul took two sessions and the teaching and content was remarkable, in fact so much so we all felt like we needed more time to digest what he was saying. These messages are available on CD if you want them by emailing John@thenet.org.uk. Paul has also made his notes available and I can send these too you if you would like them or you can visit the website using this link http://www.thenet.org.uk/leaders-net/
Our next gathering is on the 24th May at The Church at Junction 10. We start at 9.30am, for coffee and then begin the sessions at 10.00am.
We want to continue our theme of the Fathers Heart for Unity. Out the February sessions when we met last time came many questions, for example, “How do make the unity a reality?”
So on the 24th May we will do three things;
-Our first session will focus on Intimacy with God in praying for each other and in worship
-The second part we will have as Interview Session where we will interview John Bedford John is a local Sandwell leader who has worked with different churches in different locations over many years, very much a Father of the Faith
-Finally, the third session, will be an Open Discussion and Questions and Answers where we can explore some critical issues in today’s climate in a safe environment between us.
This will be a practical morning together that will enable us to ground some of the issues raised in the previous sessions’ teaching.
Have you got any questions that arise out of the last times sessions? If so bring them with you on the day and we will seek to work together to answer some of those questions.
PLEASE BOOK IN AS SOON AS IS POSSIBLE BY EMAILING John@thenet.org.uk admin@thenet.org.uk or sandwellnet@thenet.org.uk PLEASE INDICATE WHETHER YOU WILL BE STOPPING FOR LUNCH FOR A SMALL CHARGE OF £5.
Many thanks,
Adrian(DY) Jon(SW) John(WS) Tony(WV)
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OAK TREE Counselling service
For more info see flyer. Please note the email address is incorrect – the correct one is counselling@oaktreecentre.co.uk
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Sandwell – Global Day of Prayer 4
Sunday June 12th West Bromwich Town Hall 6pm – 8pm
Sandwell Global Day of Prayer 4. It’s going to be a night of prayer. Praying for the local and global church and into mission. There will also be a variety of worship. It will be creative, encouraging, challenging and faith building Please start to promote in your local churches, Please come and please bring your congregation so that TOGETHER we can pray and seek God’s face.
PLEASE let us join as one voice to pray into our borough that desperately needs Jesus, that desperately needs His church. It would be great to see West Bromwich town Hall full, not for numbers sake, but for the sake of encouraging one another, supporting one another, seeing the bigger picture of what God is doing and joining together our fragmented borough which sadly is not too dissimilar at times to the Church! We are all placed strategically in neighbourhoods, towns doing great pieces of work, but for one night I beg you let us come together to proclaim Jesus as King and to seek his face for the people of Sandwell.
Monday 6th June 12.30pm – 2.30pm Sandwell Leaders prayer meeting
at Sandwell Christian Centre (then onto Bury Hill )
Over the last few years, leading up to the Global day of prayer, local leaders have gathered to pray on top of one of the highest points in Sandwell, a place called Bury Hill in Rowley to hear God’s heart for our borough. It is an amazing view where you can literally see all of Sandwell. From this high point you do not see the lines that divide us ie town boundary lines, you see ONE Sandwell, the way that God sees it. This will be a great launch pad for Sandwell Global Day of Prayer 4.
YOUTH STUFF
Loads going on at the moment, one good news story that might be good to share is a piece of work that we are doing in St Michaels High School in Rowley Regis. We are doing a Christian Union in the school and have been for a few years, but over the last few weeks it seems to have gained momentum. Our guys approached the head teacher and asked if they could pray for kids in the playground at lunch time instead of just having a meeting in the classroom. He said to go for it so they set up a chair with a sign saying prayer here!! Loads of kids came and asked for prayer and interestingly quite a few asked if we could pray for the teachers. It’s a great and rare opportunity to have free access in a high school like this and we want to see this continue. Please pray!!
Hope this is ok mate; if you need any more info give me a shout
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So what is Love Sandwell?
This came from an idea that I know Bill Johnson does in America. Me (Jon Grant) and a mate of mine adapted it to fit the lovely people of Sandwell – Random acts of God kindness.. Very simple, raise some money and descend on a high street/supermarket etc.
My congregation, SCC, piloted it in partnership with Ebenezer Church in Langley and descended on Langley high street on a snowy Saturday morning. We basically gave away £600 by buying flowers, paying for peoples shopping, paying for haircuts, buying flowers and giving them out to people, leaving money behind the counter at a coffee shop, leaving money behind the bar of pubs – the list is endless! No agenda – it was just about loving people. We gave them a card that we designed or asked stores to give out the card when people realised someone had paid for them; one side of the card is pictured above. The info on the card links them to a website to leave comments etc if they wanted too and explains more about the idea and the churches involved. We didn’t advertise the ‘event’, it was not about us or making us look good. We based it on this scripture..
Matthew 6:1-4 (The Message)
Matthew 6
The World Is Not a Stage
1 “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding. 2-4“When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—’playactors’ I call them— treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out.
The website is Sandwell generic and I could easily get your congregation added, check it out www.lovesandwell.org I have loads of Sandwell generic cards already printed – just raise the money and use it! It’s for Sandwell. It is an incredible moving experience that blows people away and shows God’s love in a practical way. We will definitely do it again. Please let me know if you want more info – more than happy to share my experience with your congregation/team, so many moving stories – Lets spread the love around!
Jon
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GENnet
Hi Everyone,
As most of you will be aware there have been a lot of prophesies and words into the GEN space and we spent most of last night chatting these through and trying to catch the heart of God regarding where we go next. As you can imagine we would struggle to do that in one night so we have set some time aside to continue to wait on the Lord.
However we do feel that the tracks we were going down are still the right the tracks, so we are continuing our work with youth and children across this great region called the Black Country!!!
There are youth leaders gatherings happening and also a Kids camp planned again for this year. More details and plans to come out ASAP.
Here are the dates we agreed for the first part of the year regarding the GEN nights. These nights are continuing around the same theme of Jesus & the gospel…. Great place to be I would suggest J
All of these nights are 8pm start at the Chapel, Sedgley
April 7th and May 5th,
Please let me know if you want any more info,
Love John and Jon
