An Adventure in Ministry

  Just over a month ago I attended an amazing women’s conference for women in The Salvation Army called Riverbank. It was a beautiful weekend of teaching, challenge, fun and friendship and there were so many highlights. Throughout the weekend there were a number of thread that God wove within it. It wove through the speakers and the worship, and was incredibly powerful.  One of these threads was the truth that we can still praise God in the midst of the darkest times. From the frist evening we heard testimony of how people were able to praise God in the midst of trauma and difficulty. This ran through the entire weekend with person after person talking about praising God in the difficult places and finding comfort, power and joy through it all. Each person declared "Still I will praise!"  One of the most powerful moments of the entire conference was on the Saturday morning when our amazing and anointed worship leader sang one of her songs. The song, ‘Still I will pra...

It has been a while since I came back from the riverbank conference, a fantastic weekend for women of The Salvation Army, but I am still processing the truth that I heard and how I can apply it to my life as a minister in Macclesfield. One of my highlights (although there were lots of highlights) was the teaching of Dr Helen Paynter. In her second teaching session she focused on some of the women in the early church who are mentioned in the bible. She took us on a fascinating journey back through time to explore each of  these powerful women who were used by God and how they did great things because  ‘Nobody told her she couldn’t’ We were reminded that Pentecost included women, that the book of acts included many women who helped grow the church and that beyond the bible there were many extraordinary women who were used by God in a mighty way. Helen also challenged us to consider that the church today should include women, and as women of God in The Salvation Army,  that ...

  I have recently returned from a fantastic weekend at the riverbank, a conference for women within The Salvation Army and I had such a brilliant time. The fellowship was sweet, the worship was spirit-filled and the teaching challenging, and I am only beginning to unpack all that God did over our time together. Today I am thinking about the keynote speaker Dr Helen Paynter who powerfully brought us the story of Esther - a woman in the bible who discovered she can! Dr Helen Paynter presented the account of Esther in a fresh light showing the tyranny of the powers of the day and how her story was truly one of resilience and pain. She talked about the call on her life to make a stand for God and how in spite of the barriers, she gave her risky yes.  While talking about the call on Esther’s life, Helen used a phrase that has been bouncing about in my mind for a little while, and one that I felt God had been challenging me with. This is the command of “Speaking Truth to power.” Est...

  I have recently returned from the powerful Riverbank conference, a weekend away for women in The Salvation Army in the UK. The weekend was packed full of worship, community and above all truth and I am still trying to unpack it all. Today I have been thinking about our first evening at the Riverbank and the life transforming message of Major David Betteridge the Director of Family ministries  Before David came to speak to us we spent some time in worship and we sung this years ‘theme song’ for the conference. The words were striking and seemed to provide the scaffold for all the words of truth that we would hear throughout the weekend. One of the verses said: Thou are the bread of life, O lord, to me,  Thy Holy word and truth, That saveth me; Give me to eat and live With thee above; Teach me to love Thy truth,  For thou art love.  What a profound statement “Teach me to Love Thy truth, for thou art love.” As I sang those words, little did I know what liberating...

  In a couple of weeks time I will be joining lots of other women at The Salvation Army’s Riverbank conference. I attended last year and it truly was a special spirit-filled weekend. To be honest I wasn’t altogether prepared for the conference and it took me a long time to unpack all that God had revealed to me. This year I didn’t want that to be the case once more, so I am actively trying to prepare my heart, mind and soul for the weekend. Not only am I thinking about what clothes, shoes and other stuff I need to pack in my suitcase, I am also thinking about what I need to spiritually pack, or unpack before I go. So I thought that I might blog my thoughts so that if you are coming along you can prepare too! The name of the conference, riverbank, comes from  Acts 16:13-15 and the encounter that a group of women had with Paul and ultimately the Holy Spirit. It is a powerful story and one that is overlooked so I encourage you to take some time to look at it. The verses say: “On ...

  It’s been a month since the Riverbank conference and if you were anything like me, God spoke to me about so much as the teaching was so rich. However, when I have had experiences like this, I like to take a look back after a while and see, when the rubber hits the road, when I go back to my everyday ordinary life, have I applied the teaching to my life and what has God continued to teach me of who he is.  The month since the conference has been jam packed, and looking back over that time there is one thing from the conference that God has been reminding me of, day by day, sometimes even moment by moment and that is that ‘He is enough! As our verse for the conference says:  ‘God’s grace IS enough - It’s all you need’ God has spoken to me;  When I have sat broken in grief…’I am enough’ When I have asked BIG questions…’I am enough’ When I can’t see him at work…’I am enough’ When I can’t get caught up in worry about the future…’I am enough’ When I’m exhausted…’I am eno...

  I love testimony!  My favourite psalm, Psalm 34 begins by saying: Lord! I’m bursting with joy over what you’ve done for me! My lips are full of perpetual praise. I'm boasting of you and all your works, so let all who are discouraged take heart. For me, over the riverbank conference, testimony became the unofficial theme of the weekend, as I heard many amazing testimonies and was able to share some testimony of my own. One such person I had a beautiful moment of testimony with was the beautiful inside and out Rhiannon from Activate your life. I was browsing the marketplace and looking at a beautiful pair of earrings, when the lady next to the stall commented that they were very similar to my tattoo. I then began to share with her the story of my tattoo and we had a brilliant conversation about how God has moved in our lives and the passion God has for the least and lost in our society. If you haven’t ever heard the story of my tattoo then I have recently recorded a podcast wi...