Archive for the ‘General News’ Category

Last night 30 men got together for a Snooker Evening at Stubbington Green Snooker Hall. Within minutes many of us realised afresh, how easy it looks on the TV and how hard it is in real life! Despite our lack of skill we still had an enjoyable evening!

The night was rounded off when guest speaker Tim Hancock shared a short talk on the topic; ‘Men Who Met Jesus – The Centurion’.
Please pray in the message that was spoken and pray that friendships between the group will deepen!

FirstServe is a gap year programme designed to give young adults (18-25) a taste of service in the UK and overseas. Not only will they have the chance to help, support and encourage others but ‘FirstServe’ (www.first-serve.org.uk ) also includes a discipleship and missions training programme.
Gordon is part of the steering group and believes it is a valuable investment of his time to be involved in this project.

Please pray for Ally and Jade as they embark on this next phase of their FirstServe gap year.

UPDATE FROM ALLY WATSON WHO HAD JUST STARTED HER OVERSEAS PLACEMENT IN RWANDA:

“I have landed safe and sound! All the flights were good and I got fed well, even got an ice cream which I was made up with! I’ve been to visit a boy who is sponsored to go to school with Chrissie, and to visit some vocational training centres, I also went to see the rehab centre I will be working in this morning, I will be starting there on Monday! I am settling in ok at the moment and everyone has been very kind.”

UPDATE FROM JADE IRVINE, WHO HAS JUST STARTED HER OVERSEAS PLACEMENT IN ZAMBIA:

“I have arrived in Zambia and am now at Chengelo. The journey was totally fine, my last plane was delayed a wee bit just because they were putting on extra baggage they had forgotten. Jani and his daughter picked me up and Jani then took his daughter and I to a shopping centre while he went to pick up a boy who is coming to work at the school as well. The school is really nice and the campus is huge its like a village itself and is so beautiful and all the food is all homegrown and freshly made so had homemade mango icecream and I am going to learn how to make my own yoghurt! I am not actually a house parent, I am living in a house just beside the Bournes at the moment and I am expecting a girl from New Zealand to arrive tonight who will also be living with me. However I already have four small geko (think thats how you spell it) lizards in my house as well, haha! Although I think I will be moving house a wee bit, which should be fine. I am still waiting on my timetable but I will be working with another teacher in learning support as well as P.E. and Drama so that should be exciting! So basically I am loving Zambia and Chengelo.”

Happy New Year from the Curley’s!

Inspirational quotes for the New Year:
From Jim Elliot (one of five missionaries killed while participating in Operation Auca, an attempt to evangelize the Waodani people of Ecuador. Jim Elliot died on January 8, 1956 along with Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, and Pete Fleming):

“Wherever you are, be all there! Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”

“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”

“Lord, give me firmness without hardness, steadfastness without dogmatism, love without weakness.”

“Forgive me for being so ordinary while claiming to know so extraordinary a God.”

“Lord, make my way prosperous not that I achieve high station, but that my life be an exhibit to the value of knowing God.”

“God always gives his best to those who leave the choice with him”

(Two books I recomend for 2012, they may not be recently published but they are books every Christian should read again and again and again. ‘The Shadow of the Almighty’ & ‘The Journals of Jim Elliot’)

Christmas Greetings from the Curley’s!

Thank you for all your support, interest and friendship over the past year – much appreciated!

May God grant you the light of Christmas,
which is faith;
The warmth of Christmas,
which is love;
The radiance of Christmas,
which is purity;
The righteousness of Christmas,
which is justice;
The belief in Christmas,
which is truth;
The all of Christmas,
which is Christ”

What a great night at ‘The Net’ (event for men), we started with a Fish & Chip Supper and then 30 men listened intently to guest speaker Nick Ruffle talk about his life and faith.

Nick has an amazing story – he began drinking alcohol whilst still at school and as time went on this led to a downward spiral of hospitals, police cells, half way houses, rubbish skips and doorways. There were many attempts to dry out, successful for only a few weeks and as the alcohol began to lose its effect he started to take drugs. He made life a misery for everyone with whom he came into contact. Filthy, shaking and hallucinating, he visited an old friend whom he kept avoiding because he was ‘religious’ – but he was desperate! That night Nick experienced a Christian conversion and a modern day miracle happened as the usual withdrawal symptoms did not kick in. Over 25 years later Nick is now happily married, with two children and spends his time working with those who do not feel they fit into society and encouraging those who have lost hope.
Our God is an amazing God and although our lives may be very different from Nick’s, we too can experience his power to forgive the past and change us in the present! “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (The Bible: 2 Corinthians 5:17)
Want to know more? Email and request a FREE copy of the booklet ‘The Real Jesus’.

‘Who made God?’ ‘How do you know the Bible is true?’ ‘What is a Christian?’ ‘What makes Jesus special?’ ‘Why are you a Christian?’
These are just a few of the questions asked by pupils during three ‘Grill A Christian’ sessions in a school in Southampton.

The pupils had prepared a wide range of questions during their 45 minute lesson.
What a great opportunity to share something of what Christians believe and help these pupils to a clearer understanding of the Christian faith!

A new series of ‘The Net’ (monthly outreach to men) started on Tuesday night (8/11/11) with a Quiz Night. This is the first in a series of events that will include a Fish & Chip Supper & Face to Face with Nick Ruffle. Snooker Evening. The Ultimate Challenge. Pub Meal followed by a lecture on “Science, Christianity & Ethics” with Dr Simon Kolstoe . Men’s Breakfast. B-B-Q in the woods.

It is the responsibility of local men to reach local men and ‘The Net’ is a resource that local men can tap in to and bring their friends, work colleagues or family members along to.
Please pray that (1). the events will go well. (2). the guest speakers will share God’s word clearly. (3). the follow up conversations that take place afterwards at the bar or in the car on the journey home.

FirstServe is a gap year programme designed to give young adults (18-25) a taste of service in the UK and overseas. Not only will they have the chance to help, support and encourage others but ‘FirstServe’ (www.first-serve.org.uk ) also includes a discipleship and missions training programme.
Gordon is part of the steering group and believes it is a valuable investment of his time to be involved in this project.
You can get the latest news from those on the project via Facebook – just type in ‘Firstserve’.

The preacher stands, as John Stott has said, “between two worlds;” the world of the Bible and the world in which his hearers live. He must understand both and bridge the divide so that the contemporary hearer really hears in his circumstances and experience the timeless, infallible, completed, and sufficient written Word. Preaching is the means by which the objective written Word becomes, without changing its message one bit, the Word of God spoken to us. This means that the sermon is a “crisis moment” in which the listener hears and responds to God speaking to him.

It was great on Saturday to have twenty people attend a day’s seminar on preaching. Seven Churches were represented with a good mixture of people, some just starting their preaching ministry and others more experienced but wanting to ‘sharpen up’ and remind themselves of the important principles involved in preaching. Ivor Cooper and myself led the four interactive sessions:

•The Preacher – preparation & tools.
•The Message – sermon construction.
•The Presentation – before the people.
•The Visualisation – using visual aids & other media

We trust that those who attended the seminar will be better equipped in their preaching ministry.

What? Good News Camp 2012
Where? Lockerly Water Farm Hampshire
When? Sunday August 19th to Thursday August 23rd 2012
Who? ‘Good News’ Camps are for anyone between the ages of 8 to 15 years
How much? The cost to attend Camp is £65 per camper.
Want to know more? Contact Gordon – phone: 07889 798636 email: gcurley@gcurley.info