| groups | newsletter | links |
Groups
Ladies Prayer Breakfast Lille Centre Bible Study Young Adult House Group Women's World Day of Prayer Brownies & Rainbows Men's French Prayer Breakfast Sunday Club Sunay Morning House Group About 10-13 regular members meet on Thursday mornings at 9.30 am for fellowship and Bible study. Most are church members, but not all. The group has been running successfully for some years and has used different supports, but is always a social occasion together with serious study and prayer. Additionally, the group occasionally uses the session for a “cleaning day” in the church and the church hall. Currently, we are using a study guide to help us explore the Psalms and have found it a most intriguing project that engages us quite personally. Meetings end with some prayer time, praying for issues raised by members of the group, usually regarding somebody's health, worries, financial problems etc... We meet every Sunday afternoon during the school term to have a lot of fun, play a lot of (largely silly) games, share a great community and above all, to find out more about what it means to be a Christian, living a life with Christ and discussing how this affects our outlook on various different topics that we face every day. This year we’ve been looking at two series on ‘The Kingdom of God’ and ‘Relationship with God’, trying to work out what they mean and how they affect our life, right here, right now! As well as Sunday afternoons every so often we get together for a film night, a bowling trip or whatever else is going on in Lille! Anyone is welcome and all are encouraged to invite their friends to join us. The idea of a ladies prayer group was one that had been in the back of my mind for some time and which became a more conscious thought during the summer when, in discussion with another lady from the church, I discovered that I was not alone in feeling a little spiritually lonely. I had been aware that since returning to fulltime work I had missed the fellowship, deep sharing and prayer that I had known in the Thursday ladies group some years back. The group is comprised of women of many ages (from 18 upwards to even older than me!) and many different backgrounds. I think we have had a total of 20 different ladies present although never more than 12 at one time. We meet monthly to share a cup of tea or coffee and a croissant before sharing subjects for prayer and praise. These may be personal or family matters, church events or prayer needs, world affairs or anything else that God lays on our hearts. After sharing we spend the remainder of the time in prayer or quiet listening. It’s been great to hear of answers to prayer and such a privilege to share together. The Lille Centre Bible Study Group meets on Wednesdays at 8pm at Laurence and Hugues' flat on Rue Gambetta. In the last year we have studied the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. We intend to start studying Revelation from about the second week of March. Every week someone prepares the study using one or two commentaries and then we discuss various aspects of the passage. After the study we share prayer subjects and pray for each other and for people and situations we know. The age range is from 20ish to 60ish and everyone is welcome, including friends from other churches. For anyone who puts themselves in the ‘young adult’ age bracket (we set no limits!), we meet every Tuesday night from 7pm to share a meal together followed by a Bible study led by a member of the group, aiming to practically apply to our lives that which we read in Scripture. The House Group aims to be a place for young adults to grow in their faith and worship God, being inclusive to all backgrounds, nationalities and levels of Christian understanding. So far this year we’ve looked through the Apostles’ Creed, a short series on ‘Fear, Failure, Fairness and Freedom’ and soon we’ll reach the end of our look through the Ten Commandments. After the discussion each week, we have a time of prayer together, then we’ll probably play games long into the night! As well as this, we meet up regularly at other points during the week to go to the cinema, go on day trips, get together for a meal of international cuisine, or simply to hang out. Recently we’ve also started meeting regularly on Thursday evenings for semi-structured, themed soirées, as a specific opportunity to invite friends as well. The house group is more than just a once-a-week group; it’s a community! This year the service was prepared by the women of Cameroun and was held throughout the world on 5th March. Lille Centre's Service took place at the Eglise Reformée and we had the privilege to be led by a large group of families from the Cameroun who live and work in the area and who worship at the Temple. They gave the service a joyful, festive air of Africa with their colourful local costumes and music. They decorated the Church for the occasion with objects from "home" and they prepared local dishes. Our small group from Christ Church was delighted to be joined by Perine and Gilbert who felt very much at home. Girl guiding was created 100 years ago for all girls of all ages to be able to have an opportunity to have fun, to learn useful skills and to be in an all girl, safe environment. This came about when a crowd of girls stormed the Boy Scout rally 100 years ago! Today not a great deal has changed, unlike the boy scouts who now admit girls - we remain girl only. This means that we appeal to various religions too, as we have a safe environment. In Lille, we have a small group of Rainbows (5-7's) which is run by Pauline with help from David. We also have an increasingly larger group of Brownies (7-11) who are led by Kate and Michaela with very welcome help from Elly. We all promise to do our best, to love God and other people, to serve each other (and our Queen, or country leader), and to help others. Both units followed the Right to Be Heard programme during the summer term 09. 4th October saw us with the units from SHAPE and Waterloo at a Chateau in Belgium for a centenary launch party. In December the girls had a 'pow wow' and decided they would continue leading the 'Love in a Box' so we gift wrapped our boxes which went to the Dominican Sisters to be distributed to the less fortunate living in Lille, the event was broadcast on a local radio station (FM 97,75). Rainbows and Brownies joined with the Sunday Club and Mothers and Toddlers group were also invited, to put on a Nativity Play for the morning congregation at 10h30 to the church as our 'Thank You' for the use of the hall. The Rainbows and Brownies wanted to raise funds to help the people of Haiti after the dreadful earthquake. The girls have two projects: a self sponsored walk, 27th March and a picture gallery. On Centenary Thinking Day, we took part in the morning service, using as our theme 'past, present, future' to connect us with all our friends over the world. We were very pleased to have a part of the 'all age service' for Centenary Thinking Day, using as our theme 'past, present, future' to connect us with all our friends over the world. We are looking to recruit at least two leaders for the new school year. There are usually four or five for coffee and croissants on any particular Saturday morning, but ten different people have attended over the year. It has continued to be a time when we can share with and pray for each other in more depth than is possible elsewhere. We have always left grateful for the way God has met with us and touched our lives. I think all of us have seen the wonder of answered prayer in some very different aspects of our lives and experienced what it means to know the truth of what Jesus said in Matthew 18, verse 20: ‘For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them’. Sunday Club continues to welcome children into an environment of learning, exploration, bible stories, singing, activities, and lots of good fun. With a dedicated team of teachers and helpers we aim to embrace the younger members of our Church family, helping to bring them into a closer understanding and enjoyment of Christ in our lives, and to share with them the joy and love to be found within our shared Christian faith. We have a healthy roll call of young people (over 16 members, from 6 months to 10 years old). We follow the Sunday lectionary, week on week, so the parents can follow the work of their offspring downstairs. We are hugely helped by the "Roots" material, which provides activities, games and ideas, to keep our time together fresh and lively. Over a year ago, a group of Christ Church people came to Debbie to propose starting a second morning service which would be informal, Spirit led and family friendly. Following Debbie's suggestion, in September of last year, this group began meeting one Sunday a month after the morning service (11h45) in a home (Peter and Kathryn's). We now meet twice a month for prayer, study and worship, and recently the group has started 'Sunday school' for kids. It has been wonderful seeing God's blessing on this group and we are prayerfully considering what God wants from us next. We are currently between 20 and 30 people. Alpha is the opportunity for those who are interested in Christianity and want to find out what it is really all about. The idea is that we look at video presentations of the main themes and then discuss them over dessert in a convivial atmosphere, where anyone is free to ask any question and make any comment they like. Over the last seven or eight years we have seen several dozen people discover through Alpha that God’s intention was not to give us a religion, but a living relationship with Him! It is always a joy to see the variety of people who come and how each course is therefore totally different yet always so enriching! Last year’s English Alpha brought together people from several different nationalities and denominations or non-church backgrounds. We have just completed the first full French Alpha course. There were usually between ten and twelve of us, although in all seventeen or eighteen attended at least one session. This group have expressed the desire to continue deepening their faith together, so we are looking at re-starting the French–speaking house group to follow on.
|