Connecting up... serving our member churches and member groups...

In these strange and turbulent times, we all know it has been difficult; we are facing new challenges every day, yet making the most of new and unexpected opportunities. Like so many organisations and church groups, Free Churches Group has been seeking new ways to stay connected and to support each other; finding different ways to stay in touch and keep the vital work we all do to keep on going.

Since the beginning of the year, because of the geographical distances between our team members, we had set up a Zoom platform to meet up on line every Tuesday morning. These have become even more important in recent weeks, as travel and face to face meetings have not been possible. The Free Churches Group team continue to meet online, to pray together, to review our work in prisons and healthcare chaplaincy and education. We will continue to find ways we can serve our member churches in these challenging times. Please pray for our team, as we continue to pray for your churches and networks. May our work together continue to be a blessing to those we seek to serve, in God’s name.

If you have not already done so, you can subscribe to our newsletter, which is published monthly by completing your details at the bottom of this website link.

(screen shot photo of one of our recent meetings below)

(Cover photo courtesy of Pavan Trikutam at Unsplash)

Praying in difficult times... we continue to pray for those who live and work in our prisons…

Free Churches Group has had a long and productive working relationship with the Prison Fellowship.

The Prison Fellowship’s CEO, Peter Holloway, shared this quote (below) from Corrie Ten Boom on their prayer call on Thursday. These are good words to hold on to this week, as we continue to pray for those who live and work in our prisons…

You can find out more about the Prison Fellowship and how to sign up for their prayers updates HERE.

(cover photo courtesy of Carolyn V at Unsplash)

Prayer for students in further education...

Festive (the Further Education and Sixth Forms Initiative) is a Christian charity supporting students. FCG has had a productive working relationship working with Festive over the years, especially on our work as part of the Free Church Education Committee Further Education Working Group activities. You can read more about this work HERE.

Each month, Festive shares a prayer request and so please join with us as we pray for their latest prayer bulletin…

“What a strange time we’re living in! We, like many other organisations, are having to review how we do our work and ministry in light of social distancing and lockdown. For the students we support this is a very confusing and unsettling time. We are releasing some new videos, posts and blogs this week to help guide and support them. Our big message to students is that whilst many things have ground to a halt, the Gospel hasn’t! We are therefore encouraging them to keep meeting as Christian Union’s (CU’s) (digitally), to keep praying and to keep finding new ways to share Jesus with their friends. With this in mind:

• Please pray for imagination, clarity and relevance for the Festive social media streams and videos. Pray that God would constantly give fresh ideas that would encourage and inspire the young people who follow them.

• Many students are very anxious about the future and uncertain as to how the closure of their schools and colleges will affect their grades. Pray for Christian students to be strong as they rest in God’s good plan for them. Pray that they will be always ready to encourage their non-Christian friends with the hope that they have in Jesus.

• Pray for CU’s that they would continue to meet digitally and that they would have creative and Holy Spirit inspired ideas of how to do mission in this season.

Many thanks for your prayers. Yours in Christ, The Festive team.”

(Photo courtesy of Marquise Kamanke at Unsplash)

Candles of hope lighting up our world as we pray together...

Many of you will have seen the encouragement we received from the presidents of Churches Together in England to light a candle of hope on 22nd March.

I know that in my own home and many of the homes of my friends and neighbours, a candle was lit, as we prayed together…

Here is an update from the CTE website about the wonder of this and the way it helped us to connect, even though we are physically distant from each one another:

“Tens of thousands of Christians across Britain united to pray as part of the National Day of Prayer and Action on Sunday 22nd March 2020, responding to the call made by Presidents of Churches Together in England (CTE). Amid the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, candles were lit in thousands of homes across Britain at 7.00 pm on Mothering Sunday, symbolising the light of Christ shining into the darkness.Even those living in ‘social isolation’ were able to unite in this act of prayer, standing together in solidarity and faith at this time of global crisis.”

I am, along with many other I know, continuing to light a candle of hope and pray each evening at 7pm. Perhaps you would like to join us?

Cover photo of the candle I lit, in the name of Jesus, light of the world, as I prayed with others across the world, for hope and healing.

Sara Iles, FCG Media Support Officer

Images below courtesy of CTE

Are you involved in teaching RE or home schooling at this time?

Are you involved in teaching RE or home schooling at this time?

To help you during this difficult time, RE Today is working hard to support NATRE by producing resources that ALL teachers can use and share with pupils and parents in order to support with home learning.

You can check out these resorces HERE.

Keep learning and teaching RE from wherever you are… with these free resources for you and your pupils…

(photo courtesy of Markus Spiske at Unsplash)