On Sunday 29 April, we celebrated as 29 of our brothers and sisters got baptised by water. This is one of the most important steps of a believer’s life. As Pastor Andrew Davies shared in his message, there is power in baptism. It’s the ‘funeral of the old man‘, a burial of our old selves that were without God, and also a new beginning.
This last weekend, the River Youth had their first ‘BOOM’ Camp away. BOOM stands for ‘Breaking Out of Myself‘ and represents the group’s commitment to break out of containment, and to live knowing that with God working within them, ‘all things are possible!‘ (Mark 9:23).
The fun weekend was led by the Youth Leaders Elrika and Stephen, who taught on God’s power, prayer, and the Holy Spirit. The youth learnt how, through the story of David and Goliath, it never matters how much bigger an opposition may look, we can always win through God’s power. They also learnt how God’s power is available to us to heal and bring back to life things that are dead, as was the case when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.
There were loads of fantastic games sessions that focused on team building exercises, separate boys’ and girls’ chats in the mornings, walks in the forest, treasure hunting, and even marshmallows around a bonfire!
However, popular consensus seems to be that the biggest highlight was Saturday night, when Pastor Scott came in to teach on one of the most important things we can ever learn: Prayer! The group spent some time in worship, where the youth heard about the importance of praise and worship, and why it’s like opening doors to God to enter our lives.
The youth were eager and fantastic in not only practising prayer itself, but practising praying for each other. All this paved the way for a powerful ministry time, led by Pastor Scott, as some of the Youth received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues for the first time! Some received words, salvation, and many tears were shed all over the room as the Lord showed Himself strong and real in their lives! Halleluja!
We praise God for all He did this weekend. Here are some of the wonderful testimonies of the first BOOM camp, the proof of the beginnings of fruit that remains!
‘Prayer time was good’
‘Amazing! I loved the treasure hunt and all the games, the teaching really helped me understand more about God.’
‘Looooooved it! Boom! Looking forward to the next Boom!’
‘My daughter came home and said she loved it, and now wants to ‘learn how to speak the heavenly language’!’ -One of the mothers at our Hour of Power Prayer Meeting on Monday evenings.
‘Oh man it was awesome!! When we had that night when Scott was teaching us about our Father God, I didn’t feel myself distant from God anymore, you might think that I’m quiet about God and don’t really care about what is happening, but no, I love God so much with all my heart and I know that all that he has done for me in the past was on purpose, and I hope that God will be with me till the end. Today when I went to the college there were some lessons on public services, this is where I want to go after school. But just before I went there I knelt beside my bed and prayed, I really wanted to make this visit successful, and so it was!
’
On 14 April, Pastor Marion was a guest speaker at the women’s Stilettos Conference in Plymouth, where she spoke about HOPE as an acronym. God is our HELP in hopelessness, our OPPORTUNITY in hopelessness, our PURPOSE in hopelessness and our EXPECTATION in hopelessness!
Some of our girls who also attended the conference loved it! We asked Honey Nubi what her favourite takeaway was from the teaching:
“It’s not what happens TO you that will break you, its what happens IN you. Your environment doesn’t determine your outcome.” Amen!
Danai Nyoni’s favourite quote and what she got out of it is this:
“God can use crises for an opportunity. I am now adamant that will get Gold out of every crisis!”
Anne Okoye also shared the greatest revelation she got from the conference:
“I should choose to always put my hope in God and not my circumstances and as a result I will always be encouraged to keep getting up and trying again!”
Seeing how well these ladies’ conferences are going, we love that women all over the UK are open and ready to take the next step in their relationship with our Heavenly Father! In light of that, we are also growing in excitement for our own Touch Conference, that’s fast approaching!
The theme of our Touch 2012 Women’s Conference is Touching Heaven and Bringing it into Your World. We are so excited to see how this year’s conference will continue to teach, raise, release and empower women through the power of Jesus Christ!
We recognize that God is relevant in every aspect of our lives. That’s why Touch this year is completely and utterly about God’s practical presence in our lives. The conference will be all about messages, worship and workshops that practically teach us how to take the blessings of Heaven into our worlds.
Dates: 28-30 June, 2010
Price: £38, [£20 for Single Day]
Tickets are now available on the Touch Website.
As you get your ticket, why not also invite some friends along? There are concessional registration prices for groups above 5, so you can share the experience with beloved close friends as you also make new ones!
If you’re a gentleman, why not forward this event to your wife, girlfriend, or sister, and play a part in empowering them to be all God intends them to be!
Touch 2012 is fast approaching, and the women in the house decided to kick off the first Touch Vision Party in an exciting new way: a singalong movie night, complete with popcorn, fruit kebabs, and other cinema refreshments!
The pick was Mama Mia, and the open invitation brought in loads of 70s-themed clothing, hairdos and dance moves as the girls sang along to all the famous Abba tunes.
The movie was paused as we had an intermission where Pastor Marion shared the story of how Women in Touch began, from its birth as a seed idea planted by God back in 1995, with a small group of women.
The Bible says ‘Do not despise the day of small beginnings‘, (Zech 4:10), and WIT is now one of the core tools at The River through which God touches the lives of His girls! Pastor Marion shared how Colossians 3:16 is important to this women’s ministry, as it’s the word of Christ that must ‘dwell richly in [us] as [we] teach and admonish one another with all wisdom‘.
The event also showcased past Touch promotional videos, and testimonies where various women shared how the Touch conferences have turned their lives around, just with a touch from God. Auntie Jan is a prime example, a lady whose life was transformed through WIT, and now is a beloved core member of the church who also heads up the excellent Hospitality team!
‘A true word from God is more than a thousand counselling hours because it carries His very Spirit.’ -Pastor Marion
The Touch conference is all about a platform that allows women from any background to get a real hold of Jesus, preparing them to develop God’s treasure in them!
The theme of Touch 2012 is Touching Heaven and Bringing it into Your World. We are so excited to see how this year’s conference will continue to teach, raise, release and empower women through the power of Jesus Christ!
We recognize that God is relevant in every aspect of our lives. That’s why Touch this year is completely and utterly about God’s practical presence in our lives. The conference will be all about messages, worship and workshops that practically teach us how to take the blessings of Heaven into our worlds.
Dates: 28-30 June, 2010
Price: £38, [£20 for Single Day]
Tickets are now available on the Touch Website.
As you get your ticket, why not also invite some friends along? There are concessional registration prices for groups above 5, so you can share the experience with beloved close friends as you also make new ones!
If you’re a gentleman, why not forward this event to your wife, girlfriend, or sister, and play a part in empowering them to be all God intends them to be!
