I am very excited to have recently been christened, "Editor" of Trinity News, our popular church magazine. Having looked into it I have discovered that issues of this worthy tome date back to wartime, and I am looking forward to showing readers some of the oldest articles and looking at how life at Trinity has changed (or not!)
Fortunately I am not alone in this venture. Paula is Deputy Editor, Ant is in charge of IT, and Kirstyn of advertising. I would never be able to do it alone!
One thing I would like to see is a massive increase in readership. Currently around 200-250 copies are being sold, with a high percentage of readership being amongst non church attenders. I would like to bring that up to 400 over the next year! I don't know if that is achievable, but I would like to think we can make it happen.
We need to:
* improve the content
* boost sales by advertising
* Make people feel guilty for not supporting us!!
This issue goes on sale on Feb 7th
If anyone does not come to Trinity and would like to buy an issue, or contribute appropriate articles, please feel free to contact me here.
Monday, 18 January 2010
Friday, 1 January 2010
Happy New Year
2010, or 20-10 as I suspect it will become known as, has begun.
What will the year bring? So far it has brought an end to a great Doctor Who, (and of course the beginning of a new one- Good bye David, Hello Matt! ) and the fall of a great man, (well my David came off his bike this afternoon on the ice and looks a little the worse for the wear). Neither of which are particularly good things to have happened, in my opinion, and yet I am feeling pretty positive about this year.
I am a different person than I was even this time last year. God has worked His miracles in my life and given me the strength to now bring Him to other people who are in desperate need of finding love and healing. This, I feel, is what I have been called (and indeed prepared) to do. All the things that have happened to me, and that I have experienced over the years, have grown me into the person I am now. God has moulded me into the shape I am and I want to fill the Jane shaped hole that I believe awaits me in 2010 in Trinity Church and in the town of Boston!
The Street Pastor venture will begin at the end of this month. I am keen, so keen!
Boston’s Soup kitchen is running well and being so well used that I am beginning to believe that much, much more is needed. There are so many people out there who have nowhere but doorways and bus shelters to sleep at night. It is cold at the moment, so, so cold. More than a soup kitchen is needed and I want to do more. I have no idea what I can do. I am one person, but I feel that I should be trying to do something.
There are going to be difficult things happening this year to. Things that I am trying to not even think about yet because I don’t know how I will cope, and yet, I do know that I will cope. With the help of the One who has brought me thus far and has a plan for me will give me the strength to cope and not just to cope, but I need to believe that He will lead me by the hand to even better places!
May I wish us all a New Year in which we do whatever we can for whoever we can, a New Year in which we smile more than ever and a New Year in which we put Him first in all that we do!
Blessings,
Jane
What will the year bring? So far it has brought an end to a great Doctor Who, (and of course the beginning of a new one- Good bye David, Hello Matt! ) and the fall of a great man, (well my David came off his bike this afternoon on the ice and looks a little the worse for the wear). Neither of which are particularly good things to have happened, in my opinion, and yet I am feeling pretty positive about this year.
I am a different person than I was even this time last year. God has worked His miracles in my life and given me the strength to now bring Him to other people who are in desperate need of finding love and healing. This, I feel, is what I have been called (and indeed prepared) to do. All the things that have happened to me, and that I have experienced over the years, have grown me into the person I am now. God has moulded me into the shape I am and I want to fill the Jane shaped hole that I believe awaits me in 2010 in Trinity Church and in the town of Boston!
The Street Pastor venture will begin at the end of this month. I am keen, so keen!
Boston’s Soup kitchen is running well and being so well used that I am beginning to believe that much, much more is needed. There are so many people out there who have nowhere but doorways and bus shelters to sleep at night. It is cold at the moment, so, so cold. More than a soup kitchen is needed and I want to do more. I have no idea what I can do. I am one person, but I feel that I should be trying to do something.
There are going to be difficult things happening this year to. Things that I am trying to not even think about yet because I don’t know how I will cope, and yet, I do know that I will cope. With the help of the One who has brought me thus far and has a plan for me will give me the strength to cope and not just to cope, but I need to believe that He will lead me by the hand to even better places!
May I wish us all a New Year in which we do whatever we can for whoever we can, a New Year in which we smile more than ever and a New Year in which we put Him first in all that we do!
Blessings,
Jane
Monday, 7 December 2009
Street Pastors, Boston
On Saturday 21st November we had our first day's training for the Boston Street Pastor scheme...
Serving Boston on the streets
Here are some of the questions that we had answered:
Q. What is a street pastor?
A. A Street Pastor is an individual with a heart for their community, in particular for its young people who feel themselves to be excluded and marginalised. They are willing to engage with people where they are on the streets, in the pubs and in the clubs.
Street Pastors need to be willing to work with fellow activists, church and community leaders, and with agencies and projects, both statutory and voluntary, to look at collaborative ways of working on issues affecting youth, and initiatives that will build trust between them and the Street Pastors.
Q. Who can become a street pastor?
A. A street pastor must
- be over 18
- have been committed to a Christian fellowship/church for at least a year.
- be able obtain a positive reference from their church Minister.
- be able to attend the training sessions.
Q. What other qualities does a street pastor need?
A. A street pastor must
- have a concern for society and its young
- be able and willing to build bridges.
- listen...not preach.
- be willing to earn respect and the right to show and share the gospel.
- be non-judgemental and able to operate without prejudices.
- be able to engage with people at their level and with empathy.
- build up a knowledge and awareness of their community.
Q. I cannot go out on the streets at night, but is there any other way I can be a part of the Boston Street Pastor Scheme?
A. Going out on the streets is only a part of the street pastor scheme. People are also needed who would be willing to be prayer backers for the teams of street pastors and help with administering the scheme.
Q. When does the Street Pastor Scheme in Boston get underway?
A. The initial training of the Street Pastors has already started. The teams will be commissioned in a service on the evening of Friday January 29th 2010 after which the first teams will go out into the town.
For more information about Street Pastors visit: http://www.streetpastors.co.uk
For information about Boston Street Pastor Scheme:
Monday, 23 November 2009
My Testimony!!
Had an invitation to give my testimony to the toddler parents at an art and craft evening last week. Here's what I said:
I have to admit to being a little nervous tonight...perhaps it was something to do with the fact that when I texted Claire to ask her if there would be food tonight, she texted back and joked that I was to be the after dinner speaker! That was when the nerves set in!
I’d better introduce myself...My name is Jane Flynn, most of you know my mum- Daphne. I have four children, Molly, who is now 13, Hattie, who is 12, Sam who’s 10 and Joe who’s 8. 13, 12, 10 and 8 - as you can see they were born in fairly swift succession. When Joe was born, Molly was 5 and had just started in reception. I was walking up to school every morning at nine to drop Molly off and then continuing a little further down the road to Hattie’s playgroup, before dashing home again to tidy up and feed the baby before walking up to school again at lunch time to fetch Hattie and then home again for an hour of nappies and strong coffee, before I had to drag the convoy out again to fetch Molly. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Molly was learning to ride a bike with stabilisers and absolutely had to practice on the way to school!
I am being light hearted, but this really was not a good time for me. Every time I stepped out of the door, I pasted a smile on my face, and every time I stepped back inside, the smile would invariably crumble. All my friends thought I was some kind of supermum...but I knew different. I felt as though at some point, possibly as far back as my teenage years, I had slipped and fallen into a deep dark hole and I did not know how to get out.
What was wrong with me? If someone had asked me when I was twenty, what I wanted to have out of life, I would have replied... “Several beautiful children, a husband whom I loved and who loved me, a nice house and a good job.” Well apart from the job, which I’d had to put on hold, I had it all. All those things that I had wanted from my life, I had and yet there was a constant dark cloud hanging over my head. That dark cloud was depression. Where was God for me in all this?
Well that’s really what I want to tell you about. I want to tell you about how God did help me through it all. About how my depression was lifted and about the importance of friendship – the need to walk alongside each other, to look beyond our friend’s pasted smiles and above all else... to listen to one another.
I went to church. Every week I sat in my pew with my smile masking the darkness I was experiencing and I sang the songs and said the prayers. But gradually certain people began to approach me... these people seemed to see beyond the smile, some of them even seemed to want to hear how I really was! They wanted to listen to me! I had been hiding in a deep hole for such a long time and all of a sudden people were beginning to reach out to me, to reach down into the hole. The problem was, every time I peered out over the edge I would withdraw back into it. It wasn’t a nice place, my hole, but I knew it and it felt safer than the outside world. A part of me did not want to be dragged out – the same part of me that told me that I was not worth rescuing.
However certain people seemed to think otherwise. Finally one person made it her mission to show me that I was loved and valued by God. Whilst others had reached down into my hole, she climbed right in there into the mud and the dirt with me. She asked me how I was, and when I replied that I was fine, she asked me how I really was. She listened. We prayed. She told me I was loved. She held my hand and gradually together, over the course of many months, we reached the rim of the hole and I peered out. This time I did not shrink back in because God had plans for me and I knew it. I knew I was loved. I knew I was valuable.
God had been holding onto me all the years of my life. Through all the dark times and through all the times when I was pulling away from him, he held on. He loved me. But it took another human being coming alongside me, bringing God to me when I most needed it, to bring me to the place where I could turn back to Him.
What I want to ask you tonight is this: Is there anyone in your life, who needs you to bring God to them now? The people who need our friendship are the people we meet every day. Is there anyone who always answers ‘fine’ when asked how they are, but who needs to be asked how they really are. What do true friends really gain from true friendship?
I’ll leave that thought with you.
I have to admit to being a little nervous tonight...perhaps it was something to do with the fact that when I texted Claire to ask her if there would be food tonight, she texted back and joked that I was to be the after dinner speaker! That was when the nerves set in!
I’d better introduce myself...My name is Jane Flynn, most of you know my mum- Daphne. I have four children, Molly, who is now 13, Hattie, who is 12, Sam who’s 10 and Joe who’s 8. 13, 12, 10 and 8 - as you can see they were born in fairly swift succession. When Joe was born, Molly was 5 and had just started in reception. I was walking up to school every morning at nine to drop Molly off and then continuing a little further down the road to Hattie’s playgroup, before dashing home again to tidy up and feed the baby before walking up to school again at lunch time to fetch Hattie and then home again for an hour of nappies and strong coffee, before I had to drag the convoy out again to fetch Molly. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Molly was learning to ride a bike with stabilisers and absolutely had to practice on the way to school!
I am being light hearted, but this really was not a good time for me. Every time I stepped out of the door, I pasted a smile on my face, and every time I stepped back inside, the smile would invariably crumble. All my friends thought I was some kind of supermum...but I knew different. I felt as though at some point, possibly as far back as my teenage years, I had slipped and fallen into a deep dark hole and I did not know how to get out.
What was wrong with me? If someone had asked me when I was twenty, what I wanted to have out of life, I would have replied... “Several beautiful children, a husband whom I loved and who loved me, a nice house and a good job.” Well apart from the job, which I’d had to put on hold, I had it all. All those things that I had wanted from my life, I had and yet there was a constant dark cloud hanging over my head. That dark cloud was depression. Where was God for me in all this?
Well that’s really what I want to tell you about. I want to tell you about how God did help me through it all. About how my depression was lifted and about the importance of friendship – the need to walk alongside each other, to look beyond our friend’s pasted smiles and above all else... to listen to one another.
I went to church. Every week I sat in my pew with my smile masking the darkness I was experiencing and I sang the songs and said the prayers. But gradually certain people began to approach me... these people seemed to see beyond the smile, some of them even seemed to want to hear how I really was! They wanted to listen to me! I had been hiding in a deep hole for such a long time and all of a sudden people were beginning to reach out to me, to reach down into the hole. The problem was, every time I peered out over the edge I would withdraw back into it. It wasn’t a nice place, my hole, but I knew it and it felt safer than the outside world. A part of me did not want to be dragged out – the same part of me that told me that I was not worth rescuing.
However certain people seemed to think otherwise. Finally one person made it her mission to show me that I was loved and valued by God. Whilst others had reached down into my hole, she climbed right in there into the mud and the dirt with me. She asked me how I was, and when I replied that I was fine, she asked me how I really was. She listened. We prayed. She told me I was loved. She held my hand and gradually together, over the course of many months, we reached the rim of the hole and I peered out. This time I did not shrink back in because God had plans for me and I knew it. I knew I was loved. I knew I was valuable.
God had been holding onto me all the years of my life. Through all the dark times and through all the times when I was pulling away from him, he held on. He loved me. But it took another human being coming alongside me, bringing God to me when I most needed it, to bring me to the place where I could turn back to Him.
What I want to ask you tonight is this: Is there anyone in your life, who needs you to bring God to them now? The people who need our friendship are the people we meet every day. Is there anyone who always answers ‘fine’ when asked how they are, but who needs to be asked how they really are. What do true friends really gain from true friendship?
I’ll leave that thought with you.
Friday, 6 November 2009
Shalom
The word Shalom is commonly understood around the world to mean Peace. Throughout Israel it is used as a greeting when people meet and as a farewell when they part. Peace, however is only a small part of the full meaning of the Hebrew word.
Strong's Concordance states that the word shalom encompasses a lot more: A word study in the New King James version for SHALOM says: Completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord.
So when a Jewish person pronounces Shalom over another they are wishing all of these things upon that person. A blessing indeed!
In Matthew 5 21-26, Jesus is saying that when anyone's relationship with another is anything less than a relationship of Shalom then they must do something to restore the Shalom- the perfectness, completeness, wholeness, peace- to the relationship.
Wednesday, 23 September 2009
The Gradual Miracle
My healing has been a miracle. It has been a slow, prolonged miracle, but a miracle none the less. On Sunday at the evening service I stood before the (Okay very small) congregation and told them, in the context of Penny's sermon on healing, my testimony.
I did not go into any details, I simply told about the deep, dark hole in which I had been living for such a long time and told them about how Penny, instead of trying to drag me out of the hole or chuck prayers down into it as others had tried to do, actually clambered in there with me and brought God with her. I told about how we had journeyed together hand in hand through the rocky places and through the muddy places and how she was there alongside me, getting covered in mud right there with me.
I tried to get across that the miracle of God's healing does happen, but it may not always happen just exactly how we expect it to. God heals each person in the right way for the individual.
It was a miracle. My mind would never have coped with an instant healing- an instant yanking out of the pit- I am too analytical for that and it would have been too far from the way I generally work. He knew that. He healed me in the way that was just right for me.
Alleluia!
Thursday, 20 August 2009
New Wine 09
From the 25th July to the 30th of August, some 45 people from Trinity found themselves in tents (Well, Tim did have the luxury of a caravan!) in the middle of a field at the Newark Showground. The weather this year was mixed, ranging from hot sunshine to torrential rain, but God has his hand over everything and once again we were able to relax and fill ourselves with his Spirit.
We learnt some amazing new worship songs and I was able to really bask in the love of my Father. I learnt the need to relinquish control. Something which those who know me will know that I do not find letting go an easy thing to do. I have always been afraid of letting go and relinquishing control, yes, even to God. But over the last year I have realised that when I do let Him take over, He tends to take me to a better place than the place I was before. Sometimes the place I end up is not where I expected to be, but inevitably it has always been a place that has proved to be better than where I was before!
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