Sunday 29th April was a significant day for the churches in Lenham. Over 80 people joined together in Lenham community centre for a combined act of worship. This included people from the four churches in the Len Valley benefice together with members of Pathways church who hosted the event. There were all ages present, from young children and families to older folk. We started the morning with coffee and catching up with each other, leading into a fun time of writing poems in small groups. This proved to be very popular and we discovered some enthusiastic poets among us as we considered the beauty of the area that we have the privilege of living in. Musicians from the various churches joined together to form a combined worship band, leading us in an uplifting time of singing, focusing our attention and worship onto the greatness of the God that we all serve. Rev John Huggins from the Benefice led us into communion, and it was wonderful to have leaders from Pathways serving alongside leaders from the Benefice, and to see everyone receiving communion together. Then Johnny McCabe from Pathways spoke, and brought a clear message encouraging us all to express the love of Jesus by serving our community. A collection of over £300 was taken which will go to the Katie Piper Foundation. Thank you everyone for your generosity. We finished with drinks, and wonderful cakes provided by the ladies of Pathways. The mood was upbeat, and the comments were positive. For some the style was different to what they were used to, but all agreed that it had been a good morning, and that we should do it again in the future!
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This year at Pathways we are picking up the theme of 'acceleration' which has been embraced by the Apostolic Council as a word for the whole of Church of the Nations for 2018. As I was thinking about this subject, I realised that God had given me a rather good illustration. Last autumn I started having problems with my car. I would be driving along and the power would just cut dramatically. This could be awkward in traffic. I discovered that if I put my foot to the floor the car would go normally, but it probably wasn't very good for fuel economy! Then one day it didn't work to put my foot down and it just got worse. I ended up having to drive with low power for a quite a few weeks. Have you ever tried to drive with no acceleration? I discovered how many hills there are on my way home! I started looking forward to the downward stretches where I could get up a reasonable speed. But there is a very long hill where I would try and get a good speed up, but by the time I got half way up the hill I would have dropped to 20-30mph. Any cars in the distance would catch up really quickly and I would be very embarrassed! Eventually I got to the stage where I would turn off the main road before the hill and go home along the country lanes where nobody expected a car to go fast. I started getting really annoyed if people pulled out in front of me. They would pull out and then speed off into the distance, leaving me unable to accelerate back up! One time there was a car stuck behind me for ages. Eventually the car sped past us, and I realised that it was a friend of mine! I never asked him about it. We need acceleration to start something new. When you start from standing still it is hard to pick up momentum. Here at Pathways lots of the things we are doing are new, and that’s when you really need good acceleration because it takes more effort. We need acceleration during uphill times. Difficult times in our life can feel like going uphill. Nehemiah taught us to expect challenges if we are building God's kingdom, and during these times we find out how well (or not) we are functioning as a team and as individuals. If you have built up some momentum then it is easier to keep going, so when things are working well press in and make the most of it. We need acceleration to overtake Overtaking was not really on my mind at that time because I just wanted to get where I needed to without embarrassment. We can also get into a survival mode in our lives. But sometimes we do need to accelerate to overtake or to get out of danger. Strategies I tried for coping with lack of acceleration. Push harder! At first I tried pressing the pedal down harder, which worked for a while but the fuel economy was not so good. So the trouble with just pushing harder is that it takes more out of us! We have to try a lot harder to get things done and we get tired easily. Other areas of our life suffer. We can also end up ignoring the fact that there is a problem and spend our whole lives exhausted. Avoid the things we find difficult: I went on some torturous routes to avoid the hills on my way home! I was just happy to get home each day but it took longer than it should have. We find lots of ways of working around situations to avoid facing them, but the danger is that we get used to making detours. One day we could find ourselves in a place where there isn't an alternative, and then we can run into trouble. The best solution is to sort out the problem! I took my car to the garage which was a rather long saga. They misdiagnosed the problem a few times then finally they said it was the turbocharger which would cost £2800 to fix. I may as well have written the car off, so we asked a friend to have a look. When he took the turbocharger out, he found that a small lever on the back had got stuck. After cleaning it and making sure it was moving freely he put everything back. The car worked fine and we didn't even have to buy a new part. Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24 Some lessons I learnt: We need to look under the bonnet to find out what the problem is We don’t always realise the value of looking beneath the surface of our own lives. There could be all sorts of things causing us problems, for example fears, bad experiences and hurts, strongholds and curses just to name a few. God is the only one who can diagnose the issue properly. Like the garage we might assume it is one problem when it is in fact another. In all my years of listening to God I have come to realise that he is very interested in transforming my character. He is committed to removing hindrances so I can function well in life. The problem might look a lot worse than it is Many of us are already aware of areas where we struggle and they can seem too hard to deal with or change. But like my turbocharger it might only take a small adjustment to change the whole situation! Prevention is better than cure We all know it's dangerous not to have our car serviced regularly. Why is it any less so for human beings? We can make it a regular part of our lives to allow God to transform and heal us. Don't wait until we fail or struggle in a situation. As we receive this word 'acceleration' for 2018, I think it would be a good time to let God under the surface of our lives so He can prepare our hearts and minds ready for what's ahead. By Jenny Needham Today was a special day for Pathways. Dave and Carol Cape were with us again. They came to pray for and commission Johnny, Estelle, Dave and Jenny as elders, with Johnny and Estelle as the lead couple. Pathways was also formally . welcomed into the Acts Life Cluster which is a group of churches within Church of the Nations. We were joined by leaders from Jubilee Church Maidstone and Seven Pillars Church Croydon, John Huggins the new Vicar from the Len Valley Benefice and his wife Lorraine, plus other friends. The morning was precious as both the two couples and the congregation made promises towards each other before God. Dave Cape then spoke about alignment, although he could have entitled his message 'positioned for blessing'. He spoke to us about how aligning ourselves in a godly way releases blessing into our lives. Spiritual blessing, financial blessing and favour will all follow us if we do what God says and align ourselves correctly with those in authority over us, just as Peter did with Jesus (Matthew 16:14-19). Louise, Rani and Keith had prepared a wonderful buffet for afterwards and we enjoyed time together, sharing the things that God is doing in our lives and encouraging one another on to new things. It was the culmination of a very special weekend. Pathways had teamed up with Jubilee to host around 50 church leaders from the Acts Life Cluster at various venues around Lenham on the Friday and Saturday, based mainly at the Dog and Bear Hotel. The time included some teaching and input from Tony and Marilyn Fitzgerald, lots of catching up with each other, and a walk to the chalk cross on the hill where we prayed over the Len Valley area. Tired, but content we went home and back to our daily lives, knowing something had changed in the heavenly realm that could usher in a new chapter for the Len Valley.
This Wednesday marked our last official night together as cells before we all rest and revitalise over the summer.
We shared curries from all over the world, beautiful salads, bread, rice, pickles and delicious puddings. We watched Johnny and Estelle perform 'magic', a clever game, designed to confound you but keep you guessing how it is done. Louise showed that she is super observant! People made their best smile and 'Shrek face'. For the rest of the evening we just chatted. Johnny thanked everyone for their commitment to cell life, apologising for the times when he wasn't best prepared, but as Holly said it didn't matter because folks were together enjoying each other's company. As I watched, people were genuinely interested in one another's lives, listening to stories with enthusiasm or sympathy, whatever was needed. Pathways church at it's best. You see we are the church, it's not where we meet but who is there. Each one bringing their all, their gifting, their uniqueness, their love and their passions. Jesus's church is built person by person not brick by brick. Bricks bring no life, and can be destroyed so easily. The church will endure, as people's lives are changed and given up freely, bringing the Spirit of the Lord to the place where they are, as we are told in Ephesians 2: 20-22. "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." We take it in turns to serve at the breakfast service in our local parish church, St Mary's, twice a month.
This service encourages young families to come for breakfast and activities around a theme taken from the bible. For example a recent service was about the story in Genesis when the Lord called Abram and how He provided for Abram, and we finished by praying for different people around the world. It is a small, fairly simple affair but never the less vital for some families who do not feel they could attend a full meeting with their precious little ones. Toast is munched, tea is drunk and words of encouragement are shared. What a privilege it is for us to go and share in this work, to encourage another part of the body of Christ in our community. Psalm 133:1-2 expresses this so well - "how good it is for brothers to dwell together in unity, it is like precious oil on the head...". We are side by side unified by our shared love for our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Agreeing that he was born of a virgin, died on the cross and was raised back to life on the third day. We may have different ideas about how a celebration should run, prefer different songs or use different words when we pray, but we know that the same God is listening and our praises are heard in the same place. At Pathways we often have visitors, and we realised recently that many people do not know that the cross on our logo is actually a real place which is a significant landmark for our community. The 58m high chalk cross is situated on the Pilgrim's Way, on the slopes of the ridge above the A20. It is an eye-catching design cut into the hillside, forming a striking image against the green fields surrounding it. In 1922 a collection was held to build a memorial for the 42 men who died during the first world war. The cross was designed by Mr C.H.Groom, headmaster of the village school. There was also a granite stone with the names of the men, which was moved to the churchyard in 1977. The eye catching cross was a problem during the second world war, and was filled in during that time to prevent the Luftwafte using it to navigate. The cross now serves as a memorial to those who died in both the first and second world wars. For us as a church, it is wonderful to have such a striking reminder of Jesus directly above the community centre where we meet. It makes for great photos, and is a fantastic place to meet and pray over the community. On a clear day, from the top of the cross, it is possible to see across Kent as far as the south downs. As well as remembering those who died in the war, we look to the cross to remind ourselves that Jesus Himself died for our community. Jesus gave His life as the ultimate sacrifice so that we could all have lives filled with freedom and purpose. Jesus is the head of the church, and we would not exist if He hadn't called us to be here. It is His life and presence with us that gives us hope for our community. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. John 15:13 Recently a few of us joined with others from our community to clean the cross and pull out the weeds that constantly attempt to grow on it. It was hard work in the hot sun, but it seems a small sacrifice for us compared to everything it stands for. Afterwards it was gleaming white in the summer sun. This is a reminder that 'weeds' can so easily creep into our lives and we can forget what is really important. Let us look to the chalk cross as a reminder to always keep Jesus at the centre of our church and our lives. Let us regularly allow Him to search our hearts and remove the weeds of sin and distractions from our life so that we can shine brightly for Him. By Jenny Needham
By Karen Brook-Child The Lenham Family Festival came and went! God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 1 Peter 4:10 This was our aim: to serve others in our community, to show them what it is to be family and to point the way to Jesus. Those of us who could paint nails, did so. Those who could massage hands and feet, did so. Others looked after people, offering advice or pointing the way. The student's fed people as did the lovely Ibi and her family. Others of us organised, offered competition and painted children's faces. Jenny and Holly ministered in song. All of the profits raised went to the local primary school and the Katie Piper Foundation. I had the privilege of massaging hands and feet and one of the most touching moments was when two ladies came to Louise and I and we massaged their feet as they sat together and listened to Jenny and Holly. They loved the attention and felt very relaxed. It is an honour to serve our older generations in this way; giving them time as they have doubtless given up time for others on their long journeys through life. Another highlight for me was teaching a young daughter how to massage her Mum's hands and feet. Jesus washed the disciple's feet once, so John tells us (John13:1-17). What an expression of servant love for another. Many people have an aversion to feet. Feet can be dirty and smelly. Feet hold us up when we want to fall, feet carry us when we are weary and our feet can become damaged as we get older, causing us pain and discomfort. How wonderful it is to bring comfort to sore feet, tired feet and feet that have carried a soul for many years. It is so good to learn these things, following the example of our Lord, Jesus. Pathways leadership team recently spent a weekend away with leaders from other churches, together with Dave and Carol Cape who will be heading up the new 'Acts Life' Cluster which is part of Church of the Nations. During the following week our whole church had the opportunity to spend an evening with Dave and Carol when they came out to Lenham and shared a meal with us. Everyone had a chance to meet them and hear some of their life stories and Dave's heart for the new cluster. Dave and Carol have been in leadership for a number of years and are great evangelists at heart, sharing the gospel across many nations. They are such an inspiring couple with their many stories of life on the road carrying the cross and bowl, seeing many people come into relationship with Jesus. It was so good to watch the way they sat with us, getting to know new people, completely at ease in new surroundings. Both share the good news of the kingdom so easily and praise for the Lord's goodness is in each conversation. It was great to be reminded to listen to God and trust in him, allowing our faith to grow with each footstep we take on our journey. Dave has authored a couple of books, and as such he is the source of those writings. Paul describes Jesus as an author in Hebrews 12:2 (NKJV), He is the source of our faith. We are inspired by what He did here on the earth 2000 years ago, bringing about healing, freedom and comfort just as it was promised in Isaiah 61, and spoken by Jesus in Luke 4. We continue to see that evidenced now in both our own lives and the lives of those around us.
I hope we never stop being inspired to do good works. Karen Brook-Child One year after our launch, this was Pathways' Report to Lenham Parish Council By Gail Robinson Pathways Church is predominantly formed of ex members of Lenham United Reformed Church and former members of Jubilee Church Maidstone. In May last year we launched as a church in our own right, still supported by, but now independent of Jubilee Church. Our vision is to be “ a loving family, keeping Christ at the centre as we care for our community”. We currently meet as two separate cell groups in members’ homes, in Harrietsham on Wednesday evenings, and in Lenham on Thursday evenings, for family time, prayer, worship and reading the Word. Once a month we all come together for prayer. A couple of months ago we held a half night of prayer for our community and spent the time praying for the families, schools, clubs and societies, businesses, medical staff, officials and churches of our community. Since we launched, we have settled into the following pattern for Sundays: On the first and third Sundays of the month we meet at Lenham Community Centre. The second Sunday we keep free to do something in the community or spend time helping each other. On the fourth Sunday we join with Jubilee Church, and if there is a fifth Sunday we join with the Len Valley churches at their joint benefice service. Our community, and serving our community, is at the heart of what we aim to do. Most of our members stretch from Hollingbourne to Charing and members are encouraged to be involved in the life of their village and look out for needs that we as a church can provide help with. We continue to support the Lenham Family Festival. This year we will run three stalls to raise funds for the Festival’s charities and we have again secured the help of students from Jubilee Church, who will run the burger bar on the main day of the Festival. We’ve also been able to help people in smaller ways such as spending mornings tackling gardens that have got out of control where the owners are unable to do this themselves, and cleaning the toys for the toddlers’ group that is held in Lenham Community Centre. We also value the work of St Mary’s and we like to support them and work with them on joint projects. One of our members currently helps with Messy Mums held at St Mary’s on Wednesday mornings and we support their family friendly breakfast service by sending some of our members to help two Sundays a month. We’ve also had a lot of fun building family within our church with activities such as a ladies breakfast, a men’s green woodworking day in the woods and a visit to the British Museum to look at the Old Testament evidence held there. This year we are stretching and challenging ourselves both spiritually and physically. Some of us faced our fears by completing the Go Ape course at Bedgebury Pinetum and later this year we are having a church weekend away in Snowdonia where we will be climbing Mount Snowdon. We have had a successful year and we are looking forward to building on this in the coming year. "We are no longer a new church, trying to work out what we are about" That was the observation made by Louise Buys during her recent visit; she felt that we had entered a new phase. Louise is a good friend of ours at Pathways. She was part of our church family for a year while studying at the Jubilee Training Centre, and is now pioneering 'School of the Word' in South Africa. The message she brought to us on Easter Day was about being rooted in God's love. She asked if we have a 'daisy' relationship with God? I.e. "He loves me, He loves me not..." dependent on our circumstance. Or do we know the constant love of God in our lives, finding Him in the middle of each storm? It was so sweet that this message of God's love was delivered on Easter Sunday when we celebrate the ultimate expression of love: the giving of a precious Son, so that we might have eternal life (John 3:16). The morning came to a close with us sharing the bread and wine with our family and close friends at the foot of a wooden cross, empty because Jesus was raised back to life and is now the pathway for us to Father God (John 14:6). |
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