January- March News

2003

Army

The New Year began with Daniel Dunn, the son of Michael and Lesley Dunn going into the Army Foundation College.  He will complete a year of training here before undertaking a term in the British Army.  He has worked exceptionally hard during his first 3 months there and his parents and friends are very proud of the changes that have been displayed in his life.

Passing Out Parade at Harrogate

Asylum Project

          Work with the Asylum Project continues to be both hectic and rewarding.  Some of the issues that have been especially prominent in the past few months are changes to the law that have left some without food or accommodation in the UK.  We have been working with other organisations, the British Home Office, Local Members of Parliament and the National Asylum Support Service to try to sort out issues that would allow these people to be supported and housed.  To date, we have won in two instances and we are still fighting in the third.  In the mean time, we have made sure that these people are housed and fed by other means.

          I have also been invited to speak on Asylum Issues on several occasions and at several different venues.  At one of the more recent meetings members of the local Fascist party turned up to question me and the other panel members that were speaking.  They are very much against allowing Asylum Seekers into the country.  It made for an interesting evening.

          On the 20^th of February Michele and I, with others from the Asylum Project were invited to a reception at the Lord Mayor’s Mansion in Newcastle.  We were greeted by the Lord Mayor and the Lord Lieutenant at this event.  The Lord Lieutenant is the Queen’s representative in the Northeast of England.  We had a great night.

Learning English	Washing Up

Youth Games Day

          As part of a series that is being taught in our youth class on ‘Faith in Action’, the youth decided to host a games day for their friends and the local community.  The youth planned and organised the whole afternoon, from the choosing of the games to the supply of food and snacks, to the advertising and physical setting up and cleaning up.  It was intended to teach them about responsibility and to help them to gain confidence in expressing their faith in Jesus Christ to others.  It was great success, with a whole host of people coming from the local community, as well as from the invitations that were issued.

Reaching Out to the Community	Monopoly on Serving

Alpha

          It was the decision of the church here that we would experiment with a new type of Evangelism.  It is called Alpha, and it was started a number of years ago by the Church of England.  We had a number of people come to us and request that we conduct such a course.  The idea behind the course is to teach the basics of Christianity and to challenge people to follow Jesus Christ.   The course runs over a 10-week period and includes a whole day in conjunction with the 10 evening sessions. 

          We had hoped to run this first course as an experiment and to see how everything worked.  We had anticipated that maybe 10 or 12 people might come along on this first course, as we were only going to do very limited advertising of the course.  At our first meeting, we had 19 people attend and we have averaged between 19 and 13 people each week for the first 5 weeks.  People have thoroughly enjoyed the 2-½ hours of fellowship, study and discussion.  We have several people attending that speak only limited English and so we have people that can translate parts of the lesson for them into French.  We have many attending who are not Christian and two who are Muslim.  Please pray for our continued success in this new venture.

Church News

          On the 7^th of March Vera Marchant, the wife of Steve Marchant, passed away after a long battle with Cancer.  The funeral was held on the 14^th of March at Sunderland with Rodney Thomas officiating.

          On the 19^th of March, the funeral for Keith Mack, the Uncle of Lesley Dunn was held in South Shields.  He passed away after a long and debilitating fight with illness.  Rodney was asked to officiate at this funeral service as well.

          The Church has begun the process of appointing Elders.  We expect that this process will take many more months and we had months of teaching and preaching leading up to this point.  We now have seven names that have been put forward as possible Elders.  Please pray that the church will be wise and follow God’s guidance and they undertake this monumental step in the history of the church in Washington.

Church Photo 2003

Family News

          Heather continues to suffer from sever headaches and nothing that has been done seems to help.  She went to the hospital recently due to the combination of the pain of the headaches and a severe case of Tonsillitis.  She is still undertaking treatments and awaiting an appointment with a Neurologist.  It will likely be another 3 to 5 months before she has her first appointment with the Neurologist due to the long waiting lists.

          Jonathan, Joshua, and Jared all continue to do well at school and Jared is now very pleased with his Christmas present.  On Christmas Day, he was not nearly so please when one of his new pet Praying Mantises ate the other one.  We were notified of this fact by the screams of horror coming from Jared as he observed the attack and the subsequent cannibalisation.  Now, however the little beast has grown to an enormous size and has even sprouted wings and we think that Jared has finally forgiven him for his moment of moral weakness.

          Michele and I are staying busy trying to complete the purchase of the building and to keep all of the many activities going and expanding.  May God bless you all with His great richness.

The Thomas family