What's New At....
Well lots of really positive things have been happening over the past few weeks. Praise God!
April is over, and what a month it has been for 24:7!
Even a brief glance at the April 24:7 Prayer Diary shows that many prayers were answered and that positive progress has been made in lots of other areas. I do hope we all are excited about what God is doing at St Mary's in this area and in many others.
A few things to think about and do:
John Allister has done lots of work on it to set the 24:7 web site (www.cheadle.org/24.7) up and as one person fed back to me, "The site looks very professional. Re:spect to all who had a hand in it."
We want the site to be as effective as possible - several people have been making enquiries about it and quite a few have been positive about its potential. More feedback is always welcome.
Also dedicated email address, 24.7@cheadle.org, is fully operational. As well as drawing attention away from me, it will hopefully ensure the name 24:7 gets into the church's 'collective consciousness' nice and quickly.
Once again the May 24:7 Prayer Diary is packed full of exciting points to pray for.
The Sunday evening 24:7 Drop-in has got off the ground really well. We have had two meetings, and new people have come along to both. Many others have expressed a desire to come along but haven't, yet, been able to. Let's pray for growing numbers but especially for a growing sense of fellowship and belonging to 24:7 through this informal activity.
We have the Girls' Wine and Chocolate Evening to early this month (well, the girls do anyway!). It promises to be a very well attended event, and should attract a fantastic range of people. Please pray for the event and especially for a few of the (reluctant) 'other halves' who may have to sacrifice a night with the lads to look after children etc...
This, and so much more, is really positive. So, so encouraging!
Nevertheless, after the 7th May, except for the weekly Drop-in we have no more confirmed events.
This, then, is a real 'fasten your belt' request: 24:7's profile is currently high. People are starting to recognise the huge potential it undoubtedly offers. Therefore we need to deliver more successful events and activities to maintain this profile, in order that we can delve deeper into the vast group of people that make up 24:7's target group.
At the same time, please be assured that lots of quiet, behind the scenes, development is taking place as well. Developing new links, re-establishing old contacts, encouraging networking amongst previously separated groups within and outside the church are just some of the things happening at present. Thanks for those of you that helped out with updating 24:7's list of contacts - this is already bringing much fruit.
Combining this building up of the foundations whilst also organising some great events will do wonders to extend and expand the work of 24:7.
Love in Christ,
Martin