Today was a cultural experience as our team attended Sunday morning worship at St. Barnabas Anglican Church. You may have heard that most churches in England are nearly empty on Sunday mornings, but St. Barnabas had a packed house in two services today. We came for coffee between the first and the second services in the fellowship hall.
It was "Scout Sunday" in which the church recognizes the Explorer Scouts (like our Boy and Girl Scouts). In an earlier service the church commissioned a team made up of scouts and doctors on mission to Ghana later this month. The Fellowship Hall was buzzing with people talking about the trip and the scouts. We had some great opportunities to meet people and talk about church-life at St. Barnabas. Then we were off to the second service.
The second service of the morning was a monthly service dedicated to families. It was a lot like a Vacation Bible School in atmosphere. There were puppets, skits, flags, dancing, and hand actions (not to be mistaken for motions which refer to bowel movements here in England... another team made that mistake here in Teeside). At the beginning of the service the church called our team to the front and prayed over us. Later on, Bryson and I had the privilege (and embarrassment) of being called out to lead worship with the children doing hand actions with flags. We did get to sing a few Chris Tomlin songs and worship God in the same way many of us would have in back home.
(The man in black has been dubbed the British Duke Forster)
We have come to understand that one of our roles here is to encourage those ministering here. This is a tough field to win people to Christ. We've been told numerous times that our presence and partnership mean a lot to those serving in Middlesbrough.
After a great service and fellowship we met up with another team serving here from Southcrest Church in Newnan, GA and went to Whitby, UK. Among other things Whitby is known as the place Captain James Cook set sail from when he discovered Australia, the place where the official date for Easter was set by the church, and the place where some of the English claim Dracula is buried. We walked the streets of this historic town and got to experience some of the ancient ruins of a monastery. It was in the shadow of the town's Abbey, overlooking the coast that we participated in the Lord's Supper.
We finally got a chance to try one of the local delicacies... Fish and chips. Pretty impressive...
Finally, we wrapped up the day by loading back onto the buses and meeting in our teams on the drive back. We had a lot to game plan for. For the next three days we will be in schools!
Pray that as we head to the schools, students would be curious about God and open to the truth. Pray that students would ask questions about faith. Pray that God would allow us to plant seeds for the Gospel in students lives.
Steve
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