On Sunday 19 November Cheltenham Church Plant had their second official public meeting. Following some last-minute venue challenges, the previous meeting in October had not received any non-OCC visitors; however this time they had an exciting 9 visitors, some of whom were non-Christians. There were 30 attendees in total – 24 adults and 4 children, including some guests from the wider church family.
Anna Ellwood, Angie Robertson and George Meathrel led worship, and Rich Ellwood spoke on the stories of the persistent widow and the blind man in Luke 18. There was a clear lead from the Holy Spirit towards a response for salvation and God welcoming everyone to come close into his presence through some great prophetic words. Lottie Meathrel brought a word about God having an undeserved gift for each of us, Alan Jenkins from Chipping Norton brought some verses from the story of the prodigal son, and Anna sung out prophetically about God’s love for us. Graham Hipwell brought a word from the parable of the pearl of great price, about Jesus being the great pearl merchant searching and looking for us, his great prize, before leading into a stirring and powerful response and prayer of salvation.
The team were greatly supported by having friends with them who were able to help out with tea and coffee; this enabled those on the ground to a chat with the visitors before and after the service. The two non-Christians clearly felt the presence of the Holy Spirit during worship and said that they really enjoyed Rich’s talk and found it clear and accessible. They had some questions, and wanted to come again.
There was also a real sense of being surrounded in prayer throughout the day. The team arrived at the venue to find that it wasn’t open, and while they were waiting and wondering what to do a lady from the venue appeared! It turned out that they had had a mix-up and got them confused with someone else, so it felt like a real answer to prayer that she had just happened to turn up when she did!
The Cheltenham team would really appreciate your prayers and support, especially for their continued hunt for a venue, as they have been asked to leave the venue where they had been meeting.