Citygate Students and Twenties exists to see radical, faith filled believers equipped to live a life that is drastically counter-culture, but extends immensely powerful love and compassion to the world around them.

Tuesday 1 March 2011

Gossip the Gospel

Tuesday is here, and that means that it's only three days until In Bude. Which is set to be a weekend of epic excitement and a great time to meet with God. 

The weekend past was busy, with so much going on, and so many things that could be mentioned. Many of you would have been at the launch of Living Hope Africa, a charity launched by some of the members of our Citygate Students and Twenties family. A fantastic evening of culture and good food, and the waxing of Aaron and James, made it rather memorable, and left everyone expectant of great things happening out in Kenya.


Sunday services were kicked off with John Hosier preaching, and sharing his wealth of knowledge and wisdom. For those of you not there, the preach is up on the church website for your listening enjoyment! 

A German themed lunch followed, along with some of the leftovers from Saturday night, all in aid of Kat, who, after being with us for the last 6 months or so, will now be heading back to Germany on Thursday. We'll be sad to see her go, will definitely miss her a lot! If you can, make sure to say farewell and give her a big hug! Following lunch we were taught some traditional German folk dancing, much to the amusement to all the brave souls that didn't run away but stayed around to watch. 

Sunday evening was probably the highlight of the day for me, with five people getting baptised, two of whom are part of the Students and Twenties group. Five guys, including our very own, Andy Yeates and Tom Faulkner gave testimony to God saving them, changing their lives and causing them to want to live life in a different way.

Testimonies included the stories of

- a man who left another religion to follow Jesus
- a man whose life of addiction was transformed by knowing Jesus as His Savious
- a man who was taking a big leap in publicly choosing to confess Jesus as his Lord
- a man who had come from a place of trusting God, walking away from Him, and then coming back to wanting to pursue Him
- and a man who had often questioned, and then finally met with the Living God


As each person shared their story I was once again struck by the people that God calls, the incredible way in which he calls us, and then what he asks us to do. Baptisms are a great time for celebration, but also a great time to gossip the Gospel. By this, it is a fantastic opportunity to chat about Jesus in a really personal way, sharing with others, the power and love he has, and the way he is personally involved in each of our lives.

Nothing is quite so effective. 

I look forward to more and more stories appearing, and lots more testimonies of salvation that give us cause to gossip about Jesus and share what He is doing. 

My prayer is that In Bude will be an occasion like that. With great speakers Matt Hosier and Julian Adams, I'm looking forward to a time where God breaks in, changes hearts, lives and situations and causes us all to sit up and think.

I love a story and I love a God story even more.
Take a listen to this album and think about the story that you have to tell and then get sharing!

Matthew West – The Story Of Your Life

This week you can look forward to the first part of Equip, which are seminar style teaching evenings available to all, and running on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

Choices are:
1. The Pursuit of Happyness
2. Budget Coaching; breaking the debt cycle (students this will be excellent for you!)
3. Building Strong Families


BE THERE!

All that is left to say, is that I shall see you In Bude!
Love x

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