Back in march Stephen McWhirter and I began hatching a plan to carry out an alpha course in a local establishment. This was inspired by seeing this done on the fresh expressions website. As part of googling the subject I also found that Lisburn cathedral were running alpha in Lisburn SERC. I spoke to Simon the Curate there and he had lots of positives things to say about their experience.
The next thing to do was select the right course. After chatting with Jim Carson we decided to go with Christianity Explored as it seemed to fulfill the purpose we had in mind. The next thing to do was find a venue!
I am a great lover of the noble Ulster Fry and spend a lot of happy moments in Coopers Restaurant on the Longstone in Lisburn. I can thoroughly recommend it! Stephen was chatting to Alan Thom the owner regarding Creed and managed to build the contact. Alan's a great guy and was quite happy to allow us to use his premises and provide a meal at a very reasonable price. There is a substantial cost attached to running the event. A few friends and I decided not to be afraid of this and go forward in faith.
For me the food aspect of studying God's word in this way is vital. I was pretty sure of it before we started the course and am completely convinced of it now that we have just completed week 3 last night. It's so much easier to relax and talk about deep things with people that you are comfortable with. The 45mins of chat and food has allowed lots of new friendships to blossom and very honest conversation.
Last night was a hard hitting night on the nature of Sin and what Jesus had to say about Hell. When the DVD was finished I could hardly speak, words didn't seem appropriate in the light and weight of Jesus' words. I know there were some very worthwhile conversations that went on around the tables as we looked at the words of Jesus regarding Hell and our own rationalising of what Hell might mean.
I've really enjoyed being a part of the course so far. I've tried to be relaxed and trust God to give me the right words when needed. Theres a cost to leading, a responsibility that I sense more and more as I approach 40 in a few weeks. The responsibility to be honest, faithful in personal prayer/study and have a vision and stick to it. I praise God that we have been nearly filling that restaurant every week. No-one involved expected such a large response. I delight that as I talk to people there I hear converstations of hearts moving closer to the Lord and the decision to follow him in repentance being made.
No comments:
Post a Comment