City Temple Cardiff

July 8th saw the final evening of our current Alpha course. As well as great food, the talk and group discussion our evening included a poem written by one of our Alpha course members who comes from Egypt and he also sang us a worship song in Coptic!

So as Alpha has come to an end and we look back, we have yet again had a great time with over 600 meals served, 11 great weeks of teaching, 16 great group leaders and in total 54 participants. At the end of each evening there were some great discussions over coffee and desserts.

As I looked over the main church each week transformed into a relaxed café atmosphere it is vital to realise that it could not have been achieved without the commitment of our group leaders and our fantastic support team of helpers and cooks who prepared the room, cooked food, served food. Then they cleared up, washed up, cleaned up and tidied up each week.

Over the duration of the course we saw Christians who had their faith strengthened and others who had their ideas challenged. There were also those who came to know Jesus not just a character from history but as Friend, Saviour and Lord.  We also saw people experience the Holy Spirit in a new way on our Alpha Holy Spirit day which takes places half way though the course.

Here are just a couple of comments from those who attended the course:

“I really enjoyed the course and am quite disappointed that it has finished. I love City Temple, the worship is great, and the people are friendly, Thanks for a great Alpha course.”

“I have regained hope and know that I am loved and forgiven through Jesus.  This good news makes life worth living. I want to better understand my purpose. I didn’t feel like I had a purpose for so many years and felt pretty worthless but now I just need to remind myself that Jesus died for me!”

“All areas of my life have been influenced and touched by the course.”

Autumn 2010

So who could you invite to Alpha this autumn? So far on our five courses we have had over 250 attend at least one session and well over 150 commit to attending the course regularly. We thank God for all that he has done through the course and we look forward to all that he will do in the future.

Pastor Steve Harris
Alpha Co-ordinator

 

Find out more about Alpha which starts at City Temple on 29th September 2010 here at City Temple

Find out more at: http://uk.alpha.org/

I have recently returned from the African country of Liberia, along with my colleague Gary Smith. We led the first ever Ignite Liberia conference.

Liberia is recovering from the lingering effects of a decades-long civil war, and the infrastructure of the country is still ramshackle - no mains water or electricity, no public transport (but with a depot full of buses sitting idle), poor health and healthcare - we didn't see anyone over the age of 50 and heard terrible stories about the infant mortality rate.

Women are still very much second-class citizens and the country relies massively on support from the United Nations. Most churches have little or no youth ministry, and young people generally have little hope or purpose in life.  We paid for the majority of conference costs, food and transport for delegates with money from Ignite in the UK and from the Band of Brothers at City Temple.

The conference was held for three days under the theme: Building a Generation for God, using the text:

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. 1 Tim. 4:12

There were teaching sessions where we taught the Ignite declaration as well as times of worship with pastors from Ignite churches challenging young people to discover God’s purpose for their life and to transform their generation.
The conference brought together 130 participants from Nimba, Bong, Lofa, Margibi, Monsterrado, Bomi, and Gbapulu counties. That’s nearly half of the 15 counties across the country. Attending the conference were also delegates from Ignite in Sierra Leone-which is in a similar process of rebuilding after a civil war.
The reasons for the conference were:

• To bring together all Ignite Liberia centres to interact, fellowship and learn from God’s word;
• To hear share how Ignite started and the vision of Ignite;
• To hear reports of what the Lord is doing in the seven counties, and challenge the volunteer leaders of Ignite Liberia to do more by sharing the Ignite declaration and reaching lost youth for Jesus Christ.  
• To begin to spiritually rebuild the nation by starting with a new generation of young people.

To discover more about Ignite you can visit: www.igniteme.org
To discover more about Ignite Liberia you can visit: www.igniteme.org/liberia.php
To read a fuller report by Nigel James you can visit: www.nigeljames.typepad.co.uk

Our “Re:new” charity shop in Canton has been open for almost 4 months now and is proving to be  a popular attraction for many shoppers. Sales have been better than expected, which ultimately means more money sent to excellent causes at home and abroad.

I want to pay tribute to all the volunteer staff who give so willingly of their time and ensure each shopper  receives a warm welcome. Many shoppers have been prayed for and some have made a commitment to Christ in the shop. I would also like to thank Graham Bird for help with the shop fitting and everyone who has donated items for sale.

However, we still need your help - we particularly need extra staff for the shop, particularly as we go into the holiday season when some of our regular volunteers are going away. If you can help by volunteering even for half a day per week that would be very much appreciated. Training will be given!

Donations of good quality items will also be gratefully received at the shop which is situated at 86, Cowbridge Road East in Canton.

Recently 31 people from diverse nationalities and backgrounds took a trip to Bristol Zoo, a trip arranged by City Temple's African Fellowship.

There was breaking of bread as people shared meals with each other. The group undertook a tour of the zoo enjoying the view of different species of wildlife at the Zoo. Many expressed their happiness as this was their first hand experience at a zoo. Others used the occasion to admire and ponder over the beauty of God’s creation.

The children had an amazing time with plays and entertainment while the adults got engrossed in following the zoo map of Gorillas, roaring lions, aquarium, twilight World, etc.

Manuella Toudou, secretary of the African Christian Fellowship commented, "we had a fantastic fellowship time and great fun, making new friends with people never spoken to before, even though we have all been attending the same church for months, if not years!"