Unite Prayer Letter 18.1.12
Dear praying friends
On 21 January 2011, Unite International Cafe first opened its doors.
Exactly one year later, on 21 January 2012 we will be starting The Visa Course.
Visa is a weekly course introducing Christianity in simple English and includes
small group discussion, Bible study and DVD clips. It's so exciting to be able
to befriend people from over 40 nations, be they asylum
seekers, international students, au pairs or immigrant workers. Even more
exciting is the privilege that we have to share the good news that there is a
God who loves us and who sent his Son to die for us.
Please pray with us for those who will join us for The Visa Course.
It will be taking place on Saturday afternoons for the next 9 weeks.
Praise God that last Sunday we had the exciting opportunity to
witness the baptisms of three young men, two from Afghanistan and one from Iran.
It was so encouraging to hear their testimonies and see them publicly declare
that Jesus is Lord. Please pray that God protects and strengthens them in their
new faith. Pray with us too that there would be many more added to their
number!
With love in Christ,
The Unite Team
Dear prayer supporters
A quick request for prayer for Unite this
Friday. Ida from Jubilee Church in Maidstone is coming to teach us a bit of
Zumba and then she is giving her testimony. Thank God for this exciting
opportunity!
·
Please
pray that God opens the eyes of the hearts of those listening, enables them to
understand and draws them to Himself.
·
Ida
comes from a Muslim background so her testimony is particularly relevant to many
who come to the cafe. Please pray for protection as she speaks the truth in
love.
Thanks for your prayers!
The Unite Team
From
one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth;
and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should
live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and
find him, though he is not far from each one of us. Acts
17:24-27
Dear praying friends,
We would really value your prayers for tomorrow night as we have a theme of 'light' at Unite International Cafe. It's the last time we're meeting before Halloween as we are closed on 28 October for half term and it's a great opportunity to share the good news that Jesus is the light of the world.
One of our team members, Miranda, will be sharing her testimony about how God saved her out of a life of darkness and brought her into His light. Please pray especially for her as it is not easy to speak about yourself in front of people and she hasn't been well recently.
Afterwards, there are some questions to discuss in groups related to her testimony to check understanding and encourage people to respond to what they've heard.
Please pray that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened so that even with limited understanding they will supernaturally understand the gospel - and believe! With love in Christ, The Unite team
I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7
For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6
21/5/2011
Hi
everyone
Thanks be to
God for all he is doing through Unite International Cafe. We had a great
time again last night and welcomed a new young lady from India.
I'm
writing with a request for prayer. Please pray for continued favour with Caffe
Nero. When I originally approached them to ask if we could hold an
international cafe there, the manager was a lady called Kendal. By the time we
started in January, a new manager, Darren, had taken over. Now Darren has gone
back to the Caffe Nero in Canterbury, and Kendal
has come back to Maidstone.
I
went to see her today and I asked if we would be able to bring some snacks for
our forthcoming 'Africa Night'. She said she would have to check with the
Area Manager, as obviously the reason they allow us to hold Unite there is
because they need to make a profit, and if we bring food (as well as the
health and safety implications), that would potentially take away from their
profit.
That
aside, I asked if everything was ok to continue and she said something on
the lines of 'we need to look at it' and that having 2 members of staff on
until 9:30 each Friday takes up quite a chunk of their weekly rota. She will be
going on holiday soon but in a few weeks time she will be there a couple of Friday
nights to see how things work.
The
last two weeks we've been a bit quieter, and we didn't quite make our £50
target this Friday. This wasn't a huge problem as we only had to pay for three
extra drinks, but please be praying for the future of Unite.
In
all this we don't need to worry because God is in control. He opened the door
for us to start Unite at Caffe Nero in Maidstone
and if he wants us to continue he will provide. But we need to pray.
Thanks
for all your support,
Jo
20/3/2011 Dear friends
Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Unite International Cafe
continues to grow, with new people coming each week and friendships deepening.
Several internationals have also come to special events, including Cafe Church,
the Y Course and a fashion show.
Here is an update of praise and prayer points:
Praise
God
- For a great atmosphere
each week, developing friendships and opportunities for conversations about
faith.
- For internationals who have come to church, the Y course and the fashion
show.
- For J from Korea, who found our flyer in the library and has been coming
regularly. She was lonely in England as she is here on a tourist visa so cannot
work or study. She is here to visit her boyfriend but he is very busy as he
has two jobs. Thank God that he led her to Unite and that I (Jo) have been able
to meet up with her a couple of times.
- For an encouraging Friends International Training Day in London on 12 March
that seven from the team went to and enjoyed.
- For A from
Latvia. I mentioned her in the first prayer newsletter - it was
due to a God-incidence and a postman's mix-up that she found out about Unite!
Two team members had a great conversation with her on Friday. She comes from a
position of complete ignorance of who God is, thinking that the Muslim and
Christian God are the same and that salvation is by good works. She said she
enjoyed the discussion and would like to know more about our faith. Pray that
she would seek answers to her questions and have a real desire to know the truth
of God's word. Pray for the team as we answer her questions.
- For L, V and C, three young women from Romania.
They all seemed very open to Christianity
and V and C came to church one week, but unfortunately they have been put off as
it was so different from their Orthodox Church background. Please pray that God
breaks through this barrier, that they would come back to the cafe and we would
have wisdom to know how to share what having a personal relationship with Jesus
really means.
- For N from Afghanistan. She has been very regular at the cafe and has come to church
twice, but she wasn't there this Friday or Sunday. She has been visited by the
Jehovah's Witnesses (one of whom speaks her language) and seems open to
spiritual things. She respects Jesus as a prophet but not the Son of God. Please
pray that the Lord would reveal himself to her and that the Holy Spirit would
lead her into all truth (John 16:13).
- Pray for the team - for energy, creativity and sensitivity to the Lord's
leading in every conversation.
Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer.
God bless you,
Jo, on behalf of the Unite team
'And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we
may proclaim the mystery of Christ.'
Colossians 4:3
10/2/2011
Dear friends
It's been a few weeks since the last Unite prayer email so I thought it was
about time to update you. I was planning to email on Saturday but actually we
would really appreciate your prayers for tomorrow night.
Praise God
The last two weeks at Unite both went really well. In total we have welcomed 25 different internationals over the weeks from twelve different countries. There continues to be a great atmosphere, and it's been brilliant to get to know the students better. The little group of children is also growing which adds a fun dimension! We have been blessed with thirteen team members who have come so far (not all the same week), and there continues to be interest from other people who would like to join the team. Another huge blessing to thank God for is that we have been given generous funding from a couple of Christians who live near Tonbridge. This has enabled us to give the internationals a voucher for one free drink each Friday evening. Two weeks ago we had an icebreaker 'Find someone who' game, and last week we played a version of Pictionary in teams - both of which were good fun and enabled people to mix and mingle. Tomorrow we are having a theme of love. This ties in with Valentines Day and gives us the opportunity to discuss what love really means. This is a little bit of a departure from a game (though we'll still have Uno and Jenga on the tables) so I'm hoping and praying that it will go down well. There will be some quizzes on the tables which consist of: - matching famous couples (e.g. Romeo and Juliet, Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston, Adam and Eve!)
- completing famous quotes about love (e.g. "All you _____ is love", ) including some quotes from the Bible about love
- identifying which of the compound nouns/expressions about love are real and which are false (e.g. lovebird, love-of-the-house).
At around 8.15pm, I'll draw everyone together and go through the answers to the quizzes. I'll then give out post-it notes with the words 'Love is...' written on them. Everyone (internationals and team members) should complete the phrase in whatever way they choose. It could be deep and profound, or light-hearted and funny. We'll then encourage everyone to stick their post-its up and I'll read out some of the ideas. I'll then share a few thoughts about love and how the greatest love of all is the love of God. Human love can die and let us down, but only God's love lasts forever. I would also like to share how God has shown his love by sending Jesus to die for us. I would appreciate prayer for how best to share this and how far to go. There is quite a lot of background noise in the cafe with the sound of the fridges, so it means raising my voice a bit. We have several Muslims coming to the cafe and some students have a low level of English, so please pray that the Holy Spirit would speak to people's hearts. Thank you. Finally, this Saturday morning we have a team prayer and planning meeting at 11am at Boxley Road Evangelical Church, Maidstone. If you are in the area and would like to come, you are very welcome to join us. Thank you so much for your prayers and support - they mean so much. Love in Christ Jo 'God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.' Romans 5:8 'Amazing love, how can it be That you my King should die for me?' Newsboys
22/1/2010
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