Here's our latest update...
 
We now have a name for the church, after a revelation via Derek in Sainsbury's cafe and some discussion and prayer we believe God has given us the name 'Living Stones', this expresses our heart to see unique people who don't always fit in 'regular' church finding a place where they can fit and be built in to the people of God.

We have two people regularly meeting with us on Sundays; Brian, who was baptised in November, and his friend. They are both recovering alcoholics. They are loving meeting to look at the Bible and pray. We have recently begun an overview of the Bible, looking at the main themes and stories in order give them a better idea of God's story through history, as they both have no previous knowledge of the Bible or Christianity.

The results from the community survey will be published in the coming weeks and we will then be pursuing starting some 'focus groups', providing an opportunity for people to talk about the issues that they face on the estate. Hopefully, this will lead to us discovering ways in which we can empower local people to tackle some of these issues. 

Another potential activity on the horizon is 'toddler church'. The idea has come from wanting to find an avenue for Grace to learn and express her own spirituality with children of her own age. After a couple of words from God over the course of a weekend away I believe it might be right to start some form of space for 'toddler worship' that we can invite people to bring their children to. Please pray with us as we pursue questions of how, when and who we might do this with. We are meeting to pray through this as a church tomorrow (thurs) evening.
 
We are still praying for youth workers to work with us. We continue to build relationships with some of the young people on the estate but don't have the resources as yet to begin any formal work with them. We are beginning talks with a youthwork training course where there may be a possibilty of having a couple of students on placement.
 
We held an Open Day on 19th Jan where we had two visitors join us for the day. The day went well and it was good to find our feet in running this type of event together with the Levenshulme team. The next Open Day will be held on Sat 5th April.

Personally we are doing ok, coping with the regualr ups and downs that family/work life brings. Dave's work has been a little overwhelming, but satisfying too, seeing a number of young people getting settled and families beginning to work through issues together. He has just heard unofficially that the council have agreed to provide the funding to continue the post so he will still have a job after the end of March! Grace is a delight and a challenge! It is such a blessing to watch her develop and grow into a bright and caring child although, being a typical 2yr old, she does really test our patience regularly with her stubborn and independent nature. I have really had to dig deeper into relying on God for strength, grace and patience to cope with her at times, especially whilst being pregnant. My pregnancy is progressing well and have a very wriggly little boy growing in there! We have lots to do before the due date (5th May), rearranging bedrooms, settling Grace into a big bed and new bedroom... Next week work starts on our replacing our kitchen so working out logistics there is going to be fun, but I'm sure it will be well worth the disruption when it's finished!