Hi everyone - this is satellite post from my October prayer letter!
9am - Service Planning
I look at the Bible passage that will be preached on Sunday, and find 4-5 hymns and songs that will "do some of the preacher's work for him" - songs that will help people to be meditating on relevant truths that we'll be thinking more about in the Bible talk. Ultimately, singing at church is about "speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4) to one another, delighting in true and great things God has said about Himself, so I try to prayerfully choose songs that reflect a particular idea in the passage.
10:30am - One-to-one Bible study
I absolutely love these parts of my week! A mutually beneficial hour and a half spent opening up God's Word with another Christian woman, listening to what God is saying, talking about it, praying together and chatting about how it affects our hearts. We would usually work though a single book/letter from the Bible with a small chunk each week. Please be praying for the women I'm reading the Bible with - that they and I would grow in reliance and love of Jesus as we spend this valuable time together. I've been thinking about the book of Philippians recently, how Paul seems to be really keen to "pass on the baton" so the Gospel will go out without him. Training to teach the Bible is not about becoming a guru, it is about helping someone else take your place and take the good news of Jesus to the nations themselves!
12:30pm - Helping with a mission event
A couple of weeks ago, my supervisor and I were involved with some events at local music conservatoires, where we helped the Christian Unions put on an event. Free lunch (every student loves a free lunch) followed by a short talk from John's Gospel entitled "Is There More to Life Than Music?" I simply sat with students and chatted about the talk afterwards with them. It was such a treat as I spoke with many from lots of different backgrounds: some professing Christ as their Lord and Saviour and several investigating and asking questions. Please pray that God would be softening hearts in students all over London, to want to listen to Him and ultimately submit to His universal kingship.
2pm: Personal Bible study
Back at church for a couple of hours of personal study in the Bible. For training sessions (Philippians, soon Malachi) and RML (St. Helen's weekly group Bible study) I need to spend a good deal of time each week devoted to thinking hard about the text and how I might go about teaching it. This involves a good deal of coffee, a lot of answering my own questions, and eventually working hard to be able to clearly and faithfully articulate what the author seemed to be saying, and why he said it in the first place. This is some of the hardest but most rewarding time in the week. Please pray for good concentration and the ability to keep digging despite constantly feeling brain-dead and like I don't know where to go next. The discipline of sitting and wrestling with what the Bible is really saying and what it means for the Christian can surely never be wasted time, but it is easy to get discouraged. Mark 4:24 says: "Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you." Please pray I would always hunger to "bring a large measure" and simply crave to listen and feed on Jesus' words. At the end of the day, nothing else matters and everything else, that we might consider to be part of the Christian life, follows from this.
5pm: Practical
This is the part of the day where we put into practice the "bread and butter" of what it is to work for a church - cleaning toilets, setting up for services, mopping church buildings etc. But we have fun - this usually involves Tom singing something two octaves higher than anyone ever ought, Astrid and Chase having competitions as to who has the best mopping technique, and Gillian and I lamenting the fact that we don't have time to thoroughly descale the St. Helen's water jugs. Fridays always finish with a trip to Sainsbury's for "Donut Friday" (ministry trainee budget of 5 donuts for £0.85) - it's a firm tradition. Pray for us to remain patient and servant-hearted with one another as we serve the church family this way. Having been studying Philippians, I've been challenged at how slow I am to back the advancement of the gospel at any cost - even if that is joyfully cleaning floors and replacing loo paper!
7pm: Bible Study group
I'm helping lead a large group through an overview of the whole Bible narrative. This is amazing. Such a rich way of seeing what is, in many ways, a long and thorough character reference for the God of Creation. It is only because of gracious kindness, his lavish generosity and stubbornness to follow through on promises that we have any hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do be praying for all the members of my group - that the Lord would sovereignly clear their schedules each Thursday, so they are able to come and piece together what is the most remarkable narrative ever to exist.
9am - Service Planning
I look at the Bible passage that will be preached on Sunday, and find 4-5 hymns and songs that will "do some of the preacher's work for him" - songs that will help people to be meditating on relevant truths that we'll be thinking more about in the Bible talk. Ultimately, singing at church is about "speaking the truth in love" (Eph. 4) to one another, delighting in true and great things God has said about Himself, so I try to prayerfully choose songs that reflect a particular idea in the passage.
10:30am - One-to-one Bible study
I absolutely love these parts of my week! A mutually beneficial hour and a half spent opening up God's Word with another Christian woman, listening to what God is saying, talking about it, praying together and chatting about how it affects our hearts. We would usually work though a single book/letter from the Bible with a small chunk each week. Please be praying for the women I'm reading the Bible with - that they and I would grow in reliance and love of Jesus as we spend this valuable time together. I've been thinking about the book of Philippians recently, how Paul seems to be really keen to "pass on the baton" so the Gospel will go out without him. Training to teach the Bible is not about becoming a guru, it is about helping someone else take your place and take the good news of Jesus to the nations themselves!
12:30pm - Helping with a mission event
A couple of weeks ago, my supervisor and I were involved with some events at local music conservatoires, where we helped the Christian Unions put on an event. Free lunch (every student loves a free lunch) followed by a short talk from John's Gospel entitled "Is There More to Life Than Music?" I simply sat with students and chatted about the talk afterwards with them. It was such a treat as I spoke with many from lots of different backgrounds: some professing Christ as their Lord and Saviour and several investigating and asking questions. Please pray that God would be softening hearts in students all over London, to want to listen to Him and ultimately submit to His universal kingship.
2pm: Personal Bible study
Back at church for a couple of hours of personal study in the Bible. For training sessions (Philippians, soon Malachi) and RML (St. Helen's weekly group Bible study) I need to spend a good deal of time each week devoted to thinking hard about the text and how I might go about teaching it. This involves a good deal of coffee, a lot of answering my own questions, and eventually working hard to be able to clearly and faithfully articulate what the author seemed to be saying, and why he said it in the first place. This is some of the hardest but most rewarding time in the week. Please pray for good concentration and the ability to keep digging despite constantly feeling brain-dead and like I don't know where to go next. The discipline of sitting and wrestling with what the Bible is really saying and what it means for the Christian can surely never be wasted time, but it is easy to get discouraged. Mark 4:24 says: "Pay attention to what you hear: with the measure you use it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you." Please pray I would always hunger to "bring a large measure" and simply crave to listen and feed on Jesus' words. At the end of the day, nothing else matters and everything else, that we might consider to be part of the Christian life, follows from this.
5pm: Practical
This is the part of the day where we put into practice the "bread and butter" of what it is to work for a church - cleaning toilets, setting up for services, mopping church buildings etc. But we have fun - this usually involves Tom singing something two octaves higher than anyone ever ought, Astrid and Chase having competitions as to who has the best mopping technique, and Gillian and I lamenting the fact that we don't have time to thoroughly descale the St. Helen's water jugs. Fridays always finish with a trip to Sainsbury's for "Donut Friday" (ministry trainee budget of 5 donuts for £0.85) - it's a firm tradition. Pray for us to remain patient and servant-hearted with one another as we serve the church family this way. Having been studying Philippians, I've been challenged at how slow I am to back the advancement of the gospel at any cost - even if that is joyfully cleaning floors and replacing loo paper!
7pm: Bible Study group
I'm helping lead a large group through an overview of the whole Bible narrative. This is amazing. Such a rich way of seeing what is, in many ways, a long and thorough character reference for the God of Creation. It is only because of gracious kindness, his lavish generosity and stubbornness to follow through on promises that we have any hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do be praying for all the members of my group - that the Lord would sovereignly clear their schedules each Thursday, so they are able to come and piece together what is the most remarkable narrative ever to exist.
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