Bore Da,
Greetings
from Wales! It’s been an incredible first 6 months in Cardiff and I would like
to give you a few of the highlights!
The
name of the church we’ve planted in Cardiff is Capital City Church. In the 6
months since we started, our attendance has gone from 12 to 20-25! It’s been a
joy to see our church family growing over the past few months! Much of what
we’ve been doing in these 6 months is meeting people, networking with other
churches, and planning for the fall when we will be doing a lot of student and
University outreach!
Sunday morning service on Easter.
We currently meet in the Elliott’s
living-room but we are close to outgrowing their house, which is a good problem
to have!
We ran our first Alpha Course this spring. Alpha is a 10-week course
that explores who Jesus is and the basics of Christianity. Through the course
we saw God working in the lives of everyone who attended. Even though I’ve been a Christian for most
of my life, going through the course was an encouragement to me and I learned a
lot.
My role here changes almost daily. I spend time meeting with the teenage
guys who are a part of our church, I update our web-site and am in charge of making
promotional materials, plus anything else that just needs done. I’m also in
charge of our student ministry. Earlier this year we had a youth party, 35
youth between the ages of 12-18 showed up! Just a few weeks ago we had our
first youth meeting where we introduced spiritual topics, 20 youth were able to
come! I was able to get the UK Version of the Book of Hope and gave each of
them a copy. Over the summer we will have a few meetings and plan on starting
regular meetings this fall.
We like to have fun at our youth
meetings! This was one of the games we played where the boys tried to get as
many cheese-balls stuck onto the “Targets” as possible! In order to make the
“Targets” sticky we added some peanut butter.
I’m
also working with Cristi Alexander to help start a Chi Alpha University
Ministry here in Cardiff. Most of what we’ve done so far is meet with students
and focus on relationship building. In the fall we will start regular meetings
and outreach events.
We
believe in the power of prayer and as a church leadership team Bryan, Cristi,
and I had the opportunity to pray for healing a few weeks ago. Clara and
Ronnie, who come from Zimbabwe, have been in the UK for several years now and
have dealt with many struggles. One of them was Clara’s ankle which had been
inflamed in pain for the last year. After going to several Dr’s they were
desperate for an answer. David, a core member of our church, offered for us to
pray for them and they agreed. We met at David’s house, read James 5:14-15,
explained our belief in God’s healing power, placed some oil on her ankle and
we all prayed. After we were finished she told us how the pain had disappeared!
You could see that the swelling around her ankle had gone down! Since the healing,
Clara and Ronnie have been attending CapCity and inviting their friends to come
with them.
These
6 months have been filled with incredible stories of God’s faithfulness, love,
and power. We've seen 4 decisions/re-commitments for Christ!... There’s been a fair share of challenges as well, but through it all
I’ve realized how good God really is. I’ve also realized that I must find my
identity and self-worth only in God, not what I do.
Prayer
Needs:
- God’s wisdom and guidance as we plan for the future and do outreach in Cardiff.
- The right connections with University students.
- Hunger for God’s Truth amongst the youth and University students we work with.
- More Welsh leadership in Capital City Church.
Thank you and God bless,
Paul
Cook
