Check out this video link from 3dm’s Jo Saxton!
Category Archives: Evangelism
Homeless Outreach
As Christians who have been saved by Jesus’ death on the cross, we are given two commandments to follow; firstly we need to love God and secondly we need to love those around us in the same way that God loves us (Matthew 22:36-40). This love shown to others is about sacrificially giving anything up for anyone (1 John 13:34); even those who are our enemies and those cannot pay us back (Luke 6:27-36).
This should be our lifestyle, and the way we interact with the world around us. At St. Thomas Crookes, going out into the world to live our lives as disciples is one of the three core values. This is intertwined with going as groups of disciples to bring God’s Kingdom in – to show people Christ, tell them about Him, and see lives transformed.
One of the key areas St. Thomas Crookes does this is through the Homeless ministry – along with trying to be Christ to homeless people whom we come into contact with, we intentionally go out in groups to bring the Kingdom into the lives of the homeless in Sheffield city centre. Whether you are in the Student or Adult ministries, we would love you to get involved! Please get in contact with whoever is leading the outreach event you are interested in:
Wednesday Afternoons
- Meet 4pm outside Tesco West Street then walk around the city to pray with the homeless and big issue sellers, and offer them hot drinks and food.
- Contact: Transform Facebook Group
Saturday Mornings (Ignite Cluster)
- Gather at 10am in the city centre to meet, support and pray on the streets with the homeless and big issue sellers.
- Contact: Ignite Facebook Group
Saturday Evenings (Transform Cluster)
- Meet at 7pm to make food and pray together. Then walk to the Tesco West Street car park to run a soup kitchen at 8pm, where hot drinks, food and prayer are shared in community with the homeless.
- Contact: Transform Facebook Group
What if I’d love to be involved but don’t have the time?
As a ministry we really need donations of sleeping bags and warm winter clothes (especially for men as they make up the majority of the homeless community); please get in contact with me if you have any so I can arrange to get them from you! Even if you don’t have clothes or sleeping bags to donate, we need people to persistently pray that we will see God’s kingdom come in the homeless community this year!
May 21st
Again, Christians have hit the headlines.
Again, it’s debatable whether it’s for the right reasons or not…
Online articles on the Mail Online, New York Times and talk all over Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr is circling the alleged impending Rapture that tomorrow, May 21st will bring. I’m not intending to go into the ins and outs of who’s said this, why, with what proof, or my opinion on any of it, because to be honest that is irrelevant, (just read Matthew 24v36 and you’re set…)
One of my friends, having not heard that this had been predicted, began to slightly panic, she said ”I dont come from a Christian family. God and I are not finished working on them!” which, in a way, was a refreshing attitude from the jokes and stories that have been coming, from Christians and non-Christians alike, about Rapture insurance, post-rapture pet-sitting, or whatever else.
Why aren’t we looking at this as a reminder, that we should be living every day, as if the Rapture is coming tomorrow? Why aren’t we thinking about our non-Christian family, friends, housemates, coursemates, and telling them what Jesus means to us? As much as the topic may not be brought up in the best way, it gives us an opportunity to share, from the heart, about the difference God has made in our lives, so when Judgement Day comes, we can be satisfied we’ve done all that we can to make a difference.
Matthew 19 “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Regeneration Summit
This week marked a definitive day in the history of the church, the Regeneration Summit. A gathering of 150 young people, Bishops, Youth Workers, the Arch Bishops of York and Canterbury, to discuss how the church can reach young people in and outside of the church in England.
We were split up into 19 groups each with some Bishops, Youth workers and young people, to discuss how we can radically change the way the church interacts with young people. We looked at what they already do, what they can do, what they are doing well, and what they are not doing well. There were people from all backgrounds, village churches where they were the only young person there, to people from large churches like st Toms, people who had never done any out reach to people where mission was the focus of there church.
We recorded what came out of our discussions (available on www.regenerationsummit.org), fed back to the organisation team, and had some Q and A time, where the Bishops were able to ask any questions and get some honest answers, and then they had some time to respond to what had been said to them.
The day ended with the Arch Bishop leading us in communion, a time of worship and the signing of a pledge which said;
Gathered in Sheffield for the Regeneration Summit we are excited by all the positive work with young people across our nation. We rejoice that so many young people are involved in the life of our Church, yet we yearn for more.
As Bishops and Church leaders we pledge ourselves to find new ways to listen to the voices of young people, and encourage them in their Christian walk. We will work to enable young people’s voices to be heard better both within our Diocese and the national Church. We will seek to find new ways to empower young people both in leadership and ministry. We will endevour to work with colleagues to enable new mission initiatives with young people, and consider if new financial resources can be made available to support these.
As young people gathered at the Regeernation Summit we affirm we will work hard to encourage and support our church leaders. We will pray for our Bishops, and so all we can to bless their leadership amongst us. We will work positively in our local churches, to encouarge our leaders. We plegde ourselves to pray for our friends, and to try to find new ways of sharing our faith with them.
Together, we commit afresh to pray for the Church we love, and to ask God to work a miracle amongst us, that He would use us to help many more young people across England come to a living faith in Jesus Christ.
We would love you to share this pledge with everyone you know, and pray for radicle change, for a church that sees revival amongst our generation. This is an exciting time to be in the church, lets see what happens!!!
To check out more go to www.regenerationsummit.org or find it on facebook
Tim, Tom and Jordan
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FREE HUGS
Why do we do it?
Sometimes, a hug is all what we need.
We have no agenda, just to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their day. We pray for God to use this, and it’s amazing how blessed some the conversations we’ve had have been, just because people want to know more about what the whole unconditional love thing is about.
God is Love, and His love is very different from human love. God’s love is unconditional, and it’s not based on feelings or emotions. He doesn’t love us because we’re lovable or because we make Him feel good; He loves us because He is love. He created us to have a loving relationship with Him, and He sacrificed His own Son (who also willingly died for us) to restore that relationship.
We just want to show this to others.
1 John 4v11-12: My dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
If you want to be notified more regularly/directly about doing Free Hugs and related events and the University of Sheffield please message your mobile number so we can add you to our text-list thing, to either me (Zoe Longbottom) or Katy Davies on Facebook or join the ‘free huggers shef uni’ facebook group.
God Bless
Zoe
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