Kings Internship Log feed http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/ http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=175 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jessie_wisenfeld.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jessie Wisenfeld" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hallo everyone. This week has been another varied one for us all, and the term now feels well and truly in full - swing.</p><p>Friday brought another trip into Market Square as we ventured out, sadly a few team members down, onto the city streets to worship God and cheer up some chilly shoppers. Despite our dwindling numbers, we had a great morning and a few of us had some great chats with some really interesting people. This was followed by a bustling student caf&#233; session. I ran a baking class at Elizabeth House, which made a change from the usual arty-craftiness, but I really enjoyed it and had a great time getting to know a couple of the girls a little better.</p><p>Reports from Saturday’s emotional health seminar tell me that it went extremely well, with a high turn-out. There was much opportunity for group discussion and many insightful questions were asked. On Sunday we were encouraged and challenged by sermons from Wes, Pete and Mark. Mark’s sermon on giving, and using out money wisely for the Kingdom, was particularly thought-provoking.</p><p>For Fay, Monday brought another fun session with the service users at Elizabeth House, during which they made pizzas. The group were enthusiastic and are getting actively involved with Fay in the planning of each of the activities. Dive was fun and customarily ninja-filled on Monday night. Pipsqueaks is also going from strength to strength—there have been many new faces recently, and lots of mothers with young babies are coming back each week. The first ‘official’ Alpha session of the term was held this evening, and the group engaged in looking at “Who is Jesus?” over pasta, pavlova and lots of chatting. The team are all really enthusiastic about the Alpha evenings ahead, and very much looking forward to seeing how God will move in peoples’ lives.</p><p>Prayer Points for the week:</p><p><ul><li>Praise God for a great first session of Alpha tonight, and for the conversations that were had. Praise Him for the relationships that we are seeing grow and develop in all of our placements, and for the growth in confidence that we are experiencing as we settle in and get to know people in all our activities.</li><li>Please pray for the Church as a whole as we change into the new cell group structure as of this week. Pray that this will be a smooth transition, and that we would all be looking forward to what God has in store, despite the inevitable sadness that comes with change.</li><li>Please pray that we would continue to put God at the centre of all that we do, and that we’d be turning to Him in all our planning and decision-making.</li><li>Please, as ever, continue to pray for Mel’s healing and that she would know God’s peace and comfort.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Jessie Wisenfeld</em></p> Jessie Wisenfeld http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=174 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/fay_townsend.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Fay Townsend" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week in Internland it’s really felt like everything has got back up and running as we’ve all been busy with our various different placements and responsibilities.</p><p> Last Friday was a particularly full day for a lot of interns. In the morning we had our first outreach of term, joined by the lovely Claire Durrell! After spending some time praying, reading God’s Word and listening to God we split into our teams and headed off to two areas of the city. My team went up to Gilesgate to the Pelaw Community Centre where we bought some drinks and chatted to people there about ways we could help out at the centre and in the community in the coming months. We also headed over to McNally Place to visit some elderly people we have contact with there. The other team went up to Newton Hall and had some good conversations with people whom they visited in their homes. In the afternoon student caf&#233; was really busy with meetings and students using the space to hang out and enjoy drinks and snacks! Then in the evening Tom, Jessie, Steph and Lucie helped out with the second instalment of the marriage course which they report went smoothly!</p><p> This weekend was the first three-service Sunday of term with Crux and Connecting with God both kicking off their series on Discipleship this term. At Crux Mark preached on the mission of Jesus and at Connecting Ruth preached on prayer and the importance of abiding in Christ as disciples. </p><p> Our placements are continuing to go well. This week at Aquila Tom had the opportunity to play football with the guys he’s working with which he really enjoyed. At Elizabeth House I made rocky road with lots of exciting ingredients and had some good conversations with the girls over cups of tea! On Wednesday Abi was involved in the first week of the Alpha Course in Low Newton prison which went really well, she asks for your prayers that the girls would really engage with the discussion and feel able to open up. The Orchard Caf&#233; had lots of kids in this week; Lucie in particular had lots of fun as she learnt to hula hoop! Also this week we’ve all been writing our essays for Historical Theology, as part of the School of Theology course we’re doing throughout year. We each chose a different doctrinal topic, for example the Incarnation, Creation, the Trinity, and then we were given a few books to use to explore the different arguments to enable us to write an essay explaining the various positions and come to our own viewpoint. It’s been a challenge to get our head around such big questions of the faith but a good opportunity to gain deeper insight into these doctrines.</p><p> On Thursday we had a full day of the School of Theology. We began by looking at the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles with Mark Bonnington, the way in which the two books parallel each other and the message Luke was portraying in his writings. Over lunch time Ruth came to teach us about dealing with difficult pastoral situations and self-care for carers. It was interesting and valuable to look at how we can better care for ourselves and others in the church. We then finished the day with Melody who began our teaching on Church History, looking at the early church!</p><p> Finally, last night the Alpha Course had their launch night! There was a nice mixture of residents and students who enjoyed a yummy meal and an introduction to what the course is all about!</p><p> Prayer points for the week:</p> <ul> <li>Praise God for a great Alpha launch night, and please continue to pray that as the course begins properly next week more people would come.</li> <li>Please pray for all of our placements, that we would be continuing to build relationships in the different places we go; that we would really be blessing people and learning lots through our experiences with them.</li> <li>Please pray for Mel, for continued recovery, we miss her lots!</li> <li>Please pray for all of us to keep focused on God, to be abiding in Him in the business of all we’re doing each day.</li> <p><em> - Fay Townsend</em></p> Fay Townsend http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=173 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/abigail_stewart.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Abigail Stewart" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hi everyone! I’m here to let you know what’s occurring in internworld!</p><p>Last Thursday we set off for Whitaugh Park in the Scottish borders with around 65 students for our annual student houseparty. We had a wonderful couple of days packed with brilliant teaching, great food and lots of fun and fellowship! Andy Byers spoke on the topic of theo media and explored with us the need for a mediator between us and God, the challenge of whether we are bible-savvy rather than whether the bible is media-savvy, and the different ways in which media can be used to speak to us and in which we can use media to glorify God. Throughout the teaching and seminars there was a real sense of God’s love bringing freedom and release to people there. Aside from the main meetings, everyone there was also part of a smaller pastoral group in which we got the chance to discuss the talks and pray together. Entertainment involved some spaghetti and marshmallows monument building, a vegetable and glowsticks wide-game, some weetabix, origami and tear related challenges and a walk in the beautiful (but freezing!) surrounding countryside.</p><p>We arrived back in Durham on Saturday evening and I think there were early nights all round as we tried to catch up with some sleep before plunging back into normal life as the student term starts. Placements at school CUs, Aquila Way, Dive and YFC have started up again. The Orchard also reopened this week and we were blessed with large numbers of children and their parents as the new school term starts. As the students are back, student cafe reopened yesterday and the student pastorates have started again with Central pastorate meeting last night and the Hill pastorate meeting tonight.</p><p>I spent yesterday at my placement in Low Newton prison. I’m really enjoying the time I spend working there and getting to know the women there. Each week brings new women to get to know and chat to and I have had some wonderful conversations with them as I help them with their work. Next week we are starting up an Alpha course in the prison chapel to follow on from the pre-Alpha course we did last term. We have a lot of women signed up to come which is really exciting; I think prayer for the women who come to get a chance to talk about what they really think and ask the questions that they want to so that they can see God’s presence in their lives would be brilliant.</p><p>Prayer Points for this week:</p><p><ul><li>Thanksgiving and praise that Mel is beginning to feel better but continued prayer for her full recovery.</li><li>Prayer for Gus as he sits exams over the coming week.</li><li>Thanksgiving for houseparty and everything that happened there and prayer that people would remember and act upon the things that God spoke to them about.</li><li>For the Alpha course that starts next Thursday evening, that people would come and really engage with God through what is shared.</li><li>For the student pastorates, that they would be places where people are hearing from God and growing in the gifts that he has given them.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Abigail Stewart</em></p> Abigail Stewart http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=172 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/steph_smithson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Steph Smithson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello everyone! I’m here to fill you in on the last week of life as an intern. After the intense School of Theology teaching block we had a fairly light weekend. Many of our Saturdays were spent having a lie in, as the early mornings are proving a slight shock to the system! Then most of us spent the day thinking about our upcoming book review assignments for our Mission Studies module. My review was on ‘Thank God it’s Monday’ by Mark Greene and provided a very good read. It has definitely started me thinking about future jobs I might have and how God can effectively use me in them. I thoroughly recommend it to everyone!</p><p>The last few days have been back to normal as we have all begun placements, team meetings, discipleship groups and teaching blocks as usual. We have particularly been thinking about setting individual targets for the coming term. This enables us to think honestly about where we’re at with God and what he might be calling us to focus on in the coming months, in terms of leadership skills, our relationship with God and our own character development. It is challenging, but we can all testify that it is worth the effort when we can look back at the end of the term and see how God has been so clearly at work in our lives.</p><p>I attended my placement at Action Foundation on Monday afternoon. It is so good to be back there and seeing the staff I work with in the office and the students who attend the language lessons. I feel like I have developed real relationships with many of the students and I praise God that many of the language and trust barriers have been broken down. I have been given some more responsibility in the office and I’m currently helping to write up interview and questionnaire answers given by the students, which will eventually be compiled into a report. I also keep on top of new student registrations and weekly attendance lists.</p><p>I apologise for this shorter-than-usual post, you can expect the extended edition next week with all our tales from houseparty!</p><p>Prayer points for this week:</p><p><ul><li>Continued prayers for Mel as she is still unwell at home</li><li>That the students coming to houseparty would come prepared and expectant to meet with God and that they would build friendships that would last throughout their time at university</li><li>For all the safety as we travel to the Scottish Borders and all the logistics and practicalities needed to make houseparty run smoothly</li><li>For Andy Byers as he preaches at houseparty</li><li>For strength, grace and wisdom for the leaders coming on houseparty. Pray that we would build strong relationships with the students and serve God and be there for the students at this time</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Steph Smithson</em></p> Steph Smithson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=171 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_richardson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Richardson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello again! Welcome back after the Christmas break! Having enjoyed a restful two week holiday, we entered 2012 looking forward to once again putting on the sky blue t-shirt, and continuing our journey through the year that is the KCD Internship. However, the intern team is still one person down – Mel is still not well enough to come back to Durham for the time being. Please keep her in your prayers.</p><p>A new year is always a time to reflect on what has happened the previous year, and what we’d like to see in the coming 12 months. Reflection is an important part of a Christian’s walk with God. Taking time to look at what He has been doing, where he has guided, supported, and encouraged you is extremely helpful in realising just how active God is! On Tuesday morning we had a chance to think about areas of our life that we’d like God to be more involved in this term – and to ask God which areas he’d like to be a bigger part of.</p><p>After being eased in with just two hours on Tuesday, we were hit with a 3 day School of Theology teaching block. I found the School of Theology really interesting last term, and this week’s teaching block more than lived up to that expectation. We’ve looked at Jesus’ parables, form criticism of the gospels, the structure of Matthew, and Genesis 2-15. We’ve thought about the uniqueness and universality of the gospel message, and social action in mission. More practically, we began a series of sessions about Pastoral Care –thinking about issues and skills, psychological phenomena, the need for holistic pastoral care, and active listening. The highlight for me though was Thursday morning’s epic 4 hour session (plus breaks!) on the topics of the Lord’s Supper, Baptism, Predestination and Free Will, and Eschatology! It was great to wrestle with these ideas and be challenged about my preconceptions, to learn from 2000 years of thought while looking at the Bible to form my own opinions.</p><p>This coming week we are starting back at our placements, before heading to the Scottish Borders on Thursday for the Student Houseparty! I’m excited about the opportunity to spend time in fellowship with the students.</p><p>We’d really appreciate your prayers this week for the following things:</p><p><ul><li>For Mel, that she would be restored to full health and filled with energy so she is able to return to Durham soon.</li><li>Student Houseparty<br>For practicalities and logistics, but also that it would be a time of growth for the students in their faith.<br>That we would grow as we take on pastoral responsibilities and other leadership roles.</li><li>That we would quickly get back into the routine of our placements, seeing it as a continuation of our work from last term rather than a new start.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Tim Richardson</em></p> Tim Richardson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=170 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/lucie_ritzenthaler.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Lucie Ritzenthaler" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Friday started with another French lesson in preparation for our mission trip to France over Easter, which was lots of fun, and we seem to be making (some) progress! We also had our last outreach session of the term, with some carol singing in Market Square and an opportunity to invite people to the Christmas guest service. There was quite a lot of interest which was encouraging on a cold December morning!</p><p>The Christmas theme continued on Saturday with the resuming of last week’s present-wrapping activities in the Gates. It was great to be able to offer something for free, which took most people by surprise, with lots commenting how pleased or grateful they were at the gesture of Christmas goodwill. The Carol Service on Sunday meant an early start for the interns (and staff!), with the challenging task of transforming the DSU ballroom into a Christmas haven! However, with Mark providing the usual enormous Christmas tree, Nicola masterminding the decorations, and a lot of sellotape, bluetack and string, the room was soon suitably Christmassy. The service was great fun with fab singing, preaching and carols, and of course Ian stealing the show with a very memorable performance in the drama, which was hysterical – thanks Christina!</p><p>Placements drew to an end for the term this week, with lots of us involved in Christmas activities. At Orchard we made paper snowflakes, Christmas angels and decorated gingerbread men, and at C.U. at Durham High School we had lots of fun with a Christmas quiz! On Thursday, we had our last School of Theology day for the term which was really interesting and informative (as ever!).</p><p>So as term draws to an end, all that remains is to wish everyone a Merry Christmas from all the interns, and ask for your prayers for the following things:</p><p><ul><li>Mel, who is still unwell – that she would have a really restful break over the Christmas holiday and come back in full health in January.</li><li>Safe journeys for all the interns and anyone else travelling to spend Christmas with loved ones.</li><li>Happy and peaceful holidays for everyone, leaving us full of energy to serve God in the New Year.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Lucie Ritzenthaler</em></p> Lucie Ritzenthaler http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=169 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/eva_mayer.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Eva Mayer" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Durham is getting darker, chillier and more festive by the day! Last week started again with Friday morning outreach. Before venturing into the town centre we first had an hour-long French lesson with the lovely Hazel White, who taught us a couple of worship songs in French. What we lacked in linguistic ability and pronunciation, we made up for with effort! We then continued to make a joyful noise in Durham city centre, where Tom and Gus led us in worship on the streets. It was a fantastic morning and a number of people came up to us to tell us how encouraged they felt (as well as to supply us with cake!). It was a very wet morning, but a joyful one nonetheless!</p><p>Tim and I had our weekends off last weekend which was a lovely break. Tim headed down to London where he was fortunate enough to see Roger Federer in the semi-final of the world tour finals. I meanwhile set off in completely the opposite direction and had a bonny weekend visiting friends in Edinburgh and St Andrews.</p><p>Back in Durham I was told that the evening services on the Sunday were a real highlight, as Ben and Pete preached on the resurrection and Jesus as the exalted King. Their sermons are online and I would encourage you to find them on the website and have a listen!</p><p>In terms of placements things are continuing to go well. Gus and I went to A WAY OUT on Monday afternoon. The women’s drop-in was a bit quieter this week but still a great opportunity to build up relationships with the women there. The men’s work is still going well and Gus is continuing to enjoy the challenges it poses.</p><p>Tim has reported positive developments in his work at Aquila Way. He is now meeting with guys who he has worked with before, allowing him to build up positive relationships. Jessie, Fay, Lucie and Gus are also continuing to enjoy their placements at various Aquila projects.</p><p>For Abi, prison work is very exciting at the moment and she reports that the pre-Alpha courses are going really well, and a great opportunity to chat to the women.</p><p>One of my personal highlights of the week was Alpha on Thursday. We were sadly unable to run the away-day a couple of weeks ago, due to a number of people being away. Instead we condensed the material into an evening and explored who the Holy Spirit is. We used one of the official Alpha videos, but this week Faye did a talk as well and spoke about what it means to receive the Holy Spirit into our lives. After the talk we had a time of prayer and Tom introduced sung worship to us all. It was a fantastic evening, and God was at work.</p><p>A highlight of Theology this week was on Tuesday morning, when Ruth Bonnington came in and spoke about mental health issues in a Christian context. It was really interesting to spend some time thinking about the relationship between faith and medicine. Whilst we could by no means unpack this issue in two hours, it was a fantastic introduction to an issue which we will no doubt encounter in the future.</p><p>So all in all, it’s been a busy, but fantastic week!</p><p>Some prayer points:</p><p><ul><li>Thanks for all the placements that have already started and that we have all settled into them smoothly.</li><li>Please pray for those placements which are yet to kick off. In particular Tom’s placement at the hospice and Youth for Christ mentoring.</li><li>For Friday morning outreach every week – that we would go out boldly knowing that Christ goes before us.</li><li>For Mel, who is still unwell. Please pray for a speedy recovery now that she is now back at home with her family.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Eva Mayer</em></p> Eva Mayer http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=168 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/gus_bonnington.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Gus Bonnington" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Durham shone with all kinds of colours last weekend as hordes of people enjoyed the free art installations during this year’s Lumiere Festival; I enjoyed it with my cell, my personal favourite being the fire sculptures, partly because they kept me warm as well as entertained!</p><p>The intern week as usual started on Friday morning with outreach! A split affair with the Gilesgate crew eating too much homemade cake and drinking caffeine in various forms. It was really lovely to talk to the local residents about their lives and hopefully build relationships where conversations about God will flow naturally. It was great to have the numbers we did and also that so many have already signed up for and have told us they’ll be inviting their friends along to the annual Christmas lunch in Gilesgate Baptist Church, who it is great to be working alongside again. The Newton Hall crew visited previous contacts from June Project, just going in to bless the older residents with their beautiful smiling faces. They also received feedback via a phone call from one lady that it had blessed her and that she would be writing an article to the paper about it, so praise God for that encouragement!</p><p> Friday evening saw Youth Cafe join Deeper attending the Go Large event run by Durham Diocese at the Durham centre, it was great to see one of our youth win the X-Factor competition and even better to see 600 youth come together and have fun, with a short Christian message just to provoke some thought. I know I had great fun!</p><p>God really spoke to me through the Connecting with God service, about Him always being the first and it challenged me not to serve for personal gain or human gratification but always in response to Jesus as the suffering servant particularly shown as he washed his disciples feet.</p><p>For me, A Way Out continues to be amazing. Guys who have arrived in my time there at the drugs hostel have made really good steps forward in life and even started attending church as a part of that! At The Orchard there are reports from Abi, Lucie and Tom of growing numbers and exiting activity with “the only coloured icing I could find”. For Tim Aquila was encouraging with some good outcomes for service users.</p><p>Monday night football continues to be busy with plenty of newcomers even with its new two hour slot; a special mention must go to Eva Mayer who needs to give a few England forwards a lesson or two as she slotted home four goals.</p><p>At Team Meeting we continued to look at William Law and his example in Flatus of a man who struggled to find satisfaction in anything and consequently fluttered between hobbies. This challenged us to put our roots and seek happiness in Jesus Christ rather than ‘frivolous’ things. We spent Tuesday evening as an intern team at Brian and Joan Bonnington’s house enjoying the famous blackberry bomb pudding and infamous games (we loved them Grandad!).</p><p>Wednesday was a tank of a day with Pipsqueaks followed by Student Cafe set up, Aquilla Way and Deeper! Deeper was particularly exiting with one of the youth leading an encouraging session on how God sees us.</p><p>Thursday was School of Theology awesome looking at Genesis 1 in the Old Testament Studies, the Kingdom of God in New Testament Studies, and Grace, Faith, Works and Justification (just a small set of topics!) in a two hour slot for Orrey McFarland, our newest Historical Theology teacher!</p><p>Prayer points:</p><p><ul><li>Thanksgiving for all the awesome and encouraging stuff that God’s doing!</li><li>As Christmas approaches prayer for all involved in the planning and delivering of the many and various events, that God would guide them and show them his will for them, especially for the new and exciting Christmas Fayre!</li><li>Mel as she continues her virus recovery that she will be back soon at full throttle.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Gus Bonnington</em></p> Gus Bonnington http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=167 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tom_barber.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tom Barber" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>We’ve had a busy time over the last few days! I think it was only once all the staff, ministry trainees and interns were sat together for our weekly team meeting that we fully appreciated the scale of the last weekend. Not sure what I mean? Let me take you on a whistle-stop tour of what was a fantastic but busy time.</p><p>On Friday evening, we spent an evening in the company of Baroness Maeve Sherlock, an extraordinary woman, who spoke very genuinely about her life and experience of faith. This was held in Durham’s Town Hall, beautifully decorated by Robyn Trainer, included an amazing four course meal cooked and served by a team from Kings, and the musical talent of Paul Jones. The whole event was orchestrated by Faye Collins among others, who pulled off an amazing night!</p><p>Also on Friday, the LOL youth headed to Whithaugh for the weekend, facilitated by many people from Kings and other churches, including Norman and Hazel Urwin whose catering was spectacular, teaching which the young people were really able to engage with from Miranda Byers, and worship led by Sam Phillips and the internship’s very own Gus Bonnington. It was a great opportunity for kids from different churches (and those with no church background at all) to spend time with God and to learn about Him.</p><p>On Saturday we had our School of Theology Extra event, led by Pete Phillips of CODEC; he led reflection on the media-orientated nature of our modern world and asked how this should impact the way in which we evangelise. </p><p>On Sunday evening, we had our guest service at Durham School. The first guest service of term is always an exciting event as we always work hard to make them warm, relaxed events, and this was no exception. Nicola Rogers and others co-ordinated the evening brilliantly, and kudos has to go to the set-up team leaders and PA team, who got everything up and running in an unfamiliar venue with time to spare.</p><p>Monday evening saw the Appleby Rooms playing host to Arts Forum, where Seymour Jacklin and Joy Gaultney both shared something of what they’ve been up to recently, whilst Chris Juby led discussion on how we can use art to serve the church, and flagged up some upcoming projects.</p><p>All the intern placements that are up and running are continuing to go well – CUs at the schools are starting to settle, Aquila is both rewarding and challenging, and prison work continues to develop, including a pre-Alpha course in the pipeline.</p><p>When you look at it like that, it’s not difficult to see why there were some tired faces in the room on Tuesday afternoon! But it also flags up something that was remarked on at our Church AGM on Wednesday – we’re really blessed by the people we have at our Church, by their gifts and talents but, most of all, through their willingness to serve. It’s pretty exciting to be a part of a church like that!</p><p>We really value your prayers and support – for this week, particularly, please be praying for:</p><p><ul><li>Energy for the staff, ministry trainees and interns – that God would provide the strength we need to do what he’s calling us to, but that we would also be able to rest, and that he would be healing those who are unwell, particularly Mel, one of our intern team, who’s been off sick;</li><li>That God would provide opportunities for us to assimilate all that we’ve learnt, and work through that which we’ve been taught;</li><li>That he would give us the wisdom as we lead – please pray particularly for Jessie, Steph and Lucie, as they assess the best way in which to serve the international student community.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Tom Barber</em></p> Tom Barber http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=166 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/mel_woods.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Mel Woods" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>I’ve not been very well this week, and although it’s been frustrating it’s also been such a great reminder that it is only by God’s grace we are able to do anything. The interns have been wonderful at keeping me updated with messages throughout the week and it’s been so exciting to hear about many answers to prayer!</p><p>Alpha this week went well, with more people coming. We don’t want it to be about numbers at all but it is always so encouraging to see more people engaging with the course and having discussions over dinner. Plans are now underway for the away day at the end of the course.</p><p>The CU Eva and Tim run at Durham Johnston has again been growing which is so exciting and such an answer to prayer. Jessie and Abi led their CU at Durham High School this week on issues the students might face at University which went well, and hopefully will be a great support to the girls as they start to think about what next year holds. Lucie and I are planning to lead our CU next week looking at who God is, with a focus on his loving nature.</p><p>After praying for King’s Church Children and Youth Work at Church on Sunday it was really exciting to hear about the increasing numbers at the Orchard After School Club since it started up again. Pipsqueaks also had a great session this week! Dive provoked a lot of thought on Monday night, looking at peer pressure and relating it to the story of Daniel. Some of the interns are going to be involved with Lazers on Sundays, and after the first planning meeting at the weekend they are really excited about it! A lot of our youth are heading to Whithaugh this weekend and we hope they have a wonderful time, grow in their faith, and learn more about how God is using them.</p><p>At Aquila this week Jessie had a good session making jewellery and chatting with the girls at Elizabeth House. Fay has also started volunteering at Elizabeth house and after going in and meeting some of the resident’s this week she is looking forward to baking with the girls and getting to know them over the next few weeks.</p><p>In student world Pastorates have been on this week with Central Pastorate continuing to look at Hebrews and this week focussing on ‘Jesus as a better sacrifice’, Hill Pastorate examining how we can live as missional people, and Viaduct Pastorate continuing their series on King’s values. It’s exciting to see the pastorates grow and we pray they would be a comfortable environment for all Kings students to learn more and to grow together.</p><p>Last week we had School of Theology on Thursday which was fantastic and also challenging. We started the day looking at Jesus’ incarnation and that got us all thinking really deeply. Chris Juby was also leading some of the intern teaching this week. He did a session on worship where we examined the biblical foundations of why we worship. There is a School of Theology ‘extra’ this Saturday (12th November) so do come along to that if you’re interested.</p><p>Praise God for the prayers He has answered, and here are some things you could be praying for this week:</p><p><ul><li>Alpha away day: For everyone involved in the planning and that those who’ve been coming along to Alpha would be able to attend.</li><li>Whithaugh: That the youth would get a lot out of being away together for the weekend, and also for all the leaders taking them (including Gus).</li><li>Guest service: There is a guest service this Sunday so please pray that it all runs smoothly, and that everyone who comes feels really welcome.</li><li>Full health: There seems to be a lot of colds and flu going round at the moment so prayers for good health and that we wouldn’t be too affected by it would be great.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Mel Woods</em></p> Mel Woods http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=165 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jessie_wisenfeld.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jessie Wisenfeld" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>After seven days of much-enjoyed rest, this week has marked a return to normal life in Intern-world, and the start of new placements for some. Abi and Gus have each had a wonderful weekend off; for Gus, a chance to catch up with Josh Briggs at York University, and for Abi, a casual spot of hanging from a harness 13 metres above the ground in Bedale…</p><p>Everyone has had so many positive things to report. Placements with A Way Out and Aquila have been great this week. I really enjoyed going in and chatting with the girls at Elizabeth House, and they seemed to enjoy making pretty glittery frames to hold some of their treasured photographs. Gus had a great time at A Way Out this week, and was really amazed and encouraged by a testimony given by one of the guys at the hostel; Eva was similarly inspired by a testimony she heard whilst she was there (she also very much enjoyed the chocolate apples!). Gus had an excellent YFC detached session, and spent lots of time chatting to a group of young guys who decided that they all wanted to go to the Cathedral! Tim’s time at Aquila has been similarly heartening this week, and he had his first session with a mentee on Monday. Steph is getting really stuck in at Action Foundation, and is assisting in teaching English classes as well as learning her way around the office.</p><p>Christian Unions at both Durham High School and Durham Johnston have gone well, and Mel, Lucie, Abi and I are looking forward to running sessions independently next week. Tim and Eva report that numbers are now beginning to grow at Durham Johnston, which is so encouraging for them, and hope to see a few more coming along next week. The Orchard After School Caf&#233; also started this week for the first time since summer, and the team report a great turn-out of kids. The theme was light, and the children all made beautifully decorated candles and suns as an alternative to Halloween. Pipsqueaks has also been fantastic this week- the group of toddlers just seems to be growing, and Faye and Gus both had some encouraging conversations with the parents and carers.</p><p>Eva, Tom and Tim are now experts, if they weren’t already, at doing PA, following the training on Sunday afternoon! Alpha ran again last week and, although numbers had fallen slightly, there were lots of interesting discussions and a really great and relaxed atmosphere about the event. Interact also ran this week. We were really pleased to have two visitors from Kings along! We have now just had a positive response about a venue for our next session, which is a massive answer to prayer, but would now really love to see more International students coming along.</p><p>We’ve all been strongly reminded this week that it’s not about us, and what we can do in our own strength. We are learning to let our own motives fall away, and remember that all we do is about God and for God;</p><p>We would really love your prayers this week for:</p><p><ul><li>Alpha: That students who have been to earlier sessions would be prompted to come along again, and for wisdom in all the decisions the leaders are facing at the moment.</li><li>Interact: That people would be hearing about the events and bringing their friends along, and that it would be a really welcoming and fun space in which they can relax.</li><li>YFC Mentoring: That the guys would be able to start doing some mentoring soon and that they would be really excited about this opportunity to serve God and bring others a hope for their future.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Jessie Wisenfeld</em></p> Jessie Wisenfeld http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=164 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/fay_townsend.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Fay Townsend" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week has been Quiet Week in Intern-land, a week without teaching sessions, team meeting, Friday morning mission or school-based placements. This has given us some time to relax, reflect on the term so far, meet up with friends and even do a bit of exercise! On Tuesday we went for a walk around Durham together where we enjoyed time to catch up and observe the beautiful autumn views of the city.</p> <p>Nonetheless our placements with Aquila Way, prisons and A Way Out have continued this week as normal. I went to Aquila’s Naomi Project on Monday afternoon, a house for girls aged 16-25, where I will be doing activities such as baking with the residents. Also with Aquila Way, Gus had the opportunity to help out with the Soul Soup week at Egbert’s House which went really well. On Monday evening Tom was involved in the Kings new musician’s session. He reports that it was a really positive time where they looked at the value and purpose of worship at Kings and they had the opportunity to try out playing some songs together. The team were also really encouraged to have a good number of drummers and bass-guitarists turn up!</p> <p>On Tuesday evening Abi and Mel attended the first King’s Prison Prayer Meeting for all those at King’s who have been involved in prison ministry or ex -offender after-care. This was an opportunity for them to share experiences and look at their work from a national perspective.</p> <p>In student-ville, students have been meeting in cells for the first time this week; these are smaller groups of 8-12 students within the Pastorates. In Central Pastorate we are looking at the book of Hebrews this term and have been excited to have a good number of students getting involved.</p> <p>Quiet week has also given us some time to reflect on all that we have been learning so far, through teaching and the different ways we are serving this year. Looking back to the first few days of the internship I can see that we have all grown in confidence and faith as we have stepped out in mission and began to take leadership responsibilities in our respective placements within King’s.</p><p>We’d really appreciate your prayers:</p><ul> <li>For The Orchard, an after school cafe for primary school children and their parents/carers, which starts next week. Please pray for the team and that lots of people come to the first one of this year.</li> <li>Please continue to pray for Alpha, that new people would still feel able to come though the course has already started.</li> <li>Please pray for the Light Party on Monday evening – an alternative to Halloween for Kids at Kings.</li></ul> <p><em> - Fay Townsend</em></p> Fay Townsend http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=163 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/abigail_stewart.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Abigail Stewart" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello!</p><p>So it’s been a fairly busy week as we are all beginning to get into the swing of life as a Kings intern!</p><p>Most of our placements have started now. The people working at Aquila Way are settling into their various houses and drop in centres and their different roles there. Eva and Gus are really enjoying their placements at A Way Out and the fact that they’re starting to build up relationships with the people they’re working with there. As our security clearance is through, Mel and I have been able to start our placements at Low Newton prison this week. I had my first placement there yesterday and really enjoyed it; the opportunity to work with the women in there over the next year is something that I’m really excited about.</p><p>The student pastorates met again this week and will be meeting as cell groups for the first time next week. We are praying that the pastorates and student cells this year will be places of real community and somewhere that students have the chance to grow and develop their gifts.</p><p>In our teaching this week we have started to study 1 Corinthians with Mark. This is going really well and is really interesting as we consider some of the challenges that the Corinthian Church faced and how we can apply that to our lives now.</p><p>The Alpha course started properly this evening with a discussion on who Jesus is. This went really well as we had four full tables of people with some really good discussions, plenty of great food and some beautiful live music.</p><p>Prayer Points for this week:</p><p><ul><li>For Interact: That God will provide a venue and that more people would be able to make it along to the events.</li><li>For Alpha: That people will continue to come and feel comfortable in asking questions and discussing the various topics we’re looking at and that as we go on with the course people will really begin to be able to see how God is working in their lives.</li><li>For the younger CU at Durham Johnston: That the guys running it will be able to re-launch it after half term in the most effective way.</li><li>For all the interns: Thanksgiving that we’re beginning to settle into our various placements and that as we approach quiet week (next week), we would use the time wisely to rest and reflect on what God has been doing with each of us over the last few weeks.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Abigail Stewart</em></p> Abigail Stewart http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=162 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/steph_smithson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Steph Smithson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The highlight of this week has to be the surprise birthday party we threw for Tom. The suspense grew as we eagerly anticipated his arrival. We sat in the dark for a good 20 minutes practising our best ‘surprise’ voices, but in true Tom style he was fashionably late. A wonderful evening of balloons, jelly, birthday cake and cheese and pineapple sticks was had by all (although I was sure to steer clear of these due to a certain allergy...).</p><p>This week has been a week of ‘firsts’. Picking up from where Lucie left off, Friday began with our first outreach into the City Centre. When preparing to go out we were struck be a real sense of God’s love for Durham and the assurance that He would be with us in all of our conversations. We also felt encouraged that God will use whatever we can give however small that may seem to us. I think everyone had a good conversation to report back during debrief which then inspired a time of thanksgiving. We’re also praying that we’ll see the fruits of some of these conversations at Alpha in the coming weeks.</p><p>Friday also saw the first (and potentially last!) After Hours of term. The team had a chance to introduce God’s love to the clubbers in Durham by serving them in a really tangible way with hot drinks. They were also able to meet and encourage a number of Christian freshers. The team deserves a big ‘well done’ for giving up their evening and being able to stay awake so late!</p><p>Sunday saw the first big influx of new students into Kings. The student lunch after the service had a brilliant turn out of about 40 new students, and it was great to be able to meet some of them and chat over lunch. We pray they felt really welcome. It seems only five minutes ago that I came along to a student lunch as a fresher three years ago! Time flies when you’re having fun! On Sunday evening were the first separate Crux and Connecting services of the term where we were challenged by the statement that often our perception of God is too small.</p><p>It was also the first Durham Johnston CUs this week. Fay informs me that the older group had an encouraging turn out. The group for the younger students has been a bit slower to start, and we’d really appreciate prayers that the students would come along next week. Another encouraging first has been the first student pastorates, each with good turnouts.</p><p>In teaching on Thursday morning we were looking at our different spiritual gifts. It was so encouraging that between us we cover a wide range of the gifts! It was especially useful to hear which gifts other people have and then learning how best we can encourage them to grow in these. A few budding musicians were uncovered, so watch this space...</p><p>The first Alpha this evening was amazing! We had three full tables of people and we’ve had some more confirmed for next week. The main purpose of the launch night was to introduce people to what Alpha’s all about, share a meal together and get to know each other. Thank you to everyone involved, from the planning, cooking and singing to the washing up; you all made the night run so smoothly. The course kicks off properly next week with the first talk and discussions. We’re praying that the friendships that have begun to form will continue and people will really engage with the talks and feel able to ask any questions during the discussions.</p><p>All other placements have been carrying on as normal this week. We’re all finding our feet and getting to know our tasks and responsibilities a bit more, as well as building relationships with the other people and staff involved. I went to Action Foundation in Newcastle this week. I really feel like I’m getting to know the students in the English classes more and more each week, and it’s a real pleasure to be able to help them with their language skills. I’ve been learning the ropes of the computer system, and it’s great to be able to complete some of the admin tasks to relieve the workers of their backlog. Those of us involved in Durham High School for Girls are getting to know the girls better each week, and our prayer is that this would continue over the course of the year. Student Cafe has also been in full swing this week, getting more and more students each time.</p><p>Prayer points for this week:</p><p><ul><li>Thanksgiving that the Alpha launch night went really well and that people would continue to come and would feel really comfortable in the discussions, and that God would be at work in their lives.</li><li>For the Christian freshers that they would settle into Durham, and that they would get stuck into a church really soon and feel really welcomed.</li><li>For the second Interact event on Monday evening. That more students would come each week and we’d be able to develop a deep friendship with each of them. We’ve also been struggling with venues for the next few weeks, so would appreciate prayers that God would provide the right places for us to use.</li><li>For energy and health as a number of us have been affected by the ‘Freshers’ Flu’. That we would be able to be in full strength for the coming Sunday with another busy day of 3 services and a student lunch.</li><li>That we would all know how to manage our busy weeks properly and efficiently, without feeling stressed!</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Steph Smithson</em></p> Steph Smithson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=161 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/lucie_ritzenthaler.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Lucie Ritzenthaler" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>So the last few weeks have basically been warm-up/training for the big race that has been this one! It started out with our first Friday morning session of outreach in Durham. After a quiet time of prayer and reflection, we headed out in two teams, Faye taking half of us to Gilesgate and Paul the other half to the Newton Hall estate. We were excited to spend time getting to know the areas and thinking about the ways we could get involved in the communities. Friday afternoon and Saturday day were serene and sunny, and we enjoyed some free time to recharge. That evening was fun-filled with possibly the hottest ceilidh on record!! Dancing was generally interspersed with trips outside, although it wasn’t a lot cooler on Market Square than inside! It was a great chance to relax and chat to other members of the church and some new faces too. Some of the boys (no names mentioned!) however, decided the aim of ceilidh dancing was to throw the girls around as much as possible, adding to the challenge of not getting dizzy/remaining upright!</p><p>Sunday was the first with the students back, so we were busybusybusy! After Morning Worship where Mark started our preaching series on 2 Corinthians, we headed to the Appleby Rooms for a welcome-back lunch for returning students. That evening, Sunday Supper was followed by the first evening service of the term, with Mark preaching on the God of the Bible.</p><p>Monday saw various placements starting up, including Abi and Jessie’s CU at Durham High School, where they did some Bible study with sixth Form girls, and Eva and Gus’ placement at A Way Out, where they started to get to know the young people they’ll be working alongside. Steph also returned to work with Action Foundation, a charity helping asylum seekers. The prayer meeting was that evening, and I’m reliably informed it involved both faith and fun, with some great laughs had by all! Meanwhile, Jessie, Steph and I had our first Interact meeting, where we took a group of international students on a night-time tour of Durham and had a great time chatting to them about their home countries and experiences so far of living here!</p><p>On Tuesday, Abi and Mel spent the morning receiving training for the prison placements they’re doing, which really helped them gain an insight into the work they’re getting involved in – really exciting! At lunchtime Mel and I were off up to the High School as well to start our CU for year 7 to 9 girls. We had a great time getting to know the girls and telling them a little about the internship too. In the evening, Steph, Jessie and I hosted the next instalment of the interns Tuesday-night meals, finishing the evening with a rather competitive game of Articulate.</p><p>Wednesday was my first morning at Basis, my Aquila Way project, where I started learning the ropes, had a chance to ask the staff questions, and generally get a feel for the place! In the afternoon I was on the King’s stall at the freshers’ fair with Steph, carrying on from the other interns from that morning and the day before. The response was good and we had some good conversations with people interested in church. Thursday was School of Theology, where we looked at salvation with Melody, Mark’s Gospel with Mark (ha ha), and the role of culture in mission with Melody again. It was a really interesting and thought-provoking day of teaching, and a fab chance for all the interns to hang out and catch up over lunch.</p><p>So a busy week! Thank you so much to all those people standing alongside us and praying for us as we settle into our lives as interns. We would love prayer for the following things:</p><p><ul><li>Alpha! It’s starting this week, so it would be great to pray for good publicity, and for the people we’ve spoken to who were interested in coming. Also for Abi, Tom and Eva who are leading, and everyone else involved.</li><li>Our placements of all shapes and sizes – that we’d settle in well and get to know those we’re working alongside, and really bless the people there.</li><li>The new students coming to King’s this Sunday – that we would make them feel really welcome when they are so far away from home.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Lucie Ritzenthaler</em></p> Lucie Ritzenthaler http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=160 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_richardson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Richardson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Here we are, at the crest of the rollercoaster, waiting to plunge into the craziness that is term time at Kings. With the students arriving this weekend, we have been enjoying the final week of the summer (the weather has helped too!) before our placements start and we get into a regular routine.</p><p>That’s not to say this week has been quiet. Following our week in London with Southcroft church, we were given a day off to recover, and generally organise our lives for the coming week. We had a mission debrief on Tuesday morning, where we shared our highlights and the bits we found most difficult. We also considered what we had learnt from the week, about God, about ourselves, and what we had appreciated in each other. This introspectiveness was followed by a session on student ministry at Kings. Tuesday afternoon involved the challenge of fitting the entire staff team into the Bonnington’s front room for weekly team meeting. We looked at excerpts from the first chapter of William Law’s A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, which, once we got beyond the difficult 200-year old language, raised some challenging points to consider.</p><p>The second half of the week has seen many of us visit our placements. On Wednesday some of us visited Aquila Way, a charity in Gateshead, for our induction session. We all came away excited to be involved with their work; some interns will be helping to provide support and accommodation to young people and families, others will be mentoring ex-offenders as they resettle into society. Those interns not involved with Aquila Way have also been visiting their various placements, including A Way Out (which works with vulnerable women and young people in Stockton), Youth For Christ, and St Cuthbert’s Hospice.</p><p>Our Thursday morning sessions included practical advice on how to mentor someone, Hamish Sneddon from UCCF explaining about the Christian Union at Durham University, and we were also taught how to pray.... with other people as part of prayer ministry after church services. We were shown an effective demonstration of how not to pray, which involved Tom Barber being proposed to! Following his impressive role-playing he is now unable to escape any future drama performances the interns may do, despite him managing to wriggle out of the sketch last week. </p><p>The team received a huge encouragement from Claire Miller at Southcroft; 10 new mums attended Treasure Chest - their mums and toddlers group - off the back of our flyering the previous week. It has been great to hear numerous other stories of God working in people’s lives – ask an intern for more!</p><p>We would appreciate prayer:</p><p><ul><li>For enthusiasm, joy and energy as we welcome new students and start to build relationships with them.</li><li>As we start our regular placements, that we would be a blessing to those we work with, and to those we are aiming to help.</li><li>For wisdom in managing our time as our schedules fill up, that we would use the time we have effectively.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Tim Richardson</em></p> Tim Richardson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=159 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/eva_mayer.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Eva Mayer" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>It was announced yesterday evening by officials from the King’s Gender-Equality Association that disproportionate references to football are not inclusive and hereby red-carded. Should they appear to dominate future internlogs, the culprit will be on tea and coffee duty for a whole month.</p><p>We’ve just returned to the good ‘ol North after a week with the wonderful Southcroft congregation in Streatham. We met some incredible people, got to know one another a whole lot better and saw God do some really exciting stuff! The C.U. meeting went really well on Wednesday. 40 or so joined us in sung worship and heard Tim encourage us to give everything up to God. Steph, Jessie and Abi bravely shared with us all their testimonies about doing just that, which was a really honest and powerful witness. That evening we ventured down to Tooting station where we sang worship songs, gave out teas and coffees, and invited people along to the Alpha course. It was amazing to experience how open and honest people are, and that more often than not people are happy for you to pray for them. One man came up to Paul and shared that many years previously, he had been given a coffee and bible verse by someone from Ichthus which ‘had changed his life.’ What an encouragement!</p><p>On Thursday we were given some free time to explore the big city, meet up with our city-slicker friends and renew our energy-levels for the last few days of mission. The new-found energy manifested itself in the form of a drama, which we hastily put together. Tom Barber, the only intern with any real acting experience gracefully stepped back from an actual acting role to the position of ‘artistic director’ with Steph. We performed the drama (which was similar to the light-house sketch, should you want to watch it on YouTube) the following day at the Family fun day, which went really well. Gus Bonnington and Abi Stewart, having been (lovingly) forced into the starring roles, showed off their theatrical prowess. Gus in particular has expressed a desire to be involved with all future dramas at King’s!</p><p>Friday night was a real highlight. We headed down to the Southbank, setting up camp in front of a skate park. Alongside the singing, teas and coffees we were also encouraging people to write prayers for London on a prayer board we had prepared and entitled ‘Love Your City.’ The response was extremely positive and sparked off some great conversations with people. So in summary, a fantastic week! We were at many points pushed out of our comfort zones but God uses us for his strength in our weakness, and he fills us with a spirit of power!</p><p>Some prayer pointers:</p><p><ul><li>Thank God for sunny weather, welcoming host families, the organisation of Clare Miller and the Tates, for great conversations with people and the work of the Croft in Streatham!</li><li>Please pray for the life and work of Southcroft, particularly the Alpha course which is starting this Wednesday.</li><li>Please pray for us this week as we go on placement visits and settle in to our more regular weekly timetable.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Eva Mayer</em></p> Eva Mayer http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=158 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/gus_bonnington.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Gus Bonnington" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hey, this is Gus and this week's Internlog is being written during an away fixture in Stratham, London where we are on mission with Southcroft church (The one Claire Miller, ex-Kings Administrator, attends!). Due to there being seven girls on the team I doubt we will be able to run with the football theme for much longer, but for now at least we shall try. This midweek post is up primarily so you can find out what we’re up to on mission and hopefully pray for us as we go out to share the good news.</P> <p>Friday started later than the previous mornings with a short post-School of Theology team talk, some teaching on working with children and young people, and finally pre-mission tactics and prayer. The first day off on the intern calendar on Saturday was very welcome after a week’s hard theological training. </p> <p>Sunday: match day. I always love communion services and this Sunday was no different, and despite a string snapping I really enjoyed the worship. Ruth spoke well on new challenges we are facing as a church due to growing numbers in the congregation. As a church we also prayed for Nick Purdon as he leaves on loan until Christmas to Gloucester. He is hoping to go into the mission field and is on a 12-week course down there. We also ventured into the 'Toon enjoying being part of the crowds at Jesmond Parish Church and taking our second communion of the day, seeing how other churches welcome new students.</p> <p>We left for the capital at 2pm on Monday, and Paul was made sorry that he had told us that last years interns were &#34;too quiet&#34; on the bus; we deafened him with 300 miles of mainly tuneful chanting, stopping only to buy the very necessary large coffee. We arrived about 8pm and were greeted with a lovely meal, smiling faces and after a bit of admin were sent off to our hosts' homes. Mission began properly on Tuesday, starting with worship and prayer as a team, the always vital learning how to use the coffee machine, and then we were sent out to prayer walk and get to know the area we’d be serving. After lunch we split into two groups, some of us doing prophetic evangelism with Phil (one of the leaders at Southcroft) and some doing door-to-door with a guy called David. Some really encouraging things happened, including someone signing up for Alpha and a couple of women saying they’d like to come to church. In the evening we sang and worshipped on the streets whilst also giving out teas and coffees. This brought about lots of good conversation, including conversations with people from other faiths.</p><p>>Some prayer points for the rest of the week: <ul><li>Today we’re leading a CU in the local high school; it’s got 50-60 people, particularly for Steph, Jessie and Abi as they share testimonies.</li><li>Southcroft is running an alpha and this week we are really trying to encourage people to sign up to that!</li><li> Please pray for us generally as a group as we are still getting to know each other on our first mission and we do scary things like first contact and worship on the streets.</li></ul> <p><em> - Gus Bonnington</em></p> Gus Bonnington http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=157 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tom_barber.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tom Barber" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Yes people, it’s back – after a summer of speculation, of signings and last minute transfers, the internship is back (much like that ludicrous seasonal game in which grown men chase an inflated sphere around a field for ridiculous amounts of money). Welcome, people of the interweb, to the Internlog 2011-2012! This is our way of keeping you up to date with all things intern, a ‘Match of the Day’ if you will. Having studied the first-week offerings of the last six years of interns (and gleaned such insightful gems as “it’s a bit like Thunderbirds”, which sounds rather exciting), it’s down to me to kick-off what I hope (being serious for a second) will be a really helpful way for you to keep in touch with what we’re getting up to over the next year.</p><p>Last Wednesday brought with it that cocktail of emotions reserved for those easily forgotten but instantly revivable ‘first-day-at-school’ moments, normally comprising of similar measures of excitement and anxiety, mixed with a good dollop of panic. We’re so blessed to be in the hands of people who’ve seen it all before, and used that experience to help us through the first few days. The worry is definitely still there, but is now at a much more rational level than, “Oh no, what if my polo shirt doesn’t fit!” which, for some reason, was one of my main concerns…</p><p>The first week was spent getting to know… everything really – one another, our housemates, the church, our cells, the staff team, visions and values, timetables, personality types, strengths and weaknesses, the right way to put up a mic stand, each other’s weird quirks (including one particular intern’s ability to shatter rounder’s bats, another’s spontaneously changing eye colour and a confession from one intern to having carried a pet chicken round the house for most of their childhood), the history of our locality, our support people… the list goes on. The last four days specifically have been spent as guinea pigs for the brand new Kings School of Theology: in four days, we’ve had over 24 contact hours! The whole learning experience has been challenging on more than one level – there’s just been the volume of stuff that we’ve been learning to contend with, but also the things which have grabbed us and challenged us personally, which has been great, but really hard at the same time! After more training tomorrow and Sunday, we take our leave of the North to head for an away fixture at Southcroft Church, London, to serve them for a week, primarily through engaging in mission. It’s again a very exciting, but somewhat daunting prospect!</p><p>Thank you so much to everyone who’s already been praying for us – standing in the middle of church, looking at all the interns surrounded by people that care for them and want to encourage them for the year ahead was such a tangible expression of that prayer, and a really powerful one at that! We’d love for you to continue to pray for us through the year, and will try and offer some areas we’d particularly like you to focus that prayer for the upcoming week here. For this week:</p><p><ul><li>That we would continue to develop a strong sense of team and community, both amongst the interns and with the wider staff team and church</li><li>That we would be able to process and retain as much of the stuff that we’ve learnt as possible, that it would have an impact on our lives and would help us to prepare for next week</li><li>That God would equip us to serve in London, help us to bless our hosts, give us the energy we need to sustain ourselves through the week, keep us open to learn and to the work of his spirit, and would allow us to have a part in his work in that community</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Tom Barber</em></p> Tom Barber http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=156 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/chris_morgan.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Chris Morgan" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello all,</p><p>Wow. This is the final Internlog of this year. Not quite sure what to say.</p><p>This week has been our final one as interns and for all seven of us it is the end of an era. Monday started with us spending the morning with Ruth doing a session on “ending well” – this was a great opportunity to reflect on the year and how the year has impacted us in terms of character. We also looked through things we would miss because of no longer being interns and this was varied depending on what our circumstances are from September onwards. However we talked about things we were looking forward to which included (for some of us) having full weekends, freedom in how we organise our time. We spent some time talking about we appreciated each other and how we have seen others in the team develop over the year. In the afternoon we spent the first of two sessions with Richard Briggs looking at the Minor Prophets and in particular in this session looking at Jonah.</p><p>On Tuesday we had a day out as a staff and intern team. We went to Lindisfarne and spent the day relaxing and taking in the sights of the island. We also had opportunity to worship together. A number of us managed to get into the castle and most of us brought back the memory of France by playing “bat and ball”.</p><p>Wednesday morning saw us conclude our two part session with Richard Briggs by looking at the minor prophet Amos. It was really great to get stuck into a book which so often gets over looked yet is relevant to us today. Thursday morning saw our final teaching ever and we looked at the passion narrative in John’s gospel with Mark. We have been so lucky this year to have such superb teaching by fantastic teachers.</p><p>Still to come are our final presentations which look at “Our journey” which include highlights of the year and how the year has developed us all personally. Also our exit interviews are to come. Our final day as interns is on Sunday where we all will get prayed for.</p><p> This year has been a real privilege for all us. We have all grown and have seen God come through for us loads. There have been challenging times as well times of great joy but the main thing we have seen is how God has cared for us, nurtured us, grown us, filled us and developed us. We have all come away with a deeper understanding of what He has done for us and our knowledge of who He is has grown.</p><p>Here are our final prayer requests as a team:</p><p><ul><li>Please pray for Josh as he leaves Durham in the next week. Pray that he finds a job and knows where God is calling him to in the next stage of his life.</li><li>Pray for myself, Faye and Pete as we continue to work for the church as “ministry trainees”.</li><li>Pray for Ian, Susie and Emily as they stay in Durham. Pray that they will continue to grow and will deepen their friendships with people here.</li><li>Pray for us all that we all will adjust well from being interns into whatever we are doing next and that our relationship with God will continue to grow.</li></ul></p><p>Thanks for all your support and prayer this year. Without it we would have been worse off.</p><p>The 2010/11 interns : )</p> <p><em> - Chris Morgan</em></p> Chris Morgan http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=155 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/pete_gower.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Pete Gower" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week’s penultimate internlog is written from the comfort of my new cabin having said goodbye to my old cabin and cabin-mates on Saturday for the comfort of my new dishwasher equipped abode. And such has been this week on board the internship as we embarked on our penultimate week (I’ll stop with the puns now I think…)</p><p>Having bid farewell to the students before we left for Summer Project we have all this week been saying goodbye and thank you to all of our placements as this is the last normal week before debrief week and finishing. On Monday afternoon I had my final placement at Frankland and was given a warm sending off from everyone I have worked with there, while Faye also said goodbye to the girls in the craft session she does on Monday afternoons. Emily had her final Aquila placement on Monday too where she said goodbye to all the girls there. That evening we had a lovely meal with some of the leaders which was really good fun, before drinks and some post-dinner chat and banter over Pimms kindly bought by Ian Creasey (thanks, Ian!).</p><p>On Tuesday we continued looking at the Fourth Gospel with Mark. Ian and Susie had their final High School CU placement and Chris, Faye and I went to Gilesgate school for the last time before we had our final team meeting of term in the afternoon, CMJ (Chris M) leading us in thinking about the differences in Paul’s conversion story in Acts.</p><p>On Wednesday Chris and Becca had their final time at Aquila, followed in the afternoon by Josh and Susie. In between Emily, Josh, Faye and I had our final CU at Durham Johnson including a bit of Bible Pictionary and sweets!</p><p>Thursday morning saw our last time together as interns with Ruth before we had some teaching on sustaining faith development, spiritual disciplines and a host of other things. Ian also had his final afternoon at Aquila and Susie and Emily helped out at what I think is their final Orchard of the year.</p><p>On Friday we will have our final outreach of term in the town centre, led by Chris and Ian before Faye’s final venture into the prison in the afternoon. All in all it’s been quite an emotional week as we all say goodbye and thank you to those whom we have invested in so much this year so we would very much appreciate your prayers for:</p><p><ul><li>Thanks to God for his blessings this year on all our placements as we say good bye and entrust people we have worked with to him as we finish.</li><li>For joy and high spirits in the final few days aboard.</li><li>For jobs for Josh and Susie.</li><li>For good reflection and review as we think about the year that we have all enjoyed and that we would all seek to continue to grow and deepen our relationship with God even after we disembark from the internship.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Pete Gower</em></p> Pete Gower http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=154 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/susie_boyce.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Susie Boyce" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Greetings from London! The 7 interns plus Nick and Becca have come down for a week to help out at the Ichthus Summer Project, a week of mission and evangelism in inner-city London with the group of Ichthus churches here. We arrived on Sunday, with only one of our cars a little late (my gifts don't seem to include map reading!), to be welcomed to the team of approximately 40. There is a wonderfully multi-cultural and international feel to the team, with lots of team members having travelled from places such as Germany, Norway and South Korea to join us in mission here. After a bit of orientation, and getting to know our individual teams - each team had 12 people who went to a particular Ichthus congregation - we went along to a celebration with lots of people from different Ichthus congregations to give thanks and praise to God, and to commission the Summer Projecters. It was great to start the week with this time together with the people of the church, devoting the week to God and looking ahead to what we want to see God do in the community here and in our own journey of faith.</p><p>A little about what we've done so far...</p><p>One of the teams went out litter-picking today: although it started raining quite hard soon after starting, they were really able to witness to passers-by by their commitment to the activity, with pretty much everyone being able to engage with people and invite them along to an event, or praying with them and chatting to them about why they were litter-picking. In the evening they led a youth event at the church, being able to share testimonies, get alongside some of the youth there and pray with them and encourage them in their walk with God.</p><p>Another team in a different congregation spent some time handing out water bottles and chatting to people on the street, as well as going door-to-door engaging with people there. Response was good, with a number of prophecies given before going out being fulfilled during the time out and some people wanting to come back to church or come along for the first time.</p><p>My team was based in Forest Hill, and yesterday our team went out to engage with shoppers in the main high street. This was exciting but a little scary, as my experience has often been to talk to people off the back of something else going on, eg. worship on the streets, so simply approaching people was new to a number of the team. However, God really stepped up and met us where we were: we were able to chat to people, both inviting them along to church and pray for them. Tuesday afternoon saw a BBQ held on the lawn of a local housing estate. Just as we started to pray before hand, the sky rumbled, lightning flashed and rain started to pour down, but we agreed by consensus to carry ahead anyway and pray for the rain not to be a problem. 15 minutes before the event was due to start, the rain stopped and it remained dry throughout the BBQ, which was such an answer to prayer, so praise God for that! We were really able to get alongside the people on the estate and chat with them, building on a relationship that has already been established in previous years, and sometimes being able to invite them along to church and tell them about Jesus.</p><p>So far we have already seen God working in the local area and in our own teams and lives, and we are looking forwards to everything else He has in store for the week. A few prayers points include...</p><p><ul><li>that we would continue to step out in faith and be challenged and stretched by God</li><li>that we would see people come to faith, have their lives and their communities transformed by the love of Jesus</li><li>for health and fitness - particularly sleep and energy levels for all of us, and an achilles tendon problem of mine that has suddenly flared up again and made much walking difficult.</li></ul></p><p>Many thanks for your support,<br>The interns : )</p> <p><em> - Susie Boyce</em></p> Susie Boyce http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=153 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ian_blatcher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ian Blatcher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week I’ve realised things are really starting to come to an end. We had our last evening services of the term and had to say goodbye to many of our students. It was really sad to say goodbye, especially since some may not be returning. I’ve also seen the end of part of one of my placements. Despite these sad events it has been a pretty good week in general.</p><p>We had the annual Church Forum on Wednesday, where people had the opportunity to hear more about some of the plans for Kings Church. Some of these are hopefully coming to fruition soon, and some are more long term plans. It was good to hear more about the future direction of Kings, the changes to the structure of the Internship and many other things.</p><p>In this week I had my last session at ‘Thursday Live’, which is an after school club I have helped to set up in Gateshead. I’ve really enjoyed doing this, I’ve been able to help out in many ways, and get to know some great young people. I’ll really miss this part of my placement.</p><p>Prayer points:</p><p>We are all off on our final mission trip, to link up with the Ichthus Summer Project in London.</p><p><ul><li>Pray that we would go out confident in the gospel and ready for God to do amazing things this coming week</li><li>Pray for continued energy and joy throughout the week</li><li>Pray that God would use us to change peoples lives</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Ian Blatcher</em></p> Ian Blatcher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=152 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/josh_bargh.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Josh Bargh" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Well it’s quiet week again, and sadly the third and final one that I will have the privilege of documenting on the internlog! This term quiet week falls at the perfect time – straight after a fantastic, yet busy and tiring June Project, allowing the interns a bit more time off to relax and reflect on how the term’s going so far.</p><p>However, since the internlog normally covers Saturday – Friday, I will say a bit more about the tail end of last week’s June Project.</p><p>Saturday saw the whole church come together with resident cell groups organising their own events in various areas of the city. These ranged from a neighbourhood tea party to a ceilidh, and from fun days (there were four of them!) to a Battle of Neville’s Cross guided walk! These were supported by teams of delegates and provided many opportunities to interact with the people of Durham and bless them in a practical way.</p><p>The Appleby Rooms played host to an impressive ‘pop up’ art exhibition based on the theme of ‘Hope’ and ‘New Life’. The inspiring installations incorporated works of many forms, including sculpture, video, and even an edible piece. This was open throughout the day and sparked lots of great conversations with people coming in.</p><p>Following a final fun day in St Oswald’s Park, all those involved in the project gathered for a last meeting with chance to share testimonies and feedback from each of the twelve teams. It was encouraging to hear so many stories of what God had been doing during the project, through events, conversations and in the lives of people we met and our own. The evening was rounded off with the legendary end-of-June-Project-party late into the night. A live band made up of delegates entertained and enabled all to surrender every last piece of energy to the dance floor. A great night had by all.</p><p>The formal end to the June Project was the Sunday morning guest service, ‘Knowing the God Who Knows You’. Jon Parker continued our Psalms series, speaking on Psalm 139, and we all got to watch the long-awaited June Project Report video (check it out here if you haven’t already seen it: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0CfLxo_HeM">June Project video</a></p><p>So what about ‘quiet week’? Well, not much to report, with no teaching sessions we just had our external placements this week, some of which started back after a fortnight break of half-term and June project.</p><p>All three student pastorates met this week for the final time this year. I’m a leader of the Hill Pastorate where we shared a barbeque together and then spent some time looking at the different ways students can get involved in mission and community outreach throughout the year. Many students develop a heart for the City of Durham during June Project and we wanted to encourage them not to forget about that the rest of the year. We highlighted activities with Durham Youth For Christ, Reflex prison ministries, and Aquila Way, as well as events that Kings run such as The Orchard and Pipsqueaks.</p><p> Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support, here are some areas to focus prayers on this week. </p><p><ul><li>Praise God for his faithfulness and for all he has done through June Project this year.</li><li>Please pray that more students would be keen to get involved in community and outreach activities throughout the year.</li><li>Please pray for the students receiving their exam results!</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Josh Bargh</em></p> Josh Bargh http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=151 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/emily_pringle.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Emily Pringle" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello one and all,</p><p>This week’s internlog is sponsored by the colour purple and brought to you in the form of an acrostic poem. For those of you who don’t know (where have you been!) this week saw our fifth June Project take place. There is so much I could say, and unfortunately not enough space to say it, so here’s just a brief summary of what we’ve been up to:</p><p>Juby and his crew put the final plans in place,<br> for gardens, flyers, painting and the King’s Art Space.<br>United by God and his good news for all,<br> 120 delegates filled St Oswald’s hall.<br>Nerves, excitement and expectation spread,<br> for what God had in store for the next few days ahead.<br>Everyone in teams, we jumped to our feet,<br> to work with young and old, play sport and worship on the street.</p><p>Prayer for healing, digging gardens, painting fences, serving tea,<br> through our actions God was working for any and all to see.<br>Residents joined in too with many a cell event,<br> to Newton Hall, Gilesgate and Neville’s Cross we went.<br>Our hearts were being moulded and our city being changed,<br> with many lives transformed and priorities rearranged.<br>Just the eager few got up soon after light,<br> to serve coffees at the station and then again at night!<br>Evenings saw youth events, Ceilidhs and such things,<br> with many having fun and others learning how to swing.<br>Chat to a delegate to find out lots more,<br> for much has God been doing and more has He in store.<br>Though June Project came and went in less than a week,<br> we know that God is still at work and His Kingdom we still seek.</p><p>Prayer requests:<br><ul><li>Pray that God would continue to be at work in the hearts and lives of the people we met this week</li><li>It’s quiet week this week, so pray for opportunities to rest and for restored energy supplies for the team</li><li>A few of us are still looking for jobs for next year, so prayer for God’s provision would be good</li></ul></p><p>Thanks for all your prayers this year, we really do appreciate them.</p> <p><em> - Emily Pringle</em></p> Emily Pringle http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=150 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/chris_morgan.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Chris Morgan" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>With June Project coming on us quicker than Usain Bolt can run 100 metres, the last week has seen quite a lot of preparation for it. For those that don’t know what June Project is, it is a week (5 days) of community and mission work in Durham.</p><p>There have been other things going on this last week however. I asked some of the interns and a couple of the church’s volunteers if they were to describe their week in 3 words, how they would do it. Here is a selection:</p><p>Pete Gower: “Bank Holiday Monday”<br>Becca Kay: “Mixed Netball Fun”<br>Josh Bargh: “Church History Fulfilled”<br>Emily Pringle: “The Sun Returns”<br>Ian Blatcher: “Waiting June Project”<br>Faye Collins: “Lots of Cake”</p><p>As Josh alluded to in his summary, this was the last week of our 6 week tour of Church History with Melody Briggs. We completed it by looking at the Emerging Church and what the Church may move into in the next century. In our other teaching slot of the week we looked at Romans 8 (one of my favourite chapters in the Bible) with Mark and we were discussing how Romans 8 can be interpreted in light of Romans 7.</p><p>The last week did have a few extra gaps with it being Half Term, therefore no school placements, and it was Bank Holiday (again!) on the Monday, so we had a day off then. The Student Study Space which had been so successful was no longer running as students were finishing or had already finished their exams. This all led to Josh being able to do some prep for the Street Performance, and I have been doing some work on the video report that will be shown at the Guest Service on the Sunday morning.</p><p> The next week will be very busy so I will leave you with some extra prayer requests:</p><p><ul><li>Pray for June Project. Pray that we will see people come to faith and that the delegates will engage in a deeper way with God.</li><li>Pray for us. Pray that in our different roles we will lead effectively and that we will be energised, despite a (probable) lack of sleep!</li><li>Pray for Durham. Pray that God will bring hope and new life to the barren parts of Durham.</li><li>Pray for logistics. Pray that over Monday and Tuesday (and the rest of the week) all the administration and logistics gets sorted out smoothly and stress free.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Chris Morgan</em></p> Chris Morgan http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=149 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/pete_gower.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Pete Gower" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello everyone! It’s my turn this week to give you all a bit of an update as to what’s been going on with the interns this week.</p><p>On Monday we had our usual Theology 101 session, this week with Melody Briggs, before enjoying some of the lovely soup that Nicola has been preparing for the students in the study space. Faye and I went off to our respective prisons which by all accounts seem to be going really well, this week in Low Newton Faye had the opportunity to talk about how and why she became a Christian while Thursday saw the launch of an alpha course which will start in the coming weeks. Nick, Susie and Ian had an Interact meal which this week was a rather lovely risotto (I know because the leftovers made their way back to my house for dinner…!)</p><p>On Tuesday we continued our teaching with Mark looking at Romans before Faye, Chris and I headed up to Gilesgate for our lunchtime session working with YFC. Chris and I continue to build relationships with the guys at the tennis courts and Faye and Kate with the music group. In team meeting we continued making our way through Acts, this week looking at some stories in chapters 8 and 9 like the amazing story of the Ethiopian eunuch (carried away in the Spirit!) and Simon the Magician.</p><p>On Wednesday Faye and I had our CU in Durham Johnston, this week looking at another Old Testament figure, looking at the story of Deborah, Jael and Barak. Josh and Emily also continued their series with the year 7-8 CU. Aquila placements continued as normal this week and all seem to be going really well.</p><p>This week in church history we had the privilege of looking at the Pentecostal and Charismatic movements and experienced an ‘Oh Happy Day’ Pentecostal style worship service courtesy of Josh Bargh with lots of ‘Amen Brother!’ and clapping emanating from the congregation. It was lots of fun and a really informative session for learning about our own roots in the charismatic movement and its older cousin Pentecostalism.</p><p>Today Susie and I were in charge of outreach in the city centre. We tried something a little different taking down some Soularium cards and a set of paints and pens. We asked people to draw from a series of words such as ‘hope’, ‘refuge’, ‘free’ and ‘treasure’ in order to inspire creative drawing and engage people in conversation about the meaning of those words. Although it was a little windy God definitely answered prayer and kept the rain away which was really good. Today also saw the final day of the student study space in Oswald’s as the exam period begins to wind down and the flurry of activity transforms into a well-deserved break before June Project begins in only a short amount of time…</p><p>Prayer points for this week:</p><p><ul><li>For June Project preparation and the project as a whole as the day draws ever closer…</li><li>That Ian and Susie have restful weekends off and come back refreshed, and for the rest of us who are all feeling quite tired that we would rest well before June Project begins.</li><li>For the students who still have exams remaining, that God would give them the strength and energy to keep working hard.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Pete Gower</em></p> Pete Gower http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=148 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/faye_collins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Faye Collins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello dear readers! It’s Faye here, keeping you updated on another week’s events. This week has really flown by with just enough time to take a breath and reflect on how things are going. We all had our usual placements this week with lots of new female prisoners joining the craft workshop at Low Newton. It is a very popular class so there is never a shortage of things to do or women to help out. I’m getting better at learning names but it’s still a struggle for me! Both Christian Unions at Durham Johnston School were learning about Moses this week and how the Passover points us to Jesus. They all had lots of fun putting in order the pictures of the ten plagues, which I had expertly drawn thirty minutes before the session. My picture of a frog was particularly nifty. Me, Chris and Pete went into Gilesgate comprehensive as usual this Tuesday and the boys played some tennis again.</p><p>During church history teaching with Melody on Tuesday we did some Lutheran style singing. I played the tune on the piano while the rest of the team attempted to sing “A mighty Fortress is our God”, which unfortunately no one knew. So despite the music not being quite as slick as the previous week we still had fun, and I know that we all find the church history material really fascinating. Theology 101 was on the topic of the Prosperity Gospel, which got us thinking to say the least.</p><p>The study space is going tremendously well and God has really blessed us with its success. It is a really tranquil place for the students to come and study and the cafe is always teeming with people taking a break or grabbing a quick coffee. Be praying that it would be a bit of a sanctuary for people to get away from the pressure of the library and God has really answered our prayers through the hard work of the volunteers and by His presence being there. During team meeting this week we were looking at the persecuted church, which is always an extremely shocking topic. When presented with the facts and figures of the situation it is difficult to know where to start in prayer, and I know that I find it difficult not to feel completely overwhelmed and powerless to help. The church flourishes most when under persecution, and so by the request of some of those under persecution we prayed that God would give them the courage and strength to withstand their sufferings. When the meeting was over I think all of us felt very humbled, and it felt slightly odd and selfish to then go and talk through our trivial problems with Ruth in discipleship straight afterwards. However we worship a God who loves us as His people and as individuals, and who sees all things both big and small, Hallelujah!</p><p>Prayer Requests:</p><p><ul><li>Please pray for us and the people we meet at Aquilla and in prison. Please pray that God will use us and give us the words to say in difficult situations.</li><li>Please thank God for his faithfulness with the study space.</li><li>Please pray for the persecuted church, that the church will grow, that those suffering would stay strong in the Lord, and that God’s kingdom would come in these places.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Faye Collins</em></p> Faye Collins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=147 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/susie_boyce.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Susie Boyce" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week has seen the launch of the new Church Street Study Space and Caf&#233; at the Appleby Rooms and St Oswald's Hall; a place for students to come and revise as an alternative to the university library. This seems to be very popular, with a lot of King's students and others coming to use the space, and enjoy a break in the caf&#233; at lunchtime. Now is really a time to be praying for the students as the exam season comes up, and we hope the study space and caf&#233; will really be a blessing to them at this time.</p><p>Placements have continued as normal this week, with Emily making smoothies with the girls at her Aquila Way placement, whilst Ian and I looked at Jesus calling his disciples, and how he called those we wouldn't have expected, in our lunchtime CU - also with a home-made fishing game! On Friday morning half the interns were delivering flyers for June Project garden clearing, whilst the others held the monthly coffee morning for the elderly in Gilesgate.</p><p>In teaching this week we had much discussion looking at Feminist theology with Melody on Monday morning. On Thursdays we have started a series on church history with Melody, and are sampling different styles of worship alongside learning about how the church has changed through the centuries. This Thursday we were looking at monastic missionaries, each of us researching a prominent missionary and coming, in character, ready to tell the others about our lives. Faye, along with Emily, Pete and Nick also led us in some beautiful monastic singing. It is a really good opportunity to study other styles of worship, and to see what we can learn from them.</p><p>Some prayer points for the week ahead:</p><p><ul><li>For the students, that they would be aware of God's presence and support through the stressful times.</li><li>For our mentoring with the students, as we continue to support them through exams, and that the study space and caf&#233; continues to be a blessing to them.</li><li>For those of us currently looking for jobs for after the internship, that God would open the doors for us that place us where He wants us to be.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Susie Boyce</em></p> Susie Boyce http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=146 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ian_blatcher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ian Blatcher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Over a week into the final term already; time is really disappearing!</p><p>On Sunday we started a new sermon series, with Richard Briggs teaching on Psalm 1. The psalm highlights the importance of looking at scripture - ‘blessed is the man who delights in it’. We have the privilege of doing just this, whenever we want, as well as at church on a Sunday. Looks like it will be an interesting series!</p><p>On Monday we had a church social; a guided walk through the woods and fields past the botanic gardens, followed by a BBQ. Alan, who led the walk, was both informative and interesting; who knew that bluebell bulbs could be used as glue! It was good to get out, see some countryside near Durham and talk to people as we went along. The BBQ was great too, with good food and good company; over 150 people came!</p><p>Nick Purdon has joined the Interact team this week, and we had a session on Easter. We run events for international students every three or four weeks, introducing them to some of our culture and hopefully blessing them. The session was quite fun, as usual, we introduced them to hot cross buns, had a chat and made chocolate nests. More importantly, Nick gave a really clear short talk about the significance of Easter in the context of the whole gospel story; I think our guests were really listening to what he was saying. Seeing as the events are mostly social, this was really great, and I hope that we will have more opportunities to talk about Jesus.</p><p>Prayer Points:</p><ul><li>That we would all rely on God throughout this term and not fall back on things that we are now used to but continue to grow in him.</li><li>That we would be able to support the students in the next few weeks during the stressful exam period. That we would notice when a student needs help and be wise when we do.</li><li>That the new student study space will go well, and that it would be a blessing to many people.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Ian Blatcher</em></p> Ian Blatcher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=145 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/emily_pringle.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Emily Pringle" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Bonjour, tous le monde,</p><p>We’ve now reached the end of our trip to Angers and so have begun the long drive home. The week has flown by and a great time has been had by all.</p><p>This week has provided yet more opportunities to practice our (in some cases fairly limited) language skills. We helped out at ‘Croque Etudients; an event which aims to reach out to the universities poorest students by providing much needed food provisions. We also got to visit the church youth group. Here we chatted with the young people over dinner, shared our testimonies in French and sang some French and English worship songs. Our language skills were stretched to the limit and Susie and Nick even managed to chat to some Chinese girls in a combination of French, Chinese and English, which was very impressive!</p><p>Worshiping with the church on Sunday was a truly remarkable experience, which it was great to be a part of. Being able to partake in worshiping God in another language acted as a great reminder that our God is the God of all nations who can speak hundreds upon hundreds of languages. It offered just a glimpse of that glorious vision that John describes in Revelation,</p><p>“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’” (Revelation 7:9-10)</p><p>This week has also been a week of much laughter and joy. We had great fun visiting a local secondary school on several occasions, where we taught the young people about God using the story of Jonah. We played games, got them involved in some drama and sang ‘Our God is a great big God’ complete with actions until our voices were worn out.</p><p>Whilst our language skills have no doubt improved, trying to speak French has also provided many moments of hilarity. These have included Ian calling God a fish (poisson) rather than powerful (puissant). Meanwhile Chris, whilst attempting to express his hunger, (J’ai faim) accidently ended up saying that he was a woman (Je suis femme). So clearly our French still needs a bit more work!</p><p>Alongside language confusions and laughter, this week has also been a week of lavish blessings. We have been blessed with fantastic weather all week. This made for a lovely day off at the beach, surfing and sampling French cuisine- even if we did all get rather sunburnt. But more than this we have experienced God at work in many ways. My highlight of the week was our visit to the church plant in Cholet. We went to sing in a somewhat deserted market place, and even though there was no-one in sight God used this opportunity powerfully. Only two people came past and stopped, but both were really interested in finding churches. The church plant there has only recently been established, but it is great to see signs of God at work in that town already. So, after a week of language, laughter and lavish blessings, we are now even more blessed to be returning to rest and relaxation with family and friends as the Easter holidays begin.</p><p>Thanks for all your prayers for the mission trip, we really appreciated them. Please could you pray for:</p><p><ul><li>Rest- that we would have a relaxing Easter break and that God would give those who led the team (Paul, Tim and Becca) chance to rest and energy as they return to Durham</li><li>Future- some of us are still working out what to do next year. Pray that God would give us wisdom and guidance as we make these decisions</li><li>Angers- give thanks for what God is doing through His church there and pray that God would continue to be at work there</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Emily Pringle</em></p> Emily Pringle http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=144 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/chris_morgan.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Chris Morgan" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello from France. We have arrived safely and are enjoying ourselves! I am writing this on Wednesday evening just as Paul and I have had an amusing dinner time with our hosts. We can speak as much combined French as &#34;Del Boy&#34; from Only Fools and Horses! We tried to convince our hosts that mini eggs were real eggs but with the egg white and yolk sucked out and then filled with chocolate. In other amusing French stories - Pete accidentally volunteered himself to say grace at his hosts last night (en Francais) - apparently with amusing consequences. </p><p>We are helping out with l'Eglise Protestant Baptiste, an Icthus link church in Angers - they are a great bunch and very hospitable.</p><p>Today was our first real day of doing outreach in Angers. We spent most of the morning planning for our school visits over the 2 weeks we are here and also had a talk from the church leader here in Angers. In the afternoon we went into Angers and sang in the big square in the city centre. We attracted a crowd of about 50 people at one point. We had more opportunities to do first contact off the back of that than we get in Durham when we do singing on the streets there.</p><p>Tomorrow we are in school in the morning, singing in the town centre in the afternoon, and playing football with some locals or helping out with their alpha course in the evening.</p><p> E-Prizzle (Emily) will update you all next week with what we got up to! And for those who will be at the prayer meeting on Monday you will get a further update then. For more up-to-date information follow the hashtag #angers on twitter where a few of the team are trying to tweet a few times a day with what we are up to!</p><p>I'll leave you with some prayer requests.</p><p>Au'revoir</p><p>Chris</p><p>Prayer Requests:</p><p><ul><li>Pray for all our school work over the coming 7 days - pray that as we tell the story of Jonah we will be able to talk about how big and powerful God is, and how he listens to our prayers.</li><li> Pray for energy for all the team especially for Paul and our translators Caroline and Hazel.</li><li>Pray for all the other activities we are doing including - alpha, leading a youth group, leading parts of a church service on Sunday, and much more!!</li><li>Pray for good team camaraderie as we work together.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Chris Morgan</em></p> Chris Morgan http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=143 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/pete_gower.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Pete Gower" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Good day to you all! </p> <p>In typical Brit style I’ll begin by talking about the weather – and what a lovely week it has been. Now that’s over I can fill you in on all that we’ve been up to over the past week. Last Friday we went out on our penultimate outreach of term, a bunch of us headed up to Newton Hall to do some visiting while the Gilesgate team made some rather nifty looking books at the Pelaw centre before the final student caf&#233; of term. </p> <p>After a mix-up with Wes’ flights, Monday’s theology 101 session was cancelled giving us all a (well deserved) morning off, after which Faye and I went into prison for the final session of term. In Frankland I was able to have a really good discussion with some of the guys about how God’s love never fails us and we find true fulfilment in relationship with our creator through Jesus Christ. It was a really encouraging end to quite a tough term. Praise God!</p> <p>Other placements have carried on as normal at CUs and Aquila, with Josh doing some painting of a new Aquila building and Susie and Emily have continued to build on the success of last weeks evening event with the girls who cooked a three-course meal and enjoyed a murder mystery game; by all accounts it was a great success and will hopefully provide a further platform for getting to know the girls.</p> <p>This week in teaching we have had the pleasure of Dr Richard Briggs teaching us on Genesis 1-11, the ‘Prologue to the Old Testament’. We considered the wonderful ordered and structured work of God’s hands in creation, how we have broken our relationship with God, each other and our world through our disobedience and looking at how God is going about restoring his image bearers and the world we live on to the people and place they were meant to be. Tomorrow we will have our final French lesson before we head to Angers on Monday. The delightful Chris Morgan and Emily Pringle will be in touch during our time over there to relay news of a safe arrival, prayer requests and news of our exciting French adventure. Until then I will put down some things we would appreciate prayer for:</p> <ul><li>For outreach Friday morning, that we would not be distracted by France but ready to share the good news with people in Durham before we depart.</li> <li>Safe travel to Angers on Monday and for Paul who will be driving.</li> <li>That we would be an encouragement and blessing to the church there, and used by God to show and tell people in our best French accents that God loves them.</li></ul> <p>Thank you all for your continued support, love and encouragement. Bon voyage!</p> <p><em> - Pete Gower</em></p> Pete Gower http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=142 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/faye_collins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Faye Collins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello one and all!</p><p>Greetings to you all from the intern team. It’s me, Faye, filling you in on what’s been happening over the past seven days. The main theme this week has been presentations. We have all been preparing a presentation for the past three weeks on the worldview, ethics and gospel resonances of a film of our choice. We also had to think about how we could use this film to evangelise to our friends. Our interests and personalities came out in our film choices with Pete choosing Withnail and I, Becca choosing The Full Monty, Susie choosing Sotsi, Emily choosing Revolutionary Road, Josh choosing Seven Pounds, Ian choosing In Bruges, Chris choosing Avatar and me choosing Meet Joe Black (which I thoroughly recommend!) It was really nice to learn about all these different films and to probe more deeply into the ethics of each film. Doing these presentations has helped us all to think a bit more about the things we watch and to not just mindlessly absorb information. It has made us more aware of the politics and subtle biases behind programmes, which I can now see is a really useful tool to have. All the presentations went really well with no major technical hitches which was a blessing! We all gave each other feedback which most of us were dreading, but in the end everyone received lots of positive comments and we all recognised that we had areas to work on.</p><p>It was the last Alpha of this term on Thursday and once again it was a really lovely evening. The topic was “What about the church and telling others?” which was a great point to finish on as we have seen at least three students become Christians during this course. Lots of friendships have been made and some people have decided to keep meeting up each week which is really amazing to hear. The only blip was the extremely salty black bean chicken (note to self :don’t ever buy discounted sauce in bulk again from Macro!) Everyone found the funny side of this and there was still plenty of sweet and sour chicken to go round.</p><p>In other news this week Lucy Hefford left Years 9-11 Durham Johnston CU so as Alpha finished on Thursday I have stepped up and taken her place. I went in for the first time to see the kids on Wednesday and what a lovely bunch they all are! I’m really looking forward to getting to know them better, having a laugh with them and hopefully helping them learn more about Jesus.</p><p>Other placements have continued as normal and we are all looking forward to a quieter week next week.</p><p>Prayer Points:</p><p><ul><li>Please pray for us all as we prepare for our mission trip to France. Please pray that we can be useful to God and that we will all learn and bond out there.</li><li>Please also pray that we will get a bit of rest this week and that we will have lots of energy for our trip.</li><li>Prayer for the people who have just finished Alpha would also be appreciated, that they will continue to search after God and that He will reveal Himself to them.</li</ul></p><p>God bless and lots of love<br>Faye XxX</p> <p><em> - Faye Collins</em></p> Faye Collins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=141 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/susie_boyce.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Susie Boyce" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This Friday we were wrapping daffodil pots and handing them out at the Gilesgate coffee morning and to our contacts in Newton Hall. They have been growing in a garage since the autumn, and were ready to be handed out as a gift as an expression of God's love for Durham. We brought out our French testimonies in our French class, in preparation for the Angers trip at the end of March: after a fair bit of grammar correction and a lot of stumbling over pronunciation, we were quite pleased with the end result, as well as built up to hear each other's testimonies in this way!</p> <p>Tuesday saw the interns plus Ruth, Tim, Becca and Nick off to Formation, a retreat in Leicestershire for church interns from across the country. This was a great chance to reflect on the first half of the internship, and evaluate how the year had gone so far. We had some great teaching on such subjects as 'Godly treasure', 'Maintaining our walk with God', and a seminar on leading bible studies/preaching. It was also a great chance to meet and talk to interns from other churches, and see the variety in internship structures there are, as well as worship together.</p> <p>As well as enjoying the teaching, we had the chance to relax and unwind for a few hours: highlights being a rather wonderful assault course, which we spontaneously did time trials around, at which Josh proved very adept; a sports gym with a badminton net; and, best of all, a jacuzzi. After an all-girls session, the boys decided they would quite like a go too, and so we arrived back to Durham on Thursday very relaxed indeed, and greatly refreshed.</P> <p>Prayer points:</P> <ul> <li>The Alpha Away day is this coming Saturday: please pray for Faye and Chris as they lead this, for those coming, that the Lord would really work powerfully in them and have his hand over the whole day.</li> <li>for our French learning: we are all at different stages, from very little to GCSE, so prayer that we would be able to learn what we need to in preparation would be great.</li> <li>For building on what we learnt and reflected on at Formation, that we would be able to grow in the areas God convicted us on over the remaining weeks of term.</li></ul> <p><em> - Susie Boyce</em></p> Susie Boyce http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=140 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ian_blatcher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ian Blatcher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>As Interns we are back to relative normality after the excitement of main event week, and ‘quiet’ week. We hadn’t had teaching or team meetings for what seemed like a very long time.</p><p>It was good to have team meeting again, a great opportunity for all staff to meet, worship and encounter God together. We are working through ‘The Rule of Saint Benedict’ together which has been quite interesting. I think we are mostly glad we are not early Benedictine monks but we have been able to learn from some of the principles involved. This week rather than a discussion we were led though why St Benedict made the rules as they are – to focus the whole monastic community on a living and powerful God, a community in which His power was expected and present. In this at least our goals are similar.</p><p>One recent intern task, in preparation for our mission trip to France in just over three weeks, is to write our testimony ‘en Francais’. This task varies in difficulty depending on two main factors – level of French and level of ambition. I may have been a little ambitious in trying to translate more or less my whole testimony into French given that I last did a translation as part of my GCSE’s in 2004. I fully expect that at least some of my carefully crafted sentences mean something utterly different to what I planned. These might be rather amusing for Caroline; our lovely teacher/translator.</p><p>A new after school club ‘Thursday Live’ at one of my placements, Edberts House in Gateshead, had its second session. Due to an illness we were one person down and things were rather chaotic but it also went rather well I think. The kids had some help with homework and did fun crafts and games.</p><p>Prayer points:</p><p><ul><li>That we would all have fresh energy in all that we do after two weeks rather different to the norm.</li><li>That we would be able to focus anew on our placements and let God, not us shape what we do.</li><li>We are off to ‘Formation’, a conference for church interns from many churches for three days next week. Pray that we can be refreshed, learn more of God and maybe even pick up some good ideas.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Ian Blatcher</em></p> Ian Blatcher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=139 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/josh_bargh.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Josh Bargh" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello there! Once again the honour of recording the interns’ termly quiet week has befallen me: a week devoid of our usual three teaching sessions, Friday morning outreach and various school placements, allowing some time for catching up on lost sleep and reflecting on the term so far.</p><p>Quiet week came at a most welcome time; last week many of the interns were heavily involved in the university wide Christian Union Main Event Week, and those who weren’t were kept busy with plenty of extra jobs to keep things running smoothly as normal, so we’ve all appreciated a chance to rest and recharge for the next half of term! Since most of my placements have not been on I’ll focus on a couple of the student activities that I’m involved in this week.</p><p>This term in Hill Pastorate we are doing a Bible overview split into nine sections, one for each week of term. On Thursday we met together as a pastorate in Mary’s College chapel for the sixth section, coinciding with the conclusion of the Old Testament. To help set the scene and remind everyone of what’s been covered so far we ambitiously attempted to dramatise the entire OT in about ten minutes, by dragging people out of the audience to take on different biblical characters. By the end everyone was involved in one way or another – either swaying as trees in the Garden of Eden, standing as one side of the Tabernacle or getting soaked by the Flood!</p><p>On Friday night we will hold the second training night for After Hours – the late night caf&#233; which runs every Friday seeking to bless the students of Durham by offering them a free hot drink outside the Appleby Rooms and DSU, and giving people the opportunity to share their faith. The first one a fortnight ago was well attended and we had a fresh look at the reasons why we do After Hours and how we do it. This included some patronising practical points on how to use a cafetiere, and silly role-plays on what not to do!</p><p>Thank you for your continued support and prayer. Here are some prayer points for the coming week:</p><ul><li>Thank God for his faithfulness throughout the term, for keeping us going when we’re tired and refreshing us when we’re resting.</li><li>Pray for all those involved in the CU Main Event Week, that they would recover swiftly from any tiredness and be eager to follow up any students that they came into contact with over the week.</li><li>Please continue to pray for the Alpha course running on Thursday evenings this term. Pray that God would bless every part of it, the guests, those leading tables, the caterers and the musicians involved.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Josh Bargh</em></p> Josh Bargh http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=138 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/emily_pringle.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Emily Pringle" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello one and all! This week’s internlog is brought to you from a train heading south, as I look out at the snowy surroundings of Yorkshire and get the chance to reflect upon a less than typical week of the King’s internship.</p><p>Friday evening saw five of us heading back to studentville as we were sent to various colleges to help out the Christian Union with their mission week. Returning to the college where I had lived as a student brought back many a memory of my time spent there, including late night chats on corridors, endless queues for college food and blissful lie-ins. However, I soon discovered that not all of these memories were to be relived, as we started our days with 8am prayer meetings. Each day, after praying in colleges, streams of yellow and red hoodies headed to the Appleby Rooms en mass for our morning meetings. If only we had had green hoodies too, then we would have looked like walking traffic lights! These meetings provided the chance to talk and pray about the day ahead, join together in worship led by Chris and Josh, and work our way through a study of 1 Peter. Throughout the week we also got involved with doing some first contact around Durham. This gave rise to many an interesting conversation and a chance to encourage students to check out some of the talks put on by the Christian Union over the course of the week.</p><p>Each college also hosted their own events throughout the week. Down on the Bailey, Josh and Pete helped their colleges run a late night cafe, a ‘text a treat’ (where people texted in their questions about God and also received a delicious muffin!) and Pete sat on a panel for an informal debate on ‘Can there be good without God?’ Similarly, up on the hill, Chris and I assisted our colleges with toastie serving, an acoustic night and a film evening. Susie spent the week working alongside the international team, as they held events and talks specifically aimed at reaching out to international students.</p><p>Meanwhile, back aboard the internship, this has also been a very musical week. On Saturday evening Faye helped out at the Youth for Christ Valentines meal by playing some beautiful piano for the guests who attended.Our Sunday evening guest service ‘True Love?’ was also a music filled evening. Ruth Corry astounded us with her beautiful harp playing and Josh and Morven brought much hilarity to the evening with a musical rendition of the Moulin Rouge ‘Love medley’, which will no doubt be remembered for some time to come!</p><p>As I travel between stations, halfway between one home and another, I notice that we’ve reached the halfway point of the internship too; a time to reflect on the year thus far and a time to think ahead to the future. On a journey half finished and only half begun, with memories half made and still more to come...</p><p>Thanks for your continued prayers. This week we would be grateful if you could pray for:</p><p><ul><li>Engage – Pray that students who came along to talks during the Christian Union Main Event week would want to go along to ‘engage’. This is a short follow up course aimed at allowing students to explore Christianity further.</li><li>Quiet week – Pray that we would make the most of having more free time this week, and that God would give us energy for the weeks ahead.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Emily Pringle</em></p> Emily Pringle http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=137 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/chris_morgan.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Chris Morgan" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Another week is coming to an end aboard the internship. Next week, if my maths is correct, marks the half-way point, in terms of weeks, of the internship.</p><p>Monday continued in the usual high standards of soup making. Becca this week blessed us with “Fiery Roasted Pepper” soup – another triumph from the cooking department of Kings Church Durham. We ate this alongside looking at “Justification by Faith” with Wes. Various placements were visited on Monday afternoon – I understand that Pete didn’t leave his iPod in his bag this week (see previous two weeks for the story)!</p><p>On Tuesday we continued our journey through the book of Romans, we finished chapter two and most of chapter three with Mark. We had to stop at the point where Paul sets out what the gospel is – a perfect place to come back to next term when we next have teaching with Mark! At Team Meeting this week we continued with “The rule of St Benedict” and discussed the chapters about discipline. One conclusion from it was that we are grateful that corporal punishment is not used within our church for discipline!</p><p>On Wednesday, I started doing some prep work for the CU mission week next week. This involved me doing some filming for a couple of vox pops that will be used next week during the lunch time talks. Other interns that are Christian Union Guests (CUGs) have been prepping talks, meeting up with CU reps etc. The five of us that are CUGs will be starting on Friday or Saturday depending when we are needed by our colleges and will be busy and not doing “normal” intern duties till a week on Monday (although the week after next is quiet week!).</p><p>School CUs continued as normal this week as did outreach at Gilesgate Sports college.</p><p>On Thursday we continued looking at film with Ruth, focussing on how it is used in today’s culture and the worldview it portrays. We specifically analysed an episode of Doctor which led to an interesting discussion about whether the worldview it depicted reflected a Christian one or not. This week Alpha explored “Why did Jesus die?” - this brought some fantastic questions in the discussion time.</p><p>That is what has been going on this week, a few prayer requests to leave you with for the week to come.</p><p>Prayer requests:</p><p><ul><li>Pray for Susie, Pete, Chris, Emily and Josh as they help out all of next week with the University’s Christian Union Main Event Week – pray that God will give energy, wisdom and joy in all that they do as they serve the CU.</li><li>Pray for Alpha next week as they look at “How can I have faith?” – pray that this week would see people come to faith in Jesus.</li><li>Pray for the Guest Service this coming Sunday – pray that people will come and they will learn more of who Jesus is and how He shows “True Love” to us.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Chris Morgan</em></p> Chris Morgan http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=136 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/pete_gower.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Pete Gower" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello all! I do hope all of you are well.</p><p>This week started in usual fashion with Theology 101. Chris provided us with sustenance in the form of a chorizo sausage, chickpea and lentil soup which kept us going as we looked at the doctrines of faith, grace and works. Faye and I then had our prison placements, where I was happily re-united with my iPod (plus warning letter (!) – see last week’s entry…) following a rather dull time in the prison due to a complete lockdown. I have joked before that they might not let me out of there, unfortunately this time that nearly was the case!</p><p>On Tuesday in team meeting we looked at the order the Psalms are to be said during the divine office by monks in a Benedictine monastery. Using the basis of Psalm 136 all of us present said something that we wanted to praise God for; with the refrain ‘His steadfast love endures forever’. As we went round the room it struck me that we can never exhaust or say enough about all the things we have to praise God for. Our God certainly is an awesome God: A wonderful truth to kick off the week.</p><p>Wednesday morning saw a number of us accompany Phil to a Fusion event that was happening at St Nic’s. It was great to hear what other churches are up to in terms of student ministry both in Durham and other areas in the North East. We were able to share ideas and spend time praying for one another; it was a really encouraging time for everyone involved, with Chris even being asked to write an article for a magazine on creative discipleship! I’m sure he would love to hear any ideas for that if you have any. In the afternoon CU’s at Durham Johnston carried on as normal with Josh and Emily’s group continuing to grow in number which is wonderful. Placements with Aquila also went on as normal.</p><p>On Thursday morning we had our regular teaching session with Ruth. We were thinking about how we can engage our culture with the gospel of Christ, looking at how Paul does this in Athens in Acts 17. We also thought about different worldviews and how these are portrayed one way or another through the medium of film, thinking particularly about how these worldviews contrast or conflict with a Christian worldview. It was a really helpful time in thinking about the kind of assumptions we make about others’ beliefs in conversations and particularly when doing evangelism: food for thought indeed. The Alpha course kicked off off properly on Thursday evening as people began to grapple with the question, ‘who is Jesus?’</p><p>This morning we will be having a French lesson with Caroline Ardley before going out once more to the streets of Durham in order to reach out to the people of this wonderful place. Do give us a wave if you see us around!</p><p>That’s all for this week, but a few prayer points to leave you with:</p><p><ul><li>Please pray for Alpha which is happening on Thursday evenings, that people would go and really engage with the discussion and begin to grapple with Jesus and his message.</li><li>Please pray for those of us who will be guests with various Durham colleges for the upcoming CU Main Event Week. Pray we will have energy, enthusiasm for reaching the people of Durham with the gospel and also that we will be able to encourage and support the members of the CU’s that we will be working with.</li><li>Finally pray for us all that as we get into the middle part of this term that we would continue to serve the Lord with joyful hearts in all that we do.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Pete Gower</em></p> Pete Gower http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=135 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/faye_collins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Faye Collins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>So as we head into the fourth week of the new term, things seem to be gradually getting back to normal (whatever that is?!) We have all had our usual placements and teaching this week, which saw the return of Wes Hill in Theology 101. The topic for this week was sin; in particular we covered original sin, so that gave a cheery start to the week. During Mark’s teaching we continued to look into the book of Romans and focussed on Paul's opening chapters and how he (not so) subtly tried to assert his authority as preacher to the Gentiles. We looked at the idea of vision and calling with Ruth this week, which tied in well with last week’s topic of work. We were all asked to think of our dream jobs, which consisted of a mixture of themes such as Chinese babies, the National Trust, ‘A Beautiful Mind’ style code-breaking and an army of hippies. As you can tell we are a bit of an odd bunch this year!</p><p>Prison placements went on as normal with only a minor blip of Pete almost getting a criminal conviction for accidentally leaving his iPod in his bag. The girls at Aquila way seem to be opening up more and Kate Robinson and I have started up a band at Gilesgate Comprehensive, watch out X-factor. Emily gave a talk at Viaduct pastorate on the subject of receiving from God, which went really well and lead on to a time of listening to God and hearing from Him. The big news this week is of course the Alpha launch on Thursday. The night was a complete success with a total head count of 35. There was a good mix of ages and people from different cultures, and music from the legend that is Mr John Castling really gave a relaxed and open feel to the evening. Half of us went to do litter picking as part of Friday outreach this week, and the rest of us were at the Pelaw View Centre doing candle making. Lots of people turned up to try out the free session and over 16 people took home a candle at the end of the morning.</p><p>Overall this week has been really enjoyable for the intern team and I think we have all started to feel like we’re settling back into some sort of rhythm.</p><p> Prayer Points:<p><ul><li>For relationships and friendships formed at placements and to start moving to the next level and become more open.</li><li>That we can continue to work well with the staff at the Pelaw centre and that we can be a light to the community there.</li><li>For the guests at Alpha to come back next week and for people who couldn’t come to the launch night to come as well.</li><li>For energy, enthusiasm and joy during the next week.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Faye Collins</em></p> Faye Collins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=133 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/susie_boyce.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Susie Boyce" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>So here we are, into the third week of the second term. After getting back from Houseparty on Saturday, most of the team spent a good long time sleeping (I think the record was 15 hours!) in order to be back on form for the Sunday services. It was great to see so many of the students buzzing after Houseparty; God seems to have done a lot during it.</p><p>The week progressed as normal from Monday: in Theology 101 we looked at things to do with ‘Satan, Demons and the Powers’ with Melody Briggs, looking at what was (and wasn’t!) rooted biblically. In teaching with Mark we have begun to look at Paul’s letter to the Romans, learning about why it is written not to a specific situation within the church in Rome, but rather to establish understanding on some of the tenets of the Christian faith with a church Paul had not yet visited. With Ruth we looked at the theology of work; and our approach to work: do we do it because we feel an obligation, as a means to an end, or as a vocation? This was helpful for reflecting on life beyond the internship, and where to go fromhere.</p><p>Placements continued as normal; although for me some of them re-started this week, as last week they didn’t happen as normal for various reasons. The Year 5 girls in the CU that Ian and I lead looked at the story of Elijah, and about how we should put God before other things in the world. Emily painted glass vases with some of the girls at Aquila Way, whilst Josh did some gardening. Meanwhile, Claypath Pastorate looked at how we should read the Bible well, and why we should read it, setting the challenge for those who wanted to try reading it every day for a week, and seeing the difference that made to their relationship with God.</p><p>Prayer points:</p><p><ul><li>That we would all finish catching up on sleep after houseparty: we’re most of the way there, but not quite, so prayer for a restful day off on Saturday would be appreciated.</li><li>For Faye and Chris as they prepare for the second launch of Alpha this term: for having enough volunteers for the various things that need doing, and for the students as they invite their friends along.</li><li>For placements as we start back after a relatively long break: that it would not take much time to re-establish and continue to build relationships that were built up last term.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Susie Boyce</em></p> Susie Boyce http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=132 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ian_blatcher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ian Blatcher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The first part of this week saw several things getting back to a more normal routine for many of us interns as placements started up again, along with the first intern/staff team meeting of 2011. Well, not for me, as I had a job interview on Tuesday, but the first part of this week was, timetable wise, quite ordinary. I think we needed this. The second part of this last week was just a little bit more hectic.</p><p>I’ve been on three now, but the King’s Church Student Houseparty hasn’t ever yet been ordinary for me. We had fantastic food, fun, fellowship and teaching. Most important however were the many different encounters with God people had on our time away.</p><p>We had really useful teaching from mark Elder across four of our sessions on what it is to be a mature Christian, which covered such topics as, ‘Know why you love being a Christian’ and ‘Reject Destructive Mindsets’. His teaching was not only good but it really resonated with many people. Ruth also led us through the whole Bible in a little over an hour, an impressive feat I have now seen twice; I’m sure I learnt at least as much the second time around! It’s really powerful seeing the whole sweep of the biblical story in one go. The worship at this year’s Houseparty was exceptional. I could say a lot more, but the Holy Spirit was really at work in that sports hall, and time and again we focused our all on praising God. Norman and Hazel did it again, this time with much help from Jenny and Jonny. Somehow they managed to produce an amazing quality and quantity of food, despite cooking across multiple kitchens and serving in two venues. Thanks again to them.</p><p>The Friday night entertainment was a real shift on previous years. I’m pretty glad of the direction taken by Pete, Josh, Faye and Joe. It was fun, but it didn’t involve one thing that was disgusting, and the messiest activity only involved a little water. Cheers Guys!</p><p>I’m amazed I’ve got so far down without mentioning Phil, who organised the Houseparty. So now I have. Thanks!</p><p>Houseparty was wonderful; I’m looking forward even more to what God has in store for us this term.</p><p>Prayer Points:</p><p><ul><li>That we hold on to what we have learned and seen of God at Houseparty and take it on board in the long term.</li><li>That we will not go back to an ‘ordinary’ weekly routine, but to serve God and continue to listen to what he would have us do.</li></ul></p><p>PS. Just in case any students are reading this: If you came to Houseparty – thank you. It would have been pretty strange without the students! So many of you were open to share in small groups, share in a big meeting and it’s been great getting to know you better.</p> <p><em> - Ian Blatcher</em></p> Ian Blatcher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=131 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/emily_pringle.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Emily Pringle" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello one and all! I thought I’d continue with the theme of snow related titles, since the snow has continued to grace us with its presence. Although, after walking, or rather sliding down Gilesgate bank this morning, I think Durham is slowly turning into one big ice rink.</p><p>In light of the snowy conditions for Friday outreach this week, many of the elderly residents who come to the Gilesgate coffee morning couldn’t make it out. So we brought the coffee morning to them by delivering slices of cake to their front doors, and inviting them to our up and coming Christmas meal. Some of the team also set to work shovelling a path from the estate to ease access to the local Sainsbury’s. This has, we hear, turned out to be particularly useful now that the ice has hit Durham. Many of the resident cell groups have also been braving the cold this week, as we headed out to bless the people of Durham with our dulcet (well mostly dulcet) tones and mince pies. Despite the numb fingers and toes, it turned out to be rather fun and a great opportunity to invite people along to this Sunday’s Christmas guest service.</p><p>Many of our placements this week have also had a Christmassy feel to them. Chris and Pete have been rehearsing with the guitar group at the Gilesgate comp, who will be performing Jingle Bells in their school Christmas concert next week. Meanwhile, Aquila and Orchard have been getting creative with a spot of Christmas craft, making nativity scenes and tree decorations galore. Paper snowflakes at Orchard proved to be a particular highlight (though admittedly I seemed to enjoy it more than the kids!) and plans are now officially underway for many a Christmas celebration next week.</p><p>This week also saw the last pastorate meetings of term. It was great to have so many students wanting to come along, despite the numerous essay deadlines which seem to stack up around this time of year. We spent the evening looking at worship in the Viaduct pastorate, and I was very encouraged to see how thankful people were for the ways God has been at work in their lives. At the same time, up on the hill, there was a guest pastorate this week. This provided a chance for those attending to discuss and challenge the stereotypes which are often held about Christians and to find out more about what the Christian journey is actually like.</p><p>Thanks for your continued prayers. This week we would greatly value your prayers for:</p><p><ul><li>Christmas meal: We’re having a Christmas meal on Friday for the residents of McNally Place. Pray that preparations would run smoothly and that people would want to come along despite the cold weather.</li><li>Energy: Many of us are starting to feel quite tired and run down. Ask that God would give us the energy we need to invest in things in the last week.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Emily Pringle</em></p> Emily Pringle http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=130 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/chris_morgan.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Chris Morgan" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Well for those that haven’t guessed it’s been a very snowy week. Most of us have had placements cancelled due to the weather with schools being shut and travelling to and from other placements proving too difficult.</p><p>We have been doing some things this week though. Monday started with Theology 101, Susie made Pea &#38; Lettuce soup and we discussed the Holy Spirit with Melody Briggs, and in the evening there was Interact. Tuesday saw us moving to the Appleby Rooms for our Team Meeting and afternoon teaching session with Mark. On Wednesday we had Student Caf&#233; in the afternoon and then on Thursday there was teaching with Ruth with the final Student Alpha in the evening. Other than that there hasn’t really been anything else going on that pops up in our normal week.</p><p>With not much going on this week it has given us all a chance to look to things that are coming up over the next couple of weeks. Josh and I went out filming in the snow on Wednesday for the Guest Pastorate next Thursday. Others have been writing essays and preparing talks for various events coming up.</p><p>With a shortened report for this week I’ll give you extra prayer requests:</p><p><ul><li>Continue to pray for those trapped inside by the weather. The forecast doesn’t look great for the next few days in terms of it thawing so pray that we and other people around the city can help those affected in the best possible way.</li><li>For those that have just finished the Student Alpha course, that they will continue in their journey of getting to know God better.</li><li>For the Christmas Present Wrapping in the Gates Shopping Centre on the next two Saturdays. Pray that people will feel blessed by the simplicity of having their presents wrapped for free and be inquisitive about why we are doing it.</li><li>Pray for the preparations for the Christmas Guest Service on the 12 December.</li><li>Pray for the Hill Guest Pastorate on the 9 December and for John Castling as he talks on the theme of “Journey”</li></ul><p>Thank you for your prayers and support. Keep warm!</p> <p><em> - Chris Morgan</em></p> Chris Morgan http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=129 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/pete_gower.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Pete Gower" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>A warm hello from all of the interns! You’ll be needing it after all the snow we’ve been having!</p><p>This week has been a fairly normal one for all of us, Monday saw our penultimate Theology 101 session looking at the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and what this means for us. We spent a lot of time looking at 1 Corinthians 15 where Paul explores the Corinthians’ suggestion that there is no resurrection of the body. The turning point comes in verse 20 where Paul states, ‘but in fact Christ has been raised from the dead’ before exploring all that this means for us. What a wonderful and certain hope we have!</p><p>Placements have continued as normal despite the snow, with Faye and I going up to Low Newton and Frankland prisons earlier in the week and others heading off to help with various Aquila projects. The Orchard also took place this week as many parents and the young children sought refuge from the cold weather.</p><p>On Friday night I was out with the After Hours team. This is a regular outreach project headed up by King’s working in partnership with the CU. This week our volunteers were out in the driving snow serving free hot drinks to brave clubbers and also myriads of people who ventured out (some even in their pyjamas!) for a snowball fight in the freshly fallen snow. People were really grateful for the hot drinks and it was a great opportunity for us to witness to them as we were out in the freezing cold still determined to bless the people of Durham. We had some great testimonies at the end of the night and it was a really encouraging time for all involved.</p><p>Student cells and pastorates continue around the city with many students signing up for Houseparty. I’m going to use this opportunity to shamelessly plug it, so if you’re a student reading this, SIGN UP NOW! It’s such a fantastic opportunity to meet other students from King’s and really allow God to inspire all of us for the term ahead, definitely not to be missed.</p><p>Prayer Points for this week:</p><p><ul><li>For all those trapped inside by the snow. For many this kind of weather can be extremely isolating so pray that God draws near to those people and they have enough supplies to get through.</li><li>For energy as deadlines for the students begin to loom and Christmas mission preparation ramps up.</li><li>For After Hours, that God would continue to work through it to reach out to people in Durham.</ul></p><p>That’s all for this week folks. Stay safe in the snow and remember to wrap up warm!</p> <p><em> - Pete Gower</em></p> Pete Gower http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=128 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/faye_collins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Faye Collins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p> So another week has passed, the evenings are getting shorter and whether we like it or not, Christmas is fast approaching. With snow forecast for the weekend and wooly hats aplenty, this week saw the start of the inevitable cold spell we had been anticipating. </p> <p> However, as we know, nothing pashes the intern team, so placements continued and plans for the guest service started to come together. The theme for this terms guest service was &#34;Promises Promises&#34;, in an attempt to get people thinking about broken promises and the faithfulness of God. Chris and Josh were on PA duty, Ian was heading up pack down organisation, Faye and Becca took over as head caterers, Emily and Susie were in charge of decorations, and Pete was very brave in volunteering to lead the service up front.</p> <p> After two weeks of planning trips to Makro and the acquiring of fairy lights, the day was upon us. The snazzily-dressed catering team welcomed the guests as they descended into the ballroom, who were met with a stunning view of the sparking room adorned with twinkling lights, silver backdrops, and beatiful table decorations, then offered drinks and shown to their seats. The evening started with a thought-provoking video on the topic of internet advertising created by Andy Dykes, Sammy Hicks, and Chris Morgan, followed by a series of drama sketchers performed by Becky Steed, Matt Urwin, and Phil Davies, the most memorable being a hilarious remake of a scene from Titanic.</p> <p> Peter Dray from UCCF was our guest speaker for the evening and gave a really passionate yet sensitive talk on the prophesies of Isaiah 53, and the evening ended with some music and hot drinks and cakes brought to the guests' tables, which seemed to go down well! Overall the evening was a great success with around 170 people attending, many of whom wrote down prayer requests or wanted to know more about Alpha courses. </p> <p> Speaking of Alpha, both the Resident and Student Alphas are going strong with the Student Away Day happening over the weekend, with the focus of the day being on the Holy Spirit, and we continue to thank God for the great work he's doing in peoples' hearts.</p><p>In conclusion, it's been a spectacularly busy but thoroughly enjoyable week, and we look forward to the challenges of the next few weeks! </p> <p><em> - Faye Collins</em></p> Faye Collins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=127 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/susie_boyce.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Susie Boyce" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>So, ten weeks in! Having now mostly started all of our placements and starting to get into the swing of things, things have been notched up a gear. The preparation hats are most firmly on for all things Guest Service-y and Christmas-y, as well of course, for something to delight and entertain at the Christmas party!</p><p>Friday morning saw the intern team, plus Becca, Rachel and Paul ‘Roof-tile’ Burgess, divide into 2 groups: one doing some gardening in Newton Hall (and having great fun with the hedge trimmer), the other holding a coffee morning in McNally Place. Both were ways of reaching out to the community in a practical way as an expression of God’s love for them.</p><p>Placements continue as normal this week. A few highlights include: Interact, the evening for international and UK students, where those who braved the wet and chilly weather had much fun making toffee apples, doing sparklers and learning about the origins of the very British celebration that is Bonfire Night. This was continued from a similarly Bonfire-y theme at the Orchard, where the children dipped marbles in paint and rolled them over a piece of black paper in a baking tray to produce some very colourful fireworks; numbers have ballooned at the Orchard, which can only suggest great fun being had by all!</p><p>Chris visited Aquila Way for the first time this week, and progress is being made on paper work for both his and Pete’s prison visits, so thanks for the prayers about that!<br>We were reminded this week, in our study of Richard Foster’s book ‘Freedom of Simplicity’, of the need to remember what the essential things in life are, and what is nice but not a necessity! I was most struck by the reminder that God is our portion: that we find all we need in Him.</p><p>In teaching this week we have been looking at Mark’s gospel with Mark, and at the reasons behind the view of the gospels being eye-witness testimony as opposed to oral history; and on Thursdays with Ruth we have started looking at Spiritual Gifts. We looked at what spiritual gifts are, what their purpose is (to glorify God and build up his people, rather than for our own benefit) and, with much anticipation, what our own spiritual gifts were. We were able to see the variety of spiritual gifts within the intern team and how these complimented and worked alongside each other’s gifts, rather than, as Paul says in 1 Cor. 12:16, us all being an eye or an ear!</p><p>Some things we would really appreciate prayer for:</p><p><ul><li>Thanks to God for all the progress on the prison paper work, and for Pete in particular as he starts to prepare for this placement in the next few weeks.</li><li>As our weeks get busier, that we would continue to look to God for all we need, rather than striving in our own efforts.</li><li>For the planning and preparation for the guest service: for wisdom, guidance and inspiration, and for those who will be coming along to it.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Susie Boyce</em></p> Susie Boyce http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=126 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ian_blatcher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ian Blatcher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>I take over for the end of quiet week, which was a much needed break for us interns. With no teaching in the mornings I managed to sleep in till a luxurious 10am most days. I also had time for leisurely pursuits, such as reading ‘a few’ books. However this time was soon over and we are now back to our full timetables.</P> <p>On the evening of Saturday 30th was the church ‘Light party’, which was an alternative to Halloween parties for the kids at Kings and their friends, with fun and games and party food. My job was in the kitchens helping with the food, as well as helping judge the pumpkin carving competition. Fun was had by all (including the helpers!) and the kids were reminded that Jesus is the light of the world.</P> <p>On Monday we had our monthly church prayer meeting, which was a great opportunity for the congregation to meet together and thank God for the things he is doing in Durham, ask for his guidance in planning for the future of the church and for specific upcoming events. There was a really great atmosphere with people focussed on God in expectation of his mighty power.</p> <p>I had a couple of firsts this week as well, though not as many as my last entry in the internlog. Susie and I ran the Year 5 CU at the local High School for the first time, getting the girls to recall how God rescued the Israelites from Egypt and explaining how God listens to our prayers for help. I also ran my first session at Edberts House, a community centre in Gateshead. A few children came along and made a firework display mobile which is now decorating one of the rooms. Amazing what can be done with a few cardboard tubes, some crepe paper and glitter!</p> <p>Prayer Points: <ul><li>We are starting to get used to our ‘normal week’, which is great! Pray that we continue to work in God's strength and guidance now we start to feel we can do more things on our own.</li> <li>We now have more preparatory work to do, and some of us have more responsibility at our placements. Please pray for energy to keep us going and joy in our tasks.</li></ul></P> <p><em> - Ian Blatcher</em></p> Ian Blatcher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=125 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/josh_bargh.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Josh Bargh" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week is the much anticipated interns’ Quiet Week, a chance to enjoy a little more time off for relaxation and recuperation; a week without our usual three teaching sessions, team meeting or Friday morning outreach. Having said that, there’s still been quite a lot going on, with placements continuing and the odd extra event taking place.</p><p>Saturday’s Morning of Mission followed on from the work done in this summer’s June Project, giving the whole church the opportunity of doing some outreach in the local community together. Teams were spread across the city, around the Marketplace, Newton Hall and Gilesgate, doing bulb planting, litter picking and some first contact. I was with a team in town giving out free chocolates as an expression of God’s love and grace and also inviting people to church. We had lots of good conversations and were able to pray with some people too. It was encouraging to see how open people were and how keen they were to chat about their experiences of church.</p><p>On Monday evening there was the new musicians’ session at the Appleby Rooms. It was amazing to see the wealth of musical talent in those who had come to get involved and how quickly they all gelled together. The session was aimed at encouraging people to get involved in worship at Sunday services and giving them the chance to find out more about how things work at Kings. Keep your eyes peeled for viola and 12-string guitar appearances in the coming weeks! If you missed the session and would like to find out more, do contact Chris Juby who will be organising another session like this next term.</p><p>Prayer points:</p><ul><li>Please pray that the interns would use their extra time off wisely to relax and re-energise so that they can throw themselves into the next half-term’s activities.>/li><li>Thank God for the work we were able to do in the Morning of Mission and that the people we worked with were blessed and encouraged, and that the work we did will have a positive and lasting effect.</li><li>Thank God for the enthusiasm of the new musicians and pray that they would feel welcomed in the worship bands that they play in and encouraged as they grow in this area.</li></ul> <p><em> - Josh Bargh</em></p> Josh Bargh http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=124 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/emily_pringle.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Emily Pringle" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Over the past few weeks I’ve noticed that as interns we do a lot of sharing with one another. We share food, every Monday at Theology 101, for instance. This week it was Pete’s turn to cook, as we were treated to a delicious carrot and coriander soup. With the classic tomato and basil being earmarked by Chris for next time, I fear that we are rapidly running out of flavours. I dread to think what strange concoction we will be treated to by week 39 of the internship!</p><p>The sharing of food was of course also enjoyed in our final student lunch this Sunday, as many new students, and a few hungry returning students, headed up to the Appleby rooms after the Sunday morning service. It was great to have the opportunity to meet some new students, and find out about their experiences of Durham so far.</p><p>As interns we also share in fellowship with one another. This week we have been studying the doctrine of the Trinity, and how God is a relational God. We looked at how within the one essence that is God there exists a relationship of three persons. Just as God is in community, so we too are called to live in community with one another. As interns so many of our placements revolve around community, and it has been great to see God at work as we begin to establish and build these relationships week by week. In our school placements we are beginning to get to know the children and youth better. This week Chris has been teaching guitar to some of the young people at the Gilesgate Comp, and Faye is hoping to start up a music group soon. Student cells and pastorates have also started well, with many second and third years getting involved with cells for the first time, and even some keen freshers coming along.</p><p>We also have opportunities to share in fellowship with one another each week at team meeting. This week we were looking at how the Early Church embraced an attitude of exceptional generosity, sharing their entire lives with one another. In Acts we read that,</p><p>“the company of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:31-32)</p><p>To live in such a way that all things were shared and distributed to those who needed them is certainly a hard example to follow, but left us with some food for thought. Yet it seemed that some of the interns had taken the idea of sharing all they had a step too far this week, by sharing their various illnesses with us all! This has left many of us feeling a little run down and lacking in energy. So I have come to the conclusion that not all sharing is good sharing. Therefore I urge you, please share your food, and of course share your fellowship, but DO NOT share your flu. Fortunately next week is half term, so we can look forward to a week of rest and recuperation as intern quiet week approaches.</p><p>Thanks for your continued prayers. We ask that this week you would pray for:</p><ul><li>Alpha – thanksgiving that the launch night went really well last week. Pray that people would continue to come along, engage in the discussions and that God would reveal himself to them.</li><li>Quiet week – that we would use our time effectively, and that God would provide us with energy and restored health.</li><li>Morning of mission – many of the resident cells are involved with various mission activities on Saturday. If you could pray that God would give us courage, and that our actions and words would be a blessing to the people of Durham.</li></ul> <p><em> - Emily Pringle</em></p> Emily Pringle http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=121 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/chris_morgan.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Chris Morgan" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello one and all! This week has been a very busy one! Building on all the work we did with Freshers fair and student leader training last week, this week was when it all really kicked off with the student work.</p><p>This all started last Friday night with After Hours where we serve hot drinks to clubbers outside the Student’s Union and in the Appleby Rooms. This was a really good time where we got to bless many people and were able to show them Jesus’ love for them in a really practical way. During the night one of the members of the team got a chance to speak to one of the guys from the last series of ‘The Apprentice’ which provided much entertainment for everyone!</p><p>Sunday was a busy day. We were back to the normal term time routine of having three services and on top of that we had Student Lunch for first year students who wanted to find out more about the church (or just wanted a free lunch!). The morning service saw potentially the biggest King’s meeting ever in terms of congregation size – there were about 400 people there. We had our first Crux and Connecting with God services of the year which were both fairly busy as well.</p><p>Monday saw us discussing the theology of creation as well as tasting Josh’s ‘Red Lentil and Bacon’ soup. Both were fantastic! However this means that the bar that measures the quality of the soup is still very high so I’m hoping that Pete does a standard soup next week otherwise I’ve got some problems in the following week!</p><p>Placements continued in the afternoon and into Tuesday as did our look at the comparison of the Gospels with Mark. Wednesday saw more placements as well as student caf&#233; – one of the highlights of my week. This is a really good time to meet with the students and get alongside and help disciple them.</p><p>In the evening the student cells in Claypath started which was followed on Thursday by Hill &#38; Viaduct pastorates kicking off.</p><p>Student Alpha had its launch night yesterday as well. There was more free food in the form of a curry and there was also music from Mr. John Castling as well as many guests which was really encouraging.</p><p>Please pray that:</p><ul><li>Those that started at Student Alpha on Thursday that they continue to come and that they come closer to Jesus.</li<li>For the Freshers in Durham as they continue their ‘church-hunt’ that they come to a decision as to which community they want to belong to and grow in.</li><li>For energy for all of us as we come to another busy Sunday with Student Lunch as well as the three services.</li><li>For time management – with all our placements having started it’s important we use our time efficiently.</li></ul> <p><em> - Chris Morgan</em></p> Chris Morgan http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=120 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/pete_gower.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Pete Gower" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello everyone! I hope all of you are well and have enjoyed the warmer days of sunshine we have encountered over the last few days. Although there was a large amount of rain at the end of last week, it has not prevented our continued flurry of activity.</p><p>Last Friday morning saw us split into two teams, one in Gilesgate to restart the coffee morning at McNally place and the other in Newton Hall as Paul showed us round the area. By all accounts the coffee morning went well and we had a good time in Newton Hall thinking about ways we can reach out to that community over the coming weeks. We all then travelled down to Student Leader Training for a few hours, which was happening on the Friday and Saturday, as the new student cell and pastorate leaders had some training sessions.</p><p>Sunday saw the arrival of more than 3,000 new students (!) to Durham on an extremely rainy Freshers’ Sunday. After Morning Worship we went to join a number of returning students for lunch at the Appleby Rooms which was a lovely occasion to talk to some friendly faces and find out about people’s summer adventures. That evening also saw the year’s first evening service after a tremendous Sunday supper.</p><p>On Monday we had our first session with Melody at Theology 101 looking at the doctrine of scripture. Ian provided us with some delicious soup for lunch which the rest of us will now hope to live up to in the coming weeks – the bar has certainly been set high!</p><p>On Tuesday, teaching continued with Mark before Chris, Faye and I headed up to Gilesgate for our first placement working with Youth for Christ in a school. We were able to have a tour and also chat to some of the kids.</p><p>In other news the CUs at Durham Johnston have begun (spread the word!) as has student caf&#233; which is running on a Wednesday and Friday afternoon. Aquila placements are continuing as normal, along with the Orchard. The rest of the week is quite busy for everyone as we go out on outreach tomorrow morning and restart After Hours on Friday night.</p><p>Prayer Points for this week:</p><ul><li>For our placements which have now all started – that we would be like salt and light in those places.</li><li>For the advent of student cells and pastorates and Student Alpha launch night next week.</li><li>This week many new students will come to Kings on the annual ‘church hunt’. Please pray for us as we seek to welcome them into our community here and continue to pray for the freshers settling in also.</li></ul> <p><em> - Pete Gower</em></p> Pete Gower http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=119 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/faye_collins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Faye Collins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>So we have got to the end of another week. The induction period is over, placements are starting and it’s time for the interns to take a deep breath and plunge into the exciting ever-changing waters of the real world! All placements besides Youth for Christ and the prisons have begun, and we are all now eagerly awaiting the arrival of the students so that we can get properly stuck in. This week has been quiet for some of us and a time of new beginnings for others, so I’ll give you a run-through of our activities this week.</p><p>We kicked off with some good old worship on the streets on Friday morning during our outreach slot. We spent over an hour singing some secular and popular Christian tunes with a couple of acoustic guitars and a shaky egg to help us along the way. Despite the windy conditions outside and the pneumatic drills of the workmen in the market place we could not be drowned out, and our voices could apparently be heard all the way down into the indoor market and round Prince Bishops! It was all systems go again Sunday morning with set-up training, although I think it will take a few more sessions for some of us before we get the hang of it. We all visited Jesmond Parish Church in Newcastle on Sunday evening to worship with them and to get a feel of how their student services are run. The church has a large student congregation and we all felt really welcomed. Monday morning began with a short teaching session before a couple of interns went off to their first sessions in their various houses at Aquilla way, which they thankfully managed to locate thanks to Google maps! Other interns hosted a Christian union at the Durham high school leaving the rest of us to catch up on some Bible reading. Our Tuesday teaching slot with Mark was really interesting as we studied how the New Testament is put together, and how the texts have been passed down the ages since 1 Thessalonians was first written by Paul, Silas and Timothy in around 50AD. Team meeting continued our study on the first chapters of Richard Foster’s book on The Freedom of Simplicity, which raised some challenging points to consider. Wednesday morning saw all the interns either prepping for upcoming placements or working on assignments. We all received new timetables on Thursday covering the next few days of exciting fresher madness! All our timetables are now considerably fuller, giving us all lots of opportunities to put some of our training into practice. Although certain aspects of the new few days may look a bit daunting to some of us we are all very enthusiastic to get going and to bless people in the name of Jesus.</p><p>Prayer we would all be eternally grateful for:</p><ul><li>That we will be full of the Holy Spirit and that God will fill us with energy, joy and enthusiasm ready to meet the new students and people on our placements.</li><li>For God to speak clearly to us and show us the people he wants us to engage with.</li><li>That we will be open to God and that he will give us ears to hear his voice.</li><li>That we will all have servant hearts and see people through Jesus’ eyes.</li></ul> <p><em> - Faye Collins</em></p> Faye Collins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=118 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/susie_boyce.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Susie Boyce" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello from all of us! Lots has been happening since the last internlog; in particular the second half of the interns' trip to Hunstanton. The infant and junior school assemblies went well on Friday morning. These were based on Jesus' story of the wise man who built his house upon the rock, with the children particularly enjoying the song and actions we taught them. Saturday was a rest day, and saw a trip to the beach at Wells for all the interns and Paul.</p><p>Many thanks for all your prayers for the open-air service on Sunday. Looking out at the damp sky early Sunday morning made us a little concerned that the service would be happening inside the church due to the rain: however, when the time came for the decision to be made about where the service would take place, the rain stopped! It remained clear for the rest of the service, which was a real answer to prayer!</p><p>The service itself, which was on the theme of 'Foundations' and what we build our lives upon, also seemed to go very smoothly, with all the interns able to get involved in lots of the different parts of the service. We were particularly praying that not only would the church in Hunstanton that we were serving that week be blessed, but also a glimpse of God's heart would be seen by people passing by the bandstand.</p><p>The trip has seen us all take steps at times that we weren't too confident to take, and seeing God work wonderfully.</p><p>The rest of the week has seen reflection on the trip with Ruth, and a return to teaching and placement visiting, as well as the start of The Orchard at the Appleby Rooms.</p><p>Prayer points:<br><ul><li>Please pray for us as we start our various placements, that we would quickly settle into them and be a blessing there.</li><li>Safe travel for interns who are out of Durham this weekend.</li><li>Thanks-giving for the last week, and for continued growth in areas we stretched ourselves in, and continued reliance on Him.</li></ul></p> <p><em> - Susie Boyce</em></p> Susie Boyce http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=117 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ian_blatcher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ian Blatcher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The internship does not have a slow start, we are only in our second week and I’m writing this over half way through a week of mission in Hunstanton on the north Norfolk coast where we are working with The Way Christian Fellowship. Since the last Internlog entry we have had many firsts.</p><p>We spent Friday morning planning for the Hunstanton trip. In the afternoon we split into our discipleship groups for the first time; these provide a place where we can talk though any difficulties we are having and receive prayer. These groups form an important part of the support structure for the interns.</p><p>We were also on setup on Sunday for the first time, wearing our new intern t-shirts which this year are Navy blue with a bright red collar to help us stand out. This was the first time the seven of us were formally introduced to the congregation as interns.</p><p>We have all been in Hunstanton since Monday night – our first trip as interns together. We were greeted by smiling faces, waving and a barbeque which I particularly enjoyed. We have spent our time on the streets of Hunstanton speaking to people, inviting then into the free caf&#233; our hosts run as an outreach centre and to the outdoor service we will be running on Sunday. Some of us have had really good conversations and prayed with people who we will be looking out for on Sunday.</p><p>We were fortunate as the Tour of Britain Cycle race passed through Hunstanton for the first time while we were here, and the locals turned up in force to see the cyclists come through. We were able to bless the community by helping set up some marquees for the entertainments and water tent. This also gave us a great opportunity to invite people to our Sunday Service.</p><p>By the time you read this we will have given assemblies in two local primary schools, both on Friday morning.</p><p>We would really appreciate if you would pray for us, as in everything we do this week we need God’s strength. Here are a few points to pray for.</p><ul><li>That we would continue to grow together as a team</li><li>That the service we run on Sunday will be a success; particularly for good weather, that people would come and that our planning would be guided by the power of the holy spirit and that people would listen and take it all in.</li><li>That we would have a safe journey back to Durham on Sunday evening.</li> <p><em> - Ian Blatcher</em></p> Ian Blatcher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=116 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/josh_bargh.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Josh Bargh" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello and welcome to the first Internlog for the interns of 2010-11! Each week one of the seven interns will write a bit about what we’ve been up to during the week to keep you up to date with our adventures – there’s a lot more that goes on outside services on Sundays, that’s for sure!</p> <p>What follows is a few highlights of our journey so far…</p> <p>We began the week (and indeed the year) by sharing with each other how we were feeling about the year ahead. We soon discovered much to our relief that we were all feeling pretty much the same, basically a combination of excitement and nervousness, without much clue of what the next few days would hold! Before long we were smiling and settling down for a delicious [King’s classic] jacket potato lunch getting to know all the church staff.</p> <p>After a long day of anticipation, we found out our personal timetables. We’re each doing slightly different things, including schools work, prison ministry, volunteering with Aquila Way, student ministry, Alpha, and more, alongside the teaching, training and community outreach that we’ll do together. Our first three weeks are an induction period and then we’ll get fully stuck into our weekly routine.</p> <p>We learned a lot more about King’s Church, its values, structure, and how its background fits into the history of the Church in Durham. We also spent some time considering what it means to be a disciple and a leader, two areas we are striving to grow in this year.</p><p>Prayer points for the week ahead:</p> <p><ul><li>We are away on mission week in Hunstanton, Norfolk next week. Please pray that we would be open to God using us in new ways and that we would put our trust in him especially when we are pushed outside our comfort zone.</li><li>Please pray for the group, that as we continue to get to know one another we would become great friends and be able to work effectively as a team.</li><li>Please pray for the church we are working with there, that we would be a real blessing to them and our trip would strengthen relationship between our churches.</li></ul></p><p>Thank you for all your prayers and support, do have a look at our bio’s on the intern page for a bit of information about us and feel free to catch us on a Sunday if you’d like to find out more about our activities, it would be great to get to know you too!</p> <p><em> - Josh Bargh</em></p> Josh Bargh http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=115 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sarah_tripp.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sarah Tripp" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Dear Readers, a fond hello!</p> <p>This Internlog marks the end of an era for all nine of us, and I have the great privilege of keeping you updated! We are now at the end of “Debrief Week”. The last few days have involved a mixture of teaching sessions, reflections, outings and farewells; I shall now let you in on a few of these experiences…</p> <p>Friday morning saw us interns make our final appearance in the streets of Durham for First Contact; we hope that over the year we have blessed passers-by with our dulcet tones and this Friday saw us go into competition with a very loud drill! Unperturbed by the noise, we offered prayer and a number of people allowed us to pray with them on the streets for various situations, whilst others wrote prayers down. We have really seen God at work this year as we’ve stepped out in faith with creative evangelism and we’ve definitely all seen each other grow in boldness as we approach and talk with people.</p> <p>On Sunday we celebrated the baptisms of Jon, Gus and Dean. It was wonderful to hear how God had brought them each to this stage. Following various lunches and afternoon activities, a few of the intern team headed out to Hadrian’s Wall for the evening, where shelter in a pub was sought as a result of torrential rain!</p> <p>Monday began with a teaching session on “Ending Well” with Ruth, where we were able to reflect individually on the past year. We also thought about things that we would miss following the end of the internship, such as belonging to a team, each other, King’s Church, placements, good coffee, being Ruth’s priority, the support, and the expertise and teaching that we have encountered, to name but a few! We thought about the things that we were looking forward to, such as having weekends free, no more targets, being able to support ourselves financially, and freedom from set-up and pack-down teams. We valued the opportunity to think about how we would each continue to grow in our discipleship following the end of our time as interns and were reminded that although the internship may have finished, our journey with Jesus continues!</p> <p>In the evening we enjoyed the excuse to dress up and were treated to a lovely meal out with the leadership team at Oldfields (and cocktails after, where Pimms o’clock was called!). We have been so grateful for their support in prayer over the year and the way in which they faithfully serve King’s Church.</p> <p>Our adventure to Lindisfarne on Tuesday with Ruth, Chris, Phil, Tim and Melody began with lunch which was then followed with a time of worship in St Cuthbert’s Centre. Each intern had prepared a presentation which told the story of “Our Journey” during the year and we shared this with one another. It was so encouraging to see how God had been working in each of our lives – through different means and in different ways to shape and mould us both for now and the future. A couple of us took advantage of the sea and enjoyed a quick dip in the water, with a seal not too far away; others scrambled over rocks, explored rock pools, paddled and investigated the local Mead shop. Due to the heavy rain, we headed back to Durham to have an indoor BBQ at Ruth’s, where we also finished praying for individual members of the team. As we drove back from The Holy Island, we were in awe of the dramatic and beautiful skyline – I love how Creation points us to our awesome Creator God!</p> <p>On Thursday we concluded our teaching time with Melody. We’ve all really benefited from her in-depth teaching on passage analysis and John’s gospel. In the afternoon, we had our final ever teaching session with Ruth (sob, sob!) and discussed things to watch out for in our next steps and the challenges which we might face, how to think about choosing a new church, managing our finances with integrity, and how to live out Christian lives in the workplace. Still remaining - “Exit Interviews”, a feedback lunch, and final King’s Church Service!</p> <p>This year has been a real privilege for all of us. While we recognise that there have been some challenging times, we also know that we have been massively blessed. We are so thankful to God for the opportunity that we have had to serve Him this year and for the ways in which He has deepened our knowledge and understanding of Him, for how He has taught us to learn to rely more fully on Him, how we have grown in His love, and for the ways in which He has shaped and moulded each of us over the year. We’ve had lots of fun, have worked hard, have cried and laughed, but, above all, have definitely grown and seen God’s powerful hand at work both in our own lives and in the lives of others! We’re excited about where God will take each of us next!</p> <p>Please be praying for each of us as we come to the end of a special year.</p> <ul> <li>For Ed, Jonny, Jon and Jenny as they continue to live in Durham and serve in this City. Please pray for a job for each of them and praise God for His provision of housing. Please pray for new friendships to be formed and continued growth.</li> <li>For Andy S, Andy N, Jo, Lou and Sarah as we move away to new homes. Please pray that we would settle in to our new work and study places, for good relationships, and that we would each find a new home church quickly.</li> <li>For next year’s interns – for good rest over the summer and for deep friendships to be formed in the year ahead.</li> <p>Thank you so much for your support and prayers over the last year – they have been invaluable!</p> <p>Well, that’s it! This is the 2009-2010 interns finally signing out.</p> <p>Love Sarah</p> <p><em> - Sarah Tripp</em></p> Sarah Tripp http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=114 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ed_spencer.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ed Spencer" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Oh how eschatological I’m being! </p> <p>Well, things are coming to a close, and rapidly so. I can’t quite believe how quickly things have come together. After a quick calculation I’ve worked out some stats-: that there have been approximately 38 weeks of this year’s internship, which works out at 266 days and about 14,000 intern hours worked this year. And what an amazing year it has been! In team meeting we were talking about how much of His blessing God has poured out this year, not only to us as interns and staff but also the church and the community. It’s been a real privilege and I know I am not alone when I say that come Sunday 25th July we will all be really sad that it’s all over!! God has been amazing!</p> <p>However, there is life after the internship you’ll be pleased and I’m sure somewhat relieved to hear! We have continued our teaching with Melody on the Gospel of John, and the eternal promise of God’s love. Indeed Pete Phillips’ challenging sermon last Sunday on Matthew 6 and the Provision of the Kingdom is such an important message especially in a time where so many of us feel like we are in a state of transition: our circumstances may change and things may seem out of kilter for a little while, but God never changes and He continues to provide for all that we need, albeit not all that we want! </p> <p>God is a gracious God and a just God. Indeed on the topic of grace and justice we studied this morning on war and how Christians should approach violence and conflict- with care and prayer! We read about the amazing story of one army padre in Iraq, who works alongside the troops in the heat of the conflict, providing much needed counsel and Godly wisdom, that’s frontline warfare right there- both spiritually and physically! The discussions that we had provided much food for thought!</p> <p>On the subject of thoughts and thinking, we have finished Theology 101 in recent weeks and now have a substantial part of Monday’s free (to do things like say goodbyes and pack!) I was blessed this last weekend and Monday to have my parents come up to visit, and it was great to see them again, and for them to experience Durham- castle and cathedral tours as obligatory! </p> <p>Other things that have come to an end are most of the placements that we’ve been doing this year, including Aquila placements, prison ministry and school’s work. We have said our fond farewells to the many people who we have built up great relationships with over the course of the year, and will miss them!</p> <p>In light of things finishing we would value your prayers for:</p> <ul> <li>Those of us who are leaving- either for the summer or moving on to other places: please pray that the transitions that we all are going through will be smooth and that God will continue to protect us.</li> <li>For those of us who are staying in Durham for the future, that God would guide us when things seem uncertain, either in terms of careers or callings. Please pray that instead of panic, we would continue to trust in God and know the plans He has for us.</li> <li>Finally, that this next final week of the internship will be a great time of excitement and fun.</li> </ul> <p>The Lord bless you, and keep you; The Lord make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.</p> <p>Every blessing</p> <p>Ed </p> <p><em> - Ed Spencer</em></p> Ed Spencer http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=113 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jenny_jiggins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jenny Jiggins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Welcome to this week's internlog...</p> <p>To pick up from where Andy left us last week mid-mission in London, we all continued to have a fantastic time seeing God at work through us and the other <strong>Ichthus</strong> ‘delegates.’</p> <p>Numbers continued to soar at the Forest Hill kids club and this also provided the opportunity for the boys to dress up as Jack (of Jack and Jill fame). This was particularly amusing when Jon-Jack was abandoned briefly outside Sainsbury’s, providing an unusual photo opportunity for passing drivers. An arts and crafts fair on Saturday also went really well and saw Jonny and Jo trying their hand at face-painting. They also joined the worship band on Sunday morning for church where several familiar faces from the week appeared, some for the first time at a church service.</p> <p>One of the main events at Southcroft was a street party organised by a family who had only recently joined the church. Sunshine, BBQ, music and face-painting all teamed up to set the atmosphere for a really relaxed and fun day which also included a testimony from a member of the family describing how much more joy he got from going to church than from clubbing since he became a Christian. And praise God that a lady gave her life to Jesus that day. </p> <p>In Sittingbourne, Saturday was a day of outreach in the town centre which included drama, worship on the streets, praying for passers-by, inviting them to church and prayer walking. A big crowd gathered to watch the ‘Lifehouse Skit’ which clearly portrays the message of the cross. So even though we didn’t have the chance to chat to everyone afterwards, we know that they all had something to take away and think about which was ace! Having been doing street evangelism all week, I personally really enjoyed being able to pray for whole families, that God would bless them, and prayer walking with some teens who had only given their lives to Jesus the night before!</p> <p>We all returned to Durham Sunday/ Monday pretty exhausted after the week but all with so many amazing stories of God’s goodness- the above is all I could fit on the Internlog! So we enjoyed our day off on Monday when we could catch up on some sleep and mull over what we’d heard and seen.</p> <p>Since then we’ve slid back into our regular routine although with slight variation. Jo and Lou are helping out with <strong>Pipsqueaks</strong> for the last few weeks of term and had loads of fun getting messy with toddlers this morning.</p> <p>Placements are also starting to draw to a close. Jonny had a nice fun last dive involving a treasure hunt and the High School finishes this week so we saw the girls for the last time which was a good opportunity for cake and games but also quite sad that we won’t be seeing them again. I think everyone is starting to realise that the year is very nearly over which is stirring up lots of different emotions.</p> <p>The final couple of weeks have lots of exciting things in store though and we’re not done yet!</p> <p>Few prayer points:</p> <ul> <li>Finishing well. Especially saying goodbye to people on placements who we’ve got to know well over the last year.</li> <li>For good sleep in the wake of missions- so we can do the above!</li> <li> For those of us who are still sorting jobs and/or houses for next year.</li> </ul><p>Thank you!</p> <p><em> - Jenny Jiggins</em></p> Jenny Jiggins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=112 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/andy_nunn.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Andy Nunn" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>As a Londoner born and bred, it's interesting being back here for mission, only half an hour from my place of birth! We are here as part of the Ichthus Christian Fellowship Summer Project for a week working with churches in Sittingbourne, Streatham, Pollards Hill and Forest Hill. Already we are seeing great first fruits. Before the mission I had been reminded 3 times that we are a voice calling out in the desert as it says in Isaiah 40. As well as being reminded that this is God's work and not ours and that in our weakness God is strong!</p> <p>We have seen the first fruits of some people coming to faith, seen healings and been able to pray with many on the streets! So here is just a taster to encourage you and help you to pray for us to see even more!</p> <p>In Forest Hill they have seen their youth club grow from 3 one day to 35 two days later, add to this a women getting healed which is very exciting. Great community atmosphere and lots of people getting involved.</p> <p>In Streatham we have seen such openness when knocking on doors, people asking for prayer for anything from finances and their family getting visas. Today a man really opened up after meeting 5 different members of the team at different times. He shared how hard a life he has had and really needed break through from drugs. This was at a time when we had just done a drama on God breaking through anything from drugs and alcohol to relationships. This man later came to faith which was exciting! We also saw one of the congregation’s neighbours come to faith at a community BBQ.</p> <p>In Pollards Hill, we were able to pray for a woman who wanted to get back into church and people were incredibly surprised that our community BBQ was completely free and open to anyone.</p> <p>In Sittingbourne I don't know where to start: 6 people have come to faith, lots of praying for people on the streets. Plus quite a few teenagers were very interested by dramas and testimonies and are meeting up for coffee with the team to learn more about God!</p> <p>We would love your continued prayers especially for:</p> <ul> <li>Openness of hearts and communities to be changed</li> <li>For the teams to grow in their faith and for energy</li> <li>For protection for all the events and churches</li> </ul> <p>Lots of love</p> <p><strong>The Intern Team</strong></p> <p><em> - Andy Nunn</em></p> Andy Nunn http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=111 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jo_hobson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jo Hobson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p?Hello!!!</p> <p>Yes, the<strong> June Project</strong> has been and the<strong> June Project</strong> has gone and...it was amazing! Durham, Newton Hall and Gilesgate were well and truly taken over as we had over 120 willing delegates in classy white t-shirts and many more participants setting out to do our bit of God’s work in our community. It was great to have people not only from Kings, but from other churches as well! So apart from having great outfits and lots of people what exactly did we get up to I hear you ask...I shall attempt to tell you...brace yourselves!</p> <p>The project began on Wednesday with a packed day of worship, brilliant teaching from James Treasure, and training for some of the activities we would be involved. On this day we were also split into our 12 different teams, each one specialising in a different area of the project. These ranged from my team which was street performance, to sport, working with the elderly or youth, worship or healing on the streets, painting and more! We had the opportunity in our groups to spend time together and pray about what we were about to embark upon! The day ended with a commissioning service. All in all this was a great way to start the project.</p> <p>Days 2 and 3 in the June project house...some faithful and keen delegates made the most of an optional 7.30 am start to these days by blessing tired commuters through giving out coffees at the station. The rest of the days consisted of various exciting activities; gardening in Gilesgate and Newton Hall (we managed to do over 30 by the end of the project!), painting garages, singing in Sherburn Hospital care home for the elderly, an afternoon tea in Gilesgate, two different youth events (involving a football cage, nail art, and a live band), <strong>Orchard</strong> (a children and parents group) in the park, flyering for events, worship on the streets, first contact evangelism, football showings on a big screen in 3 locations and <strong> After hours</strong>! </p> <p>Saturday was another jam-packed day with lots of different great events going on. Lou and Jenny compiled an amazing <strong>‘art space’</strong> in the Gates shopping centre with pieces of art from different members and friends of Kings. Some of the resident cells had organised different events for the day; there was litter picking in Bear Park and on Claypath. We had a BBQ and fun day in Newton Hall and Gilesgate, a Neighbourhood Tea Party up in Mark and Ruth Bonnington’s front garden and Alan Rose led a nature walk in Neville’s Cross. In the town centre there was more worship on the streets as well as a team offering the chance for people to get prayer for healing and my team were doing street performance. Then all the hard work ended with a well deserved ‘RSVP’ style party for everyone involved, who amazingly still had energy to pull out some stunning moves on the dance floor!</p> <p>So, as you can see there were loads of different things going on and many, many people involved, yet the project ran incredibly smoothly (largely due to logistical orchestration of the likes of Sarah Tripp, Chris Juby, Andy Nunn, Paul Burgess and Ed Spencer) and people seemed to be really blessed by the work we did. We heard stories throughout the week of God moving in loads of different ways; by answering so many of our prayers, through delegates and participants having the chance to chat, pray with and show love to people who are really lonely or in difficult situations, through people becoming Christians and being healed, through people feeling really blessed by having their garden done for them or from hearing some beautiful singing. It seems that so much fruit has come out of<strong> June Project 2010</strong> already and there are so many stories to be told but no space so I’d really encourage you to find someone who was involved and ask them about it! God has been amazing to us and the community here this week and he deserves all the praise!!</p> <p>There’s still so much more to say but I shall move on...</p> <p>Prayer Requests for next week...</p> <ul> <li>For all of us interns as we head down to London to do another week of mission with the<strong> Ichthus</strong> church in Forest Hill</li> <li>For Andy Symmons as he’s working doing Christian outreach at Glastonbury music festival this week before joining us in London (prayer for energy would be especially good as he’s got a lot of all night shifts!)</li> <li>For those interns who are making decisions about next year and we can thank God as he’s been really faithful in helping plans come together for a number of us. </li> </ul> <p>Well I think I’ve gone on enough now, I shall leave it there... </p> <p>Hope you have a good week</p> <p>Bye!!</p> <p>Jo</p> <p>xxx</p> <p><em> - Jo Hobson</em></p> Jo Hobson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=110 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jonny_barthow.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jonny Barthow" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello readers of the log,</p> <p>As Lou mentioned in the last log, last week was quiet week and we definitely made the most of the extra free time and good weather. On the Thursday a few of us spent a lovely day at Wharton Park including a barbeque, playing Frisbee, reading and chillaxing in the sun. </p> <p>On the Friday night, <strong>Youth caf&#233;</strong> took place. “It was a laugh. We played rounders outside and kept it real.” Andy Symmons, 2010</p> <p>Last Saturday Lou, Jenny and I attended an <strong>Aquila Way</strong> Volunteer Recognition event in Wylam, the birthplace of George Stephenson. This included a treasure hunt, tea and scones and a certificate presentation.</p> <p>Our school placements have been going well. At the <strong>High School</strong>, Andy and Sarah did a session on being light involving candles. Jenny and I looked at the fruit of the spirit with our group of girls, and we ended by praying for the fruit that we felt we needed the most. At <strong>Durham Johnson</strong>, Lou and Andy looked at the prodigal son. In <strong>Gilesgate Comp.</strong>, Jo’s music group has been going well. There’s a summer concert coming up that Jo can’t be at, so pray that they will be able to perform without her.</p> <p>Jo also had a good time in prison. The music group she helps at there is going well and the 2 tracks they’ve been recording are nearly finished.</p> <p>On Tuesday, Sarah celebrated her birthday in style. In the evening we went to South Shields in the rain where we had fish and chips and played team games on the beach (involving eggs). This ended in several us going swimming in the sea. It was great fun.</p> <p>Stuff for <strong>June Project</strong> is coming together very nicely. Paul Burgess (and his little assistant, Symmo) have finally managed to postition the TV satellite in a place that means we can watch the world cup in the Appleby rooms (huzzah!) Ed is on top of organising gardens and Jenny and Lou have received lots of replies from people who are going to provide art for the art space. We’re all really looking forward to the week ahead, and the different ways God is going to work through us and all of the delegates and participants in reaching out to Durham.</p> <p>Prayer requests:</p> <ul> <li>Interact on Monday – cream tea event for international students. Pray that lots of students will come along and that they’ll feel welcomed and will have good conversations.</li> <li>Pray for the Gilesgate comp. concert – that the girls will be confident in performing without Jo</li> <li>Pray for <strong>June Project</strong> – that we will be on top of everything we have to organise and that during the project we’ll be effective in reaching out to the city.</li> </ul> <p>Logging off, Jonny</p> <p><em> - Jonny Barthow</em></p> Jonny Barthow http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=109 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/louise_wilsher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Louise Wilsher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The sun has both literally and metaphorically shone down on us this week...We’ve been enjoying a much appreciated ‘Quiet Week,’ spending some time re-charging our batteries for the weeks ahead. Highlights of the week have included:</p> <p><strong>Outreach</p></strong> <p>On Friday morning we entered the market square armed with two sofas, coffee and chocolates. At first people were bemused but as an elderly couple came to have a seat and a chat, others soon joined. Many good conversations were had and the sofas provided a comfortable alternative to the minimal seating there. God is always faithful when we step out and take risks, no matter how ridiculous we sometimes feel. </p> <p><strong>Church History</p></strong> <p>We had our final Church History teaching session, this time on the Emerging Church. Each week we have a short ‘service’ so we were treated to muffins, coffee, paints, newspapers to read and pray through, nature images, and soothing music – all orientated around Psalm 8. We’ve immensely enjoyed being immersed into different styles of worship services throughout the centuries. The study has also helped us to be more accepting of other traditions, hopeful that God is at work in the Church and inspired to be radical. Thank you Melody! </p> <p><strong>Family &#38; Entertainment</p></strong> <p>A number of us had family up at the weekend which was brilliant. Some of us also saw the Durham Mystery plays which were modern adaptations of biblical stories. Its creativity was perhaps epitomized in the story of Lazarus which included a real ambulance and actors planted in the crowd, really making it come alive.</p> <p><strong>Baptisms</p></strong> <p>On Sunday we celebrated the Baptisms of Andy, Rachel and Clare. They were each very special and Andy was pleased to be able to invite his neighbours.</p> <p><strong> June Project Preparation</p></strong> <p>Things are falling into place for <strong>June Project,</strong> with around 30 gardens ready to be sculpted, Sarah completing a provisional timetable, and much more going on behind the scenes! Exciting stuff.</p> <p>We’d love your prayers for:</p> <ul> <li>Continued smooth planning for<strong> June Project</strong>. Please pray especially for Sarah who is Project Managing and for all of us as we plan the various activities we are undertaking such as the Street Performance, Art Gallery, Sports Events and so on. We’d love to allow God to work through them by demonstrating His love to people and bringing Him glory rather than ourselves.</li> <li>Please pray for the Prison work – that Ed, Andy and Jo would continue to build genuine relationships there.</li> <li>Praise God for helping the students through exams, and please pray that we’d be able to rejoice with them and support them through the final few weeks of their year.</li> </ul> <p>Thank you so much for your dedicated support and love, </p> <p>Be hugely blessed, </p> <p>Lou xx</p> <p>‘Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel...Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever’ Psalm 73:23-26</p> <p><em> - Louise Wilsher</em></p> Louise Wilsher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=108 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/andy_symmons.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Andy Symmons" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p><strong>Fun:</strong> It has been another week of fun for us interns this week, beginning with the Friday morning outreach, which saw us split into our Gilesgate and Newton Hall teams and continue to flyer and talk to people about gardening projects and other June Project related events. In the evening another dedicated team of students went with Jon Kitley to the library to do After Hours there again, which was met with a similarly warm response to the week before.</p> <p><strong>Fellowship:</strong> This week has also been a great opportunity to build upon the relationships we have built in our placements, particularly in the schools. At Durham High, the girls looked at the Holy Spirit with Jonny and Jenny, and creative prayers with Andy and Sarah. The kids at the Johnston had fun mummifying themselves as we looked at Lazarus, while the older kids looked with Jon at how we can worship God in every aspect of their lives. Meanwhile at Gilesgate the music group that Jo and Kate lead are continuing to prepare for their performance in a few weeks. They also had a successful pampering evening for the girls there on the Wednesday night.</p> <p><strong>Food:</strong> The big event of the week was the Interact meal on the Monday evening. The Interact team were joined by a number of interns and students to help serve Andy Nunn's special recipe Bangers and Mash. The evening was a real success, the Appleby Rooms were full and everyone seemed to enjoy taking a bit of time away from their studies and exams. Meanwhile, at Aquila Way, Jonny and Andy helped out with an event called 'Soul Soup', a big community event for the opening of an outdoor art exhibition with the mayor. Children from local schools participated in a parade with everyone getting a bag of vegetables to make soup!</p> <p><strong>Prayer Points:</strong></p> <ul> <li>June Project - for all the plans and preparations that are beginning to come together</li> <li>Students and others who are busy with exams and work at the moment</li> <li>The baptisms on Sunday morning</li> </ul> <p><em> - Andy Symmons</em></p> Andy Symmons http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=107 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sarah_tripp.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sarah Tripp" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This last week has been quite a steady and “normal” week for us all and it has been encouraging to see God at work through our regular placement and meets...</p> <p>On Friday, we had our first creative outreach session in the Market Square; armed with poster paints, brushes, water and a big canvas, we headed to the centre of town and encouraged anyone who passed by to paint something that they were thankful for. While some people immediately responded with “I can’t paint”, “I’m not artistic” or “I can’t think of anything”, others got stuck in to creating mini works of art and enjoyed playing with colour! A real range of pictures were painted, including friends and family, sunsets, trees, a basketball, “life”, coffee, candle – ‘light everlasting’, a caterpillar and butterfly, the world, handprints to represent identity and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (not all musicians included!). In some cases, we were able to talk further with people about why they were thankful for such things and in other cases, even if there was no response; we hope that the question will have got people thinking about thankful things. In addition to the canvas, we also had a prayer board and off the back of painting, we were able to offer prayer and also used this as a springboard to approach the ‘non-artistic’ passers-by! It’s been really exciting to see a number of Sixth Form students regularly come and talk with us on Friday mornings and many opportunities have opened for us, both with the students and others, to share a bit about what we believe and the life of King’s Church – we’re really thankful to God for this!</p> <p>There was a real buzz at both <strong>Student Caf&#233;s</strong> this week as planning for cells and Pastorates and one to ones have continued. Friday evening saw <strong>After Hours</strong> take a different form; instead of giving out free tea and coffees at the DSU, students focussed their efforts up at the library – people who were working into the wee hours of the night were really thankful for the break provided by the team!</p> <p>Saturday saw a number of us become National Trust members as we headed to Cragside, where we enjoyed both sun and rain (!). We explored some beautiful gardens and looked around an extraordinary Victorian home – the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity! It was lovely to be able to relax together and enjoy some of the beautiful countryside that is so close to Durham.</p> <p><strong>Christian Unions</strong> have been going really well this week. At the High School, girls have been talking about both the Holy Spirit and prayer. It was interesting to hear about how the girls feel about prayer – words they used to describe this included “confusing”, “relieving”, “hard”, “overwhelming”, and “exciting”. We were able to look at Jesus’s example in Matthew and are looking forward to thinking about interactive prayer in the weeks to come and seeing the girls grow in confidence in this area. At the Johnston, students enjoyed making sheep out of cotton wool and matchsticks and even played hide and seek with one – illustrating the story of “The Lost Sheep”.</p> <p>Placement news: <strong>Prison work</strong> has also gone well this week, with the boys (Andy S and Ed) being able to get back in after a couple of weeks absence – thanks for your prayers on this matter. Jo has been cultivating some really good relationships with the girls and continues to get alongside them during music sessions, card making times and nail painting slots! Jenny and Lou have been going baking bonkers with chocolate cakes and iced biscuits at <strong>Aquila Way</strong>.</p> <p>We’d really value your prayers around the following topics:</p> <ul> <li>Praise God for the many opportunities He has given us to share His love and speak about the hope that we have with such a variety of people over the last week! Please pray that He would continue to be at work in the lives of those that we have talked with and for continuing fruitful relationships.</li> <li> <strong>Interact</strong>: This Monday (24th May), we have the first Interact dinner of the term. Currently 27 Japanese students are signed up and other regulars will be attending. Please pray for Ed, Andy N and myself as we prepare for the evening and cook. Please also pray that the students would feel really welcome and blessed by the evening.</li> <li>For the both University and School students: Please pray that they would continue to get the right balance between rest and relaxation and that they would be an encouragement to one another.</li> </ul> <p>That’s it for now! Hope you enjoy the sunshine – I’m enjoying the fact that it’s actually warm!!!</p> <p>Love Sarah</p> <p><em> - Sarah Tripp</em></p> Sarah Tripp http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=106 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ed_spencer.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ed Spencer" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Surprisingly enough, we are already 4 weeks into term. It also comes as a surprise that it was more than a month and a half ago that we returned from our mission trip to Angers, France. Still, they say that the summer term goes quickly! </p> <p>Things are certainly picking up in pace, especially when it comes to the <strong> June Project </strong>. With just over a month to go, the garden projects have already seen an influx of requests, with over 19 gardens already on the provisional list, and that’s only after 1 mornings flyering. (Ok in fairness we did hand out nearly 1000 flyers but the result is still phenomenal!) Now it comes down to the Project Co-ordinator (aka moi- eek!) to visit, prioritise and plan for the teams to do the gardens! It’ll be fine!!</p> <p>Another positive thing, which you may all have noticed is the lovely weather we’ve all had recently. Ok it may have been a bit chilly, but the sky is blue and the birds are singing- and to be honest I concur with the psychologists who say that the weather does affect our moods- at least this recent spell has had a positive effect! </p> <p>Other things of note this week include Jon Kitley having a very positive discussion with a group of teenagers, and on a similar youthful line Jenny J and Jon have both seen numbers increase dramatically at the <strong>Orchard</strong> and <strong>Youth Cafe</strong>. Indeed on Monday we had a prayer evening and testimonies of this were expressed; thanks to God! Thanks also to God for our fantastic teaching that has carried on, both with Mark on Revelation and 1 Corinthians; Theology 101’s discussion of predestination and Melody’s church history teaching- we’re currently just passing through the reformation! It’s great! (The teaching that is, the reformation was somewhat difficult!)</p> <p>This praiseworthy attitude can rightfully continue, as the schools work has been excellent throughout Durham, with highlights including writing Psalms, and the continuation of a very enthusiastic music group. </p> <p>Prison ministry has also been positive, at least for Jo Hobson at the women’s prison. However unfortunately myself and Andy Symmons have not been able to go to our prison placement for a while- prayer for this would be great! </p> <p>Now, onto the subject of students and revision: when the students come out from revising, some decide to spend time resting and relaxing at the <strong> Student Cafe</strong>. Many interns have expressed how well their 1-2-1’s have been going, and the positive attitude in general that the students have, we continue to pray for them as they enter exam season. </p> <p>However, one advantage of the students revising has meant that for one week only we were able to run <strong>Afterhours</strong> outside the library and the DSU, allowing tired students to have a well earned caffeinated beverage (although the irony does not escape me that such beverages do not in fact aid or induce sleep, which is a necessity!) Sarah T was delighted at some very positive conversations there!</p> <p>Now onto the subject of prayers:</p> <ul> <li>Thank God for all the positive placements and teaching of the last week</li> <li>Please pray that Andy and I will be able to return to Prison next week after a significant spell away.</li> <li>Pray also for students, to get the right balance between work and rest and relaxation!</li> <li>Finally, for the new government: that wise decisions will be made in a time of change. </li> </ul> <p>Thanks, and God bless!</p> <p>Ed</p> <p><em> - Ed Spencer</em></p> Ed Spencer http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=105 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jenny_jiggins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jenny Jiggins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Three weeks into term: students had returned, placements were up and running and things were generally ticking along...</p> <p>However, the life of a Kings intern is never a quiet or a dull one. Andy Nunn rarely finds a week when he doesn’t get a divine appointment and a chance to share his faith (this time with a greengrocer) and Sarah wouldn’t be Sarah without organising a tug of war with a group of Primary school kids to demonstrate unfair trade (as part of her work with Traidcraft).</p> <p>We had our second week of church history with Melody, this week stepping back in time to the Eastern Orthodox church- Jon led us in some pretty spectacular chanting and we got to eat taramasalata and pitta bread! We also learnt about the conversion of the Emperor and the effect on Christianity as well as how the Christians at the time were dealing with heresies that arose.</p> <p>As student things began again we were thinking about politics at the Viaduct pastorate on Thursday and it was really powerful to see God move as he stirred students’ hearts to be praying for their leaders and the role of the church with the forthcoming elections.</p> <p>The Sun was shining (ish) on Friday morning as we headed into town to sing in the market square- performing the now nearly perfected ‘France set-list.’ And the scaffolding that sprawled from the centre worked to our advantage as members of the public had little choice but to walk past where we were standing and to hear our melodic tones. &#38;#61514; It went really well and we even had some of the girls from the sixth-form college come and join in with us, apparently the evidence of this is now somewhere on youtube if you have the time to hunt it out...</p> <p>Bank holiday weekend arrived and with it many adventures ensued. On Saturday, one of us (can’t remember who- might have been me) was celebrating their birthday so we all trundled off to Alnwick for the day and had lunch in the Treehouse Restaurant. With 13 of us (there were a few hangers on too!) sitting around in massive wooden chairs, it did feel a bit like the council of Elrond, but this could only be a good thing. We then headed off to climb trees and walls and play in bogs- my idea of a really good time! And Jon was very happy when we fell upon a huge second hand bookshop.</p> <p>Sunday saw the Crux and Connecting services kicking off for the term, beginning our new series on the Resurrection and 1 Peter respectively. And then Monday (Bank Holiday- we weren’t skiving!) brought with it another day of adventures, this time in Hamsterley Forest for the church picnic. A nature walk, crocker, a rope swing, frisbee and food ensured that there was something for everyone. And a bit of drizzle has never been enough to scare off the hardy folk from Kings Church Durham.</p> <p>On Tuesday, we continued looking at Revelation with Mark and then we had the first team meeting of the term when we were all actually in the same place at the same time so it was good to catch-up and pray for each other and the busy term ahead. Jo also had a great time with the music group in prison and they were able to do some recording which is very cool.</p> <p>Also, the school CU’s are going really well. Just today (Wed) at the Johnson, the kids were amazed by the feeding of the 5000 and at the High School, it was a small group but the girls wrote their own really beautiful Psalms to God.</p> <p>So it’s been a week of much hilarity and fun but also of God really working too. So, lots to be thankful for.</p> <p>A few prayer points:</p> <ul> <li>For good sleep and energy as some people are feeling quite run down at this point</li> <li>For Friday as we go back to Gilesgate and Newton Hall estates for outreach- first time this term.</li> <li>For those of us who are unsure what we’re doing next year- wisdom and guidance.</li> <li>For students and all of us to have a good perspective on this term and everything that’s coming up in it.</li> </ul> <p>Thanks! God bless, Jenny </p> <p><em> - Jenny Jiggins</em></p> Jenny Jiggins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=104 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jo_hobson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jo Hobson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello! A belated Happy Easter to you!</p> <p>After 2 weeks of holiday us interns have returned and are ready to embark upon our final term of the Kings internship (sob). We all had a great holiday as we had the chance to spend much needed time with family and friends and to rest. Within the 2 weeks I had the opportunity to serve on one of the youth teams at Spring Harvest, where God was doing amazing things in the lives of the young people there!! It’s so exciting to know that God’s been moving in really powerful ways over Easter in so many different places. Thank goodness he doesn’t give himself an Easter holiday!</p> <p>There’s not a lot to report as we have only been back 3 days though I shall fill you in on some of what we’ve been up too already...</p> <p>To start off the term, on Monday morning, we spent some time reflecting upon how God has worked in our lives and how we have progressed in character, faith and skills so far this year. We were challenged to think about how we would have described ourselves when we began the internship in September and then compare that to how we are now. Although quite a difficult task, it was a really encouraging exercise to do as it helped us realise that God has brought all of us on such a long way in so many areas of lives already...and we still have a term to go! There’s definitely more work to be done! We also considered the areas of our ministry in which we want to really push ourselves in this term whether that is in our theological studies, mission and outreach, Kings ministry and service, or leadership development. As this is our last term we really want to make the most of the opportunities we have and to push ourselves in everything we do so that God can continue to develop our gifts.</p> <p>We have also spent quite a bit of time praying about the term ahead, the things we’re excited about, the things we’re anxious about, the various activities we are going to be involved in (e.g. THE JUNE PROJECT; shameless plug!) and how we feel about the end being in sight...this has been such a great place to begin the term; standing with one another, turning to God and recognising our dependence upon Him in everything we will be doing over the next few months.</p> <p>On Tuesday morning we had the privilege of spending an hour with Katherine Jacklin, talking and praying together about the placements we are doing in various local schools. This was a really valuable hour as we had space to share the stuff God’s doing through our efforts and to pray for the young people we spend time with each week. We also spent some time considering the specific needs of the groups we’re working with and how they might affect the direction we lead them in this term.</p> <p>Prayer Requests:</p> <ul> <li>Andy Nunn - he is stuck in Turkey!! That he, his Dad and his Grandad have a quick and safe return</li> <li>The student leadership retreat which we leave for on Thursday; for safe travel and a great time of fellowship and engaging with God</li> <li>For the interns; that we will be able to settle back into our placements and internship life quickly and smoothly!</li> <p>That’s all for now!!</p> <p>Love Jo xx</p> <p><em> - Jo Hobson</em></p> Jo Hobson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=103 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jon_kitley.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jon Kitley" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Bonjour, tous le monde!</p> <p>Last that you heard from Jonny it was the end of a tiring Friday in France. It’s now the end of a fairly lazy Saturday and we’re no longer in France. Here’s a rundown of what’s happened during the intervening week.</p> <p>Saturday was another busy day and begun with some singing on the streets in Angers’ city centre. This is something we’re quite used to doing as a team in Durham’s Market Square and so was lovely to do again while in Angers. As we sung a number of people stopped to listen and we were able to advertise the church. In the afternoon we split in two: some of us visited a French prison and the rest helped collect food for the <em>Banque Alimentaire</em> at a local supermarket. The people who went to prison (Ed, Jenny, Lou, Jo and Tim) had a really good time meeting and chatting to the inmates there. Jo, Ed and Tim are all involved in prison work in Durham too so it was interesting comparing the French system to the English one they are used to. In the evening we took part in a sort of Evangelistic social with the church’s youth group. This took the form of a ‘bring and share’ dinner with an open mic. As usual we ended up singing a few songs as a group, having fun trying to find songs for which everyone knew the words, French and English.</p> <p>Sunday saw us attending church in French, a slightly bizarre experience for someone who’s never worshipped in another language before. It was great to meet, and be introduced to, the rest of the church we had been serving and also a bit of a ‘mind expanding’ experience to be singing about the gospel in French. From church we went straight on a retreat for a bit of a rest – one which I think we all felt we needed. This is probably underlined by the fact that once we arrived we ate lunch, slept, got up and ate dinner then slept again and got up rather late on Monday morning. Monday was another day of rest - we worshipped as a team in the morning (as we would go on to start every day in the same way that week) before going for a walk, eating another lovely meal and then doing some sightseeing of neighbouring town Saumur. In the evening we returned to our host families for the final 3 days of our stay.</p> <p>On Tuesday we went singing in the streets once more and met with limited success largely due to the rain – we did make good friends with one music shop owner, however, who ended up inviting us to play outside her shop. For the rest of the afternoon we went shopping and sampled macaroons of a variety of flavours. The evening saw us helping at <em>‘Croque Etudients’ </em> the sister scheme to the food distribution we did last week aimed at giving food to poor students in Angers. In France there is very little provision for students, especially foreign students, and many of them are struggling for weekly necessities. In the evening Jonny Barthow took a turn as head chef when some of us cooked spaghetti carbonara for our host family (Jonny’s signature dish). </p> <p>Another form of outreach the church is involved in is furniture provision for those who can’t afford it. Wednesday saw some of us take a foray into the world of furniture construction for this venture. This is a really clever project that is given faulty flat packs by the manufacturers and combines two faulty packs so that you are left with enough parts for one complete article. In the evening some of the party, Sarah included, took part in a football training session with Christians in Sport.</p> <p>Our last full day in France was Thursday. At lunch time we went into a local catholic school and met what was effectively their sixth form Christian Union. It was fantastic spending some time eating with and encouraging them and hearing about that the Alpha course they’d been doing. This meeting culminated with an exchange of songs. ‘O Happy Day’ had become something of our signature by this point and it was fitting to sing it again on our last day. In the evening those of us that wanted to took part in a 7-a-side rotation, organised by Christians in Sport, with teams of homeless people. Sadly Paul, probably our best player, was left in the changing room recovering from a minor niggle he’d acquired the previous evening. He was however on hand to shout helpful advice at our brave boys from the sidelines.</p> <p>That brings us round to yesterday (Friday) which saw Paul make the epic drive from Angers, leaving at 3:30am English time, all the way back up to Durham, upon the way somehow managing to carelessly lose all of us except Tim. As interns we now have the next two weeks off, a fact which I promptly celebrated by sleeping for around 13 hours last night.</p> <p>I think that’s about it, but before I leave you with the prayer requests, I wanted to thank you all for your support and prayers. God really did great things while we were there; giving us energy when we felt drained, building connections with people we could barely communicate with and giving us opportunities to really bless so many different people.</p> <p><strong>Prayer Requests:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Thanks for a great mission. For Paul and Tim leading, for good health while were there, for all the people we worked with.</li> <li>Pray for the church in Angers – for the continued work it does in the community, for God’s continued blessing upon its congregation and for Bernard its pastor.</li> <li>Pray for us – that we are able to have a restful Easter holiday and that we return refocused and fired up for the term ahead. Pray that God would continue doing the things in us he was doing while we were in France. Pray for safe travels as we are on various holidays (notably Andy Nunn to Turkey)</li> </ul> <p>Thank you once again,</p> <p>&#192; bient&#244;t,</p> <p>Jonathan</p> <p><em> - Jon Kitley</em></p> Jon Kitley http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=102 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jonny_barthow.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jonny Barthow" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Bonjour from France!</p> <p>You'll be pleased to know that we arrived safely in Angers on Wednesday afternoon, having set off at lunchtime on Tuesday. Our journey was long but fun, and included a great overnight stay in Jon Kitley's parents' house in Sevenoaks. Jon's dad is the vicar of a church there, so we were privileged to be able to climb the tower of this church which gave us a great view.</p> <p>Once we had finally arrived in Angers, we were greeted by a beautiful double rainbow in the sky, which was a great reminder of God's promise to look after us. We were then escorted to various houses around the city where we will be staying for the week. Our hosts are members of l'Eglise Protestant Baptiste, the church whom we are here to help for the week. They have been wonderful so far, and we've had great fun trying to make conversation, despite limited English on their behalf and limited French on our behalf. We're being well fed - so far the food has been delicieux!</p> <p>Angers is a reasonably large city with around 250000 people living here. On Thursday we started the day by climbing up a hill overlooking Angers, where a cross is located, accompanied by Natalie and Jean, 2 members of the church. We then prayer walked in different areas, praying for the non-christians living there, for local schools and for the christians living in quite a secular environment. In the afternoon we helped with the &#34;Banque Alimentaire&#34;. This is one of the ministries of the church here. 2 of us went to the supermarket and helped hand out bags for people to fill with shopping and hand back to us. This food was then distributed back at the church to people who need it. Andy Nunn had a great time distributing bread in his cockney fashion. He was told by one patron that he was a &#34;happy cow!&#34; We also entertained those waiting for food by singing a few songs for them which brought smiles to people's faces and also caused some folk to break out some dance moves! In the evening we returned to our various houses and some of us attended house groups where we were asked to sing songs and share our testimonies (our French was stretched).</p> <p>Friday began with a talk from Bernard explaining to us all about the history of the church in Angers and also about his personal journey of faith. We then spent some time planning for the afternoon, where we went into a local school and ran 2 hour long, interactive lessons about Palm Sunday for the 11/12 year olds. This included recreating Jesus' triumphal entry, sanging &#34;O Happy Day&#34;, French Bible readings and teaching the Lord's Prayer in English. The kids seemed to really enjoy it! In the evening we helped run a service for the youth of the church, who are actually mostly our ages. It was great to be able to chat to and get to know them, particularly since they seemed to be great at English. This service ended with us brainstorming ideas for what we can do on Saturday evening, when we will have an evangelistic event with them, for them to bring there friends along to.</p> <p>Stuff to pray for:</p> <ul> <li>Pray for energy for all of the team. We have been pretty busy so far and there's still loads to come so pray that we can be as fully awake as possible so that we can be put to the most use.</li> <li>Pray for those going into prison on Saturday - that they will have a great time talking to the prisoners and will be kept safe.</li> <li>Pray particularly for Jenny. She's been doing an awesome job of translating for us but this requires a lot of concentration, so is quite tiring for her.</li> <li>Pray for Paul with all the driving he's had to do. It takes almost an hour for him to pick us all up from our different houses and take us to the church, so pray for safety for him when driving around and also for his energy.</li> <li>Pray for Tim and Paul as they lead us in our various activities here.</li> <li>Pray for us as we sing on the streets on Saturday morning - that people will stop and listen and that God can speak to people through this.</li> <li>Pray for the evanglestic youth event on Saturday evening - that people will have the courage to invite their non-christian friends and that it will be a great chance for people to see church in a postive light.</li> </ul> <p>Thank you for all your prayers :) we're having a blast!</p> <p>Jonny (and the intern team)</p> <p><em> - Jonny Barthow</em></p> Jonny Barthow http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=101 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/louise_wilsher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Louise Wilsher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>These past two weeks we have all become more deeply engaged with some of our favourite films. Each intern has had the task of doing a short presentation as to how their chosen film could be used to reach people with the gospel. It has been brilliant to realise how biblical values are woven into every film, reminding us that all humans are made in God’s image and are marked with his imprint. One thing I learnt through preparing mine on ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is that in India, the colour yellow represents new beginnings– a hopeful thought as we start to see the bright daffodils emerging and look forward to Easter. </p> <p>We’ve been doing exactly that at <strong>Aquila</strong> this week – Jenny made Easter eggs with a 2 year old and his mum - resulting in her getting into the car covered in little chocolatey hand-prints! Meanwhile, I was making Easter baskets out of cardboard and chocolate crispy cakes with mini eggs on top. The girls made one for each of the staff, demonstrating their appreciation. </p> <p>The Christian groups at<strong> Durham Johnston</strong> continue to flourish – in the younger one we’ve been discussing the meaning of Easter and what it means to believe in Jesus. Today their questions centered around what sort of bodies we’ll have in heaven and whether we’d feel pain. It’s a privilege to be sharing a message of such joy and hope to people so open to it</p> <p>On a similar evangelistic theme…. </p> <p><strong>Guest Pastorate</strong> took place for the Hill colleges last week, in which Jon Castling spoke about where we find our worth. In addition, it included video clips interviewing people on what they think Love is, a drama and some beautiful songs performed. The response to the evening was positive as it prompted many to explore the Christian faith further.</p> <p>On Friday the team went out to the Market Place with boards where people could write out <strong>prayers</strong> on post-it notes. At first we were slightly sceptical as to whether anyone would want to do this, but it proved incredibly fruitful. Many people were keen to write prayers – at one point there was even a queue! We found it really exciting as discussions were generally very open, since by its very nature prayer is so personal.</p> <p>Finally, we have been looking forward to our <strong>Mission trip to Angers in France</strong> next week. Dictionaries, Euros, travel insurance and gifts to bestow upon our hosts are currently being acquired </p> <p>We’d love your prayers for:</p> <ul> <li>Our Mission trip to France</li> <li>That we’d be a blessing to the church there and to those we reach out to.</li> <li> For God’s strength and protection.</li> <li>Praise God that Alpha is continuing to go well – please pray for the final session and that those who have become Christians would be well supported.</li> <li>Please pray that students would be able to rest this holiday and not spend it all revising but keep the right perspective.</li> </ul> <p>‘…let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done…’ Psalm 105 </p> <p>Thank you!! Massive Blessings,</p> <p>Lou</p> <p><em> - Louise Wilsher</em></p> Louise Wilsher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=100 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/andy_symmons.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Andy Symmons" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Sunshine and Speedy Meetings</p> <p>I hope that everyone is enjoying the sunshine; it feels as though summer is upon us already! After an enjoyable and challenging few days at<strong> Formation</strong> last week, things have returned to normality for a couple of weeks before we head off to France on the 23rd.</p> <p>Friday saw the team split into their respective teams for outreach. The <em>Gilesgate crew</em> ran another coffee morning for the residents of McNally place, which was well attended and good fun. The <em>Newton Hall</em> gang went out to visit various people, blessing them with flowers and conversations.</p> <p>Later on, the <strong>After Hours</strong> team managed to attract a small horde of Folk festival gatherers, who would appear again on Sunday morning with some interesting consequences for the morning service! For those who weren’t around, the service had to be shortened to 45 minutes to allow the festival to go ahead, meaning that the Appleby Rooms’ capacity was well and truly tested for after-church refreshments. This also meant that the Church record for pack-down after the service was dramatically broken, taking only 11 minutes!</p> <p>This weekend also saw the <strong>Alpha Away-Day</strong> take place. We took a group of about 18 people to the Durham Centre where Emmanuel Church usually meets, and looked at the Holy Spirit, what it is and does, how we might be filled with it, and at how God can guide us to make the most of our lives. The day went really well, so thank you to all those who have been remembering it in your prayers, as God was really at work.</p> <p>Monday night was the night of the <strong>Interact International meal</strong>, where about 35 students attended and enjoyed Andy Nunn’s special recipe, Toad in the Hole. It was great to see so many come and to be a part of it. Prison work and <strong>Aquilla</strong> projects happened as usual on the Monday afternoon, with various <strong>Christian Union</strong> groups and school projects continuing on the Tuesday and Wednesday.</p> <ul> <li>Please pray for us in our preparations for the France mission trip, as it is quickly approaching.</li> <li> Also, pray for the big Church event on Friday night – <strong><em>Parannoyance</strong></em></li>. <li>Please continue to be praying for <strong>Alpha</strong>, which has only a couple of weeks left, and for the students particularly as deadlines and exams approach.</li> </ul> <p>God bless</p> <p>Andy</p> <p><em> - Andy Symmons</em></p> Andy Symmons http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=99 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sarah_tripp.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sarah Tripp" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Dear reader,</p> <p>This week’s instalment is slightly overdue to our time away at Formation and activities following! So in The Sound of Music’s words... ‘Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start!’</p> <p>Friday morning (26th February!) was a very wet and cold morning. However, this did not deter the team from going out onto the streets of Durham and blessing bedraggled wanderers with little bundles of sweets and verses from the Bible. Some sought shelter in the indoor market and had chats with various traders, while others braved the elements. Although the rain may have prevented long conversations (for want of warmth and cover!), we hope and pray that something of God’s love will have been shown. God can move mountains, let’s trust He can use chocolates and verses too!</p> <p>We all took advantage of our Monday morning off, either grabbing a lie-in, going for a coffee or doing some reading and then enjoyed Soup and Theology with Wes. This week we were looking at ‘The Bath that Jesus Instructed - Baptism’. Team Monday then had fun with the dishes, whilst others headed off to placements at Aquila Way (making shortbread, knitting and playing monopoly) and prison. In the evening, the Interact team headed up to Ustinov Bar to advertise the International dinner and meet with students and the rest of the team headed to the Kings prayer evening. Placements for the rest of the week were then put on hold as we headed down south (accompanied by Ruth!) to the Faith Mission Centre in Harby, for the second part of Living Leadership’s ‘Formation’ conference.</p> <p>Harby is situated in the heart of the beautiful rural Vale of Belvoir - the setting provided a welcomed opportunity for reflection, prayer, training and worship with interns and associates from across the UK. The theme for our time away (Tuesday to Thursday) was Transformed by the Glory of God - a series of talks, seminars and worship helped us to think about our experiences of God working in our lives and ministry so far and also helped us to think afresh about what it means to live out godly, servant-hearted lives.</p> <p>It was such a privilege to have the time and space to think about what it means to have our lives and leadership transformed by God. We were really blessed by the leaders on the conference – the time they gave to listen, talk and pray with us was of great value. Aside from teaching and reflective time, we had a chance to embrace the outdoors and sport! Football, basketball, table tennis and getting muddy were in order. We also managed to find a park and fitted 9 people onto a seesaw. Some of us hung upside down on press-up bars, while others jumped off high swings! Other highlights definitely had to include the good food, watching the football at a local pub and spending time with people who we’d met back in September.</p> <p>It’s great to be back in Durham! Give thanks to God for the time we had in Harby, the Alpha Away Day and the International meal (more details to follow in the next internlog!) and please pray for the final two Alpha meetings and for wisdom and guidance as we all continue to meet with students.</p> <p>That’s it for now. Thanks for reading!</p> <p>God bless,</p> <p>Love Sarah </p> <p><em> - Sarah Tripp</em></p> Sarah Tripp http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=98 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ed_spencer.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ed Spencer" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Following on from quiet week we have been back in the swing of things. For many of us things are really positive and it really feels as though we are in a season of God's plentiful richness being given to us in abundance. On Sunday Katherine Jacklin spoke about the importance of Jesus being our satnav, and how often we find that there are other 'passengers' who distract us off our course, these could be negative influences, pressures or even bad habits. We were challenged to identify and pray through what areas of our life we should give to God and redress the balance. </p> <p>After a relaxing morning on Monday, Andy Symmons, Jo Hobson and myself went to the local prisons for our weekly discipleship time with some of the people there. It has been great to see them develop and grow in their walks with God, even under adverse circumstances. We were glad to see the snow melting quickly after such a long cold snap in earlier months, but I was reminded of how beautiful, and yet somewhat overpowering God's nature can be, we are indeed subject to the elements of God's creation.</p> <p>Teaching on Tuesday with Mark Bonnington on the sacraments and Revelation continued to be fascinating and learning more about Holy Communion from a practical and theological sense was excellent.</p> <p>Tuesday night was a great time for those of us involved with <strong>Durham Youth for Christ</strong> showcase event, including a much anticipated performance of 'Young and Sweet' by some girls from Gilesgate Comp, expertly accompanied by Jo Hobson. It was great that Andy N was able to have enough energy to lead a <strong>school CU</strong> and <strong>UBS</strong> after his epic trip down south and back, and we praise God for his protection and safety on the roads.</p> <p>Wednesday was productive for many of us, with some very positive meetings and conversations, which again God was in! Other highlights of this last week have included a very positive response to the <strong> Edberts's House clear-up</strong> hosted by Jonny Barthow, with due recognition for all his hard work. Sarah, Andy N and Jenny had a relaxing (we hope!) weekend post the mad, yet very blessed <strong>Main Event Week</strong>, and <strong>Alpha</strong> last Thursday went very well, with good food and conversations continuing to be the order of the day.</p> <p>At the moment the interns are preparing their presentations on a film of their choice, looking at how the gospel can be shown in secular films, so if you notice lots of interns just watching movies, we're actually 'working'...honest! </p> <p>Prayer points:<p><ul> <li>Thank God for the continued provision of His blessing in all that we do, and for protection as we continue to seek Him and to know where best to go.</li> <li>For our travels to Formation Conference in Leicestershire next week as we learn more about leadership.</li></ul> <p>God bless you all</p> <p>Ed</p> <p><em> - Ed Spencer</em></p> Ed Spencer http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=97 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jenny_jiggins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jenny Jiggins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello and welcome to this week's (slightly belated - sorry!) edition of the Internlog.</p> <p>This last week has been our termly ‘quiet week’ and so teaching and schools work came to a halt to allow everyone a bit of a rest and a catch-up. However, it was also the student Christian Union’s main week of outreach events which a few of us were involved in and so it turned out to be pretty busy but very exciting too!</p> <p>Sarah, Andy N and I were CUGs (Christian Union Guests) for the week and, as all of us had been students in Durham at some point before the Internship, it was fun to return to our student days but also really good to view the week from a different perspective. Sarah and I both moved into colleges (Collingwood and Trevs respectively) and it was a relief to see how much food had improved since we were freshers although the sleeping pattern was something we never completely got used to - late night events and early morning prayer meetings is not something we could sustain for very long... Andy was involved in international work and so spent some time up in Ustinov college and during the week whilst university-wide talks were going on, he helped at events spoken in Mandarin or easy-to-understand English. The week was tiring and certainly had highs and lows but all three of us found it really great to get alongside students and encourage them in their own evangelism as well as it being really exciting to see people exploring the Christian faith and wanting to know more about Jesus - woop! God was really faithful and worked through seemingly random meetings to use us. I could go on but if you’d like to hear some more stories of God working please just grab any one of us and ask!</p> <p>Meanwhile the rest of the Interns have still been involved in their various placements. This week, Jonny had organised a clean-up day on the estate where he works doing community development. It went really well with 4 skips and 5 vans of rubbish cleared and about 30 people helping out - even litter-picking in the snow. At Louise’s Aquila placement the girls had a lot of fun making pizza scones and dancing around to music which is a pretty sure sign that they feel relaxed with her and are having a lot of fun! A trip to Beamish on Tuesday also seems to have been a highlight for many so they should now be well informed about the history of the North-East if anyone fancies quizzing them on that.</p> <p>Points for prayer:</p> <ul> <li>For follow-up to the student event week. For anyone that has been thinking about things and whether or not to explore further - that they would ask questions and go to the ‘Investigate Life’ course starting this Wednesday.</li> <li>Praise God for Aquila Way placements and that community is being built. Pray that people would continue to see the charity’s presence as a positive thing and that they would be blessed by its work.</li> </ul> <p><em> - Jenny Jiggins</em></p> Jenny Jiggins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=96 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/andy_nunn.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Andy Nunn" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Another week has flown by...</p> <p>One of the highlights has been the <strong>guest service</strong>, where we invite friends to a service with a difference. We transform the DSU with fairy lights, pictures and more. The theme this time was on God knowing us yet still loving us based on Psalm 139. We explored this in quite a few ways from a dramatised reading to a film and a Mastermind quiz with God to a talk. Add some elderflower cordial, lots of cheese and some new faces and it was a great evening!</p> <p>Also this week on Monday saw the first of our <strong>Interact meals</strong> with Ed, Sarah &#38; myself serving bangers and mash. We had 15-20 people from around the world making new friendships. We also educated them on some great new dishes and colloquialisms! Lots of smiles but also some sadness as the Japanese students return home!</p> <p>Off to the schools’ front and the YFC team at Gilesgate have helped the girls create their first song &#34;Young &#38; Sweet&#34; which Jo and the team are very proud of! In Durham High School we have been looking at how to read the bible by taking a passage and asking what interests/challenges/confuses us!</p> <p><strong>The June Project</strong> is starting to rear its head! This is when over 100 delegates look to bless the community in different ways from painting garages to street drama and from community fun days to car washing. As you can guess that involves a lot of planning, so we are starting to bring teams together and this year we no longer have the wonderful Clare Miller (we miss you Clare!)</p> <p>Also much nearer the end of the planning stage is the Edbert's House estate clear up. Jonny has been working with Edbert's, a community house 4 miles outside Gateshead, to help plan a clean up of the area. He is bringing together a lot of volunteers to blitz the area next Thursday.</p> <p><strong>Alpha</strong> is continuing to go really well and there was an article published about it in Palatinate - saying very favourable things about how welcoming it is and especially good feedback on the homemade korma!</p> <p>So overall it has been a week of food, fellowship and fun!</p> <p>Prayer points:</p><ul> <li>Thanks that the guest service went well and the fruits of the many different activities</li> <li>For the final preparations for Edbert's clean up and for good weather</li> <li>For quiet week next week - for energy for those involved in DICCU's mission week and rest for all!</li> <li>For <strong>June Project</strong> planning as it starts to come together</li> </ul> <p>Love Andy</p> <p>Have a great day cause God loves you!</p> <p><em> - Andy Nunn</em></p> Andy Nunn http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=95 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jo_hobson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jo Hobson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello!! February is here! Can’t believe we’re already a month through 2010 - time does seem to fly!</p> <p>Our week as interns has been a busy one but with lots of exciting things happening!</p> <p>Last Thursday we had the <strong>Alpha Launch</strong>. This went really well - thank you everyone for your prayers! A number of people came and signed up to continue the course which is great and there was a really nice relaxed atmosphere. People seemed really open to chat, get to know one another and grapple with the bigger issues of life which is great so early on.</p> <p><strong>‘After hours’</strong> on Friday night also went really well. The snow we found ourselves in created a picturesque (if somewhat chilly) atmosphere and was really effective in demonstrating just how committed the team was to serving people on their nights out and showing Jesus’ love to them. People really appreciated it. Up the road the caf&#233; was buzzing, with Jonny Barthow and Dave Raffell providing excellent background music and loads of the team having great conversations with the people who had stopped in and who seemed to really enjoy the peaceful loving atmosphere there. Praise God!</p> <p>Saturday night was particularly special as it was the night of Ruth’s birthday party! This was an amazing night where everyone had lots of fun sharing fellowship with one another over good music, good company, great dancing and delicious food! Hope you had a good night Ruth!</p> <p>Teaching this week has also been exciting as we’ve started looking at Revelation with Mark, which has been particularly compelling, and got to watch an episode of Doctor Who with Ruth this morning! This, despite being a bit of a treat, is an important part of our learning about the culture and world views that are being presented in the things we are watching. We now have the task of critiquing the episode and thinking about the world view that lies behind Doctor Who. Something I didn’t ever think I’d do! The Kings internship is definitely one of broadening horizons!</p> <p>Prayer Requests:</p> <ul> <li>Praise God for answering our prayers and doing great things in the events and initiatives that are being put on by the church</li> <li>The first session of <strong>Alpha<strong> this evening</li> <li>For the Guest Service <em><strong>‘Known’</em></strong> on Sunday evening, that God would really use it to change people’s lives</li> <li>For energy - a lot of the interns have had really hectic weeks with lots of things going on - so energy, remembering to rely on God’s strength and the chance to rest would definitely be a good thing!</li> <li>Thank you so much for your prayers and support!</li></ul> <p>God Bless</p> <p>Love Jo</p> <p><em> - Jo Hobson</em></p> Jo Hobson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=94 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/louise_wilsher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Louise Wilsher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Thanks so much for reading, in advance! Hope you all have a blessed week…</p> <p><strong>Teaching:</strong><br> Currently, we’re receiving teaching on <strong>Genesis by Richard Briggs</strong> (tenuous link to title!). Particularly helpful is the concept of the book as depicting the story of once perfect relationship now broken. Within that framework, many questions about its authenticity or literalness can be put to rest. We’re looking forward to the next session!</p> <p>Last weekend we had the privilege of a visit from <strong>Roger Forster</strong>, who gave a session on <strong><em> ‘The Making of a Biblical Leader’</strong></em>. We enjoyed scribbling down some of his wisdom as well as stories, including his inviting 35 homeless people to stay and be changed by love. Wow!</p> <p><strong>External Placements:</strong><br> We’re having fun this term acting out Bible stories with the pupils at Durham Johnston – ‘Daniel and the lions’ den’ was particularly amusing when we announced that the evil men were eaten by the lions! The pupils are beginning to engage more and more in discussion, which is really exciting. God continues to draw new pupils almost every week.</p> <p>Work at the High School is also going well, although there are lots of other lunch-time clubs which can give the girls a difficult choice to make. Please pray that we’d be able to make it a genuine encounter with God, and that they’d be drawn to that.</p> <p>This week at Aquila Jenny managed to take some photos of the girls’ babies; they’ve come out beautifully and will be lovely memories for the girls to keep. I made chocolate cake with some of the others …don’t think that lasted in quite the same way!</p> <p><strong>Student Work:</strong><br> The spirit of openness present on house-party has continued, allowing a greater depth of honesty with each other and the chance for God to tackle some big issues. It’s really encouraging – please pray for this to continue and for protection too.</p> <p>When we gave out free teas on Tuesday, advertising the launch of the next <strong>Student Alpha Course</strong>, I was really encouraged by the positive responses we had – eg “<em>Music, Curry and Christianity, that’s a sterling combination!”</em></p> <p>We had lots of fun celebrating Jo’s birthday this week – a surprise party, making video messages and sharing her birthday breakfast were amongst the many delights. Happy Birthday Jojo!!</p> <p><strong>Please pray for:</p></strong> <ul> <li>The new Student Alpha Course and for Andy, Jo and Sarah as they organise the sessions week to week.</li> <li>Those making preparations for the Guest Service in just over a week’s time.</li> <li>That we’d have time to wait on God for his Strength – some of the interns are still recovering from Houseparty!</li> </ul> <p><em>‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail, they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.’</em> (Lamentations 3.21-23)</p> <p>As always, huge thanks for all your prayers – they’re priceless!</p> <p>Massive blessings,</p> <p>Lou</p> <p><em> - Louise Wilsher</em></p> Louise Wilsher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=93 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jon_kitley.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jon Kitley" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello, once again!</p> <p>Thank you all so much for your continued support and prayers.</p> <p>On Thursday morning we had the 3rd session in a series about how Christians can influence society. In this session we thought quite specifically about the various passions we might have and how these might best suit us to serving God in varying lines of work. For some this kind of introspection was quite hard but others felt a definite leaning towards a specific area of employment. This question is particularly pertinent at the moment as the majority of us are still uncertain about what we will be doing after we finish the internship. As we begin to think about moving on, we’d really value your prayers, that God would guide us as we start pushing doors.</p> <p>Following this we jumped straight into the car/coach and drove off to Knock in Cumbria. It had been looming all term and finally Student House-party was upon us. With some roads still closed even while we were en route we really want to praise God that the event was able to go ahead as hoped. About 60 students attended and what proceeded were great times of fellowship, of teaching, of seeking after God’s truth and of appropriate response. Our main speaker for the weekend was Peter Dray and we were really blessed in the way that God used his words to minister to us. However, house-party would not be house-party without a very sizable chunk of hilarity and a less than ideal amount of sleep occurring. We didn’t stint on either of these criteria and whether it was midnight sledging, playing “signs” in the less small hours or more civilized games of cards the recreational options available were always plentiful and retiring to bed a comparatively lesser option.</p> <p>On the back of house-party we’d love for you to stand with us in praying that the fellowship gained would be carried back into wider church life and that any fresh enthusiasm for God would be sustained and deepened by him in all of our lives this term.</p> <p>The weekend also saw the return to Durham of all undergraduate students and consequently the re-launching of our term time evening services. For those interns doing a lot of student work this means much fuller weeks than those outside of term time. This term is particularly busy as it contains the Christian Unions main event week in which some of us are involved. So please pray for conservation of energy as all of our regular commitments are now back underway.</p> <p><em> - Jon Kitley</em></p> Jon Kitley http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=92 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jonny_barthow.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jonny Barthow" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello readers,</p> <p>As you may well have noticed, the winter wonderland that was Durham last week has been slowly melting away, leaving the paths marvellously icy and slippery. Luckily, we’ve managed to trek cautiously around to our various placements and teaching sessions without anyone breaking an ankle. This week has been relatively calm and relaxed, but with houseparty looming, things may be about to change...</p> <p>Andy and Ed were back in prison on Monday, where they having been watching a video of Luke's gospel and discussing it with the prisoners. They are about to start the purpose driven life course, so it would be great to pray that it will go well and that the inmates will really engage with what they are studying in those times. Jo also had some really good chats in prison this week. Pray that the relationships she's created there can deepen this term.</p> <p>Jenny was back in Aquila on Monday, where she had some really good chats with some of the women there, whilst icing biscuits. Houseparty means that the rest of us aren't going in to Aquila this week, but we will be back next week (and raring to go!)</p> <p>Christian Unions are back in full swing, since the High School re-opened its doors this Monday. It was great to catch up with the kids and hear how their holidays have been. This term, mine and Jenny's group will be looking at the parables of Jesus. You can pray that we have wisdom to come up with engaging and fun ways to look at these and help the kids understand what they mean and how they apply. The Christian union in Durham Johnson went really well this week, with Andy taking the reins on his own (awww), since Lou is still in South Africa. You can pray that it continues to go well, and also for Lou travelling back next week, that she will have a safe journey and be able to settle back in to internship life quickly.</p> <p>Durham is still student-less at the moment, but not for long. On Thursday, houseparty is happening, and it's happening in Knock! Praise God that the snow hasn't prevented us from travelling there. It would be great to pray that the students will come ready to meet with God, and that God will show up. Pray that we'll also have a lot of fun and that it will be a great time of fellowship and getting to know each other better.</p> <p>Thanks for reading and praying. You stay classy, Kings Church Durham,</p> <p>Jonny</p> <p><em> - Jonny Barthow</em></p> Jonny Barthow http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=91 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/andy_symmons.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Andy Symmons" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello everyone and welcome to the first internlog of 2010!</p> <p>I hope that people had a relaxing and safe Christmas and New Year and are enjoying the start to the new decade. I guess that for all of us, particularly those reading up in Durham, the New Year has thus far been characterised by the weather, and we as interns have not managed to escape the “worst winter since records began!” (My words, this is not scientifically accurate, although it is probably true.)</p> <p>After returning from our time away, all feeling suitably refreshed and ready for the challenges about to face us this year, the internship began again last Monday. It was great to be able to see everyone again, although there is obviously a Lou Wilsher shaped hole while she enjoys her time in sunny South Africa. We started by thinking about what the year has in hold for us, and in what areas we might be challenged and grow as 2010 progresses. There is certainly a lot in store for us, as our placements continue and develop, and as we begin to prepare for our mission to Angers in April.</p> <p>Despite the snow, many of our placements continued as usual, although some have had to adapt to the new conditions, some working from home for Aquila and Traidcraft. Ed and I were able to return to Frankland this Monday, where it was nice to catch up with the men after the Christmas and New Year break. Jenny was also able to make it out to Aquila to meet with some of the ladies and children there. On Wednesday I went back into the Johnston, which seemed to be one of the few schools still open, where I was able to attain some useful sledging tips which I will be putting to good use very soon!</p> <p>As there is no clear end in sight from the snow, (I heard someone rather pessimistically mention it was going to continue for the next 6 weeks!) it is worth praying for everyone’s safety in travelling around over the coming weeks. In particular, please pray for the Student Houseparty happening this weekend, that it will be able to happen, and that the students will be able to return to Durham in time for it. Please also pray that we might be able to pick up our placements where we left off last year and quickly build on relationships in them.</p> <p>Anyway, I hope that you all manage to continue life in some normality despite the weather, and are able to take the time to appreciate the beauty of the snow!</p> <p>Keep it real!</p> <p>Andy</p> <p><em> - Andy Symmons</em></p> Andy Symmons http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=90 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jenny_jiggins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jenny Jiggins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Twas the week before Christmas, and with each intern,<br> Excitement was high, as we shall soon learn...<br> The angels had left their gifts and now rested,<br> In hopes that their mortals had been well bless&#233;d.*</p> <p>Adorned with festive hats, carols had been sung,<br> To many passers-by as they went along.<br> Under the sign which reads ‘Seasons Greetings’<br> We got pretty cold but had many meetings.</p> <p>When came Christmas weekend, at least for Kings Church,<br> With art space and wrapping and Magi on a search.<br> Jo and Andy were camels and Jonny sang some more,<br> And we had ivy and lights and mince pies galore!</p> <p>The last evenings services drew to a close,<br> With Mission! And Jesus! And a few too many bare toes...<br> Then sleepy but happy and ready for the week,<br> At the X-factor results we took a quick peek.</p> <p>With placements at an end for 2009,<br> We decked the halls and had a good time, <br> At prison, Aquila, at the Orchard and CU,<br> With games, dinners and songs we said our adieu!</p> <p>Then, on the Wednesday, blessings in store,<br> Summoned to no. 30, we saw what we saw,<br> The staff cooked for us, such a Christmas feast -<br> It seemed that the dishes never would cease.</p> <p>As plates were licked clean, we admitted defeat,<br> And we moved to the lounge to pull up a seat.<br> A mountain of presents of all shapes and sizes,<br> With ensuing battles for the best prizes.</p> <p>Secret Santa presents, varied in tone and in noise,<br> With chirping, and clunking - (there were many toys).<br> Andy’s Lego car had no struggle to park,<br> A hammer calling ‘I Love You’, what a kind remark.</p> <p>Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark, baptism in Paul,<br> And lastly, demonology - about which many knew nothing at all.<br> But our heads have been filled with much useful stuff,<br> So we don’t anymore have to rely on our bluff!</p> <p>So the week drew to a close, the end was in sight:<br> And even the ground was covered in white,<br> All that remains is Gilesgate’s Christmas meal,<br> And the party at Belmont after which we shall steal...<br> <p>...Off home to our loved ones, for good festive cheer,<br> But we shall be back, for the new year.<br> And you can hear us exclaim, as we drive out of sight,<br> &#34;Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!&#34;</p> <p>*See Ed’s internlog</p> <p>Prayer Requests:</p> <ul> <li>For restful holidays with family and friends and safe travelling especially for Lou and Sarah abroad.</li> <li>For people we’ve met at placements who may find Christmas a difficult time.</li> <li>For returning in the new year - that we’d be able to pick up where we’ve left off easily.</li> </ul> <p><em> - Jenny Jiggins</em></p> Jenny Jiggins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=89 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ed_spencer.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ed Spencer" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Winding down, ending well. Oh, and blessings from the Angels (with slightly dodgy theology!)</p> <p>Greetings dear readers. I noticed this week that this page has the most hits on the site. Thenceforth I feel a certain level of insurmountable pressure to deliver. Oh well, here goes nothing!</p> <p>In a totally unKitlean and more in line with Hobseanism I will depart from discussing which week we are on, focussing more on the content!</p> <p>To kick us off, on Tuesday night Collingwood CU had the pleasure of Mr Andrew Nunn's wisdom, talking on the topic of 'Is Christmas crackers?!' If you think it is: chat with him!! Also on Tuesday we were introduced to Hamish Sneddon, UCCF Staff worker in Durham. He spent time with us at team meeting in fellowship and prayer.</p> <p>Throughout the week there has been carol singing all over the city and surrounding suburbs (if Newton Hall can count as a suburb?!) People were genuinely shocked to be blessed with mince pies; chocolates and carols, sung with much gusto!</p> <p>Interspersed with this the Interns went round to Tim Dixon, Tim Mayo &#38; Sammy Hicks' house and were fed some delicious food, followed by some amusing games!</p> <p>In line with this hospitable tune there has been the appearance of 9 'secret angels' who each took a name out of a hat and blessed another fellow intern, gifts so far have included flowers, cheese, chocolate, cards, wine and beer, with everyone feeling blessed, lifting the spirits (no pun intended!) at the end of a long term!</p> <p>We have also as interns begun to learn French courtesy of Mademoiselle Jiggins! This is in preparation for our mission trip to France! (In April: we need a lot of practice you see! Zut alors!)</p> <p>And finally. Present wrapping has continued in earnest, alongside the art gallery, face painting and prep for the Christmas guest service. Christmas is nearly upon us!</p> <p>Please pray:</p> <ul> <li>That we will maintain our enthusiasm and have enough energy for the final push toward Christmas (including the all singing all dancing Guest Service this Sunday)</li> <li>That those we speak to on placements and outreach will get a glimpse of Christmas this year and of God's grace.</li> </ul> <p>Every blessing,</p> <p>Ed</p> <p><em> - Ed Spencer</em></p> Ed Spencer http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=88 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sarah_tripp.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sarah Tripp" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello to you the reader,</p> <p>As I have looked back over the last week, the theme of beginnings, middles and ends has emerged…</p> <p><strong>Beginnings:</strong><br> The Christmas fun begins at the end of this week… The build-up to King’s Church Christmas activities continues. In preparation for the Christmas art space, painters have been polishing off their works of art, sculptors have been sharpening their masterpieces, photographers have been perfecting their compositions, and filmmakers have been following the journey to the Lake District. We look forward to “The Journey and the Star” art exhibition, in addition to Christmas present wrapping and face painting. It is exciting to think that through many different mediums and activities we have a chance to share the love of Christ with those around us.</p> <p><strong>Middle:</strong><br> Amongst beginnings and ends, this week has seen the continuation of many activities and placements. What follows is a whistle-stop tour of some highlights and thoughts pondered by us all.</p> <p><em>Highlights:</em> Coffee and chats with students; singing Christmas carols in the prison; garden project; power cut at pastorate; Fusion conference; Christian Union at Durham Johnston; specific answer to prayer for healing at Alpha. Ed and a team of students and residents enjoyed embracing the cold and clearing up a garden on a crisp Saturday morning, culminating in 11 sacks of rubbish being collected! Jonny enjoyed going back to primitive ages in the absence of electricity during a pastorate meeting. Whilst the power cut was unplanned (!!), God used the lack of light to enable the Claypath Pastorate to experience a peaceful time of worship and reflection. The interns at Durham Johnston have had really fruitful conversations with some of the girls.</p> <p><em>Thoughts pondered:</em> God’s grace - He doesn’t only save us but also chooses to use us – what an amazing privilege; the challenge to store up treasures in heaven and not on earth; the atonement; the concept of our work being tested; treasures in heaven - and how to reconcile that with a theology of grace; the Church – Christ’s body and that every member has grace-given gifts to be used for the building up of the Church.</p> <p><strong>End:</strong><br> Alpha has been a really fun and exciting time for all involved. We’ve really enjoyed working with Emmanuel Church and getting to know a variety of students in an informal and friendly setting with music, food, talks and discussion! The eighth week saw the conclusion of the course, and we engaged with the question “What about the Church and telling others?”. We thought about the Church being the people of God, the family of God, the body of Christ and the bride of Christ. Feedback from the course showed that people had really benefitted from having the opportunity to investigate the Christian faith and ask questions. God has graciously been working in people's lives: confidence in faith; putting new trust in Jesus; a desire to explore Christianity further; new things learnt and a renewed understanding of Christianity, have resulted from Alpha weekly meets. The Alpha away day on Saturday also provided a chance for participants to look at the work of the Holy Spirit and, following lunch, there was an opportunity to respond and be prayed for. Whilst we’re sad that fairy lights, live music and free dinner have come to an end, we’re really thankful that lives have been transformed by God’s power and grace!</p> <p>We’d really value your prayer for:<br> <ul> <li>Those who attended Alpha – please pray for appropriate support for those who will be investigating the Christian faith further, and also that the Holy Spirit would continue to work in their lives. Please pray for those continuing to grow in their faith, that the Holy Spirit would be shaping Christ-likeness and increasing understanding.</li> <li>Christmas preparation – for fruitful conversations this Saturday and for Guest Service planning.</li> <li>Our personal relationship with God. That we’d understand more each day what it means to live in awe, reverence and fear of Him.</li> </ul> <p><em> - Sarah Tripp</em></p> Sarah Tripp http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=87 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/andy_nunn.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Andy Nunn" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week we have had a break in our spiritual gift teaching to look at worship as this is the sphere you see many gifts being exhibited.</p> <p>Looking round at the world, you can see people worshipping everything from their cars to the gym and themselves to celebrities.</p> <p><strong>What do you worship?</strong> It may not be obvious but often an indicator is the amount of time you spend on something.</p> <p>I believe we were made to worship, worship God, but again what does that mean?</p> <p>If you look through the bible there are all sorts of ways the Jews worshipped from grain and animal sacrifices to Abraham being challenged to sacrifice his own son, who was a fulfilment to a promise from God. The theme running through these were death, obedience and love.</p> <p><strong>Death</strong> in the sense we need to die to our own desires.</p> <p><strong>Obedience</strong> in the sense that we are called to follow God however hard.</p> <p><strong>Love</strong> in the sense that we need the right heart in worship and it should come out as a response to the love that God showed us in sending Jesus to the cross to die for us.</p> <p>So in response to the question &#34;what is worship?&#34; the following quotes you may find helpful</p> <p>Graham Kendrick -<br> <strong>&#34;Worship is first and foremost for His benefit, not ours, though it is marvelous to discover that in giving Him pleasure, we ourselves enter into what can become our richest and most wholesome experience in life.&#34;</strong> p.58 &#34;A Heart For Worship&#34; by Lamar Boschman</p> <p>C.S. Lewis -<br> <strong>&#34;It is in the process of being worshipped that God communicates His presence to men.&#34;</strong></p> <p>Matt Redman -<br> <strong>&#34;Worship is the heart of mission flame.&#34;</strong></p> <p>We also looked at worship being a corporate act, God created the church to be a body, each part different but equally important. By coming together we can encourage and commune with God. Worship is not just for a few hours on a Sunday but a lifestyle.</p> <p>But the question I want to leave you with is: <strong>How much different would our worship be if we prepared our hearts before we came to church on Sunday?</strong></p> <p>Lots of (appropriate) intern love<br> Andy x</p> <p><em> - Andy Nunn</em></p> Andy Nunn http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=86 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jo_hobson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jo Hobson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Greetings ‘fair readers’. As I settle down to write this week's instalment of the much anticipated internlog, I am a bit confused as to what week were are on. Jonny and Jon have both claimed to be writing after the 9th week so I can only assume that I am writing in our 10th or 11th…and so I shall begin:</p> <p>As our 10th/11th week draws in, there is much to report since the 9th. Many MANY exciting events have taken place. Friday saw this term's infamous Kings Church Ceilidh, or “the sweat fest that was”, as it has been referred to by our beloved Jonny ‘sweaty betty’ Barthow. This sweat however was testimony to a great night of fun, laughter, food and fellowship. It was a really special opportunity to spend time as a church family and bond over some rather athletically demanding, and at times hazardous, dancing (ahem Josh Briggs and Gus Bonnington)! My personal favourite was the epic strip the willow which lasted for approximately 20 minutes and left Sarah Tripp sprawled on the floor (high heels were a bad choice), many bruised, but all smiling.</p> <p>Exciting event number 2 of the week was the guest service. This was another really special evening and proved to be a great success. The hall looked beautiful as Jenny, Lou and their band of willing volunteers kitted it out with beautiful colours, stars and fairy lights. The interns, waiters and waitresses looked, uncommonly but impressively, dapper, the music provided by the amazingly talented Dan and Olivia was fantastic and all played a vital role in creating a great atmosphere for the guests to be welcomed into. Attendance at the service was the highest yet, with an approximated 175 people! The evening ran really smoothly and God seemed to work through every aspect of the service. The worship, James’ testimony, Joy’s song and John’s talk were especially powerful and seemed to give the guests a lot to think about. We’ve received really positive feedback from those who were there with lots of people expressing interest in finding out more about what they heard and wanting to come to Kings again! Thanks so much for your prayers.</p> <p>Last but by no means least, was the Church AGM. Although this was not quite as dramatic as the preceding events it was great to be able to spend time getting a sense of the church's resources, how they’ve been used in the past and how they’ll be put to use in the future. It was really good to hear of the changes and additions that have been made, particularly with regards to the staff team, which present even more exciting opportunities for Kings to expand and develop as a church. Special mention should be made to Ian Creasey who provided the most humorous and comprehensible financial presentation I’ve experienced; this definitely helped to make it an enjoyable as well as informative evening!</p> <p>Now as Christmas draws near (the lights are up!), there’s lots of planning and prep to be done for festive endeavours which we’d really appreciate your prayer for:</p> <ul> <li>Christmas gallery in the Gates centre</li> <li>Christmas outreach in Newton Hall, Gilesgate and town centre</li> <li>The planning and rehearsals for the various components of the Christmas guest service</li> </ul> <p>Think that’s everything!!<br> Ta Ta for now, thanks for reading<br> Love Jo<br> xxx</p> <p><em> - Jo Hobson</em></p> Jo Hobson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=85 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jon_kitley.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jon Kitley" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Since the very beginning you’ve known this was coming. Some of you have waited with eager anticipation others noted the passing days with nothing short of dread. Now finally, for better or for worse, 9 weeks have passed, the cycle has come full circle. Once more I have been called to take up the mantle of the Internlog. Brace yourself, dear reader, your life may be about to turn upside-down…</p> <p>On the other hand, it probably won’t.</p> <p>This last week has seen a return to normal teaching for the interns. The mind-bending ponderings of hermeneutics with Richard Briggs of last week had set the bar pretty high, but luckily, both Mark and Ruth were up to the task. With Mark, we continued looking at the Gospel of Mark and further discussed the context surrounding Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, both with a view to deeper study of these books in the coming weeks.</p> <p>With Ruth we began a series on the spiritual gifts. As part of this we examined a number of scriptural passages pertaining to the gifts. Specifically we discussed how our spiritual gifts are not given to us for our own benefit but for the 'building up of the church', our gifts are meant for serving others and not ourselves. Consequently everyone else’s spiritual gifts are intended for our benefit! In another part of the session we received the results from a questionnaire we’d all filled in previously which attempted to suggest which 'gifts' we might have. I was interested to find 'voluntary poverty' at the top of my own list.</p> <p>Coincidentally all of us except Jo had 'missionary' in our top 3. We’re secretly making plans to leave her behind soon…</p> <p>On the Tuesday night we were all lucky enough to have been invited to Brian and Joan Bonnington’s for dinner. There we were blessed with not just the benefit of a beautiful meal but also an evening’s entertainment. It was a really lovely evening of not just excellent companionship but also great hilarity. We learnt many new things about ourselves. Ed was amazingly talented at magic eye puzzles. I was astonishingly bad at the same. Despite a combined 25 years lived in Durham none of us knew any local history. While playing Apples to Apples (a game at which Brian and Joan excelled) we discovered that 'the electric chair' was an 'intense' experience. Brian also attempted to teach us a cautionary tale relating to the dangers of bears on various days of the week. Sadly we didn’t possess enough hand eye co-ordination between us to really pull this particular exercise off with any degree of success.</p> <p>However, it is not all fun and games and especially with Christmas coming on we’d really value your prayers in a number of areas.</p> <ul> <li>We’d really value your continued prayers for our health and protection in all things and that we’d feel able to fully rely upon Him to look after all of our various concerns.</li> <li>Praise that our placements are largely going well. Pray this will continue!</li> <li>The Alpha away day is on the 28th of November. Prayers that this would be spirit-filled and well attended would be great!</li> <li>We have a guest service this Sunday night. Please pray that people would bring their friends and that God would be glorified in all aspects of the evening. Pray that God would be working on people’s hearts.</li> </ul> <p><em> - Jon Kitley</em></p> Jon Kitley http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=84 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jonny_barthow.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jonny Barthow" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>G’day folks.</p> <p>It’s been a long time coming, but after 9 weeks it’s finally my turn to write the internlog! Having looked back over the past 9 weeks, I’ve noticed that the entries have gradually been getting longer and, dare I say it, more holy. Therefore if I’m going to stick to the pattern, I should probably write a very holy essay ... or ... I could just write about the week and see where it takes us ...</p> <p>Let me fill you in on what’s been going down this week. On Friday night, Jenny, Ed and I joined the Afterhours team, helping to hand out hot drinks to anyone passing by and inviting people into the Appleby rooms to sit and chat. We were able to have some really great conversations with people, including meeting guys who felt they should find a church in Durham but hadn’t got round to it yet, and were encouraged to try Kings.</p> <p>Jon Kitley spent his weekend at Whithaugh Park on the border of Scotland with the LOL youth groups: Deeper and DIVE. They had great fun with activities such as low ropes and swimming, as well as learning more about Jesus and how to live out your faith.</p> <p>Three baptisms took place on Sunday morning. It was great to see the three 'baptees' declaring their faith and publicly committing their lives to God. Now, for a good baptism you need a pool of water, and for this water to heat up in time, you need to start heating it a good few hours beforehand. Therefore, for the lucky 3 winners of the 'we’re going to be at Church really early' competition (myself, Lou and Ed) there was the fantastic experience of being in Church at 8am to set up the Baptism pool, aided by the ever-helpful Paul 'Nigel' Burgess. By the time we’d got to the evening services, some of us were feeling pretty tired, and in need of another quiet week. However, the show must go on!</p> <p>Monday saw us back into the swing of teaching with a Theology 101 session led by Melody Briggs on creation (soup <em>(covent garden, not homemade)</em> provided by Andy 'The Flow' Symmons). Monday was also Ed’s first chance to go into prison, as his clearance has now come through. He had a chance to meet some of the guys there and he felt God really opened doors.</p> <p>On Tuesday we began looking at hermeneutics with Richard Briggs. For those not in the know, we discovered hermeneutics is to do with evaluating interpretations of the Bible. It was interesting and challenging to think about how we observe, interpret and apply scripture when we read it, and also to think about the authority scripture has and how it is inspired. Tuesday also means discipleship groups. These sessions so far have been really helpful chances to be open and honest with each other about how we’re finding things, and a great opportunity to support each other in prayer.</p> <p>This week has also been a step up in our level of leadership in the school Christian unions in Durham High School. Previously, we’ve been observing and helping with the sessions. However, this week we took over leading the groups. Jenny and I decided to do our CU session on the story of Ruth and Naomi and how Ruth was faithful, with a fun activity involving balloons! Andy and Lou led their CU in Durham Jonston school on being thankful which included the fabulous 'thankfulness shopping list game'.</p> <p>I had a great time at Aquila Way this week. Thursday was bonfire night, so we hosted a bonfire and fireworks themed party for the kids on the estate. A good number of them came and we played lots of games (including pass the parcel!) and had great fun. We then walked down to a big fireworks display put on by the council. It was a really great chance to get to know the kids and some of their parents a lot better.</p> <p>So there we have it. Hopefully you feel like you know a little bit more about what we’ve been getting up to. Now to end with the customary prayer points:</p> <ul> <li>Praise God that Ed’s prison clearance has come through and that he can now start his prison work. Pray that he’ll be able to build up good relationships quickly there and be able to settle into the role.</li> <li>Pray for the new music group Jo is starting up in Gilesgate comp - that people will come along to it and engage with what’s happening</li> <li>Pray for wisdom when it comes to planning and preparing for the guest service coming up on 15th November.</li> <li>Praise God for how well Alpha has been going so far and pray for those involved when it comes to planning the away day.</li> </ul> <p>Signing off. Laters!</p> <p>Jonny</p> <p><em> - Jonny Barthow</em></p> Jonny Barthow http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=83 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/louise_wilsher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Louise Wilsher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The last of the blazing Reds and Yellows are shining on the trees… Apparently Autumn leaves are colourful because the trees are resting from their work in producing chlorophyll. Nature beautifully shows us that there is a time for everything, including resting, in order to be restored. In our ‘Quiet Week’ we have tried to conserve our energy a little and take time to rest instead of continually giving out. The tree analogy is of course incomplete as none of us have changed colour; apart from Ed who had to smear mud on his face as part of his forfeit in our forest game… (Jenny has the photos)</p> <p>Rest is essential. Yet we can only truly rest if we acknowledge God’s Grace and Sovereignty.* In this sense, sleep is an act of humility, because when we sleep we recognise that we are dependent creatures. Resting involves surrendering things that we have influence over into God’s hands and acknowledging that He is holding us securely. Psalm 16 expresses eloquently:</p> <p><em>‘Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure.<br> The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.’</em> Psalm 16:5-6</p> <p>Sometimes we are impatient; sometimes we are anxious that there isn’t enough time.</p> <p>As opposed to being impatient, we are learning to trust in God’s Perfect Timing. This week we have seen examples of His Sovereignty as He has poured out his grace in the following situations: Jenny’s Bible which was lost a month ago has finally been found, and God has used that month to massively impact someone’s life (ask her for more details). Ed and Andy have had to be exceptionally patient in finding a house that they can call home, but God’s timing has been impeccable because the move has taken place this week, when they’ve had the time available to do so.</p> <p>Instead of being anxious that there isn’t enough time, we are learning to trust that the Lord has assigned us each our ‘portion’. This week we have enjoyed meeting with friends, catching up on odd jobs and enjoying extra sleep! On Tuesday, many of us embarked on a mini adventure when we walked along the river towards Belmont Viaduct. Coming across a tree overhanging the path, we decided to climb it. Jenny arranged us all beautifully and was just about to take a photo when along came about 20 walkers, many armed with cameras. Consequently, the next ten or so minutes involved being photographed by complete strangers. It genuinely felt like we were famous!!</p> <p>Apart from that Placements have continued as normal, and we have simultaneously been looking ahead to what God has in store for the next few weeks. The pace has slowed, but there is the feeling of an imminent acceleration as we prepare for the Guest Service, Christmas Art Gallery and Youth Events.</p> <p>In all of this preparation and activity, I hope that we can continue to remember to rest, trusting in our Sovereign Father. This brings to mind the passage in Matthew where Jesus remarks ‘freely you have received, freely give.’ (Matt 10:8) It is easy to forget that we need to receive in order to give. And we all, not just interns, give a lot…let’s try to take time to receive too, to look to our ‘delightful inheritance’, and to fall on God’s grace.</p> <p>Thanks for reading!!!</p> <p>Prayer Points: <ul> <li>Praise God for Rest, and that Ed and Andy are able to fully settle into their new home.</li> <li>Please pray for those being baptised on Sunday, that they would feel God’s presence particularly closely.</li> <li>Please pray for continued rest throughout this term – that we would find the right balance, and by so doing, be able to give to our full potential.</li> <li>Please continue to pray for Alpha, for those leading and those attending it. Thank you!</li> </ul> <p>*Paul Webber – Living Leadership conference in September</p> <p><em> - Louise Wilsher</em></p> Louise Wilsher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=82 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/andy_symmons.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Andy Symmons" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>I have been reflecting on a short piece of scripture recently and feel it encapsulates my current feelings towards the internship - and hopefully those of the other interns. It is a very simple piece, one verse, but I guess some of its beauty lies in its simplicity and may be of some relevance or help to those of you reading.</p> <p><em>Psalm 111:1 – 'Praise the LORD! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart.'</em></p> <p>This week has given us interns many opportunities to be truly thankful for what God is doing. We have witnessed God at work in so many different areas and in so many different people, and I personally have come to appreciate more of God’s awesome power and benevolent compassion. We have also begun to reap some of the rewards of the efforts of previous interns and Kings workers who have worked tirelessly before us, treading difficult paths without perhaps achieving visible or encouraging results at the time. Be encouraged that God is doing amazing things!</p> <p>One such area is Durham Johnston School in which the two Christian Union groups have been met with real enthusiasm and enjoyment on behalf of the kids. Similarly the Christian Union groups in Durham High School are being well received and well attended, with many of the girls eager to find out more about what Christianity is actually all about. The group going into Gilesgate Comp. are also experiencing God’s blessings as relationships are being built quickly, and are looking for new avenues to explore there, for instance in music, so please pray for that.</p> <p>The majority of us are now fully involved in our placements with adults, and are beginning to build relationships with the people we are meeting. For most of us interns these placements particularly are a real step outside of our comfort zone, but God has been very honourable in this, blessing us all with real opportunities to serve the wider community and learn from them. Pushing ourselves outside of comfort zones naturally leads to having to rely on God for strength rather than on ourselves, which is a good place to be, for it is only through him that these things can happen.</p> <p>Finally, now that the students have been back a couple of weeks and the craziness of freshers week is long behind, our student placements have started to be more routine and less chaotic. Pastorate and cell groups have begun, and Student Alpha saw its first proper session occur with more wonderful food, excellent live music and engaging discussion about who Jesus was/is. International and postgrad student work is also going well, with many attending Interact and the Ustinov Bible Study groups.</p> <p>Prayer Points:</p> <ul> <li>Quiet Week next week – please pray that we will use this wisely and productively, and come back to a full programme the following week suitably refreshed and ready to go!</li> <li>International Students Lunch this Sunday</li> <li>Most of all, praise God and thank him for all that he has been doing so far, and pray that he will continue to bless us as interns, and Durham as a city, in the coming weeks.</li> </ul> <p><em>Psalm 111:2 – 'Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them'.</em> (p.s. Read the rest of this Psalm - it's great!)</p> <p>Keep it real!</p> <p>Andy</p> <p><em> - Andy Symmons</em></p> Andy Symmons http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=81 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sarah_tripp.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sarah Tripp" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>An introduction to our intern week:</p> <p>In store for you, the reader is a treat;<br> A poem that is hopefully short and sweet.</p> <p>Outreach in Durham city centre,<br> Meeting with our mentors.</p> <p>Standing out in red jackets,<br> Giving out new student packets.</p> <p>Puddings in their masses,<br> Discipleship with lasses.</p> <p>Interact launch with hot choc,<br> Hickery dickery dock.</p> <p>Students in their abundance on Sunday,<br> It was such a fun day!</p> <p>Prison and Aquila Way placements,<br> Putting PA away in the basement (cupboard!).</p> <p>Assisting with Church administration,<br> After hours, with many conversations.</p> <p>Green tea, coffee and chat,<br> At the student drop-in Cafe.</p> <p>Synoptic gospels – what’s their source?<br> Ultimately, it’s God – of course!</p> <p>The Orchard provided entertainment for all,<br> At the end of this week, there will be reports for Paul!</p> <p>Student Alpha commenced,<br> The team-work involved was immense.</p> <p>Some awesome intern biblical teachin’,<br> And Sunday morning, Cunningham preachin’.</p> <p>Doing Christian Union in school,<br> Some had to try and be cool (not Andy S – requested!).</p> <p>Student lunch was a squeeze,<br> Thankfully, there was enough cheese!</p> <p>Personal targets were finalised,<br> Jo, Morv and I harmonised.</p> <p>Edge tackled Theology and Star Wars,<br> This week, God has opened many doors.</p> <p>Student cells and pastorates have begun,<br> Which new leaders have started to run.</p> <p>Cooking for sixty plus,<br> Including Mr Bonnington, Gus.</p> <p>Detached, Deeper and DIVE;<br> After all of this, we are more alive.</p> <p>Mark 15:38<br> Check it out – this verse is great!</p> <p>To summarise, this week has seen the continuation of various activities and the start of many new! It has been an exciting week, but quite a tiring one too. We’ve all really enjoyed meeting new students and are looking forward to seeing Christ-like disciples being grown in Durham. Homing in on a few new activities...</p> <p>Interact was a real encouragement, with students from China, Switzerland, India, Japan, Germany, Canada, Greece and Cyprus attending. Amongst the hot chocolate, marshmallows and cream, was a real sense of fun and warmth – we look forward to friendships being developed and the love of Christ shared.</p> <p>Alpha launch saw the Appleby rooms full. The ambience was welcoming, as were the smiley alpha team faces...! Live music and good food set the scene and then Bear Grylls entered (in an action-packed 'I did Alpha' video). An 'Explore' DVD encouraged students to think about Jesus’ claim, 'I am the way and the truth and the life' (John 14:6) - words spoken 2000 years ago (approx!) have just as much meaning for us today as they did then. The video encouraged those attending to puzzle over Jesus’ claim, to investigate it, and to explore. It is our prayer that those who come will discover that not only does God exist, but that they matter to Him, they’re important – they’re worth dying for.</p> <ul> <li>Praise God for openness to CU works in Durham schools and that this would continue. Praise God for the groundwork of previous interns.</li> <li>Pray for those who have signed up to the Alpha course: For those exploring the Christian faith, that they would put their trust in Jesus and grow in their knowledge, love and understanding of Him. For those who are already Christian, that they would be encouraged and grow in their knowledge, love and understanding of Jesus!</li> <li>For Interact – that International students would continue to come and enjoy time together.</li> <li>For the Intern team – for renewed strength in the Lord, fun and continued eternal perspective in all that we do!</li> </ul> <p>Over and out</p> <p>Sarah</p> <p><em> - Sarah Tripp</em></p> Sarah Tripp http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=80 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ed_spencer.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ed Spencer" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>So, 1 month into the internship and all was going steady. Placements were starting or were about to start and everything seemed manageable. Sure, some of the 9 were a bit tired, but almost all were content and happy. After their weeks away on mission and leadership training, they were ready to put what they had learnt into practice. And then suddenly, without warning, everything went a little crazy.</p> <p>It started off simple enough, a blue sky, a few clouds and a quiet morning in the centre of Durham. You could have been lulled into a false sense of security that all was indeed as it seemed. Then, one car came, soon followed by a dozen self same vehicles, which then multiplied and logger-jammed the centre of town. In approximately 24 little hours, Durham had gone from a sleepy city (!) to a heaving mass. The reason? Simple: the students were back!!!</p> <p>With the arrival of students, all hands were on deck to ensure that the first morning and evening service of term ran to time, you could pretty much set your watch by it! After the first service, which needed an injection of chairs for the late comers, the student lunch was unsurprisingly very popular. Catching up with old friends and ensuring that new ones (especially freshers) felt welcome and not out of place was vital.</p> <p>Then came the evening services, with the added incentive of curry (thanks Tim!) For some however, Ustinov Fair was the order of the day and promoting Interact, a Monday night event where international students and uk students can meet and chill. Over 100 people signed up and time will tell how many will attend!</p> <p>The week that followed was a busy one for all concerned, with placements and meetings, most notably Fresher’s Fair, which saw a mass of new and current students trawling through the DSU to see what societies caught their eye and what freebies they could appropriate. Free pizza is always good!! Alongside this, Student Drop in also began, allowing students to have space out of their busy(!) schedule to take stock, have some decent coffee and maybe a chat.</p> <p>All in, it had been a productive, albeit manic week. Excitement is still very much brewing for the coming weeks. Watch this space.</p> <p>Prayer points:</p> <ul> <li>That the freshers would be welcomed, both in colleges and in churches</li> <li>For those of us who are feeling under the weather that God would heal us</li> <li>For energy and enthusiasm for the interns and staff at this busy time!</li> </ul> <p><em> - Ed Spencer</em></p> Ed Spencer http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=79 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jenny_jiggins.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jenny Jiggins" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The nine interns had reached the end of ten days beyond the realms of County Durham and it was feeling quite tired and with much to mull over that they took a 36 hour break from all things Kings. This became a friends and film-fuelled couple of days of generally taking it easy, with the odd exception of a hockey injury (no prizes for guessing who that sporty intern was)! </p> <p>Saturday rolled into Sunday and the interns returned to their set-up and set-down posts in the lower levels of the DSU, and thus followed a catch-up with friends old and new and a rather yummy pub lunch. </p> <p>Monday arrived with the realisation that the nine were not going to be spending quite the same extent of time with each other that they had gotten used to during the previous weeks. Individual timetables and placements had begun so the team were sent out in different directions, from Gateshead to Gilesgate, Low Newton to Appleby. The challenges were great and small, from interviews to art classes, working with the young, the adolescent and the adult, but the interns returned cheerful, convinced that God was watching over them and looking forward to how they would be used in these places.</p> <p>The week also held in store teaching in which they learnt about the origins of Bible and they further developed their understanding of themselves and how they fitted in this part of the Great Story.</p> <p>It had generally been a good week although with highs and lows which are always to be expected in this sort of tale. Excitement is brewing as the interns await the flood of students ready to arrive in the town but there are also feelings of apprehension in the face of a fuller schedule and new adventures to come.</p> <p>Please pray:</p> <ul> <li>For new students arriving in Durham this weekend.</li> <li>For energy for the team, especially from this Sunday as student work begins and for enthusiasm during Fresher’s Fair on Tuesday and Wednesday.</li> <li>For placements which have still to begin and for a good continuation of ones already started.</li> </ul> <p><em> - Jenny Jiggins</em></p> Jenny Jiggins http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=78 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/andy_nunn.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Andy Nunn" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Another week has flown by and as a team we have got to know each other so much better by sharing more of our life stories. We also had a relaxing time and some fun along the way enjoying God's creation and cakes!</p> <p>We joined around 50 other interns from around the country for a leadership conference in Leicestershire. The theme running through our time was grace. It was clear from the leadership that this was at the centre of their lives and they had such servant hearts. They wanted to pass on the wisdom that would have been helpful for them when they started out. They had a wealth of experience between them and also passed on their enthusiasm and joy.</p> <p>The teaching was great and particularly a talk focusing on the picture of Gods love through the story of Hosea comes to mind. Hosea loved his adulterous wife so much he was willing to give everything to buy back her back so he could lavish his love upon her. Other notable sessions included an overview of the bible by Ruth to help have a clearer more chronological knowledge of the bible. As well as sessions on evangelism and how the church needs leaders of character. We also learnt about grace through sharing dormotories which sounded more like zoos with helicopters landing and alarms going off at 5.45! However Gods grace was sufficient!</p> <p>Other highlights include the many new friends we made and the stories we shared, the beauty of the countryside and natural wonders of the sunsets and sky. Sarah also added to her sporting achievements with winning a somersault competition with 8 in a row!</p> <p>To summarise it was a challenging and enjoyable week for us all. We look forward to what God has for us as we embark on starting our placements and prepare for the students who are arriving back gradually with freshers week on the horizon.</p> <p>Prayer Requests</p> <ul> <li>For Ed and myself as we are still waiting on our house completion</li> <li>For all the interns as we start our placements</li> <li>For the new students as they arrive and those who are Christians settle into churches and get fully involved very early on</li> <li>For student leader training and preparation</li> </ul> <p>With lots of intern love x</p> <p><em> - Andy Nunn</em></p> Andy Nunn http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=77 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jo_hobson.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jo Hobson" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hellooo!! I'm writing to you from the Perrin's residence in lovely Leicestershire - we're in the middle of a 36 hour rest period after finishing our mission in Hunstanton and before heading off to 'Living Leadership' conference in Melton Mowbray...</p> <p>Anyway, I'll fill you in a bit about the various activities us interns embarked upon in (what proved to be) sunny Hunstanton. The week was testing for all the team in various ways as we were pushed out of our comfort zones in the activities we were involved in. These ranged from door-knocking, giving out flyers &#38; sweets with Bible verses in the streets, chatting to locals and tourists alike, singing outside the church's coffee shop and compiling &#38; performing 2 last minute primary school assemblies (which was a great success!). All this culminated in an open air Sunday service on the bandstand which we were given free reign over to plan and carry out. Although, initially, this prospect was a bit daunting, we all pulled together (aw-team bonding!) and everyone had a part to play in helping put on a great service!</p> <p>What was really encouraging was that a number of people we'd met in the week came along on Sunday. It seemed that God used the service and the relationships we'd built throughout the week to work in people's lives; some of them have even shown interest in going along to the Alpha Course that the church there is starting this week! Praise God!</p> <p>The 'icing on the cake' of the week had to be when, during the service on Sunday, a massive cloud in the shape of the cross formed above the bandstand. This just reminded us that God's hand is on everything we do and it's all for the glory of Jesus' Name which is above all else!</p> <p>Stuff to pray about...</p> <ul> <li>For our time at Living Leadership-that we'll mix with the other people there and learn lots of useful things!</li> <li>That we'll continue to bond as a team, have fun and grow together in God</li> <li>For good health and lots of energy!</li> <li>That we learn to rely on God as we begin our placements next week.</li> </ul> <p>Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee</p> <p><em> - Jo Hobson</em></p> Jo Hobson http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=76 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jon_kitley.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jon Kitley" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello, everyone! Welcome to the new internlog for the class of 2010. As this is to be the first log from an exciting new intake I thought it'd be prudent to read through some of the old intern logs, both for inspiration and in search of the essential components which make up a good log.</p> <p>Here are the results of my findings...</p> <p>1. A succinct but accurate summary of the weeks' most important events from an interns eye view.</p> <p>At 9:30am on the 7th of September the internship '09 - '10 officially commenced and it was with a certain degree of trepidation that the nine lucky contestants completed the ascent to field house lane.</p> <p>What followed was a lengthy icebreaker involving the swapping of life stories designed to help the fledging team gel. This served to lull us into a false sense of security, as what came next was a mass of information, helpfully printed on a minor A4 sized rainforest. This was an exciting time for the young recruits, as amongst other things, they found out exactly what they'd be doing for the coming year and the timetables themselves are as varied as the characters involved. For this we must thank Ruth as apparently that was quite a headache!</p> <p>The team also devoted time to examining the biblical pattern of discipleship and were much reassured to note how often the original twelve had messed it up, yet Jesus still entrusted his gospel to their keeping.</p> <p>As luck might have it, the interns themselves would very soon have opportunity to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, or, at least as far as Hunstanton...</p> <p>2. A List of prayer points.</p> <ul> <li>Ed and Andy still don't have a house to call their own and are staying in House B. If you could pray for a speedy acquisition a house in Herons Court that's been looked at then they'd be grateful.</li> <li>All of us our currently in Hunstanton on mission and would really value your prayers. If you could pray both for our protection and for the breaking down of barriers then that would be awesome. Also just that we'd be really open to God's prompting, seeing where he's at work and joining in with it.</li> <li>Good health for the team. Some of us have been a little under the weather this week. So pray that nothing would hold us back from serving Him to the max.</li> </ul> <p>3. Think of a suitably snappy title.</p> <p>See Above.</p> <p>Right, I think that that about covers it.</p> <p>God Bless</p> <p><em> - Jon Kitley</em></p> Jon Kitley http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=75 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/christina_maiden.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Christina Maiden" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The internship draws to a close in a matter of days (we finish officially on Friday 24th) and so this has been a week of saying goodbyes, looking back over the past year, thinking about the future and passing the dreaded lurgy to each other (a nasty cold and certainly not swine flu!). We all had a well-earned day off on Monday to recover from Summer Project and then the week got underway with the phrase, ‘this is the last time I’ll be...’ very much in mind.</p> <p>Placements coming to an official end (prison work, Aquila Way, schools work, the Orchard to name a few) has meant that we’ve been saying goodbye to people we’ve been working closely with for the past 10 months. The placements drawing to a close has given a great opportunity to take a step back and think about what progress has been made over the year – whether that’s our own character development or having the privilege of seeing God move powerfully and build His Kingdom. Each of my placements has taught me so much and I’ve been realising afresh this week that it’s in stepping out in faith and seeking to serve God that He works to grow more of Jesus’ likeness in us and exceeds our expectations. How humbling! And what a reminder that this year has been in His strength.</p> <p>This week we’ve been thinking about what is going to be hard about finishing the internship and what we’re looking forward to (being able to choose what to wear to church was up there at the top of the list). We’ve also been trying to build one another up by pointing out the areas we’ve seen each other grow this year and, as is usually the case, it’s so much easier to spot other people’s growth that your own. There are mixed feelings amongst the 9 of us as we look to finishing (there have already been a few tears shed) and we’d all agree that it’s been a privilege to spend a year working with King’s this year. We are thankful for all God has done in and through us over the past 11 months and look forward to what He has in store for the future, whether that’s in Durham or not.</p> <p>Thank you so much for standing with us in prayer since we started in September and please continue to pray for us as we learn how to serve God in new ways, and without blue t-shirts.</p> <p>Thank you and good night</p> <p>Christina</a> <p><em> - Christina Maiden</em></p> Christina Maiden http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=74 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/robyn_stoneham.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Robyn Stoneham" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello Everyone!</p> <p>I'm going to give you the low-down on what happened this past week at the Ichthus Summer project...!</p> <p>All of us did set-up for church on the Sunday morning (what keen beans and wonderful, efficient and dedicated interns we are!) and then drove down to London. We arrived a bit late and most of us were exhausted, but we were thrown into talking about what we wanted to see God do this week which immediately made us focus. </p> <p>Ichthus are very very good at encouraging an attitude of &#34;pressing in&#34; to God - keeping going, even when you're exhausted. We were encouraged to be continually asking for more of God and his Holy Spirit, so that's what we did. Seeking the Lord and trying to hear his voice was not always easy this past week, but it most definitely produced fruit in all of us as individuals, but also to the people in the areas of London that we were working in. Most of us saw an increase in the use of the prophetic, in ourselves or in others, or in receiving a word or picture and taking it on board.</p> <p>Most days consisted of a devotional time and worship at the beginning of the day, 3 hours of lectures, grabbing lunch and jumping in a car or minibus and then working in an area of London until the evening.</p> <p>There were three teams of Ichthus Projectors in three different areas of London:</p> <p>Erith and Belvedere: Sammy, Tim D, Elena and Christina<br/> Jubilee (Charlton): Joy and Robyn<br/> Lee Green: Lucy, Tim M and Nicola</p> <p>All three groups had completely different experiences, but I know that across the board - we were all surprised by what God can achieve through willing people who seek him.</p> <p>I was part of the Jubilee team, an incredibly multicultural bunch: Two Swiss-Germans, A German, Two Norwegians, Three Rad-nets, Two Durhamites, One girl from Forest Hill and a number from the congregation of New Life Church in Greenwich who had a heart for the estate in Charlton we were working in. The estate desperately needs light and freedom to break through, hence why the project was named &#34;Jubilee&#34;. It was incredible to work in a place with such a strong sense of community and to see how the work of the &#34;Jubilee&#34; team over the past few years has &#34;made the ground soft&#34; (to use a very over-used metaphor...!). Relationships between those who were Christians and those who really needed help were strong, and the testimonies of some people who had become Christians and live on the estate were really moving and encouraging.</p> <p>We met some wonderful people on the estate and saw some wonderful things happen in their lives. I prayed for a man for healing from swelling in his right foot, and God healed him! I felt his foot decrease in size beneath my hands! I was more shocked at this happening than he was! Some people prayed with others and saw them set free in their mindsets from fear, from depression and given them restored hope. Some teams saw people re-commit or commit for the first time their lives to Jesus and say &#34;I believe&#34;. We were astounded, once again, by the transforming power of God - the new life and the hope that only He can bring.</p> <p>We reached people through a wide range of events, coffee mornings, door-knocking, fun-days, football matches, basketball matches, kids clubs, singing prophetic songs on stages at 10 year anniversaries of estates (oh yes...!), reading the Bible aloud, worship on the streets, bless your business schemes, youth evenings and much more!</p> <p>Although we have returned to Durham sleepy, (especially after another disaster with silly sat-navs on the way home and driving through the majority of the centre of London...! It was quite exciting driving past MI6 and other big landmarks, but being cut up by red buses and other irritating vehicles was not the most pleasant of experiences...) our time there was completely invaluable to us and I am incredibly grateful to have been a part of it. I hope and pray that we will remember and store the memories of this past week in our hearts and that our faith will continue to grow as a result of the incredible things we've seen God do this week!</p> <p>Thank you for your prayers!!</p> <p>Our God is a GREAT BIG GOD! ( I did too much kids work this week...)</p> <p>Love Robyn</p> <p><em> - Robyn Stoneham</em></p> Robyn Stoneham http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=73 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_mayo.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Mayo" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>[Check back to read Tim's 'twitters' from the <a href=&#34;http://www.ichthus.org.uk/Groups/25650/Ichthus/Index/Summer_Project/Summer_Project.aspx&#34;>Ichthus Summer Project</a> - updated each day!]</p> <br/> <br/> <p><strong>Summer Project day 1: 6 hour drive + ichthus house + indwelling of the holy spirit = great first day. C'mon! </strong><br/>[sent Sun at 23:05]</p> <p><strong>Summer Project day 2: Summer project day 2: door knocking + washing each others feet + sold out worship for God = more amazing times. Bring on day 3! </strong><br/>[sent Mon at 23:38]</p> <p><strong>Summer Project day 3: crazy thunder storms + washing cars + bbq + 3 guys becoming christians = even more amazing times. There is power in the name of Jesus!</strong><br/>[sent Tues at 22:39]</p> <p><strong>Summer Project day 4: great bible teaching + loads of worship on the streets + awesome curry + another guy giving his life to Christ = more Lord. The kingdom is coming in! </strong><br/>[sent Weds at 21:42]</p> <p><strong>Summer Project day 5: great biblical teaching + shooting bball with local youth + holy spirit moving + feet shrinking miracle = glory be to God! </strong><br/>[sent Thurs at 22:24]</p> <p><strong>Summer Project day 6: last day of teaching + loads more worship on the streets + amazing times of prayer + loads more that I haven't been able to cover = thank you Lord, for You are good! </strong><br/>[sent Fri at 23:06]</p> <p><strong>Summer Project day 7: last day of evang + family fun day + amazing testimonies + a guy giving his life to Christ + love feast to round off the week = what a week. Sunday service on patch and then we head home</strong><br/>[sent Sat at 22:40]</p> <p><strong>Summer Project day 8: morning service in our congregations + sad farewells to good friends + 6.5 hours drive back to Durham = end of summer project.</strong><br/>[sent Mon at at 00:08]</p> <p><em> - Tim Mayo</em></p> Tim Mayo http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=72 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_dixon.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Dixon" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hi everyone!</p> <p>This week (and indeed the last) has been one of getting back into the swing of things after the rush and the highs of June Project. Having had such a great time and spiritual ‘boost’ after witnessing God do amazing things in a concentrated week of mission and evangelism, all of us Interns now faced the new challenge of ‘coming down the mountain’ and continuing with our everyday ministry, looking towards the end of our time as Interns in just a few weeks, including going back to our placements, continuing our teaching series on 1 Corinthians with Mark, and learning about modern pastoral issues with Ruth.</p> <p>Jesus’ disciples had to learn this very same skill. After their amazing experiences of God’s glory and Jesus’ transfiguration on top of a literal mountain, they then had to descend again into the ‘valley’ of everyday ministry that they were called to – tending to the poor, preaching the good news, following Jesus in all they did. Every Christian today can tell you of one or two amazing ‘mountaintop’ experiences that they have encountered that renewed faith, emboldened evangelism, and stirred hope. Likewise, every Christian can tell you of the long valleys of the everyday, where life is sometimes exciting, sometimes normal, and sometimes a struggle. But, as Curtis Hinds put it so well, &#34;you cannot live on top of a mountain forever – the air is too thin!&#34;.</p> <p>In the day-to-day, we just as much need to seek God’s will and spend time in his presence as in the exciting and life-changing. During these valleys are the main times at which God shapes and moulds us, equipping us for the next climb up the mountain, and they valley beyond it. In a few days time, we will be going en masse to London to take part in the Ichthus Summer Project, and I am certain that these last two weeks of ‘normal life’ have been crucial for God preparing us for the mission week ahead. Praise God that he has such great plans for our lives, and is at our side in every situation!</p> <p>Tim Dixon</p> <p><em> - Tim Dixon</em></p> Tim Dixon http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=71 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_mayo.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Mayo" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The internlog of all internlogs, the big one. The daddy. Or perhaps not.</p> <p>June project this year was an amazing five days and I am confident that each delegate, participant, hanger on or just observer will have seen and experienced God moving in this city in new and exciting ways. The opportunity to do so much and meet so many people, to pray for healing for them and sing songs of salvation over them, to practically meet their needs and express God's deepest heart that they see Him as provider and sustainer; has been incredible.</p> <p>I don't really want to say huge amounts more about the June Project here because the June Project was so much bigger than us interns, or the staff team, or even the group of 120 delegates who eagerly served God for five days. June Project begins, as it has done before and continues to do; to realise God's heart for Durham. Do check out the <a href=&#34;http://www.kcd.org.uk/news/archive/item/118&#34;>video</a>, the pictures that will continue to stream in, and ask delegates about their own testimonies of what God has done.</p> <p>Perhaps I should say a little of intern experience of JP'09. The couple of days leading up to June Project were a frenetic chase down of the last bit and pieces to get done for kick off on Wednesday, ranging from putting up an art gallery, performance practices, sorting out who is doing what gardens, to painting banners, to sorting out timetables..... Fortunately, God is absolutely sovereign and regardless of the energy in the time before kick off and through all the rushing, we were able to spend time worshipping our creator and reminding ourselves of the amazing privilege of being able to join with God's plans for Durham.</p> <p>I really feel like it is this thread that ran through June Project 09, of the amazing privilege of joining in what God is doing, that was so energising and empowering over the week. We had great times of worship, encouragement and prayer from Debbie Laycock, Ruth P, Mark Bonnington and Seymour Jacklin, and those moments reminded us about how God has willed, encouraged and is right at the heart of what we were doing.</p> <p>Another thing that struck me over June Project was that we had so much fun! We do have a reputation as Christians of being dull, but the rousing reception that RSVP got on Saturday night was anything but dull, and I do believe that in times like those, we connect with God among our brothers and sisters in Christ in ways that we don't quite get. Equally, times spend singing and dancing in the rain in Millennium Square, time spend chilling out together over the week over food and jokes all were conducive to this amazing week.</p> <p>Thank you so much to everyone who took part, whether you were involved in all of it, some of, prayed for it or just thought of us; thank you.</p> <p>In the following week, we slept. Praise the Lord. As we begin to finish placements, it certainly makes me look back over the last year and see how God has blessed and sustained each of us and taken us into new things. As I think this will be my last internlog, my encouragement to those who read this would be to perhaps take time to look back personally on the last year and remember how God has been at work in your own life.</p> <p>Tim</p> <p><em> - Tim Mayo</em></p> Tim Mayo http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=70 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sammy_hicks.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sammy Hicks" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>June Project 2009<br /> Get involved:<br /> Worship, Teaching, Prayer<br /> Busy, busy, busy<br /> 5 days, 120 people<br /> Gardens,<br /> Art,<br /> Sunny weather?<br /> Busy, busy, busy<br /> <p>Old people,<br /> Young people,<br /> Middle people,<br /> Kids,<br /> Street performance, singing<br /> Dance, drama, clowning<br /> Busy, busy, busy<br /> <p>Students,<br /> Coffee, tea, cakes, scones,<br /> Welly wanging face painters, Party in the Park?<br /> BBQ, car washing, healing on the street<br /> Football, DJs<br /> The Good News!</p> <p>Busy, busy, busy<br /> To the glory of God!</p> <p>Seize the Day!</p> <p>Participate, worship, pray...</p> <p>CARPE DIEM</p> <p><em> - Sammy Hicks</em></p> Sammy Hicks http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=69 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/joy_van_straaten.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Joy Van Straaten" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hey all,</p> <p>After a quieter week last week, this week has seen us once again immersed in our usual activities, as well as a flurry of excitement for the June Project. Many of us are taking on different responsibilities for the June project and I have found it personally encouraging seeing how God has gifted us all incredibly differently, yet able to work together well!</p> <p>This week has also seen our wonderful teaching series on church history with Melody, coming to an end. The past six weeks has been a whistle-stop tour through some of the most fascinating and life changing events that the church has ever seen. We have seen the persecution of the church right at the beginning of its history, the mission of the monks taking the gospel all over the world, the reformation and the doctrine of justification by faith and the charismatic movement to name but a few.</p> <p>In our final session we looked back over the whole of church history and thought about how we could see God working throughout. For me, this was mind boggling as I saw God working in and through people no matter what. Also, that despite the church not being perfect, God was still able to use it and establish his purposes. So often in our walks with God it can feel like we aren’t making progress or really helping to advance the kingdom but the story of the church shows us something different. It shows us that people’s own seemingly small confessions of faith and willingness to serve him in whatever capacity, have the power to set the world alight and create an impact that may only be seen many years later.</p> <p>We were challenged as interns to think about what the church of the 25th century might say about the church of today - not an easy thing to work out! I, and hopefully you also, would want them to say that we were a generation who were willing to be authentic followers of Jesus Christ and to serve him in whatever way he may want us to. Furthermore, that we were more concerned with seeing the bigger picture of what God is doing than being dragged down by the weight of the world.</p> <p>As Delirious so brilliantly put it:</br> <em>&#34;I want to be a history maker in this land; I want to be a speaker of truth to all man-kind. I want to stand; I want to run, into your arms&#34;.</em></p> <p>Are we willing?</p> <p>Joy xx</p> <p><em> - Joy Van Straaten</em></p> Joy Van Straaten http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=68 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/elena_borodenko.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Elena Borodenko" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>We have just come to the end of another ‘Quiet Week’ and what a marvellous ‘Quiet Week’ we’ve all had! God has blessed us with plenty of glorious sunshine and a fair bit of joy and excitement to go with it!</p> <p>Due to a dispersion of Interns during this week of no school or teaching it is difficult to give an overall idea of what we have been doing as a group. So it’s over to this term’s ‘Quiet Week’ interview...</p> <table width=&#34;100%&#34; summary=&#34;Quiet Week Interview&#34;> <tr> <th>Question:</th> <th>What has been the highlight of your ‘Quiet Week’?</th> </tr> <tr> <td>Responses...</td> <td></td> </tr> <tr> <td valign=top>Christina:</td> <td>&#34;SUNSHINE! Relaxing, making a picnic bench (power tools ahoy), planning for June Project Street Performance – woohoo it’s getting exciting.&#34;</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign=top>Robyn:</td> <td>&#34;Time and space! Time to process my thoughts, pray and prepare, be ridiculous – go on bike rides, get a little sun-tanned and standing back to ‘take stock.’ I like that little phrase.&#34;</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign=top>Tim M:</td> <td>&#34;Having an opportunity to reflect on the term, JP, and having the time to enjoy the sun!&#34;</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign=top>Lucy:</td> <td>&#34;Watching a film about Rwanda. Wanted to watch it all term – not found the chance. Amazing! Take me there!&#34;</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Joy:</td> <td>&#34;Relaxing, enjoying the sun, sorting out my wedding things – exciting!&#34;</td> </tr> <tr> <td valign=top>Nicola:</td> <td>&#34;Bombing down Gilesgate Bank on a bike for first time since I was 7 years old (or something)&#34;</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Sammy:</td> <td>&#34;Sun&#34;</td> </tr> <tr> <td>Tim D:</td> <td>&#34;Enjoyed reflecting, recharging, and Barnard Castle, altogether very relaxing!&#34;</td> </tr> </table> <p>And for me the highlight of ‘Quiet Week’ has to have been having a picnic on one of those little wooden rowing boats on the river! Hmm or maybe our invigorating bike ride where it was both scorching hot and hailing... Fun times!</p> <p>So in conclusion this term’s ‘Quiet Week’ has been a great success. We’ve been relaxing, recharging, regaining that 7-year-old joy and the weather has helped us to enjoy the great outdoors of Durham! What a difference a little bit of sunshine makes to our mood. There is a real buzz amongst the Interns at present, with some very exciting events coming up and some brilliant ideas forming into reality. I can’t wait to see what unfolds during the remainder of this term. God is surely up to something...and I think it’s going to be good!</p> <p>Now I found the beauty of ‘Quiet Week’ to be so great that I thought I’d quote a poem by Jill Eisnaugle to express the Intern dream...</p> <p><strong>Sunny Days</strong></p> <p><em>There is a joy that comes to light<br/> When sunny days appear<br/> A sense of warmth, both bold and bright<br/> Each time the skies are clear<br/> A moment’s peace, a sacred calm<br/> And stillness, all day through<br/> We can behold within our palm<br/> When sunshine is in view.<br/></p> <p>Enjoyment, in its purest sense<br/> Can thrive on sunny days<br/> For when blue skies and sun commence<br/> Our cares are swept away<br/> Basking beneath this golden glow<br/> We shall forever find<br/> The beauty we have come to know<br/> Where once, the world seemed blind.<br/></p> <p>Much promise is held in the beams<br/> When sunny days emerge<br/> For in the rays, we see our dreams<br/> As more than thoughts we’ve purged<br/> A sense of hope, a sense of worth<br/> And love to last, always<br/> Shall evermore reign ‘cross the earth<br/> When we seize sunny days.<br/></em></p> <p>I think we may take this ‘sunny days’ idea as a metaphor. God is good to us!</p> <p><em> - Elena Borodenko</em></p> Elena Borodenko http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=67 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/nicola_bates.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Nicola Bates" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week has been the last push before half term which for interns means we get a week that’s a little easier going! It has been one of the busiest weeks I think for all of us recently and I’ve realised more than ever how much the business of life can really be a distraction from God. For me this week has seen a panicked soup making fiasco that ended alright (ask the others who sampled my gammon and parsnip soup – I would pick a fancy one to make!), but we’ve all experienced the ever fascinating Old Testament teaching on Jonah and Amos from our very own Richard Briggs on Tuesday and Wednesday and then a very revealing session with Melody Briggs where we discussed our theological backgrounds, and finally a morning gardening in Newton Hall with Reuben keeping watch over our work! I know that I got to the end of myself this week, physically, emotionally and spiritually and that is where thankfully God stepped in!</p> <p>It’s a problem I think church workers the world over are plagued with; how to stay focused on Jesus and not get distracted by all the things you have to do. I am thankful to God that even though I don’t know the answer I have him to rely upon when I get to the stage where I’ve lost the plot!</p> <p>I took a walk in Pelaw Woods this week to get that much needed cave time and if you’ve ever walked down towards the river through those woods you’ll know there’s a wonderful view of Durham Cathedral! It was something so unexpected for me to see that view when half way down there was a bench which I perched on but I felt it was quite poignant! In a place where you can so easily forget where you are there was something to remind me; a place of worship that defines the Durham skyline!</p> <p>I went on a walk to Pelaw Woods to clear my mind and try to capture the point again of why I do all the things I do in the week and there I found it – worship! It’s something so familiar that the whole of the Christian life is about worshipping God, living in response to what he’s done but this is precisely the reason why it’s so easy to forget its meaning. It’s also quite ironic that I’ve found it easy to say to students that it’s important for them to spend some positive time with God in order to gain perspective on their exams, the lesson I’ve been trying to teach others has finally taught me! I pray that the joy of the Lord overflows into the things I do so that they become about worshipping him and doing so with a glad heart!</p> <p><em> - Nicola Bates</em></p> Nicola Bates http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=66 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/lucy_hefford.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Lucy Hefford" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>A swift look at the week so far shows that Kings Church is as active as ever: This weeks Theology101 was on ‘The Meal that Jesus Instituted’ – The Lords Supper. Amazingly, we heard how the 1st centaury church ate a full meal in between taking the bread and the wine… now there’s a part of early Christianity that I am certainly up for modelling. There was a Prophetic Workshop on Monday in the wonderful Appleby Rooms, which was really well attended and many students and residents were hearing from God – so listen up! On Wednesday evening, I led the GCSE and A-Level students who go to the youth group ‘Deeper’ through an exam-stress reliving mediation on Jesus calming the storm. Two of them fell asleep, so I’m guessing they felt relaxed as a result! On Thursday the Alpha course continues, so we look forward to hearing how the group develops as they investigate Christianity together over a wonderful vegetable lasagne. So overall, it has been a varied week of Intern fun, with an apparent theme of food. </p> <p>May I share with you a reflection on my work here as the Youth Intern, particularly on attitudes to ‘convincing people of the Gospel’. As the Youth Intern, I have the privilege of spending most of my weeks planning for or running groups for the young people in the church family and in schools. Such is my desire to see these children and teenagers jump up and declare their acceptance of the gospel, I often find myself trying to take on more of a convincing-them role than a ministering one. I have realised recently that my underlying approach to the youth work I do is more one of &#34;I shall convert them!&#34; rather than seeing it as a work that God does in people. Zechariah apparently got the hang of this before I did- &#34;Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit&#34;, says the Lord: Zechariah 4:6. </p> <p>In light of this mini-revelation of mine, I have sought to spend more time praying for the youth who I serve, rather than spending more time examining my technique of leading the Bible study or whatever the really FUN activities are that I am involved in running. When I look back on my own journey to faith, I can see too how it was the still small voice of God’s spirit who led me to worship Him, rather than some really ace youth leader (although I did have on!) who used her mighty-youth-converting ability to convince me that Jesus was the way to go. </p> <p>God loves our children and young people so much, and His desire to see them sold-out for Him is actually greater than mine! This is often a good thing to remember when we are praying for friends or family members who do not know Jesus yet. So here’s to trusting God with their journey to Him, and praying He will use our small efforts and our prayers as part of His way to reach them... &#34;Not by might, nor by power, but by His spirit.&#34;</p> <p><em> - Lucy Hefford</em></p> Lucy Hefford http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=65 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/christina_maiden.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Christina Maiden" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Having read Robyn’s internlog for last week and realising the incredible rate at which the nine of us are apparently aging, I think we’ve coped with the busy-ness of this week quite well :o) Like any other week we’ve had teaching, community placements and church placements but here’s a few highlights...</p> <p>Our Thursday church history slot with Melody was as creative as usual, starting with a taster of a monastic service and leading on to a discussion between various nuns and monks who took the Gospel across Europe. I was St Patrick (as in the patron saint of Ireland) and, my word, what a legend! He took the Gospel to Ireland and worked tirelessly, evangelising like crazy, and seeing much of the country converted to Christianity. In addition to Patrick, we also heard from Benedict (Tim Mayo), Boniface (Elena), Francis of Assissi (Joy), Hilde (Lucy), Hildegard (Nicola), Aidan (Tim), Cyril (Sammy) and Colombo (Robyn). These people, spanning nearly one thousand years of mission, are such an inspiration, particularly when considering the mission activities coming up this term. With planning for June Project taking a step up, it’s a great encouragement to see the mighty ways that has God has used his people throughout history.</p> <p>Talking of the June Project, its getting exciting! The interns are beginning to take on particular areas of responsibility and this is both thrilling and slightly frightening. We long to push into the new things God wants to do with this year’s June Project but are also wary of the danger of whizzing ahead and getting carried away. Please pray that we’ll be following God’s plans rather than our own and also that we will be willing to step out in faith.</p> <p>On Friday morning June Project was in mind again as we worked to publicise garden clearing. We fought through the biting wind (and Nicola also battled with a biting dog) to push flyers through letterboxes on the Newton Hall estate. We pray that people there will take us up on the offer to do their gardening for them and that this will give us the opportunity to bless the area.</p> <p>So with a lot of time spent thinking about the June Project and a whistle-stop tour of European mission on Thursday, it’s been a mission filled week. It’s been useful to be reminded that easy though it is to sit back and enjoy the great things about being a Christian community, we are called to be outward looking. That’s challenging and daunting but, remembering the amazing things God has done in history through people just like us, we’re certainly in for some excitement too!</p> <p><em> - Christina Maiden</em></p> Christina Maiden http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=64 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/robyn_stoneham.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Robyn Stoneham" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello all!</p> <p>Following on from Timmy D’s report, I too want to encourage a shift in our perspectives – for myself just as much as anyone else as it’s so easy to forget our purpose...</p> <p>Our interactive Church history lessons with Melody Briggs have been an all-senses and influential learning experience. Last week we spent the first half an hour of a teaching session in the Appleby Rooms building, (cleverly disguised as an Eastern Orthodox Church) experiencing Eastern Orthodox worship. It appealed to all our senses: icons and candles appealed to our sight, heavy incense appealed to our noses (and somewhat to our heads...), traditional Greek food appealed to our taste buds and holding candles appealed to our touch. Elena and Tim D requested our attention with our ears as they performed a version of Psalm 92 in an Eastern Orthodox Style. Unfortunately, I got the giggles when Elena sang the line “the trees are full of sap” (Elena pronounced it saaaaaap), but on later reflection – as this stuck in my memory – I have decided it is profound enough to base this week’s internlog on...</p> <p>I suppose we are fairly old in 'internship years' now – we are currently over 2/3rds of our lives as an intern (which makes us roughly 60 years old, in internship age).</p> <p>Psalm 92 has something to say about old age...</p> <p><em>'The righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; the flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap, showing that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.'</em></p> <p>At the moment, it’s easy for us to lose our focus as there are so many things happening. The past week has been full of a melange of events – of lost phones and broken down cars, buying houses and finding jobs, visits from old friends, but also some dreadful news that in the church in Angers in France, one of our friends lost her Dad in a brutal accident this past week. Our normal patterns of life have also been ruffled the past fortnight because of bank holidays and student leaders retreats - highlighting to us all what creatures of habit and routine we actually love to be.</p> <p>In addition, coming up this week, some of us have been starting some new placements in schools and elsewhere, a small Alpha course starts this Thursday, June Project mission plans are slowly forming to something cohesive and all our usual activities continue as normal.</p> <p>In the midst of all the business, I find it easy to lose the call from Jesus to 'Abide in me as I abide in you' and to remain 'planted in the LORD and to flourish in the courts of our God.'</p> <p>As we get older as interns, familiar with our routines, I hope and pray that we still produce fruit in all the things we do, that we still are green and &#34;full of saaaaap&#34; and that the LORD is our rock.</p> <p>I am glad to say I have learnt something from Psalm 92 about perseverance, perspective and old age and I’m grateful for the amusing way in which it was sang as this has resounded in my memory!</p> <p>With love,</p> <p>Robyn</p> <p>p.s. – I do not mean to suggest that 60 years old is definitely decided upon as 'old age'...</p> <p><em> - Robyn Stoneham</em></p> Robyn Stoneham http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=63 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_dixon.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Dixon" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hi everyone!</p> <p>Apologies for the slightly delayed Internlog this week – having enjoyed two weeks of rest at Easter, all of us have found ourselves hurtled back at force into Intern life, with a busy but exciting start to our final term!</p> <p>We’ve started a new teaching series with Mark on the Book of Revelation, which has been fascinating so far (if a little perplexing and confusing at times), as well as starting a series on church history with Melody Briggs, which this Thursday involved some of us dressing up as Early Christians and singing Psalms, followed by eating lots of olives, bread, and fish – I definitely enjoyed the hands-on learning experience!</p> <p>One thing that struck me during last weekend’s Student Leader retreat in Lanchester, where up-and-coming cell and pastorate leaders came to share fellowship, worship, and teaching together with Kris Miller, was that as Christians we can sometimes have a tendency to forget where we’ve come from, and so lose direction to where we’re going.</p> <p>Kris led several excellent talks about 'God’s Story and Our Story', looking at how God shapes our past, present, and future, and this provoked many of us to look not just at the way in which God has been faithful throughout our lives but the millions and billions of lives that have gone before us. Through schisms, wars, persecution, heresies, and in-fighting between believers, God has proven time and time again that he will protect his church and is consistently faithful towards those who trust in him. Even in times of desperate need, when Christians have been forced to give up their lives for their faith, God has used their witness to spur countless thousands of people to faith for generations to come, providing hope and courage to Christians trying to live their life like Christ lived his.</p> <p>So when we look back at the year (or even the many years) that we’ve had, it’s worth looking at the ways in which God has been faithful to us and answered our prayers, as it spurs not only us on, but also others as a testimony to God’s goodness!</p> <p><em> - Tim Dixon</em></p> Tim Dixon http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=62 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_mayo.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Mayo" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Ok, it's the last of the sports related Internlog titles from France, but it seemed so befitting to use them to talk about an intense period of time giving our all to the team (body of Christ). I promise I'll stop.</p> <p>Anyways, I've been given the opportunity to tell all about the second half our adventure, and the last few days since we've been back, and I can honestly say its been a truly special time for us all. After our feedback session this morning (Friday), we've had an opportunity to reflect on a week of travel, worship, prayer, good ol' fashioned sweat and toil for the Lord; all spoken in French. We dive into the action on the Monday, the day after the mime and lunch spent with the church family.</p> <p>On the Monday, we woke up a little earlier to travel to a retreat centre run by two English ex-pats called Marc and Deborah, who welcomed us to reflect, pray, worship and enjoy some very tasty food as we had some much needed fellowship in the sunshine. The sense in which as a group this opportunity to rest and reflect, and to spend some extended time in devotion to God, was much needed towards the end of a week which had a pretty fast pace to say the least. The afternoon was spend gardening and enjoying Paul walk into the middle of a fountain in La Fleche, where we enjoyed some more fellowship.</p> <p>The Tuesday came with a sad revelation that it was the last opportunity to see some of our new friends in the church, and so we approached the day with a typical gusto, only to find that just as mission trips seem to always do, change the schedule completely from time to time. We found ourselves with some free time to get one or two prezzies for our loved ones and our hosts, and look round the city a bit more. We then sang in the middle of town for the second time, and God really answered prayer and moved during the brief opportunity to proclaim Him on the streets. Happy day! As a group, we then prepared to be involved in the food distribution in the afternoon and evening at 'croq etudiant', which literally translates as crunchy student.</p> <p>Twice more we sang and brought some Happy Day joy to those receiving the food parcels, and had opportunities to talk to those who were there, which was a real highlight for us. As we finished the final day of activity, going back to our host families for the final time, there was a genuine sense in which we had been blessed to be a blessing over the week spent in Angers, and we were going to miss the town. </p> <p>The following morning, at the slightly disagreeable time of 4.30am French time, or 3.30am English time, we were up and about to get ready to leave. We met at the church at about 5.40am French time to make our way back to Calais, catch a ferry to Dover and drive back to Durham. All was fine until Mark's van had a bit of a <em>mal a la electronique</em>, and made the final leg of the journey one filled with trust in the Lord. May be best to ask those who experienced that reality when you get a chance. We all made it back to Durham though, and decided to take a day off on Thursday. I think you'll agree we may have deserved that.</p> <p>And finally today (Friday). We had a briefing this morning and praised God for all the things He blessed us with, taught and moulded us with over the past week, and it is so humbling to think that God chose to use me as part of a group of 11 to go to France and proclaim the happy day when Jesus demonstrated the depth of God's grace and mercy for us, in a place where protestant churches are called sects. Very humbling.</p> <p>And, as I couldn't resist, a couple of post-match interview cliches that loosely apply. It was a game of two halves, we gave 110%, and my personal favourite, we went for a result and we got one.</p> <p>To finish off, we must praise God that He was faithful in answering prayer, equipping us for every circumstance and being so much more than we imagined over the last week. See you in the summer term for plenty more intern action. &#34;do do do doo do do do doo doo...(aka the Match of the Day theme tune)</p> <p><em> - Tim Mayo</em></p> Tim Mayo http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=61 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sammy_hicks.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sammy Hicks" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>We’re now drawing near to the end of our time in France and we thought it would be good to give a 'half-time' report. Just looking back over the prayer requests in the last internlog we have seen 6 answered already, and we continue to pray for the rest! We have been amazed by what we’ve seen God do, despite our lack of French and some of our worries. Tim will give a more full report at the end of the week but I’ll give a few first half highlights...</p> <p>On Thursday we had fun getting involved in social action projects that the Church here in Angers does. We made furniture with varying instructions from our French hosts and Mr Burgess :) We also attempted to collect food for poor people in a French supermarket, which was fine until a member of the public asked one of us to explain why we were collecting the food! Despite the challenges we were all convicted of the importance of doing what we were doing for God, and it was great to just have the opportunity to bless the people in the Church and those that they’re helping.</p> <p>Saturday had on the programme 'evangelism in Angers' which had a few of us worried. This phrase made us think of the street evangelism we do in Durham, with often little interest from the people we talk with, or deep theological discussion and debate. The prospect of doing this in French was indeed slightly worrying. Then we realised/were reminded (or were told by Paul!) that we could still share God’s love in other ways. We decided to simply use the time to worship God in the centre of Angers. So, as a group of 9 interns we set-up on steps in the main square and with the aid of a guitar praised God for 1-2 hours in the sun and the rain, and had a few people standing around ready to answer the obvious question of why we were doing it.</p> <p>As well as these things to give a few examples: we performed a mime in the Sunday service, played football with homeless people, been to French home groups, eaten French food, had a taste of French wine, had one or two coffees, and had a tour of Angers focused around the history of the Protestant Church in France!</p> <p>None of the things we’ve done could we have done without God and because of this we are able to give God the glory both as the reason for why we’re here but also as the strength and power behind what we’ve done.</p> <p><em> - Sammy Hicks</em></p> Sammy Hicks http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=60 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/joy_van_straaten.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Joy Van Straaten" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Bonjour! I am writing this from Angers where we finally arrived on Tuesday night and are all now firmly getting into the swing of things.</p> <p>On Tuesday night when we arrived we were shown to our host families that we will be staying with while we are here. Some of us are staying with English speaking people and others are thrown somewhat into the deep end by being with French families that can’t speak any English. Christina and I are in the latter category and are having so much fun being immersed into the French culture and language.</p> <p>While we are here we would really value all your prayers for some particular things. So to make it easier we have come up with a list of prayer points:</p> <ol> <li>We are planning and performing a drama for the youth service on Sunday morning so would really value prayer for proper time to prepare and inspiration on what to do as this is still undecided. It would be great for us to be able to bless the church through what we eventually contribute.</li> <li>Prayer for a blessing on all the host families that we are staying with - 4 in total. Pray that the lack of French language will not prevent us from being able to form good relationships with them.</li> <li>Prayer that our broken French would not be our primary concern whilst we are out here and that God would teach us how to witness to him with our actions as well as our words.</li> <li>That God would protect us in all our travelling whilst we are here and that our sat navs would continue to work as we have been having a few problems with them.</li> <li>That God would continue to support us and help us to step out in boldness and have confidence with the new things we are doing.</li> <li>Pray for the church here that it would continue to flourish and that good relationships would be sustained by the church community.</li> <li>Pray for the town of Angers that appears to disregard the gospel due to a feeling of satisfaction with their life and possessions. Pray that God will break through into the hearts and minds of the people in the town so that they realise how much they need a relationship with him.</li> <li>Pray for strength and continued laughter and high spirits amongst the team.</li> <li>Pray for a lady’s son who we met who is having nightmares which might be linked to the bad music that he listens to.</li></ol> <p>Thank you once again for all your support while we are out here. We are so appreciative of all your thoughts and prayers for us.</p> <p>We will write again soon about all the news from Angers.</p> <p>Au Revoir,</p> <p>Joy xxx</p> <p><em> - Joy Van Straaten</em></p> Joy Van Straaten http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=59 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/elena_borodenko.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Elena Borodenko" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>The sunshine has lifted the spirits of the interns this week. As we prepare for the even sunnier days to come (i.e. France) we have been gently mulling along on what has been a pretty normal week despite the weather... For most of us France seems but a vague and distant concept at the moment even though we leave on Monday. In fact we seem to have taken a leaf out of Paul’s book, as we are on the whole pretty calm about the whole thing. Maybe it’s the sunshine that is making us so laid back. I wonder whether the reality of it all will kick in by the time we actually get there...</p> <p>The France planning meeting was enjoyable this week. We read through the plan of our days there, which our hosts had so kindly sent to us in French (a language that the majority of us still struggle with). Yet all was not lost as our number 2 interpreter Tim D (Hannah Juby is no.1 of course) cleverly took us through what it actually said. We also got a bit of a giggle or worry out of the fact that it had been written up on the white board using a black permanent marker... But don’t worry like we did as Paul and the spirit were there to save the day with Paul and his practical knowledge and the spirit being white spirit.</p> <p>Talking of the Spirit, Mark’s teaching on Tuesday began with a look at various theologian views on the relationship between revelation of Jesus and the Spirit in John’s Gospel. Is the role of the Spirit to interpret and communicate Jesus to each generation or to repeat what Jesus has already said historically or does he bring new revelation along with discernment, speaking to us as Jesus in the here and now?</p> <p>This week has also been a week to review what we do as interns. Communicating how we have found each aspect of the internship this term, challenging ourselves on how both our character and relationship with God have grown and whether we have fulfilled our targets. Self-reflection is difficult but I have personally found that it pays to see where you have been on the way to where you are now.</p> <p>Praise God that he is changing us from day to day whether we realise it or not. I am sure that God will work wonders in us and through us on our mission trip to Angers and this excites me greatly. The vulnerability of a language barrier and the fact that we will be evangelising in a place we don’t know leaves space for our eyes to be taken from our own efforts and onto God’s glory and grace. We need the Spirit!</p> <p>The apostle Paul sums it up well in 1 Corinthians 2:1-4:<br/> <p>&#34;When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words or wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.&#34;</p> <p>Amen</p> <p>Elena</p> <p><em> - Elena Borodenko</em></p> Elena Borodenko http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=58 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/nicola_bates.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Nicola Bates" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p><em>'For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified'</em> 1 Corinthians 2:2</p> <p>The past few weeks have revolved mostly on our up coming 'adventure with Jesus' to France - Angers to be exact! There is a mixture of excitement and anticipation amongst the interns I think, I know I'm feeling this combination of emotions! We've been learning some French thanks to Madame Juby, enough for us to make some effort with the people we'll be meeting! Christina mentioned some of the phrases we've been learning which hopefully will help us in beginning conversations with people at which point we'll say &#34;Hannah!!! Help!&#34;</p> <p>We're going to be getting up to all sorts whilst in Angers, constructing and distributing flat pack furniture, giving out food parcels, prayer walking (whilst being tourists for the day as well!) there are a number of other things we'll be doing as well most exciting is that we'll be going into prison where some of us will give our testimonies!</p> <p>The language barrier has been a source of panic for me until I realised that I'm not going to France to have an intellectual conversation with people there in French because I simply don't have the words! How then am I to communicate Christ and the Good News that he loves those I will meet and wants to be in relationship with them? I am going to have to 'know nothing but Jesus Christ', in my very being, the way I behave, my body language, my facial expressions, my enthusiasm will all have to overflow with God's love and faithfulness! This is a wonderful thing to relax into, knowing that God can use me in my weakness to reveal himself to others but also what a challenge!</p> <p>I've also been struck several times recently that there is great joy to be had in sharing who Jesus is with those around you, and to do this is nourishment for ourselves, as we obey God in making disciples of others God speaks to us and teaches us and transforms us. In John 4 there are great words of encouragement in proclaiming the Good News we get 'good wages' we're promised the Holy Spirit, he is with us as we go out, we are given words to say, confidence and boldness. These are the promises I pray that we as a team of interns will hold on to and be encouraged by as we go to Angers to 'know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified'.</p> <p><em> - Nicola Bates</em></p> Nicola Bates http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=57 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/lucy_hefford.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Lucy Hefford" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>One of the speakers at the Living Leadership conference which we went to this week opened his seminar with the assertion that &#34;most Christians are dissatisfied with their experience of Christianity.&#34; It shocked me because I find it so true for myself. I have come to realise that it is my lack of understanding of Grace that is causing this.</p> <p>We have a little joke among the interns; 'Be careful what you pray for!' I remember a few months ago being challenged by a speaker: do you know that you need a crucified Christ? Since then, I have prayed that I would know my need for a saviour – that I am not my own saviour. God has helped me recently to understand that I am totally in need of Jesus. I am sad that I have been a Christian for so long an not understood my utter need for a saviour! As Bob Fyall put it on Saturday morning, we sing &#34;Worthy is the Lamb&#34; but secretly want to sing &#34;Worthy am I&#34;.</p> <p>I think that the story of the Prodigal Son puts my problem into context. The Son who stayed at home earned his fathers love by the way he obeyed his father. However, the son who ran away and wasted his fathers money recognised he was in need of forgiveness. I think I have spent a long time working hard for God because I think it will keep my in his favour when actually, no mater how 'good' I think I am, I DO need a saviour to put me right.</p> <p>There has been much talk recently in Kings, both in services, at the Student House Party and in Cell Group about the Christian life being one of 'Grace not Law' – freedom not obligation. &#34;It was for FREEDOM that Christ has set us free&#34;, yet I have felt for a long time now that this 'Freedom' we talk about is far from my experience. I can relate very well to the Pharisees who were so keen to honour God that they made themselves many rules (known as 'hedging the law') to ensure they got it right. </p> <p>Bob Fyall helpfully pointed out on Saturday that Christianity the 'faith' says 'God accepts me, therefore I do good', but Christianity the religion says 'If I do good, God will accept me.' For example, I can confess that I have sucked the joy out of my prayer times by making them a daily necessity. I find myself feeling guilty when I don't have a quiet time, but that guilt is not something God puts on me, it is my own modern day version of 'hedging of the law'.</p> <p>I wonder if other Christians find that they put rules on themselves? I think that we would find more joy in our walk with Jesus if we recognised the laws we create and ask God to break them down so that we only rely on Jesus: not on out efforts. 'Grace not Law' – freedom not obligation.</p> <p>Lucy</p> <p><em> - Lucy Hefford</em></p> Lucy Hefford http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=56 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/christina_maiden.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Christina Maiden" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>We’re half way through the internship (scary!) and in one of our teaching sessions this week the nine of us gave three words each to sum up how we’re feeling. The following featured amongst the 27 words: appreciative, growth, anticipating, challenged, oscillating, positive, confused, hopeful and natural.</p> <p>It’s been quite a year so far and all of us have learnt and experienced so much. We’re still fully aware, however, that there is so much more for God to do in and through us and that’s really exciting! With the mission trip to France, June Project, more theology and Bible study and outreach in nice weather (shock horror!) on the horizon, we’re looking forward to the months to come, but before all that, on to what’s been happening this week...</p> <p>After quiet week last week, we’ve come whizzing into a ‘normal’ week. Placements in schools and teaching with Mark and Ruth are back up and running and we’ve all been getting back into the swing of things. The week started with the Sunday morning service and setting up for baptisms. How amazing it was to hear testimonies of how God has been at work in each person’s life. And hearing the news that baby Bailey (or rather Anna Bailey) was born earlier that morning made the celebration of Jenny, Sally, Dave and Alex’s baptisms, and the symbolism of this marking the start of a new life, all the more poignant.</p> <p>Along with our usual teaching slots and placements, we’ve had a language lesson this week. Knowing that speaking English slowly and more loudly will simply not do on our mission trip to France at the end of March, we’re having French lessons with Hannah Juby. And it’s certainly good fun! Such looks of bewilderment haven’t been seen flashing between interns since the first few weeks of learning how to set up a Sunday morning service back in September. Our understanding of French ranges from A Level standard to never having spoken it before so it’s been interesting!</p> <p>We’ve learnt such important phrases as ‘Please can you repeat that?’, ‘Where are the toilets?’ and ‘I’m dairy intolerant, does the food have milk in it?’ The next lesson we’ll be learning how to talk about Jesus in French and hopefully we’ll be able to remember the important bits!</p> <p>Next week we’re off to Leicestershire for a 3-day conference (the second part of the one we went on in September) and we would all appreciate your prayers for the time we spend away. Please pray that God will meet with us and that we will be open to hear from Him.</p> <p>That’s all folks.</p> <p>Au revoir! (...I hope that’s right!)</p> <p><em> - Christina Maiden</em></p> Christina Maiden http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=55 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/robyn_stoneham.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Robyn Stoneham" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>For the interns, the past week was &#34;quiet week&#34;; a week without blocks of teaching of the team meeting with staff on Tuesdays and for some of us, school placements were also absent from our timetable as it was half term. Quiet week is a chance for us all to stand back and take stock. To do all the bits and bobs we've been longing to do, or to relax, or to &#34;process&#34; or to take a big deep breath of fresh air. The pressure's on to stick to the rules of keeping the week &#34;quiet&#34; - which means something different for each of us... Last term none of us grabbed at the opportunity to soak in silence and solitude and consequently, in retrospect, we view quiet week as a rule that must be obeyed.</p> <p>I feel quite underqualified to comment on quiet week on behalf of everyone, having not shared as much of my week with them as normal, so I decided to interview my fellow interns when we met up on Friday morning to litter pick in Newton Hall!</p> <p>The following is merely their first responses to the question &#34;How was 'quiet week' for you?&#34; It by no means reflects how &#34;good&#34; at being interns we are, how naughty we are, how dopey we are - and as you read this please bear in mind it was early in the morning, we were a bit hyperactive at the thought of using litterpickers again and I did rather unexpectedly challenge people on the spot. Therefore, please, please do not use these quotes against us...</p> <p><strong>So - How was 'quiet week' for you?</strong></p> <p>Tim D: &#34;Refreshing. I went to Bath beforehand and survived the Jane Austen centre.&#34;</p> <p>Sammy: &#34;I can't actually say out loud. Don't quote me on that. I reckon I did nearly at least double the amount of stuff I do in a normal week. Oh no. Ruth's gonna kill me...&#34;</p> <p>Elena: &#34;I don't think quiet would be a word I'd use to describe my noisy week. God reminded me to put my toothbrush in my bag this morning. *smiles*&#34;</p> <p>Christina: &#34;Oh Dear. *laughs* I'd like to write a poem to describe my quiet week. *silence* O.K. What rhymes with hot chocolate?&#34; [Elena commented on how she didn't understand the poem, so Christina dropped the poem idea and proceeded to actually answer the question] &#34;Quiet week was good. Really good. I liked it. That's the best quote I've ever had.&#34;</p> <p>Joy: &#34;Quiet. Yeah - I have't seen anyone pretty much and had lots of time to myself.&#34;</p> <p>Lucy: &#34;Prime planning time. And BABY LUCY was born on monday! *squeals* Toast Cafe [a Christian cafe put on for youth in the evenings Durham this past week - half term] has been amazing and we sold 120 toasties in one night. Also, naps are good.&#34;</p> <p>Nicola: &#34;Yeah, not that quiet. I went to the Edgebury estate clear-up on Tuesday with Aquila. Yeah, it was really good fun working with a big bunch of kids. It's interesting what people throw away. And... guess what time I woke up yesterday? 2pm! I don't think I've slept properly all week. I needed it!&#34;</p> <p>Tim M: &#34;Erm up until Wednesday I've been a nurse looking after K because she's been ill. Fever, nausea and flu. Bleurgh. It was good that it was quiet week so I could look after her! I haven't really done anything other than looking after K, but I did copy recipes down to make jam...&#34;</p> <p>And for myself, the past week has been wonderful. A vast mixture of resting, laughing, a bit of weeping, thinking, drawing, reading, walking and praying. I'm so thankful to God for a shift in our usual routine for a short time, it keeps us all fresh and reliant upon God in all circumstances, however different they may be! When it's easy to fall into patterns of a normal lifestyle and routine, a week of initial blankness arrives and our choice on how it is filled are all part and parcel of our year of learning and growing.</p> <p>I wonder what the report will be at the end of quiet week III?!</p> <p>Thanks for reading and for being interested in our lives!</p> <p>Love Robyn</p> <p><em> - Robyn Stoneham</em></p> Robyn Stoneham http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=54 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sammy_hicks.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sammy Hicks" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week we’ve been thinking a lot about how we, as Christians, can influence our society and the many ways in which we can communicate the good news of the Gospel to non-believers. The Guest service was a great example of different methods used to convey the same message: multi-media presentations, songs, drama, a talk, and the opportunity for people to talk with their friends at the end, while sharing ice-cream and toppings. All these led to people thinking through the meaning of what had been talked about. The room was packed and this was mostly down to members of the Church inviting their own friends and everyone being welcoming to guests.</p> <p>On Thursday we continued our series with Ruth on 'Influencing Society'. We looked at people's varying views of work, ranging from those who can’t be bothered to find work to those who would do their work even if they weren’t paid. We talked about how people in the Bible treated work differently; some gave it up to do God’s work, some continued to work to fund their ministry, some used their work as their ministry. The significance of this is that paid work can have varying roles in a Christian’s life but that it should always be something which aids our work for God. In our society this may mean doing a job which we may not have considered in order to reach a group of non-believers, or to persevere with a job we do not enjoy in order to pursue our Christian ministry.</p> <p>On Thursday we also had our first French lesson, in preparation for the intern mission trip to France in March. Language is often a very important method of communicating Jesus to people, so some of us will have to put in a lot of practice to be ready to communicate with French people! Personally I now know the words for a few lunch items so at least I won’t go hungry!</p> <p>On Friday we had our regular coffee morning with some residents in Gilesgate. Despite this not being overtly evangelistic, it’s a great opportunity to serve the local community and to reflect Jesus to them.</p> <p>Finally, this week we have been very aware of the CU main event week and all the activities planned to reach as many of the student population as possible. Although the interns are not directly involved in this many of us will be encouraging students as they invite their friends to events and I expect the events to increase awareness of Christianity and how significant it is to people’s lives with openings for meaningful conversations on the street, in Church and in events already running such as the Student Alpha course.</p> <p><em> - Sammy Hicks</em></p> Sammy Hicks http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=53 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_mayo.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Mayo" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Good day to you all, and thank you for once again logging into all things intern.</p> <p>We pick up the week that followed presentations, which became a week were each of us realised that we were in fact, really really busy! Tim excellently captured the sense of excitement and apprehension, as well as the big deal, that the presentations were built up to be; but once those were over, we had plenty more to be excited about.</p> <p>We revisited the heady days of our mission trip to Chiselhurst as we did some prophetically motivated first contact in Durham town centre on Friday morning last week, and saw God's amazing grace at work as He gave us words and pictures that spurred us to talk to the people that were brave enough to face the weather, and talked about the up and coming Alpha launch night.</p> <p>Saturday night saw a hugely exciting step in church unity with the Alpha launch, and although this falls outside of the internship bounds, it is nonetheless exciting and several of us got involved in different ways. The evening was great, with good food, good music, a great down-to-earth talk and a real sense of fellowship with other churches in Durham.</p> <p>And then there was Monday. The snow beat just about everyone in the UK, and it beat us. Great to have a day of rest!</p> <p>The rest of the week has been spent gearing up for the guest service, which was last night (Sammy will share about it next week I'm sure), and starting some new things. Tim D has finally made it into prison to help out, which is very exciting; and we have started a teaching series on influencing society. As we find ourselves in the middle of the middle term, wondering how just under half our internship has managed to pass by so quickly, starting something new reminds us of each great opportunity we get to learn and develop, but also how we are to make the most of the year that God has gifted us with.</p> <p>The continuation of our look at the Screwtape letters again and again gives us the opportunity to look at an aspect of human behaviour and identify the way God lovingly and tenderly seeks to help us to understand how we follow His ways for living, which again and again (as it's always mentioned here) has been so good in challenging the way we think about our lives. Looking at the grace in which God communicates and deals with us is just mind boggling, and awe inspiring, and its that grace that is continuing to drive us week by week, even through the snow and cold.</p> <p>I thought I'd leave you with a little poem, as I was inspired to write a dit after the legend that is Gaz.</p> <p>As we look towards lent and the spring time,<br/> And look back at a winter of glee,<br/> As we make ourselves open to the Fathers,<br/> will and ask that our spiritual eyes see,<br/> As we soak in the wisdom of ages,<br/> and we go forth and carry the light,<br/> we ask Him that if it's no problem,<br/> that we'd get another sprinkle of white.<br/> <p>God bless you all!</p> <p><em> - Tim Mayo</em></p> Tim Mayo http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=52 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_dixon.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Dixon" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello everyone!</p> <p>As the more astute of you may have realised, I am not, in fact, Sammy Hicks, but Tim Dixon. Sammy’s not very well this week so I’m writing his Internlog instead; get well soon Sammy!</p> <p>This week has been a busy one for all us interns, as we have been preparing and presenting presentations on the gospel resonances in a film of our choice (although not Narnia or Lord of The Rings – apparently they’re too easy!), as part of Ruth’s teaching on Culture and Christianity, looking at how we relate to culture and media as Christians.</p> <p>We were all given twenty minutes to speak, and got feedback on our presenting style and content, which I for one found very helpful. It was interesting too to see the variety of films chosen (from The Lion King to The Lives of Others) and the way in which gospel-resonances and Kingdom values have seeped into our film culture, and how we might harness this in an evangelistic context.</p> <p>This week has also taken us to the dizzying complexities of Election and God’s Grace (Theology 101 on Monday), boggling our minds at the connection between our free will and God’s divine initiative, as well as our introduction to John 1:1-18, with Mark (as usual) managing to draw a huge amount of a very small piece of text!</p> <p>But along with all the presenting and mind-stretching, there has been time too for reflection this week. During Team Meeting on Tuesday, usual service was delayed for a time of group reflection on God’s grace and how that related to our times of rest and relaxation, stemming from Kris’ insightful talk on Sunday morning about the value of rest in relation to Jesus’ freedom-giving ministry. By this point in the week, I felt like I was &#34;running on empty&#34; with a huge amount to do in the days ahead.</p> <p>But God really touched us all at that point in the week, helping us all to remember a simple but powerful truth; that all our striving and work and effort comes from the strength God gives us, as do our times of inactivity and leisure. God created us to delight in both rest and work (as Ecclesiastes points out so artfully); sometimes we just need to trust that God will give us the hours we need for all our activities, even though it is difficult in a society where time is at such a premium.</p> <p>&#34;Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labour under the sun during the few days of life God has given him—for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work—this is a gift of God.&#34; (Ecclesiastes 5:18-19)</p> <p>God Bless,</p> <p>Tim Dixon</p> <p><em> - Tim Dixon</em></p> Tim Dixon http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=51 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/joy_van_straaten.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Joy Van Straaten" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Having come back from houseparty thoroughly exhausted but excited about the term ahead, we have all begun to get back into the 'normal' swing of things.</p> <p>Monday morning saw the start of Theology 101 again or maybe more appropriately named 'the journey into the mysteries of God' or so it seems to me each week anyway. I find it slightly disconcerting that the more we study all the key tenets of our faith the more my brain seems unable to cope with it all. However it is always wonderful to remember that I don’t need to have all the answers, I just need to trust someone who does! Anyway, we hit the ground running with the first session on 'sin', which focused on the age long debate of original sin and the differing views of Calvinists and Arminians on this topic. I found this completely fascinating and had to go away and do a lot of pondering, which I think was shared by other interns.</p> <p>On the Tuesday we continued our study in our team meeting on The Screwtape Letters, which is fast becoming, for all of us a book that contains such profound truths and ideas, that it gives us lots to think about and discuss each week. To those who have never read it, it is written by C.S Lewis and is a very ironic but profound portrayal of human life from the vantage point of the demon Screwtape who is advising his trainee demon Wormwood on how to keep humans away from the enemy’s (in this book, God’s) clutches. The letter we were reading this week describes the demon Screwtape explaining to Wormwood the peaks and troughs that Christians appear to go through in their walk with God. I shall include an excerpt-remember the enemy refers to God!</p> <p>&#34;Now it may surprise you to learn that in the enemy’s efforts to get permanent possession of a soul, he relies on the troughs even more than the peaks; some of his special favourites have gone through longer and deeper troughs than anyone else. The reason is this. To us a human is primarily food; our aim is the absorption of its will into ours, the increase of our own area of selfhood at its expense. But the obedience which the enemy demands of men is quite a different thing. One must face the fact that all the talk about his love for men, and his service being perfect freedom, is not mere propaganda, but an appalling truth&#34;.</p> <p>I find this such an encouragement that God has a completely different perspective on my walk with him to the one I have. I spend my time thinking that the troughs are unhelpful and an irritation and yet he uses them for his glory to be shown all the more. Having chatted to many people about this, it can be easy to think that in the troughs, God has somehow abandoned us or that he no longer cares, but it is in fact those times that he holds as extra special, the times when he is closer than we know.</p> <p>Other exciting things this week has been the transformation of the kitchen in the Appleby rooms which now has worktops, a cooker, and dishwasher, all thanks to Paul burgess! When you are in there as much as we are it makes all the difference!</p> <p>Also, Tim Dixon’s prison clearance has finally come through! It would be great to pray for him as he now eagerly starts the work he is going to be doing in Prison. Anyway, I shall leave this mammoth log here. Thanks for all your continuing support and encouragement, it is much appreciated!</p> <p>Joy xx</p> <p><em> - Joy Van Straaten</em></p> Joy Van Straaten http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=50 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/elena_borodenko.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Elena Borodenko" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Watching a film or an episode of Doctor Who will never be the same again for the Interns. As we research the idea of using film and media as a way of dropping the gospel into everyday fun, we are finding that the way in which we watch films has become a lot more thoughtful and analytical. It’s just so tempting now to pick (or twist) out the gospel links, whether the director intended it or not. This form of work is quite a nice change from our usual teaching and reading, especially as we get to watch films for homework! But also the idea of looking at the way in which God has skilled people to make some truly thought- provoking, moving and beautifully creative films has provoked in us a new appreciation for the God reflecting skills we tend to take for granted in our media filled society. The fact that a secular film can resonate a gospel message is something that lets us in on the fact that God can use the work of non-Christians as well as Christians to speak to people and change their perspectives. With our media presentations quickly driving closer this way, I’m pretty intrigued as to know what gospel hooks the other Interns have managed to pull out of their chosen films. Let’s just hope the technology works!</p> <p>On a change of subject: Be filled with the Holy Spirit, and have life!</p> <p>Student Houseparty was a lot of fun, taking place on a slightly obscured weekend which ran from Thursday to Saturday. There are many things that were great about the excursion, number one being the amazing meals that Norman and Hazel provided us with!! I was very excited to find that they had planned a full roast pork dinner on the second day (especially as pork is my favourite!!)</p> <p>Fun antics were also had with mass games of Articulate and a clamber up a pretty much vertical local hill. Mark Lawson was deemed the Infamous King of Fun, and rightly so as he led a great evening of entertainment and laughter on Ruth’s birthday, gaining the label of 'evil genius' after commanding some truly disgusting competitive tasks for all.</p> <p>The main purpose of our trip of course was to encounter more of God and share His Word together. Tim McGreavy was our speaker and we enjoyed the refreshing message delivered by his gentle and cheerful character. The theme of the weekend was ‘Christ in Me’ which presented a whole range of ideas about how the Holy Spirit can transform our lives.</p> <p>Some key points that I personally picked up on were as follows:</p> <ul> <li>Living in the presence of God can pass life onto others</li> <li>We are people of the Word and of the Spirit- we need to live in the flow of both of these things</li> <li>We need to recognise the fullness of our identity with Jesus</li> <li>We are loved children of the Heavenly Father – this is what defines us</li> <li>You’re loved, and nothing you can do will change that</li> <li>Take your identity from the heavenly Father and no one else</li> <li>We need to learn to listen to our Heavenly Father’s voice because He’s never wrong!</li> <li>We need to have eyes to see people like Jesus sees them, having an attitude that lines up with His. After all, it’s all for His glory!</li> </ul> <p>Tim also joined with the leaders to pray for the Holy Spirit to inspire the students and Interns in worship, witnessing and prophesying. This was a long process as each individual got prayed for at the front, yet well worth the intense prayer session as we can expect great things from God! It excites me to think of how God can inspire the way in which his children encounter Him and live with His fullness of life. I pray that all who went on the Houseparty will continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit and resonate His life.</p> <p>Praise God that He delights to live in us and give us life in all its fullness!</p> <p>Elena</p> <p><em> - Elena Borodenko</em></p> Elena Borodenko http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=49 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/nicola_bates.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Nicola Bates" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>[<em>apologies for delay in posting this entry from last week - Ed.</em>]</p> <p>Welcome to 2009! I think I can speak on behalf of my fellow interns as well as myself and say that we’re all refreshed thanks to a good break for Christmas, some of our favourite Christmas presents including a range of things from DVD box sets of Friends to face paints, secateurs, and my personal favourite, face wipes! We’re also raring to go this term looking forward to things taking a step up after we’ve reflected on the term already gone and looked at how far we’ve come and where God might want to take us.</p> <p>We had a good start to the term with a myriad of things going wrong on the first Sunday service in which the interns were involved! The heating wasn’t working, so emergency heaters were hastily requested, the PA went down momentarily, multicoloured lights were flashing on the screen, and we proceeded to be standing up, sitting down, standing up, sitting down to prevent us getting too chilly! Despite all this, those of us who were there to help set things up and keep things running managed to be really positive and the interns especially stepped up!</p> <p>This week has been a gentle one, easing us back into the swing of things and also introducing us to what we have in store for us this term! I myself am particularly excited about the new module we’re doing in our Thursday teaching sessions which is analysing different kinds of media in the light of modern culture and finding the religious themes which may give us a way to communicate something of God to those who may not otherwise be interested!</p> <p>Other things we’re looking forward to are going away with the students to Knock; we’re all anticipating a really enjoyable and fruitful time of learning from God and building relationships with our students, and also the follow up conference to the ‘living leadership’ conference we went to at the beginning of the internship and also our mission trip to France! Watch this space to get updates on all that we have faith God will do in his kindness, graciousness and power!</p> <p><em> - Nicola Bates</em></p> Nicola Bates http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=48 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/lucy_hefford.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Lucy Hefford" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Dear all,</p> <p>I hope this advent season is treating you well!</p> <p>We interns donned our Santa hats and found our angelic voices on Tuesday evening for a spot of caroling around Newton Hall. We were able to bless people by giving them the mince pies, tracts and conversation rather than asking them for money - most were pleasantly surprised!</p> <p>In other news: Ruth spoke on Sunday night about the issue and fact of life that is 'suffering'. Before the service I was rather anxious about what I would be hearing, and reassuringly wrote in my note book: 'He will not give you anything you cannot bear.' I was worried that it would be another one of those services which I would walk out of at the end a) frustrated at my apparent lack of suffering in life, b) determined to suffer more and c) convinced that until I learn to suffer, I can put on hold any hopes of becoming a 'serious' Christian.</p> <p>Thankfully, Ruth spoke more about the suffering in the world rather than our calling to 'take up our cross'. Phew! No suffering for me tonight then!!</p> <p>On Monday I went Christmas shopping! I can do that because I'm part of the richest 5% of people in the world. I also bought myself a book about the Congo conflict, which claimed 1,000 lives a day since 1998. Ruth spoke about how we often ask in these situations, 'Why does God allow it? Why doesn't he do something to help the victims - to heal the sick and feed the hungry?' (Maybe that's where I come in?)</p> <p>On Thursday, we had teaching on healing. We talked about how God sometimes uses healing as a way of revealing his love, his power and to allow us to glimpse his Kingdom! So I thought of the people I know who are ill and complained, &#34;Why doesn't God just make them better?!&#34;</p> <p>Do you hear the missing link with both of these issues, with suffering and with healing? Because I didn't, but my ears have been opened this week. The missing bit is us! The body of Christ, the salt and light of the world, the heirs of his Kingdom and the hands and feet of Jesus: The Church. I've been really challenged by James 2:16 'and you say, &#34;Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat well&#34; – but then you don't give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do?'</p> <p>So my prayer is that in our own situation, be it in Durham or in the depths of the Congo, we would know that we are individual members of the Body of Christ and be part of the solution to the suffering of those around us.</p> <p>Your fellow body-member,</p> <p>Lucy</p> <p><em> - Lucy Hefford</em></p> Lucy Hefford http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=47 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/robyn_stoneham.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Robyn Stoneham" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello all</p> <p>For the interns and most of the staff, everything is gearing towards the final push of this term… We're pulling on our superhero pants, attaching our capes and bracing ourselves to fly around the city for a few very busy, but very exciting weeks. (This is not to suggest that we are superheroes, but merely that we do this to make ourselves feel better.) There are so many planned activities this coming month... Free Christmas present wrapping, Carol Singing as outreach in Newton Hall, Christmas Parties, Christmas guest services plus our usual activities!</p> <p>It still feels as though we are still seemingly adjusting to how actually to 'do' the Internship and to pace ourselves. This term feels stretched and long, yet masses of growth and challenges and stories have been tightly packed into that time, with still just under a month to go!</p> <p>The past week has seen some interesting events for me personally... I made a nativity scene out of Fimo (that's posh playdough for non-arty folk) with Elena, which we are extremely proud of and photos of it will form the basis of some rather innovative Christmas cards. I went to Scotland for a weekend away this past weekend which was a frozen wonderland and took a startlingly similar appearance to Narnia... and a number of us went to Loughborough this Wednesday to a conference held by Fusion for student leaders, where we discussed vision and values and student teams. It's all happenin'!</p> <p>As we look to these events, I've been pondering and we've been praying and exploring as a group what it means to be joyful in this time. During advent, it is so easy to be joyful because of lights and family and friends and snow (which we have had some of this week…!) but I hope and pray and I'm sure the others echo this, that our joy stems from a refreshing revelation of what our Father has achieved through Jesus, what great news Jesus is! We pray that this will resound deep within us, so that we don't run dry in this time, we don't run off fuel from trivialities, (especially not from snow!) but our passion and hope spills over into every conversation, every act of service and permeates a refreshing view of how to bless people at Christmas!</p> <p>With love (at Christmas...!),</p> <p>Robyn</p> <p><em> - Robyn Stoneham</em></p> Robyn Stoneham http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=46 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/christina_maiden.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Christina Maiden" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Sunday is usually a fairly busy day for the church staff and intern team but this Sunday was particularly eventful. The day started for some at 7am with the tank being filled with water for the two baptisms (thankfully the majority of the water made it into the tank, although some escaped with the help of a certain Miss Hefford). It was wonderful to witness Elizabeth and Eva’s baptisms and to hear of how God has been working in their lives so far. It was such a fantastic reminder that everyone has their own story and it made me realise afresh how encouraging it is when we share these with each other.</p> <p>On Sunday evening the eagerly anticipated Guest Service took place. The usually fairly uninspiring ballroom in the depths of Dunelm House was transformed into a beautiful display of twinkling fairy lights, candles, flowers and helium balloons. As 7:30pm approached, we were faced with a problem that is always wonderful to have to deal with – there was not enough space for the amount of people who arrived. More tables and chairs were quickly put in place and the service got underway.</p> <p>During the evening someone gave a testimony, there was the performance of a song written specially and a talk was given on the ‘Parable of the Wedding Feast’. As I was thinking about the wedding theme of the evening and the idea that we are ultimately heading towards an amazing wedding banquet, it struck me how easy it is to bumble through life without holding that as a reality. I’ve recently been invited to the wedding of a good friend of mine and I was so excited to receive the invitation. When I think that Jesus has invited me to an even greater wedding reception, how much more thrilled should I, should we, be about it? It’s such a shame when the busyness of life encourages us to forget that awaiting us is a celebration which will be greater than we can even begin to imagine. (And where the hot chocolate is even more delicious!!)</p> <p>Post-Sunday, the week has been ticking over as normal with Theology 101, a couple of teaching sessions and each of us whizzing off to different placements. Seeing that there are just over 3 weeks left and that we’ve been doing the internship for nearly 3 months now has made me realise how quickly this year will fly by. It is such a privilege to be able to devote this year to serving God and to have time set aside specifically to learn more of Him. Please pray that each one of us will be joyfully serving God this year and will make the most of the blessings and opportunities He has poured out.</p> <p>You’ll hear from me again in 8 interns’ time. Until then, Happy Christmas, Happy New Year and God bless!</p> <p><em> - Christina Maiden</em></p> Christina Maiden http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=45 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_dixon.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Dixon" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Welcome to another Internlog with another Tim! This week has been marked by a sizeable amount of teaching: as we finished hermeneutics weekend we went straight into Theology 101 learning about the Atonement – how and why Jesus died for us. It was really humbling realising how much we as Christians take for granted Jesus’ sacrifice, and looking in detail at the full extent of God’s love shown to us was inspiring stuff. We have also had teaching on the ‘Kingdom of God’ in Mark’s gospel (another phrase I tend to take for granted but never really stop to consider) and about various Christian responses to spiritual gifts and the meaning of ‘prophecy’.</p> <p>The overall lesson I seem to be slowly but surely learning is that God is so much bigger and higher than I will ever be able to comprehend. Every time I learn something new, I realise that at least two things I thought I knew were rubbish! This is a painful discipline but a necessary one, as I begin to realise that God is so much more than our intellectual grasp of him; we can never shove him in a theological box or make him fit neatly into a doctrine. Likewise at <a href='http://www.kcd.org.uk/resources/sermons/files/Kings-Sermon-2008-11-16-pm.mp3'>Crux on Sunday</a>, Mathew Vargheese reminded us all through the example of Abraham that our theology can never replace living out our faith in everything we do; for me a timely reminder indeed. I feel I am beginning to understand Paul’s doxology in Romans where he says:<br/> <em>O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!<br/> ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?’<br/></em> (Romans 11:33-34)</p> <p>This week has also been marked by the preparations for the Guest Service – a great opportunity for King’s Church to welcome people in and show them something of God’s love, kindness, and generosity towards them; the theme is set around Jesus’ parable of the wedding feast in Luke, where all people are invited to come! The preparation has likewise been a really helpful reminder that, as each intern and staff member has a different role to play in getting things ready, likewise the body of Christ has many members with different functions (Romans 12:3-8, 1 Corinthians 12) – we all need each other, and none of us can say we are more important or indispensable than anyone else. Thank God that he gives us all different gifts that we can use to his glory! As the cold months roll on and Christmas beckons tantalisingly, we will all need to rely on God’s strength and on each other to be build up and spurred on, right to the end.</p> <p>God bless,<br/> Tim Dixon</p> <p><em> - Tim Dixon</em></p> Tim Dixon http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=44 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_mayo.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Mayo" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Welcome once again to the hand (or more accurately the keyboard) of the interns. I had the pleasure of beginning the 2008-9 internlog and reflecting on the fact that my last internlog was 8 weeks ago is a strange thing indeed. To think about where we have been over the last 8 weeks makes me, as well as the rest of the interns I'm sure, praise and thank God for His grace and abundant blessing.</p> <p>Over this last week we interns have been given another 'odd' week, with the opportunity for some exciting teaching on Hermeneutics, and as we attempt to get our heads round the shift in how we interpret what we read and see, it is ironic that we are planning our first Guest service of the term, and asking: what is this service really for? Is it for us to put on a nice shiny event, or is it to try to capture the heart that God has for reaching out to our friends who don't know Him, in a way that is relevant and different. The way we are shifting our emphasis is the lesson that God is really teaching at the moment.</p> <p>Our team meetings that happen mid-week are a break in the 'work' routine for us as interns and staff as we focus on God and spend time in devotion to Him corporately, and our study of 'Sit, Walk, Stand' sees us looking at how we emphasise our battle against &#34;all powers and principalities&#34;. This week's devotion allowed us an opportunity to remind ourselves of the power we have in the name of Jesus, the name above all names, to stand against the enemy and to see the will of God done. How awesome a responsibility we have to use His name wisely! In our weeks that are filled with placements and teaching, how do we effectively use the mighty gift of the name above all names in prayer? Our emphasis is on realising the finished work of Jesus and standing in that victory.</p> <p>In a week that in some ways has been quite ordinary, and in others has been quite remarkable, the sense in which we are constantly being renewed in our thinking and our devotion to God has been something that I can only pray, through the name above all names, Jesus Christ, will continue. As our emphasis and hopefully your emphasis changes in respect to our devotional lives, I hope that Jesus Christ, who owns that name, will be where our emphasis lies.</p> <p>God bless you.</p> <p><em> - Tim Mayo</em></p> Tim Mayo http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=43 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/sammy_hicks.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Sammy Hicks" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p><em>&#34;Remember, remember the Fifth of November,<br/> The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,<br/> I know of no reason<br/> Why the Gunpowder Treason<br/> Should ever be forgot.</em></p> <p>This week we remembered the 5th of November, not only on the 5th but also on the 3rd, at <a href='http://www.kcd.org.uk/students/international/'>Interact</a>, our social event for international and UK students. It was indeed a joy to explain the story of Guy Fawkes and to play conkers together. Apparently, as the rhyme suggests, we should never forget the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. I find we do a fairly good job of this each year with the number of fireworks displays, bonfires and the occasional burning of a guy effigy. In Durham alone, I will have had the opportunity to be reminded at Interact, on the 5th itself, at the King’s Bonfire Party and at the Grey Fireworks on Saturday. Although we may not all know the full story, most British people know why the 5th has importance traditionally and most join in festivities to celebrate the victory over the plotters.</p> <p>If we celebrate this ‘victory’ once a year, how often then should we remember and celebrate Christ’s victory on the Cross? Is this event one which we celebrate once a year at Easter, or once a week at Church or is it one which we should be constantly remembering and living according to day by day?</p> <p>After the 'quiet' week the interns have gone straight back into our weekly timetables. In many ways it has been a tough and tiring week. Some of the team have been off ill; most of the team feel like we could do with another 'quiet' week; the floor of the kitchen in the 'intern house' (aka House of Rest) was pulled up on Thursday; we had a short essay to hand in this week.</p> <p>However, during this week, in parallel with being reminded of the ‘victory over the plotters’, I have been constantly reminded about Christ’s victory on the Cross and what this means for our lives. On Sunday morning Richard Briggs spoke of the ‘<a href='http://www.kcd.org.uk/resources/sermons/files/Kings-Sermon-2008-11-02-am.mp3'>Triumph of the Cross</a>’. At our Tuesday team meeting we talked about our spiritual battle not being to gain the victory, but that we fight from the victory Christ already has over the powers and authorities.</p> <p><em>&#34;Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgression – it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Chris Jesus&#34;</em><br/> Ephesians 2:4-7</p> <p>While we are in a difficult part of the term, I have been encouraged to keep in mind God’s grace which has saved us and sustains us, and that all we do is for and should be for God’s glory. By God’s grace we continue to have encouraging stories of good conversations, we are learning more about our spiritual gifts, gifts given freely by God, and whatever we are doing it is always an encouragement to remember that we are already have the victory in Christ. Perhaps a better rhyme for us as interns and as Christians may be to ‘Remember, remember the grace and the glory...’</p> <p><em> - Sammy Hicks</em></p> Sammy Hicks http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=42 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/joy_van_straaten.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Joy Van Straaten" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hellooo all, I hope you are managing to keep up with the weird and wonderful things that God is doing in Durham. This year so far has been fairly non stop. The Chislehurst mission has now faded into some hazy memory and the idea of Durham without thousands of students, unthinkable!</p> <p>So it is with all the memories, challenges and wonderful encouragements of the year so far that we now embark on a quieter week, largely helped by the lack of teaching and schools placements for many of us. This gives us a chance to get all those practical jobs done that have been put off week after week, in addition to reflecting on all that has happened and allowing God to refresh us for the rollercoaster ride that all of us seem to be on at the moment.</p> <p>This opportunity to rest in itself is a very real challenge for me and I’m sure many others. Being someone that loves structure, busyness and all things that involve using a high amount of energy, resting and relaxing in God’s presence is probably one of the hardest things for me to learn this term. However, as I am realising, it is absolutely necessary if we are to become not just more effective in our discipleship of Jesus but also more in love with our saviour himself.</p> <p>I have always loved the way in which Psalm 23 uses the words:<br/> <em>&#34;He (the Lord) makes me lie down in green pastures,<br/> He leads me by still waters, he restores my soul...&#34;</em></p> <p>Our God is one who actively wants to give us rest, refreshment and opportunity to learn more of who he is and who we are in him. We as interns are so blessed to have this opportunity to take time out, allow God to reinvigorate us and prepare us for the starting up of our teaching and placements again next week.</p> <p>We all thank you so much for all your prayers, encouragements and time that you have given so many of us as we have started out on this journey. We would ask that you continue to support us in your prayers as we spend the final part of this week resting, as the after school drop in begins next Thursday for the first time, and as many of the schools placements start up again. Finally, prayer for God’s grace to see us all through for the rest of this term would be fab!</p> <p><em> - Joy Van Straaten</em></p> Joy Van Straaten http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=41 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/elena_borodenko.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Elena Borodenko" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Imagine a plum. Imagine 2, 3 4 24 falling from the sky right in front of you, one after another after another... Before I tell you what the plums represent imagine the tree above you, a wind is blowing the branches and the plums are stirring, moving around, getting agitated, ready to fall.</p> <p>The Interns have been coming back from their various Intern adventures this week with stories of inquisitive people (i.e. the plums). These plums have been asking questions and making statements such as 'Tell me about your Christian Beliefs', 'What is the Trinity', 'The Alpha Course is just what I’m looking for', 'I’ve been thinking of becoming more spiritual…' etcetera, etcetera.</p> <p>All of these have led to some fantastic conversations where we have been able to tell people about the great news of the Gospel, who God is, how He wants a relationship with them, how His love pours out of us and where they can find out more. The Interns haven’t had to do much for these incidents to happen other than standing under the tree with bemused and somewhat stunned expressions on their faces, catching them as they come. There does however seem to be some sort of connection between praying and asking God for such things to take place and them actually happening! I guess this is time to wake up and get onboard with what God is doing. We definitely need to get our plum baskets out as God is obviously shaking those branches and letting the plums rain on down!</p> <p>Hot theological topics for this week have been the Trinity, Spiritual Gifts and the Mysterious ‘Q’. Tricky subjects but amazingly God gives us the ability to use and stretch the minds that He’s also given us, and so we’re managing to get to grips with a fair chunk of it. Praise God that He’s still too complex for us to fully analogise or explain in a simple sentence.</p> <p><em>'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of Yahweh, or what man shows him counsel?' </em>Isaiah 40:12-13</p> <p>I can only fit about 50ml of water in my tiny hand and I’m sure my scales would break if I put even a wheelbarrow of rock in it never mind a mountain! Praise God He’s still too big and vast for us to imagine. He is the mystery yet source and sustainer of our tiny lives and I’m not going to complain about that.</p> <p>Elena Borodenko (AKA Intern 4)</p> <p>(Special Thanks to Ruth Perrin Ministries for the Plum Dropping Analogy)<br /> (And congratulations to Papa Paul and his Tree on the arrival of their Reuben)</p> <p><em> - Elena Borodenko</em></p> Elena Borodenko http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=40 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/nicola_bates.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Nicola Bates" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>&#34;God is weird&#34; but in a good and amazing way! The most poignant part of this week had to have been the interns' session yesterday on 'listening in leadership' which was not only about listening to others but also listening and being led by God. Hearing God is something that is old to some of us but new and hard for others of us but is something we all recognise is one of the most important parts of being a leader. We were discussing the ways in which God has communicated with people historically which is where we coined the phrase &#34;God is weird!&#34; God through the ages has communicated through burning bushes, dreams, visions, an audible voice, angels and a myriad of other ways which made us all realise that God has always and still does want to speak to his people!</p> <p>We also considered the way in which people communicated with God before the death of Christ and saw that it was never direct, it had to always be done through a mediator and could even cost you your life! With Christ's death the Temple curtain was ripped in two; God ripped a 30 foot high, 1 foot thick curtain that separated his mercy seat from the people! He did it in order to show us we can boldly approach his throne with no fear of death as Christ has already done that bit! Christ's blood is permanently on the mercy seat, the place in which God dwelled with his people at the Temple, there is no longer a 'day of atonement' once a year now that Christ has made himself a sacrifice on our behalf!</p> <p>This 'direct line' to God is something everyone is invited to regardless of experience! It's easy to think that because we've never received an image, idea, vision, prophesy, dream, word of wisdom, word of knowledge from God the that means we don't have Christ dwelling in us through the Holy Spirit or that God hasn't given you those gifts. We learned yesterday that is not true! We did an exercise where we prayed for each other, asking God to speak to us in order to encourage each other and found God to be extremely kind and gracious in blessing us in the 3 minutes we actually stopped speaking and let him talk with many pictures and encouragements! I would have any other time panicked about the time limit and felt pressure in having something to say to encourage my fellow intern but I let go and simply trusted in God to speak and he did!</p> <p>This had to be one of the highlights of the week for me personally but for all of us this has been a great week, the Lord seems to have given us all a real peace and joy about what we're doing even though so many things are still new and new things are starting up! The Hill Pastorate met for the first time yesterday evening which went brilliantly well for which I am so grateful to the Lord! There have been good reports all round from each of our placements which is really encouraging! Our response to these encouragements were gauged yesterday by a number out of 10! I think our average was about 8 out of ten so it's been a happy week!</p> <p><em> - Nicola Bates</em></p> Nicola Bates http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=39 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/lucy_hefford.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Lucy Hefford" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello, this is your Youth Intern speaking… welcome to the InternLog!</p> <p>Fresher’s fair this week was the scene of a poignant little story. We were positioned right at the bottom of the stairs looking to invite new students to Kings, especially any Christians who are new to Durham and are on a grand ‘church hunt’.</p> <p>While handing out the King’s Church and Student Alpha flyers, a man next to us was giving out leaflets for a ‘Dance Music’ gig. After half an hour, he turned to me and said; “I’ve been trying to work out what your demographic is, but I can’t! I though you might be going for people with the big chemistry books who looked clever, but I can’t work out any pattern at all. What sort of people are you going for?” ‘Brilliant!!’ I thought – how theologically profound!</p> <p>Sadly, I proceeded to make up some pathetic answer about giving them to people who didn’t look too busy. What a wasted opportunity to explain that Church really is open for everyone! I’m glad he recognised that fact, but I am disappointed that I didn’t say something better in response or even offer him a flyer (but I would probably have had had to go to his gig in response – Oh no!!)</p> <p>In other news, the Church Ceilidh on Saturday was great fun. We were pleased to see some of last years interns back to join in. (Elena also did a splendid job at ‘encouraging’ Mark Bonnington to join in the dancing, for which she received a rapturous applause!)</p> <p>I will finish this installment with a reflection on a book I am reading called ‘Listening to God’ (by Joyce Huggett). I am finding that it is answering many of the frustrations that I have developed in relation to vocal prayers. As the author puts it, most Christians are first introduced to prayer as part of Bible studies, where and at the end, “the person concerned will pray some sort of free, vocal prayer… but”, Huggett continues, “ there may come a time when these prayers do no more than touch the fringe of our longing in prayer...” I fully relate to that, and this is exciting because it can mean that “the Holy Spirit is leading you into contemplative prayer,” - being silent before God rather than doing all the talking. My heart was racing when I read this page!</p> <p>God obviously wants to lead us all into a deeper relationship with Him, so I am both apprehensive and excited about the transformation which my prayer life is taking and all the fruits this will bring. I’m not a Holy person or special in anyway: but Christ’s demographics for who he leads closer to him are pretty broad, you know!</p> <p>Lucy Hefford</p> <p><em> - Lucy Hefford</em></p> Lucy Hefford http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=38 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/robyn_stoneham.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Robyn Stoneham" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello, what a delight it is to scribble my thoughts on a challenging, refining and exciting week of the internship…!</p> <p>This week, we have been enlightened by the world of Myers-Briggs personality types, with letters like &#34;E&#34; for extrovert and &#34;I&#34; for introvert, &#34;J&#34; and &#34;P&#34; swimming around our heads as we go about our activities. Analysing our own behaviour, sanding out our imperfections and grappling with how to act in group situations has mostly resulted in short explosions of laughter such as awkwardly deciding who should pray first… However, whilst growing in self awareness at a rate of knots, we have also been participating in placements all over the area, developing confidence through visits to places such as women's prisons and various school CUs.</p> <p>On Friday, we ventured out to investigate Newton Hall, a housing estate about three miles outside of Durham where we will do some mission work and outreach over the coming year. The estate is a large, seemingly blank canvas, but as we prayer-walked the area on a cold sunny morning, seeds of inspiration to bless this community appeared in our pockets (more to come, we hope) which will be prayed over before planting. I'm excited that there will be more to report on this estate as the coming year unfolds. Please pray for this estate, that our budding plans would be aligned with the Lord's.</p> <p>It's also been a race against time this week to complete decorating the Appleby Rooms, stripping bogey-green gloss paint with sandpaper, whilst bopping to &#34;guitar legends&#34; or our own rendition of Christmas carols, led by our fantastically gifted soprano Tims. (Both have an astonishing ability to be mistaken for talented female singers.)</p> <p>It seems apt that a substantial part of my week has been chipping away at old paint, preparing for a fresh coat of a superior coloured paint (well, better than bogey-green anyway…) when inside, I'm praying through aspects of my character and life, the bogey-green bits that need a fresh coating of better paint. It's good to note though, that a great deal of singing, dancing and bopping goes on in this process in the Appleby rooms and a great deal of singing, dancing and bopping is going on inside – the Lord is good, and he has great plans!</p> <p><em> - Robyn Stoneham</em></p> Robyn Stoneham http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=37 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/christina_maiden.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Christina Maiden" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hellooo! Well we've been back in Durham for a week now and it seems like we’ve never been away. After a couple of days of much appreciated rest, we got back to work on Sunday and once again spent the hour and a half before the morning service trying to understand the wonders of PA. It was fantastic to be back worshipping at Kings and it was great catching up with friends and getting to know new people. As for the picnic and baseball match after the service, it was entertaining to say the least.</p> <p>The rest of the week has been filled with final bits of introduction to the different areas of ministry we’ll be involved in. We’ve looked at student work and also outreach within the wider community and it’s been exciting to see what God has been doing thus far and to think about what He may have in store for this year.</p> <p>Each of us also visited what will be our placements, a few of us heading off to Aquila Way and others visiting prison, local schools and youth groups. It’s been slightly daunting so see where we’ll be working this year, a definite stepping out of comfort zones for all of us, but it’s also been really thrilling to see new challenges emerging and to recognise the potential for God to do great things.</p> <p>Next week the majority of our placements will get underway and so please pray that we’ll put aside any anxiety and trust that God is well and truly big enough to carry us through any situation.</p> <p>Christina</p> <p><em> - Christina Maiden</em></p> Christina Maiden http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=36 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_dixon.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Dixon" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Heya! I’m writing this Internlog on a train up form London after our mission week with <a href=&#34;www.ichthuschislehurst.talktalk.net/&#34;>Ichthus Chislehurst</a>. We had only been given our timetable days before we started and as a group were very excited, if a little apprehensive, about our foray into mission and evangelism; for my part especially, this being my first experience of taking the gospel out on to the streets. </p> <p>Led by Martin, Ichthus Chislehurst’s pastor and leader, we embarked upon a chock-full week. At the start of each day, a pair of interns led a time of devotional bible-study, worship, and prayer. From here we had teaching from Martin or another local leader and then put our teaching into action in the afternoon and evening.</p> <p>Our first day was a real baptism of fire, as we were asked to go onto the street of Chislehurst, pray for words of prophecy for people, and then speak to them; we were also giving out short tracts explaining how much God loved them and the good news of Christ, and asking if people wanted prayer for anything. Many of us (myself very much included) were quite apprehensive about stepping out in this way, but were spurred on by mutual encouragement and our knowledge that our identity was in Christ, and not in our own efforts.</p> <p>Many members of the group had opportunities to share God’s love and the gospel with the local community as well as praying for them. Two men who the group had spoken to came to church on the following Sunday which was a real testament to God’s power working through us.</p> <p>The rest of the week involved two community BBQs in the local Edgebury estate (complete with face-painting, football, and general craziness) which the kids really appreciated; it was great chance to show them that someone cared for them and to chat to their parents and tell them about Ichthus, with one set of parents even asking for a Bible, which was awesome; we also did a late-night BBQ outside the local pub on the Friday night, resulting in many fruitful conversations.</p> <p>We each, at some stage of the week, reached a low ebb, especially in some of the places we went to where people were hostile to the gospel and the ground felt “unploughed”, leaving many of us discouraged or disheartened by the seeming lack of response – but it was a real testament to the hospitality of Ichthus (who put us up for the week free of charge and cooked for us) and to the group of interns as a whole (not to mention the one-and-only Paul Burgess!) that we really gelled as a group and grew in maturity through these experiences.<p> <p>We all had highlights of the week too (mine being having some really great conversations with people on a fairly rough estate in Greenwich, something I would have never imagined myself doing), all of which showed God’s amazing power and great faithfulness. The main encouragement of the week and the one thing that sticks in my mind the most is that if we step out in faith, God will always be with us; if we go out in the power of the Holy Spirit, God will do amazing things!</p> <p>God Bless,</p> <p>Tim D</p> <p><em> - Tim Dixon</em></p> Tim Dixon http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=35 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/tim_mayo.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Tim Mayo" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Welcome to the wonderful world of the Interns of 08-09! On behalf of the team we hope that in some way these messages help to convey the excitement and glory of what God is doing using us this year!</p> <p>Our first week has been a real adventure, especially for Lucy, Elena and myself as we are all new to the city. After a couple of days meeting the staff team; being introduced to the church, its history, its vision and values and to the things we will be involved with this year, we were introduced to the Church on sunday, with a funny fact each (!), and then whisked off to Leicestershire for a three day conference for new leaders.</p> <p>In an action packed schedule we learned about God's heart for how we are to be as leaders. Ruth was on hand to encourage us, wake me up, deliver an amazing session on the entire bible in just over an hour which left us speechless, and make sure we went to bed at a reasonable hour. We met interns of various descriptions from around the country as we joined an atmosphere of prayer into our hearts for service.</p> <p>A particular phrase that was spoken over the few days was ploughing the ground, that we were taught and encouraged, the ground of our heart was being ploughed, and rocks and other stuff was brought to the surface.</p> <p>We have realised the incredible joy and privilege it is to serve God and the Church this year and how this year is not about us, but about what God is doing. Good news indeed!</p> <p>As I write this, we are now a couple of days into our mission week in Chislehurst, but that is for the next internlog...</p> <p><em> - Tim Mayo</em></p> Tim Mayo http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=34 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jeanna_shalkowski.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jeanna Shalkowski" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Well, what an amazing week we had down in London on the Ichthus Summer Project!</p> <p>We had a brilliant time making new friends and getting to know some of the people in the community. We were split across the three teams for the week (Forest Hill, New Life and North London) and were engaged in lots of different activities, ranging from first-contact evangelism, giving away free water, coffee and tea, to running kids clubs and putting on free BBQs and fun days. It was great to meet more Ichthus friends and get to know people from all over the country (and beyond – there were delegates from Germany, Switzerland and Norway among us!) and to get alongside each other to worship God every day, and serve each other as we sought to engage in the communities where we were on patch.</p> <p>There are so many stories I could tell here but don't have time or room to tell them all! The team Becky and I were on in Forest Hill saw 9 people come to faith in one day and one person was healed in Jesus' name! The following day we went back to follow up and ended up talking to even more people in the community and saw another 3 people give their lives to Jesus and another healing! God is SO good and SO faithful. </p> <p>On the final day before we left we all went to visit the congregations where we had been serving all week and joined in with their celebration services. I did the children's sermon (looking at Jesus' second coming) and we used a gospel choir arrangement that Becky had put together with the whole team earlier in the week to illustrate the joy we have to look forward to in heaven when Jesus returns! Before we left we went to see Jay Smith at Speaker's Corner and shout for JESUS, which was very interesting and inspired many of us to engage in conversations of our own with others there.</p> <p>It was sad to say goodbye to the friends we'd made, especially those who were staying on for the second week, but it's been great to stay updated as people tell us how things have been progressing in the last week. We saw God move in some amazing ways and were amazed at the fruit we saw as people made definite commitments to Christ and also how receptive people were to talk about God –some seeds have definitely been sown for others to reap the harvest in future!</p> <p>The last week has involved recovering from Summer Project, and we've begun the redecorating of the Appleby Rooms in St. Oswald's Institute with Paul. It's been hard work but the place is mid-transformation and it's brilliant to see the changes. I can't wait to see it when it's done and we can compare before/after photos! It was our last coffee morning at both McNally and Cunningham Place, and sad to say goodbye to so many friendly and familiar faces we've grown to know and love over the year. At Cunningham a couple that we met through the June Project came along for the first time, so that was a real encouragement from all the hard work that was invested last month.</p> <p>It's hard to believe that we are just a week away from the end of the internship. In so many ways it feels like it began only a few months ago, but as we begin the de-briefing process we can see how far we've all come, both as a team and how God's changed us and individuals and helped us to grow over the last 10 months. We have so much to be thankful for!</p> <p>Thank you so much for your prayers when we were down in London. It was a great way to go back to our roots at the beginning of the internship when we were on mission in Chiselhurst, and we were so thankful for God's protection and provision. Thank you for your support and grace with us, and for reading these logs and praying for us, we can't thank you enough. </p> <p>God bless,</p> <p>Jeanna :-)</p> <p><em> - Jeanna Shalkowski</em></p> Jeanna Shalkowski http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=33 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ben_ward.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ben Ward" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello from London!</p> <p>Last Sunday the interns made their way south by train, bus and car to the capital for a week of mission with the Ichthus Christian Fellowship.</p> <p>Each morning we receive teaching before heading out in our teams to one of three locations across London. We've been involved in a kid's club, BBQs on council estates and lots of street evangelism.</p> <p>A lot of us have been able to use the teaching we have received as we talk to people on the streets.</p> <p>On Wednesday, one woman gave her life to Jesus in Holloway following a prophetic picture of her being given. Yesterday 9 people came to faith and one re-dedicated themselves at a BBQ in Forest Hill - Praise God!</p> <p>Please pray for:</p> <ul> <li>More people to step from darkness to light</li> <li>Good sleep for delegates</li> <li>Relationships between the churches we are working with and the communities we are working in.</li> </ul> <p>Got to go now - need to go back to teaching session!</p> <p><em> - Ben Ward</em></p> Ben Ward http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=32 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jason_piper.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jason Piper" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello all!</p> <p>Well, the interns are about to enter the home straight of the internship! This week began with a somewhat emotional service where the graduating students were prayed for as they move on into their different walks of life. Similarly for the interns, this week has been the final week of (the majority of our) placements. This has been a time of beginning to say goodbye and sharing what’s next with those we’ve been working with over the past 9 or so months.</p> <p>Both of the teaching sessions this week have been contemporary issues sessions with Ruth and were on the highly topical and current themes of racism and war. I think the other interns would agree that both sessions were both incredibly emotive and thought-provoking! What is the root of the prejudices we bear? How far does the myth of redemptive violence pervade our society, or yet further? How has the bible been used to justify racism? Is peace lack of war or more than that? Are our only options when faced with aggression passivity or violence, or is there another way…?</p> <p>This weekend sees the interns gear up for mission yet again, and for the final time as the Ichthus Summer Project kicks off in London on Sunday! There is a mixture of excitement, expectation and some anticipation of the unknown (for all of us except Becky, who’s done it before!) We’ll spend a week getting teaching from Roger and Faith Forster and being sent out into the streets of London to engage in mission in various forms. The exciting aspect in comparison to the June Project will be the premise of the engagement that comes with not having to plan so much of it!</p> <p>Thanks so much for your prayer and support! Things to pray for in the coming week are:</p> <ul><li>God’s strength to carry us – we’re all at different places and for some of us, circumstances are really hard. Please pray that God would strengthen and comfort us at this time.</li> <li>Health – to different extents, some of us are still (medically) recovering from the exertion of the June Project. Please pray for healing and recovery from illness.</li> <li>Expectation – for this coming week but generally for God to move in and through our lives to those we’re being sent to, this week and always.</li> </ul> <p>God bless and keep you all,</p> <p>Jason</p> <p><em> - Jason Piper</em></p> Jason Piper http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=31 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/naomi_aves.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Naomi Aves" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This last week everyone has been trying to recover from the busy (but brilliant) June project. It was a jam-packed week of community projects, teaching, outreach, and fun. God was utterly faithful to us as we faithfully served him. One lad became a Christian and we had a fantastic response on Sunday. (For more information see the <a href='http://www.kcd.org.uk/community/projects/june-project-2008'>June Project report</a>). Please continue to pray for all those involved. Please also pray for health and energy for the delegates, staff and interns following June Project.</p> <p>It has been a fairly normal week as far as the interns are concerned. Placements have continued as normal, and we are all preparing to say goodbye this week as they come to an end. To spice up our week however, we had two long sessions of teaching from Richard Briggs on Daniel. We laughed at the political satire and quirky narration, puzzled at the historical anomalies and characters identities, and chewed over the question of the existence of gods. It was incredibly insightful and interesting. And, because it is 'always a joy and never a chore', we had more laughs on Saturday at SBS when Richard took us through the tale of Jonah and the ENORMOUS fish. Have you ever noticed the special mention that the animals get? Mark Bonnington also concluded our teaching on 1 Corinthians with the resurrection of the dead.</p> <p>Sunday was a sad day for many reasons, but particularly because we were saying farewell to many students/ finalists who have been worshipping with us for several years and have contributed so much to the life of the church. We will miss you!</p> <p><em> - Naomi Aves</em></p> Naomi Aves http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=30 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/ben_ward.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Ben Ward" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>A lot has happened over the last week or so: half term is now over, so we have been back in our school placements; students have finished exams (well done to them); and the June Project is rapidly approaching!</p> <p>We finished our series on church history last week with a caf&#233;-style discussion of the 'emerging church', looking at where and why it has arisen and how it might develop in the future. I've found this 'module' to be really helpful in providing a broader picture of the church, providing useful information about where we have come from spiritually and theologically as well as where the church is heading. This week's teaching engaged with the 'contemporary issues' of sexuality, especially homosexuality.</p> <p>On Sunday, we will be celebrating with two students who are getting baptised. What a great way to lead in to the week of mission that follows.</p> <p>June Project is fast approaching - hoorah! Now with over 100 people, this is a huge organisational feat, but also a wonderful opportunity to partner with God in mission and have an impact across the city. We'll be doing everything from gardening to face painting, providing water after clubs have closed on Friday night to afternoon tea for more elderly residents as well as a host of other exciting things. See the <a href=&#34;http://www.kcd.org.uk/juneproject&#34;>June Project</a> page for more details of what will be going on.</p> <p>During our prayer meeting on Tuesday, God was clearly encouraging us to open our eyes to the spiritual dimension of this world: to not just look at all these activities that will be going on, but to see the spiritual significance of them as well. This is quite a challenge when it is so easy to see the world through purely naturalistic lenses. Francis Schaeffer writes in his book True Spirituality, 'The &#34;supernatural&#34; is really no more unusual in the universe, from the biblical viewpoint, than what we normally call the natural'.</p> <p>Here are some things we would really appreciate prayer for over the coming week:</p> <ul> <li>Protection, especially for those involved in the June Project</li> <li>An openness to God and seeing things from his perspective.</li> <li>All the planning that has and is going into the June Project.</li> <li>That people will hear and see the good news of Jesus and be set free.</li> </ul> <p><em> - Ben Ward</em></p> Ben Ward http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=29 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jeanna_shalkowski.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jeanna Shalkowski" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Hello and welcome to another instalment of the Kings Internlog! It’s been a quiet(ish) week for the interns as we had a reading week and so had a bit more personal time off. Placements have been continuing as normal, and how half term is upon us some of our loads are a bit lighter without schoolswork. It’s hard to believe that we will have finished the Internship in about 7 weeks! There’s so much to do until then, and so much we’ve learned over the year to be reflecting on before we go on to do whatever God has in store for each of us in the time ahead!</p> <p>Just10 has been carrying on well as J. John has continued his series on the Ten Commandments and their relevance for life today. I’ve been really encouraged and learned a lot from the teaching, and it’s also a great opportunity to meet other Christians in the Northeast, whether they’re sitting next to you, waiting in the queue for the toilets or as you’re queuing to get in/out of the car park! It’s been so fantastic to hear the good news of people responding to the gospel and the messages J. John’s been delivering and to see lives transformed each week!</p> <p>A few weeks ago we found out that we are going to the Ichthus Summer Project in London in July! Although a new experience for all of us but Becky, we’ve had raring reports from those who were part of the Summer Project in 2007 and are really looking forward to it, especially off the back of June Project! We really enjoyed the first induction mission week with Ichthus in Chiselhurst, so this will be a new, but definitely exciting experience that I’m sure we won’t forget!</p> <p>Teaching over the last week or so has been continuing Church History with Melody and exploring the Pentecostal movement and our own church backgrounds. It was really interesting to see the similarities and differences between different experiences of church. Mark’s teaching on Revelation has continued to grow in fascinating-ness(?!) as we looked at the Pale Rider and apocalyptic imagery. Faith Forster was here last weekend and continued our morning series on Isaiah and spoke on Spiritual Gifts in the evening. It was a great opportunity for people to come forward for prayer and to be encouraged.</p> <p>Tonight Jase, Becky, Dave and I helped host a Superhero-themed party and game night in Crook at the youth group we assist with each week. It was a great time and really good to get to know some of the kids a bit better. We just couldn’t get enough of the superhero costumes in Bosnia!</p> <p>Apart from that, we’re beginning to get ready for the JUNE PROJECT 2008! We’re all in charge of delegates and various aspects of the outreach over the week, which is incredibly exciting and I’m really looking forward to getting stuck in! We really appreciate your prayer for the whole June Project – that God would work powerfully in peoples’ lives and that we would see the city of Durham transformed with His love and His heart. A worship song we sang in our team meeting today has the following lyrics:</p> <p><blockquote>There is no-one like our God…For greater things have yet to come…And greater things are still to be done in this city</blockquote></p> <p>Please keep praying for our preparation and as we face the beginning of the end of the Internship, that the time we have together as a team would be really valuable, full of encouragement and building each other up, and creating memories that will draw us together and last for a long time! Thank you so much for your continued support – God bless you!</p> <p>Jeanna</p> <p><em> - Jeanna Shalkowski</em></p> Jeanna Shalkowski http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=28 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/jason_piper.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Jason Piper" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>This week, the interns have had their heads ploughed thoroughly buried in the books as our teaching series on Revelation, church history and contemporary issues continue!</p> <p>Last Saturday saw the 'May We Have Hope' sports day at the Laurel Avenue Community Centre. Upon arrival we were greeted with glorious sunshine and the perfect conditions persisted throughout the day! Sports and activities included a 5-a-side football, mini-olympic games, frisbee, basketball, circus skills and face-painting. A rough head count on the day yielded more than 200 people which was a huge encouragement!</p> <p>This week, in our study on Revelation with Mark we explored the central character of the book – God! This involved looking at the titles God has through the course of the book and how they change. Similarly the persons of Trinity and the influences of prophecy in other books of the bible bring loomed large on the radar. Genuinely fascinating!</p> <p>Church history marches on as we continued to wade through the steep tides of the reformation! Our journey took us through Luther’s gargantuan contributions to the movement (such as the translation of the NT into German), the theological principles behind the reformation and an in depth discussion into the role of the sacraments.</p> <p>Theology 101 looked at the challenge of postmodernity and Jeanna and Naomi provided rich sustenance in the form of garlic and nettle soup and (slightly more traditionally, tomato soup.) The responses to postmodernism detailed in our packs provided fuel for stimulating discussion.</p> <p>This week, placements have continued as normal, Just 10 continues, as does planning for the June Project.</p> <p>Please be praying for us as we continue to work with students and in our placements. Pray for wisdom as we plan the June Project and for volunteers to sign up.</p> <p>God bless, <br /> Jason.</p> <p><em> - Jason Piper</em></p> Jason Piper http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=27 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/dave_fisher.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Dave Fisher" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Aside from punning badly, this week the interns have been acting the part of Medieval Monks, considering the four horsemen of the apocalypse and eating pea soup. We are also starting to plot plan for the June Project 2008!</p> <p>In our series on church history we have been looking at monasticism and the beginnings of the Reformation. We discussed the strengths and weaknesses of missionary monks, taking the Gospel to the nations and meeting people on their level may involve creating the Cyrillic alphabet although Cyril and Methodius may have already done that. Hitting the King of Ireland with your staff while baptising him may not be a good idea.</p> <p>With Mark we are continuing to look at John’s Revelation, this week examining the book’s structure, in particular the parallels, and also differences between Babylon and Jerusalem, and the judgement of God. Part of this is the four horsemen of the apocalypse, which have proved very popular in culture. Clint Eastwood’s film <cite>Pale Rider</cite> is one such example of this, so of course we had to watch part of this to finish the session.</p> <p>Theology 101 moved to a new venue this week, which presented new challenges before we even got to the theology of cessationism. Jason and Ben, who made pea soup, met the challenge of soup without a nearby kitchen admirably and I am sure we can step up to the added challenge of remembering an extension cable to power the projector next week.</p> <p>The June Project sign-up was launched last Sunday, which is exciting news and preparations are coming along nicely.</p> <p>Please pray for us, that we would be reminded of God’s faithfulness and that we would go in his strength not out own, especially as this term gets busier.</p> <p>Please also pray for outreach in Durham and the North East, the June Project is coming, J John is into his fourth week and this Saturday some us are also supporting the HOPE08 sports day in Gilesgate.</p> <p>God Bless<br> Dave</p> <p><em> - Dave Fisher</em></p> Dave Fisher http://www.kcd.org.uk/internship/log/?entry=26 <img src="http://www.kcd.org.uk/images/content/people/100/rachel_farish.jpg" width="100" height="100" alt="Rachel Farish" style="float:left;margin:0 10px 3px 0;" /> <p>Having been back from Bosnia a couple of weeks, our placements have now all kicked in, the students have returned and our own personal teaching has begun. It’s like we’ve never been away – well almost! Saturday morning took us to SBS with Mark teaching us on 1 Corinthians 11 and a guest speaker, Bob Fyall, enlightening us on the Song of Songs. It was excellent and a great thing to finally understand (at least a little bit) what the Song of Songs is about.</p> <p>It’s great to catch up with people that we haven’t seen for weeks (mainly the students who have been away for 5 weeks) and to be back serving the community and church at all our various placements. I think everyone has enjoyed getting back into the swing of things and there have been some really encouraging stories. This week at Interact we welcomed the Japanese students who have come to study English at Teikyo University. Eighteen of us went on a tour/walk around Durham which concluded by having a relaxing drink in a local pub - their first experience of a British pub. We look forward to this week as they said they would bring friends to our chocolate fondue party! Yum Yum! As well as Interact, Cu’s have started up, coffee at the station is back on, the work at Aquilla continues, as does the youth club at Crook – and now it’s nice weather the team there assure me that it’s hard work to play football in the sunshine! ; )</p> <p>Our teaching began this week, with Mark introducing us to the fascinating book (and I’m not being sarcastic) that is Revelation. I can’t wait to get stuck into this with all it’s amazing imagery and symbolism. We also have started the long anticipated teaching with Melody Briggs on Thursday who for 6 weeks will give us a taste (quite literally) of the church through History. This week we began with the Early Church, sharing in their style of worship, the readings, prayers and meal that their services would have contained when they met together. It was a lot of fun and quite insightful!</p> <p>As well as all this, Just 10 (an event which occurs every Tuesday evening in Gateshead with J. John who talks through one commandment a week for ten weeks) has begun. It’s really exciting to see a tent full of 6000 people coming to hear J John speak on the 10th commandment. Please pray for this event, that people would begin to get a glimpse of who God is and come to know him.</p> <p>So it’s the end of the Intern log for this week, please pray for continued energy and enthusiasm as we continue in all the things we do.