Today's Meetings:

9.45am Children's Bible Club
10.15am Sunday Prayer Meeting in cottage
11.00am Morning Service
6.00pm Evening Service
After Church Fellowship at Bruce & Margaret's home

Weekly Meetings:

Monday

3.45pm to 4.45pm Children's Hour

Wednesday

9.30am to 11.00am Mums & Tots
6.45pm to 8.00pm KIC club - For Year 4,5 & 6 children.

Thursday

2.00pm Ladies Rest Hour - Speaker: Linda Lewis
7.45pm Bible Study and Prayer Meeting - Led by Bernard Lewis

Friday

7.30pm to 9.00pm FOY - For secondary school children

Saturday

9.30am Open Air Evangelism

Sunday

11.00am & 6.30pm Sunday Services - Led by Pastor

Thought For The Week:

"With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh let me not wander from Your commandments." Psalm 119:10

Prayer For The Church:

Please pray that through God' grace the weekly prayer meeting will increasingly become the powerhouse of the week's ministry.
Thank God for the safe delivery of Luke James to Vanessa and Pete on Friday.
Pray for Mona as she seeks employment.
Pray for Paul and Janet away on holiday.

Prayer For The Local Area:

None received this week.

Prayer For The Wider Area:

Lights of Christmas program "remembers those in prison"

The Christmas lights decorating our homes may have been assembled by bloodied and battered Chinese pastors. Chinese pastors are often thrown into jail for preaching the Gospel and forced into backbreaking labour.

WorldServe Ministries' "Lights of Christmas" program is helping financially support the families of these pastors. Pastors are sometimes forced to assemble Christmas lights after suffering an immense beating.

"I was forced to make Christmas lights 15 hours a day and my fingers are permanently damaged." said Lee, a Chinese pastor.

WorldServe found that green stringed Christmas lights bearing a "made in China" tag are assembled in prisons, and the task of assembling these lights often fell to imprisoned pastors. Since they have no tools, pastors are forced to put the lights together with their teeth and hands. Forced to meet daily production quotas of 3,000 to 5,000 individual lights, pastors often work 24 hours straight and are severely beaten if they don't meet the quota.

Hundreds of pastors are imprisoned and survive on less than 500 calories a day, but are more concerned for their families. In China, the sole financial provider is the father. After a pastor is taken to jail, financial and spiritual support is taken away from the family. A pastor's family is marked and obtaining a job is nearly impossible for any family member. As possessions are usually confiscated, daily survival becomes a struggle.

WorldServe is providing food, shelter, clothing and medicines for these needy families while their provider is imprisoned.
"One of the most meaningful aspects of the Lights of Christmas program is [it] raises support for the families of pastors that are in prison," said a WorldServe representative. He encourages believers to heed the words of Hebrews 13:3: "Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering."

"It's more encouraging than just a boycott," said a WorldServe associate. "Boycott will hurt the economy in China, so it's better if we can support." WorldServe encourages believers to keep the pastor's families in their prayers. "They never asked us that we pray that persecution would stop," said a Chinese WorldServe partner. "They asked us to pray so that they can overcome."

Bible Readings:

23rd 2 Kings 22:1-20; 1 John 2:15-27
24th 2 Kings 23:1-37; 1 John 2:28-3:10
25th Psalms 65; 1 John 3:11-4:6
26th 2 Kings 24:1-20; 1 John 4:7-21
27th 2 Kings 25:1-30; 1 John 5:1-21
28th Ezra 1:1-2:70; 2 John 1-13
29th Ezra 3:1-4:24; 3 John 1-14

General Announcements:

Want to get fit ?!?
If you would like to have some fun getting fit, please see either Sarah or Debbie. This is open to everyone on a Monday evening from 7.30pm.