Browsing Archive: July, 2014

The Cwtch - Our vision for the new house

Posted by Anne Witton on Thursday, July 31, 2014, In : Ministry

It all started when my friend Abby snapped her achilles tendon playing squash (let that be a lesson - exercise is bad for you!). She had an operation and was then discharged from hospital back to her house that she lived in alone that only had an upstairs bathroom. There was no way she could manage the stairs and so she came to stay with me as I also lived alone, but in a ground floor flat. Over the months that she stayed, we talked a lot about being single and living alone and the advantages...

Schwellanangst - 'Fear of the Threshold'

Posted by Anne Witton on Wednesday, July 30, 2014, In : Church

When I worked for Voluntary Arts, the Chair of our Board, Peter Stark popped in to visit us and we had a very nice conversation (and some lovely M&S bakewell tart biscuits!). One of the things he said really got me thinking. He told this little story...

Peter has always wanted to go into a betting shop and put a bet on a horse. He's a self-confident, extrovert, middle-aged older man [his words, not mine!] who helped develop The Baltic and The Sage, was awarded an OBE and ran a successful compa...

Creative prayer - 19 ideas to help you pray

Posted by Anne Witton on Monday, July 21, 2014, In : Prayer

Recently, I've been inspired by the power of prayer and challenged to pray more. If we're honest, we all find it difficult to pray sometimes - whether that's because we're wrestling with doubts, going through a time of great pain, or just getting distracted by work, family, household chores, TV or iPhone apps.

Over the years, I've been making a list of ideas to help me pray and one evening at housegroup we all shared things that we found helpful. I hope you find them helpful too.

Write prayers ...

Prayer for spiritual revival

Posted by Anne Witton on Thursday, July 17, 2014, In : Prayer

Disturb us, Lord, when
We are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.
Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more ...

Gospel memory verses - BibleMinded app

Posted by Anne Witton on Tuesday, July 15, 2014, In : App review

Recently, I've been trying to get better at memorising bits of the Bible that I can use to explain the gospel to people. Here's a simple gospel outline and 10 short Bible verses (NIV).

God created men and women for a relationship with him.
[John 17: 3] Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
God gave us free will. We all choose to rebel against God (Sin = rebellion against God. Putting ourselves first instead of him and breaking ...

Help spread the word

Posted by Anne Witton on Thursday, July 3, 2014, In : Support

A few people have asked how they can help me build my support team, which is very kind! It's great if you can point people to this website, but I realise that not everyone is into technology, so I have created a leaflet (with the wonderful help and design skills of Abby!).

The leaflet gives a bit of background about Agapé and tells a bit of my story, as well as explaining about the ministry I'll be doing and how people can support me. I have hard copies of the leaflet so do let me know if you...
Continue reading ...

Reflections on a broken window

Posted by Anne Witton on Tuesday, July 1, 2014, In : Reflections

Yesterday I got home from a great team prayer meeting to find that the lounge window had been smashed. It looked very much as though someone had shot it so my first thought was "I wish I had one of those laser things they have in CSI so I can trace the trajectory of the bullet." Then I realised that I live in Gateshead and not Las Vegas, so I carefully examined the crime scene for forensic evidence of avian damage but could find no blood or bird carcass.