News

A round-up of recent (and some not-so-recent) news...

Daphne's 80th Birthday Celebration!

A most treasured member of our congregation recently celebrated a very special birthday! We all joined in a feast of curry, followed by cheesecake! ...how's that for mixing your metaphors! (so to speak!) ;-)

Praying for and blessing Daphne.

Daphne having some help to blow out the candles!! ...

...and then realising that someone had put those sneaky relighting candles on the cake!

Old friends visited GateWay, especially to bless Daphne on this special day, and gave speeches.

Daphne is an active (and extremely valued) member of our body, and we hope she will be with us for many more birthdays to come!

New Year's Eve Party!

The recipe for a New Year’s Eve party. …GateWay style!

First, take a good proportion of the congregation, and mix together with a bit of fellowship to start the evening off.

Then introduce pictures of obscure famous people stuck onto the walls, and give the mixture a good stir.

Next, whisk into the mixture some cryptic alternative names for carol songs, and watch with glee as people become baffled by the clues.

Introduce 1 newspaper per 5-ish people and stir well, listening carefully to the quizmaster Mr Drake and remembering to give the page number as well as the answer to the question!

Next, sieve random topics into the mixture and fold in with a specific letter of the alphabet, with a 30-second time limit, and wait for the mixture to settle.

Then mix in a pair of gloves, a hat, and a scarf, not forgetting the all-important bar of chocolate, wrapped up in newspaper for maximum frustration. NB. For this step, you also need a cheeky helping of competitiveness and eagerness. (which if you’re John Glenham or Amarh, this means cheating a little!) ;-)

For this next step, you need a steady hand and a large amount of concentration, as you cut through the flour mountain.

Bruce was this year’s “winner” of the flour game!!

Foooood! ...(ummm, no pics of this part of the evening, we were all too busy gobbling down Ruth’s lovely lasagne!)

Next, apply gentle heat, in the form of a few fireworks, remembering to wrap up warm whilst stood outside.

Lastly, - and most importantly! - Add a generous dose of worship, Word, & prayer …and your New Year’s celebration is complete!

Gate Way Church Christmas service 2009

Our Christmas service celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. It contained a variety of traditional Christmas carols as well as contemporary songs, and included a mix of Bible reading, poems, a drama and a short talk on the Christmas story. Afterwards, we enjoyed mince pies and other goodies, and we were even visited by Father Christmas, who gave out chocolates to kiddies (young AND old!)

...and here's another chance to see the drama about what Christmas really means. The video is up on YouTube so check it out!

Baby Benjamin's dedication. 6-12-09.

David and Neeti were joined by relatives and church family to give thanks to God for baby Benjamin. Church leaders and family stood with the new parents, as prayers, prophecies and declarations were made over Benjamin's life.

Afterwards, we enjoyed fellowship and delicious home-made cake! Look how amazing the cake was!!

Ichthus Revive Camp 2009.

 

As usual, when it gets to August, many GateWay-ers trundle off down to Ashburnham Place in Battle for the Ichthus Revive week. This year was another good'un. We were blessed with great weather for the most part, which always helps when you're camping!

Again, this year there were quite a few GateWay people serving on the various teams: prayer ministry team, under 5s, SOS (teenage), stewarding etc etc...

Worship was mainly led by Chris & Jennie Orange, and special guest speakers this year included Greg Boyd & Che Ahn, -not forgetting of course the usual plethora of great Ichthus speakers.

At Revive, there is always plenty to do!
There is a full schedule for all ages, ranging from the main meetings, seminars & workshops, the morning & evening sacrifices, 24/7 prayer in the prayer centre, and various other activities.

...Or if it's all getting a bit too busy, you can always relax and enjoy the beautiful surroundings!

Here are some snaps of some of the goings-on at Revive!

putting up the tents...

...success!!!

Chilling by the tents, and Mike Cartwright playing at Cafe Ash

David "flagging" in one of the main meetings...
...and Nidhi & Nathan - the expert ribbon wavers!

...and for those of you who missed Lydia Amartey's spectacular dancing/singing act, (or for those who just fancy another laugh at it!) the video is up on YouTube so check it out!.

...Believe it or not,...she & Sammy actually won a prize for this!!!

If you missed out on Revive this year, make sure you put the date in your diaries for next year! 31st July - 7th Aug 2010.

Pentecost Sunday 2009 - Global day of prayer.

This year, congregations gathered in their local areas to celebrate Pentecost. We met with some local churches on Hollow Ponds for a picnic, a time of open-air worship and prayer, and then prayer-walked the borough, praying for the streets and homes in our neighbourhood.

Communion Breakfast

GateWay gathered to share breakfast together before church one morning, as a special communion breakfast event.

 

It was good to start the meeting focussing right from the beginning on the Cross of Christ & His sacrifice for us, launching us into a time of worship afterwards.

Amarh's trip to Albania

Recently, Amarh travelled to Albania to see the work that has been going on there, particularly the Alpha Course. GateWay Church donated funds to the Church there, so that the Alpha Course could be translated into Albanian. During his trip, Amarh met with the women's Alpha group.

Circle & Square Dance @ GateWay.

Most of you are probably familiar with traditional Barn/Country/Line dancing, but have perhaps not heard of Circle & Square dancing. It is essentially the same principles of prancing about the room with a partner, set to music, just with slightly different moves. The “caller” (who calls out the moves) and a number of dancers came over from the Circle & Square Dance Club that Julie & David attend to demonstrate and join in the fun. It was a great evening rounded off with a good supper of chicken/fish/sausage & chips. Everyone who came said that we must do it again sometime!

Ichthus Revive Camp - August 2008

As usual when it gets to August, a group of us trundle down to Ashburnham Place in Battle, Sussex for Ichthus' annual summer camp. A good number of us went down for the whole week, with even more visiting for the odd day or two. The teaching was, as usual, on top form, with a stream suited to each age-range, from the toddlers & babes, to kids, teenagers, 20s, and adults. Worship was primarily led by Chris & Jennie Orange, who both did a superb job. Not forgetting Raul on his trumpet-y things! 

Special guest speakers this year included Jackie Pullinger, who is an incredibly inspiring speaker. The Morning & Evening Sacrifice meetings were a good way to start and end each day concentrating on the Lord. - for those of us who were able to get up that early/stay awake that long! Baptisms were again held in the lake, with around 12 people being dunked this year.
As for entertainment, there were plenty of sports competitions happening throughout the week, wonderful scenery to enjoy, Cafe Ash (with our very own Mike Cartwright performing on the open-mic-night), the hog-roast on the final night, and much more. A lot of GateWay-ers were on the support teams again this year, ranging from stewards; workers in the creche & Noah's Ark & SOS (the youth team), and prayer support teams etc.

At Revive Camp, there is always plenty of time to chill out, fellowship, worship and learn about our Lord and generally have a great time!  There really is something for everyone, and booking is already open for 2009, so book up soon!! Go to the Revive! website for more details.

David & Neeti's Wedding

This was a fantastic day, a real celebration. Paul Reily, vicar of the Cornerstone, did a superb job of the ceremony, after which we all trundled down to the Leytonstone School for the reception. The food was excellent, a selection of sumptuous curries, followed by a wonderful variety of cakes. (I am sure I was not the only one to eat too much.) Sam, and his troop of merry groomsmen, served us all really well. Neeti & David send their thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make it such a special day for them. The evening was kicked off with a Bollywood style dance, and then the rest of the evening was spent in more traditional barn dancing.

Highway of Holiness

Many thanks to Ruth and Joseph (and all the others) for their hard work and imagination. They turned the long coridoor leading to the hall into a Highway of Holiness. As we walked along the highway, we were invited to read scriptures, pray, write down burdens, wash our hands, and take bread and wine. It was a challenging series of activities that really helped to prepare us to come into the Lord's presence in worship.

Global Day of Prayer

On Pentecost Sunday, we took a coach down to Millwall Stadium, where 11,000 Christians were worshipping, praying, repenting and celebrating in the sweltering heat. Linked to the world-wide Global Day of Prayer, with co-ordinated events in 211 countries and 60 other areas of the UK, the event included worship from well-known worship leaders, prayer for issues such as gun crime, HIV/Aids, world trouble spots and climate change, and an interview with new London Mayor, Boris Johnson, who shared his vision of how churches could work with him in stamping out gun and street crime. Information on the Global Day of Prayer London's launch for 2009, and the Pentecost 2009 event, will be available later in the year. In the meantime, more information on the vision of the Global Day of Prayer London is available on their website.

Baptisms

It was really good to gather together to see Jessica and Andrew baptised. There was a good atmosphere, serious but not solemn. Sam gave a good message and then we baptised them both. The water was unusually cold as we had not had the heaters in long enough. Still, both Jessica and Andrew did not seem to mind, too much! It was really special that Jessica's Dad helped Adrian to baptise. Once baptised we waited on God for to bring scriptures and prophetic words to each of them. When the service was over we all gathered for a really good tea and fellowship.

New Year's Eve at Precious Stones

Cornerstone and GateWay joined together with Precious Stones at their facility in Church Road to see in the New Year. We kicked off with a buffet and fellowship. This was followed by a good time of worship, several very good singers and a sketch.

Rosy from Cornerstone, led us in prayer for the New Year and Edward, from Precious Stones, exhorted us to be aware of the times and to be sensitive to what God is saying. The New Year was welcomed in with party poppers and firworks.

The Donkey's Return - Live Nativity

The afternoon of Sunday 16th December saw a real spectacle down at Brook's Farm. Working together with the Cornerstone Church, we dressed up in costumes for a real live nativity. The outfits were certainly more professional than the usual tea towels and dressing gown. Okay Guys! which one of you is the Virgin Mary? Perhaps not then. Several hundred local people turned out and enjoyed the event. The weather, though bitterly cold, was clear and bright.

The event took the form of a running play that started as you entered the farm park. Visitors were invited to dress up and costumes were provided. The Christmas Story was told as a TV show with interviews and running commentary from "Jeremiah Paxman", the anchorman for Bethlehem Tonight. The traditional story was told in a very up to date way, and helped us all to focus on the real meaning of Christmas.

As the crowd gathered around the crib, the angel choir led us in singing carols. The donkey was very patient!

We all ended up at the crib where Jeremiah Paxman interviewed Rosy, the curate of Cornerstone, as a "local religious leader". Rosy then gave an excellent short talk about the meaning of Christmas. The whole scene had a very authentic feel, especially the farmyard smells! Afterwards, hot chocolate was distributed to ward off the cold.

Revive! 2007

One of the great things about Revive! is the worship. Again, Chris & Jennie Orange did a wonderful job of leading, ably assited by others. (Is Helen praying here, or saying, "No Russ, not that song again!") The Godfrey Birtill concert on the Sunday night was a really powerful time, and the electrical power did not cut out this year either. The wide variety of seminars and speakers ensured there was something for everyone. George Verwer was special, and Roger was his usual thought provoking self. The highlight of the week for GateWay was on the Wednesday afternoon, when Roger came to our tent and spoke to us. His easy personality ensured that we all had fun, as well as exercising our spirit and brain.

A good number of GateWay were working with the under 4s, stewarding, on the prayer teams or working with the teens. This did not in any way detract from the great sense of fellowship and fun. Everyone helped out with the food, lead by Daphne, and the tents gave good shelter. Though, some of us found the experience of putting them up a little tiring.

There were plenty of things to do, even at night! There are "things" that lurk in the forest at Ashburnham. There was Cafe Ash with live music and hot chocolate. Of course, for the more prayerful, there was always the Evening Sacrifice with Breaking of Bread. A great way to end a tiring day, by getting prayed for. Throughout the week there were powerful times of ministry and challenging talks, old friends to meet and new ones to make, times to laugh, or even cry. Who will forget the Prodigal Sheep video? (Look up Bogey the Sheep on Facebook.) We are already thinking of next year. Get the dates in your diary - 2nd to 9th August 2008!