Acts – The church on fire for Jesus
This September in Portstewart Presbyterian Church we will be spending time thinking about the book of Acts. In Acts we read about the church being born, almost like a baby fawn as it takes its first shaky steps into the world. In Acts the disciples had to get used to Jesus been raised from the dead and then deal with the mixed emotions of watching him ascend into heaven.
Find all the sermons on Acts here.
This new church seemed to be incredibly vulnerable in those early days as it waited for the promised Holy Spirit and dealt with persecution from both the Roman and Jewish authorities. Despite such vulnerability the church not only survived but it grew and it did this with incredible displays of power and resilience.
As we read the book of Acts we are left wondering, what has changed? Why does the church look so different today?
- Sunday 1st September: Acts 1: 1-11 – Stuart Morrow
- Sunday 8th September Acts 1: 12-26 – Stuart Morrow
- Sunday 15th September Acts 2: 1-13 – Stuart Morrow
- Sunday 22nd September Acts 2: 14-41 – Stanley Stewart
- Sunday 6th October Acts 2: 42-47; 4: 32-37 – Stuart Morrow
Why not come along and join us as we seek to become more like the church in Acts – a church on fire for Jesus. It doesn’t matter if you are a member of the church, or maybe you have benefitted from the church in the past, or you just want to know more about what it means to be part of a church, you will be most welcome.
We will be learning some new songs in September some of which you can familiarise yourself with below.
Something from Stuart
Can you believe the summer is drawing to a close and we are about to embark on another church year? I hope you have been able to find time to rest and recharge your batteries over the summer, even if the weather has been less than kind to us. Certainly, Julia and I enjoyed our break and we now approach another year refreshed and excited at what the Lord has in store for us as a church in the coming months.
This has also been a significant summer for Michelle Hutchinson. If you are wondering who Michelle Hutchinson is, she is the person we used to know as Michelle Mullan. Michelle married Richard Hutchinson on Tuesday 20th August in our church. I know you will want to join with me in asking for God’s richest blessing for Richard and Michelle. It was a privilege to be able to officiate at their wedding and we look forward to seeing them both worship with us in weeks, months and indeed years ahead.
Watch Michelle and Richard’s wedding here
We have a number of other people getting married in the coming weeks. John Sinclair (a nephew of Mary Sinclair) is marrying Emily Menzies on Monday 26th of August, Rebecca Lemon is marrying Jeff McCormick on the 20th of September and Corey McDowell (Maureen McDowell’s grandson) is marrying Jess French on the 1st of November.
We wish each of these couples God’s richest blessing and I would encourage each of us to commit to pray for them, not just in the run up to their wedding day, but to continue to pray as they build new lives together.
September brings the restarting of much of church life. The GB registration evening will be on Wednesday 28th of August and the first official GB evening will be Wednesday 4th of September. The GB are encouraging girls to register online to help speed up this process. You can do this on the church website by either following the link to the GB page, or using the link in the latest GB update in the blog section of the website (www.portstewartpresbyterian.org) . Alternatively check the GB or the Church Facebook page.
The Sunday evening Prayer and Praise service will begin again on Sunday 1st of September and the congregational bible study on Thursday 5th of September. If you have never been to either of these then could I encourage you to consider coming along this autumn. The Christian life is not a life to be led in isolation, it is a call to be part of a redeemed community of God’s people. We are to meet together for worship Sunday by Sunday, not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing… (Hebrews 10:25) We are also to meet together for prayer…devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful…(Colossians 4:2) The Prayer and Praise service along with the Bible Study are opportunities to be obedient to God’s word, but they are not places where anyone will be put under pressure or made to feel uncomfortable.
In September we will begin a new series on the book of Acts which will take us some time to work through, although we will do this in short bite sized segments. Acts gives a wonderful picture of how the early church came together and grew, despite some quite horrendous persecution. This is a preaching series the elders have asked for as they try to help us understand what it means for us to live out our mission statement that we worship God, serve our community and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Find out more about Sundays in Acts
In September we will also be relaunching our youth fellowship which will be called established. We have taken Ephesians 3: 17, being rooted and established in love our young people may have the power to grasp how wide, and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. We want to create an environment where our young people are discipled and encouraged to deepen understanding and indeed commitment to Christ. We want to see them established in the church and in their faith. If you have young people of secondary school age, then please do encourage them to come along to this on the 2nd and 4th Sunday evenings of the month. We will have more promotional material coming shortly for this.
This of course is only a snapshot of what is starting up again. To keep fully abreast of what is happening keep an eye on our website, social media and the printed announcement sheets which are issued Sunday by Sunday. If you miss a week and want an announcement sheet, they are normally available to download alongside the recording of the service each week. https://www.portstewartpresbyterian.org/sermons/
As always it is with sadness that we report the deaths of much-loved members of our congregation since I last wrote to you.
Doreen Boyd died on the 27th of April 2024
Margaret Logan died on the 28th of May 2024
Kathleen Stewart died on the 20th of June 2024
Edna McFarland died on the 26th of June 2024
Phyllis McKergan died on the 9th of July 2024
Jean Wallace died on the 12th of July 2024
Noel Johnston died on the 15th of July 2024
Please do continue to pray for those who mourn. Each name listed represents a family still struggling to come to terms with death of a loved one. Ask that God by his Spirit would bring the comfort and hope that is only found in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We have also had cause to celebrate, especially due to the baptism of Esme Poppy Nicholl who was baptised on Sunday 23rd June. Esme will be familiar to many of you as she has taken her place at the front of the church while her mum Samantha helps lead us in worship. Continue to give thanks for Esme, and all our children, and pray that they would grow in their knowledge and understanding of the Lord.
I hope you are looking forward to the new church year. I hope you are excited because of what God is doing amongst us. Please do continue to pray for our church. Pray that we would grow, not only in numbers, but also in the depth of our faith. If it has been a while since you’ve been out with us, or if you have never been, then why not make this September a time to come and be part of our family once more, or even better – to join us for the first time.
My Soul will wait for you
In September we will begin a new series in the book of Acts. In Acts chapter 1 we meet the disciples waiting on the Lord. Not rushing into a new mission or project but waiting for the promised Spirit. To help us think this through we will be singing this song, my soul will wait for you. It might be helpful to take time this incoming week to familiarise ourselves with what will be a new song to most of us.
You can catch up on out series on the book of Acts by clicking this link.
Background to World Development Appeal for Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon is a small country in the Middle East – with an area of 10,452 km², it’s smaller than Northern Ireland! Its population is about 6 million, and it has the highest percentage of Christians of any Middle Eastern country. However, the number of Christians is declining due to emigration (85% of the 15 million+ Lebanese diaspora are estimated to be Christian). Some estimates suggest Christians account for as little as 25% of the population (in 1950, this was 50%). Evangelicals are a much smaller percentage.
Despite this, the story is by no means all gloom: God is at work, and stories abound of God transforming lives, often through miraculous encounters with Jesus. Many people have chosen to stay and make a difference. The Tearfund supported Tahaddi Centre, one of the World Development Appeal’s focus projects for this year is a good example of how Christians have sought to rekindle the light of Christ in communities dominated by darkness and despair.
Statistics of the crisis in Lebanon[1]
- In the last three years, the Lebanese Pound has lost around 90% of its value. Inflation is the third highest in the world, resulting in 80% of the population being in poverty.
- Government employees including doctors, nurses and teachers are no longer able to live on their salaries. As a result, 3,000 doctors and 5,000 nurses have left the country since 2019. Although they send back foreign currency to their families, this is a massive brain drain.
- Some 2.2 million Lebanese need humanitarian aid. On top of that, there are 1.5 million Syrian and 200,000 Palestinian refugees in the country.
- In 2020, there was a massive explosion in the docks area, destroying infrastructure, including grain stores, and causing considerable loss of life and trauma.
- The war in Ukraine has had a disproportional impact, as Lebanon imports almost 90% of its grain and sunflower oil from Russia and Ukraine.
- Four out of ten school-aged migrants and refugees are not enrolled in education. In addition, 14% of Lebanese children dropped out during 2020-2021, with growing fears of a lost generation.
- Syrian refugee families in informal settlements are among the most vulnerable. Almost all refugees are in debt and have had to cut spending on essentials, including food.
- Child labour among Syrians doubled in 2020 and some 25% of refugee girls aged 15-19 are married.
The Tahaddi Centre
The Tahaddi Centre is in an area of considerable deprivation. The community is predominantly made up of Syrian refugees, undocumented Lebanese and Dom (a traveller people historically from the Indian sub-continent).
The area houses thousands of people, maybe even tens of thousands. No one knows. These people are undocumented, living in congested, multiple-occupancy housing in an area with utility provision for perhaps 50 houses. There is little running water, sewage provisions or electricity. The buildings are ramshackle concrete constructions that are prone to collapse.
The place is drab, dull, even dirty. There is raw sewage on the streets. Education and employment opportunities are minimal. Many of the children are not in school and some are forced to work. Most adults rely on sporadic manual labouring jobs. As a result, physical and mental health problems are common. The cycle of poverty is passed down from one generation to the next, with little prospect of this cycle being broken.
The Tahaddi Centre stands in marked contrast to the community it serves. It is colourful and bright, the staff are energetic and enthusiastic. They speak of hope, they show love and compassion, they serve sacrificially, making a real, significant difference to the people of the community.
The Centre, founded about 25 years ago, provides education for children who cannot access it or have dropped out of the public school system. The demand for places outstrips the supply, so much so that the centre now provides three consecutive teaching sessions for children. The joy on the children’s faces is testament to quality of teaching and the commitment of the staff.
In addition, there is a small, basic health centre and a sewing workshop for up to 20 women. The approach is holistic; there are social workers following up with families, psychosocial support is provided to those who have suffered trauma. There is an awareness of the need to address the wide ranging needs of the community, from education to health, employment to food supplies to housing.
Tahaddi means ‘challenge’ in Arabic, and there are plenty of challenges to be faced. Tahaddi’s aim is to challenge poverty and, through its key values of justice, integrity and compassion, to rekindle hope.
Speaking about the Tahaddi Centre, Tearfund’s Farah Bou Kheir says “this is where your faith shines… The situation is very tough. You see God is in action and you have a call…to be agent of hope, to be agent of change. And you don’t know how God is working with the hearts of those people.
It’s like an act of worship. They are worshipping God by being cheerful givers to a place, which is very needy… so that those who are receiving would be thankful… So you can see how the role of the church when it comes to resources is tying both communities together, the giver and the receiver.”
Farah describes the centre like a lighthouse. He says “Giving to the World Development Appeal is an invitation for the church to be present in this context, and to be the hands of Jesus that extend the hand of compassion to a needy community…to address the needs of the vulnerable and to be the light in the dark spots.”
Lebanon is not an easy place to live, for most, but in the midst of the darkness, God is moving, shining His light through places like the Tahaddi Centre.
[1] source: Echo Factsheet ECHO Factsheet – Lebanon (Last updated: 10/05/2022) – Lebanon | ReliefWeb