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Hope 08 comes to Meanwood
From 29 July to 2nd August a pile of young people and adult volunteers from all kinds of churches assembled at the Hope 08 Leeds Mission Hub at Harehills Baptist Church. There was a morning meeting with worship and a talk. Afternoons were spent working with local churches in the mission centres, Kippax, Otley, Meanwood, Armley, Beeston, Hunslet and Horsforth with the aim of showing Gods love through words and actions.
Simon Dowling was in a team at the Kippax centre working with the elderly and creating a community fun day. He says "The week was amazing and God did loads of cool things both in the lives of the young people and in the communities we were all serving"
I (Sarah Byde) was based near where I live in Meanwood. We had 25 children aged 5-11 from the Meanwood area at the Holiday Club we did at Stainbeck URC. In my team one girl with no church background was very excited to discover that Jesus loved her. And it was huge fun.
A couple of us decided to walk around the streets to invite people to the barbeque we were doing at Meanwood Community Centre. It was very exciting because lots of people stood chatting to us about our faith and how it had impacted our lives. We were able to pray for several of them about difficult situations they faced. When James prayed for one lad, he said that the prayers had been right on the mark. He has subsequently decided he wants to keep in touch with some Christians and will be hanging out with a few of us next week.
The back of the T-shirts said "Fear can hold you prisoner, but hope can set you free"
I found it really exciting to work with such a variety of Christians from other churches.
Hope 2008 is an initiative of the churches of Britain and Ireland which is helping to demonstrate Christian faith in action and to explain the meaning of that faith in villages, towns and cities throughout the UK.
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Sarah Byde, 07/08/2008 |
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