Church of the Nazarene

East Lincolnshire Initiative

Greetings from East Lincolnshire. We are pleased to report that our Church Plant at Sibsey, just a few miles north of Boston, is well underway. It doesn't seem possible that at the end of this month we will have been there for 24 weeks. But here we are at the end of Lent, looking forward to the Easter event with a regular congregation of some twenty people from a group of 55 people who have at some stage attended our meetings.

We made a decision last October that we would start a Sunday evening meeting at 6 p.m. in the Village Hall at Sibsey. The nucleus of our group was the two of us with the support of our two foster daughters, Jess and Charlotte, and Keith and Kate Beaumont who live in Sibsey. We were delighted that for our first meeting a group of musicians from the New Life Christian Ministries in Sleaford came along to provide 'live' music. We had no idea what to expect on that first evening, but God put a big 'rubber stamp' of approval on the event as 33 people attended. We were supported by folk from King's Lynn, Skegness and Boston as well as the village.

Our initial plan was to run a six week series of preaching on the theme 'Our Responsibility' in order to test God's call for a church plant in the area. The response was so encouraging that we continued through November and December, picking up the Advent theme and culminating with a Carol Service that included a Nativity in which many of the congregation of 23 people took some part. The photographs from the Nativity did not come out very well but the scene was moved to our house for the Christmas period.

On November 30 our Pastor from Kings Lynn, the Rev Don Mentch, came over and we received two people, Lorraine and Colin Morris, into membership of the Church of the Nazarene. Then on December 7, we held our first Communion Service at which 18 people attended. At the end of that meeting many of the congregation came forward for Anointing and the Laying-on of Hands for healing.

In this New Year, 2009, the Lord has continued to bless the work here. We began the year in true Wesleyan-Holiness tradition with a Covenant Service at which we also shared the Lord's Supper.

On January 25th we received Keith and Kate Beaumont into membership of the Church of the Nazarene, Kings Lynn.

Then on March 1st. Pete and Sandra Newsome were received as members along with their retired Guide Dog Ruby who is a regular member of the congregation on a Sunday evening and has also attended worship at Reffley!

Pastor Don officiated at both services and has grown quite fond of Ruby!

On January 18th we held another healing service which was well attended and, once again, most of the congregation came forward for the laying-on of hands and anointing.

We have continued to receive support from members at Reffley with a number of friends coming across at different times during the month. We also continue to receive regular support from friends from the Methodist Church in Boston.

We have developed a pattern of theme preaching with Keith Beaumont assisting Ian with some good biblical exposition at each service. Keith is a former Methodist Local Preacher and Local Preacher Tutor. During February we explored the theme, 'Revelation through Healing' as we unpacked the healing miracles in Mark's Gospel and then in March our theme has been 'Creation Covenant' as we have linked the Old Testament covenants with the Covenant sealed with Christ's blood.

In March we attended the District Assembly in Morley along with Jess and Charlotte and we were all made to feel most welcome and part of the 'family'. It was a great opportunity to meet other 'Nazarenes' and to hear first hand what is going on in other parts of the District. Ian was officially 'recognised' by the Church and received a blessing through the laying-on of hands from the General Superintendent, the Rev Dr James Diehl. We both came back from the Assembly 'fired up' with the Spirit, as those who attended worship on the Sunday evening at Sibsey can testify. Ian made an attempt at an American accent as he told the congregation at Sibsey how the 'General' had told the entire congregation at Morley that Diane would not be able to kneel because of her poorly knees! Probably her most embarrassing moment! (Please don't tell her I've told you).

We celebrated Mothering Sunday with our first 'family' service for which we had each made a point of specifically inviting people to share this time with us. We were blessed with eight new people on that evening swelling our number to 29, even Ruby brought her friend Charlie, a working Guide Dog. We pray that something of the wonderful atmosphere and friendship of the evening will have gone away with them and that they will join us again.

During Lent Ian has been making up a series of miniature gardens to depict the Life, Death and Resurrection of Jesus and we have been putting them on display during our services. So far we have produced three gardens depicting Jesus' temptation in the desert, the calling of the Disciples at the Sea of Galilee and the meeting with the Samaritan women by the well. We hope to post more pictures on the web-site shortly

Ian is continuing in his role as Chaplain to the Skegness and District Burma Star Association and to the Crew of the Skegness Lifeboat. On Remembrance Sunday he took part in the Veterans parade through Skegness and in January went out to sea with the Lifeboat crew to scatter the ashes of a dear friend who had been an active fundraiser for the RNLI and who had died last October. Keith has become a member of the Village Hall committee at Sibsey.

We, and all in East Lincolnshire, are looking forward to sharing more and more together as we move forward in faith. We ask your prayers that God continues to bless this project and all who are supporting it with their prayers and the generous giving of their time, talents and money.

May we take this opportunity to wish everyone every blessing of the Easter Season.

Diane and Ian Banks

Rev. Ian Banks & Mrs Diane Banks
1 Ladbroke Close
Helpringham
Sleaford
Lincolnshire

NG34 0SX

e-mail eastlincsnazarene@btinternet.com