Hello comrades,
Today was a busy day with classes from the Ragged School of Theology and then hoping over to help out at our last Hot Meals. My brain is a bit tired, so many apologies if this update letter is a little wonky!
20schemes Women
As many of you know from last week’s update, I was able to share a devotional talk with the 20schemes women yesterday during our monthly gathering. Many hearty thanks to everyone who was praying for me and for that time! Someone messaged me afterwards to say that Christ was honoured during the talk, and I think that was the most encouraging thing someone could have said. I was very grateful for the opportunity and pray that God’s Word will continue to be an encouragement to my sisters in 20schemes who are slogging on for the sake of the Gospel.
Last Hot Meals!
Like I mentioned above, today marked a change in seasons for Merkinch Free Church as we held our last Hot Meals outreach. This outreach started when our team was approached about helping with the massive amounts of hunger that spiked in our scheme during lockdown. It was estimated that at least over half of the kids in our scheme would face hunger because of the lockdown, and I’ve definitely seen a lot of folks in our scheme really struggling to make ends meet during this time. Since Hot Meal’s start in August, we’ve served a lot of food but have also been able to make a lot of connections with folks in our community through this once-a-week for an hour-and-a-half ministry. Even today I was praising God for the many people that I have been able to start forming relationships with because of my interactions with them throughout the winter at Hot Meals.
Now that lockdown is beginning to ease off, our team felt it was time to start transitioning this Hot Meals outreach from a “immediate relief” stage to a more long-term ministry. So we’ll be starting our weekly café next week where folks in the scheme will be able to pop into the hall for some food but also for some time talking with members of the launch team. And eventually we are hoping to also launch a Christianity Explored class over a weekly dinner at the hall. This is exciting because it will mean we will get to spend more meaningful, pointed time with the folks in the community that we have built relationships with during lockdown (thanks to Hot Meals!).
Week of Prayer
Our launch team will be starting a focused week of prayer together starting this Monday to declare again our dependance on God as lockdown begins to lift. Last week I read a quote by the great Spurgeon who said, “Whenever God determines to do a great work, He first sets His people to pray.” Amen! Please pray with and for us during our 7 days of prayer!
Well, that’s all for now. If you ever have any questions about our church, work, community, etc., please feel free to drop me a note. It’s a joy to labor side by side with you in the Gospel; thank you for your ongoing prayers and support!!
2 Thessalonians 2:16-17,
Claire
Claire in Scotland 