Rested

Earlier in the year a friend of mine blogged on keeping the Sabbath and I found it very provocative (Matt Hosier 'keeping the Sabbath'). His writing got me thinking and this Sunday I plan to start a new sermon series entitled 'Rested'.

Essentially, I want to explore REST and Jesus' invitation to 'come to me all who are weary and burdened and I will give you REST' (Matt 11v28).

I sense many of us have different concepts of what REST is (or should be) and also many different ways of obtaining REST.

As busy, results orientated, Western Christians, what does it mean to be RESTED yet straining with all our might to do life & advance His Kingdom?

I would love to know your thoughts and questions around REST to help shape the series...

Lunch with friends

Today we had a few friends over for lunch. In total we had 13 nations represented and many brought a national dish ... the Indian bargies were fantastic as were the Lithuania sausages and the Ghanaian style prawns & planten!

Food and friends - a winning combination!

What if Starbucks marketed like the church - a parable

It made me laugh ...

Naomi won!

How cool is that! After a facebook vote, Naomi is off to South Sudan ... for more details click here.

Its a crazy, wonderful, God filled world! And Vodafone Foundation are helping Naomi to play her part!

Liz & I are in the same lifegroup as her and we're meeting tonight - it's going to be a hoot!!!! 

RFC in the news

RFC has teamed up with the Reading Chronicle for a photo competition. The deadline is soon so they ran an article on page 3:

'Make it snappy for photo competition'

READING scenes will be in the frame in a church competition to find a photo for its offices.

Reading Family Church is challenging amateur photographers to snap a scene that shows the spirit of the town. Pastor Sean Green, who earlier this year based his sermons on news stories from sister paper The Chronicle, said: "Images that capture the changing face of Reading, new buildings coming up or old buildings going down would be interesting. I do like looking at our history but also what we are becoming as a town."

For full story click here

Together @ Butlins

Friday 22 - Sunday 24 Janaury 2010

In January we are joining with other Newfontiers churches in our region at Butlins, Bognor Regis for a weekend of worship, teaching, vision and encouragement. Speakers this year include David Devenish and David Stroud.


Just as last year, you have to book in yourselves - so team up with those in your lifegroup if you want to share accommodation. If you book before September 30th you get the cheaper prices. For more details click here.

Vote for Naomi

Naomi Pendle is a member of our church and Vodafone have offered to sponsor her return to South Sudan for a year if she wins a facebook vote. She is passionate to be one of the first trained school teachers to serve the Dinka tribe of South Sudan, thereby helping to rebuild that war-torn land.

To support her in that vote, all you need to do is:
1) Go to www.facebook.com/worldofdifference;
2) Scroll down to the second post and click on 'Naomi'
Please do find out more at the facebook group 'A School in South Sudan'. They have many stories to share with the world. Oh, and ask your friends to vote for her!

Weekly 5km Timed Run comes to Reading

If you are a runner, one of the nice things to do in order to check progress is a timed 5km run.

My whole family have run the Bushey Park 5km time trial ... although Zoe has yet to race it! Unfortunately it's at Hampton Court in London but given it was so well organised, it was worth the journey.

Wonderfully a similar time trials has started in Reading. The first took place today and will continue every week on Saturday morning at 9am at TVP.

I plan to make use of this ... as soon as my Saturday mornings free up! Oh, and its free ...

For more details, click here.

Mental Health @ RFC

I am currently reading 'Grace for the afflicted' by Dr M Stanford, which seeks to give a Clinical and Biblical perspective on Mental Illness. It's not an easy read but I find it very stimulating.

Statistically, 1 in 4 people will suffer from Mental Health related illnesses and yet there is still massive amounts of stigma associated with it, especially amongst Christians.

If someone contracts heart disease and another Schizophrenia, I can guess which sufferer will most likely request public prayer during a meeting.

On Saturday 7 November, RFC will be hosting a day entitled 'Cloudy days in Summer' which we hope will give people both permission and a framework to discuss Mental Health issues.

We hope that the day will lay a theological foundation for Mental Health issues and equip us to approach them with a holistic, spiritual perspective. We also plan to look at various treatments and how to best support someone suffering from this type of illness.

The details of each session are still shaping up so if you have any thoughts please do contact me.

Bacon & eggs with Garin Jenkins

Earlier this year Sitho travelled to Liberia with a group of sportsmen, one of whom was Garin Jenkins. Garin is Wales' most-capped hooker and he played in the 1995 and 1999 World Cups and the Five Nations (The picture below is him getting his eye gouged by an Argentinian during an international)!

Garin is married with 2 children and currently coaches at the Ospreys academy as well as doing rugby commentary for the BBC. He is a truly inspirational guy and will be speaking at our men's breakfast on Sat 19th September 7:30am @ church offices.

The cost of the breakfast will be £5, so invite a friend and then book your place with Sitho!

Reading Town on Parenting

Yesterday I spoke on parenting and we included a short film shot on the streets of Reading. We asked passers-by "What makes a good parent?".



This is the first of Joe's film projects ... its going to be a good year for the RFC Media team! Why not subscribe to our youtube channel by clicking here and following RFC Media film projects over the year.

Interns!

Yesterday our two new interns, Claire and Joe, joined the team. RFC tradition states that all new starters go to lunch at Sweeny & Todds Pie Shop and obviously their pie choice says much about them.

Claire studied Psychology at Reading Uni and will be taking a lead on media and working with Kat Starling as she leads the musicians. Claire's pie choice was interesting, Chicken with honey & mustard. Not really too sure what that says about her, other than she left the carrots and has a hearty appetite!

Joe studied Electronic Engineering so I now have a fellow engineer on the team (Oh to be able talk again about how diodes works). Joe will be working with students and also taking a lead on short film projects. Joe's pie was a firm favourite, the Five Nations. Needless to say, the dish was wiped clean... a true engineer.

For completeness, Scott went for Venison & Boar, Karen had Steak & Mushroom and I had Steak and Stilton!