Dear Friends and Family,
It’s been some time since we have given you a little update of events here in Coleraine. After a busy summer, we had an encouraging start to the autumn season. The attendance at all our services has been very encouraging. We are overawed at the number of unsaved people attending the services. It would be wonderful to see God break into these lives and demonstrate His love and mercy towards them. Some of these are teenagers who are deliberating between living for God or themselves. Others are young and middle aged families who have tasted the pleasures of the world and are finding it difficult to part with such a lifestyle. Then there are a significant number of spouses who live day after day with a saved partner, yet will not yield to their partner’s Savior. It is also sad to see a number of older folks who regularly attend church, yet have never understood the fact that salvation is not earned through works or tradition. Please continue to pray that as the gospel is shared week after week, that God presence will be manifested in such a way that people will be unable to reject the compelling call of Jesus Christ.
Upcoming Events:
Advent is swiftly coming upon us. Once again we are maximizing the opportunity of the season to share the message of Christmas to as many people as possible. Please pray for the following activities.
1)
Carols by the Fireside:
14th – 20th of December. There are six venues in which we will go into people’s homes, sing carols, provide musical items, and bring a short evangelistic thought based upon Christ’s advent. Home owners will invite friends and neighbors. Afterwards they will provide tea/coffee and mince pies.
2)
Harpurs
Hill
Primary School
Carol Service:
17th December. Last year over 300 people gathered for a local school carol service which was held in our church. I (Mark) had the opportunity to bring a Christmas presentation at this service. Once again we will host this service and are expecting a large crowd. All those who attended last year were not regular attendees at our church. Many in fact were un-churched.
3)
Christmas Programs: 21st of December AM & PM:
Annual Christmas program. Children are taking part in the am service, adults in the pm service.
4)
Pastor’s Christmas Open House: 22nd of December:
Open house at Pastor Mark and Deanna’s house.
5)
Christmas Morning Service: 25th of December.
6)
Watch night Service & Supper: 31st of December.
This year we are pleased that the Rev and Mrs. David Fry will be with us over the New Year period. They will be ministering in the watch night service as well as regular services while they are visiting us. Sarah Fry is Deanna’s sister.
7)
Men for Revival: 3rd of January.
An all day men’s retreat where men can gather for fellowship, instruction and encouragement. Topics covered include – 1) The Man in the Church, 2) The Man in the Home and 3) The Man in Society.
8)
Young Adults’ Winter Weekend. 9th – 11th of January.
Once again we are holding another young adults’ winter retreat. The Rev John Parker, from South Carolina will be this year’s special speaker. Please pray that a number of young adults will respond to the invitation to come to the retreat.
9)
Church Fellowship Meal. 21st of January:
Fellowship & Outreach event held at TBF Thompson Ministry center.
10)
Junior & Teen CampReunions:
These are held on the third and fourth weekends of January respectively. Mark and Wesley Stewart will share the teaching at these weekends.
11)
Friends & Neighbors Evening:
8th February. Blessed Assurance from Larne will be sharing and testifying in this great PR service for the church.
All other scheduled church services and fellowship events continue through the Christmas and New Year season. We value prayer for all regular services as well as the extra scheduled events.
Other News
Church Extension:
With the passing of time, the church has found that the need for a minor hall has become more and more of an issue. About 8 years ago we bought some extra ground and a temporary hall which has served us well. The church board progressed with plans to build an extension onto the back of the church, giving us a minor hall, new kitchen, pastor's office, church office, disabled toilets, stores etc. This is being seen as an investment in the Kingdom of God, enabling us to minister more effectively to people of all age groups in our community. While we are conscious of keeping the costs down, it is still a great financial commitment. We are ever mindful that we serve the God who is able to meet all our needs and we ask you to pray with us that soon we will be able to commence the building work
.
Just Looking Outreach:
Many people in society are plagued with the big questions of life such as “Is the bible reliable? How do I know God is real? and Is Christianity exclusive?” I would like to hold a series of five lectures/ seminars over five consecutive nights in February, following our friends and neighbours evening. Realizing that the target audience will not be particularly comfortable coming into church for such a series, I believe a neutral venue must be secured. One such possibility is using conference rooms at a local hotel/ travel lodge. However, the price for the week would be close to 700 pounds, ($1150). This is obviously expensive; therefore, we would ask you to pray that God would lead people to provide us with the necessary funds in order to run this event. I would like to be able to bring along a person each night to share their experience of trusting God to be their savior. The person who would come along would have an experience similar to the various issues which would be discussed that night.
Looking Ahead:
We are looking forward to hosting a visit from the Gods Bible School & College Choir in May. The dates of their visit are the 18th – 28th of May. We have secured all but two services. They will be ministering in several areas around the north of Ireland, concluding with a service in Dublin. Mark still has to arrange two more services, please pray for guidance in knowing who and where to approach for these services.
Thank you once again for your continued prayers for us both. We really appreciate all of our friends and it is such a joy to hear from many of you, either by email, phone or letter. It is an encouragement to us, especially to hear from our friends in America. We miss you and are delighted when we hear from you.
Both of us will be in the States in a couple of week’s time. We will be in Cincinnati at Deanna’s parents for two weeks arriving thanksgiving weekend and returning to the UK on the 10th of December.
We trust you will know God blessing over the holiday season!
Mark and Deanna Mander
Dear Friends,
“My heart is filled with thankfulness
To Him who bore my pain;
Who plumbed the depths of my disgrace
And gave me life again;
Who crushed my curse of sinfulness
And clothed me in His light
And wrote His law of righteousness
With power upon my heart.”
These words written by hymn writers Stuart Townend and Keith Getty share the reason we engage ourselves in the ministry. We concur with the Apostle Paul and personally say we give our lives back to Him, for this is the only service we can offer to the one who has given us salvation and life. Furthermore, as the final two lines of the above Getty/ Townend hymn say, “For every day I have on earth is given by the King; so I will give my life, my all, to love and follow him,” we are reminded of the urgency of the day, to be busy fulfilling the great commission. God has called us for today’s service; therefore, as we live moment by moment under the guidance of the Holy Spirit we are daily aware of His leadership and opportunities He gives us to share the gospel of His love and mercy to undeserving sinners.
Deanna and I wish to thank you all for your continued support and prayers for the ministry in which we are engaged in. In our last update we shared with you the planned evangelistic crusade that we were holding on the outskirts of Coleraine. The crusade lasted for three weeks and we were blessed with consistent attendance each night. There was no outward move of people accepting Christ as their Saviour, however, many new contacts were made and we had wonderful support from local believers. From that crusade our senior minister immediately began preaching at a similar crusade held in a church in the south of the province. He had the joy of pointing one soul to the Lord and leading several into the experience of full salvation. While he was away, I assumed all the responsibilities at the church including the radio broadcasts.
Since March over 1000 homes have been personally contacted. Invitations and religious literature have been left at the homes as well as surveys conducted regarding the religious trends of the local community. A number of good contacts have been made and we ask you to pray with us that God will bless these efforts. What a blessing and encouragement it would be for us to see just a small percentage of these people begin attending our services. On that subject our Sunday services have been encouraging. Our church has been consistently full each Lord’s day with a regular group of unsaved men, women and young people attending. Pray especially for a number of unsaved spouses of our members. While they are sympathetic to their partner’s faith, they are hardened to the gospel. The Rev. Stewart and I continue to alternate preaching at services.
At the beginning of April we had a special outreach where we invited a young couple to come from Wales and share their testimony of how God delivered them from crime, immorality and hardcore drug abuse. God honored us with His presence and saved a man whom I have been consistently working with since September. Aware of his need, Mark constantly rejected calls for His salvation afraid of the reaction of his wife. Last Sunday, his wife attended our Sunday morning service. God has answered prayer in softening her heart towards the gospel. Another person that we ask you to pray for is Jack. He has lost one son to motor sport racing, and another to war. Jack has an addiction; however, he is close to the kingdom and is attending our evangelistic services regularly. Just this week I also established a relationship with a Roman Catholic priest. He has invited me to his home, so I ask you to pray with me that God will give opportunities to present the gospel with Dr. Brendan as this contact will be pursued. God also receives our praise for His speaking voice on Sundays to His own people. Several have indicated to us that God is speaking to them regarding the fullness of the Spirit. Last week I preached at a Faith Mission conference on this subject to a large crowd of Christians from a range of denominations, many of whom would have been strangers to the message of entire sanctification. However, it was wonderful to sense God’s presence and speaking voice in the service.
Children’s and youth ministry slowed down for a number of weeks after Easter. Instead of the two weekly clubs for teens and children, we held a special monthly rally to maintain contacts. However, as we look to the summer we are beginning to see an increase in activities as momentum builds for our camp ministry, neighborhood outreach, and ultimately new term of weekly ministry at the end of August. It has been discouraging to see many of our older teens slip away and get tied up in the nightclub scene which is extremely prevalent in our area. Do pray that God will grant our youth ministry team wisdom to deal with this age group and that our camps will maintain the focus that our middle teens currently show in their relationship with Christ. At the moment plans have been presented to the city council for a church extension which will allow us to have more space for our youth and other activities. We are currently awaiting the results from the planners and are praying for God to provide the 300,000 pounds/$600,000 for the project.
Below are our immediate events and needs we ask you to pray for.
•
Special Projects
1. Annual Children’s Day: 8th June ---- Many unsaved parents will attend our services. Pray for our speaker Dougie Young from Scotland and his evangelistic presentation.
2. Young Families/ Thirties Evening: 13th June ---- This evening concentrates on an age group that has been neglected in the past in our church. Pray for unity, friendship and vision.
3. Sunday School Trip: 14th June ----- Good relationships and contact building with the parents of our Sunday School. (Friendship evangelism event)
4. Gospel Music Evenings: 15th/22nd June -These evenings are during our evangelistic services. Pray for many unsaved to be touched through the singing and preaching.
5. Children’s church/ Youth Challenge
Parents Outreach Project: 22nd June ……. Another point of contact as our Sunday morning youth, bring their parents to church and subsequent banquet. The gospel will be
Presented in the morning to a number of previous un-churched attendees.
6. Summer Camps (Preparation) June/ July ……. Mark, Deanna, Wes, Lorna and Crystal Wolf are all busily preparing teaching/ devotional material and the entire camp schedule. Pray for
safety, good weather, behavior, salvation and financial needs to be met.
7. Drive – in – Church
(Preparation, Increase in local
Attendance, Salvation) 13th July ff ------ Permission has been granted for the 16th annual drive in church services in July & August. Up to 1500 attend these services. Our goal is to
see many saved as visitors from around the country hear the gospel preached. This year we have the addition of a drive in church for
children which starts 1 hour before the main event.
Do continue to pray for us as we settle into the community. Although it has almost been a year since Deanna and I moved here, it is only now that we are establishing some personal contacts. Through the teaching that Deanna does in the local school and in the music school, we are beginning to be known in the community. Deanna maintains an active role within the church life in all of the various ministries and is a valuable asset to the church. She also continues to teach at GBSC via the webcam and will do this again next semester.
Thank you for all your prayer, and do continue to remember us – we do love to hear from you! Deanna and I plan to be in the U.S.A. for a short break from the 23rd of June through to the 9th of July. We are in need of the break and are looking forward to renewing fellowship with many of our family and friends.
Yours in His service,
Mark and Deanna.
Mark R. Mander
Associate Minister
Coleraine
Independent
Methodist
Church
(Ballycastle Rd)
22 Loguestown Park,
Coleraine,
BT52 2HR,
United Kingdom
.
Tel: (011 44) 28 70 359686
Mobile
: (011 44) 794 2331015
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http://coleraineimc.org/