Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin
Outreach meetings every Saturday and Sunday that have been attended by over 500 new people in the last three years, over 130 professions of faith in Christ, eight baptisms and Sunday service attendance rising from 15 to over 30 - recent times have seen the Kobe Mission Hall transformed into a thriving evangelistic centre. Cause for rejoicing indeed! But with the joy have come challenges, as Dawn Bolton tells us...
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One thing we have found God uses is our annual church retreat. For many of our new believers, just getting away for a few days from their life situations is a tremendous relief, but there's also the chance for more permanent change.
28 of us took part. With so many people, a full programme and dormitory accommodation, it was not the kind of retreat centred on an extended quiet time with the Lord! Nevertheless, He met with us there, both individually and as a group. We began to see God work through the church family. Spending 24 hours together, people were beginning to trust each other and share things - something that really doesn't come easily in this society. In one of our sessions, we thought about the things which keep us "chained", and stop us from taking hold of the freedom that is ours in Christ. People spoke honestly about their struggles with fears about the future, dependence on medicine to get them through the day and inability to let go of past hurts. We made a paper chain link for each of these things and then joined all our links to make one big chain, which we vowed to give to Jesus. In the evening we had a barbecue, after which we destroyed the chain on the bonfire.
We praise God for the work he began at this year's retreat. Please pray with us that we would know his complete freedom and victory at the Mission Hall as we try to help each other and to reach others still. Dawn Bolton |
Our staff team has grown, with four additional Korean workers. Still, discipling those who have accepted the good news of Jesus is a big challenge, especially in this area. Many of those who come to the Mission Hall are at a very low point in their lives, and accept the gospel eagerly, but they often find that although they are made new in Christ their immediate circumstances remain unchanged. They struggle to be free from their former life - from heavy drinking, bad company and scars from the past which still control their way of thinking and relating to others. They have to find a way to live faithfully in that world - and it's not easy! How can we, their brothers and sisters in Christ and pastoral team at the Mission Hall, help them to take hold of the freedom that is theirs in the Lord?
This year, we decided to have a longer, three-day retreat and focused on healing and freedom in Christ. We gathered in a beautiful peaceful place outside Kobe. Downtown Kobe, where the church is, can feel pretty desolate at times so a change of scenery can be a blessing in itself. The retreat centre has a small lake, delicious food and very cheap accommodation.
For once, God had our attention for more than just a couple of hours. I believe that all of us were challenged by the retreat to recognise the things that bind us and commit them to Jesus. We finished with the wonderful testimony of the baptisms of two men, Koichi and Kenji (names changed), in the lake. Koichi is a recovering alcoholic who has had a troubled life. When he first came to the Mission Hall and heard the gospel he found he couldn't stop crying. That was in April and he hasn't looked back since. Kenji is a former company employee who was struggling to find meaning in life. He came to a screening of "The Passion of the Christ" at the Mission and, as he watched the crucifixion scene, the cross took on a personal meaning for him. So we finished the weekend with thanksgiving and celebration!