Newsletter

December 2011 Newsletter

St. Bees, United Kingdom by Sonya Williams

Just over 4 years ago, a friend, Kath Morrison, said that she felt God wanted her to start an 'Amazing Collection' Bible study in the village. She had seen some of the teaching on a Christian TV channel and felt that it would be of real benefit to women here in St. Bees. Kath approached Marian & I to think and pray about it. Living in a small rural village in the north-west of England, we weren't too sure how ladies would respond to Bible teaching from over the water, but agreed to give it a whirl, trusting God for fruit!!! We printed up invitations & posted them around the village, praying God would bring the ladies he wanted along. In the new year of 2008 about 30 ladies of all ages, backgrounds and with a vast variety of church/non church experience came together to try out this study. Some are still with us, others stayed for a short season & more have recently joined; we try to be as open & welcoming as possible. The joy in it all has been to see women respond to the Word of God and hunger for more. Kath, the original 'driving force' behind it all here, has moved away & Julie has taken her place. We're now on our 2nd run of Amazing and loving it.

We meet twice a week during term time: Tuesday mornings & Thursday evenings. Unlike other Amazing groups that we've read about, we are not a 'church run' group, although we have the support of local church leaders. We rent out a small church hall in the village for the morning group & the evening group meets in Marian's home. A few weeks ago we asked the ladies to put down in words what 'Amazing' means to them, there isn't space to include it all, but here's a taster of what they said:

'a place of sanctuary'; 'fellowship'; 'an essential part of my week'; 'encouraged, convicted, connected & inspired is how I usually feel when I leave Amazing'; 'I like very much the way the sessions relate the bible to life in the 21st century'; 'it has taken me on an incredible journey of re-discovery'; 'I've become more & more convinced that in God's Word I have everything I need for life & to grow in understanding & godliness. Thank you so much to everyone involved in producing these Bible Studies'.