Churches making us proud

It is an interesting question and I am not exactly qualified to answer, but I do know where some of the money goes, as I and other Café Forever staff spend it. We are so grateful for the giving that supporters do and it is one source of pride. The recent funday that took part in St John's park was funded by London City Mission - and as such through churches, through volunteers from XLP and Finland! and RBS who supplied many staff volunteers as well as prizes for the kids.

Finnish suffering

Face Painting

I was told by one contact 'the park event was really good fun' and 'who paid for all of this, the council?' and it gave me great pride to tell him that it was through generous giving of churches that made it all happen. The donations go to various other places as well, such as funding the staff that maintain the café or building our back patio and I can only pass on the Goodwill that surrounds our venture - the impact that it is making on the various aspects of people's lives. We are being praised for the work and we give God and his church the Glory!

grow up!

Anything hindering your growth?

Café Forever has grown in size! At Last we have a back garden/ patio. The extra space means that during the warmer months we are almost doubling our floorspace, and in a beautiful way too we think.

Growing space

There are certain things that hinder growth, one visitor to the café regularly tells me he 'can't' - this phrase occurs whenever I ask him about him doing something. This is like putting up a brick wall before yourself. We should be saying it to things that are wrong to do, but shouldn't be saying it about things we should be doing. He 'can't' control his anger is for example a wrong phrase, 'I would like to control my anger' would be a better way of speaking, this leaves a door of opportunity for change. We must be careful about what we say, and think about words - they indicate a lot of what we are inside. Do you need to grow somewhere? Are you perhaps also building a mental wall that prevents your growth?

Earlier this year Marlene and I switched over a responsibility. Marlene has begun taking assemblies at Cubitt Town School which enables her to get known by the children and I have taken her role in the youth bible study on a Tuesday evening. It is really interesting being with these young people. They seem to enjoy the opportunity to hang out with us and the genuinely do get involved in the Bible discussion. These aren't the super-cool or the tough guys, I am sure there have been many who have tried to hinder their development. The evening normally begins with some sort of game or entertainment and then we have something to eat followed by about a 1/2 hour look at a bible passage.  We have done some of Judges looking at characters such as Gideon and Barak and their timidity and we have sat on the lap of King David - as Solomon would have - and heard some Proverbs. This is challenging me and I am growing in knowledge of what makes young people tick! Hopefully they are growing in the knowledge of God. The group is really very forgiving. We will finish next week with a trip on a powerboat down the Thames - pictures to follow.

From Google...    growth

ɡrəʊθ/

noun

noun: growth; plural noun: growths

1. 1.

   the process of increasing in size.

   "the upward growth of plants"

   synonyms:

   growing, extension, widening, thickening, broadening, heightening,swelling, magnification, ballooning More

   antonyms:

   shrinking, withering

   • the process of developing physically, mentally, or spiritually.

     "keeping a journal can be a vital step in our personal growth"

     synonyms:

     expansion, development, progress, advance, advancement,headway, improvement, furtherance, extension, spread, buildout,escalation; More

     antonyms:

     decline, failure

   • the process of increasing in amount, value, or importance.

     "the rates of population growth are lowest in the north"

     synonyms:

     increase, expansion, augmentation, proliferation, multiplication,enlargement, amplification, mushrooming, snowballing, rise,escalation, build-up; More

     antonyms:

     decrease

   • increase in economic activity or value.

     "the government aims to get growth back into the economy"