Our new cell group is getting underway this week, at 8pm on Wed 4 November.  Several people are already coming, but there’s room for more!  We are yet to decide how often we will meet, and exactly what we will do together, but it will be a mixture of worship, study, discussion and food.  Small groups are a good place to explore with others what it means to be followers of Jesus, so if you are interested, get in touch and come along and join us!  Contact us at cellgroup@igwilson.net (this address will be active from about 6pm today)

Anyone  and everyone who would like to explore faith issues are welcome to come to 106 Redland Road at 8.00p.m. on Thursday 22nd October. If you, or you have a friend who’d be interested, it’s a one-off evening, with refreshments of some kind! The format is: relaxed, open, outline of some of the big questions we all answer in some way as we make choices about the purpose and direction of our life. For those who are keen, follow up evenings will explore what the heart of Christian faith should do with these ideas. Let me know if you’d like to join us. Neil

We are having an open house at 8pm this Thursday. Coffee, puddings and a bit of a discussion about how to read the Bible.

If you want to come please let us know (a reply on here will do). If you don’t know where we live, we didn’t want to publish our address on the internet, but you can email us at thursday@igwilson.net and we will email directions back to you. (Not to give too much away, we live in Bedminster.)

Come if you would like to meet some other Aardvarkers and think a bit about the Bible.

We are also thinking of starting a cell soon, and if you think you might be interested in that, Thursday night might be a good time to come and get to know us a bit better. If you can’t come on Thursday, but might be interested in joining a cell, get in touch.

Ian and Linda

On Monday Oct 5th, 8pm at The Ark there will be a prayer meeting for the Ark project that is being worked on by members of St Matts and BCF.

We are at the stage of starting a community consultation, exploring the needs and hopes for the local area.  These will feed into plans for the Ark and what we can be doing in the area.  In all of this it’s vital to being seeking God and praying together for the project and the locality.  It would be great to have people be a part of this, so please come along!

Apparently a baby aardv:ark is called a cub. Anyway…

As many people will already now, aardv:ark is expecting its first cubs at the end of this year or early next. That’s right team, Pete and Lindsay Osborne are expecting twins (a boy and a girl). Hooray!

What people might not have realised is that, as the first babies, we have a legal right to name them and Pete and Linz HAVE to agree. So here is your chance to put forward your ideas. Currently in the running are Speedy Monkey Osborne and Buffalo Galaxy Osborne but there’s still plenty of time…

Paul and I favour Mari Olivia and Louis George (Pete is a SuperMario fan – think about it…) or perhaps Prince Peter Beta Edition Osborne for the boy.

So do your best/worst. And bear in mind that as Pete is going to be responsible for supporting a family that has doubled in number in a few months, he may well be open to bribes if you want them to be named after you. Get thinking!

This Sunday we will be having church at a pub. When I say church, I mean we are going for a drink.

Meeting at 8pm EITHER at the Kinsgdown Wine Vaults (behind the Ark) OR (if there are quite a few of us) that other pub – the one we used to go to after Aardvark? I don’t know it’s name but it’s just between St. Michael’s Hill and Kingsdown Sports Centre…if you don’t know where it is then let me know and I’ll meet you at the Ark!

If you are planning on coming let me know either by contacting me directly or, if you don’t have my details, posting a comment to this post. I don’t think very many of us are in Bristol this weekend (most people are at Soul Survivor/ Korea/ Zambia…) so bring friends!

The Film Night on Sunday 9th of August is now going to be at the Edbrookes, from 7pm.  We will be watching ‘Nacho Libre‘ – a comedy about a monk who dreams of being a wrestler, starring Jack Black.

Bring something to drink or nibble on if you’d like.  If you don’t know where the Edbrookes’ place is, email Pete for the address: peteosborne@bcfnet.com

There’s nothing like a weekend away to bring a group together – food, fun, fires, laughter… it’s all there.

We’re planning a weekend away for September 25th-27th, over in Wales.  You can take a look at the place here: www.bunkhouse-south-wales.co.uk

In order to accommodate different people’s tastes and budgets(!), we’ve gone for a place which has various types of accommodation.

The main one is the bunkhouse (shared rooms, mostly with bunkbeds).  The cost for this is £28 per person for the weekend.  There are 19 spaces available.

Secondly, there is camping.  This is £10 for the weekend.

And thirdly, for those who like their comforts, there is a B&B.  Cost is £50 for the weekend incl. breakfast or £40 without.

We need to fill up the bunkhouse before people can camp.  Rules of the place, unfortunately.  Emma will be taking bookings for the bunkhouse, along with a deposit up front (£14 per person).  So please get in touch with her if you want to book.

If you want to camp, you don’t need to book in advance, although it would be helpful to know you’re coming.

If you are interested in the B&B you will need to contact the place directly and book it yourself (details on the website linked above, or available from Emma).

Any questions… talk to Emma!

I am constructing a hypothetical national worship conference for one of my assessments on my course, and I am looking for main speakers on the theme of  ‘worship in all things ‘ and then speakers for 4 different streams after that. The streams are:

What is worship…

in the community (including social action as well as other ways of worshipping in the community)

in the church (‘up front’ worship leading including song writing and techy seminars)

on your own (does what it says on the tin)

in ways you’ve never thought of before (ie alternative touchy feely, multi sensory worship)

If you have ever heard someone talk on any of these topics please post it below . If you also happen to know how much they charge to speak that would be useful too, but not essential, I’m sure I can work it out if not.

Also if you have ever heard anyone incredibaly good on the basics of what is worship for the main meetings that would also be inredibaly helpful.

The aim is also for this to be a very practical conference where a lot of the seminars are practically orientated with discussions and workshops where appropriate.

Thanks!

Remember, this conference is NOT REAL and not going to be either!