What a week of mission last week was! As teams headed into high schools in Hartlepool with the No More Knives tour, they met thousands of students, whilst at the same our new No More County Lines tour was piloted in schools across Wythenshawe. Both tours finished with end-of-week gigs where young people came to hear more music from the bands they’d seen in school and we saw over 175 respond as they heard the gospel!
As this was happening, teams and partners took to the streets of Wythenshawe tidying gardens, clearing the streets of litter and as they did this, they got to pray with those they met as part of Love Where U Live mission. The week ended with a massive Easter Egg-stravaganza where over 500 people came along for fun, music and heard the gospel. Having learned about Jesus’ love for them, 137 people responded and gave their lives to God!
It’s incredible hearing all the stories of what God’s been doing as we’ve stepped out and shared him from stages, in schools and on the streets.
As she was gardening, one of our prisons workers, Elisha, had amazing conversations about Jesus with those she met. Elisha was working in Kimberley’s garden with a team and as they chatter, Kimberley shared that her husband had recently died suddenly and she was really struggling. So Elisha grabbed the opportunity to offer to pray for Kimberley who gladly accepted. Together, they asked Jesus to bring his peace into the situation and then Elisha invited Kimberley along to the Saturday Easter Egg-stravaganza and she booked on!
As Elisha was leaving Kimberley’s house, she bumped into Gaby who was passing by in the street. Gaby stopped Elisha to find out more about what she and the team were doing in Kimberley’s garden. As Elisha explained and chatted more about her role in the prisons team, it turned out that she’d actually been working with Gaby’s husband in prison, sharing Jesus’ love with him. Whilst they talked, Elisha also invited Gaby along to the Egg-stravaganza and she got her ticket there and then.
And that’s not all, the team met Liam, who Elisha had also worked with in prison in the past, and invited him to the event too! Liam, Gaby and Kimberley all came along and had an amazing time hearing about the love of Jesus at the Egg-stravaganza and can’t wait to come along to church and find out more! How amazing.
Please do be praying for the 300+ people who responded to the gospel this week and who now approach Easter with a totally new perspective and with their lives transformed by the hope Jesus offers. Pray they’d continue growing in their faith and get plugged into local churches.
