This past week my brother Russell had his induction service as Assistant Pastor at Yeovil Elim. I travelled down on the train and met Mum and Dad who had gone down a couple of days earlier. Spending a whirlwind 18 hours with my family was lovely, and I especially enjoyed being able to take Sam my 9 year old nephew to school. The induction service itself was great – a real sense of love and excitement from the church as they welcomed Russell, Becci, Chloe and Sam in (although they’ve already become very settled and active members of the church). I felt really proud of my brother and I know that they will be really happy at Yeovil Elim and God will use them all for amazing things. You can see one of Russell’s recent sermons here.

I have recently lead a couple of services back at my home church Elim Braintree. The 11.30 Young at Heart Service is an all age service incorporating songs, activities and stories designed to help children and adults engage together. It’s been a real privilege to be part of the life of my home church, giving something back after all the teaching and encouragement I’ve received over the years! With a wealth of Arise Ministries resources and ideas behind me I’ve been able to do things a little bit differently and have some fun while learning with the children and grown ups! Yesterday we were  thinking about Harvest and helping those in need and us young ones made this beautiful banner!

 

 

This week preparations are underway for our first Just A ‘Child’? Equipping Event of the new term – on Saturday 1st October at Fullbridge Church, Maldon. Really looking forward to sharing with people enthusiastic about children’s ministry and hopefully injecting some enthusiasm and vision for their ministry with children in the local area.

 

With the arrival of Viz-A-Viz Ministries’ new National Director comes lots of exciting plans, ideas, visions and things that will be happening over the coming months. To keep up to date with all that Viz-A-Viz Ministries is doing and planning, please sign up in whichever way suits you:

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Thanks!

>> In other news, Andy is preparing to move into his new place sometime this week so we’ve been busy painting his room and buying curtains! Please pray for a stress-free and easy move and that he will settle in quickly.

Tags: 'Just a child?', Arise Ministries, Blog, Braintree, Elim, Emails, Facebook, Twitter, Viz-A-Viz Ministries, Yeovil

The main event before Christmas was More Than A Story, the event that Andy, Rich, Sam and Myself had been busy putting together for the previous few months. Unfortunately we only ended up with one booking, at my home church in Braintree on the 18th December. If anyone was in the area that day they’ll remember that a ridiculous amount of snow fell in a very short time! The consequences of this were that Den couldn’t physically get to Braintree from South Woodam Ferrers so Rich had to step in to his role as main speaker and I took over from Rich as one of the quiz hosts. The snow also stopped many people from coming so we only had about 25 in the audience but it was still brilliant. My Dad did his best to embarrass me at every turn but this just added to the fun and relaxed atmosphere. We were really happy with how the event went and hope that it made an impact on those who were there. I was very happy with my newly purchased fairy lights to decorate!

Christmas break was spent with various combinations of mine and Andy’s family. I stayed at my sister’s on Christmas Eve and helped Maddie and Emi get ready for Father Christmas…when they woke up in the morning (surprisingly not til 7.30am) he had left footprints on the floor which made them so excited!! Then he came back while they were eating breakfast with more presents! It was very surreal and for a small moment I felt like it really was Father Christmas and not Matt’s Dad in a very good hire suit! My parents and Matt’s parents came for dinner and we had a really lovely day of present opening and fun together. I travelled up to Andy’s in Selby on Boxing Day and we spent a few days relaxing there with his family and then came back to Braintree to see my brother and co who were staying at my parents. It was a really nice time and made me rethink the things that were important to me. I think my 2 favourite moments over Christmas were when Maddie almost fell asleep on me on Christmas Day – the feeling that she felt perfectly safe in my arms (plus she never normally sits still long enough for cuddles!); the other was taking Chloe and Sam to the park and Chloe saying ‘This is so much fun, I love my Auntie Laura’. Knowing that you can make someone happy, knowing that they want to be with you is the nicest feeling in the world!

Now it’s back in the swing of things – preparations, planning, events etc! Andy and I went to Holland with Taste 14th-24th January which was great. We did a few church services, gigs, a children’s club and a day of workshops with youth leaders from the area. Our hosts Sieb and Douwe were incredible – so welcoming and constantly feeding us amazing food!! It’s great to meet people who speak a different language, do things differently but know we’re worshipping the same God. It’s difficult to know the impact of what we have done, we just have to trust God used us!

Now back and refreshed after a couple of days off I’m concentating on the next few things. Have a look at my calendar for more details on what I’m up to but here’s a rough idea:

Sunday 30th Jan: Helping Ed with a Family Service in Sandy
Fri 4th- Sun 6th Feb: Going to Children’s Ministry Conference in Eastbourne to help with the Arise Exhibition Stand.
Fri 11th Feb: Solid Remix at Chelmsford Cathedral

Please pray for all the preparations and safe travel as well as good health for everyone involved!

I would also really appreciate your prayers for my finances. Currently my monthly incoming matches my immediate bills (rent, phone, contact lenses and travel), so that doesn’t give me anything left over for food, leisure, and buying birthday presents!! Please pray whether you might be able to support me with either a one off gift or more regularly.

Thank you!

Tags: Arise, Braintree, Chelmsford Cathedral, Children's Ministry Conference, Christmas, Finance, Holland, More Than A Story, Prayer, Sandy, Selby, Solid Remix

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog!

I’m Laura, I’m 23 years old and live in Billericay, Essex.

I work full time for Arise Ministries as the operations assistant – involved in lots of things from administration to event planning and delivering. I am currently self-funded, for details on this visit my support page. Arise Ministries is all about helping churches pioneer new outreach to the children in their communities.

My home church is Braintree Elim which I love going back to as and when I can. My church family are lovely and very supportive of me and what I do. Whilst here in Billericay I attend Sawyers Church, occasionally helping out in the youth group and operating visuals when I’m around.

My parents and my dog live in Braintree, as does my sister Sarah and her husband Matt, my two beautiful nieces Maddie (5) and Emi (3) and my littlest nephew Billy (1). My brother Russell and his wife Becci live in Yeovil with my gorgeous niece and nephew, Chloe (13) and Sam (10).

Previous to this I was part of a touring youth team with Viz-A-Viz Ministries and before that I was a fitness instructor at Complete Fitness 

I have wanted to do what I am doing now since I was 14. I can remember sitting in a really boring school cathedral service and feeling really angry. Angry that there were almost 1000 girls in the service and for many of them this was their only experience of God and Church and it was so dull! I knew that being a Christian is not dull and knew I wanted to do something with my life to share this. The phrase going round in my head was ‘Make Church Fun’. I knew I wanted to go out to meet people where there are, share my experiences with them and hopefully challenge people on their view of God, Church and Christians.

I absolutely love what I do, it’s intense work but so rewarding. I have had so many fantastic experiences and look forward to many more!

I’m trusting God to provide my needs and guide my future.

Contact me on laurabayliss@ariseministries.org.uk

Tags: Braintree, Braintree Elim, Check It Out, Chelmsford County High School, Complete Fitness, Essex, Leading Edge, Liv'It, Make Church Fun, Schools Week, Solid, Spring Harvest, Taste, Viz-A-Viz, Wickford