River Church Slough Weekend Away

River Church Slough had a wonderful relaxing weekend away 15-17 May at Pilgrim Hall, near Eastbourne. The focus of the weekend was growing closer to God by growing closer to each other, which was a great excuse to laze around chatting, eat good food, play some games, eat good food, have a swim and eat some more.

 

We really didn’t have a schedule, but started Friday evening taking bread and wine together and watching a great DVD by Rob Bell called ‘Everything is Spiritual’. That was all the excuse I needed not to arrange prayer meetings and Bible studies, but rather to enjoy getting to know each other and having fun together.

 

Saturday we played Scrabble and Rummikub, George Port had prepared a really difficult quiz for Paul Shrimpton’s team to excel in, went walking in the grounds and even went swimming in the lovely heated pool. Nathan and Christina joined us for the day and helped keep our five children amused and happy – thanks guys.

(click on the loudspeaker symbol at the top left I you want to turn off the sound)

There was some question about what to do on Saturday evening, but a poll decided that we would not be watching Eurovision Song Contest, but singing along to MamaMia. I love it, I have to admit.

 

Sunday we had a short worship meeting and were very encouraged by the prophetic words we received as we opened ourselves up to the Holy Spirit and especially the word that confirmed we shouldn’t take worship too seriously. The Lord seemed to confirm this by waiting till we went out and joined the other group for tea and coffee and suddenly four of our folk fell over laughing and twitching on the ground and others were laughing like drains trying to hold onto their chairs to stop falling off! I’m not sure all of the other users were too comfortable with that, but their group organisers and Hall staff were quite happy and used to it, although never before in the Reception Hall.

 

An unexpected surprise was the request by Ben & Sarah Lane to be baptised. They have both given their heart to Jesus, and Paul & Carole were happy that they understood what baptism was about, and so it was into the pool again for the privilege of baptising them both. What a joyful time it was.

 

Pilgrim Hall was excellent, comfortable rooms, helpful staff, good food and plenty of it and some great facilities. The weather wasn’t brilliant, but it certainly stopped raining and the sun came out and allowed us to do everything we wanted to do.

 

Unfortunately not all of our folk could come, but the 25 of us that were there thoroughly enjoyed the weekend and want to do it again. Kerry Forster wrote “Thanks for a great weekend.  Malcolm and I really enjoyed our time with everyone and I believe we will see the fruit of that special time spent away over the weeks and months ahead.  It was a real blessing at meal times to sit next to a different group of people, it’s always so tempting to stay in our comfort zones but the blessing is always beyond that!  My tummy muscles were aching the next day from laughing so much during the coffee break where we were blessed with a breaking out of the Holy Spirit!!  I'm hoping that this isn't just a one off venture but something that we would do more frequently as I feel it's good to grow in relationship to one another through fun and relaxation."

 

Thanks so much for all of you who gave and helped us to make this weekend a reality, we couldn’t have done it without you.

 

If you have any photos to add to the slideshow, please send them to me.