Steve, Ann, Daniel and Lois May-Miller had a family holiday in South Africa this summer and took the opportunity to develop some church contacts. Here's their report:

We started in Johannesburg and took the opportunity to visit Godfirst Church, a new church being established by Newfrontiers in that big city. There are quite a lot of Zimbabweans, both black and white, in the church as the leader PJ Smythe is from Zimbabwe.

Then we travelled to Clarens in the Free State where we have close ties with a church led by Steve Oliver. Steve has visited King's Church in Uckfield and preached here before. It was great to see all that the church is doing from that one small town. We joined their orphan feeding programme in the local township and did some visits to needy people in the township. Daniel and Lois spent a day working in the school.

But the highlight was travelling to Ladybrand, just over the border from the Lesotho capital Maseru. Here the Clarens church have 'planted' Simon Mia and his wife Sina to start a new church on the edge of a large township area. The original intention was to develop a multi-cultural church but right now most of the white people who were there at the start have had to move away to find work.

Simon runs a small shop to earn money. We were able to give him some money to start a metal working business, the trade in which he has trained. Daniel had £250 to give away, the prize he had been given (to give away) by Uckfield Rotary Club for his extra-curricular activities locally. The church is also now supporting Simon on a monthly basis.

We enjoyed a great Sunday morning together at Simon's Lesedi Church. All the talking was in English and Sotho, and the singing was in a variety of languages including English. They certainly know how to celebrate, dancing around the room and moving rhythmically to the music.

The rest of the holiday took in Lesotho, the Durban coast, Swaziland and the Kruger National Park, but the church stuff remains a special memory.

Alpha Invitation

Well, recently we've had a couple of discussions in the comments about creation and evolution, which have been really interesting, and are very welcome on this blog. I know one of the commenters, but the other one or two I haven't met, and would like to, so I address the rest of this post to you (as I have no other way of contacting you!).

We've run several Alpha courses in the past, and were about to start another one this month. Alpha consists of a (free) meal, followed by a short talk on an aspect of Christianity, and then a discussion about the talk, or anything else for that matter.

People attending previous courses have either enjoyed the course and decided that Christianity isn't for them; some have hated it and left after the first week; a few have become Christians and joined the church; some have made some really good friends on the course. All of these outcomes are desirable, as we're not running Alpha as a recruitment drive; we just want to give people the opportunity to learn some more about Jesus and have some interesting chats on the way.

So, I would like to invite you to come on the course, as from the little I know about you already I think you'd enjoy it, as you'd definitely stir the conversations up! The first one is an introductory session, so you can see if you like it before signing up. If you're interested, either get in touch with me, or Thom or Doreen at the church office [email: office at kingschurchuckfield etc.]. If you're not, that's fine too. Either way, do carry on commenting.

Under Ones, Over Ones

We started Under Ones, a parent and baby group, a year ago and it has been very successful. As Julia mentioned in the comments in the last post on the subject, a lot of the parents have asked what happens when their baby reaches one. Well, we're starting Over Ones!

The format will be similar to Under Ones, in that it will be free, there will be good quality toys and games, tea and cake, and a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. Over Ones will be on Fridays (starting 16th September), from 10am until 11.30 at the King's Centre on Grange Road.

If you and your toddler(s) are free at that time, do come along.

Carnival Pictures

Some photos of our carnival float have been put online. Here's the band raring to go:



From left to right: Batman, Batgirl, Lara Croft, Robin, Doctor Who (me!) and Woody Indiana Jones.

Carnival Night

I've just got back from the Uckfield carnival. It was absolutely great. We had a float, with the theme of superheroes, and how Jesus is a better superhero than Batman, Superman, Spiderman and James Bond because he's real, and saves people in real life rather than just in films.

We had a live band on the lorry, in which I played lead guitar - my first gig ever as a lead guitarist - I usually play drums. The rest of the band were brilliant. We started rehearsing in March, and everyone in the band have really stretched themselves, and learned loads of new things. The crowd seemed to enjoy it; loads of people were rocking along, from children to pensioners.

The costumes were great too. We had Batman and Robin, James Bond and a Bond girl, the Incredibles (all of them), Spiderman, Lara Croft, Wonder Woman and Superman. I was Doctor Who (Tom Baker era), which was fun. Someone in the church knitted me a really long scarf; it started at my left foot, went round my neck twice, and finished at my right foot. Someone in the crowd thought I looked like Wurzel Gummidge though.

We had a load of our people walking along behind the float collecting money for the festival charities, and giving out leaflets for our next Alpha course which starts soon.

I really enjoyed seeing loads of people from the float. There were some really friendly people waving and smiling as we went by. I saw lots of my friends, some of which I haven't seen for a while. It's great that the whole town comes out for the evening and celebrates together.