News
Find out what two of our interns, Rachel and Becki, have been getting up to in the last month in their latest update!
Hi everyone,
For my update this time I've decided to share a piece of prophetic artwork that I made for a worship slot with other interns around the country (via zoom of course).
Maybe God can use it to speak to some of you too?
Best wishes to all of you!
Rachel
Becki’s latest update is in the form of a video, check it out below:
We have 3 fantastic young people interning with us this year: Rachel, Becki and Jonny. Here’s an update on what they’ve been doing from Becki and Rachel.
Becki: I have honestly learnt so much in the last couple of months, a lot of it focussing on my identity and the power of speaking truth over myself and encouraging others to do the same. Something else that I've been doing that is really exciting is songwriting! This has been quite a process for me after growing up surrounded by the "perfect" nature of Classical music and I want to share some of that journey with you in this update.
A verse that I often cling onto as a musician is Ecclesiastes 3:11: "He has made everything beautiful in its time." This chapter speaks of the different seasons of life, how there is a time for everything, to embrace seasons of planting, healing, weeping, laughing. This verse encourages me to not wish away my current season, but to embrace how I am learning and growing in my gifts. I often struggle with a fear of not being good enough, of not knowing enough about the Bible, of not being skilled enough in my worship leading. Recently, I have been praying into this as well as partaking in the Freedom in Christ course. I am learning that in God's eyes I am worthy, that I am an imperfect human so even attempting to create a perfect piece of art is impossible.
I grew up in a Classical sphere of music where to continue in your musical journey you have to be the best; there is a constant competition between you and the people you sit next to in the choir or orchestra. When the next round of auditions arrives, you have to fight to maintain your seat, there is a need to perfect your singing or playing. A striving for perfection is equally common in composition. As the main section of my degree, I wrote the first movement of a piano sonata in the style of Mozart as well as a wind quintet based on a theme by Purcell in the style of Britten. Throughout this process I was constantly comparing myself to these composers, composers who seemingly perfected their arts from a young age.
Surrounding myself with truth has been such an essential part of this journey. I know that my identity doesn't lie in creating "perfect" pieces of music, God delights in me and the things I create! This is still very much a journey though, both spiritually, emotionally and practically! Currently I find that writing chords, melodies and harmonies often comes very naturally, however words are proving to be more difficult, but I'm finding that the Psalms is a really great place to start!
I'm really grateful for all the love and support I receive day by day by you as my family, and as always, feel free to grab me after the service if you want to chat about this in more detail!
Rachel with her dad
Rachel: Hi, I’m Rachel, one of the FPs at Emmanuel. This is an update of some of what I’ve been doing recently. It was very recently the Hub weekend way, where I ran a seminar on listening to God in your own devotional time. It was so encouraging to hear some of the stories of God speaking to people, but also really nice to be there for some of the community building that happened on the weekend. There were so many testimonies shared on Sunday of what God had been doing that weekend, so maybe ask a student in the next couple of weeks about their time there. You’ll be encouraged!
Becki
Becki is one of three fantastic FP interns for 2019/20. Here, Becki writes about what she’s been up to, and what God has been teaching her, recently…
Over the last couple of months, God has been teaching me a lot about discipline.
A large portion of what I've learnt has come from reading Richard Foster's Celebration of Disciple which as an FP team, Jonny, Rachel and I, alongside Bekah, have been reading and discussing. The title wonderfully explains the nature of the book, with a strong focus on the joy we can find in discipline.
Alongside this I've been doing the disciple Freedom in Christ course: a 10-week course built for the millennial generation (even though technically Google would say that I'm part of Generation Z!) Through both these resources, I've begun to put in place new disciplines; some daily, some weekly and some that don't have specific times set for them. I'm learning more and more about the freedom that God has given me and I'm finding so much joy and release in that!
Becki, Rachel and Jonny
In November, we headed to Bedford once again for 5 days of training with other FPers. Each trip we look at different topics together, with people coming from around the country to run sessions with us. Personally, I really enjoyed the day of teaching on worship we received from Dave Fellingham. He spoke to us about the importance of worship as well as his heart for revival. The highlight for me was when we all stood to sing a Psalm together in the style that they would have been sung at the time of writing. This really struck me because it ran so close to the teaching I received during my music degree about musical style and performance at that time. I left with a new drive and deeper passion for worship and an inspiration as to how I could combine my Classical upbringing with more modern worship styles. I feel encouraged and excited to start really working on my songwriting and will be submitting a song alongside my essay on The Arts in January.
I would love to share more of my passion for worship as well as finding out the opinions of others, so if you have any questions or anything you would like to share with me please do grab me after church!