James' intern update

James Wakefield is spending a year interning for our church. Here’s his latest intern update…

It's been a full two months since I last updated you all on how the internship has been going! I have been journeying with God through some amazing things at church in this past season.

One highlight from April would have to be volunteering at Make Lunch over the Easter Holidays. I'd never come across this initiative before, but I was so encouraged to see what work our volunteers are doing in the local community. It was particularly great seeing students who have only been living here a year or two engage with the project, keen to follow Jesus and serve those around them.

I also wrote my first theology essay on 'conquering' as a biblical storyline, focusing on how God sent a very unearthly king who conquered death in such incredible ways. I'm very grateful to Ashaleigh Higgins for guiding me through this process.

I had a brilliant time with Ashaleigh and Jonny in Swindon for the Regions Beyond Hub conference. It was so great to catch up with leaders from other churches in the country, and hear incredible stories of what God is doing in our family across the country and the world!

I'm so pleased I've got to be part of the move in to the new building the other week. When I first arrived in Durham in 2019, we were supposed to move into The Emmanuel Centre in my third term. God's taken us on quite the journey since then! I'm so grateful to have been part of the worship team, understanding the new technology, and I have been blown away by the number of hours the team have put into moving into this next stage in Emmanuel Church's ministry.

I can't wait to see what God will do with my last month in Durham, and onwards with the Bulgaria mission trip (and on that note thank you so much to everyone who attended my fundraised at the end of April)!

James' intern update

James Wakefield is spending a year serving God and the church as an intern. Here’s his latest intern update:

“It’s been another brilliant month serving as the intern. I’ve had my STEPs day as part of the Freedom in Christ course which has been so helpful in my walk with God; committing to praying over my past, present and future experiences across a 6 hour session!

I’ve also really enjoyed serving the Durham Christian Union during the events week MORE as an Emmanuel guest. We welcomed in hundreds of non-christians to talks on some of the big questions in life, and explored the Gospel of John with them.

God’s been guiding me through leading many worship sets from the Deeper conference, to Sunday mornings, Sunday evening HUB sessions and also a new lent initiative of singing in the streets everyday.

I’m really excited to see what he’s doing over this next month as students finish the term and I engage more with whole church family activities.

James' intern update

James Wakefield is spending a year serving our church as an intern. Here’s his latest update:

“It's been great to be back serving Emmanuel this month. I've enjoyed the continuation of my Leeds School of Theology course, covering pneumatology (study of the theology of The Holy Spirit), followed by looking at God's creation. These were two extremely interesting topics which have given me food for thought when reading the Bible.

“The youth band has also seen significant progress, starting regular rehearsals and now the youth are starting to lead worship upstairs on some Sunday mornings!

“I've been really spiritually filled from this year's student and 20's weekend away, which I've had the joy of assisting Jonny in preparing for. It's always a highlight point in the year where new freshers get a great opportunity to engage more with the student community at Emmanuel.

“I'm really excited for what the rest of this internship will look like and how God is using it to equip me for my future.”