Students and 20s weekend report

Recently members of our students and 20s community went way to an adventure centre in Carlton-in-Cleveland to worship and encounter the living God and to build community. 

Jonny Higgins, one of our interns at Emmanuel Church writes...

“We had an absolute blast of a time together. We've had some amazing first years join and be a part of our community this year and the weekend was just such a wonderful and important time of having fun and building community. The freshers have so quickly become as much a part of the community as all the old faces. From board games to hours of sung worship, to hill walking, to watching a film, to watching the rugby, to rolling coconuts down a hill and racing to catch up with them, the weekend was just SUCH a fun time. 

“God moved powerfully among us and it was amazing to see many students and 20s giving (accurate) words of knowledge and prophecies from God, in many cases for the first time ever. Steve and Jo Whittington shared impact-fully from the bible and from their own testimonies, sharing mainly about the Kingdom of God. Most prominent was Steve and Jo's hearts for the poor, the disadvantaged and the marginalised in the world and that passion was infectious and awoke calling in a lot of our students. 

“It was also amazing to have all 4 Mallards and John and Chris with us. What a weekend! If you're interested, the sermons are available here. 

FP update: Becki & Rachel

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!