COME AND BE PART OF THE FLOCK
A week ago Tina and I got some new chickens. We started off with a flock of 4 some time ago, but since then two of them had died, and we were left with two, so we decided to get 3 new ones. The new ones are very young, not even at the point of laying their first eggs, but within a couple of weeks they will be ready to lay. Its tricky introducing new chickens in with an older flock. The older ones don’t like the intrusion of the new birds, and the new birds are scared of being jumped on and pecked. So to help this process I set up a pen within the main pen, and I kept them in sight of each other but separate. After a few days I let them have some time together so they could get used to each other. To start with there was tension and pecking. I lengthened the time they spent with each other each day and they got used to each other. Last night I left them all out past the point of darkness to see what would happen. When I went to check I found all 5 of them had gone into the chicken hut together, there was no fighting or squabbling, they had got used to each other. I was worried what would happen in the morning when the light came up, but they were fine. Even for chickens spending time with each other causes them to bond and draw closer to each other.
So why am I telling you about my chickens? It might be a tenuous link, but I think there is a lesson there for all of us. Time spent together brings unity and friendship amongst us too. It has been a long time since our churches had the opportunity to spend some time together at Westpoint. The last time was 2019. Have you booked in to the Commission Festival 23? This is for the Thursday through to Monday of the August Bank Holiday weekend. This time the event will be at the Bath & West show ground, so closer than the previous venue. For those of you who have not been before this is when all of the Commssion Churches that we are part of come together for teaching and fellowship. Commission is a worldwide group of churches, and this Festival will help you understand that you are part of something much bigger than just our church. We expect about 4,000 people to be there.
For the last 5 years of Westpoint and for this first Commission Festival I have had the privilege of leading the ministry team for the whole event, and I get to see all the response cards. I also hear so many testimonies of how God spoke to people at these type of festivals. So many baptism testimonies make reference to how lives were changed at Westpoint or Newday. I have seen so many times things like
“That is where God told me to go to …” “That is where I gave my life to the Lord. “That is where I was filled with the Holy Spirit” “that is where I was healed”.
Spending a few days camping together will really help us bond as a church, help you to make new friends and give you the opportunity to have life changing encounters with God and to feel part of what is going on.
We are just putting a team together to make it easy for you. We will have a central marquee, we will have a team cooking our meals so we can eat together without the hassle of cooking over a comp stove, I have a confession, I hate camping, but I love being with God’s people, so Tina and I will be camping. If you hate camping even more than I do, then you don’t have to stay on site, you could book one of the many B&Bs near by and come and join us during the day and then go back to a cosy bed.
Some people have commented on the cost of the event. The Commission team have done comparisons with many other bible weeks, and this one comes out quite a bit cheaper than Spring Harvest and other well know events. The cost of these sort of events has gone up since we last did one. Some good news though, if you book in to one of the serving teams you will get a massive 40% discount on your ticket.
I would love us to have at least 100 people there including children. Can I encourage you to come and be part of the flock? It will do you good. There is a price break tonight at midnight, book this evening to get the cheapest price.
David Maskell 31 October 2022
