Abortion Petition

"Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy"
Proverbs 31:8-9

"to attack the human being in the womb and kill him or her is to assault God. God is making the child. God is weaving a unique image of his divine glory with the purpose of imaging forth that glory in the world. Killing the child is an attack on God's glory and is treason against the Ruler of the universe."
John Piper on Abortion

"Since 1967 there have been almost 7 million abortions, now 200,000 a year, with one in four pregnancies ending in abortion. The 1967 Abortion Act is open to amendment during the passage of the current HFE Bill, so there is now a genuine opportunity to reduce abortion numbers. We must be alert as well to the agenda of the pro-choice activists, abortion providers and some MPs who will push for further liberalisation of the law."
Alive and Kicking Alliance

Please sign the petition.

Incase You Missed It...

If you chose to go to something organised by the Ulster-Scots or BannerNI instead of Dromore last Friday Night, Dr.Collin's talk is now available to download from the church website. The related guest service is also available.

Suicide- The Signs to Watch For, The Hope to Find
Dr. Andrew Collins

Hope in a Hopeless World
Rev.David McCullough

The Practice of Godliness

The Practice of Godliness

Jerry Bridges

Navpress

Available from Amazon for £6.34!

Often the best Christian books are the ones which are easy to understand but hard to put into practice. It can definately be said of this book. If you've read Bridges' "Pursuit of Holiness", this is the "how to" sequel to that best-seller and is full of practical advice on living a godly life and growing in Christian character. According to the author "This book should be more studied than read" and having read through it I understand what he means. It has been firmly placed on my "Books to read again" list and I intend to not merely read through it again but study it as Bridges suggests. I would recommend this book to all Christians and I think it would be especially helpful to read it with someone else so that you can discuss how to apply it in your life and encourage each other as you work through the practical message which Bridges brings.

"For while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come." 1 Timothy 4:8

What a Weekend!

Ever wish that you could be in more than one place at once?

Suicide -The Signs to Watch For - The Hope to Find
Friday 18th April
7:30pm
Dr Andrew Collins
Venue: Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church



Who are the Covenanters? - From the Killing times to the 21st Century
Friday 18th April
7.30pm
Includes Presentation by Professor E.Donnelly
Venue: Trinity Reformed Presbyterian Church, Newtonabbey



BNI Conference - Take my life and let it be...
Friday 18th April
Liam Goligher (Duke Street, Richmond)
John Woodside (Drogheda Presbyterian Church)
Venue: Stranmillis College, Belfast Register Online



Hope in a Hopeless World
Sunday 20th April
7pm
Rev. David McCullough
Venue: Dromore Reformed Presbyterian Church

April Quote of the Month

"men usually out of extreme hatred of one error embrace another"
Thomas Manton

Just a bit of food for thought.

Moving Pews

A relatively unknown Japanese inventor, Sfo Ollirpa, has created a system that could revolutionise churches across the world. Imagine being the first to arrive at church on Sabbath morning and finding an empty building but for one solitary pew along the back wall. Having sat on this pew, the pew will begin to move slowly forward before grinding to a halt at the front of the building whilst another pew appears at the back ready for the next person who enters. This process repeats itself until everybody has arrived and is seated at the front of the building. In one interview the inventor claimed that the Pewmover2000 is the solution "to a problem facing many traditional churches". He spoke of visiting churches where people had "family pews" or sat as far away from the preacher as possible "without sitting in the porch".

There has already been some opposition voiced to this new technology. The high carbon emmissions could lead to some churches rejecting the technology to protect the environment although strong speculation remains that a Green Pewmover2001 will soon be available for those who prefer a solar-powered system. The fiercist oppostition comes from those who claim such technology is inerrantly evil, such as Rev. J. King of the AFJ church of Atlanta, who issued a statement saying "If stationary pews were good enough for Paul, they are good enough for me."

I believe if the trials, currently ongoing in America, prove Ollirpa's claims that the Pewmover2000 will lead to greater church unity surely we should be considering investing in this new technology? This piece equipment whilst costly could prove to be beneficial in our church buildings and moving pews would make seating for the elderly considerably easier. Onwards and Upwards with the Pewmover2000!

Installation Day at one American Church

Nantes Go Team 2008

Sorry for the delay in getting this post up. For a brief moment I feared the Messenger report would be out first! My computer is deadly slow at uploading pictures so more will be added in the future, consider this a working in progress.

A few years ago I visited Nantes with my family during our summer holidays and expecting similar 30 degree heat I boldly packed my flowery shorts for the week of the Go Team this Easter. Despite really enjoying the week the weather failed to provide an oppertunity for an Easter tan so that is the last time I will choose a Go Team for the climate!

We all arrived in Nantes on Saturday 15th March despite Alistiar Rolleston's problems getting through security at Belfast International due to the hairdryer in his hand luggage, understandable I suppose that a guy with short hair carrying a hairdryer would raise suspicions. We flew via Standsted and arrived on schedule around Saturday tea time and upon arrival Erin excitedly informed the other team members that on the flight to Nantes she had been chatting with "A magician... he plays the harp for a living".

Mark, Belfast International Aeroport- Awake, Alive, Alert, Enthuasiastic

On Sabbath we worshipped with the fellowship in Nantes and enjoyed a meal with the congregation during which we made conversation through a combination of French, English and charades. During the afternoon our team leader Andy McKelvey (aka P10) lead our first Bible Study of the week, each one was based upon a different Bible character. There was also great laughter at the news of a marriage proposal to one of the team members by someone from the fellowship, we'll refer to him as "James McC" to hide his identity.

Our work began in earnest on Monday morning as we started our principal task of distributing "Reflexions", a leaflet containing the gospel message, to as many homes as possible. The part I found to be the greatest challenge was not the miles of walking but my stumbling attempts to convince people that they wanted to open the front door of their apartment blocks to allow me to put Reflexions "dans des boites au lettres" however by the end of the week we had succeeded in distributing a colossal 28,000 leaflets, making the area of Nantes which we covered over10 times the size of Dromore. Noticing all the different names on each of the thousands of letterboxes I was struck by how important this work is and how we need to pray that God will change the lives of those people who would open their letterbox to find this leaflet. Pray that people will respond to these leaflets and that God will grant Malcom wisdom as he deals with responses.

Beaucoup des Reflexions

Mark in Action

Andy Tackles An Apartment







On Tuesday evening we organised the "Soiree", an evening's entertainment for the people of the fellowship to invite their friends to, we held a table quiz with a musical interlude (starring Andy, Charlotte and Catherine Ball), an epilogue by Malcom Ball and refreshments afterwards. The evening was quite successful and there many non-Christians present, pray that God will use the message to bring them to a saving faith in Christ Jesus.

Malcom warms up the crowd with a rendition of Robbie William's "Angels"

As leaflet distribution continued I was given a different task on Wednesday afternoon, mentally exhausting rather than physically, leaving Mark to walk the streets of Nantes alone. Malcom had arranged for me to spend the afternoon with a fourteen-year old french boy named Julian with whom Malcom has been helping with occassional English classes. I found the afternoon very rewarding and thoroughly enjoyed it as we talked about school, holidays, music etc. Pray that God will use this simple, practical help and expression of Christian love to break into Julian's life and that he may be saved.

We also spent an evening with a few teenagers connected to the fellowship and Andrew McKelvey impressively succeeded in explaining "Ah-Saw-Ohh" in French. We played games together, had supper and then they asked us questions about our faith and what it was like to be a young Christian in Northern Ireland.


On our afternoon off we ventured into the centre of Nantes with Denise Ball as our tour guide. We saw the sights of Nantes including: a theater, a strange elephant, a fountain, a cathedral and a castle. My favourite sight however was the delicious crepes which enjoyed for tea! I definately preferred the crepes to the snails which we tried for a starter on the second on Sunday of our team.

Apparently quite a similar design to the new Cullybackey building

Nantes Go Team Eat Snails

We returned to Northern Ireland on Monday 24th after 9 days abroad. I was quite relieved to be able to understand what people around me were saying and being able to read some English again. I really enjoyed the week in Nantes and it has helped me as we remember the mission work in prayer to see the difficulties facing our missionaries. Nantes is a team which involves a lot of practical work so french isn't essential and I think every young preson should take the oppertunity to go to Nantes at least once to encourage the people there and to help you to pray more specifically for the work. If you are any good at French I would go further and say it is your duty to use your gift at languages to help the church in Nantes. Remember to water the seed sown during this week of outreach through your prayers as God's blessing is essential, we are entirely dependant upon him.

"Unless the LORD builds the house,
those who build it labor in vain"
Psalm 127v1a

March Quote of the Month

Well folks, just in case your wondering, I resisted the temptation to completely change the face of the blog while James was away in Nantes, you know, change colour scheme, remove all his controversial posts and change the blog password so he can't get on any more.......but then realising you would all be left with my dulcid tones, ratings might drop so James will be back leaving his "Pearls of Wisdom" again after he returns.

Any way, back to this months quote, it comes from John Newton himself, if you ever get past the first verse of his hymn "Amazing Grace" you'll find these verses:

"'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace those fears releieved;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace has bought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home"


Apparently Newton wrote this hymn for a particular sermon of his from 1 Chronicles 17 vs. 16-17 that was preached on New Years Morning in 1773 and it really inspired me reading this. What an encouraging message for a New Years Morning, "and grace will lead me home", i'm sure the people of the congrecation left the church feeling truely uplifted and praising God for His Amazing Grace towards them.
And I think its time we started to realise the same grace that is there for us and we should thank God at all possible moments for it, praising Him in thought, word and action.

A close second in Marches Quote of the Month was a remark by England cricket legend Geoff Boycott after England 2nd Test match against N.Zealand,

"They could've batted better with a stick of rhubarb."
Geoff Boycott on England's poor batting on day one in Napier.

Alastair