A half night of prayer launches our week of 24-7 at mbc
1 Apr 2011 | Heather McCormick | Posted in 247 Prayer, News1 Comment
On Thursday 31st March, the church family gathered together for a time of worship, business and prayer with our God in heaven.
Lynn and Scott Alexander led an all-age interactive prayer time with Alice Clegg and Josh Lee. Children and families gathered to sing praise to God, dance for joy, celebrate Jesus and spend time praying for their friends, their schools and listening to what Father God had to say to them.
Following the church meeting over 40 members of the church gathered to commit themselves to praying together – as individulas, for the church, their loved ones and the nations. Thomas Dean, Heather McCormick, Josh Lee and Tim May led this interactive, integrated time of prayer and worship where we focussed on Jesus, read from God’s word, prayed for current affairs, our church body, people who do not yet know Jesus and the places where we can bring Jesus to everyday.
Our Senior Pastor Karl Martin led us in communion and then we finished the night praying the Indian way – in one big circle all shouting out our prayers together. It was hard to get us to shut up!!
It reminded me of that verse in Isaiah 62 which says that the watchmen will not be silent, day or night, and they will not give God any rest until He responds to their prayers.
Let that be an encouragement to us as we begin a week of 24-7 prayer at mbc.
If you haven’t already signed up, there are still slots available – just follow the link below and spend some time in the prayer room this week.
We plan to gather again soon for another half night of prayer, so be ready to get that date in the diary.
And please, let us always be a people on our knees!
Karl, Niki, Katie and Eddie write from India
23 Mar 2011 | Hannah Montgomery | Posted in India, News1 Comment
(N.B Some of the names within this post have been changed to protect identities)
Hello from Bangalore!
We have spent 4 days here and have seen and experienced much. On Thursday and Friday we were involved in a leadership conference at the OM Base. Senior leaders and pastors based in the south of India gathered and we taught on a wide range of subjects such as leadership, being one with the Son, heart, friendship, marriage and women in leadership. We loved spending time with these guys and hearing some of their stories. Many of them have stories of suffering and persecution because of their love for Jesus and desire to share him with others. Its been great to encourage them and to be encouraged by what they have shared. A highlight for us all was the privilege of being able to wash their feet and pray God’s blessing on them.
The guys at the OM base remember the inter:act teams visits from the last couple of years with great fondness – they were so encouraged and blessed by those trips and told us so often. The murals are still looking lovely!
Niki and Katie also managed to take a trip into one of the slums in Bangalore. Here OM have a ministry with the community there. There is a small church which provides a nutritional feeding programme for around 60 children. They give them milk, bananas and eggs – often their only meal in a day. We were able to help hand the food out to the children and pass on Jesus’ love simply in a smile or a touch.
The Pastor of this church, Joseph, shared his story of how the church came into being. Joseph and his wife had become Christians (at the moment he asked Jesus into his life his bent back was straightened!) and were working in the quarry. His two sons stayed behind in the slums and were playing together. Their youngest son was 11 at the time. While playing he fell into a pool of sewage just behind their house. Only his hands could be seen. He was pulled out and carried back to their home and left lying on the floor of their home, dead. His parents arrived back about 6 hours later to find him there. They prayed, crying out to God for their son’s life and promising to bear witness to God’s greatness if they could have their son back. Three hours later he sat up, was sick from all that he had swallowed and was absolutely fine!! Incredible! On the same spot that incident happened the church now stands, bearing witness to God’s goodness and faithfulness.
On our way back out of the slum we stopped and prayed with two ladies in their homes. One of these ladies was blind and was caring for her niece and had a daughter aged 4 who was unable to walk. She has no other family – the church, amidst their poverty, were pulling together resources to help care for and feed them. Again, it was an incredible privilege to pray with people living in difficult circumstances and know that we are one in Jesus. It is easy to feel hopeless, but commit them to God and know he is the Hope-giver and source of life to these friends.
We will be going to church in Bangalore tomorrow where Karl will preach. Then, we fly out to Pune where we will be doing some more teaching to a group of Pastors from Maharastra. We look forward to catching up with friends we got to know last year.
Thank you for your prayers – God is at work.
Karl, Niki, Katie and Eddie
Fast and Feast
23 Mar 2011 | Janet Khindria | Posted in UncategorizedNo Comments
Fast and Feast
We are encouraged during this period of Lent to deliberately give something up …. FAST for 6 days and FEAST for 1 day
Why?
to recalibrate our hearts and lives and consider what Easter is all about. We get to live because Jesus died and rose again
to militate against a culture of entitlement
Daily Bible Readings
… for us to read together during this period. Download a pdf of these readings from John’s Gospel.
Prayer and Worship
Thursday 31 March 6pm ’til midnight at Holy Corner
HALF NIGHT OF PRAYER including CHURCH MEETING (7.30-9.30pm)
Friday 1 ’til Thursday 7 April
WEEK of 24-7 PRAYER: The half night of prayer leads us into this week of prayer. Sign up for a slot at www.mbc.org.uk/247
Wednesday 20 April
DAY and NIGHT of PRAYER: We join in the city-wide initiative of 40 Days of Prayer in the city with TryPraying.
Friday 22 April
GOOD FRIDAY Service at Holy Corner 6.00pm
Sunday 24 April
EASTER SUNDAY 9.00am Early Morning Communion at Holy Corner; 10.30am BAPTISM at Holy Corner; 4.00pm Beach BAPTISM and PICNIC at Scoughall, Dunbar
Sign-up online for 24-7 prayer at mbc (1st-7th April)
21 Mar 2011 | Heather McCormick | Posted in 247 PrayerNo Comments
Following our half night of prayer on Thursday 31st March, mbc will begin a week of 24-7 prayer at midnight on the 1st April.
We believe that prayer is foundational in all that we do as a church.
As such, we want to build a rhythm of continual prayer at the heart of our community.
This is a fantastic opportunity to take time to pray for all that is happening in life, in the church, in this city and throughout the nations.
Book a slot today through our online system. You just need to register and then book an hour, or two, or five! Go to www.mbc.org.uk/247
Alternatively, you can make a booking through the office by calling Lorraine or Janet on 0131 447 9787 (Option 1)
Applications for inter:act 2011/12 open
4 Mar 2011 | Kay Cathcart | Posted in InteractNo Comments
We all long to grow as Missional Disciples who:
- discover more of who God is
- increasingly live as we were created to be
so that we will:
- do what God says
- see transformation in ourselves, others, our city, nation and world
The inter:act gap year programme at MBC is a place which invests in that journey to bring lasting change.
The programme aims to:
- Help you deepen your relationship with God and others
- Discover your gifts, abilities and calling and put them into practice
- Provide teaching in formal sessions which will include Bible overview, practical theology and teaching on mission with an overall focus on application
- Provide practical training and service in a Missional Expression
- Encourage personal growth within team life, workshops, accountability relationships as well as the Missional Expression community
Are you committed to:
- knowing Jesus
- growing in your faith
- loving this city
- giving a year of your life
…then inter:act is for you
Previous inter:act team members speak of how their year changed them:
inter:act helped me to identify who God has made me to be and the gifts I have been given. This has enabled me to start living out of this identity and I am loving it! inter:act is an amazing year of both teaching and practical placements – I would recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more about God and how that affects every aspect of ife.
Put simply, for me it was an amazing opportunity to give God the space and time to speak into my life and to teach me how to love and do life with christian brothers and sisters. It also stretched me in all kinds of faith testing and building ways!!
Just Christmas Update
3 Mar 2011 | Hannah Montgomery | Posted in Just ChristmasNo Comments
Just Christmas was a massive success this year – well done everybody!
In total we raised over £32,000 for children at Sholapur School, Maharastra. We presented a big cheque to Joseph D’Souza (Executive Director of OM India and International President of the Dalit Freedom Network) on the 20th February at our morning family service. Joseph thanked everyone for their donations, encouraging them that ‘this money will make a real difference in the lives of Dalit children in Sholapur.’ Check out www.justchristmas.org.uk for more info on how previous campaigns have changed lives in Maharastra.
A special ‘well done’ to the kids at mbc, who in total raised £125 to feed Dalit children. Someone was so impressed at the mbc kids’ fundraising efforts and their heart for the poor that they doubled the children’s money, giving £250 in all, which allows us to feed 5 Dalit children for a year. When inter:act visit Sholapur in April, they hope to meet some of these children and bring back some photos and stories to share.
MBC and biblefresh – Sunday 27th February
21 Feb 2011 | Janet Khindria | Posted in EventsNo Comments
Next week, on Sunday 27 February here at mbc, we want to play our part in the Biblefresh Initiative for 2011 in an all age service at 10.30am which celebrates God’s written word, the Bible. Please can you bring your much loved Bible to church that day – it might be a family Bible, it might be an old, well-thumbed Bible from a previous generation, it might be the translation that you prefer using. Kids, bring your Children’s/Toddler Bible and young people with youth bibles, bring them along too! We’ll have time to look at it altogether, lift it up to God for illumination and encouragement and gather together all ages around it.
Just Christmas Update
13 Jan 2011 | Hannah Montgomery | Posted in Just Christmas, NewsNo Comments
We chose to celebrate a bit differently this year, asking ourselves what a just Christmas would look like not only for us here in Edinburgh, but also for those in the world who live in injustice. If we really believe that the world changed forever when Jesus moved into the world as a baby, shouldn’t that radically affect how we celebrate Christmas?
It’s been absolutely brilliant to see Christmas being celebrated differently at MBC. From cake sales to kids parties, clothes swaps to creative crafting, so far the total donated stands at £16,491.95! Brilliant!
If you haven’t got your donation in yet, don’t panic… Just Christmas donations can be sent to the mbc office, or placed in the Gift Box at the front of church. It would be helpful if donations were gift-aided and recieved by the 13th February, so we can present our total gift for the Dalit Education Centre in Sholapur to Joseph D’Souza when he visits on the 20 Feb ’11.
If you have a children’s ‘feed a dalit child’ box please return the contents, however small, to the attention of ‘Hannah Montgomery’ at the mbc office, clearly labelled with ‘feed a dalit child’.
For more info check out www.justchristmas.org.uk or contact hannah@mbc.org.uk
MBC youth raise over £100 for Just Christmas!
16 Dec 2010 | Heather McCormick | Posted in Events, Just Christmas, YouthNo Comments
The mbc youth got busy in the kitchen over the festive period and made over 300 cakes to sell at the Alternative Christmas Service!
All donations for the delightfully decorated Christmas bakes went straight towards the Just Christmas appeal. Donations for Just Christmas are beginning to come in and mbc youth are keen to sponsor a child as part of their way to share the love this Christmas time. Be inspired to do likewise and play your part towards a Just Christmas.
just christmas
10 Nov 2010 | Hannah Montgomery | Posted in Just ChristmasNo Comments
There’s a rule in my house that talk of Christmas is banned until after my husband’s birthday. (November 19th… if you want to get him a card!) I don’t know about you, but Christmas seems to come around earlier every year… and now that I’m working in a church office it seems like it’s even earlier!
However… when the air gets colder, the leaves crisp under your feet and starbucks start bringing out their festive syrups (yum yum) your mind does wander! It’s hard not to dream about gift-wrapped presents & glittering baubled trees, and even harder not to worry about how you’re going to fit Uncle Edward and Aunt Bessie round an already packed kitchen table.
At MBC this year we are looking forward (again!) to doing Christmas differently. Our ‘Just Christmas’ project gives us all a chance, from the youngest to the oldest, to remember what’s really important.
A baby boy, born in the mess and smell of a Bethlehem cow-stable, came to bring about justice for the world.
So as we look forward to Christmas let’s also look forward to this opportunity to remember the greatest gift of all – Jesus – and to give as we have received. Let’s give as we spend this Christmas, remembering those who live in total injustice. Over the next few weeks we’ll explore some more what a ‘Just Christmas’ could look like, so stay tuned for more info both on here and at our Sunday services.