Praying for tonight's match

I'm fairly sure that praying for your team to win the World Cup is a waste of time - but praying for the people and the nations involved is not.

On Sunday we prayed for the country of Colombia using some resources from Operation World. You'll find that here.

There's another great resource (although it does take a few minutes to load on my computer) called Prayercast - which has some short video prayers that are informative and give a brief insight to the country and its people. Here's their video prayer for Colombia.

Big Church Day Out 2018

Over half term we took the chance to attend the 'Big Church Day Out' (north) - which if you're camping is actually more like the Big-Church-Three-and-a-Half-Days-Out. The BCDO is basically a Chrisitan music festival with lots of artists spread across 5 different stages over two days worshipping God through different music genres. 

For those who are camping there are additional evening performances - here we're enjoying the Thursday evening sunshine at the Tearfund sponsored Tea Tent listening to Drakeford. 

The main event kicked off at noon on the Friday - where we made our way to the Arkyard Sessions venue to listen to Paul Bell sing about biscuits and promote his great new album 'First Light'.

The main stage hosts some of the biggest names in Christian music and Crowder was definitely one of my highlights.

Another of the smaller stages was the Illuminate stage - here's Guvna B. 

If you've ever seen For King and Country before you will know that even the main stage is not big enough for them and they like to get out and about into the audience.

Each day ends as nightfalls and the stage lights shine bright. 

But there is also a lot more at the BCDO - it's not just about the music.

Rock UK provide free activities - rock climbing, mountain biking and bush craft. There was a mini zoo too.

There's a fair ground and loads of other activities (which are not all free) to keep you entertained.

Plenty of organisations, including MAF, have displays about their work.

Between sets on the main stage representatives from different organisations, such as Tear Fund, are able to speak about their work, or else there are games with very large blue balls to entertain, or maybe chocolate eggs or water balloons are fired deep into the crowd using a large catapult.

To find out more about BCDO 2019 click here.

Pentecost Videos

At our service on Sunday we used the following video from Igniter Media that gives a brief overview of the events of Pentecost.

https://www.ignitermedia.com/products/8486-the-story-of-pentecost

And then on Sunday evening, at our Cluster Celebration we watched one of the Theme videos from The Bible Project, on the theme of the Holy Spirit.



You'll find more of The Bible Project resources on the Holy Spirit, including additional notes and links to their podcasts here.

What's in the Box?

A couple of weeks ago we gave out Kingdom Kits to all of our families with young children here at CBC.

I know at least a few of you were wondering what was in the box - read on and you'll find out.

The contents of the kit are designed to help families pray together throughout the 11 days of Thy Kingdom Come, which runs from Ascension Day (10 May) to Pentecost (20 May). Each day there is a different focus and activity.

The focus and the activities are all from a leaflet provided. These can be purchased from CPO, or last year's leaflet is available as a downloaded from the Thy Kingdom Come website. (The image above is from last year's pack.)

If you're struggling to read the print above you'll find the full-size version here. 

Complete Kingdom Kits can be purchased from CPO or you can make your own.

Here are a few images from inside our boxes.