Borth Beach Mission

A new visitor to the blog asked me if the reason I was late posting the vestry prayer was because I was in Borth at the Beach Mission - Hill_Topper must know me quite well to know that I might have been in Borth especially last week.
It was with some regret that the committee felt it would not be viable to run the mission this year due to a number of circumstances that seemed to be almost conspiring against us.
We have been fortunate for the last few years on two counts firstly a mystery benefactor has funded the mission which has meant we did not have to worry about fund raising too much - secondly we have had the advantage of staying in a delightful house on the beach side of the main street.
We have had difficulties with both these things this year - the benefactor did not give anything last year which means we had very little left in the bank and not a lot of time to try to raise the money especially given the current economic climate and secondly we could not get the house this year which would have meant going back to caravans and having two which would have more than doubled the cost of this aspect. We also found out quite late that at least on member of the team would not be able to come and another was doubtful which meant we would have had some difficulty finding replacements.
We will be thinking very soon about next year and looking at plans to raise some funds as well as recruiting new team members where appropriate and would value the prayers of our readers and if any feel they would like to contribute financially please let me know.
I am having some difficulties with the beach mission website as well because it will not let me update it to give people information, however if you want to get a flavour for what we do that would be the place to look.

Back now!

Hi folks,haven't been around for the last week as I have been in Borth with the beach mission team. We have had a very good week, met some great children and made a few new contacts in respect of parents. The team have worked very hard during the week and sometimes people ask me why I do it - two weeks ago today that was exactly the question I was asking myself but when you see the enjoyment the children get from the week and the number who keep coming back each year it is very encouraging.
My wife and I went to the Salvation Army in Aberystwyth last Sunday morning and the Captain asked if we were on holiday and we said we were at the beach mission in Borth and he asked me to give a word of testimony during the service. In the afternoon we went to the Welsh Chapel in Borth where the majority of the service was in Welsh - one hymn was What a friend we have in Jesus which we sang in English and they sang in Welsh and I think we won. At the end of the service the hymn was Abide with me and the Welsh version had 6 verse while the English version had 5 (we sang the last verse in Welsh or tried anyway),
Yesterday was carnival day and as is usual in Borth there were some very good floats and some interesting fancy dress outfits.
We rounded off the week with a presentation and praise time and all went off to McDonald's for supper!

English Out?

Over at Connexions there is a post about some graffiti in Welsh and a discussion of what it might or might not mean and the old thought about people in Wales starting to speak in Welsh as soon as someone English comes along (how do they know who is English?).
I want to put another side to this thinking and share my experience of some wonderful Welsh people.
For a number of years now I have been involved with a beach mission in Borth during the summer months and about three years ago the Catholic church where we used to have our indoor events closed quite suddenly. This presented us with a problem until a friend put us in touch with the folk at the Welsh Chapel (Gerlan) who we approached about using their premises. They were happy for us to do this and we moved the indoor events there and decided that on the Sunday we would attend worship at the chapel - remember it is a 'Welsh' chapel. When we walked in (8 of us) there was what may have been called a sharp intake of breath as they realised that here were 8 English visitors. There was a hurried conversation between a gentleman who we later found was the pastor and two ladies (the organist and one of the elders) followed by a hurried change of numbers on the hymn board. The service commenced with the pastor welcoming people in English and then in Welsh and the whole service continued in a bilingual way including the sermon. The changes to the hymn board were to bring in two hymns in English while the remainder were in Welsh and the last hymn was 'What a friend we have in Jesus' which was sung both in English and Welsh.
Our experience was and is very positive as we have returned there three years running and on each occasion they have changed the service to accommodate the English.

Breakfast on the beach

That was the title of our Service this morning at Pleck when we looked at the appearance of Jesus to the disciples when they were out fishing. The preacher was a visiting preacher who used the church set out for cafe style worship and broke for refreshments in the middle. He also taught us two new songs as well as using some better known Easter hymns like Now the green blades rises and Low in the grave He lay.
This evening it was 'Praise and Worship' at Pleck which is a fairly laid back service led by the worship leaders and others. We used the data projector and showed some paintings from the Methodist Art Collection and discussed what we saw in the pictures. It was a very interesting service with some good comments made on the pictures. For our prayer time we listened to a recording of Michael Card singing his song 'El Shaddai'and were encouraged to focus on the line 'To the outcast on her knees you were the God who really sees, and by your might you set your children free'. There was also a message in tongues and an interpretation in a service that lasted almost 90 minutes and yet everyone seemed quite happy and in fact after the benediction the organist played 'El Shaddai' quietly and no one moved until he had finished. A great day in the presence of God and certainly a spiritual fill up.

Picture this!

Suppose I should issue a health warning to readers! You will see that I have now put a photo of me on the blog - it was taken in the dining room of the house we stay in at Borth while on the Beach Mission. I was using the laptop at the time and my son took the photo of what he calls my computer face.

Blog missing

To any regular readers my apologies that I have not blogged much recently - I have been busy getting ready for a beach mission which I am leading next week in Borth in Wales. If you would like to know more check out the website on www.borthbm.org.uk or if you are in Borth pop in and see us especially if you have children with us. We meet each morning Monday to Friday at 10-45a.m. and would appreciate your prayers for this event. The programme for the week will appear on the website later tonight for any who are interested.
Went to choir practice last night and we sang 10 hymns/songs in just under an hour and it was a great time of praise with our very able musicians giving us the lead. We are preparing for a circuit service in August where we will help to lead the singing. This is one of a series of such events where we are trying to do something a little different - I suppose it is a sort of Fresh Expressions exercise especially as all music used has to have been written in the last 30 years which takes those leading the services down a potentially modern path. If you happen to be in Walsall on Sunday 12th August at 6-30p.m. come and join us at Aldridge Methodist Church.