Paul's Spring 2021 Update from CC York

 

CC York

Hello friends, praying that this update finds you well.  After a winter visit to the USA, I made it safely back to England and after the mandatory quarantine and Covid tests, all  negative, rejoined society.  England is slowly emerging from lockdown number three with more rules set to be relaxed in the next few weeks.  Praise God the church at York has been able to meet in person since last summer.  We were one of the few churches in York that reopened for in-person worship as soon as we were permitted.  Technology and the ability to connect remotely is a blessing but there is nothing like it when the people of God are gathered together and He is in their midst; the “shout of a King is among them” (Num. 23:21).

York Minster at Dusk

      It’s a great blessing to serve at CC York.  I am in the worship leading rotation and also had the opportunity to guest teach for Pastor Dave on a Sunday morning a few weeks ago.  I gave a message from Ephesians 5 on being light in the world in these peculiar days we are living in.  There’s really nothing more fulfilling in this life we’ve been given than to be used by the living God for His purposes.  It’s interesting the way that the Lord orders our steps; I remember visiting York as a 13 year old boy some years ago with my mother who was English and having no idea that one day the Lord would call me to live in this city.  A helpful piece of advice for one moving to England is to buy a good raincoat and make friends with the weather.  There are some beautiful, sunny days but we get our share of rain as well.  One of the things I love here that goes along with the rain are the incredible cloud formations and sunrises and sunsets.  Sometimes when clouds come into our lives we get to see the beauty of the Lord in new ways.  His glory illuminates the “problem clouds” and brings beauty out of them with radiant colors and light.

The Yorkshire Dales

CC Bible College York

This is my 6^th year teaching at the Bible College and it’s been one of the greatest blessings of my life.  Even in the midst of lockdown, the Lord has blessed us with another great in-person semester with students from the UK, Ireland, Israel, and the USA.  We’ve been having weekly worship nights with times of waiting on the Lord.  Lord willing next week we will be heading to the Yorkshire dales with our students for a modified Covid-friendly version of Speaker’s Week.  Please pray that the Lord will speak and also for good weather as we will be in a beautiful part of England with lots of sheep and stone fences.

 

 UK Pastor’s Conference

We are planning on having a smaller version of our annual UK Pastor’s conference in late May; please pray for the Lord’s wisdom and favor as we put the details together.  We weren’t able to have the conference last year and there is a yearning among the churches to be able to come together in fellowship in the manner of Psalm 133:

 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the Lord commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.

Do we ever need to dwell in unity and to experience His Spirit in our midst!

Other prayer requests:

That we would be able to resume our prison ministry at HMP Humber; we have not been allowed to go in since the initial lockdown over a year ago.

 That each of our students would finish the semester well and hear the Lord’s voice concerning their next steps

 For the Lord’s will concerning summer outreaches in the UK

 Pastor Dave Sylvester’s daughter recently had twins.  One of them (Wesley) required open heart surgery which he had last week (at age 5 weeks) and has not been able to breathe without a ventilator.  Please pray that they will be able to remove the ventilator soon and that he will be able to breathe on his own.  The heart surgery helped but he is not in the clear yet.

About Me:

I have been serving at Calvary Chapel York, England since 2016.  I teach at the Bible College and serve at the church in a variety of ways including prison ministry and leading worship.  I can be contacted at pfgoodwin@hotmail.com.

If you wish to support this ministry, contributions can be addressed to "Shepherd's Staff" with account #1454 in the memo section of check and sent to Shepherd's Staff, 6739 Academy Road, Suite 320, Albuquerque, NM 87109. Automatic EFT can be set up through Shepherd's Staff website: www.ssmfi.org. Prayers are also greatly appreciated.  The Lord bless you!