Kingsland Church Tiptree - Latest News

The Road to Maturity - Song of Songs

Could the Bible include a book that celebrates the beauty of erotic marital love?  You may be surprised to discover it does. The Song of Songs has caused not a little controversy.  It was forbidden for Jews to read it until they were thirty years old!  Some, including more than a few prudish Victorians, have questioned whether it should be in the Bible at all.  Song of Songs evokes intense sensuous awareness - yet the poet achieves this with delicate subtlety.  It’s an amazing book that on the surface is a love story between a shepherdess and King Solomon but at a deeper level it describes the journey of a believer seeking deeper intimacy with God.

 

It is for this reason that we have been teaching from The Song of Songs this term.  It’s a wonderful book that, for us, charts the road to maturity for a believer who longs for more of God, the believer who is fed up of serving God from far off, down the road, at a distance; the believer who wants to be drawn to God in intimacy and run with him in ministry.  It contains some profound truth.  The realization that I am dark and lovely (1 v5) is an incredible truth.  Have you ever considered that God views you as either dark or lovely?  Have you ever written yourself off as dark and concluded that God has no time for you?  The truth is you are dark and lovely all the time.  God sees something innately precious in you that is well worth redeeming even though you have been darkened by ‘life under the sun’.  He wants to draw you to his table and feed you with good things.  He wants to heal your wounds, make you secure and call you to embrace battle and adventure with him.  All this and more is in just the first two chapters of this amazing book.  And that’s just the beginning!

The wonderful series is available on this website (go to 'Latest News' and then 'Tiptree messages on line').  The series is as follows (NB the dates are the dates the message was posted - not necessarily the date it was preached):

1. Dark yet lovely - 14/6/09

2. The Rose of Sharon - 23/2/09

3. Arise - 1/4/09

4. Alone in the dark - 5/4/09

5. Intimacy - 19/4/09

6. Dark night of the soul - 28/4/09

7. Running together - 6/5/09

8. Coming up - 11/5/09

9. Bridal seal - 31/5/09

10. Walls & doors - 11/6/09

11. Epilogue - scheduled 28/6/09

Alpha

Would you like to explore the Christian Faith in a very informal and friendly way?  The well known and hugely popular Alpha Course will be running again in Tiptree shortly.

It's low key, friendly and fun.  It is supported by all the main Christian denominations and some 4 million people world wide have already found it to be a worth while experience.  Each evening begins at 7.30pm with a full meal (at no cost) followed by a short talk on an aspect of the Christian faith.  There is then an opportunity to join a small group to discuss any questions raised from the talk over coffee.  no question is regarded as too simple or too hostile. we aim to finish around 9.30pm.

The course begins on Friday 17th April at Tiptree URC but there is also an introductory Alpha Supper on Friday 3rd April (This event starts at 8pm and is an opportunity to find out more about the Alpha course).

If you are interested in either of these events please contact us through this website.

Davey Falcus in Colchester

Davey Falcus, author of best-selling book, 'Gangland to God' was in Colchester on March 15th for the Kingsland Church joint event in Charter Hall.  Over 400 people heard his story about his former life as a gang leader on Tyneside and how an encounter with Jesus had completely changed his life.  Davey said he had tried every drug on the planet but nothing compared to his experience of the love of God flooding his soul.  That day his 15 year drug addiction was broken and his life was changed forever.  And it showed!  Davey came accross as a genuine, compassionate man who loved God and loved people.  Today he ministers all over the world seeing thousands come to Jesus and many people healed in answer to his prayers.  In Charter Hall there were healings and a number found Jesus for the first time.  Kingsland Church, Tiptree ran a free coach to Charter Hall to enable guests to be there and the event will be followed up with an Alpha course starting on Friday April 17th.

Another Wonderful Sunday!

We have been so blessed in Kingsland Church this year. Last Sunday was another wonderful occasion when six people gave testimony to their decision to follow Jesus and five of them were baptised.

 

Maxine, a former pagan, had experienced God for herself at a ‘soaking’ meeting. She’d completed an Alpha course and at one of the sessions her knee had been instantaneously and permanently healed in answer to prayer.  Frances had been baptised before but had drifted away from God and now wanted to renew her baptismal vows. She testified to how God had been with her through her ‘wilderness’ years and how he had brought her back to himself. She was so grateful to God for all he was doing in her family. Her husband, James, a former agnostic, felt life lacked purpose. When Frances asked him to go on an Alpha course he didn’t know quite why, but he decided to say yes. He was well known for asking lots of awkward questions and reading widely in search of answers. By the end of the Alpha course he described himself as a ‘theist’. As Jonathan impressed on him that it was perfectly alright to belong before he believed James started coming regularly to Kingsland and discovered that the congregation really cared for each other and for the village. Over the year James has encountered God for himself. It had been a year of firsts: first time he prayed aloud; first time he prayed with Frances; first prayer answered; first time falling down while being prayed for and his first real Easter, which was really special.

 

Hannah told of the significant events in her life that had led her to God and how recently she had really found God’s love for herself. It had changed her life and now she wanted to follow Jesus. Kevin spoke of the security he had found in God’s love and Jonathan and Sarah’s daughter Isabel told of how she had grown to know God over the years. She had been impacted by the Holy Spirit a few years ago and now she really wanted to live for God.

 

For the regulars at Kingsland these testimonies are doubly powerful because we have seen the wonderful difference God makes to the life of these precious people. The good news is God really does love you and he wants to know you personally too.

Tiptree takes the Fire to Switzerland!

In KingslandChurch we are so grateful for the extraordinary time of refreshing and blessing we have been experiencing from God over the last few months. Many of us have experienced God in a new way; we’ve seen healings, freedom from addictions and changed lives. This last Sunday Lee and Sarah were telling us about their recent trip to Switzerland. A group went over from Kingsland and it all came about quite quickly. During May, Sarah had a dream in which she saw a group from the Church taking the fire of God to Switzerland. When our friend David who leads a church in Switzerland was told this he replied that one of his members had just had a dream in which they ‘saw’ a group from England bringing the fire to them! Within a fortnight the trip was on, but final confirmation that this was God-ordained came on the Monday before departure. Watching Todd Bentley on stage at the Healing revival in Lakeland, Florida on God TV, suddenly in the middle of praying for someone Todd stops and then shouts, ‘The fire, the fire of God is coming to Switzerland!’

 

Needless to say the trip to Switzerland was amazing. The fire of God fell everywhere the team went. People received the Holy Spirit and encountered God in new ways. Some were healed, others set free from addictions, past trauma or mental illness. Each church visited led to invitations to the next church and the team stayed longer than originally planned. Sarah and Lee had never before seen anything like it! What a privilege for us to be involved in releasing a move of God in another European country! But then Tiptree is famous for exporting fruit to the world!

Youth Cafe for Tiptree?

Would you like to see a safe place for young people to ‘chill’ in the community? Following the success of the Tiptree Youth Fair and Tiptree Sports Week, Kingsland Church is currently negotiating premises in the village in which to develop a youth café. This is a badly needed facility in the village and evidence confirms that it is what most young people as well as a significant number of adults would like to see. It is a major faith step for us and we would be keen to hear from community minded individuals and businesses who would like to help sponsor this project. Please get in touch.

 

Our plans were given an unexpected boost last Sunday when suddenly the Church service was ‘hijacked’ as a delegation from our Gosbecks congregation burst into the meeting. The Gosbecks leader, Dave Wuyts, took the microphone from Jonathan and announced that they had come to bless the vision the Tiptree congregation held for the community and presented a bemused Jonathan with a £5000 cheque towards the project! Someone said, ‘it was as if love just walked in!’ It was a wonderful occasion and part of an exciting week-end. Our friends Pete and Tricia Gillett from Norfolk were ministering with us and once again, as people received prayer, many encountered God touching their lives. The same had happened earlier on the Saturday afternoon at a joint meeting with the URC and we saw more again that Sunday evening. Some fell over; others wept or laughed but significantly most felt God’s love as he ministered to deep hurts and a few found physical healing including one lady whose blurred vision was restored. Surely we are living in extraordinary times!

You should have been there!

Well, what an amazing two weeks! Lee has recently been in Lakeland where a healing revival has broken out. There have been hundreds of reported healings and 19 reported resurrections (see http://www.freshfire.ca or watch highlights of the Florida Outpouring on Youtube). The revival there has also been prophesied to spread to the UK and I for one can't wait. Two weeks ago Lee returned and we have seen God touch so many lives. Over three days at Kingsland, Lexden we saw God move powerfully on many people as the Holy Spirit touched their lives. Here are just a few of the testimonies posted on the Kingsland website:

 

Last night was incredible- felt God like I have never felt him before!

 

I had a trapped nerve in my shoulder which caused pain in my back and neck I received prayer and all I can say is I felt the fire from God surge into my shoulder down my back. Thank you Lord I have freedom.

 

This has been one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and I’m so glad that I was there.

 

Then at our Alpha meeting in Tiptree, again we saw many people touched by God – most ended up on the floor, much to their surprise! The same thing happened the following Sunday. There have been tears and laughter as emotional wounds have been healed. Several folk have testified to a deep inner peace and feel so privileged to have experienced God touching their lives.

 

Our teenagers have also enjoyed a weekend away camping at Easterford Mill in Kelvedon. It was a weekend of fun, rain, food, rain, fellowship, rain and….God!

 

We are living in exciting times! Over the years we have heard so much about God; now there is the opportunity for everyone to see him. Awesome!

State-side

Hey everyone

just to let you know that i'm intending to keep a blog while I'm away in the States (from May 4th) ... what do they say ... the road to hell is ...!

There are some really exciting things happening fairly close to where I'm staying. About an hour south is a place called Lakeland which is experiencing a healing revival RIGHT NOW! Things seemed to have started at the begining of April, so I'm hoping to get time to go check it out.

Obviously there is other stuff going on which I will try and kep you updated with as they happen. Hit the 'Lee's US Blog' link below or simply type the link below into your browser for the blog site ... and feel free to post messages back

Bless ya

Lee

Lee's US Blog

(http://leespeller.blogspot.com/)

Alpha

The introductory Alpha Supper provide a great evening for 20 guests who sat down to lovely food, exciting company and a stimulating introduction entitled 'Is There More To Life Than This?'  We are looking forward to the course itself which commences on Friday 28th March at 8pm.

Awayday 2008

What a wonderful day!  we were so privileged to have Leslie Lee and mark Sutcliffe with us for our joint awayday with Gosbecks Christian Fellowship.  Great teaching, special sessions for the men and women, teens and children, and the wonderful presence of God!  He was there right from the beginning - in the worship as we surrendered our lives to him and in the soaking session after lunch.  Ruth had a vision of the shekina glory and the Father's love!  And the Fire tunnel!  I've never seen so many of our people visibly touched by the presence of God.  It was wonderful.  Thank you Jesus!