Category Archives: mbs

do you want to be part of something exciting ….

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IMG_1662well you can

Please support us at Dekhomai this year
If you’ve followed my blog for any length of time you will know that as Dekhomai we attend the MBS fair at Olympia each year.

The stand is really expensive … and loads of other people charge amounts like £50 for ‘stuff’ … but at Dekhomai we offer everything we do …. listening, healing prayer, Jesus Deck and Ruach card readings, blessings ….. all for free ….. it’s God’s stuff anyway so how on earth could we charge!?

But …. we still need to pay the fee for the stand …. so if you donate on our just giving page here you can help us be there again this year

I’ve written lots over the years about the vibrancy and missional opportunity of this place … you can read one such post from a couple of years ago:

Wow!
Just wow!
Today I have been amazed.
Stunned.
I shouldn’t be.
But I am.

Stunned that God can use some cards to speak powerfully into the lives of people.
Incredibly powerfully.
To real people.
read more here

Please … donate here so we can be part of this again

 

mbs wow!!!

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IMG_1254Wow!
Just wow!
Today I have been amazed.
Stunned.
I shouldn’t be.
But I am.

Stunned that God can use some cards to speak powerfully into the lives of people.
Incredibly powerfully.
To real people.

Today I have experienced stunned silences, seen tears, and heard comments like ‘that is sooooo accurate … that’s weird!’or comments like ‘are you sure you don’t know me?’ as people have had Ruach readings which connect with them on both a superficial and deep level simultaneously.

Today I have sat with people as they have cried as their creator has brought things to the fore that they needed to deal with.

Today really has been immensely exciting and a great privilege to be involved in.

The nine hours in Earls Court simply flew by. We were inundated with people from around 11am until 5pm where we simply gave reading after reading from either Ruach or the Jesus Deck.

Some interesting highlights which have stayed with me….
a humble older man who shared his desire for space and silence and had a card reading that both reflected and helped him in that
a couple who in individual readings both chose the same card which was pretty exciting for both of them
the young lady who was worried about a new role … only to receive words from God that told her she had no need to worry
a young man who drew a card about the empty tomb which was HUGELY significant to him in his current situation
a young lady who rushed up to us in the last few minutes to ask if we could sit with her and share ‘words from Jesus’ for her … which we did … and the words were amazing and gave her what she was looking for.

Today has been amazing … I have loved working with Andrea, Steve, Mary and Maddie. The team that work tomorrow are pretty amazing … please hold Steven, Mary, Liz, Judith and Steve in your prayers as they work dekhomai on the last day.

God … using cards … to powerfully connect with real people …. who’d have thought it!

it’s that MBS fair time again …

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MBSOn Sunday I will be at the Mind Body Spirit Festival in London.

I love this event as we engage with spiritual seekers who come searching for an experience that makes a difference.

As has been the case in other years I will be working on dekhomai and this year we are on stand B32 …. so come check us out.

I’ll write more about what happens after the event.

Ruach cards

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wp0_wpa1aa95e3I had a great day yesterday at a Ruach Cards training  day with with one of my good friends, Andrea, from Sacred Space in Kingston.

The day was fun, informative, challenging, and engaging as we practiced giving and receiving ‘ruach  insight readings’.. and most of all, for me personally, very much needed as I am ever searching for new ways to engage effectively with people outside the church. The opportunity, as well, to spend a day with like minded people who work on the edge and outside of church is always refreshing and I hadn’t realised how much I have missed this.

The cards are beautiful and, I think, give more options to engage with people than the Jesus Deck does. The boot fair ministry stuff all kicks off next week … and I think having Ruach and Jesus Deck available will just help us to engage with more people. They seem to offer a greater spectrum of possible engagement.

I have just returned from a kind of training session with the team for this years boot fairs.wp1b645935 As well as looking at the stuff we used last year and explaining how we work to the new team members we all had a brief look at the Ruach cards before 4 of us then retired to a local cafe to practice Ruach readings. This turned out to be an amazing time and I felt we all experienced a special moment when the youngest member of the team, a teenager, practiced with the cards and it became rapidly cler to all of us that this young person has a particular gift in this area. Why is it that those special God moments always take me by surprise?

So …. next week …. if you near the boot fair in Gillingham next week pay us a visit …. or of you want to get involved on the team … it’s still not too late … get in touch!

going where people are …

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imgresIn Medway, as in many other areas, the boot fair season is about to open.

Thousands of people each Sunday morning will drive past many churches and worshipping communities to connect with other ‘searchers’ as they wander along corridors of peoples stories looking to add something to theirs.

Maybe many of us look at this behaviour each year and think people are simply looking for bargains. That is obviously part of the reason, but I also think people go because they like getting together with other people. This is a developing community where conversations and relationships can develop over weeks.

Wherever I see lots of people gathering on a regular basis I start to wonder how we may  develop something that fits which will give opportunities for people to explore and experience faith and spirituality.

For the past few years regular SHP reders will be aware of my involvement with Dekhomai at MBS fairs and Rochester Cathedral during Sweeps and Dickens festival.

I’m quite excited to be able to share that with Sue Kerr, the other pioneer minister in this area, we are developing a couple of teams that can run a Dekhomai type thing in a boot fair setting. We will be aiming to be present on a Sunday morning, simply engaging with people but also offering prayer for healing, Jesus Deck readings, and so on.

We will be holing a training session sometime after Easter, so if you have worked with us before at Sweeps or Dickens or would like to explore joining in with this exciting project that please get in touch.

sweeps … experience God ….

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It’s the start of the Sweeps Festival today. As I write the rain is continuing to fall outside … and I am so hoping that stops very very soon.

If you are around pay a visit to the Dekhomai stand in the cathedral, you can find us in the south transept, which is the space right next to the lady chapel. Visit and take the opportunity to express God in a different or new way through a variety of things we have on offer, from the dekhomai prayer cord to prayer for healing. Or … just pop by to say hello (and if you come via the coffee shop bringing great fresh coffee even better!)

Maybe see some of you there!

people meeting God?

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Next weekend in Rochester sees the return of the Sweeps Festival. This is probably my favourite of the Rochester Festivals which is a collection of great music (most of it free in or outside pubs), dancing (50ish Morris Dancing groups) and of course beer. If I were to choose one festival to come to in Rochester then it would be the Sweeps Festival without a doubt; the atmosphere is great, and people come to relax, listen, watch and have a good time.

In the cathedral we will again by hosting our Dekhomai stand from Saturday until Monday. This is a ‘welcoming place’ in part of the cathedral which offers a place to sit and chat, prayer for healing, dream interpretation, the making of prayer beads and hand or foot massage. If you are in the area why not pop in and say hi … or if you would like to get involved we could still do with a another team member on Sunday or Monday afternoon. The ethos of the stand is to simple welcome and serve people with an aim of helping those who are searching to re-connect with God. At the end of every encounter, whether it is a Jesus Deck reading, a foot massage or a general chat we offer to pray for each person and their family. In this way we believe people meet with God.

In previous years people have asked about the Jesus Deck which, sadly, have been out of print and difficult to get hold of. They are now back and you can order a Jesus Deck here. While on the Jesus Deck I was intrigued to see it being used as a lectionary over on Steve’s blog … hadn’t thought of that and I could see that being really powerful for some people.

a transforming relationship

Aside

I little while ago regular visitors here will remember I got excited and had an excellent time on the CMS Pioneer ‘Missional Entrepreneur’ week. While there I made new friends and caught up with others that I had not seen for a while …. people like Andrea who is doing an amazing job in Kingston with people that the church have written off as ‘lost and dodgy’.

I have often blogged about my limited and occasional mbs stuff at Rochester Cathedral and with dekhomai. Andrea does this on a more permanent basis and is really engaging with spiritual seekers of the area. Andrea has, and still does, sit in that gap where other Christians either question what she does or fail to see the incredible value of her mission. I suspect there are even some that believe she is not a ‘real’ Christian due to the work she is involved in … but Jesus was not recognised either!

Andrea has given a great interview on the CMS Pioneer website where she admits she has no formula in this interview …. but that her mission (and all mission) needs to be about relying on God. It’s a good read so go check it out here.

 

dickens and decks

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so … that was Dickens, when we saw an amazing 19000 people pass through the cathedra! That’s quite a few!!!

The team I worked with were excellent, and at times we had people queuing for hand or foot massages and Jesus Deck readings. The experience was such a humbling privilege as we engaged with many people on various levels from talking about the beading, to joking about Christmas, to praying for some form of healing.

One person I will remember for a while was a distressed person shaking with fear who needed help. We simply prayed for God’s peace and this person became calm almost instantly which shocked her and her family. It was a delight to see.

The weekend has again left me with far more questions and frustrations than answers. I guess the main frustration is how we seem to just scratch the surface with most of those 19000 choosing to walk past the stand, many even refusing to make any form of eye contact. I wonder whether a part of that is a fear of not wanting to engage with something of the ‘unknown’.  My question, which I guess is closely connected, is why God seems to connect with some people and not others.

Other questions which came up which I’d like to investigate sometime revolve around the whole idea of what people think they are doing in their actions. One of the team, Nathan, was reflecting on people lighting candles and asking what, in their mind, are they doing or trying to do? It’s an interesting thought as we heard people use language like ‘pray properly’ and ‘make a wish’   and ‘thats for uncle Albert’. The action of lighting a candle is certainly helpful, and thousands were lit this weekend, but it is interesting maybe to consider what is actually happening here for various people.

Anyway … the weekend is over, the Dekhomai stand is packed away, we continue with Advent and welome Christ into our lives again …

 

questions rise from the ashes

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The mbs fair in London was, as ever, an amazing experience. I was moved to tears by ‘stuff’ that people wanted to share and felt incredibly humbled, as well as inadequate, as people trusted me and shared things for prayer. The dekhomai stand welcomes and offers everything as a gift for free as we are very conscious that it is not us helping people but it is Christ working through us. As Jonny said – the energy is only strong on our stand if the risen presence of Jesus is with us … and I believe he has been.

I was able to wander around the stalls a little bit this year and was interested to see who was there and who has not come back. I also had a few interesting conversations with other stall holders which left me with questions. In particular I remember a conversation with a women running a stand that specialised in native american instruments, clothing and spirituality. I was particularly interested in a Shaman Drum that was painted with a picture of a phoenix.

I am interested in the mythical phoenix creature with it’s overtones of resurrection and new life. In our conversation I noted that the phoenix looked like t was singing – to be told I was correct and that the bird was singing a song calling the souls to come home and return to their maker. I guess that birthed a question within me …. could this be God calling his people from with an ancient tradition?

I always find this event amazing, I find it emotionally tiring, sometimes challenging but always I come away with a renewed acceptance that I know and understand so little of our creator God.

Thanks people for the opportunity again to take part – and thanks to those that allowed me to share in their lives for a little while … may God continue to bless you.