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Wholehearted
There is more than one way you can live your life.
You can choose the path of least resistance. You can choose to set comfort as your goal. You can live a risk-averse life of pain avoidance. You can choose half-hearted living. And if you choose to live that kind of life, I can hardly blame you. I mean, who really wants to live a life where… Read More »
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The New Thing
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? (Isaiah 43:19)
It all began in 1989 in the local village shop. Christine was married to John, one of the churchwardens at St Nicholas’ Church, and with her husband ran an electrical retailer based in the village of Ashill. One evening, John and Christine had a meal with the new rector and his wife… Read More »
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Why Kingdom Entrepreneurs?
Key points
• The reward for the kingdom entrepreneur is to extend the kingdom of God.
• Redemption is the thread that runs through our enterprises.
We seem to be in an age when anyone who has a bright business idea and attempts to take it to market is called an entrepreneur. There is an increasing number of individuals who want to develop… Read More »
Prologue
Sunday night, 4th Honourmoon
Martha gripped the storm lamp, her knuckles blanching as shadows danced on the stone walls and timbers of the croft. Voices rose from the darkness outside: men approaching along the dry path from the village. A hammering at the door startled her. She spun towards the sound. Bit her lip. Turned on her heel again to sweep her lamp around, searching the kitchen… Read More »
Landscape
In our world of noise, time-struggle, cynicism, secularism and conflict on all levels, recovering our senses that we might see more, hear more and feel more may appear a step too far for many of us. With all the technological advances that should release us and make us time rich, we become exhausted and the notions of rest, recuperation and mindfulness are… Read More »
Introduction
The story of the Elim Pentecostal Church in the UK is an inspirational and, at times, a miraculous one. Its beginnings, in particular, have that obvious touch of divine activity. Not only was the presence of God obviously experienced throughout the first twenty-five years of Elim’s existence, but… Read More »
Where are we going?
Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it.
Matthew 11:29 (The Message)
The Quaker writer and retreat leader Parker Palmer writes that a calling is ‘something you can’t not do’. This is how writing this book has felt. It has taken me more than seven years to get our story down on paper. In that time, there have been many occasions when… Read More »
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Our Dementia Journey Begins
Why is it that so often we give places names or titles that are the very antithesis of the function that the place in question is known for or provides? Take the name ‘health centre’, for example. Was there ever a less apt name? Surely the main reason for going to a health centre is because at the very least you feel less than healthy and at the very most you feel the exact opposite of it. Perhaps it is a classic example of how, as a society, we always tend to accentuate the positive at the expense of being honest about the reality… Read More »
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Before the Flood
Imagine you live in a village and you stroll along the riverbank where you used to play as a child. Imagine each morning you walk outside, feeling the coolness of the dew-filled grass beneath your bare feet, and look at a cloudless blue sky where the sun always shines. Imagine your three boys have grown up and left your homestead to live with their wives. Imagine your husband telling you one evening in front of the fire that God has spoken to him about a flood… Read More »
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Awakening
Winter, early 1231
France
Philip became aware of a shuffling sound. It was pitch dark, and eerily quiet. Except for the shuffling. A mouse, or a rat maybe? He strained his ears, trying to hear the tell-tale sounds of claws scratching… Read More »
