Bus Stop Cafe
Thank you for praying. God is doing great things at Bus Stop Cafe. The highlights for May were the continuing prayer times with local mums and the answers to prayer and one of their boys declaring: “I follow Jesus”! The sewing of scrunchies is growing in popularity and it leads to lovely peaceful sharing behaviours across generation, gender and culture.
We had a training session for 5 volunteers in May in Child Safety to help with our compliance. We also visited the local school and child-care centre next door to establish safety protocols and build relationships.
Please pray for a spirit of revival over Bus Stop Cafe so people will fall in love with Jesus here and be changed forever!
Pop Up Church
Pop Up Church was excellent in May. Our best supporters all came out and participated and this quelled the hecklers. Pastor Steve Greenslade from Impact Church Geelong shared a beautiful word about the woman at the well, emphasising how much God loves us. And everyone listened attentively! We tried a new segment. At the end we had an ‘all-in sing along’ with some favourite songs on Spotify. We printed the lyrics and everyone enjoyed the rousing songs. Please continue to pray for salvation and baptisms; that this would be more than uplifting entertainment.
Practical Stuff
We had a great Board Meeting and our first AGM in May. Please pray for more Board Members who can help us establish Bus Stop Cafe. We talked about increasing the quality of the spiritual experience the children have at the cafe and also the quantity of children coming through daily. One new idea we’re trying is for a Prayer Table where children can receive a blessing prayer to get a chocolate milk, instead of doing a challenge. Finally, we did a lot of painting at the church building in May. The men’s and disabled toilets are nearly done.
New Section – “Bottom Drawer”
This new section is to share great ideas which I don’t have time to do because I’m focusing on Bus Stop Cafe. You are free to take them and make them fly!
So here we go:
Teaching series linking gardening and spirituality
This is an absolute no brainer. Jesus Christ started by teaching the Parable of the Sower. Here the seed is the Word of God and it is stolen by the birds of the air and choked from fruitfulness by the weeds. He also talks about being a vine which requires pruning to enhance fruitfulness. I’m imagining a thorough teaching series which delves into all the links between spiritual growth and gardening; preparing and renewing the soil, fertilising, repotting, patiently nurturing fruit etc, dying. The work successful gardeners do is very closely related to the work required for a successful Christian walk. Finally, we could create this a bit like the TV show Gardening Australia, with short fun bits which are engaging and topical. I could even try one each month at Labuan Square Pop Up Church. Maybe…..
