The August issue of Spotlight – News and Views for Local Groups, by Local Groups, has been issued today and can be downloaded here.

In this issue, news from: Belfast, Entebbe, Conwy, Taunton, Eckington, Plymouth, West Wiltshire, Todmorden, Eastleigh, a meditation on “who am I ?” and even some “beauty tips”.

Click on the comments button to read what other folk are thinking and to give us your thoughts. If you are a member of a Maranatha Local Group then perhaps you might like to contribute to the next issue – just email George and Mary who produce Spotlight.

Reaching Out in Unity

The vision of the Maranatha Community is of “the people of God united, healed and renewed, walking the way of Jesus in love, simplicity and poverty with the urgent fire of the Spirit burning in their hearts”. It is the vision of the Church of Christ united across the globe – believers from all nations, tongues and traditions…read-on

Inside this Issue

The vision of maranatha, A time of opportunity, God’s call to wait, Prayers by Dennis Wrigley, New Publications, The life cycle of a local Maranatha Group, Maranatha Events Calendar.

Click here to download the full August edition of the maranatha newsletter

We would also like to draw your attention to the following: (click on each)

Maranatha Gathering in London – Saturday 12th September

Maranatha Gathering in Manchester – Saturday 3rd October

Out of the Courtroom – 23-26 September. The Ark, Flixton, Manchester

School of Prayer – 16 – 18 November. Douai Abbey, Woolhampton, Reading

Prayer Network – August edition

Trumpet Call – August edition

The Communications Team have been meeting regularly all year. Since launching the new website we have turned our attention to all the different ways we communicate within the Community. Our first job was to re-vamp the newsletter, hopefully to make it more easy to read and in line with the web-site. If you have any comments on this newsletter then please do leave them.

“It wasn’t what I was expecting”. ‘That’s what you’ve said about every Maranatha retreat or conference you’ve been on’ I was told by a friend. Maybe that’s because it sums up very well what a Maranatha Weekend is all about – allowing God to do what He wants, being willing to listen to what He’s saying and to allow the structure and content to fit in with His agenda.

“The Silence of the Desert” weekend at the beautiful Beachwood Court in Conwy was no different. I arrived just before tea on the Friday evening looking forward to a weekend of mainly silence and quietness similar to the Light out of Darkness Retreat I had taken earlier in the year, but this weekend was different. Although there were periods of silence together, quite a bit of time made available to go off on one’s own, and it was quieter than many other Maranatha weekends, there was opportunity to chat over meals and other times. There were a number of planned sessions on contemplative prayer, with excellent input from our two leaders Ann and Karin. In fact there was a good balance between learning about this kind of praying and actually doing it. The times spent worshipping together, and the early morning prayers, were also highlights.

For me the weekend was a time of affirmation to what God has been doing in me over the past months and a challenge to continue to meet him, both in silence alone, and as a member of his family. A good weekend!

Heather (from Manchester)

The weekend in Plymouth was entitled "The plans and purposes of God for my life". It quickly became apparent that this theme centred on our intimate relationship with God as our Father (Abba) and that the plans and purposes of God were all about us coming into a greater understanding of how much we are loved and how good God our Father is. The weekend was led in a gentle and thoughtful manner, leaving ample space for each of us to listen and encounter God for ourselves. In the time of sharing which followed the periods of silence, it was very evident that God had been at work at a deep level in the hearts of many individuals. We were reminded too, that fruit grows only as we remain in that deep place of union with the Lord.
We found it to be a rich time of fellowship with the Lord and with one another.

Richard and Heather (from Somerset)

The latest issue of Spotlight – News and Views for Local Groups, by Local Groups, has been issued today and can be downloaded here.

In this issue, news from:

Nottingham Group
Flixton (3rd Friday)
Sheffield
Wakefield
Chiswick
Scotland
The “Feed my Sheep” weekend hosted by the Marches Group,
and a welcome to the new West Dartmoor Maranatha Group.

Click on the comments button to read what other folk are thinking and to give us your thoughts. If you are a member of a Maranatha Local Group then perhaps you might like to contribute to the next issue – just email George and Mary who produce Spotlight.

We’ve just received this report from Kate Stanway who was at the Feed my Sheep weekend run by the Marches Group:

It was a wonderful weekend of love, healing, renewal and unity; knowing that we were being shepherded by the Great Shepherd of the Sheep – the Good Shepherd Himself. The testimonies at the end were a tribute not only to Him but to the blessing of the Maranatha Community in this nation. We all felt so bound together in His love through being part of the Body of Christ in Maranatha.

I had a real sense, in my own heart, that the Lord was moving to heal hearts from spiritual, emotional and physical sickness. Jesus binds up the broken-hearted. Psalm 23 was a great blessing to us at the weekend.

Ros Dodd says, ‘The sheep were well fed in the Marches weekend and returned to their own folds restored and renewed. For all involved, comfort zones became a thing of the past as people did things for the first time or realised that they could still do them! Many thanks to Jim Dainty who shepherded us, and to the great Shepherd whose presence was so real with us.’

RUN, RUN, RUN, SIT, SIT, SIT

is the headline article in the latest Maranatha Newsletter – Issue 118 (March 2009).

At the annual Maranatha Community ‘leaders’ gathering, which was attended by around 85 members involved in different aspects of the life of the Community, we spent time in prayer, praise and listening together. We were built up in loving fellowship and by mutual encouragement. Jonathan Oloyede, a Nigerian missionary to this country, joined us for the Saturday morning. He spoke this word for the Community – “Run, sit, run, sit, run run run, sit, sit, sit”. We are to run with a message to awaken the people of God. We need to sit to receive this message, own it in our hearts, then run with it. God will give us everything as we sit and wait in order for us to run.

Click here to download the full March edition of the maranatha newsletter

With the mailing for this newsletter we also sent out details about our Weekends and Retreats.
Click here for details of Weekends and Retreats – together with booking forms.