Taking faith onto the streets

Encouraging article here about various public acts of witness over the Easter weekend

Cafe Project

A meeting of the project team for the cafe took place last night. For me, this has been one of the most exciting times in my time at Hilton Church, as we have seen the project "take wings" over the last 5 months. We are hopefully moving into the final phase of the project prior to construction. We are aiming to start the construction work in June and we have £60,000 to raise before then. One last push to get across the starting line!

Balloons on Easter Sunday

The picture is of last years service at Dores when the weather was a little kinder to us. Easter will not be this early again for 152 years, so hopefully the weather will be a little warmer next year! Gadget Vicar has some very colourful pictures of a release of balloons at St Silas' to celebrate Easter. Is this something we could do at Hilton? It's great to go to places like Dores to celebrate our faith publicly. It would be good to do something too in the immediate vicinity of the church. Any ideas?

speed and spirituality

A post from Jim Gordon to make you smile which you can read here

EASTER SUNDAY 2008

Easter Sunday 2008 was a wonderful day at Hilton Church. It began at 8am with an early morning service at Dores Beach (above) led by our youth group. They led the service brilliantly. The bacon rolls and hot drinks which followed were very welcome on such a cold morning. The morning continued with 2 very celebratory morning services at 10am & 11.30am, and the day closed with an uplifting praise service at 6.30pm.

One of my main reflections on Sunday, is the way it which so many people pulled together to make it such a memorable day. Thank you to everyone who made Easter Sunday 2008 a special one at Hilton Church. It's great to be a part of a church where so many people share their gifts so freely.

Duncan

BROKEN OPEN

Powerful poetry for Easter which you can see and read at
here

EASTER 2008

I'm back! I haven't blogged since leaving for Uganda in January. I seemed to be the main one contributing to the blog, so I wanted to step back and see what happened when I didn't blog! It's been pretty quiet! On Thursday the blog had its 1st birthday. I've enjoyed reading other peoples contributions over the past year, and I hope that in a variety of ways we can continue to stimulate sharing through this medium. There is just so much going on around Hilton Church these days.

On Thursday, we shared in a Passover meal as we remembered Jesus sharing bread and wine with his disciples on that first Maunday Thursday. Last night, we shared in a very special Communion service to mark Good Friday. In the time of waiting between Friday and Sunday, I have been deeply moved by a blog I read this morning

http://www.freshworship.org/node/517

Duncan

Jewels of Hope

Many thanks for the support given by folk on Sunday when £130 was raised for the Jewels of Hope project.
Jewels of Hope is a project of Love In Action, a Lesotho based organisation which supports, among other things, child-headed households. The youngsters meet weekly in groups, spend time looking at the scriptures and in worship, and learn to make new pieces of jewellery. They then take home materials to make another six pieces over the week.
The money that the children earn supports them and their families, and is often the only income that the household gets. The aim of the project is to keep the children as part of the local community rather than them finding themselves and their younger siblings in an institution or orphanage. Of the money raised, half goes towards buying more materials, postage costs and the likes, and the other half goes directly to the children.

Robyn

Fancy a Drink?

In the “old days” before belt-tightening I used to be obliged to attend a conference at Crieff Hydro each year. Oh it was hard! The luxury, the food, the pool…………the shirt and tie and jacket at dinner……………now that was hard!
Other little things caught my attention. The great black sooty cloud of ravens which used to become unsettled and circle at the same time every day. You could set your watch by them. Or by the sound of horses hooves on the road every morning at 6.30am as the accountant from the town came up to take his beast out to pasture for the day before going off to the office. And I enjoyed the morning walk before the cooked breakfast.
It was on my walk that I would visit the water fountain – a natural spring flowing freely for the thirsty and beside which was a text in stone “Whoever drinks this water will thirst again but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.” John 4:13. All very nice, but beside it one year was another text from the management – This water is unfit for human consumption!
Anyway, if you want a really refreshing drink definitely fit for human consumption, can I suggest “Mark for Everyone” by Tom Wright. Having read Mark on and off for 31 years it was utterly refreshing to read it with the clear, sparkling, conversational wisdom of Tom Wright.
Indeed, he has a whole series on the New Testament books, so you if you are in the mood for huge draughts put your mouth to the pipe.
Colm

Training Event on Monday 10th March 2008

I am organising a training event on Monday 10th March, from 7.30pm in the church.

This event is for everyone involved in childrens/youth work within Hilton Church. So if you are involved with creche, Kingdom Kids, Sunday Club, Teenscene, Nitelife, Hyphop, Holiday Club, MYC or Refuel then this event is for you. (This includes all you young folk in Teenscene and Nitelife AM)

Training will cover an update on Child Protection issues within our church which will be led by Elaine. This will be for everyone. Then there will be two other sessions, one on Mentoring and the other on being an effective leader/helper.

Please put this important date in your diary. I would be grateful if you could let me know if you will be attending this training event, so I know who won't be able to attend and to make sure they get the relevant notes from the event.

Thanks folks. Look forward to hearing from you. Any questions please just ask.

Chris Watt

email: chris@hiltonchurch.org.uk

Music

For anyone who loves good music here is a web-site worth exploring: www.igracemusic.com
Here you will find some of the old classic Hymns set to modern music.
Listen to 'Praise my soul the king of heaven' a couple of times and feel your spirit being lifted!
Barry

Matthew 16 - Homegroup material to support Hector's sermon

Click on the following link to download Hector's supporting Bible study material for homegroup next week. Bible commentary notes can also be found here.
Stuart

Home Group material for this week

Follow this link to download the material for this weeks homegroup.
Stuart

The Lord Provides

This past fortnight has been a good week for the fundraising around the Hilton Cafe Project. Not only did we get good news from Highland Council and have a positive visit from The Robertson Trust, on Wednesday I received a letter from The Gannochy Trust offering us £20, 000 towards our capital costs. Things are starting to take shape on the funding front at the moment but we still have a bit to go. Pray that our efforts will bear fruit over the next few months as we tighten up on costs and get closer to the scaffolding going up. Pray also for a clear focus for us as we start to think about staffing the centre and addressing the costs around this crucial aspect of the project.
The picture for this post is a handful of Mustard seeds which I thought apt after Jamie's sermon on Sunday. The image means a lot to me as we pull together some very small ideas about the manse and hold them in our hands expecting, in faith, that they will grow into big change within our community.
Stuart.

Bible Study Material

Thanks to Barry for passing through notes for this weeks Bible study on Matthew 13. You can download the material here.
Stuart

Hilton Community Cafe Project

This week was a big week for our Cafe project. On Monday I met with Highland Council to provide representation for our application for funding. The outcome of that meeting was a £45, 000 award of funding. On Wednesday, myself and Colm met with The Robertson Trust who were very impressed with the plans for the premises and also the ongoing work of both Chris and Colm in the community. We heard that our plans matched well with Robertson Trusts funding criteria and that they were optimistic that our application would be received well by the Trustees when they next consider proposals in March. Our project will be put forward with a recommendation of a sum of £10, 000 be awarded towards our development. Some way still to go but we have had a very positive week.
Prayer still required!
Stuart

Street Pastors on the streets

Last night saw three teams of Street Pastors pounding the streets of our city centre. I left the house at nine o'clock, my heart pounding with a mixture of excitement and trepidation. Having met up with the prayer team, we set off in teams of four from the Old High Church hall, our pockets bulging with space blankets, flip-flops, personal alarm, a little money and mobiles.
It was an incredible night--everybody was so friendly towards us. There was no problem starting conversations with the many young folk and it was so encouraging that conversations naturally (or should I say supernaturally turned to faith, the meaning of life, Jesus and God)
We helped a fair number of people from giving blankets to the half-clothed girls to helping an unconcious young man get to hospital. We didn,t get home till quarter past four. Yes, I was whacked, but what a privelege to bring the love of Jesus to the streets. I can't wait till next Friday to do it again and go to the Market Bar to hear Fay sing at 11 o,clock. She shared her kebab with me in pouring rain in the middle of Church Street at one in the morning. God bless her!
Many other stories.
I know many of you are praying for the Inverness Street Pastors and for Ingrid and myself and I certainly was very much aware of that because God was definitely there last night. I felt entirely safe, confident and everybody we met were so appreciative of our presence on the streets. So thank you for your prayers. Ingrid goes out tonight and it will be interesting to hear her stories. Keep praying that the peace of God will rule on the streets of our city and that a generation of young people will come to experience his love and grace.
It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready ,even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night. Luke 12v. 38
Doda

Street Pastors

Ingrid Hutchison and Doda Dennis, two of our elders, have been training to be street pastors since September. Street Pastors was launched at the Town House tonight, so I went along to give them my support and to find out more. Mark Hadfield, the organisation's leader in Inverness gave a very inspiring address outlining the motivation behind street pastors and the benefits that have been seen in communities across the UK. It's great to see the Christian churches coming together to serve the city in such a practical way. The street pastors are out on the streets from 10pm-3am next Friday night, so do remember them in your prayers.

Books for Lent

Last Sunday morning, I said I would post a list of books which I could particularly recommend. I am concious that out of the hundreds of books I have read over the years, there are probably not that many which I could be confident that most people would enjoy. The feedback from the book reviews last Sunday have highlighted for me the value of regularly reviewing books both on Sundays and using mediums like this blog. Thanks to Philip and Margaret for sharing their books reviews. It would be great to hear from many more people over the coming weeks and months. Here is a very short list of a few books which I have found especially inspiring over the years.

If you want to walk on water, you've got to get out of the boat. (John Ortberg)

Prayer (Richard Foster)

Celebration of Discipline (Richard Foster)

What's so amazing about grace (Philip Yancey)

During Lent this year, I am going to read Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard.

Congregational Board

I am just back from this evenings Board meeting. Over a time span of one and three quarter hours, we covered a massive amount of ground. We are facing huge challenges at the moment in relation to upgrading the buildings. There were reports on fire and safety, health and safety and disability access. (and that was only a fraction of the business covered!)To comply with all the relevant legislation will be very costly, but I'm sure we'll get there. What struck me most tonight as I looked around the room was how fortunate we are at Hilton to have such a skilled and committed team of people to deal with all these matters. Our Board members give countless hours of their time to ensure that the congregation's properties and finances are well looked after. If you're a member of the Board and reading this, I just wanted you to know that I deeply appreciate all your efforts.
DM