Category: News

In 2 Corinthians 8 Paul writes “But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you­­—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” Kings is a church that excels in so many ways including our giving. Thank you once again for the ongoing generosity of those who have made Kings their home through tithes and offerings—we do not take it for granted.

Recently it has been good to remind ourselves that we are all about introducing people to Jesus. That’s our heart and our calling. For the past thirty years, we have been putting Jesus front and centre. We passionately believe meeting Jesus changes everything. He called us to make disciples of nations. This is massive. Not just the one’s or two’s, but entire people groups. We want to see nations changed by meeting Jesus.

This gift day is an opportunity for us all to give what we can to kick-start new and ongoing initiatives. Giving to God is one of the most exciting things we are called to in life: it honours him and puts him first, it blesses communities, and resources the Church. If you have not been a regular contributor or this is your first time giving at Kings, thank you for joining us on a journey of generosity together.

As a church we would love to raise £80,000 and use the money to:

• Launch a weekly live stream for people who have never met Jesus to meet him for the very first time.
• Establish an evening meeting aimed predominantly at students and twenties to ensure the gospel is well presented in a culturally relevant and accessible way for young people.
• Update some of the physical spaces at HP including the Connect Lounge, Vivo Cafe Bar and even fix our doors into the main auditorium.
• Every week hundreds of parents, babies, toddlers, teenagers, kids and older people use this building. We want to make their experience as welcoming as possible with refurbished entrance zones and new furniture available within the spaces used.
• Finally, we want to invest in our prayer room and ensure it is established for years to come in a new dedicated space in the building with access for 24-7 use.

Here’s an idea… if you currently pay your council tax over 10 months, you won’t be making a payment in February or March — would you consider making one/two extra payments, not to the local council for all of its services but to this church to kick-start the projects above and ultimately introduce more people to Jesus. We’re called to be a blessing to the nations and a welcoming community to all. We can’t wait to see the fruit of the money we bring today impacting lives for years to come.

You can give directly into our 2019 Kickstarter Gift Day for Hampden Park online here, or on Sunday 3rd and 10th March via cash, card or cheque.

We are so encouraged by all that is happening at Kings Centro and this is down to every single member of the church playing their part and getting stuck in – leading groups or Sunday teams, pastoral support, prayer, Centro Lounge activities, social action involvement and so much more, including generous financial giving.

However, we are all aware that most people living and working in the town wouldn’t even know we’re here and have no idea who Jesus really is and the relevance he brings to all our lives.

On a Sunday a couple of weeks ago, we heard the story of the four men who bought their paralysed friend to Jesus. They overcame all the obstacles in front of them, and broke through the roof to lower their friend on a stretcher to Jesus. The rest of the story is wonderful, because Jesus both forgave and healed the paralysed man—his life completely changed by Jesus. That’s what we’re about, bringing people to Jesus, and he does the rest!

Centro was launched in the heart of the town centre with a clear vision to become a church home for those from other nations. Bourne School, which is located just around the corner from where we meet at the Hippodrome, has students who speak 37 different first languages and for over fifty percent of the children, English is an additional language. Those children represent families who live within a short walk from Centro and who know very little or nothing about Jesus.

We want to pick up a bunch of stretchers and rip a load more tiles of the roof so that families and children can be introduced to Jesus.

With this in mind, we would love to fund a Cross-Cultural Worker, initially for a year, but with the view to making this a yearly placement with the sole purpose of significantly expanding what we are already doing at Centro.

We’d also love to start a weekly international café in Centro Lounge, activities for children and also help those already part of Centro to find their place in the church.

Here’s an idea… if you currently pay your council tax over 10 months, you won’t be making a payment in February or March — would you consider making one/two extra payments, not to the local council for all of its services but to Kings Centro to fund Cross-Cultural Mission, launch an international café, build bridges to the families of those attending Bourne and ultimately introduce more people to Jesus.

You can give directly into our 2019 Kickstarter Gift Day for Kings Centro online here, or on Sunday 3rd and 10th March via cash, card or cheque.

She oversees all the planning ideas and documentation so the teachers are sometimes working very long hours. The education department have also insisted on a fully qualified teacher being employed at the school. She will start work in January and take on some of the administrative duties. We are hoping she will take on the responsibility of writing reports on individual children and events at the school and relay them back to the UK on a regular basis.

The change in the curriculum is quite worrying because all of the teaching had been focused around Bible stories and characters but Samu has assured us that they have kept as much of the Christian content as possible and continue to add in stories from the Bible during free periods and maintain the Christian ethos of the school. We will be interested to see how it is all working out when we visit in March with Graham and Belinda.

Rhey have also had challenges with break-ins to the church building where the school meets. The last one resulted in the CD player being taken along with some dollies!

↑   Sitting outside of the museum.

↑   Ma Phiri and children in front of a stuffed Kudu in the museum.

Despite all of this the teachers try to maintain the high standard of education we expect from them and in November they took the children to the local Museum, a small zoo and swimming in the local pool. A unique experience for most of them. Very few children in Zim swim as it is a landlocked country and suffers from water shortages so we would have loved to have been there to see their faces!

At the beginning of December the ECD “B” children graduated and will start at the Primary school at the beginning of January. The graduation ceremony is always a “big” occasion for the school and especially the children. They perform for their parents and various dignitaries and receive a certificate to say that they have completed two years of early years education.

Sadly, the only video that successfully came through is of the children greeting the parents!

↑   The children preparing to go home on the combi (bus).

The teachers and children now have a well earned break for a few weeks which is their summer holiday. Please pray for rain for them as up to now they have had none. They plant their maize at the end of November, in anticipation of the first rains but so far there has been nothing so the seed will just shrivel.

There are 24 children registered on the waiting list for January so we are in need of a lot more sponsors! So please spread the news to friends and family. It is easy to register — you can sign up by filling out this simple form:

Inkosi Kids Sign-up Form
 

We hope this letter has kept you informed and inspired you to keep supporting the project.Please keep praying for your children in these uncertain times in Zimbabwe and also for the teachers and Taurai, the pastor of the church. They need wisdom and the Holy Spirits guidance to lead these children in the ways of God and support them in, sometimes, very challenging home situations.

To find out more about our child sponsorship program in Zimbabwe visit our Inkosi Kids webpage.