September 15, 2011
Tarik’s story
As you might expect the Coventry foodbank project elicits many comments and opinions from the general public, sometimes not positive. We frequently collect at supermarkets around the city and shoppers will stop and have conversations with us about the project.
The most common question is ‘who is this food going to?’
I quite instinctively know where this conversation is going. A recent Daily Mail article about the plight of 23 families whose children go Frederick Bird highlighted the prejudice. The article twisted a genuine need for food by 150 people into a jingoistic article on benefit scroungers. The article (which will be the subject of a press complaint) was a malicious twist of the truth into a lie.
Who is the food going to? Well the simple answer is; people in crisis in Coventry. 2,000 mouths fed in the first six months. And no you haven’t misread that, there isn’t an extra ‘0’ here. But sometime… [more]
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April 07, 2011
Five years ago, I was working for Coventry City Council as a Neighbourhood Manager as part of a national project working in deprived city areas. It was a job that did good things, but I was not really feeling fulfilled. I was living with my two children, then both aged under ten and we were still readjusting our lives after the sudden death of their dad two years previously. That death had obviously changed so many things for me – it brought my faith in God out of a coma, forced me to be more involved in a community and made me ask what really was I put on earth to do. If the kids’ dad’s purpose on this earth was complete at the age of 37… then what really was mine? What was my purpose? And how could I earn to provide for my kids and give them my time and influence as well?
I realised that some people don’t live lives that have real purpose, they do something that pays the bills, buys them the latest gad… [more]
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January 09, 2011
A Word Over Mosaic Church
Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide,do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.
For you will spread out to the east and to the west; your descendants will dispossess nations and settle in their desolate cities.
Isaiah 53 v 2 and 3
1: Enlarge your tent – God has breakthrough for you and the way to do this is to enlarge your tent.
2: Stretch your curtains wide – well if you do this then everyone can see in and see what you’re doing – so it’s kind of an invitation to let lots of people benefit from what we do in the Community.
3: Do not hold back – 2 Corinthians 9 v 7 he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, but he who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.
4: Lengthen your cords – God is able to do “exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or imagine, according to the power that works in u… [more]
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October 08, 2010
Claire Ison is mid-twenties, is on fire for God, consumes God’s word and wants to take God out into the community – she holds prayer and bible meetings in Wetherspoons in Bedworth and spends her summers in Ibiza getting alongside young people and telling them about Jesus! She is an answer to prayer and for those of you who have been praying for specific things for a long time without results, Claire is a testimony that prayer does work and that God has his own timing. Here is Claire’s story:
Early September is here at last. There is a saying amongst the working community out here in Ibiza: ‘if you can survive August in San Antonio you can survive anything,’ which is very true… We have our last two-week team coming this Sunday, so it’s time for a final push. I’m quite tired but I’m also enjoying what the Holy Spirit is doing through us… and still loving the Clubs…!
The Radio 1 weekend, one of my fave bits… [more]
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October 08, 2010
One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the freedom to be ourselves. Despite how we feel about ourselves, God never gives up on us. We are a work in progress.
We are also a song in progress. With great skill and ease, God continually weaves his magnificent words of hope into our hearts and wonderfully transforms our experiences into strong chords that blend together, and into a song that only we can sing. Our testimony becomes our very heartbeat, remaining the constant reminder that we are liberated by his mercy and grace. How cool is that?
Our son, Eliot, returned from Soul Survivor with renewed vision and energy. He said the song that made the most impression on him was You’re Beautiful by Phil Wickham.
Here’s a verse:
I see your face in every sunrise
The colours of the morning are inside your eyes
The world awakens in the light of the day
I look up to the sky and say… You’re Beautiful
An amazing song fr… [more]
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August 16, 2010
My father loves plums and one day went out to buy himself a plum tree. He went to the garden centre and selected a tree with ‘Plum tree’ written on it and drove home thinking about all the lovely plums he and his wife could eat, allow his children to eat and his grandchildren to eat. He got home and his wife dug a hole into which he planted the tree with lots of manure. In the spring one of his friends came visiting and he took her to see the plum tree that was now covered with blossom. ‘Stuart,’ said his friend, ‘this is a very rare and special plum tree and must be the only one in the world because unlike most plum trees, this one is covered in apple blossom.’
The story so far…
Eustace and Jill are not friends at their school, Experiment House, because Eustace is a bully and Jill is a victim. But when the pupils come back after a holiday Eustace is changed. He has stopped being a bul… [more]
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February 11, 2009
I would like to tell you about how things have completely changed for me since last September.
I think I had fallen away quite a lot and had given up really. My health matters were overriding everything, but I know that I had a calling at the end of last August/September to come to Mosaic, and I can truthfully say that it’s the best thing I have ever done. Everything I lost I have got back threefold. The people of Mosaic are amazing and it’s a joy to come on Sunday’s, and go on the walks and picnics.
It’s taken 10 years to find my place, but I know I’m here now. My health is improving as well, I suffer from panic attacks, stress and anxiety. I found someone at Mosaic who also has suffered the same problems, so for the first time I have been able to share with someone who knows what I have been going through. When I think back to last September I was constantly feeling frightened, with pains in my chest and worried, which w… [more]
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February 10, 2009
I have heard this a lot:
“I don’t want to go to church because I don’t want to get brainwashed like all those guys in there.” This statement normally comes with a load of pretty tough questions about my faith, some of which I may have some kind of answer for and some for which I may have never even asked the question. On more than one occasion I have found myself thinking “have I ever even asked this question myself?”
While we do believe many things that we don’t understand there still remains some fundamental questions of faith that are right there every day. I have had periods where I have had to ask some big questions; Why is there still suffering? Is there even a God? Does he care for me? As I have grappled with, and continue to grapple with these, and other questions I have found that my faith has become stronger, not weaker.
Jesus encouraged his disciples to… [more]
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