Witness in Wigan
From 16-22 May, Jireh Baptist Church, Wigan, enjoyed a week of activities led by Steve Burton and James Chittenden of the Open-Air Mission (OAM).
The theme for the week was ‘The speaking Book’, linked to the 400th anniversary of the Authorised Version of the Bible. This included a children’s Bible club each evening, with a parents’ evening on the Friday.
Numbers at the children’s club peaked at 40, but sadly attendance at the parents’ evening was lower than in previous years. Also included were an evangelistic meal on the Saturday entitled ‘Why believe the Bible?’ and special services on the Sunday.
The OAM Bible exhibition was taken into a local school on the Tuesday afternoon. On the Wednesday and Thursday afternoons it was put up in the church hall for classes from a different school to attend.
In this way, more than 100 children heard the message of the Bible. Church members dressed up as Bible characters and acted out the story of their character (although no Oscars were awarded!).
We also took our literature table to the local shopping area on Friday morning and held an open air service there on the Saturday morning. Several interesting conversations resulted from these activities.
The whole church was encouraged by the week, especially by the excellent work of two young men from the OAM.
Pam Thomas
