Dear Partners and Friends of Welcome Network

AWAKE   Ps 57:8   ‘Awake, my soul, Awake, Harp and Lyre! I will awaken the dawn.’

 We are sensing that God is waking us up to what He wants to see happening through His people in 2021. Bob has picked up his guitar, and we have both been spending much more time in worship. We feel there is a definite link between worship and mission. In Acts 13:1-3, as believers worshipped and prayed together, it became clear to them what God wanted them to do next.

So, in the days leading up to Christmas let’s be alert for unexpected surprises! Just before the first Christmas, not many people expected the final window of their Advent calendar, to reveal a baby lying in some straw! Get ready for the new and unexpected gifts and purposes God may have for us in 2021!

OUR VILLAGE – Please pray for the goodness of God to impact our village, Shilbottle, as we post different residents singing a verse from a carol each day during advent on the village Facebook page.  It has been been really fun- like carol singing in reverse, as we have gone to people’s front doors and filmed them singing on Mary’s phone! Also, we will be delivering a Christmas gospel magazine and a lovely Christmassy prayer card to each of the eight hundred houses in the village.

 Having successfully applied for planning permission, we will be getting a community noticeboard erected alongside our property early in 2021. This will help to highlight local village events alongside those being done by local churches and other Christian organisations.

REGIONALLY IN NORTHUMBERLAND AND TYNESIDE – Over the autumn we hosted with others a number of regional events on zoom around prayer, worship and the prophetic, as well as one on creativity in mission. The latter brought together those engaged in mission and church planting across Northumberland and the Borders for an hour of encouragement and sharing. We hope to do similar events next year.

LAUNCHING AFTER LOCKDOWN – Our book is an encouragement to launch out of lockdown from a deeper place of intimacy with God, and with a better understanding of what might be next. It is available from https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=mary+bain&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss, and would make a great gift to uplift someone this Christmas.

GLOBAL CHRISTIAN NET AND MEDIA WORK – At this time, we are working internationally with others, to bring together a regular online discipling event, called Global Christian Net. Our aim is to help scatterings of Christians around the world to support what God is doing in their nation, and in particular to consider, where appropriate, the planting of new church expressions. A launch is planned for Sunday 10^th Jan 2021. Please let us know if you are interested in being involved in this.

We are also assisting our friend Laura Rumley in a new series, Praying with Power, – looking at the Lord’s prayer. Programmes are being released on IPAA TV over the next few months.

THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT AND PRAYERS. If you have benefitted from our work as Welcome Network, and have not considered supporting us financially before, you may want to consider doing so. This can be one-off, or a regular gift – see details at the end of this newsletter.

We are very grateful for our present base of supporters, who God has prompted to help us. Please  pray for us that we will hear what God is saying and be a blessing in the North East, the UK and in the Nordic countries. We would love to keep in touch, and let us know how we can pray for you!

Much Love and a very Happy Christmas!

    Bob and Mary Bain XXX

Welcome Network, 29 Grange Road, Shilbottle, Alnwick NE66 2XN; Mob: 07988564299 e-mail:  bobbain@hotmail.co.uk;  See our website blog for ministry news and info : welcomenetwork.org. To support our work, please send gifts to Welcome Network, HSBC sort code   40-16-11 A/C no. 22141965 or use link https://www.give.net/welcomenetwork/oneoff

Dear Partners and Friends of Welcome Network
NEW LIFE
We have been celebrating the births of some babies!
Our newest grandson, Ollie was born on 1st February to Joe and Emily. It was such a joy to meet him on the day he arrived! Also, one of our Welcome Network team members, Michael Osinibi, and his wife Nancy, are celebrating the arrival of twins- a boy and a girl, this June!
We were due to visit Australia in March to see another son, Jonathan, his wife Dolly and their two little boys, Edward and Henry, but sadly the flights were all cancelled. The good side of this was that we were able to be in our village over the lockdown, to help with the local response to the corona virus.
We have been one of the member organisations in the Shilbottle mutual aid group.  We co-ordinated with the local council their response, and have been their ‘legs’ regarding meal distribution to some of the elderly. We also held a zoom equivalent of a prayer walk for our village, during the lockdown.
Regionally, we have partnered with some other organisations to host two Prayer Net events via zoom, praying for our region of Northumberland and Tyneside.

GLOBAL ZOOM EVENTS!

During the corona lockdown, we have hosted three special global zoom events. Two of which we called ‘Back to First Love’, aimed at  encouraging us to take time out with Jesus, and fall in love with Him again. Each time, we had a repeat meeting later in the day, in order to better catch the time zones. We had a wonderful time together of sharing and prayer with people with whom we network, across the whole globe. Some of these were former international students from our university chaplain days. We connected with friends from Tahiti to Taiwan, and a few places in between.

The third event we called Launching after Lockdown. (see our RESOURCES page for Prophetic insights and Picture and text for The Potter shaping us) Our intention was to allow people an opportunity to reflect on what may be ahead for them, after the lockdown. We have also published a book, called Launching after Lockdown. You may want to check this out! (available on Amazon)

The picture is on the front cover – We are safe in the plane, taking off from the runway. Behind us there is a spectacular explosion – something that God has been doing in us, and through us, during this time.

MINISTRY IN FINLAND
We made another ministry visit to Finland in January, mostly connecting with leaders in Helsinki. We have been relating with the Evangelical Alliance, and citywide, with those who are involved in mission and prayer. During our visit, we were encouraging churches in one part of the city to come together for a united prayer walk, drawing on our own experience of prayer walking some London boroughs, in recent years. We also spent time developing our relationship with various churches who want to reach the city with the gospel.

Last, but not least we want to thank God for all of you, our Welcome Network team and supporters  – you have been a great blessing!

Thank you for your prayers and financial giving.It has all helped, and we appreciate so much, your input into our lives.

Much love
from
Bob and Mary Bain XXX