There are also opportunities to go into schools, start kids clubs in the churches and hold coffee mornings, etc.

These are early days and the ministry is just taking off but it is very exciting and we trust that the Lord will bring those in to accomplish the task and prepare people to receive the Gospel message.

UPDATE 5th April 2012

We have just returned to Wales after a very enjoyable visit to Highworth at the weekend.  We were able to go to 3 services and catch up with people on Sunday and also go to the Lent Lunch held in the Methodist Church on Wednesday before returning.  It was good to be back at St. M's.  Our son  Simon is now back living in Highworth after his two and half years in Senegal, West Africa.  He started work on Monday 2nd April 2012 in Swindon.

. The FoodBank project is going well with local a store in Maesteg (South Wales) getting behind the scheme and we have permission to have a 4ft collection box placed at the exit to the store where customers can donate non-perishable food.

. School assembly - we are able to go into the local school regularly to take assembly and it is good to get to know the children and for them to talk to us as we wander around the village.

. Church Coffee Morning - we are pleased that we have been able to start up and run a coffee morning in one of the village chapels. This has been very popular with church folk as well neighbours and friends coming into the church.  We supply quizes and puzzles and also there is a time of Bible reflection as an outreach. For some it is the first time they have been into the Chapel.

. Linking with local people - we are pleased to be undertaking ministry out of Peniel Evangelical Church, Maesteg as community evangelists.  

. Church youth group - we are really enjoying helping each Friday evening at the club for young people held in the church room.

. We often are asked to take the services at Tabor Chapel in our village playing our guitars for a time of worship, prayer and delivering the message.

. There is a great need to bring young families back into the chapels and churches of Wales - much prayer needed.

UPDATE 1st Feb 2012

The Bridgend Borough Food Bank - Maesteg branch opened it's doors last Friday (11am to 3pm) out of Peniel Church.  With volunteers from a number of local churches we enjoyed getting to know each other as we weighed in and dated and stored cans of food, cereals etc.  We welcomed a number of clients and folk chatted to them as their emergency food supply was packed.  At 2pm MP Irranca-Davies came to see the centre along with a number of councilors and were very encouraging and supportive.  As we closed doors at 3pm the volunteer team joined together for prayer for those clients and their families that came in on the day. 

UPDATE 15th Nov 2011

There is a new Food Bank project planned to operate out of Peniel Church, Maesteg.  As a team, we are hoping to get it up and running at the beginning of December as there is a great need in the town and the villages around.  Pauline has finished her work and the Christian Bookshop in Cardiff will close in January after nearly 50 years of witness.  This is sad but there is an intention to open up a ministry centre run by local churches which will include a coffee bar and bookshop in the centre of Cardiff later in 2012. We are currently looking at other opportunities of ministry both in Maesteg and in our village so these are exciting times. Watch this space!

Carrie is working full time as a dispenser in a Swansea pharmacy and her husband Shaun is studying and both are very busy with outreach in their church and with the youth work.  Jo continues to work in the office of a family run business and Nathan is teaching and is a classroom assistant and both are part of the music group in their church and frequently lead worship.  Simon is back in Dakar, the capital of Senegal serving as a Wec Treker, after coming to the UK for his sister's wedding.  He is currently involved in the construction of a pastors house, along with other ministries and is due to return to the UK in the next couple of months.

UPDATE 12th July 2011
We have now just finished our latest Christianity Explored Course held in our home, before taking a break over the summer holidays.   Everyone had a great time of fellowship and learning, provoking many good discussions and a thirst for more.  Great food as well!  (For information the 2011 Edition of Christianity Explored is now available, still headed up by Rico Tice and well worth investigation.)

Pauline and I have been going into our local school weekly on a Wednesday morning to take assembly and we are pleased to be able to continue that into the next academic year.  It has been exciting and the local kids are getting to know us as we walk around the village.

We are in the process of planning outreaches for the coming year starting in September.  In addition to what we are now doing, a number of suggestions have been offered to the village chapels from our church in Maesteg.  This includes the possibility of five or six special events that would be aimed specifically at families outside of the church, with door to door invitations and posters etc.  As yet the churches have not taken a decision on this and we have been asked to a meeting in the next couple of weeks to talk about it.  One of the village chapels is very central and would be ideal for outreach, kid's clubs etc. but we are uncertain at present if they see this as a part of their vision.

We continue with our part-time jobs with Alan in the Cardiff Christian Bookshop in the city centre and Pauline as a Care Co-ordinator for adults with severe learning disabilities in Swansea.

Every Blessing,  Alan & Pauline

UPDATE 17th May 2011
We continue to pray for all aspects of ministry here which, as in many parts of the UK, continues to be very difficult.  Church attendance continues to decline and the next generation are hearing little or nothing of the love of Jesus for them.

Pauline and I continue to seize opportunities to share the Gospel and have been more encouraged recently as we have been asked to take a number of services where there would not have been a visiting minister available for the Sunday services in the local chapels.  We also had the opportunity to take part in the morning service held at Harborne Baptist Church recently.  Their focus of the day was on the BibleFresh initiative for 2011 where church members are encouraged to read the Bible more and to look at mission both locally and further afield.  One specific feature is the encouraging and supporting the work of translating the Bible into Bissa Barka which is the local language of a peoples group in the south-east Burkina Faso.  We had spent a short time in this area of Burkina and were able to give some first hand knowledge of the work of the Gospel there and the real need to have the Bible in this dialect.

We continue to have a meeting most weeks in our house, looking at different aspects of the Bible and of the Christian life in a relaxed way and over a light lunch!

One exciting development is that there is a possibility that we can link up with a church 15 minutes down the road from us.  They have succeeded in reaching folk from the local area and have a flourishing Sunday School and links with young people and mid-week Mums and Toddlers meetings etc. We will be interested in knowing more of the ways that they have managed to impact into the "valley" community, help where we can and see if the Lord opens up similar opportunities in our village.

Watch this space!

Alan & Pauline