BOB AND MARY BAIN CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER  December 2011Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus!

We do really enjoy living in the borough of Havering,right on the edge of London. It suits us fine,as both Mary and I like country walks and there are open fields and woods just five minutes away, in one direction, and built-up streets in the other. We get this great view from a hill nearby into Central London. You can see Canary Wharf, and in the middle you can even make out the London Eye ! God’s harvest field laid out before us. It’s especially wonderful with the fireworks on Bonfire night in November. There are rockets popping up and bursting into colour all over!

Family News.   Vicky and Abigail are now 14 and 15 respectively, and go to a local Christian School.  They are both involved in taking GCSE’s this year. Matthew aged 17 is at Sixth form College studying A levels in Maths Chemistry and Accounting. They are all doing well, academically, and walking with Jesus! Please pray for their future plans. Esther, about to hit 21, is a wonderful young lady working hard at Glasgow University, studying English and Drama. Joe is teacher training in Bristol, and this year, living in the same house as Dave. Jonathan and Dolly will be celebrating two years married this Christmas. They are living in Melbourne, Australia, Dolly’s home country. Dave is busying away with his art work in Bristol – see davebain.com for examples of his work. Recently we enjoyed seeing him painting a Mural on DIY SOS.

Ministry News.   Mary has been helping to establish a food bank in Rainham for families and individuals in crisis, and is also a trustee for another in Harold Hill which is about to open. This week was very exciting as they had their first client, after being open for two Mondays! The whole team were encouraged and thanking God!

 We are looking to launch  Healing on the Streets in another area this coming year. Mary has recently done the Healing Rooms training – you  may be familiar with this? The International Student work is continuing at UEL. We have helped set up a Student Union society and others now take the lead in this work. Our main focus this year in Welcome Network has been with churches rather than campus work. We counted up that we had worked with seventeen different individual churches over the last couple of years providing input and encouragement. We feel that God is using us to bring healthier ways of working together as churches. God’s heart is for every nation, tribe, people and language to feel a sense of welcome and belonging in this amazing thing called God’s family. Our team and partners has been growing this year, and the multicultural ministry networking day we held in November reflected this. We are joining with some of our partners to host a conference on Multicultural Issues next April (28^th). Locally, we have also been seeing greater participation in leadership fraternals and projects by black-led churches.

We continue to participate in several national forums and gatherings. It’s a real treat to go away with others to some big old house and let some one else do the cooking!

God is providing, and we want to thank especially those of you who have prayed for us, and financially supported our work this year. You have been a big blessing!

God is stirring up our hearts to be thirsty for Him. Keep pressing in to His wonderful love and warmth! There is nothing like a personal relationship with Jesus to blow away the religious cobwebs and empty vanity fairs of this age. His love is better than life!   We pray that you and your family will have a totally amazing Christmas and New year, that the love and joy of Jesus will surround you always.

Bob and Mary xxxx

129 Clockhouse Lane, Romford RM5 3QU, UK

+44 1708 736156  landline       +44 7988564299   cell

welcomenetwork.org

Welcome Network is affiliated to Churches in Communities International, a member of the Free Churches Group.

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