It is amazing how much can happen in one calendar year, and 2011 certainly has been a busy one in the life of SBC!
January saw us host our 4th annual Snowball, which with the help of an auction raised a fantastic £2800 for The Ark Family Centre and their new outdoor play area. It was a wonderful event and a great opportunity to support and bless the children at The Ark. We also spent some time in January thinking about 'What are you and God working on together?', which was a really great mini series helping us to think about some of the things God is doing in the life of SBC and its community.
February began with the introduction to our theme for 2011 'Transformed by Hunger', which has been proven to be very challenging. To coincide with the theme for 2011 we started our 'Meeting the Saviour' series based on the book of the same title by Derek Tidball. In a near perfect symbolic act of being truly transformed by hunger, two of the SBC community were baptised, something that is always very special in the life of the church!
March witnessed 15 of the gents from SBC travel down to Cambridge for the day to attend the Ascend Men's Conference. That is except the two who went the night before to avoid the early morning start! They all had a brilliant time and 25 tickets were purchased for the event in 2012, such is the confidence in it becoming a big event for the men at SBC.
April included our Easter period which was a great success, and also our annual Spring Conference held in Wetherby. The weekend involved more than 50 of the church members and friends going away and spending a significant amount of time praying, learning, sharing and growing as fully devoted followers of Christ. It was a wonderful time spiritually, but also an invaluable opportunity to connect and enjoy authentic fellowship.
May gave us an opportunity to take part in another mini series entitled 'Just Walk Across the Room', based on a book by Bill Hybels from Willow Creek Community Church, Chicago. The series was a great success, and we saw such demand and interest in the series that extra opportunities to discuss and develop the topics needed to be organised. I think we can all agree that it was a series that caused a great shift in the life of the church, and had a huge impact on many people. The month ended with Rich & Alex preparing to go on sabbatical for the summer, with Iain Drysdale alongside Paul Clark and the Leadership Team helping guide and lead the church over the summer months.
June began with several of the SBC ladies returning from 'Cherish', a conference held by Abundant Life in Bradford. They came back full of energy and excitement for what God is doing, and had been greatly blessed having been treated so well by the team in Bradford. June also included Tom and Debbie MacDonald graduation from Mattersey Hall Bible College and returning permanently to Scunthorpe. It was a great ceremony and many of the SBC community were able to attend.
July , as is the custom every year, many of the church attended the summer conference New Wine, some staying for the week and others visiting on day passes. Once again it was an exciting and vibrant time for so many people, and another vehicle which God used to speak in to the life of the church. The testimonies from the conference were amazing, and already many are booked in to go in 2012!
August saw Austin High, a young guy from Texas, come over to Scunthorpe so that he could work voluntarily for 15 months as a Youth Worker at SBC. After arriving and moving in with his host family, as well as catching up on jet-lag for a few days, he began preparing to start work with the SBC staff team at the start of September.
September soon came by and saw the staff team double to the size from over the summer! With Austin arriving, Rich returning from sabbatical and Tom starting full-time after his studies, the office was alive with activity. Later in the month SBC held its annual Autumn Conference, focusing on the topics of OFCs and Compassion-Based Ministries. During the day the SBC family sought after God and planned what might be the direction of these exciting ventures in the life of the church, and the staff team then set to work trying to make these great dreams and ideas happen.
October was an important time in the life of SBC, as it saw several OFC and Compassion-Based Ministries turn from ideas in to reality. Having already discerned that this is the vision and direction God has given to the church, it is exciting to see it begin to take shape and for great things to be happening outside of the 4 walls of the church! October was also an important time for Foodbank, with many local schools collecting for Harvest and contributing more than 2 tonnes of food to the Scunthorpe Foodbank.
November can only be remembered for one thing. The first ever Global Leadership Summit held in Scunthorpe. This is a project that had taken more than 3 years to be realised, and it was not a disappointment. With over 40 SBC volunteers and 135 delegates attending, the GLS was a great success and saw us influencing the lives of many leaders in our region, as well as the students from Mattersey Hall.
December of course has seen us planning and organising Christmas, as well as thinking ahead to 2012 at SBC. It has been a very busy time in the church, and is a special period where we always see a lot of friends, family and visitors. Please do pray for the Christmas celebration coming up in the next few weeks, and of course ...
2012 is looking like being the best year yet for SBC!
God bless
Tom MacDonald
Assistant Pastor
