Old Town Community Church Bringing Jesus to Old Town and Old Town to Jesus



Over 20 years ago, when I was going through one of my insecure, feeling inadequate phases, I found myself quite upset, and wondering who I was to the Lord – was I really just a number in his vast Book of Life? And if he called me by name, what name was that? Mrs Marriott? Sue, like the majority of people called me; Susan like a few old aunts I never saw (horrors!): or Susie like Jo, my mother and a few other intimates? Why didn’t I know? There didn’t seem any reply, and I eventually dried my tears, and got on with the day.

About 5 months later, I was at the last teaching session of a very powerful Leanne Payne Conference, where we had seen astonishing healings at a deep emotional level through the Sovereign work of God, without any human involvement! So Leanne was teaching on how babies can be affected emotionally in the womb, and unbidden to my mind came the remembrance of what a crushing disappointment to my father I had been at birth, as their first child, and a daughter. He had been convinced I was a boy – and not just any boy, but Richard, who would fulfil all the goals and dreams that had been stolen from him, and be his little companion in everything. In fact, instead of cooking with my mother, I did do the concreting with him, and plane wood and develop black and white photos etc. etc! Well the short teaching session finished, and we went into the final communion service, with the usual squares of cut bread and plastic beakers passed along the rows at large conferences – as I took the bread, I clearly heard in my mind, “You have never been Richard to me, you have always been Susie. You are no disappointment.” And I was clearly aware of Father God’s knowing of me in the womb (one of the reasons I so love Ps.139), and yes you’re right, it was tears time again, but this time joyous ones, as his healing affirming love washed all over me, inside and out. And now I knew the name he used for me too, which is why I proudly use the name for myself everywhere.

The Ancient Hebrew name for God, YHWH (in Hebrew spelled yud-hay-vav-hay), is never pronounced out loud in Judaism. The custom of substituting the word “God” with G-d in English is based on the traditional practice in Jewish law of giving God’s Hebrew name a high degree of respect and reverence. This all arises from the third of the Ten Commandments and the fear of misusing the name of God

Ex.20:7 ”You shall not use or repeat the name of the Lord your God in vain, that is, lightly or frivolously, in false affirmations or profanely; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” Or as the Message puts it “No using the name of God, your God, in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name.“ (What a far cry from our culture, when from the youngest to the oldest lips, the expletives “Jesus” and “God” jostle for position within every sentence it seems – shame on us!)

I read two interesting examples in Mark’s gospel of this respectful concern: firstly, on one of the occasions when the Pharisees came to try and trip him up, Jesus asked them, “Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” (11:30) “Heaven” was apparently a common Jewish term for God, often substituted for the divine name, to avoid a possible misuse of it. And then secondly, when Jesus was being tried before the Sanhedrin in ch.14:61 “But He kept still and did not answer at all. Again the high priest asked Him, Are You the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?” “The Blessed One” was a way of referring to God without pronouncing his name!

All of which seems rather strange to us. But a few days ago, I did ask the Lord what name he would like me to use for Him – full of deep respect and awe of course, but reflecting the close tenderness of relationship he is drawing me into more and more. No answer yet, but I await with excited anticipation!

At the beginning of the month, Jo and I visited a little Christian retreat centre in South Wales for 5 days – it’s described as being half way up a mountain side, though I think most would call it a hill, albeit a steep one!  The gardens and grounds are a delight, though being on a steep hillside they are somewhat rough and rugged underfoot, with the occasional outcrop of rock and are delightfully higgledy piggledy, with short mown grass paths through rough areas, enticing little wrought iron gates and tiny winding paths through tall heathers and shrubs.

No, not step aerobics, more a sort of spiritual exercise!

I was reading an article by Jill Briscoe this morning on the Philippians 2 passage on how Jesus stepped down from heaven, giving up his Kingship to humbly serve us: What a step! Jill’s message read something like this little song that came into my head

We’re 2 weeks into 2012 already, and probably many a new year resolution has gone the way of previous years before them! This morning at Alive @ The Drive, Erik got us thinking again about such things, and changes needed in our lifestyles through 5 interactive stations “you, God and 2012 sacred space”. And then Graham sent us off with Ps.65:11“The Lord crowns the year with His bounty”, and a Bounty bar!

As the deer pants for the water,
So my soul longs after You.
You alone are my heart’s desire
And I long to worship You.

I’ve been thinking more about Beattie, and how she came so unselfconsciously and naturally to Jesus, as a little, unaffected, spontaneous child would.

Mark 10:13-16

Do you remember the story of people bringing children to Jesus for Him to touch and bless them, and the disciples pompously shooing them away as though they were just a waste of space? Having well told off his disciples for not seeing the value of children, Jesus shocks everyone by saying that in fact children were ahead of the field and top in line “for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”

I’m not thinking of the sort that we entertain unawares, the kind that appear in the guise of man; and certainly not the chubby cherub variety, beloved of Raphael and artists and greeting card manufacturers; nor the pretty lace-gowned female sort that rival fairies in all the gift shops; I’m thinking of the mighty warrior and messenger angels of the Bible; of Archangels Michael and Gabriel, whose appearance paralyses people with awe and fear! There’s a fair sprinkling of them throughout the story of the nativity isn’t there, and what I’ve realised more this Advent, is that this awe and fear inspire a very ready obedience in those to whom the angels appear.

I just love the beautiful passage in Philippians 2 where Paul speaks of Jesus, who after all, had equal status with God Almighty, but instead of grasping or clinging onto all the advantages and radiant glory of heaven, no matter what, set aside all the privileges of deity, becoming human, firstly as a vulnerable newborn baby needing a warm breast and constant changing of soiled strips of cloth, and as an adult taking on the status of a lowly servant, extravagantly spending his whole life for others. What an incredible story line, rivalling any novel!

What has got me praying though, are the verses 3-5 before,

If I bake a Christmas cake & dozens of mince pies, but have not love,
I am just another harassed housewife.
If I decorate my house with outdoor fairy lights & a twinkling Christmas tree, but have not love,
I am just wasting electricity for no reason.
If I write a hundred Christmas cards & stick a news letter in each one, but have not love,
I only gain writer’s cramp.

Thinking about Isaiah’s stumps this week resonated with me. In Ch. 6 v.13, after Isaiah was awesomely given the prophetic commission to bring dire and scary warnings of judgement to rebellious Israel we read “Even if a tenth of the people remain there, the land will be completely destroyed again. But as a terebinth or oak tree leaves a stump when it is cut down, so Israel’s stump will be a holy seed.” I had to do a bit of Google research to find out what on earth a terebinth tree was, because they seem to crop up a lot in the Bible, only to find it’s sometimes called a turpentine tree! But I also discovered that it develops a very deep and extensive root system and therefore remains green even in years of drought, and that it often sprouts from the stump after being cut.

In order to keep growing, we need to keep living in the vulnerability of staying teachable. Hard that, when a part of us wants to appear as though we’ve got it all together, we’ve arrived; that we KNOW that! And when we admit we DON’T know that, there’s always the risk of appearing foolish!

On Sunday, it being the first Sunday in Advent, mention was made of looking forward to Jesus’s second coming, amongst many things, something Graham will be speaking on in a couple of week’s time.

When sitting on the grass of the Mount of Olives with his disciples one day, looking down across the Kidron Valley towards the Temple, Jesus alerted them to the dangers of deception. The whole chapter of Mark 13 is about the signs of the End of the Age, and how, if we don’t stand firm, we could so easily be deceived by false messiahs and prophets (v6 and v22). Jesus was very emphatic:v5 “watch out that no-one deceives you”, v9 “You must be on your guard”, v23 “So be on your guard”, v33 “Be on guard! Be alert”, v35 “Therefore keep watch”, v37 “Watch!”

You are my God and King,
And I put my trust in You.
O Lord, You know me through and through.
Lord, help me to be the person You created me to be,
To find the destiny You have laid out for me.

Why, Lord do you wait
Why do you let our enemies seem triumphant
Why, do you save your words of power for yet another day
While my tears flow and my heart ache?

A few weeks ago we asked people to write their own Psalms and bring them to share on a Sunday morning. We’ve typed some up and will put them here in the next few posts. If you brought one and would like it placed here for others to read please email it to Stephen.

So here’s the first one:

O Lord, my God, You are amazing!

Recently, I downloaded from iPlayer, 3 episodes of BBC 2′s “All Roads Lead Home”, where Stephen Mangan, Sue Perkins and Alison Steadman travelled the UK each week for a specific destination, each of them leading the other 2 on foot to their original home, but without any maps, sat.navs or compass, in fact none of today’s navigational aids. 

Hostage Negotiator

A few weeks ago, Val mentioned that Caregroups were thinking about redemption. In the Bible the Redeemed are those the Lord has delivered from bondage. Isaiah (his name means “The LORD saves”) talks a lot about God redeeming his people, both from sin and from Babylonian exile: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you…” In ch.41:14, the Lord refers to Himself as “your Redeemer” and further on describes Himself as paying a ransom for his people.

The danger of not blogging regularly is that too much happens and important and exciting things get forgotten and lost! So before the events of the past couple of months disappear these next few blogs are the highlights…

24/7 As you may remember, back in the summer OTCC held it’s first 24/7 prayer week. Just to reiterate – there is nothing “magical” about praying like this. It isn’t a “formula” or method – it could just as easily be a 23/6 and have the same impact! It is more a helpful tool. There is something significant about these focused, united, prolonged times of prayer. There is a sense of rhythm that develops, a momentum that builds and draws people in and onwards. It is not praying for the sake of praying itself – but about relationship, connecting, and rooting in to the river of life.

As OTCC, with Glyn and Emma’s encouragement, we have been getting more into prayer, experimenting with places and different ways of talking to and hearing from God, both individually, as couples and in groups. And getting excited at how God is bringing changes in us, in our relationships, and in the lives of others.

I was reading the story of Jesus in the Temple, with an angry lot of Jews working up a lather and demanding a miraculous sign to demonstrate his authority. His answer did nothing to calm them down, and didn’t make an awful lot of sense to his disciples at that time either!

I don’t know about you but seagulls squawking raucously on rooftops in towns bring out the worst in me. They shouldn’t be there, they’re in the wrong place – after all, they are seagulls, not towngulls! They are often to be seen raiding bins or take-away boxes discarded on the pavements, fighting noisily amongst themselves.

During the last few weeks, whilst I’ve been writing letters to the Iranian Ambassador and praying earnestly about Iranian Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani’s sentence of execution, I read the following

A Good Story
Emma asked us the other Sunday about what the gospel is – Mark starts his ‘Gospel’ with
“The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God……”

Was having a little ponder about the healing of the woman with the continuous hemorrhaging for 12 years (puts my monthly moans over earlier years in the shade!), and how in Mark 5 verse 34 Jesus says “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

What does God want of us? Does He want us? Where does He want us; this nice house in Bexhill, or the house in Old Town (both houses are still up for sale with no prospective buyers)……. or somewhere else entirely…….Somerset…….the Highlands??

With the schools going back this week, I have found myself praying a lot for teachers from both natural and church family – and for several teachers who would like to be teaching, but cannot! For grandchildren, both natural and church, (someone suggested the phrase “Godgrandchildren” – I like it!) who are going to new schools, colleges and courses; those with new teachers and subjects; those who like Matt’s Theo have learning difficulties, and struggle with any sort of literacy or numeracy; those who face bullying or other social problems.

Prophesy or figment of imagination?

Did those 2 people, who separately told us 18 years ago that we should live in a certain house in Old Town, not for sale at that time, bring us a prophetic word, or was it a figment of their imaginations? (Neither knew about the other’s words!)

Have a look at the above video for some insight into how God can change lives :0)

24/7 wow -  what a week!

OTCC has recently completed it’s first 24/7 prayer week. 168 hours of continous prayer! It was AWESOME!

The idea was that we would have a room dedicated for prayer, a rota so people could take 1 or 2 hours slots (as they wanted), and we as a church would endevour to fill the rota. At first some folks were hesitant (“what do you do for an hour? Sit in silence?!”), and some shared doubts of “will we realistically be able to fill a whole week? Would it not fall on a small willing few?” These are real and vaild concerns!

Fire in washing machine drums, sky lanterns and marshmallows… Must be halloween!

On the 31st October (Halloween) our estate is probably the same as any other place in the Western world! Hoardes of young people (age range from babes in arms to huge teenagers!) dressed up in all manner of

scary, freaky and funny costumes out for a night of trick or treating.

So what can a church do? We have a few options which basically boil down to: 1/ Nothing! 2/ Hide! 3/ Hold a prayer meeting! 4/ Hold an alternative event!

A Spiritual experience!

Once a month we have been holding a different type of gathering at “The Drive” pub. Rather than calling it a service we call it “A spiritual experience”. There is no preach or lengthy worship time. It is a complete “All senses” interactive event – a great thing to being visitors to!

INDULGE! A special event just for women!

We recently held a new women’s event called “Indulge”. The idea was to give local women from the estate a chance to be pampered and spolit for an evening – all for free! A number of lady volunteers from the OTCC loaned foot spa’s and their hands to serve the ladies that came along. We had hand, head and foot massage, manicures and pedicures, henna tattoo’s and the lovely “fish pedicure! shown below. Also a clothes swap and beauty give – aways (not to mention gorgeous nibbles!. We had over 70 ladies attend! If you would like to be informed of our next ladies event please contact us via the web site :0)

Hello there, this is another update to let you know what is happening @ OTCC (Old Town Community Church) and in our lives.

If there was ever a “typical week” here this hasn’t been one of them… It has been “full on” to say the least! Events and situations have ranged from surprising and extraordinary through to exhausting and heart breaking. One thing is sure – life is never dull!

30/40/ 2011

In our last update we shared that the key here for our work and sharing our faith is relationship and community. The stories shared here are real and right on our doorstep, so names have been changed!

Family wise we are doing great – as you will have read last time it is a challenge to guard our family time but we are trying hard! The kids have just enjoyed their Easter hols and are now enjoying more bank holidays! Glyn is discovering the joys of fishing (one of our neighbours spends most of his time looking after a very ill child so loves to go fishing when he gets the chance. He took Glyn sea fishing and they both caught a shark!). A recent fun trip was joining in with the pub where our church has been meeting to accompany 59 other people to “Drusillas” a big zoo like place.

Old Town Community Church   -   Ordinary people, an extraordinary God!

29/03/11

On the 26th December 2010 Glyn and I became the new pastors of “Old Town Community Church”. We are very much enjoying the role (a steep learning curve) and finding it an immense privilege – along with being very challenging, adventurous, stretching and at times tiring!

We  believe that people are made up of body, mind and spirit so when we work with,and minister to people, we try to keep this balance in mind. We live in an area of social and spiritual need, and with our present climate of cut backs and uncertainty, many feel insecure and anxious. The needs around our community are diverse ranging from rough sleeping, drug and alcohol problems to dire poverty, debt, domestic violence, teenage pregnancies, abuse, dysfunctional families and loneliness. Crime is ever present and depression a reality for many. So our outreach, support and love aims to meet people where they are at. It is a balance to work with people not doing everything for people.

Moreton update December 2010

Dear all,

Happy Christmas everyone! It’s Christmas eve today – we have very excited children here!!!

It seems like a year since we wrote the last update (well it is a year actually!) How time flies!. We have passed our 1 year anniversary of being back in the UK – wow! It was on the 7^th December that we arrived in the UK last year and it seems impossible that it is just one year! We feel like we have been here for far longer and feel very settled. So much has happened that Tunisia seems like a distant memory from another life. Though the lessons we have learned, and rich experiences of our times overseas have been critical in preparation for being here.

August 2011

Hello again,

We are waiting for the first sounds of the red arrows to scream over the house – yes – it is Eastbourne Airbourne!

It has been a very long time since we have published a blog – this isn’t because we have stopped recording what is happening – we have been sending out news updates to friends and supporters but were unable to access our blog site! However, OTCC now has it’s own blog spot so we are now able to inundate you with updates, testimonies, info, and will include in this our own story of how things are developing here.

We will do the latest update at the very end – so you will have to read through all of them if you want to see these past 3 months activity :0) (or you can cheat and skip through!)

Rather than try and do one very long blog to catch you up on the last year and a bit, I have used sections from our news letters (dated so you can follow the time frame).

Happy reading, we hope you find it interesting!

With much love,

Emma, Glyn, Sam & Carys

Hi there, we are Glyn and Emma Moreton. Parents to Sam and Carys and still fairly new arrivals to Old Town Community Church (OTCC). We were missionaries with BMS World Mission for 8 years prior to returning to the UK last December (2009). One day we will add to the blog the story of how we came to return to the UK to OTCC!