News from our Parliamentary Reception; and much more!

 

‘So even to old age and grey hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.’ Psalm 71 v 18 (ESV)

 

Welcome to this February newsletter, and thank you for your continued interest and support. As ever, if there is any content you would like to see in our newsletters that is currently missing, then do get in touch– and please do invite others to sign up to receive our news. We hope you enjoy reading this month’s newsletter.

 

Thank you

As I mentioned last month, we were planning for a special parliamentary reception at the House of Commons, in mid February, to look back on all God has done over the last two years or so, to celebrate being granted charitable status, and also to share plans for the future. We were delighted to have Jim Shannon MP sponsoring the event, and to be able to welcome a small number of church leaders, para church leaders, Christian parliamentarians and MPs. By God’s grace the event went very well, so thank you for praying.

Before the event commenced, I was interviewed live for CBN tv news, (a Christian news channel), sharing about the work of Faith in Later Life- and this was ‘live streamed’ across Facebook. This interview has been viewed by over 7,000 people which is very encouraging.

To read a summary of the evenings’ proceedings, or to watch the television interview, do visit our website by clicking here.

 

Elderly encouragement

Earlier this month I visited a Baptist church in Bedfordshire to speak at their afternoon Seniors lunch. These events are always a blessing, starting with lunch and fellowship, and then the opportunity to speak about the work of Faith in Later Life and share a Scripture. There were around 70 Seniors, some who were quite elderly indeed, and interestingly quite a mix of Christians and not. It was wonderful to see the church reaching out to older people in the community, and their desire to see folk come to faith in the Lord Jesus. Does your church hold an outward facing group for Seniors? If so, please submit it for adding to our ‘Activities directory’, so we can continue to map what churches are doing across the UK and point to it. You can visit our website here.

Next month I am visiting a church in Yorkshire; if you would like us to visit, do get in touch! 

 

Everyone benefits

At our recent parliamentary reception, I told a story of Christian friends (in their 70s) at a church which was intentionally inter-generational. At that church, younger and older were “buddied up” (voluntarily), and it resulted in mutual flourishing amongst the Christians involved. The ‘youngers’ benefited from the wisdom and interest of older Christians, and the Seniors benefited from the time, and interaction with younger Christians, and the opportunity to share knowledge and wisdom with them.

But inter-generational activity can be spontaneous too! Have a read of our February blog, where guest blogger Alexandra McDonald (from SPCK publishing) spontaneously invited an older person from her church to join her family for lunch, and everyone involved felt blessed by a new friendship. Do read the blog by clicking here.

 

Faith in the second half

Bookings are continuing to come in but there are still spaces left if you haven’t booked yet, so do get in touch! The ‘Faith in the Second Half’ conference, in partnership with Keswick Ministries will be an excellent four days of hearing about a wide variety of subjects relating to later life and will also be an enjoyable time of fellowship in the beautiful Lake District. For more information or to book, do visit the Keswick website by clicking here.

 

In the press

Following the Faith in Later Life parliamentary reception, I was interviewed on Premier radio to speak about our work, and the key role of churches. To listen back to this interview, via our website, do click here.  Please pray for ongoing interest in our work, as we continue in our mission to see older Christians served and empowered, and older people in wider society come to know the transforming love of Christ.

 

Yours in Christ,

Carl Knightly
Chief Executive, Faith in Later Life