Gorleston and District Churches Together
Lowestoft Road Methodist Church was the venue on Saturday 20th January to celebrate a Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It attracted people from many churches and included those who came especially to enjoy the Norwich Salvation Army Citadel’s band. It was also announced that there would be a series of prayer meetings in various churches during the week.
Tony Mallion, from the Cliff Park Community Church in Gorleston, is also the current Chairman of Christians Together in Gorleston. He explained:-
“We wanted to have a real celebration for the Week of Prayer to start off the year. Instead of the traditional service we wanted to have an evening of music and other items which would have a real ‘Saturday Night’ feel about it and make it worth dragging yourself away from the TV!”
The evening certainly proved to do just that. The Norwich Band is one of the best in the country – as they proved from the moment bandmaster, Doug Beattie, lifted the baton. The audience were treated to solos as well as the full band and a surprise item when the band turned into a choir! This year they are also celebrating their 125th anniversary so it was even more of a privilege to have them in Gorleston for their first outing of a very busy year.
FROM WEST END TO THE FAR EAST
Major Ray Begley, leader of the Norwich Citadel Salvation Army, gave a remarkable testimony in conversation with BBC Radio Norfolk’s Tony Mallion:-
“One minute I was a leading dancer in the West End production of the musical “Evita”; the next I swapped my stage costume for a Salvation Army uniform and joined its ranks.”
Ray Begley’s story held the audience spellbound as he explained how, in his native Australia, he had decided to become a ballet dancer and as a result earned the name of the Salvation Army’s Billy Elliot. Throughout his exciting career on stage he had always felt the call to follow his parents into the Salvation Army ministry and, after appearing in a number of top shows in London and around the world, did so. His testimony was a powerful one which was enjoyed by all who heard it.
Also taking part were local trio ‘Three Quarters’ – brothers Stephen and Paul Amer and their cousin Bim Ainslie. They are all well known local stage performers and Stephen is also a worship leader at Cliff Park Community Church. They added to the evening with their close harmony work.
After the interval the band led the audience in three very popular hymns, ‘And Can it be?’, ‘Shine, Jesus, Shine’ and ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness. An important part of the evening was the commissioning by, Major Ray, of the Christians Together in Gorleston a Steering Group which is working towards next year’s Mission to the town, Hope 08.
Tony Ward, the Vicar of St Andrews in Gorleston, explained something of the thinking behind the mission which is to unite the churches in a work that will make an impact on the whole community. There will be localised events and activities that will involve working in partnership with the police, local authorities and primary care trusts as well as other local churches. The aim is to provide services within the churches to address issues such as debt dependency, hunger, homelessness and drug and alcohol addictions.
The Hope 08 mission will be officially launched with a united service at 2.30 on Pentecost Sunday, May 27th. | 