Happy New Year!!

Welcome to the January 2012 Edition of What’sLauraUpTo?

I hope that you enjoy finding out what I have been up to over

the past few months.

Please do get in touch—I would love to hear from you!

Me at my desk!

Between newsletters why not check out my blog: www.whatslauraupto.com

I had a really great Christmas, a chance to spend time with family which is always lovely. Christmas Day was spent at Janet and John McKee’s (my sister’s parents-in-law), who looked after us very well! My mum and dad were there, along with my sister, her husband and Maddie, Emi and Billy. There was lots of food, lots of presents and lots of fun! The day after Boxing Day Andy and I travelled up to Selby to spend some time with his parents. We stayed for New Year which was very relaxed and I enjoyed it lots! I was sad to miss my brother Russell and his family’s visit to Essex—there’s always so many places to be in, all at the same time! My niece Chloe and nephew Sam both had birthdays over the Christmas period—Chloe turned a teenager and Sam turned 10! My niece Maddie turned 5 just before Christmas and had a ‘Tangled’ (Rapunzel) Party with her friends which I was allowed to go to and was very girly and fun! We then went bowling on her actual birthday...and I was beaten by Emi who is 3—I wasn’t even trying to be bad! Andy is enjoying living in his flat with Al and Grace. Just before Christmas his sister Nicola and her husband Chris moved down from Birmingham to just round the corner from him which is lovely—and now all 3 siblings live in Brentwood! Andy’s twin niece and nephew, Amelia and Josh are growing up and are very cute!

Snowgirl Amelia and Elf Joshua on Christmas Day!

Arise Ministries Well all has been fairly quiet recently as far as events are concerned (see my diary page!). However this doesn’t mean that we haven’t been very busy!! We have lots of events in January and February so we have been doing lots of preparation for those. We have also been working on the vision of Arise Ministries for the next 5 years, and the strategy of how this would be put into practice. It’s quite a privilege to be involved in that process which has involved lots of spider diagrams and colour coding for me!! There are lots of exciting things on the horizon and I am looking forward to being a part of them...well, currently I feel it is right to stay where I am, but I am trusting God to see where He leads me! November saw the release of our new event resource for Easter: ‘The Great Hot Cross Bun Hunt’. We will be promoting this at the upcoming Children’s and Families Ministry Conference at the beginning of February. The resource is designed as a 2 1/2 hour event to help communicate the Easter story in a fun, exciting and relevant way to children aged 7-11. For more information visit www.ariseministries.org.uk/hotcrossbun.htm

Arise Ministries is passionate about equipping churches in their ministry

amongst children and one of the ways we do that is through local and regional equipping events, under the name Just a ‘child’? This year we are delivering 10 of these events—day conferences delivered by Arise

Ministries and hosted at churches all over the country. See my upcoming events page for all the dates. We are looking to develop these in

other locations in 2013 and beyond—contact me if you are interested! Very excitingly, Ed (my boss!) and his wife Emma are expecting their third child in February. Ewan (5) and Evie (4) are looking forward to meeting their new brother or sister, and I can’t wait either!! Viz-A-Viz Ministries Jon Stannard has settled in very well as National Director and has been putting together a vision for Viz-A-Viz Ministries UK which he will be sharing over the next couple of months. Taste are all getting on really well and have just started a busy few weeks travelling all over the place! Den Pethers is spending most of his time in the USA speaking and developing Viz-A-Viz Ministries International which is all very exciting!

www.vizaviz.org

4th-6th November: ‘Unlock the Power of the Church’, Radcliffe This weekend saw the first inter-generational evangelism conference run by Viz-A-Viz Ministries. It was held at the Bridge Methodist Church in Radcliffe, Manchester – a church we have very good links with through Liv’It Camp. The conference consisted of a Friday night session and then on Saturday streams looking at evangelism amongst Children, Youth and Adults. Ed and I led the Reaching Children stream – adapting material from the first Just a ‘child’? Equipping Event. Joy and Andy led the Reaching Young People stream. Special guest Rich Powney (now officially an associate speaker for Viz-A-Viz) led one of the Reaching Adults stream – unpacking the Engaging Through Story resource. Jon Stannard led the second Reaching Adults stream – creative ideas for street evangelism, including practical! The whole weekend went really well, with around 50 people attending and some great feedback. One lady who attended commented in an email afterwards: ‘I got so much from it, it really got my fire burning so much brighter again!’ There were some great stories from those involved in street evangelism – most notably the fact that it was easier than they thought it would be, and people were more receptive to talking than they thought they would be! I think for many people it was an opportunity to be inspired and reminded of the call to share their faith with those around them. The Bridge Church were fantastic hosts and the food was great! It was great to stay with the lovely Mike and Judith Hainsworth (who have such a gorgeous house!) – friends from Liv’It Camp. Their hospitality for my flying visit was much appreciated! It was also a chance to catch up with the wonderful Paul and Hannah Schofield (Metro Christian Centre).

7th January: Just a ‘child’? Equipping Event, East Sussex Ed and I travelled to Heathfield, East Sussex where we ran our ‘Day 2’ programme (this date was rebooked from November 12th 2011 which was unable to take place.) We had a great time with a group looking at how we can lead children with purpose, release children to be part of the ministry of the church and how we can communicate Biblical truths in creative ways. There was great conversation and ideas being shared between the people there.

15th January: Services at Elim Church, Braintree It was great to have the opportunity to head back to my home church where Ed preached in the first service and we jointly led the second family service. It’s always lovely to be back there and see everyone and also get the chance to personally update people on what I’m up to and thank everyone for their support, both prayerfully and financially.

20th-22nd January: Worship Rally at Trinity Baptist Church, West Norwood 28th January: Holiday Club Training with Newbury Baptist Church 3rd-5th February: Children’s and Families Ministries Conference, Eastbourne 12th February: Training at Abingdon Baptist Church 17th February: SOLID Remix, Chelmsford Cathedral 20th March: Church of England Children’s Advisers Conference, Hoddesdon 24th March: Just a ‘child’? Equipping Event at Sandy Baptist Church, Bedfordshire 31st March: Running ‘The Great Hot Cross Bun Hunt’ at Newbury Baptist Church

Filming for Arise Ministries Promo Videos

Emi and Billy Just a ‘child’? - October 8th 2011

Just a ‘child’? - January 7th 2012

Covent Garden Christmas Maddie’s 5th Birthday Breakfast Maddie and Emi

Finances:

Personal: Please pray for my personal finances, and thank God for His provision for me, enabling me to continue what I feel He has called me to do.

Arise Ministries: Please thank God and pray for those people who are supporting the work of Arise Ministries, enabling us to equip churches in reaching out to the children in their communities.

Health: Please pray that I keep healthy!

Dad: Please pray for my dad who is still waiting for an appointment with the consultant about more injections into his spine to manage the pain he suffers with.

Mum: Got a hospital appointment on 25th January as she hasn’t been too well recently—hopefully this will help find the cause and make her better!

Russell: Please continues to pray for my brother and his family as they settle into their new house, schools and jobs in Yeovil.

Andy: Please pray for my boyfriend Andy in all that he is involved in at Viz-A-Viz Ministries and for us as a couple that we can switch off from work talk when we need to!

Opportunities for Arise: Please pray for new opportunities for Arise Ministries to help equip and enthuse churches in their children’s ministry.

For a day-by-day prayer diary please visit: www.whatslauraupto.com/pray Finances I believe that God has called me to do what I am doing, and part of that is trusting him to provide the finances I need. A massive thank you to everyone who supports me regularly. It’s so lovely to know that people feel the work I am doing is valuable and wish to support me financially in this.

If you feel you are able to support me financially please contact me or visit: www.whatslauraupto.com/support

To support me with a one off gift online please visit: www.everyclick.com/laurabayliss

Thank you very much.

Arise Ministries Phoenix Court

Christopher Martin Road Basildon

Essex SS14 3EZ

01268 530531 laurabayliss@ariseministries.org.uk

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