A very unusual thing is happening tomorrow
A very unusual thing is happening in Leeds tomorrow. 99 council seats are being voted upon in the 33 wards around Leeds. In a constitutional quirk every single councillor is being elected in one go and so there is every likelihood that Leeds City Council will look very different on Friday morning.
What do they do, these councillors?
Councillors are volunteers who play a leadership role in their community, both catching the vision for the city and sharing it in their neighbourhood, and also taking the neighbourhood’s vision to the City. A councillor represents their ward and gives a voice to the citizens. They have to make knife-edge decisions about where scarce resources are applied, seeking to protect the vulnerable whilst serving the whole community. And they vote on the changing laws and regulations of the city, being led by their values, hopefully good ones!
So we should do two things:
Firstly; pray for them, Here’s a useful link if you want to know more. And then pray particularly for the three in your ward and the three in the Headingley Ward. Pray that God’s kingdom will come amidst the discussions and decisions and that we will see more glimpses of heaven in Leeds! You could use the graphic above to pray into their role.
Secondly; vote. If you haven’t already cast your postal vote then I urge you to take the time to wander down to your local polling station and place your three crosses on the ballot.
Tour de Yorkshire
Another big event over the next few days. Watch out for road closures although the bicycles don’t get to Leeds until the afternoon so it won’t affect us on Sunday morning.
Another crazy event this weekend
Our young people are off to DtI (Dreaming the Impossible) with 1,000 other young people from around the movement. Liz Harden and her team are thankful for a warming weather forecast but need our prayers and best wishes as they look after the youth in their care. Every year we see God at work in mighty ways amongst the young people and we look forward to hearing all about it in the following weeks.
Baptisms
On Sunday June 24 we are looking forward to baptising some folk in the River Wharfe in Ilkley. Book a sunny day out in your diary and let those around you know so that if anyone else would like to be baptised they can take this opportunity. It’s a great celebration and a fun way to have a picnic together.
Turning Ecological
It is without doubt a Good Thing to serve people refreshments on a Sunday morning but we do end up using quite a lot of paper cups which are difficult to recycle. So if you have a favourite travel mug you could bring that with you (empty) on a Sunday and we’ll gladly pour in some delicious beverage!
Leaders’ Weekend
Over the 18-20 May, many of the current leaders will be away at Ampleforth Abbey for the weekend we take out every couple of years. This year our guest speakers are Tom & Helen Murphy from Derwent Valley Vineyard.
Until this year Tom and Helen were Associate Pastors to John & Debby Wright and bring a wealth of experience and expertise to us from their time at Trent Vineyard. Helen was, for many years, the leader of the Arches, a quite incredible compassion ministry. We’ve asked them to help us prepare for the future as we take on Vineyard House – how can we wisely invest our time and labour to make the most difference for God’s kingdom?
Vineyard House
Speaking of Vineyard House, we are hard at work behind the scenes negotiating the final parts of the contract. It’s been a long wait but we are getting nearer and nearer to exchange of contracts all the time. Keep praying that God’s promises to us will be fulfilled.
Peace
David