Harold Carson and Shirley Alexander led the team

Thomas Street Methodist Church invited a Lay Witness team to conduct a Weekend Mission in their church in March 2005

 Local co-ordinator, Nigel Woods tells the story of the weekend……….

 Charles Dickens once wrote, "The chain of the habit coils itself around the heart like a serpent, to gnaw and stifle it". The theme of the Lay Witness weekend in Thomas Street Portadown was "Out Of The Comfort Zone".  God had been speaking to us in our church about the way in which we were becoming too comfy. After much prayer we felt lead to invite the Lay Witness Movement to our church.

 Some have been known to say that thirteen is not a great number, but for us in Thomas Street it was just right. Thirteen wonderful people were used by God to minister to us in the most gracious and loving way. Many members of our church were challenged out of their comfort zones; three people responded by accepting Jesus as their personal saviour.

 As the team began on the Friday night, I could see that God was going to use them mightily. When the team members began to testify, people in our church were blessed and challenged almost instantly. The men’s breakfast was very well attended on Saturday morning, where David Lambe spoke of the need to trust God more in everything we do. His personal testimony was a great source of blessing to the men that gathered there.

 God was very busy at work in the coffee mornings.  Many of the folk who attended were encouraged, blessed and indeed made to look at themselves and ask deep questions as to where they were with Him. In the afternoon, families met downstairs for lunch while upstairs in the upper room others gathered to watch the rugby match on the big screen. 

On Sunday morning our church began to fill with people. I was very conscious that this was the time that God might do His thing.  As Harold spoke, his message was so right. It challenged us to come out of our comfort zones.  I thought this is it. Now God will move. The service came to an end and only a few people went up to the front for ministry. While this was good, I was disappointed there were so few.  Feeling somewhat down, I headed for lunch in the Wesley Hall and began to analyse all that had gone on and wondered maybe this isn't God's time.  When I went home I really didn't feel like going back to church that night, but I did.  If I were to use a few words to describe what happened on Sunday night, it would be "God rained His Holy Spirit on us".  One by one people came up the front to witness what God had done for them over the weekend.  Jim Rea our minister invited us up to the communion rail for a time of ministry and when this happened there was not enough room around it to accommodate everyone. "Praise God for He does marvellous things".

 Thank you team and thank you God. Amen

 One of those blessed at the weekend was Jim Wright.  He writes of his experience………

Never having been at a Lay Witness weekend in my life, you can image my fears and anxiety as my good lady wife and myself arrived at the home of Mr. And Mrs. Nigel Woods. We had accepted their kind invitation to attend the coffee morning on the Saturday where Mrs Carole Lamb and Mr. McKnight were to take the meeting. My fears and anxieties were quickly dispelled as we found a great warmth and fellowship within the home and also with the other people who were there.

Carole conducted the meeting very informally, and both my wife and I were greatly impressed with her commitment and her faith.

I also had attended the men’s breakfast earlier that morning and also had enjoyed the fellowship there

We attended Sunday morning worship where afterwards we had a long talk with Carole and David. It was after this talk, that with the help of David I asked God to come into my life.

So the lay witness weekend was to me a great blessing , and as I have many more years behind me than I have in front of me I pray that Jesus Christ will bless me and keep me strong in the faith and also that he will continue to bless you and your team that they may win many more souls for Christ.

May the Lord bless you all.

Shirley Alexander, assistant team leader reflects on the weekend….

‘Out of the Comfort Zone.’ This was the theme of the Lay Witness week-end at Thomas Street, Portadown, in March. The aim was to challenge members of the church to move forward with God. But it proved to be a suitable description of our experience as a team. The team of thirteen was drawn from Fermanagh to Down, from Antrim to Dublin. Some had been on many Lay Witness week-end before, but for some this was their first. Standing up in front of a large gathering and sharing the story of how God has worked in one’s life is certainly not comfortable! Our leader, Harold Carson, joked that his comfort zone was ‘retired from Lay Witness’. It was his first week-end for a number of years, but he proved he had not forgotten what to do!

Although the numbers at the evening meals and meetings were rather disappointing to the local team, we were delighted at the welcome we received and the willingness for folk to talk and share with us. About 70 people attended the seven coffee groups on Saturday morning, and we found folk very eager to participate and share thoughts and experiences.

While the public response to the appeals was small, we were confident that God would pour down his showers of blessing on the congregation, even after we left on Sunday afternoon. The team were thrilled to hear how God was at work in the Sunday evening service as people testified to God’s saving power, and committed themselves to stepping out of their own comfort zones to follow Jesus more closely.

We give glory to God for bringing us together as a team and for all the work he has done in our lives. We continue to pray for Jim and Carol Rea, and for Nigel, Anne and the ‘home team’ as they follow up after the week-end.

We thank the folk of Thomas Street who allowed us to share our lives with them, and for their warm and generous hospitality.