A BIG Thank You

Last week we said goodbye to Paul, the most amazing youth leader I have had the pleasure of meeting and being mentored by! He really is one of a kind, a person of wisdom and discernment and total faith in God. He follows where he is led and leads so that others may follow! May your new job, new home, and new community be a big blessing in your life. Thank you so much, Paul, for the blessings that you have poured into so many lives in Ashford! You have given more than we will ever know and watched as we reaped the rewards of things you sowed. Thank you. Thank you.

With this new change, comes a change in our online presence. This blog will freeze here for now. With an uncertain future of Furnace being trusted to a known God, we don't know where this blog will go.
For now, rest assured that we are still meeting together on a Sunday night and a Wednesday night, Tuesday nights have stopped whilst Monday night band practices have been growing.

Please pray for our great young leaders who have stepped up to the task of keeping Furnace alive. Jodi is doing a fantastic job at gathering people to learn, worship, and build friendships together. Emma and Sam, and the rest of the band (see band post here) continue to lift up God's name and seek His presence with music! And what a blessing it is when they lead us all in worship.

The youth and the adults have continued to integrate together for Sunday mornings, which has been amazing to witness - here's to more collaboration with Jesus at the centre!

Have a blessed day and feel free to look around this, albeit slightly dated, blog :)

What Have We Been Up To?

It's been a long time (2 months, in fact) since our last post! :O

Here's a little update.

We've spent many weeks together at our Sunday night group, our Monday night worship practice, our Tuesday night cell group, our Wednesday night devotion group, and most other days of the week!

Jodi, one of our youth leaders, has been leading some Sunday nights alongside Emma, our youth worship leader. And they've been doing an amazing job.

We've have had the privilege of hearing talks from both Paul and Jodi, as well as participating in some awesome ice breakers led by Hannah.

This Sunday was spent together at the beach, bonding together, laughing together, jumping together, playing together, and swimming together.

Our Monday night worship practices were focussed on the RE:FUEL launch night for a few weeks. We are happy to let you know that the launch night was a success and we loved working with and meeting so many other youth from youth groups that are local to us!

RE:FUEL Worship Band - Photo: Paul

Our Tuesday nights have been quite social approaching the Summer, creating an open atmosphere for all realms of questions and conservations. Just recently we had a BBQ games night.

Cell Group BBQ - Photo: Becca

Our Wednesday nights have been devotional. Exploring things deeper together and seeing some of the youth members lead entire sessions on their own. We're seeing amazing leaders form and grow from this group.

And we've got lots coming up! 

Incendium Cell Cherry Spitting Competition - 26th July

RE:FUEL hosted by AV Youth - 31st July

FORTIFY youth equipping day - 7th August

Furnace at the Park - 14th August

BIG Furnace - 4th September

We look forward to updating you again soon! 

We hope you enjoy the nice British Summer that is overwhelming us all. 

Joy and peace, 

BCDO Festival

A few friends who are associated with Willesborough Baptist Church went along to Big Church Day Out last weekend and here are some of their highlights!

We hope you enjoyed!

See you soon,

Here I Am To Worship

Picture from Google.

Imagine you walk into a room and in front of you are a bunch of randomers singing and dancing and playing along to a whole variety of songs. If that's all you see and all you feel then you've walked into a club. Imagine you walk into that same situation and something about the atmosphere catches you in a good way, filling you with love and peace. This can feel and look different to all of us but one thing is for sure: there's something more than just songs. You've entered into a place of worship.

Picture from Google.

When we enter into a space of worship inside ourselves we surrender to Jesus, to God, to Him. We humble ourselves before Him. Ultimately we worship for an audience of one: Him.

This brings freedom to our worship whilst also bringing unsettling mystery. What if someone hears my off notes? What if someone notices I can't always sing in tune? What if I mess up so badly that I put everyone off?

It's right to respect other people in their worship but who's to say that you shouldn't sing loud and jump high for your God? He's your audience. He marvels over every aspect of your worship to Him. Every single sound or movement or thought that you have for Him - He loves them all! If you can sing in the shower, you can sing to God. If you can run really fast or walk really slow, you can run and walk for God. If you can breathe, you can breathe for God.

Picture from Google.

Be encouraged. God doesn't judge us in a worldly and negative way in the here and now. In fact, He loves when we try and He loves when we freely want to meet with Him.

So close your eyes and focus on Him, sing Him your song, bring Him more than a song - bring Him your heart and your life and your love and all else. Bring Him you! Nothing more and nothing less.

All of God loves all of you (singular). Perhaps at first it seems a challenge for all of you (singular) to love all of God but the journey will be an exciting one!

Picture from Google.

See you soon,

Behind The New Logo...

Here's a little post answering some FAQs about our new logo.

Why lightbulbs?

When thinking about a new logo for the Furnace it seemed only sensible to go to the short vision statement. This was 'knowing and showing that Jesus is alive'. A symbol of 'knowing' something or having an idea is a lightbulb (hence the phrase 'lightbulb moment'). But what's also great about lightbulbs is that they shine light to 'show' people where things are.

Is there a reason you chose three loops inside the lightbulb?

(okay, so this isn't an FAQ but it should be!)

When you don't look so closely at the lightbulbs the 'three loops' look much like a cross. It's our way of incorporating the cross into the logo without it being 'in your face' and becoming a barrier when we run social events with this logo.

Why is one lightbulb brighter?

Artistically speaking, having a brighter lightbulb helps to balance the logo and had some dynamic. Symbolically speaking, the brighter logo represents the Furnace whilst the dimming lights are the dispersion of Jesus' light and love into the community and our friends around us. Everyone has the ability to light up through Jesus, no matter how 'switched-off' the lightbulb might seem, we can bring light into their lives by shining next to them.

Why are they connected together?

The answer to this question follows on from the 'brighter lightbulb'. The squiggly lines are wires which represent the connections that we have with other people, these connections are sometimes simple and sometimes more obscure. 

Plug in us. Plug into God. Plug into others.

Is there a new vision statement/slogan?

Plug into the Furnace. Connect with God. Shine for others to see.

Do you have any additional ideas as to what else this logo might represent? Is there something that might've been done unintentionally that has a great meaning behind it?

Let us know in the comments or at Furnace!

Love to you all, see ya soon!

Bandta

Welcome to the Furnace Worship Band post!

...we really need to think of a name, like, a.s.a.p! (Comment with suggestions, haha)

So you may be asking yourself what is it that we do? Well, we are the youth band for Furnace at WBC. We are a group that love worshipping Jesus and we love to lead others in worship too - it's our passion. Many of us are also regularly involved in the main worship band which is such a great thing to be doing. We love to step out and encourage our church in worship!

Anyway let's start by telling you a bit about band practice. Well it's an awesome way to start the week. Monday's sure aren't everyone's favourite but having practice in the evening lifts everyone's spirit. Monday is a session where we create a setlist to play at Furnace on the Sunday, but as well as this we chat, pray, laugh, jam and have fun!

Seeing the group strengthen their relationships with one another but also with God is so awesome to see and lead them in. Whatever the mood is each week we kind of roll with it, which makes it a chilled place for us all to be. Playing it by ear is lovely as some weeks we just pick random songs, sit together on the floor and jam for the whole time and other weeks we are feeling the full plugged-in effect!

I suppose now is a good time to mention who I am... 

I'm Emma and I'm the worship co-ordinator for the youth band. I am so thankful that I have been able to lead such an awesome group of people. Every single person involved with the band, has a different and unique gift from God, which makes it so special when we all play together. Having the courage to lead others and step out in faith is amazing and the group have no fear of spreading God's love.

 Now I think it's time you know who is currently part of the Furnace Worship Band... well, there are 10 people. Some are around more often than others but this means there is a varied range of musical talents involved! 

So we have: 

- Emma Matthews (Worship Co-ordinator/Leader)

- Sam Houghton (Deputy)

- Ollie Matthews

- Hannah Butcher
- Matt Chegwin

- Seona Casse

- Sarah Guy

- Jodi Tanton

- Tessa Lukkien

- Sarah Terry

- Molly Boot

So you know quite a bit about what we have a passion doing from my perspective but I wanted you to hear from a few others about what being part of the band means to them so here you are...

'Band is a family, a place to worship God not just on a Sunday. It's a time to worship, chill, laugh and pray with some amazing people. To use our talents to worship our God.' - Seona Casse

'I love band because it gives me a chance to be with amazing people and worship. Also the range of songs we do and everyone's love for Jesus.' - Sarah Terry

'I love being part of the youth band. Seeing other young people worshipping God through song and having that connection and passion for the creator is amazing. By far the most rewarding thing is allowing others to worship whilst you do. Looking out on a church of people who are dancing, singing and raising their hands...that's what worship is about.' - Sam Houghton

'I love that everyone comes to band with an attitude to praise God. There is always so much laughing and joy, but it's always rooted in God.' - Jodi Tanton

'We all get on so well and don't take it too seriously. I love that we can just jam and mess around at the practice but still play a masterpiece come Sunday evening and actually praise God! It's the perfect mix of fun and praise.' - Tessa Lukkien

Guest post written by Emma Matthews

Incendium Gets Creative

God is planning our story. 

This was the main feel I got from the Incendium cell on the 12^th April 2016.

*Sarah Terry has written this lovely piece about our small group for 14-18s. The week she writes about we tried out some creative tasks to tune into God, discovered more about Him, and had a great time in the process!*

All the words of wisdom that were spoken from God were all so incredible and it meant so much to each person receiving them. When I walked into the room there were random objects in the centre of the floor. At first I thought someone had left a mess, but those random things played a special part in the evening. These objects were all so random but were used for discovery amazing words of wisdom. Objects like a key, a pen, a cup, some cards and a whiteboard rubber, so on and so forth. One of the cards was an Uno card. This, I found, represented that God is one and only. As I thought more about how God picked us out of the crowd for a purpose and that is really amazing how God chose us for a reason. Another thing that stayed in my mind was how we all got something different from the objects, which showed how one object can show one person one thing but to another person it can mean something completely different. 

I couldn't believe how much of God’s presence was in that room and how God spoke to each one of us whether it was one word or image we received or one we got for another person. I just felt God had His hand on us the minute we walked into that building.

For I know that young people today are put under a lot of pressure, whether that’s with GCSE’s, AS, A levels or even work. It is really hard to put in that special time with God, but by just surrounding yourself with people who share the same faith as you is a great way to be with God.

For I know with myself before I started attending Incendium cell I didn't have as much time with God. Incendium cell gave me a chance to have a rest from all of my studies, spend time with amazing and crazy friends that make you laugh until it hurts. It is also a great time to spend some time with God and take God's hand with prophecy and/or worship, also to grow in your faith and to watch other people grow too.

I can't wait to see what God has in store for us at Incendium cell this week.

God bless you and keep you xx 

 

Guest post written by Sarah Terry.