Page 17 - News Spring-Summer 2025

“We began to pray together early in the process, call from a distraught friend on drugs, seeking her help.
recognising this was vital to any success, so we She had herself received help from a Christian charity
established a fortnightly prayer meeting to pray for group but had stopped going. She had put the phone
our population, that God would prepare their hearts to down and called out to God for help when the team
receive and respond to His Word and by doing so would knocked her door. One of the team members was himself
transform our city and His church. involved in that same group and was able to meet them
There were challenges throughout but each time we both the following week to take them along.
faced an obstacle we prayed, and the Lord met our In another encounter, the door was answered by a
needs, often surprising us in the process! Two such smartly dressed middle-aged man whose response to
examples included a gift pledged of £15,000 from the offer of Explore was "No thank you, I am a “nihilist"
one generous church even before we went public and (the rejection of all religious and moral principles, in
another to provide the storage space we needed for the belief that life is meaningless). “Whilst offering up
the 20 pallets, due to arrive just days later. a quick prayer I heard myself say, "That doesn't stop
you from accepting the magazine". The man responded,
Within six months of the agreement to proceed "You don't understand when I .......". He tried several
we ordered 150,000 Explore magazines and began times to say this sentence. Eventually he said, "When I
door-to-door distribution in the two weeks prior to pass over......". He then reacted physically, as if he’d had
Easter 2024. We wanted to engage with people and an electric shock and stared into his house for several
invite them to our churches as well as give them a seconds. Turning to look me in the eye he said, " I think
portion of God’s precious Word. I better take that magazine after all"”.
It was an ambitious project and, as we move into Stories of God at work are always an encouragement and
2025, we reflect on how have we done and how has spur us on so let us share one final testimony. We have
God moved? been visiting all the churches in the project fortnightly
We estimated that it would probably take two summers to pray with them in their areas but one week hadn't
to visit the 125,000 homes in Newcastle, having taken arranged a venue, so we decided to meet and pray at the
a break over the winter. We are planning two Saturdays Monument, a well-known gathering place in the centre of
to revitalise the push to press on and complete the task Newcastle, where the Gospel is often preached publicly.
in the summer of 2025 but if it takes longer that’s fine. As the group went out in pairs two young women gave
Visiting each home is our target and we do not have a their lives to Christ there and then, we helped a homeless
set completion date. young woman get support and had other in-depth
A CHALLENGE reminding us with these words from Psalm 133: 1-3 that pray but God had other ideas!
conversations sharing our faith. We had only gone to
The Lord united 22 churches around the project,
Most churches have now completed the areas they were
“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers
given but we have identified many areas where there is
dwell in unity……For there the Lord has commanded
no participating church. We have been approached by
the blessing, life for evermore.”
BY GOD Our estimate at the start of 2025 is that we have some of the churches with church planting ambitions
to link them to specific unallocated districts. Any not
distributed around 60,000 magazines, roughly half of
covered in this way will be completed through regular
the households we identified. The acceptance rate has
Saturdays once a month where the members of all the
been astounding. If anyone had advised us we would
participating churches will be asked and gather to visit
get 30-40% before we started, we’d have gladly received
that, but we have achieved in the region of 90-95%. and complete these districts until we have covered the
whole city.
God is faithful to His promises. The story doesn’t end there! This was always a vision
A prophetic word was expressed to us before the launch to reach our nation as a whole and since stepping out
that the hearts of the people of Newcastle were open and in faith to begin this task we have shared the vision
that has certainly been the testimony of the members of on numerous occasions both within GOOD NEWS for
the participating churches. We’ve had reports of people Everyone! and externally with Church Leaders when
attending local churches, enquiries about joining small given the opportunity. The GOOD NEWS for Everyone!
groups, increased uptake in church events, such as Alpha National Cabinet have met and decided to encourage
courses and Carol Services, as well as opportunities to other regions and branches to adopt a similar pattern
pray with people on their doorstep, witness about our of distribution in their areas with the help and backing
of all willing participating churches."
faith, and respectful conversations with many while
encouraging them to read the magazine. GOOD NEWS for Everyone! have the perfect opportunity
to lead this outreach and bring the church together to
One church team had a timely encounter as they went fulfil the Great Commission given to us by our Lord.
door to door. A young woman started to laugh as she
reached out to accept the Explore magazine and when May God bless us and awaken our nation through
asked why, she explained that she had just taken a phone these initiatives.

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News Spring_Summer 2025.indd 17 18/03/2025 16:34