Faith in the Everyday
God at Work in Bridport
Beacon church in Bridport has been running for roughly 12 years, experiencing its fair share of highs and lows — just like many churches. As a church, we are excited to see what God is doing amongst us. Over the last 18 months we have seen a significant move of God, particularly amongst the young men in our community. We’ve celebrated six baptisms during this time, each one a powerful testimony of God touching lives. Recently, we had 3 baptisms in the river nearby and, as we were praying for the Holy Spirit to move, the wind blew and blossom fell from the trees all over those in the river. A real moment of God moving — a tangible reminder of God’s presence for all who were there.
Caring for the Community
We run a community kitchen that provides, on average, 60 meals each week to those in need. It is a real blessing to serve our town in this way and many now ask for prayer and seek help for the situations they find themselves in.
Each Thursday, we gather for prayer—not always knowing who will walk through the door. Oftentimes, we have non-Christians join us, and we’ve seen God speak powerfully into their lives. Our heart is to hunger after the presence of God and seek Him in everything we are doing.
One week, a woman from the community kitchen dozed off during the prayer meeting. As I read from Ephesians, she suddenly sat up and began shouting out against Jesus. On another occasion, a different woman began an argument mid-prayer. And yet, she continues to come back, drawn by the work of the Holy Spirit.
Stories of Transformation
We had a woman who thanked Jesus for her son being taken away from her by social services because, without him being taken away, she would have never have met Jesus and would never have become clean from her addiction. This has really challenged my faith!
One day I had a call to meet a young guy who had a terrifying vision of going to hell and it shook him so much that he gave his life there and then to Jesus. This is someone who a member of the church had been faithfully praying for for 11 years! The day after she prayed for God to intervene in his life he was arrested and went to prison for a number of years. Not quite what she thought God was going to do!
Even this week we held a memorial service for one of our Kitchen users and a man in his 20s came to faith. After a conversation with one of the members of the church on the way back from the seafront, he admitted he would never had considered faith if someone hadn’t spoken to him about it.
Looking Ahead
We’re preparing to launch a weekly after-school family club — a warm and welcoming space for families in the community and the church. We want it to be a place where people feel safe, loved, and seen. Your prayers for this would be greatly appreciated.
We get the joy of seeing God really move and we never know who is going to walk in through the door or what might happen next but we know it is God in it and through it all.
If you’d like to connect or find out more about Beacon Church, visit our website: beaconchurchbridport.co.uk. As leaders and as a church, we simply continue to hunger after God—trusting that He will do the rest.
