The purpose of our new club is twofold — to meet together in this form of exercise, at various levels, and to invite our friends to join us for events.

Our first Event was the Inaugural Ride on 18th August. This was an evening ride of about 25 miles, from Insch to Kennethmont, Keig, Auchleven and back to Insch. The ride was for those who could manage 11+ miles per hour and were happy to climb hills.

Six members wanted to take part but three were unable to, and we ended up with Graeme, Philip and Philip’s son-in-law, Pete.

The weather was kind, though with somewhat of a headwind at times. The first section, to Clatt via Kennethmont went easily, bowling along at between 12 and 16 mph. Then we faced the cruncher! Suie Hill starts just beyond Clatt and rises 500ft in 1 mile. The gradient varies between 10% and 20%!

Pete and Graeme set off well, though Pete found the pace rather hot as the climb steepened. Philip followed at a gentleman’s pace, having taken a ‘power gel’ at the foot of the climb. His time was just 15 minutes. Graeme won the points for the King of the Mountains classification.

From there we swooped down towards the Don Valley and turned left to Keig, left again, over the second major hill to Auchleven/Premnay, and so back to Insch.

With the three of us going up the hill together, Philip tactically (sneakily?) asked, about 100 metres from the top, whether the top was at the next bend. Graeme gullibly replied ‘Yes’, and Philip immediately accelerated and sprinted, to gain the second summit points, equalling Graeme as ‘King of the Mountains’! However, Graeme gets the bottle of wine for the prize, as is right. We want no sneaky guys in the Club!

Statistics: 24.61 miles in 1 hr 55 mins, average speed 12.8, maximum speed 37.1 mph. Total feet of ascent, 1850.

The next event is likely to be a Family Ride, or a short Coffee and Cake Ride, where we go in sedate fashion to an appropriate caff, and return.

Philip is also working on another real tester, just for those who are stupid enough to like hilly routes!

OK, this is no longer a weekly blogg.  Often life keeps you running, especially when you have young children.  I’ll try my best to get back into writing this blog to keep you up to date on what gariochchurch is up to.

Last weekend was our first church weekend away.  Amazingly we had nearly 80% of the whole church gathered together for the weekend in Aviemore.  A time to grow relationships and learn to work as a group.

I’m sure it seemed very quiet to most of us when we woke up on the Monday morning after. Quite different to the buzz of activity we’d all enjoyed on Saturday and Sunday morning! It was a great weekend. Everyone took their turn on meal preparation, washing up and setting up, or doing Sunday school.  The weekend had been a great opportunity to deepen relationships and I am convinced that is part of Kingdom living that, in the past, has been neglected. We need to be real with each other and what better place to do that than at the breakfast table having had very little sleep the night before!!

I hope, like me, you enjoyed the snow. It seemed that life goes down a gear when you can’t keep all those appointments, can’t go shopping etc. because you can’t get the car out of the drive. Everywhere seems more peaceful somehow. Sounds from traffic etc are cushioned. Life just seems quieter and more sedate. Even when the kids go out to play in the snow there is a lovely softened sound to the shrieks of laughter and squeals of delight as snowballs are thrown and snow men are made. Don’t you just love it?!!

As you look at the snow remember that Jesus covers all our sins and makes us as white as snow. (..I feel a song coming in somewhere there…!) We are the ones who tread on it and make it dirty, metaphorically speaking….. Have a great day whatever and wherever you find yourself.

Advanced notice of Carols in the Barn at 7pm on Thursday 18th December. yes, it really is in a barn.  For more information please email us at contact@gariochchurch.org.uk 

Every time we multiply it seems to get harder, but we have now multiplied the Southern group into two.  Now we are four; Northern, Inverurie & Oldmeldrum, Kintore and Blackburn.  Please pray for each group as start to reach out into their local communities.  

Alpha Course – organised by the New Community Church, the Roman Catholic Church and a group from Deeside Christian Fellowship. The 10 week course starts 25^th September. A ‘taster’ of the course, along with a meal, is on 11^th September at the Harlaw Centre. Contact us for more details. This is a great course to do if you are at the start of your Christian journey or just want to explore the basics of the Christian faith.

Council of Reference – Finally we have the names of folk we would like to be part of Council of Reference. We would expect that membership of this group will regularly change, so that we continue to receive helpful advice and fresh inside/outside perspectives on what we’re doing. From our founding documents: ‘The C of R will be a group of people drawn from within and outside gariochchurch, are respected for their godly wisdom, their experience, their independence, their sympathy with the broad strategy of gariochchurch, and their readiness to challenge ‘core leadership’ in godly and biblical ways. They will meet and pray with the ‘core leadership’ at least three times a year. The council are invited to comment on the general health of gariochchurch, as well as review recent and planned initiatives and raise issues of concern, challenge, offer encouragement and wider perspective.’ Our meetings will normally be approx 10 am – 4 pm on a convenient Saturday. We’ll circulate notes of these meetings to you all – and, as always, invite your feedback. 

This week we have prayer at Wed am then our midweek time together Wed pm. Thursday for prayer and chat focusing on our children. Sunday 21^st we shall be together at the Garioch Sports Centre and Sunday evening will be 4 gospel readings.

We support three families who work abroad serving in the kingdom of God in different ways. The Mark & Lisa (who have recently moved to France to work with World Venture), Steve and Jane Williams (in Cyprus working for BMS) and Jacek, a Polish pastor.   Would you be interested in taking care of one of these families? Eg corresponding with them on a regular basis, keeping them up to date with gariochchurch news, encouraging them by taking an interest in what they are doing and keeping the rest of us up to date with their news? Remembering birthdays and sending small gifts, are other ways to give encouragement and care. If you feel this is something you would like to do, I’d be delighted to hear from you.

We also are in the process of supporting a christian family from Latvia who have moved into the NE of Scotland, helping them to find their feet in this corner of the world.  Please pray for them and how we as a church can help them.

I am being hopefull calling this the first blog of September.  It is amazing how hard it is keep going with a blog, especially over the summer months.  However, there are now two of us blogging onto the site so it should be updated on a more regular basis.

It was great to see so many of you there on Sunday at our @central meeting. It is always good to praise and worship God together and have His Word taught. Have you decided which character you are more like in Acts 18/19?

Remember that  are organising a church weekend away in November. I believe you all have a leaflet about it.  Please fill in and return to them asap. Please don’t let cost put you off coming. If it does please let me know. If you have mislaid your form, or did not get one, get in touch – and I’ll one for you.

This Friday 5th in Huntly, Superhero and the bicycle theifs are playing at the Stewarts hall.  These are Christian bands.  More details on www.superhero.org.uk and www.compassionuk.org.  The event is being organised by “The light Huntly” and starts at 7:30.

Doug Horley, who is fun and funky praise and worship leader for kids is coming to Stonehaven on 13^th September. There will be a workshop for children’s workers from 3-5pm then a family praise party from 7-8.30pm. If you have any interest in kids work or are just curious, I would recommend you keep this date free. I have seen this guy in action a couple of times now at the Children’s Conference down in Eastbourne. He is full of energy, fun and loves Jesus and just wants to help kids follow Jesus too. I am planning to go so let me know if you’d like to car share.

Encounter weekend 3-5^th October.  Souled out worship with some great teaching.  Its on our doorstep so we cannot afford to miss this event. 

This week: Wednesday 10.30am for prayer (email me for location). Wednesday evening midweek@ various locations. Sunday @homes – see your Community Group leaders for your venue. The gospel reading on Sunday evening starts at 7pm prompt (!) near Blackburn.

Enjoy your week. Take the fragrance of Jesus into your community. Let it flow in your homes too!

Last night we met in Inverurie for our 3rd installment of the 4storyblock.  This week was John’s turn to tell his experience of Jesus.  He tells HIS story, HIS experience of how Jesus changed HIS and others lives through personal accounts and accounts of friends/people he trusted.  Another good example as we learn to model Jesus and continue on our journey with Him.  A challenge for us to change AGAIN!! to make our focus journeying with people along their faith walk by getting alongside them and being friends, sharing life and experiences.  This has to be the most effective and non-contradictory ways of living on earth as Jesus did.

Friday night was a great night of entertainment for those who went along to the music hall to hear the South African Childrens Choir.  A great time was had by all.  Ask them about it!

On Saturday we hopped on the ‘people train’ from Dyce to Ellon.  Only the 2 hard core made it the entire 26 mile round trip – well done!  Those of us coming back from Ellon to Udny Station certainly felt the old muscles working hard – not sure we knew we had muscles there!!  Despite the rain almost creating havoc the majority of the day turned out to be beautiful and sunny.  The buffet car at the end point was an oasis in the desert!

The three groups met in their respective areas yesterday and enjoyed spending time with each other.  The south group heard some peoples stories about how God has brought them to this place in their lives and what He is doing right now.  It was refreshing to hear people reflect on how God is continually shaping them and moulding them to be more like Him.

This week sees the south groups weekly events changing for the summer period.  Each week one person will take responsibility for planning an evening out for the rest of us to enjoy.  This could be anything from a walk in the woods, ten pin bowling or who knows, maybe something even more adventurous – we’ll keep you posted!  For details of this and times/venues for the other groups email the contact through the website.

Our next @fun day will now be on 26th July – PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF DATE!!! – this is to allow more people to come along.  We will keep you posted with details nearer the time.

Have a great week everyone whatever it brings.  Remember, God is with us in everything we do and can do things beyond our wildest imaginations – just ask!

It was great on Sunday @central where Mark and Karen led us to worship our Heavenly Father using sung Psalms, a bit of liturgy and also songs we are all familiar with. It was very powerful. Andrew talked from Acts 16, bringing out the 6 encounters and 2 lots of guidance Paul & Co experienced. We were left with the question of how many encounters and how many acts of guidance did we/do we experience in our week? It’s something we can continue to discuss next @midweeks.

This week we have the opportunity to meet all together on Wednesday in Kemnay. Rob and Gwen’s pastor from South Africa will be there. Let’s go prepared to hear what God has to say to us through him. If you need directions please contact us.

On Wednesday morning one of our members will be opening her home in Inverurie to any of us who are free. It’s a place where we can gather to sit and enjoy the Lords presence and wait to see what he wants to say to us, and bring others to him in prayer. If you can’t be there and would like us to pray for yourself or others you know please pass your requests to us via the contact email.

Looking forward to seeing you on Saturday for the railway experience! This is a church cycle, walk along the old railway from Dyce to Ellon for a picnic.  You can join us at any of the stations or meet us in Ellon.  If you need any more details let me know.

On Sunday we will be gariochchurch@home. Please contact your community group leaders for details.   In the evening some of us will be meeting in Inverurie just to read through the whole way through one of the gospels.  This week it will be John.  Again contact us for more information. 

Until we meet again, enjoy being gariochchurch@large out in your community (includes work community!) and meeting with your neighbours.

What’s new first of all that we are making an effort to try to keep the site as up-to-date as possible so that YOU know what’s happening! 

Over the last month or two lots of interesting things have been happening throughout the Garioch.  We are still meeting in 3 groups spread from the North to the South and are in the midst of a 3rd multiplication as the south group grows.

The summer is shaping up to be a fun, together time.  Each @home group is taking responsibility for a ‘fun@garoich’ day each month between June & August.  This is a great opportunity to continue to get to know each other and spend time enjoying the Scottish summer and countryside around us.

The south group met on Saturday at Kintore gala day.  Even though the weather ‘clouded’ (!!) events it was still a great day.  The younger members of the group entered the fancy dress competition and paraded behind the pipe band while the older amongst us stood in the rain cheering them on!  It was a great opportunity to strengthen and deepen relationships within this community.  Some of the north group did the same in Insch at a community event on Sunday.

Friendships are budding and we are really enjoying it.  In this way, and others, we hope to impact our communities by ‘being’ and ‘doing’,  spending time with people.

Last night (15th June) a ‘4 story block’ was started up.  Intrigued? You should be!  

Read in its entirety we get from each of the four gospels a sense of the sweep of the story every time we read.  We hope to get to know the Jesus presented by each of the gospel writers – to get to know how his mission developed, his priorities, his way of doing things, his claims about himself, together.  We hope to become better equipped to learn and retell the stories of Jesus.
Listening to each other read these stories aloud we hope to be engaged as countless people have been over the centuries – after all it is how the stories would have been passed on in the first place.

Each of the groups is experimenting new ways of ‘being’ what God wants us to be in the places that He has put us.  We are challenged as we continue to listen for God’s leading in what we do here.  Above all, our aim is to glorify God in the relationships we form where we are through treating people the way Jesus did and following the example of Jesus we see in the Bible.  More than anything we are tyring to walk with Jesus and become more like Him.
   

How time flies.  We were thinking that gariochchurch is nearly 9 months old plus the 9 months gestation period.  It is amazing to how the Lord has taken a group of individuals scattered across the Garioch and created His new church.   Yes, we are outside our own comfort zones, living by faith, but the Lord uses this to grow and strengthen His church. 

So what’s new since my last blog.  @central meetings now have a Creche which runs alongside the Sunday School.  Our three @home groups have continued to strengthen as we settle into the new groups.  We are looking more into extending our support into the local area through different ventures.  One proposal is a regular craft evening in Blackburn.  We are also looking to bring men closer together through activity and prayer.  If you have any burdens for how we can outreach into the area please tell me.

Just a reminder that all our meetings should be advertised under the “activities” section of our web site.  This is a google style calendar which is updated by each of the @home groups.  If it is somewhat lacking on information please email me at contact@gariochchurch.org.uk and I will get it updated. 

Locally, the Acorn Centre in Inveruire has now opened.  This is a great resource that we should support and use.  It’s great to see a building being used in such a way and to support, get to know and have fun with other Christians in our area.

A reminder that it is Souled Out at the Aberdeen Exhibition Centre on the 31st May.  Check out the link below for a video featuring Chris Wright of Langham Partnership International, speaking at the event.

This was sent to me by a friend in Onich, Fort William, showing what they are doing in their new “fresh expression” of church.  Supporting each other whilst working within their local churches. http://christianstogether.net/Publisher/Article.aspx?id=113288 . Although the other side of the country we do have a lot in common.  

Finally, we are in the early stages of planning a church weekend away.  The original date clashed with Encounter so we have moved it to the 28th – 30th November.  Put it into your diaries now.

The attached blog was pointed out to us by a friend.  It sums up a lot of what we are doing.

  http://thewearypilgrim.typepad.com/the_weary_pilgrim/2008/04/kingdom-economy.html

Okay, this is no longer a weekly update.  I have tried my best but often we are so busy doing stuff that things get dropped.  My only excuse was a big birthday, one of those that ends in a zero. 

There have been some developments since my last blog.  We have three groups meeting regularly North, South and Central.  Already it is so great to start concentrating more on our locality, bringing church ever closer to our own communities.

Some things for your prayer and calender diary:-

Church Weekend Away- We are exploring the opportunity of having a church weekend away in October 08.

Worship – There are many things that could be done with regard to worship including getting together with other Christians in the Garioch to just enjoy making music together.  All we need are the people, so if you are interested please email or comment on the blog.