Thought for the Week – from Caroline (17th
January
2021)
Psalm 101:7 “No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my
house; no one who utters lies shall continue before my eyes.”
Proverbs 29:25 “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts
in the Lord shall be safe.”
Last week I talked about Helena a character in the drama
“Mother Love.” I am using it again as a teaching aid and I must
try to make it understandable as not everybody will want to watch
it. To recap, Helena became angry, bitter, resentful, jealous and
unforgiving from a young childhood when she discovers her best
friend has lied and deceived her, a bitter root starts to grow
within her. This root, which was never dealt with, grew, and when
as an adult she is rejected by her husband for another woman she
becomes unknowingly the puppet of the devil and listens to his
lies. That’s not mentioned in the drama but to Christians watching
it’s obvious. As I mentioned last week her warped and troubled
thoughts lead her to extreme evil behaviour, she murders, and in
her mind she justifies this as the deserved punishment for those
who have hurt and betrayed her. But doesn’t scripture give us this
rather sobering warning in 1 John 3:15: “Anyone who hates a
brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has
eternal life residing in him.” Although Helena became
deranged and deeply lost in her evil intent her family were not
innocent as in the guise of caring for her and protecting her they
make it far, far worse. I will explain: There was no way Helena
wanted to share her only son with his father so she prevented him
from ever meeting him. However at the age of 14 her son Kit told
his mother, Helena, that he had actually met his father, so with
that Helena attempted to kill herself. From then on Kit, his
father and his father’s new family all vowed never to tell Helena
of any meetings and they lied and deceived her at every turn and
everybody that knew Helena was drawn into this plan in order to
prevent and save Helena from taking her own life. When you change
your decisions and behaviour to accommodate your fears that a
loved one will commit suicide you are actually succumbing to the
“fear of man” which is a snare and as a Christian you are no
longer trusting God, you are being manipulated. It is very hard to
come against, as manipulation is a powerful spirit. It is easy for
me to write these things and don’t think for one moment that when
I write these “Thoughts for the week” I don’t have my own
struggles. Helena’s family brought tragedy upon themselves,
because as Helena discovered bit by bit that those of her own
family had lied, deceived and betrayed her, particularly her
daughter-in-law and the worst betrayal her son, whom she adored,
the bitter root grew to gigantic proportions bringing utter
destruction to everybody.
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to
deceive!” (Sir Walter Scott, 1808)
Welcome to the Broadfield Christian Fellowship Website
Broadfield Christian Fellowship
is a local church made up of people from all backgrounds. We are based in
the Broadfield Community Centre, which we share with the
Church
of England and
Roman
Catholic churches. We are adjacent to the local
shopping parade, which includes a large free car park, and opposite the
library and Neighbourhood Hub, ideally situated for the local community. Broadfield is the largest neighbourhood
in the new town of Crawley
in West
Sussex, situated in its south-western corner
within the triangle formed by the A23, A264 and A2220. It is predominantly
made up of estates of council, housing trust and former council housing,
with private housing estates around the perimeter. Broadfield has a
population of over 13,000. Click
here
for a map showing our location.
Broadfield Christian Fellowship is a
Link Church within the Ichthus
Christian Fellowship, which is based in South
London, and a member of the Evangelical
Alliance. We are in fellowship with other evangelical churches in Crawley and
have links with various local Christian groups, such as
The
Lighthouse Project, a Christian ministry to the
children of Crawley,
The Christians Against Poverty
Crawley Debt Centre,
Holmsted
Manor near Cuckfield, run by Youth
With A Mission, the International
Bible Training Institute in Burgess Hill, and
The Easter Team, a
local Christian charity that serves people who are homeless or in need in
and around Crawley. We also support and have
a number of members actively involved with
Street
Pastors Crawley.
We meet every Sunday morning at 10.30 am
(10.00 am for refreshments) in the Community Centre Social Hall for worship and
teaching. Our worship style is informal and generally led by people from
within the Fellowship, with occasional visiting speakers. We
normally celebrate communion on the third or fourth Sunday in each month and at
other times as arranged. We have weekly house group meetings, usually
on Tuesday evenings.
Every Wednesday at 9.30 am we run the Triangle Coffee Shop in the
Social Hall, at which coffee, tea, biscuits and cakes are served for a
nominal donation. Second-hand clothes and other items are also freely
available. This provides an important service to the community and many
people drop in during this time. We also host the Friday Meal, a free
drop-in cooked meal at 5.00 pm every Friday. The
Coffee Shop and the Friday Meal have been awarded the highest
5-star Food
Standards Agency rating for Food Hygiene by the local authority.
On the first Sunday of each month at
7.00 pm we join with other
churches in Crawley for celebration, teaching,
prayer and fellowship at Crawley
Baptist Church, Crabtree Road, West Green.
Email Contact Details
You can contact us by email at fellowship@broadfield.org.uk
with any queries you may have about our activities or this web site. If
you wish to contact one of the leaders, please use the same address and
your message will be passed on. Thank you.
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