SCOTLAND

Lothians: In early April the small assembly in Armadale had two encouraging weeks of gospel meetings with Joe Baxter as the evangelist, after 2,500 personal invitations were distributed in the town. During the fortnight many people were contacted on the doors in the afternoons, and a good interest was expressed. The meetings were well-attended, and this included several people who had never been in the hall before, some of whom were unsaved, in addition to believers from twelve assemblies who gave valued support. The preaching was pointed and powerful and it was felt that the Spirit of God was at work. A young man who had professed faith a few years ago in a Baptist Church was at every meeting and has promised to continue attending. On the last night a lady said that she had been impressed with the message and asked for a Bible, a request immediately granted by a sister handing over her own one, much to visitor’s delight. She too has said she will return to the weekly gospel meetings.

Ayrshire: For a fourth year, a Holiday Club for children in the area was held during the first week in April at Glenburn, Prestwick. The response was terrific - we are thankful to God that over 75 children came each day. There was great help from the younger people in the assembly and others who came each day to give support. A local brother, Colin Cairnie, was responsible for the lessons each day on the life of Moses, and teaching the children the Ten Commandments. Story time received great attention; some parents also sat in for the week. On the Friday morning around 18 parents and grandparents also came for coffee and heard the Word of God. Pray that God will bless in salvation.

Stewart Gillespie and Craig McKie from the New Cumnock assembly have had two weeks of gospel meetings in the village of Logan, East Ayrshire where there is no assembly witness and very little has been done in the gospel over many years. Homes were visited with gospel leaflets, invitations were distributed, and a local hall hired for the preaching of the gospel. A few local people came to hear the Word and we value prayer that some would come to faith in the Lord Jesus.

The North: Gordon McCracken was in Shetland for two weeks in March - April. Eighteen schools were visited, including four High School RE classes being taken. The local believers who arranged the visits were delighted to discover how willing the Head Teachers were to receive a visit, even re-scheduling their assemblies to suit. During the second week around 60 children came to a Holiday Club in the Sound Gospel Hall each day, the overall attendance being in the eighties. On the prize-giving night, most of the children were able to recite publicly the gospel verse they had learned.

Immediately after his Shetland visit, Gordon went to Cullen for another Holiday Club. Many of last year’s children returned and numbers increased from 75 on the first day to over 100. On prize-giving night the Town Hall, where all the meetings were held, was full of children, parents and friends. The gospel was clearly presented and, as in Shetland, very many of the children said the memory verse (John 3.17). The adults left with that verse of Scripture ringing in their ears. In addition, each family received a copy of Why the Cross by John Blanchard.

These reports are just a small sample of work being done by many brethren across the country in schools and among children. We need to pray that the present liberty to teach the Word in this way remains with us, and that God will bless His Word faithfully declared in many places.

The assembly in Avoch continues to be encouraged by the positive response to special gospel outreaches. The most recent was an Easter Service in Avoch Primary School when Douglas Mowat took as his subject, "The Resurrection of Christ - Hoax or History?". Again a good number of unsaved people were present. Faced with the problem of getting people into the Gospel Hall to hear the Word, an informal monthly Saturday morning meeting has been tried. At the third most recent one to be held in the Hall, Eric Baijal told of his Hindu father’s conversion to Christ. These meetings have been attended by 12 - 14 local people each month. The Avoch believers request prayer for the furtherance of the gospel.

N. IRELAND

Co. ANTRIM

Ahoghill: The Ayrshire Bible Exhibition was held from 9th-13th May.

Ballymena (Harryville): Special Gospel Meetings at "Moore’s Concrete" premises and car park at Woodside Road, Ballymena (site kindly granted) concluded on 22nd April with very large numbers attending. The assembly worked faithfully and consistently each night during the 7 weeks and some nights were able to bring up to 30 people from different estates in the area through knocking on doors and using buses. God was pleased to bless in the salvation of souls. The speakers were L Craig and J Rogers.

Special Gospel Meetings in a tent at Logan’s Fashions, Cloughmills (site kindly granted) located on the A26 Frosses Road, 10 miles from Ballymena, are expected to commence on 29th May. The speakers will be W Boyd and R McKeown. Interest and support would be appreciated.

Ballybollan/Clonkeen/Crosskeys: Special Gospel Meetings have concluded on 6th May with N Fleck and T Wright. Good numbers attended with an evident interest. Continuing prayer would be valued for those who were present.

Ballywatermoy: Gospel Meetings have commenced on 8th May in a portable hall in Cullybackey with W Martin and D McGarvey. Interest and prayer would be appreciated.

Co. ARMAGH

Armagh Gospel Hall: J Fleck and M Turkington have concluded ten weeks of Gospel Meetings. It has been a time of rich blessing when a number have been saved - among them some long prayed for. This has brought great joy to the assembly for which we are deeply thankful to the Lord. The meetings were well supported by surrounding assemblies and many strangers from the locality came. "Christ" was the central theme of the gospel preached in the meetings.

Glenanne Gospel Hall: Gospel Meetings commenced on 8th May. The speakers are B Currie and S Nelson.

Portadown: Gospel Meetings in a portable hall commenced on 8th May. Speakers: J Rogers and J Fleck.

Co. MONAGHAN

S Maze and R Eadie had a spell of Gospel Meetings in Monaghan Gospel Hall which have just finished. The town was well visited but the response from local people was disappointing. Prayer is valued for this small assembly.

Co. LONDONDERRY & CO. DONEGAL

Killykergan: A Nesbitt and A Steele are in their third week of meetings at 28th April. An encouraging number of the believers’ young people are attending every night.

Magherafelt: While a good number of people from the town attended the meetings, it had been hoped that more would have responded to the invitations and literature which had been distributed to every home in the town. However, the effort proved to have been very worthwhile in that a fifteen year old girl trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of her sins. The preachers were A Colgan, T Craig and S Redfern.

Co. TYRONE

Clogher: Gospel Meetings concluded on 22nd April. Good numbers attended including outsiders from the village. No conversions were reported, but a number of souls were interested in the message of salvation. The meetings were taken wholly by B Glendinning. Mr N Coulter was to have partnered him in these meetings but hospitalisation ruled this out.

Kilmore (near Castlederg): Excellent Gospel Meetings with D Gilliland and D McAllister concluded here in mid April with fruit in the gospel.

Co. DOWN

Cardy: The assembly had a week of edifying and challenging ministry with S Grant on "The Christian Family".

Gransha: The Conference (postponed from Christmas) was well attended, and much appreciated ministry was given by D Gilliland, S Ferguson, L Craig, S Wells, M Radcliffe and J Wishart.

Growell Assembly: S Baker had much appreciated ministry on the subject of "Christ in Isaiah".

Newry: The assembly visited 10 local schools and the believers were very well received.

Portavogie (New Road): The assembly greatly enjoyed a week of Christ exalting ministry on the Levitical Offerings with Denis Williamson, just prior to their Annual Conference at which encouraging ministry was given by W Nesbitt, B Currie, B Glendinning, David Williamson, M Radcliffe, W Martin, J Martin and S McBride.

Co. FERMANAGH

Enniskillen: The saints benefited from four evenings of Bible Readings led by Sam Jennings. Our brother was also responsible for the Sunday evening gospel meetings during the month of March.

"If the Lord will..."

Ballinamallard: David McGarvey plans (DV) to revisit the area with the gospel in early summer. Useful contacts were made on a previous visit so please pray for the Lord’s blessing.

ENGLAND & WALES

Bicester: Two weeks of Gospel Meetings in early April with Gene Higgins (USA) saw a good number of souls coming into the Hall. The Lord blessed in the salvation of a teenage girl after a lengthy struggle. 4,000 Seed Sowers texts were delivered into homes in nearby Banbury during the Bicester Easter Conference weekend. A good number gathered to hear ministry from P Scarsbrook, I Jackson and W Martin.

London: 10,000 specially printed gospel tracts were handed out among the Royal Wedding crowds at the end of April by brethren from various parts.

Cheltenham: The combined Gloucester and Cheltenham Good Friday Conference held at Bethany, Cheltenham this year gave real inspiration for prayer. John Frost of Tottenham reported on really interesting contacts made in his area, and Ken Cowell of Japan interested us in his work among Japanese people in Milton Keynes. John Scarsbrook closed the conference with ministry from the Scriptures, challenging us all to total commitment in our service for the Master, in body, mind and heart - especially meaningful after the two previous reports.

North-East: The monthly Bible Readings and Ministry sessions at Jarrow continued through the winter months with the exception of December when extreme weather interfered. The subject of the Bible Readings was the crucifixion and death of the Lord Jesus described in Matthew 26 & 27. All who attended were greatly helped by teaching from the visiting preachers. In November, Robert Thomson spoke on the Lord’s Supper, Warnings, Sorrow and Betrayal. In January, William Banks outlined the missed December portion dealing with the trials of the Lord Jesus, His Arrest and Abuse, and the Denials of Peter, then spoke of the Final Ecclesiastical Trial and the Second Trial before Pilate. Colin Lacey was responsible for February and spoke of the principal characters - Pilate, all of the People, the Soldiers of the Governor, Simon of Cyrene, the Thieves, "they that passed by" and the Chief Priests, Scribes and Elders. The final Reading was led by Jack Hay who spoke of Darkness, Distance, Desolation, Death, Devotion, Dedication and Demands.

Robert Plant was with the believers for the Home Workers’ Conference in January. He began with ministry from 2 Timothy 3, then gave a report of the Lord’s work in which he is involved, including the use of CDs, printing, the use of his trailer at shows etc, and teaching in Jersey.

In February the believers at Pallion Road, Sunderland, held a Holiday Bible club and were very encouraged by the good response. Numbers were in the upper twenties every day and the children participated enthusiastically. The Tuesday coffee break continues to be an encouragement.

At the annual Easter Monday conference meetings held by the small assembly in Kirkby-in-Ashfield the speakers were Paul McCauley (Belfast) and Stuart MacDonald (Hamilton). Although numbers were slightly down on previous years the believers were encouraged by the support of local assemblies, particularly to see the number of younger Christians who attended.

For the annual May Day Conference at Curzon Street, Derby, Alan Summers (Mayfield) and David Gilliland (Lurgan) were the speakers. There was a good interest from assemblies locally and the believers were encouraged by the helpful and challenging ministry.

The small assembly at Bethesda, Kitty Briggs Lane, Grantham, commenced an outreach work through a literature stall in the town centre Street Market. Although the weather was poor at the start of the day, it brightened up later and provided an excellent opportunity for conversation with people from the town and surrounding villages. The overall response was good and literature was given out to a variety of age groups, the "Test your IQ" tract proving particularly popular. Quite a few invitations to the assembly’s children’s work were also taken, and prayer is requested that some might respond and attend the meetings. Towards the end there was also opportunity to speak to other market traders and some were prepared to accept literature. It is planned to continue this work on the first Saturday of each month and we can pray that the seed sown might bear fruit.

South Wales: Good numbers attended the annual Easter conferences at Caerphilly on Good Friday, The Heath in Cardiff on Saturday and Lord’s Day, and at Port Talbot on Easter Monday. There was a good interest shown in the exposition of the Scriptures by our brethren S Arbuthnot, S Dunn and M Radcliffe. Profitable ministry was given with a good mix of doctrinal and practical subjects including Philippians 2, Elijah, the Ten Commandments, principles of assembly gathering, the millennial reign of Christ, Hebrews 2, and Peter in prison in Acts 12.