Canal Ministries - on the Inland Waterways
Peter Mills
Chairman's Log
July 2022
Thanks for taking time to check out the first "blog" from the "Chairman's log".
Every two months I hope to add something new or post articles and updates about the work of Canal Ministries published elsewhere. We are already over halfway through 2022, so it is way over time to let you have an update on where we are at this point in time as a charity.
The updates from the boater/volunteer teams on the front line should be updated soon on the individual pages, and the whole website brought up to date not long after that. Those that know us already will already be aware that Peter Atwill retired in November 2021 and that we have a new Team Leader in Chris Buck. Chris and Sally are on Kairos and you can read their updates on the website
Peter used to be my Pastor long ago and I one of his Deacons at Bishopstoke Evangelical Church. He founded Canal Ministries back in 2006. Hopefully in the Autumn issue of the Boaters' Christian Fellowship Word Magazine you should see an article "wot I wrote" (as Ernie Wise might have said). The article attempts to let folk know who we are and what we do as an organisation, so I will not repeat that at this time but copy it here at a later date.
In January, we had our first retreat/conference/gathering after the Covid Pandemic. Although we know some could not make it, we had a blessed time over at the Elim Conference Centre in Malvern. This include ministry from Andy Moore and Tom Price from The Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. Now I come to mention it - it is time to start planning the next gathering in January 2023.
In June, we joined with the BCF in mission at Water Eaton for a second year. The local churches took ownership of the mission and BCF and Canal Ministries crews organised boat trips, assemblies, tours of the boats and much more. It was good to see them all on the Thursday, to hear the news of folks committing their lives to Jesus for the first time, and also recommitting their lives to Him.
On the mundane, but necessary, side of things, we have been updating our documentation and it's good to see both boaters and trustees taking on new roles as we move to share God's love on the waterways.
My prayer is that this year we will see more come to know Jesus and that we can help more people in need where we meet them on the waterways or on dry land.
"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 2 Corinthians 13:13-14 (NIV).
Again, thank you for reading
Peter Mills
Chair of Trustees.
(Any views expressed above are personal and not necessarily those of the other Trustees).
If you would like somebody to visit your church and speak about the ministry, please do contact us via the website. Similarly, you can find details on how to donate financially via the website or directly on other pages on the site. If you would like to pray for us, we would welcome that also. Please contact us for current prayer topics, again via the website.
