WIth the uncertainties over the Coronovirus we have decided to postpone the planned event for 28th March. We are working with Bethel Baptist Church and our speaker, Dot Tyler, to reschedule later in the year.
Praying you stay safe and well
God Bless
Julie, Tristan and Heather
After some beautiful worship, led by ladies from Albany Baptist, Jude carried on the worship with her Cello before captivating us with her story. One that has taken her from Neath, all over the world and back to South Wales.
A Welsh girl through and through, Jude spent her early childhood in Neath. She started 
to learn the Cello at the age of 8, and at the age of 12 she auditioned for Cheetams School of music and won a scholarship. This was Jude’s dream. It was amazing to be part of a school where she could develop as a cellist. That is where her passion for chamber music started. At the age of 16 Jude was the Principal cellist for the National Orchestra of Great Britain. At 18 she auditioned for music school in London and spent 5 years at the Royal Academy. David Strange, her incredible teacher, brought the best out of her.
Where was God in all this? Jude had a solid Christian upbringing. Jesus was the centre of her home and she was baptised at 16.
“God really touched me one Sunday evening
my heart was racing and I said yes to Jesus”
While in London she found herself at All Souls, Langham Place. At a student meeting she realised people were praying as if God would answer. Jude believed in God, she knew he was the Saviour of the world, but didn’t know what that looked like. John Stott was still preaching there at the time. For the first time she understood how the word of God could be applied to her life.
Jude was reading book of Acts. “I want to know You more, day by day, to know the power of Jesus in my life”. She didn’t realise at the time that this was the Holy Spirit working in her.
Jude met Will and they were married in 1989. Will had just come back from the
States where he had had an amazing encounter with God. Will gave Jude the book The Hot Line by Peter Lawrence. The holy spirit can speak to us, empower us, give us words of knowledge. She was loving Church but craving more.
John and Eleanor Mumford, founders of Vineyard in the UK were in Putney. Will encouraged Jude to go along with him.
“It was amazing, we saw such freedom in people. I couldn’t lift my hands in worship before. That night was significant. I saw and felt something I hadn’t felt before”
Bruce Collins was very influential to Will and Jude. In their first year of marriage they worked with him and his team. He led with courage and they are very thankful to him. During this time, Jude was a member of a string quartet, travelling the world. It wasn’t what she thought it would be and she resigned. That was hard – it was like a marriage and the breakup affected all 4 people. This change in circumstances opened up huge possibility. What was God saying? How does he speak through his word?
Now in Bristol, Will went through selection for the Anglican Church. Jude found herself a house wife. She visited over 60 schools to try and get a job teaching cello without joy. She was given a piano. God told her, “I’m going to teach you to learn to love Me and learn to worship.” The first 2 years were hard. She spent a lot of time on her own. After the first year God told her to lay the cello down. “The Cello is my identity. I didn’t play it again for 10 years”. During that time, her love for it diminished.
Jude started to cultivate a heart for worship and a love of Jesus, but never in a public place. She came to know Him.
Proverbs 3 5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight
“The first thing He wanted was my heart”
Now a vicar’s wife! (“Hilarious – I am a bit of a rebel really.”) Will’s first job was in Birmingham at St. John’s Harborne, with John and Annie Hughes. A Prophetic word came to them that in November Will would be asked to apply for a job in Sussex.
This came true and what followed was a journey of listening to God – growing and growing. They spent 10 years in Horsham leading a very eclectic church. It attracted lots of artists and musicians. Asking the Lord what He wanted them to do. He said,
“Use the people you have to communicate the gospel”
The space project, headed up by Hugo Ellis, was started. “This was an amazing season
including plays and concerts”. Jude and Will had 3 children during this time
In 2006, they felt a stirring of the Spirit. They went away together to pray for 4 days. When reading the first 8 chapters of Joshua they felt Him talking about coming into the promised land. God was telling them to move to a capital city. Was it London? They went to London, but that didn’t do it for them.
At a meeting Bruce Collins said, “You are thinking about moving, why don’t you come to
Wales?” Was this the Lord calling Jude back to Wales? That would be remarkable after leaving at the age 12. Jude thought it would be like having a chocolate cake!
The following morning, after reading the bible together, Will said he had just remembered that their friend Betty had invited them round on Saturday morning as she was going to make a cake for them. When they arrived, they were presented with a chocolate cake. Now they knew it was the Holy Spirit.
The God-incidences continued. The following week they received a letter addressed to St.
John’s in Canton – but they were in Horsham! While on retreat, they talked to a fisherman in Canada who said he wanted to go to Cardiff. Maybe the capital city was Cardiff.
Will applied for jobs with the Anglican Church but nothing opened up. Had they heard God right. They sought counsel from friends who would have the courage to tell them what they wouldn’t want to hear.
God said, “Will you come no matter what?”. They had 3 kids, a house and a salary. Life was good. God said “Will you trust me. Will you go?”. So they came!
They had lots of friends in Cardiff. They felt they were being called to Roath so started to walk the streets and got really excited. A house came up for sale. They didn’t have much money. The house was in the right area and was the right size, but needed a lot of work.
Then the Lord told Jude He wanted her to start using her cello to bring His presence into the lives of families.
Little Notes Cardiff has between 80 and 170 children in classes each week. “He has put the cello in my hand for a reason. I want His voice to be heard and have been given the possibility of releasing His presence and truth.”
Over the last 2 years Jude and Will have started a missional community. They are having an adventure with Jesus. They are gathering people who are looking to find something in Jesus. People who have questions. Who is He? What does the bible say? They are all, “Slightly mad but ordinary people”.
Jude’s story continues. They heard the Lord telling them to knock on the door of the Anglican Church once more. There was a redundant Anglican Church at end the end of their street.
Last June, Will and Jude told their story to Bishop June. She broke down and asked “What do you want?” Their reply: “We want access to this church to bring Jesus’ glory to the life of the community we are in.”
Bishop June asked Will if he wanted to come back into Anglican Church. (Hadn’t actually left). He will be licensed in January. They got the keys to the building in September 2018. On July 7 th 2019 a dream told them there would be significant healing. They opened up the church and 42 people came.
“We are so thankful for what God is doing. It is His story, not our story. God is writing His story within each of us. As we allow Him in, we want our story to be released into the atmosphere so others hear it. We are all called to play our part as one church. There is one church in Cardiff. You were born into a family known by courage. Your one courageous act could steal one heart to know Jesus. You are a unique daughter. I call you to open your hearts to that thing that he is calling you by name to do. You are salt “.
We could have listened to Jude all night. Thank you to the ladies at Albany Road Baptist Church for hosting us and providing some delicious cakes.
The next Lavish Cardiff event is on Saturday 28th March at 7.30 pm at Bethel Baptist Church, Whitchurch, CF14 2AA.
We are delighted to have Dot Tyler as our speaker for the evening.
As always, this is a free event and all women are very welcome to attend. Please extend the invitation to any woman you know who would like to experience Lavish!
Bethel Baptist Church is on Penlline Road in Whitchurch, a few doors up from Barclays Bank. There is free parking in the car park behind the church (turn right off Penlline Road) or there is also a free car park further down off Merthyr Road.
The next Lavish Cardiff event is on Saturday 28th September at 7.30 pm at Albany Road Baptist Church, Roath, CF24 3NU.
Jude Souter is our speaker for the evening. She will be speaking on Jesus’ manifesto, His mandate, His mission. We are can’t wait to hear what Jude is going to share with us.
As always, this is a free event and all women are very welcome to attend. Please extend the invitation to any woman you know who would like to experience Lavish!
Please download the Lavish promo slide so you can publicise the event to women in your church and across your networks.
lavish-promotion-slide-Sept-2019
Albany Road Baptist Church is on the corner of Albany Road and Blenhiem Road, opposite The Claude pub. There is limited parking on the church site. Please use street parking in the area.
Lavish Cardiff returned to it’s home church, Bethel Baptist, in March this year. We shared a powerful evening with uplifting worship lead by Rachel. S
he also shared an update from the Summit Centre, including the official opening of the centre by the Prince of Wales.
We then heard Mariam’s powerful testimony, which touched and moved the many women who came along to hear it. Mariam shared that when asked to share her testimony, she wondered why me, as her story is ordinary and she hadn’t achieved much. However, as we listened we discovered that her story was far from ordinary. Her story is one of faithfulness, favour, growth and love and this shone through everything she shared. Here story is very personal so no details are shared here, but we do share what she says God says about her as this applies to us all:
Unique: Psalm 139:13 Loved: Jeremiah 31:3
Special: Ephesians 2:10 Cared for: Ephesians 3: 17-19
Lovely: Daniel 12:3 Precious: Corinthians 6: 20
Strong: Psalm 18: 25 Important: 1 Peter 2: 9
Forgiven: Psalm 103:12 Protected: Psalm 12:13
Chosen: John 15: 16 I’m Family: Ephesians 2:19-22
I’m no longer a foreigner, and a stranger but a fellow citizen with God’s people and a member of His household.
Thank you again to Mariam and the ladies of Bethel Baptist Church for hosting us.
The next Lavish Cardiff event is on Saturday 9th March at 7.30 pm at Bethel Baptist Church, Whitchurch, CF14 2AA.
We are delighted to have Mariam as our speaker for the evening. Mariam will share her incredible journey of faith and God’s guidance and continued faithfulness in her life.
As always, this is a free event and all women are very welcome to attend. Please extend the invitation to any woman you know who would like to experience Lavish!
Please download the Lavish promo slide so you can publicise the event to women in your church and across your networks.
lavish-promotion-slide-mar-2019
Bethel Baptist Church is on Penlline Road in Whitchurch, a few doors up from Barclays Bank. There is free parking in the car park behind the church (turn right off Penlline Road) or there is also a free car park further down off Merthyr Road.
Lavish Lite, “café style”, in the Church of the Resurrection was a welcome and cosy retreat from the wind and rain lashing down outside. And the tea, coffee and home-made cakes were shared from the beginning onwards, instead of just at the end of the night!
Our speaker was Debs who worships at Victory Church in Cwmbran. Debs’ path to becoming a Christian included first attending the local Anglican church as a child, then Brownies church parades, the power of Christian Union in secondary school, and then one night seeing Jesus who touched her and became real to her.
Debs family life at home wasn’t easy, but after leaving school and a few setbacks along the way, she achieved a degree in nutrition, got engaged and moved into her own flat. Debs threw herself into life at 100 miles per hour, in a deep longing to avoid being a failure and overcome her low self-esteem.
Her life was full of busyness – a career in academia, family, running a church toddler group, leading the PTA, volunteering for everything in an attempt to make people like her through her actions. This carried on for over twenty years, but it all came to a head when her Nan died and at the same time Debs was hit with a norovirus which laid her low for a month. Once she stopped, it seemed impossible to get going again.
Debs was not sleeping, she was aching all over; she developed a burning pain in her legs, then a severe case of facial flushing. There followed a crazy period of doctor’s appointments and a barrage of tests before Debs was finally diagnosed with fibromyalgia and photo-aggravated rosacea. Fibromyalgia affects everyone differently and for Debs it included widespread pain, stiffness, lethargy, poor sleep quality and “brain fog”. The rosacea was a chronic inflammation of the skin, possibly triggered by medication, and meant that Debs was allergic to most lights, except LEDs.
Debs talked of her life as a journey taken with God, who has been with her every step of the way. She was reminded of the song sung many times at Lavish, “never once did we ever walk alone”, and she shared many verses of scripture with us that she found helpful.
“The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, He enables me to tread on the heights” (Habakkuk 3:18)
and
“…because God has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.’” (Hebrews 13:5-6)
Even in the most difficult circumstances God will carry us through to the end. Debs grieved for her old life, as she was forced to slow down and having counselling at Cardiff Christian Healing Ministry helped to come to terms helped. She learnt that she had tried to fill her life by pleasing people, earning love by being productive, but she came to realise that God’s love is a free gift, not based on what we do.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 31: 3)
Debs got rid of the “should, oughts and musts” from her life, as God gave her permission to love herself and heal. After all, if we look after ourselves, we can then be a better person for others.
“Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12)
The process of healing was a messy one and Debs finally admitted that she was depressed and had been for a while.
“You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book” (Psalm 56:8)
She was worried that Christians shouldn’t get depressed; she couldn’t own it. But of course, as 1 in 3 people will struggle with their mental health in their lifetime, there is no reason for Christians to be exempt. Why feel ashamed of taking antidepressants? If you were diabetic, no-one would shame you for taking insulin.
Debs is waiting on the Lord for healing, and as she waits she knows God is giving her strength. God has our backs; we are surrounded with his protection and unfailing love.
“…but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)
Debs shared her memories of a sermon on Psalm 23 by Louis Giglio. God lays a table before us in the presence of our enemies. We are invited to have a relationship with God, to come to His table. In the midst of trouble, God will sit with us. But don’t let the enemy have a seat at your table! Jesus laid down His life for you – He has already paid for your table reservation with His blood.
We had the opportunity for a personal response to Debs’ moving story, as Julie invited us to tell God what was on our hearts, as we made paper hearts and hung them on a tree branch. We ended the evening by singing the song Oceans together, and shared Romans 5:1-5 with each other.
Thank you to Debs for inspiring us through her testimony. Thank you to St Mellons church for hosting a relaxing evening of fellowship and love.
Lavish Cardiff’s June event was held at Bethany Baptist Church in Rhiwbina on a lovely sunny evening. The ladies of Bethany did a great job of hosting us – we have never had quite so many cakes to choose from.
Worship was led by Julie, a member of the Lavish team. Her worship was thought provoking and prepared us all for what Sue would share. The worship band was made up of ladies from different churches across the city.
Our speaker for the evening was Sue Hurrell who spoke powerfully about her story of life and what she had learnt from it. Sue had a Christian upbringing and her family’s focus was on education and the importance of working hard to succeed. She was a high achiever and did a degree and PhD in Cambridge.
Several things had happened that challenged her belief that if she worked hard she could achieve anything and tested her faith, but also made her realise she should depend on God. Firstly when she struggled to conceive a baby and went through IVF before becoming pregnant. But then another challenge faced her. Her daughter was born 3 weeks early via an emergency c-section and ended up in the special care unit. This was a very anxious time for her. Her daughter eventually came home, but there were still issues and they could not explain why. During this difficult time the prayers and support of her church was amazing. Her daughter was eventually diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Sue explained how when you have a new baby you can feel as if the possibilities for them are endless, but having a diagnosis of disability causes those horizons to crash in. She said she had amazing health care professionals around her who enhanced the positives of her daughter’s progression. Sue described her daughter as having incredible strength. As a family they have tried never to let their daughter’s disability hold her back.
They had a key moment when a leaflet dropped through the door from a family looking for support for their child to have some innovative surgery in the US. Sue and her husband explored this for their daughter and through support they raised enough money to pay for the surgery on her spine. She said how a friend sent her a message during the 4-hour surgery suggesting she should listen to the song ‘Strength will rise as you wait upon the Lord’. She realised her strength could only come from God. After the surgery her daughter was soon able to take some steps using a walker and she shared the joy of her having muddy feet for the first time.
Sue shared how she realised she could use her skills and experiences to advocate and help other parents get what they need for their children. She also started a charity to support parents who are looking into the same spinal surgery, and continues with lots of campaigns for things that will improve the quality of life for children with disabilities and their families. She reflected that these skills are a gift from God and her calling is to use them. She reflected that God’s kingdom is an upside-down kingdom where the weak are strong and Jesus’s table has the disabled and marginalised people sat in the best seats. This is a powerful reminder of the individual nature of God’s love and how he doesn’t see the disability, but sees us all as equals.
Thank you Sue for sharing your story with us and the ladies of Bethany for hosting us.
The first Lavish of 2018 took place in our home church, Bethel Baptist.
Tristan asked all the women present to pray for the Lavish ministry, to help her and the leadership team discern God’s will as it goes forward. She read from Ephesians 3: 14-21 – does God want to do immeasurably more through Lavish? Please could we ask you to pray too.
Bec lead us beautifully in worship using the 100th Psalm and a variety of songs and music we focussed on returning to wholeness because of God’s amazing grace:
“Because of Jesus’ unfailing love, I am forgiven, I am restored.”
Hilary shared her experiences of pregnancy, miscarriage and motherhood. There were difficult times but God was there to give her signs of hope. One day she found herself buying spring bulbs and planting them In the depths of winter. The pot was a sign of hope for her, that spring would come. Sure enough, on her return home from the hospital with her new baby she walked up her front path to see the first green shoots poking out of her pot.
If you need advice on what to say to people you know who have had a miscarriage, There is help from the Miscarriage Association’s Simply Say campaign,
We also heard from Lucy, who represents The Junction Cardiff, offering counselling support for baby loss or crisis pregnancy. We saw a photo from The Empty Photo Project which shows real hurting people deep in the messiness of life. Can you be there for people during desperate times?
Hilary closed her story with one of those God-incidences that we often experience in Lavish. She led us all in the prayer for blessing from Ephesians, the very one that Tristan had opened the evening with:
“When I think of the wisdom and scope of his plan, I fall down on my knees and pray to the Father of all the great family of God—some of them already in heaven and some down here on earth— that out of his glorious, unlimited resources he will give you the mighty inner strengthening of his Holy Spirit. And I pray that Christ will be more and more at home in your hearts, living within you as you trust in him. May your roots go down deep into the soil of God’s marvellous love; and may you be able to feel and understand, as all God’s children should, how long, how wide, how deep, and how high his love really is; and to experience this love for yourselves, though it is so great that you will never see the end of it or fully know or understand it. And so at last you will be filled up with God himself. Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes. May he be given glory forever and ever through endless ages because of his master plan of salvation for the Church through Jesus Christ.”
Thank you, Hilary, for being honest, hopeful and helpful. Thank you to the women of Bethel Baptist for your welcome, and giving us a beautiful space where we could come together, to listen and to share.
The next Lavish Cardiff evening is Saturday 16th June at Bethany Baptist Church, Rhiwbina, CF14 6LA. See you there.
PS Photos to follow
The next Lavish Cardiff event is on Saturday 10 February at 7.30 pm at Bethel Baptist Church, Whitchurch, CF14 2AA.
We are delighted to have Hilary as our speaker for the evening. Hilary will share her rocky journey to motherhood; in particular how God provided signs of hope, the value of ceremonies in dark times and how the wider church family provided practical help and support.
As always, this is a free event and all women are very welcome to attend. Please extend the invitation to any woman you know who would like to experience Lavish!
Please download the Lavish promo slide so you can publicise the event to women in your church and across your networks.
Lavish promotion slide Feb 2018
Directions and Parking: Bethel Baptist Church is on Penlline Road in Whitchurch, a few doors up from Barclays Bank. There is free parking in the car park behind the church (turn right off Penlline Road) or there is also a free car park further down off Merthyr Road.
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