Catrina Benham's Blog

My Talk from the Unique Simply Word and Worship evening is now up on the Kerith website -You can listen here One aspect of the evening was an encouragement for us to be feeding ourselves spiritually - giving the Bible "plenty of room in our lives". As part of this, I interviewed Sandra Austin, who talked about the Morph group that she is part of. She has written about Morph in some more detail on her blog, I think you'll be really interested to read more, so check it out here . I also interviewed Henriette, who told us about the group of young women she is a part of, who meet every Friday morning to delve a bit deeper into the Bible together. Both these women challenged us to "do something" - so it made me wonder - what things are you doing / going to do to feed yourself? My absolute priority commitment of time and money this year is to the Real Conference (of course!) 1st and 2nd July, £23 if booked before 1st May , with Speakers: Me (!) Rachel Hickson an...

What a brilliant day yesterday in Church! Baptisms at every meeting and then storming preaches from Stuart, Ben and Liam - gifted young men, passionate about Jesus and communicating truth. Their Talks will be up on the website soon. I loved seeing the variety of people taking part - from preachers to baptisers to those being baptised. The stories people told about their personal journeys and how they have come to faith were so inspiring. The catalyst for a whole family becoming followers of Christ was their teenage daughter's baptism last summer. A visit from a kind and caring CAP representative was the start of a journey of faith for one lovely lady. ALPHA had been so helpful in helping people understand and experience faith in Jesus for themselves. LIFE on a Friday night played a huge role in introducing many young people to Jesus and "that something missing". We heard about moves from other countries; friendships at school; prayers being answered for family di...

How are you getting on this week with giving the Bible plenty of room in your life? Anyone tried a phone app...or scripture emails..or an audio version with Hollywoord actors...or a what about reading the Bible early in the morning?!   My Talk from last week's Word and Worship event is now up on the Kerith website so you can listen again here . Remember it's grace, not guilt...and they are a series of letters from Someone who loves you very much and wants to be with you! Col 3 v 16    " Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives."

I Just did something for the First Time! I took part in a "Virtual Community Group" of Pastors' wives and women leaders around Europe. We were all sat in our homes in front of our computers with headphones and webcams. Katie in Athens, Greece; Laurie in Monmouth,Wales; Melissa soon to be in Greece, but presently in Seattle USA; and Rachel in Florida, hoping soon to be in Ireland! It was FUN! Of course there were the small time delays, but that was ok as we at first all talked at once, and then all smiled together and paused! So we are going to be "meeting" monthly to encourage and support one another in our various lives and roles. In the meantime, we'll get to know one another through facebook and blogs and we'll pray for one another. Great to be able to support eachother like this - and great to see what God is doing all over the world. I take my hat off to these girls, who are pioneering in new countries and cultures - all for God's kingdom. My c...

Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Col 3 v 16    Thanks to all of you who came to our first "Simply Word and Worship".I loved the variety of ages and "types" of women that came, we all had a great evening together. Thank you too to all those who served us so well to put the evening on. We heard very positive responses and many women commented on the relaxed, friendly welcoming atmosphere. The wholehearted response in worship and to the teaching was such an inspiration and blessing that we each gave to one another and to God. This week I'll be picking up on a few threads from the Word and Worship evening - creative ways of reading the Bible; and of giving it "plenty of room in our lives". I'll give you details of Conferences you may want to go to (as well as Real!) and more details about Morph. For today, here's a thought:  "The Bible has been described as “A series of le...

It's tomorrow!...

We're counting down..2 more days until we get together for Word and Worship "..When I don't feel You near, You're Word is true. Jesus Your love surrounds me, You're holding my life, holding my life. The Lord is my rock and I won't be afraid, I won't be afraid You're with me."

3 more days until.. Word and Worship  " God rewrote the text of my life when I opened the book of my heart to His eyes"   Psalm 18

4 more days until....    Word and Worship Eph 1 v 4 “Long before He laid down earth’s foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love”

5 Days until the Unique Simply Word and Worship event Are you coming? We'll have time together and time with God. Time to stop and "take time". Time to worship and dwell in God's presence. Time to encourage and challenge one another. Time to pray. Time to learn. Time to be inspired. I'll be speaking from Colossians 3 v 16 "Let the Word of Christ - the Message - have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives." There's a great deal of guilt that accompanies our "Quiet Times" and reading the Bible. I'm praying that my message will inspire you and encourage you in lots of practical ways. I promise it's a message of GRACE not GUILT! Thanks to those who have emailed me with their stories of the how, where and what of Bible reading. There's still time if you want to add your comments. Have a blessed, happy, sunny Monday! See you on Saturday x

Girls, I need your help with my Preach for the Word and Worship event 7.30pm Saturday 19th March. I'll be talking about us flourishing and growing as Christian women - and part of that is us personally reading the Bible. SO...what are your tips, routines, hints? How do YOU read the Bible? Where? When? I'd love to hear your stories - things that help you and things that hinder. Oh yes, and remember there's no condemnation!!! This is an area of following Jesus where many of us can feel guilt because it can be really hard to regularly spend time reading the Bible and praying. It's hard! But one of the things I want to say on Saturday is that there is GRACE , not guilt; and we can help one another in this! So please leave a comment or email me and I'll include your stories - and help eachother Remember to tell your friends and other women you meet - flyers are available at Kerith reception and you can read more information online on our page of the Kerith webs...

Hey Girls you're ALL invited to our next event on Saturday 19th March. Bring your friends (share cars :)) and enjoy time to chat together over coffee, tea and cakes. Then it's time to worship together - uninterrupted time with no demands on you - time for us all to enjoy being together and with God. I'm really looking forward to bringing the message too - and I've got of couple of friends onboard who will encourage each of us in growing our relationship with Jesus.Take a flyer or two and give them to your friends this week - it'll be great to all be together.

A few good links today: First, Howard and Elizabeth have completed their mammoth cycle ride from Nairobi and have arrived in Serenje! Their latest tweet said that they had a Serenje.police escort plus 10 pastors and a photographer accompanying them for the last 20 miles. Then an interview with the press and a procession with the District Commissioner to the hospital. Brilliant news - and it's not too late to sponsor their efforts to raise the money to build an operating theatre. Can't wait to see the photos of the final procession into Serenje! You know that I love Shauna Niequist's writings, so I really enjoy following her blog. This week she talked about "enneagrams"- all about personality types. Fascinating stuff - and more here I loved this post from the "One Pink Toothbrush" blog - so true. And this post from Molly Piper may well help out on the domestic front - so good to share our time-saving and sanity-maintaining ideas, perhaps especi...

"My life is in Your hands, God. Use me to point someone towards You today - I promise to cooperate in any way I can. If You want me to say a word for You today, I'll do that. If You want me to keep quiet but demonstrate love and servanthood, by Your Spirit's power I will. I am fully available to You today, so guide me by Your Spirit Lord." Prayer by Bill Hybels in his book "Just walk across the room"