Growing up, I lived opposite an incredibly house-proud lady. We could regularly see her, rain or shine, sprucing up the front of her home. She would clean the windows, ensure no weeds were growing, and even go out onto the pavement with a hard scrubbing brush to remove all the dirt from the concrete flagstones. I’m not going to criticise anyone for maintaining high standards of cleanliness, but it used to amuse us that the fastidiousness of her home didn’t match that of the homes surrounding it.

Steadfastness’ has been a helpful focus for us within TFT recently, and it was intriguing to discover that God used our Spring Women’s Weekend to pick up on the same theme. The title for our devotional time was ‘Strength for the Journey’. We looked at 1 Kings 19:1-18 and Elijah’s weariness soon after his victory over the prophets of Baal. Many of us had arrived at the Women’s Weekend tired from the week’s commitments, a familiar pattern for weekends away. However, the passage helped us to recognise that many of us felt more than ‘tired’. Like Elijah, quite a few of us felt deeply weary.

Simon reflects on using online groups and our walk with Jesus

What was the legacy of Covid-19 for you? Did you get yourself a dog to keep you company in the absence of human contact? Did you find other things to do on a Sunday morning and find it difficult to get back into the routine of in-person services? Did your mental health take a knock and leave you anxious meeting people face-to-face?

The documentary film “Pray Away” is an unflinching critique of the American ex-gay movement, told through footage of its former leaders.

He wants to see celibate gay people more visible in our churches to show that we do not hate gay people.