What we've been up to!

There has been lots happening in church life over the past month with much to reflect on and celebrate. Many families and kids enjoyed the first Gateway Light Party at the end of October organised by a group of parents; this involved a jam packed time of fun and activities which enabled them to come together as a community and celebrate Jesus: The Light in the darkness. Thank you to all those involved.  Make lunch was again a great success during the recent half term holiday; we had a big team of volunteers who catered for 40 people from the community in just one day! We hosted the City Wide Prayer Gathering at the beginning of November and it was brilliant to have so many different churches across Leeds represented; we welcomed the Lord Mayor and then took time to pray and celebrate the work God is doing across the city.  The Remembrance Sunday in November was a really special and memorable week where each gathering took time to remember those directly and indirectly affected by war at the moment and pray for peace around the world, particularly thinking about the continuing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. We really enjoyed being Altogether as one church the other Sunday with 150 people there of which 54 of those were aged 11 and under! It was great to experience the diversity we have over the 3 gatherings, Sam gave a really powerful and impactful message focusing on discipleship and Gateway Kids started exploring the Nativity story. Later on that afternoon it was fab to have 3 people attend the Vision and Values course hosted at David and Heather’s house and they got to enjoy a lovely home cooked meal too! Our Gateway Youth and Chill Zone sessions have been going really well lately with one highlight the other week where Jonah and Mark gave testimony and talked about their baptism in India. We’ve had some really positive feedback from Quarry Mount regarding the Early Intervention program we are involved with there. Well done to all the team going in once a week to deliver coaching sessions.