Welcome to Totnes United Free Church!
We're a church who enjoy welcoming new people and we'd love to meet you. This website will tell you about us! Take a look in the who we are and what we do sections and if you can't find what you're looking for drop us a line.
- Fraser, Polly, Julian and the rest of the leadership team
Church blog
Last Leg Lalibella
If you ever get an opportunity to visit Lalibella I would highly recommend it. The view from every angle is breathtaking, and the Rock Hewn Churchs are fascinating. However, the most inspiring part of our visit to Lalibella was spending the day in a very small evangelical Church in a very oppressive and dominant Orthodox area. The faith of the small Christian Church was so inspiring, in the face of so much intimidation and alienation. Although the 900 year old Rock Hewn structures were amazing, the small group of believers in their muddy hall were where we all saw God.
Julian
Wowzerz! What a fantastic journey. A million thank yous for the opportunity, Lalibella is a beautiful place. It was a divine inspiration to see the persistance and determination of the believers in the community regardless of the oppression. I hope Lalibella is a sight that everyone will see!
Over and out. Elsa =]
It is odd to think that we are coming to the end of our time and that we have only been here for two weeks as we have seen and experienced so many things and even though I am happy to come home, I don't want this time to end. Thank you all so much for making all of this possible whether you supported us through finance, faith or just general encouragement...it has all been appreciated. Our time in Lalibella was challenging but also rewarding, in the first couple of days, I think we all felt pretty pushed out by the community as it is around 95 percent Orthodox and I felt like we were not wanted for our conversations but we were just seen as white people with lots of money which was hard but when we went to the small church we met some amazing people who are constantly persecuted but still have such strong faith and are so happy with everything that they have which was truly inspiring.
Rhi :)
Sooo its the last day and I think i speak for all of us when i say that I have had an amazing time, the people are amazingly generous and lovely, and the place is just beautiful. We have each had our struggles throughout, may it be with illness, taking in the harsh surroundings and the poverty, or even climbing up a mountain! But we have each benefited from the amazing experience, and God has really worked in each of us and opened our eyes to the extreme struggles these people face every day. God has really broken my heart for these people and I cannot wait to do more to serve him, and to help those people who need it the most. Its been a brilliant trip where i have grown closer to the team who came and to Maurice and Susan, but mostly to God. I want to thank everyone who helped us get here, its just been fantastic.
Harriet xx
I don't know where to start to tell you the things we have experienced over the last 2 weeks...the faith we have seen in Lalibella despite the incredible persecution they are under has been so inspiring and to watch the girls grow closer to God has been fantastic. The way we have seen students run to Maurice and Susan to fling their arms around them highlights the work they are doing here and to see and hear them bringing everything before the Lord has been humbling and great to learn from. Thank you to everyone that made this trip possible whether by money or prayer or support in other ways. We are all so grateful to you and to the LORD for keeping us safe and watching over us. I'll be here another 2 weeks working and Maurice and Susan are staying for another week so please continue to keep us safe with your prayers!
Lots of Love,
Karen xx
Ethiopia Youth Trip: Ambo Weekend Away
Both the youth from the church (including the youth leader Yonathon and his wife Red) and the boys sponcered by EEA went away with us on a weekend to Ambo. Driving out of Addis you can clearly see the change when you leave the main town, it suddenly goes from manic traffic and people everywhere, to lush green scenery and a lot more space for the houses-even gardens! After about 2hrs on THE most uncomfortable coach, and after a brief detour to a museum, we arrived at Ambo. The place we stayed in was beautiful, all the gorgeous flowers and trees, colours exploding everywhere you looked.
Whilst we were there we started the youth alpha course with the teenagers from the church. Karen, Julian and Red each did a talk, and they seemed to enjoy it. Yonathon has said that they will definatly continue when we leave, which is exactly what we had hoped.
It was a great time to really get to know people and hear peoples moving testimonies of their stuggles and their coming to know God and having such a beautiful and deep relationship with him. They are a true inspiration and I think we all benefited from spending that time totally focused on each other and on God. We had some great laughs playing games and sharing stories.
The last evening was spent around a campfire (kept alight by petrol because the wood was damp from the rain!!)singing songs and dancing. It was a lovely last night with everyone, including the students and Maurice and Susan, who have been an amazing inspiration throughout the trip.
Im really looking forward to the next week in Ethiopia, and will be sad to leave this beautiful and gentle country. We had a bit of a panic earlier today as Maurice and Susan had left one of their bags with all of Susans documents in it on the coach. We called around and no one knew where it was. So we prayed together that it would turn up, that God knew exactly where it was, and that the coach driver would ring and let us know where it is, and it will be returned. Literally less then 10mins later the phone rang and it was pastor Yohannes saying that the coach driver called and it is on the bus and it will be returned in the morning.... Praise the Lord!!!
Im sure if i have missed anything out Julian will pick up on it and be sure to add in the missing details! But from Ethiopia its good night and God bless,
Mucho love,
Harriet (and the team... even though they have all gone to bed and left me to write this... Haha) xxx
Gift Aid giving
In this church we try to encourage people to give through Gift Aid declarations, because it is the best way to make your donations go as far as possible. I will do a little here to explain how Gift Aid works and why it is so important to us.