Page 13 - Contact Autumn 2018

“Jesus said “Love as I have loved
you.” We can never love too much.” Will B.O.B.’s Store be no more?
Amy Carmichael Absolutely not!! We are moving to a

Five years ago a store appeared in new location called The Life Centre
(opposite the new office in the new
the vestibule, a construction built extension) and boy are we excited.
by Bertie McNeilly and aptly named B.O.B.’s store will be a part of all that
B.O.B’s Store, the shelves filled with we plan and hope to do in our new
cereal, beans, tea bags, pasta and
much more. The store roused Life Centre. There will also be clothes
available for babies, children, women
interest, curiosity and questions, and men; clothes kindly donated by
not only from our own church family, many of you. There will be prams,
but from many visitors who came to cots, toys and so much more. I can’t
our church. What is this? Why are
you doing this? Why do we have a wait to get my office cleared and what
a job that is going to be!! The Life
B.O.B.’s store? It’s very simple really Centre will be transformed from the
and the quotation from Amy dark stage to a bright, colourful and
Carmichael answers the question. welcoming place bursting with life.
We can never love enough.
What is our vision? We want to
Many people think that food reach out in love to those who need
shortages only happen in countries a helping hand and ultimately point
like Africa and India but, in 2017, in them to the one who offers true life,
the U.K. 8,000,000 people struggled
to put food on the table. In Ballymena, Christ Jesus.
the numbers struggling each day to We plan to have the Life Centre open,
provide food and basic essentials for to reach out to our playgroup mums
their families increase daily. I praise and dads, for those attending our
God for the generosity of the people
in High Kirk which has enabled us to drop-in on a Tuesday afternoon, our
English students on a Wednesday
give out 1,960 bags of blessings to night, and whoever else God places
folk in our town who are desperate in our path including those in our own
and crying out for help. Please do not church family.
stop giving. We love because He first
loved us.
A big thank you to Joan McClelland
and Bill Shields who look after B.O.B.’s
It has been fascinating to watch the store and keep me sane. If you feel
progress of our new buildings, from you could help in our new Life Centre
plans on a piece of paper and trying
to imagine how things would look, and be part of an exciting and
wonderful new outreach, please
to seeing everything starting to take contact Lorraine McAllister.
shape. It is an amazing building and
I pray that we would use all that He “God’s work, done in God’s way, will
has given us for His glory. We must
never make an idol of bricks and never lack God’s supplies.”
Hudson Taylor
mortar; Jesus must be the cornerstone,
the foundation of all that we do. Lorraine McAllister
He must build this house or we
build in vain.