VIP Ladies Night 2009
Ladies VIP Night 2009
(Photographs from the night to follow soon!)
On Tuesday 20th October King’s Church hosted its first Ladies VIP night of the academic year. These events are always an amazing and powerful time when the Church comes together to show the love of God to the people of Manchester. It was such a privilege to again be involved in an event that I see as a great demonstration of God’s purposes for our city, not only providing for people’s physical needs, but welcoming them into a family and letting them encounter Jesus in a very real and relevant way.
On the night we had minibuses go out to collect the women from various hostels around the city. When the women arrived they were greeted by a drinks reception and a host of smiling faces. The night involved providing the women with a two-course meal while chatting to them around the table and spending some time getting to know them. Judith Ude then performed some songs that she had written about her own journey with God and Emma Champion gave a powerful testimony about how God has worked in her life and has healed and blessed her. A gospel message was spoken by Kate Hancock, and there was a time of prayer for the women that wanted to respond.
After this, the women were able to go through to the clothes and pampering rooms. They were given the chance to choose from an abundance of clothes that had been given by people in the Church and had some fun having have their hair, nails and makeup done. When the night was over the women were driven back to their hostels in the minibuses. We had about forty women guests at the evening in all, some that were driven in from hostels and others that had heard about the event and just came along, some that had not been to any Church events in the past and some faces that were familiar from the last VIP night!
I have been hearing more and more testimonies coming back from the night about how much the women enjoyed and felt blessed by the event. I know that some of them were very responsive to the word spoken by Kate and that women from the Church were able to lay hands on them and pray with them. One of the best moments of the night was after the meal when Judith had finished singing and some of the girls just picked up the microphone and started singing themselves! One girl began to sing a beautiful song about Jesus being her redeemer. It was a very powerful moment and it was amazing that this girl was able to sing and bless us, even as we had blessed her.
One of my favourite things about VIP is just seeing the whole Church family coming together and their complete willingness to serve and get stuck in with every part of the night. The night couldn’t have happened without the amazing group of people that were there showing God’s love to the women practically by serving food and cleaning up, but also just in taking the time to talk to them and get to know them.
My vision for the future of VIP is that we would continue to build relationships with the women that come to VIP and that we would not have to wait until the events to see these women. I know that many seeds have been planted in the VIP nights that we have had so far but my hope is that we would see more people coming to know Jesus and being added to the family.
Jo Lawrence
