Spring is in the air
i61 started on Easter Sunday 2006 and has grown steadily during that 2 years with many people joining who never went to church before or had any faith in God.
2008 may have been one of the coldest Easters for many years, but here at i61 we celebrated our 2nd Anniversary, and there was no doubting there was a sense of spring in the air. The rain relented long enough for us all to enjoy a great fun time on Easter Sunday afternoon at Conwy’s Church in a pub. Pastors Steve & Gill Houghton said “We prayed for some sunshine and that’s what we got. It was terrific seeing so many families enjoying themselves after our Easter morning celebration”.
Over 125 people packed into the morning meeting and enjoyed a time of music, fun and laugher. With a guest appearance from Walter J Wolf (a puppet – don’t panic) the morning meeting ended with i61’s 3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt as children of all ages (some up to 70 years of age) hunted out over 300 Easter eggs that had been hidden around the church building and gardens. “The poor plants took a battering but they’ll recover” said Jeff & Christine.
The church introduced a new Saturday teatime meeting this weekend for the first time and 60 people were in attendance. Lee & Sarah Houghton, who head up the teens work and oversee all the music and worship at i61 said, “We had worked hard with the teens to form their own music band for a Saturday evening. This was the first time they had played live in a meeting. It was a huge success and the teens really enjoyed themselves.” The average age of the group is just 15. “We want to develop more work with teenagers and bring out the best in them, whether it’s their musical abilities or just helping them with life skills” said Sarah.
All in all, over 250 people joined the Sunday celebrations as many people staying on the caravan park at Bryn Morfa joined i61-ers on the bouncy castles, jumbo slide and gladiator challenge.
Gill Houghton said, “We love seeing people having fun, isn’t that what church should be? A place for families to connect with God, connect with each other and have a lot of fun?”
