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We are often asked how successful friendsfirst is?

If you judge success by the number of marriages we've had then we are very successful. And if you add in the numbers of people making new friends (which is what some people join for) then it's even better

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> click here


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Churches Newsletter September 2006

 

  
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14th September 2006
Regular features
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About friendsfirst
Greetings!

I am writing to you with information and resources to support and complement your ministry to the single people in your congregation/local community.

Below you will find:

  • resources - for example articles for your church magazine; tailored books for specific single groups; events and holidays
  • news and views - to help you get an up- to-date perspective on the issues single Christians (of all ages)face and how they perceive them - thereby helping you to serve them
  • encouragement - stories of people who've made new friends - perhaps even found love - stories which will help you to encourage others in similar situations

I'm writing from the friendsfirst office in Birmingham. Since friendsfirst began in 1999 (with wide church support) we've seen ourselves as an organisation that works alongside the church to help single Christians of all ages meet other single Christians for friendship and relationships.

Resources
Articles for your church/parish newsletter
We know how busy church magazine editors are and also how some struggle to fill every issue. Here are two articles for their use focusing on:-
  1. how to help single Christians who really want to meet fellow Christians for relationships
  2. helping mothers keep their daughters safe if they are using an Internet dating agency

(these are links to word documents which you can use to copy and insert into your parish magazine.)
Article 1: 'Finding fellow believers'
Article 2: 'Mothers: Ensure your daughters are using wisdom on the Internet'
Guidance for divorcees looking to date
Our new book 'Risking Romance Again: Dating after Divorce' is now published and attracting a lot of media interest including news about it in the Daily Telegraph. We commissioned the Revd David Robertson (a divorced vicar who met his 2nd wife through friendsfirst) to write this book to address the needs of divorcees who want to find new relationships. David writes with honesty, humour, directness and encouragement as he tackles past pain, present commitments and future hopes. By bringing into focus issues which can distort relationships and by identifying the root causes of difficult situations he helps readers to understand themselves, those they are meeting and the changes a new romance will bring.
If you have divorcees in your congregation, please direct them towards this book. It can be ordered from any bookshop, Amazon.com, or from us directly. If you wish to order more than 10 copies for your church they can be bought at a trade price of £5.50 each.
Click here to see the cover
Click here to read reviews of the book by the Bishop of Hereford and the Bishop of Bedford.
Click here to read David Robertson's own story.
News and Views
Some friendsfirst facts
  • 82 people have tied the knot meeting through friendsfirst
  • 38% of our members are divorced or separated
  • 24% of our members are widowed
  • 65% of our members are over 45
  • 15% of our members are over 65
  • our members range in age from 23 to 87!


Our membership of people over 70 is growing! - maybe because we now offer them lifetime membership for a one off fee. If you have some very lonely older people in your congregation or parish please direct them to us. Amazing things can happen to them too.
Largest survey of Christian singles coming soon
Later this year we're going to be doing a survey of the attitudes and beliefs of single Christians across the UK. We'll be focusing on a whole range of issues pertinent to the church and church leaders - from relationships, views on sex to ministry, faith and leisure pursuits. We'll be publishing the results widely and will keep you in touch. If you'd like to be involved please contact us.
Events
Our new events manager - Kriszti Kovacs - has just started. We are now hoping to run events across the country. We'd really appreciate your support in letting your congregation knowing about them... but more on this in the future.
Encouragement
So many of our couples who've met and married through friendsfirst have amazing stories that can really encourage others in the same situation. Many of them are featured on our website but we reproduce Keith and Sheila's as they told it to encourage the older members of your congregation (and in case you thought we were for young people only!).
Sheila’s husband died tragically 2 years ago. Her children lived away and at 58 she realized she had many years ahead of her. She heard of friendsfirst and decided, rather impulsively, to join. Her membership didn’t go too well at first and she was very discouraged. However on receiving her second correspondence from us she noticed that one man on the list came from Sheffield which was her original home town. Sadly on reading his profile she thought he was looking for ‘Mrs Perfect’, and as that wasn’t her, she decided not to do anything. However after a while she decided that the Sheffield connection was too strong so she decided to text this man. It was to be a critical move in her life.
Keith had been widowed and first joined friendsfirst in 2000. Sadly he didn’t feel like he’d ‘clicked’ with any of the people who he was in contact with and he decided not to renew. Later on a relationship started with an old friend but that didn’t go anywhere. He was constantly praying for God’s direction and shortly after rejoined friendsfirst.
Sheila and Keith started texting and soon called each other. Their first conversation lasted over 2 hours as they realized they knew loads of people in common. They met about a month later and despite initial nervousness they got on very well and found they shared many common interests. They had a similar sense of humour and had a shared faith in Jesus. By August they were engaged just 8 months after first getting in touch! Keith commented to us:- ‘It was definitely a divine ‘appointment’ in which friendsfirst played a very important role. We are most grateful to them.’ Sheila said ‘We are so thankful to the Lord for bringing us together to share our love and companionship and we trust He will use us in His service as a couple in the future. Our thanks go to friendsfirst too for making it possible, in a very gentle way, for the service they give in bringing people together.’
If you would like to read their story in more detail and please click here. There are lots more stories like this on our website - if you'd like to read more of them please click here. You never know someone from your church could be next.
For more information about friendsfirst and our history, click here.
To view the friendsfirst team, click here

That's it! I do hope you have and will find this email useful. We would love to hear what you think of it and of course if you have any suggestions or requests for the next edition please email us at editors@friends1st.co.uk.

Finally we know 1000s of vicars, priests and ministers support us - if you are one of them, huge thanks - we couldn't do what we do without you.

With warmest regards,
Katharine Gray friendsfirst Director
email: katharine@friends1st.co.uk phone: 0121 427 1286 web: http://www.friends1st.co.uk

 

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