The Two Rivers Mission  -  the Colne and the Stour

It began as a dribble, it is becoming a cascade.

This mission for May 2014 (3rd – 18th) started out as an enquiry from an elderly Bible School lady and a Congregational Minister to Daniel, but has so far deluged approximately 70 churches with others asking day by day if they can be drenched.  Excuse the metaphors!

The Colne and the Stour rivers flow through Essex and Suffolk, and the villages and towns they pass through, or draw near to, plus those further afield, are becoming involved, right up to their estuaries at Brightlingsea and Manningtree.  If you want delightful countryside to walk through, and idyllic villages to evangelise, you have them here.  But that can be tough, to say nothing of the towns.


If you also want the vitality of prayed-for mission, you have that as well.  Back in the 70’s people were hoping and praying for, and writing about revival for the area.  Then in 2005, two women prayer walked and prayer cycled the entire Colne from which came a bi-annual praise and worship service, called Alive@Five.  Their key text was 2 Chronicles 20 v 21, “After consulting the people, the king appointed singers to walk ahead of the army, singing to the Lord and praising him for his holy splendour.  This is what they sang: ’Give thanks to the Lord; his faithfulness endures for ever’”.

They have been singing and praying this song in different churches up and down the valley for eight years now,  and in May this year we decided to follow in their prayer footsteps by praying in every the church and community along the way.
All this coincides with Bishop Stephen Cottrell designating the centenary year of the diocese (2014) as a year of mission for every parish - with the non-Anglicans being invited to join in!

If this turns out to be the last mission that I organise along with John, I hope and believe that my swan song will be quite beautiful – and I would love you to sing it with me.

Peter Adams