Greetings from Peter and Maureen. We are sorry that we have taken so long to send you our latest news. As you may remember, we shared in our last update that our CFM Trustees had suggested that due to the stress of the previous twelve months, we could take a six month sabbatical break. We decided to follow their advice and during that time Peter worked on his PhD thesis, which is going well. At the same time we also told you about some other pressures, which we believe are ‘Spiritual attacks’ on us and our work. On the advice of a Christian Solicitor friend, we are unable to share the details with any of our prayer partners until matters are resolved, this is unlikely to happen until next April. With this in view we would dearly value your continuing prayer until we see God bring us through the difficulties we face. We have had so many encouraging Words from The Lord and answers to prayer, and great support from our Church family .

With reference to the further biopsy on my head for another suspected Squamous Cell Carcinoma, the results were good! It was not cancerous and the hospital said they do not want to see me for another six months!

We also included a further matter for your prayers in relation to our grandson, Peter, who was due to fly to Uganda with a group from his church, led by their vicar. We asked you to pray for safety, and success in the Mission. Peter was going to give two talks as part of the week which would be the first ministry opportunities he ever experienced. He did really well, and the Lord gave him just the right message for the occasion. He is now training as a Surveyor, doing really well and travelling around the world surveying airports! Our three other grandchildren all have jobs, Katrina is a Midwife, Jack a car mechanic for Audi, and Joe is a trainee youth worker just completing his degree. Anita and Rob and Lyn and Paul have responsible jobs and all have the pressure of too much work and not enough time!
During this time of Sabbatical, I have come to realise that I do not have the stamina that I once had, and I believe that God has been speaking about a change in the direction of my ministry in the coming days. I am excited at what the Lord has been saying, and share my conclusions: Should our Lord delay in His return then the ministry of evangelism and the spread of the Gospel must continue at the same or a greater rate! My task, therefore, is to share with as many others as possible, everything the Lord has taught me. If you are interested in learning any of the following methods and techniques please let me know:
The various methods of evangelism; communicating Truth in the Digital Age. How to make and use Visual Aids (including Illusions); Share the Gospel with children, both in the open air and in schools; Reaching people in Night Clubs; Factories; Building Sites etc; How to prepare talks, and the use of illustration; The right way to prepare and share your Testimony; Counselling Adult and Child enquirers.
All this and much more, which I did start to teach some years ago in the ‘TIME SEMINAR’ but which I laid to one side deciding that it was more important to ‘carry’ rather than ‘pass on’ the baton at that time! Your continuing prayers and support will be a wonderful encouragement in this continuation of our ministry. We trialled the first session: ‘Successfully Sharing your Saviour’ here in Birmingham last weekend with very favourable results and very positive comments from people wanting to be involved in further sessions in the coming days.
Here are some upcoming dates for your prayers:
March 10th. Evangelism at St James Church, Bentley Heath, Solihull
March 12th. Providence Mission
March 19th. St John’s, Walmley – Our Christian Heritage
March 24th. St John’s, Walmley – Speaking to Messianic Jewish Group
April 5th. George Rd. Baptist Church – Passover demonstration Meal
April 8th. Perry Beeches Baptist Church – Passover demonstration Meal
April 13-16th. Easter Weekend with Appleton Independent Methodist Church, Appleton.
Thank you for your faithful support and prayers
Peter & Maureen

It is important for us to keep our news updates current. However, we have been rather remiss in doing this lately, so here we go:

Since our last news, several things have occurred which we would bring to your attention. As you will probably surmise, life was pretty hectic at the time we last made contact with you, what with still recovering from the injuries received after the car crash, and the removal of the cancer from the top of my head. All this in addition to the many journeys to and fro from Birmingham to Minehead visiting Maureen’s mum suffering from what turned out to be several areas of cancer in her body. She was eventually promoted to glory in October when I conducted her funeral and most of our family members took part! The visits to Minehead still continued however as Maureen was involved with her sister in clearing mum’s bungalow etc.

Due to the stress of the previous twelve months our Trustees asked us if we would appreciate a six month sabbatical break to which we hurriedly agreed. This is giving us an opportunity to ‘recharge the batteries’ (we had a two week break at Sizewell in April) and to do some work on my PhD thesis which concerns the Early Christianization and Conversion of Britain, due mainly to the Celtic rather than the Roman Missions.

Other pressures, in the form of ‘Spiritual Warfare attacks’ are also part of our experiences at this time which we are unable to share with any of our prayer partners until matters are resolved. However, prayer is the most potent force in the Universe for us, and it is your prayers to our Heavenly Father which we most value at this time.

Additionally, I have had another biopsy on my head on the 7th April, with another suspected Squamous Cell Carcinoma and we are still waiting for the results five weeks later.

A final matter for your prayers, our grandson, Peter, flies to Uganda tomorrow with a group from his church, led by their vicar. Please would you pray for safety, and success in the Mission. Peter is to do two talks as part of the week and these will be the first ministry opportunities he has experienced.

Thank you again for all your prayerful support.

Peter and Maureen

Dear Praying Friends

I have just returned from hospital having been given the ‘all clear’ concerning the cancerous lesion I had removed from the top of my head. Last week I met with the Plastic Surgeon who performed the surgery. He couldn’t find the site that he operated on, so I had to point it out and commend him on doing such a good job! We have held off sending our news until we had the results of the ‘scan’ Maureen had last Saturday. We had the results yesterday, so I’ll let Maureen tell the story!

Dear friends,

Thank you all for your love, prayers and support this year, it has been needed and has helped to carry us through a tough year.

It started with the bad car crash in January, when Pete broke his breastbone right through and I was badly bruised.

Then Mum was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and died on October 11^th. Pete had a cancerous lump on his head, after two surgeries and a face lift when they pulled the skin up to cover the hole, last week he was declared cancer free. And I started having pain in my groin and side. Today I learnt that I have an ovarian cyst, no further treatment needed. I am so relieved! On September 28, my Bible reading was Psalm 34, verse 4 really stood out for me. I had worried that mum would die in agony as she had so much cancer. She died peacefully.  That Pete’s cancer would need more treatment and that my pain would need an operation to sort it out. The Lord promised to deliver me from all my fears and He did. As I look back in my journal and see the things The Lord has said; and the amazing things He has done, I say with all my heart ‘What a faithful God have I, faithful in every way’.

The girls and their families are ok; they have also had their struggles this year, but then who hasn’t? Life is really tough for a lot of people, I know. It so good to go through these things with the Lord; rather than struggle alone.

We pray that you all have a Happy Christmas and a peaceful and healthy New Year.

Maureen

I include a short report of Mum’s last weeks with us.

Our 92 year old Mum had not been well for about 18 months. At times she had been in a lot of pain. In May 2015 she stopped going to Church because the pain in her back made it impossible for her to sit still for long. We got the doctors to visit her on several occasions, but did not get to the root of the problem. On August 22nd Mum, in a lot of pain, told us that she could not cope alone at home anymore. My sister called an ambulance and Mum was admitted to Musgrove Hospital. While she was there they decided to do some scans and on August 25th the doctor asked the family to come in to be with Mum to get the results. My brother, sister, sister- in- law and niece were down there so they went to the hospital. I was unable to be there as Peter had a hospital appointment in Birmingham that day. In the morning he was told that the lump on his head was cancer, and he needed and operation to remove it, in the afternoon Mum was told that she had cancer and it was terminal. When the Oncologist told Mum that he regretted to say that she had cancer of the lungs, Mum said “Good!” He then said that it was also in her bones, “Yippee!” and her Liver, “Great!” My brother explained to the doctor that Mum had understood what she had been told but she was very keen to go to Heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ who she had loved and served most of her life. Mum asked the doctor if he had the assurance that she had. Mum was disappointed when told that she had about 11 months to live, it was too long to wait!

On the 28th August the doctor asked to see the family again, another scan had been done and now the cancer had been found in her brain as well, her life expectancy was down to about 12 weeks. Mum still would have liked it to be less! Her granddaughter, who lives in Norway, phoned Grandma to ask how she was, “Excited!” was the reply.

A few days later Mum was moved to a Nursing Home near my sister’s house.  The family who mostly live several hours away came to visit and to see Grandma for the last time on earth. She got up and dressed every day and when we left her she usually got up from her chair to wave out of the window of her room.  On the days she was well enough, my brother, sister or I took her on outings in the car. She was in a lot of pain the last 3 days of her life, but on the Saturday afternoon she slept a lot. That evening she ate her meal, enjoyed it, and had two cups of tea and settled down to sleep. Twice she whispered ‘Peaceful!’ the second time I asked, ’Can you see angels yet, Mum?’ ‘No!’ was her reply, but she sounded so content that it didn’t matter. Mum passed away about 8:30 on Sunday morning October 11, 2015, it was about 7 weeks after her diagnosis.

Mum’s funeral was amazing. She had chosen the hymns, and the Bible reading. She wanted her coffin to be in the Church before anyone arrived and she wanted her granddaughter’s husband to play the piano. The family led the funeral between us, Mum would have loved it. We chose bright flowers to represent our bright bubbly Mum and we stayed to have a cup of tea with the congregation before going later to the Cemetery for the committal. She had written, ‘I want a short committal, no more than five minutes.’ Then added, [underlined twice] ‘I will not be there!’ She was an amazing woman and a lovely Mum. All her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are believers and this is due to her example and prayers.

Peter continues:  It has taken me some time to recover from the broken Sternum in January and I am only just getting back to the stamina levels, which I had previously enjoyed.  This, together with the head ops! Has meant that until the last few weeks the number of engagements I have undertaken have dropped slightly. However, that is now changing. Recently, I was able to speak at the annual Sports Mission, which reaches lads from several different races, and includes a number of Muslims who always seem to be open to the Gospel presentations at this event.  Additionally, I have been into one of the so called ‘Trojan Horse’ schools on two occasions, conducting whole school assemblies. These have been very well received and have resulted in an invitation to take part in the School’s Christmas Market. The school hall will be the centre of operations on the day and I have been given the Stage to share with the School’s singers. They want me to give a presentation (to be made twice) on the Nativity and meaning of Christmas! Please pray that I will be given liberty, sensitivity and wisdom for this great opportunity.

The other great opportunity I cherish is a return to Poland with the Samaritan’s Purse ‘Shoebox Project.’ Last year I was able to share the Gospel with over 1,000 families in just three days! Please pray for a similar opportunity this year. I fly to Katowice on the 16^th. The churches that I will be working with are so keen to share the Good News, last year in addition to the children’s gifts, all the adults received a  Bible and a copy of the ‘Jesus’ DVD.’ As Spurgeon once said, ‘I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ than unravel all the mysteries of the divine Word, for salvation is the one thing we are to live for.’

Finally, Author – Chris Maggs (who is one of our CFM Trustees), felt after writing his two previous books that he should write our biography which is due from the printers in the next few days.

‘By all Means’ (The Story of Maureen & Peter Green) is published at £7.99 and can be ordered through CFM with free post and packing.