A most enjoyable service was held in Tenby's Avenue Centre on Sunday evening. The fellowship were encouraged by the presence of several friends, and the first part of the service took the form of lively worship.

Patrick Ovenden introduced a medley of praise songs, including the traditional hymn, 'Crown Him with Many Crowns' and Matt Redman's 'Blessed be Your Name,' which reflects the response of Job to his suffering. Jackie Rhodda sang 'All that I am' as a solo and a foretaste of her forthcoming CD.

The prayer time was full of encouragements. Evangelism is often surprisingly hard, but Mick Quirk gave a helpful suggestion for sharing the gospel message in a polite and natural way. This was followed by an 'agony aunt' style question, posed by the pastor, Rev. Peter Richmond, and a short discussion.

After an interval with refreshments, most of the congregation were then sitting at tables and were able to use the notebooks provided if they wished as the pastor taught from the Bible.

He spoke about Nehemiah and the Israelites as they started to rebuild the walls. Their enemies immediately began to insult and belittle their efforts, and the insults hurt because they rang true - but really they were full of lies and exaggeration. "Will you rebuild it in a day?" the enemies sneered. "Critics always know a better way of doing something - but they don't do it," said the pastor. "And there is always opposition to God's work. Jesus said that everyone who wants to live a godly life will be persecuted."

Using the power of propaganda, enemies assembled against the Israelites until they were completely discouraged and could only see the rubble. But Nehemiah combined prayer with action, posting a guard, assigning building projects to families, and using trumpets for rallying and rescuing. This discouraged the enemy and the walls were rebuilt in 52 days.

"Likewise, we're there for each other," said the pastor. "Make sure you're not a criticiser and 'do not despise this small beginning, because the eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the work begin.'(Zech 4: 10)"

Regrettably, the sermon did not record, so it is not available for download on the website this week. Please visit http://www.hesed.co.uk">www.hesed.co.uk for more information about the fellowship.