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If a holiday cottage could write, it would fill many a book.

Visitors come and go and the cottage is woven into the tapestry of life. More often than not, the cottage forms the centrepiece of the annual holiday highlight. It offers four walls of protection from the hustle and bustle of the daily slog, a much-needed haven. Depending on its setting, it will also serve as a door into another world, a world of beauty and escape.

On 3 July George Verwer celebrated his 80th birthday and announced a tour of the UK to 20 or so train stations to give friends a chance to meet him and pray.

He said he needed a ‘sabbatical’ from big events after last year’s OM 60th celebration. George said he wanted to be able to have time to sit with people, and big parties don’t allow for that. So through July and August he plans to sit in coffee shops and train stations for a few hours so people can have a few minutes conversation, ‘maybe a prayer and for sure a photo – for me maybe a few tears’.

‘A name change on its own doesn’t really mean much… but it’s a great opportunity for us to use this to talk to people in Enfield about Jesus!’ said pastor, Nathan Howard, to a room full of church members.

And so it was put to the church: a ‘relaunch’ as Enfield Evangelical Free Church became Enfield Town Community Church. There would be new signage, a new website and a timely excuse for a big invitation to all their community.

A mission in the tradition of Billy Graham, with his grandson Will Graham preaching, took place in the Falkirk Stadium during June.

Central Scotland Will Graham Celebration of Hope was advertised as ‘not just an evangelistic event; it is a process of prayer, training, outreach, and follow-up that takes place over a 12-month period – and it begins and ends with the local church’. Around 9,500 people attended over the weekend, with 31,000 watching on mobile devices from 87 countries across the world. 65% of the spiritual responses to the event came from those under the age of 35. Will Graham preached with clarity and conviction: about the prodigal son; time; and the thief on the cross at the finale on Sunday.