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QuietWaters750Quiet Waters Retreat launches £100,000 appeal  

Quiet Waters Christian Retreat in Bungay is organising a day of prayer on the future of the centre and appealing for £100,000 for essential repairs.  

The team and Trustees of Quiet Waters write:

At this time of year, we tend to remember the past 12 months and also look forward to the coming year. Perhaps more than ever this New Year we will be expecting the future to be considerably brighter than the recent past.
 
Here at Quiet Waters we're approaching our fiftieth birthday and looking back over nearly five decades we are overwhelmed at what God has been doing with everyday people in this sleepy corner of East Anglia. It is such a privilege to be a small part of His plan.
 
Since the early days many have felt led to support the Retreat financially, in prayer and in practical ways and we are deeply appreciative of this. As we consider the needs of the house and look forward to the next 50 years of ministry, we have arranged a day of prayer when we as team and trustees will be praying and we invite you to pray with us on Sunday 7th February. Sadly, current restrictions prevent us from inviting you to Quiet Waters to pray.
 
We are launching an appeal because we are increasingly aware of some major structural work that the house requires to ensure it can serve God for the next 50 years. Of course, it being a listed building, we have to consider compliance as well as our environmental responsibilities.
 
A number of issues need urgent attention to repair and restore the structure of the building and prevent further deterioration. This includes the sash windows, guttering to the main house, and roof repairs at the rear. Additionally, there are a number of things inside the house that need attention including a recently failed stairlift, an upgrade to the fire alarms and work on the central heating system. We also plan to make the garden and riverside more accessible to guests with limited mobility. 
 
To achieve all of this would require in the region of £100,000, a huge amount… but our God “is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us” (Ephesians 3:20).
 
Over the years, many thousands have walked through our door to receive God's love and peace, find spiritual nourishment, share deep conversations with fellow Christians and draw close to our loving Father. Some arrive broken, tired and weary and yet, often within hours, their burden is lifted and joy returns. Others experience healing, both physical and spiritual and shed tears at their close encounter with their loving God. Strolling around the gardens, guests are uplifted and revitalised by the astonishing beauty and variety of His amazing creation and end up spending hours by the river simply revelling in His abundance, imagination and all-embracing peace.
 
We sadly waved farewell to team members Ruth and Bryan last summer as they headed west for new challenges. They are greatly missed. However, with one door closing another often gently opens and we are now putting the finishing touches on refreshing their apartment in readiness for a new chapter in our history. We have been aware for some time that those individuals and couples involved in Church leadership and the mission field are often in need of refreshment or are tired and weary and require a longer-term break. Therefore the apartment will soon be ready for self-catering guests to stay for longer periods of time. These longer term guests will be completely independent yet able to share in as many of the house activities as they want. The gardens and river will of course be available for them too, and we trust this extended period of stay will be both restorative and uplifting and enable an expansion of those people Quiet Waters can serve.
 
If you would like to know more about Quiet Waters, or would like to speak to us about this appeal, please email (mail@quietwaters.org.uk), phone (01986 893201) or visit our website (www.quietwaters.org.uk).
   
 
 

Eldred Willey, 01/02/2021

Eldred Willey
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