When Rachel Ridler got in touch with Activate we just knew she was a woman after our own hearts. Not only is she a fan of puddings, she is also passionate about sharing her faith. This week we are sharing an extract from one of her blog posts. We’re sure you’ll love it as much as we do!
In her own words, Rachel is Mum to one, wife to one and friend to many (hopefully!), she is unashamed to call herself a follower of Christ and wants to share the love of God with others. Based in South Yorkshire in the amazing Legacy Church, she works for the Teenage Cancer Trust part time and looks after er son for the rest of the time. Life is hectic but she loves it!
The proof is in the pudding
After going through an extensive list in my mind of things to give up or commit to doing I came to a decision. This year I was going to set up a Pudding Club. Now I know what you are thinking! This is the completeopposite to most people’s New Years Resolutions which are all about denying yourself and becoming a better person, but actually it fits in quite nicely with my desire to feed people in my home. And you know what – who doesn’t love pudding!!!!
So in January I hosted my first ever Pudding Club, attended by 5 people. And every other month this year I have set up and hosted a Pudding Club. I knew it would be slow to start off with and I was just hoping and praying that it would pick up, that word would get out and that it would become a great evening of friends chatting and eating pudding, and a chance to make new friends too! And I am pleased to say that September’s Pudding Club was the best ever!
September saw the arrival of 15 Pudding Clubbers, all with assorted tasty treats, and everyone left feeling full and having had a great time. It was amazing to see friends from church chatting freely to friends from myvolunteering work, and even people I didn’t know were brought along. I felt like jumping up and down for joy, as this was the kind of evening I had dreamed about back in January when I first set it up.
Looking back now, I know some people thought it was a weird thing to want to do, not very healthy and perhaps just another date to add to the diary. But actually, pudding is a great thing to bond over (and once every other month can be a “treat” I’m sure!) and that was more my vision for it than just the pudding alone. Yes pudding is amazing, but developing relationships and growing new ones is even more amazing.
Sometimes we need an excuse, a reason to get together and something to invite people along to. So this is what Pudding Club is to me – a really easy excuse to get people into my house and get to know them. So if you have never been along to one of my Pudding Clubs then I urge you to come to the next one – Sunday 30th November at 8pm. You could even invite someone else. However, all Pudding Clubbers MUST obey the following two rules:
1. everyone must bring a pudding
2. everyone must eat pudding