bbc monthly May 2012 CONTACT DETAILS (area phone code unless stated) Web site:

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1 CONTACT DETAILS (area phone code unless stated) Web site: If you need any information about our Church and activities, or have any enquiries please contact: Church Administrator: Nadine (church office) Minister: Andy (Day off: Thursday) Student Youth Worker: Amy Rotherham (Day off: Friday) bbc monthly May 2012 Pastoral Care Team: Anyone in need please contact Maureen or or Ralph Prayer Chain: Alison Children s and Youth activities: Paul & Angie Toddle In Parents & Toddlers: Catherine Alternatives Pregnancy Advice Centre: Lorrae Church Back Hall Bookings: Primary School age Birthday Parties for church members only. Church Newsletter ter (weekly) : Nadine (Deadline Wednesday s 4pm) bbc monthly: Nadine (Deadline 3rd Wednesday of the month) Bourne Baptist Church, West Street, Bourne PE10 9NE

2 Minister's Thoughts Monthly May 2012 We have spent the last few weeks looking towards the cross, and then through the cross and resurrection to a couple of the resurrection appearances of Jesus. The Easter weekend at bbc saw the Maundy Thursday service, which included worship, reflection, communion and time to reflect on the events that would unfold over the coming hours. Then Easter Sunday arrived with the celebration of what the cross has achieved and that Christ is risen. It was great to see so many people all celebrating Jesus, filling the car-park as we let go of the balloons. Many thanks to all who were involved in our Easter events. I always appreciate the Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday as we journey through those events in Jesus life. The joy on Easter Sunday can only come because of the events of Maundy Thursday, and especially Good Friday. Good Friday saw a really good turn-out to the March of Witness around Bourne, which concluded at our church with a short act of worship and refreshments. On Good Friday we also had the Cross Walk, as the whole building was transformed into a journey through ten different stations/activities, helping us in our walk with God. The feedback from this event was incredibly positive and we are looking to hold an Advent themed walk early on in Advent. As we move into May we begin a new series on Sunday mornings looking at the book of Ephesians. I believe this book has a huge amount to say to us as a church at this particular time. I hope the series will help us in our vision to know God within and to reach out to others with God s love for them. As we start this series we will also be launching our vision document, and new initiatives that flow from our vision. Let s keep praying for much growth in our church in all ways and for all ages, and as we look towards our next Alpha course in September may we be praying about who we can invite to hear the good news... With much love in Christ. Andy Minister of Bourne Baptist Church

3 Mission Focus Mattersey mission to Greece by Andy McManus As some of you know I am a 3rd year BA student at Mattersey Bible College. Every March students go in groups of about eight on mission for around ten days. They stay with a host church, which has mapped out an agenda of jobs, preaching, and evangelism opportunities that best suits that location. We stayed with a very friendly Pentecostal church at Katerini, in North-West Greece. Our group leader is an amazing lady. She has planted many churches, lived as a missionary in Thailand for 10 years, is a Doctor of Theology, teaches at Mattersey, and pastors a church for Iranian immigrants in Doncaster. Our group of seven students were diverse. Three were Zimbabwean ladies, two were men aged 22, and a 51 year old 'life coach.' Our receiving Pastor was Ilias. He is a full-time dentist, pastors a church of around 50, and oversees Pentecostalism in Greece. In 2009 he received his MA in Theology through distance learning with Mattersey. sanding, varnishing, tidying, labelling, and packing clothes. Our main efforts were directed at street evangelism. The Zimbabwean ladies gave us a crash course in Gospel singing. The two lads played guitars, Lynn and I did dramas, and we were well supported by the amazing Bourne Baptist puppets! The highlights were many. At an impoverished Roma (gypsy) church six people gave their lives to God at the end of the service. Two of our girls were baptized in the river where Lydia was baptised by Paul in Acts 16. After a lengthy chat about motorcycles, a mechanic in his garage prayed Romans 10:9 with me, took a Bible, and cried with thanks. The same happened with a girl called Maria in a cafe. I played guitar with Ben, a 22 year old unemployed Albanian. He asked me at the end of the service for prayer because he lacked faith. The next day we were at a church 20 miles away. Ben walked in with three non-christian friends who all asked for prayer at the end. As Christians we are called to walk across the floor and tell others the Good News. Go on who are you going to talk with this week? Photo 1: The Team. Photo 2: Ben with Albanian friends. Poverty from the Euro financial crisis was evident everywhere we went. The Katerini church is active regarding this. They provide clothing and food in a well- organised, equitable system. Childcare facilities are cramped but friendly and supportive. Ilias was fascinated by our 'Toolbar' system and wrote down our methods regarding job-seekers. Our day began at 7am with daily devotions. We then had a short Bible study linked to that area. We organised and ran ten services over nine days at five churches. In-between services we were cleaning,

4 Leadership Team Update Some areas of church activity can be seen clearly whilst others, like the iceberg hit by Titanic, are 90% below the surface! But they are still there, as you will know if you saw the film. Below the surface There is financial and administrative work going on quietly not only in the church accounts but in all those other areas of work like Toolbar and Alternatives - not to mention all the paperwork! On the Pastoral Care front, the team meet regularly with Andy W to try to ensure everyone in the church has someone to turn to if they need support; please make use of them if you need prayer or a visit. When it comes to planning, the leaders aim to cover all departments and activities in their regular meetings, not an easy task when you consider how many house-groups, Sunday school classes and mid-week meetings that take place. For that reason the leaders work in three sub-groups and then come together at regular intervals to pool ideas and prayerfully discuss objectives and plans. All symptoms of a growing church - we have to learn new ways as we grow. When we watch the church services running smoothly, like all the events over Easter, you may wonder who put it all together behind the scenes - it all gets discussed & planned somewhere. Well, that's just a glimpse below the water line, now what about the visible things above the water line. More visibly I am pleased to see some useful changes around the buildings - keep your eyes open & see what you can spot happening. Outside the church, down the side and at the front as well as in the back hall things are happening for preservation, appearance, usefulness or Health & Safety. More changes to come... The issue of joining the two buildings together has now reached a top place on our agenda, let's see where discussions lead us. The Welcome Desk in the hall has been a big hit and helps us make better contact with both regulars and visitors, but can we improve on this? Some interesting changes in the leadership are also under discussion so wait for news here. Do you ever fancy creeping into our top level meeting and listening to strategic discussions? You can! It's held in the Prayer Room every Monday at 7.30pm...seriously this is the foundation of everything we do. We take issues right to the top. All the Leadership meetings begin with prayer & devotion to get us in tune with God and His Word before any business is discussed. It's always tempting to look the other way and hope that someone else is offering to help with these activities. Maybe you and I are that someone else. Finally, I am conscious that I am not commenting adequately on many areas of church life and the way the leaders address them. If you think there is something you would like brought up in these monthly reports please let me know. Ralph Fun 12 Amy Rotherham 15 Luke Warwood 20 Lorraine Rimington 22 Kezia Smith 23 Nadine Fry 26 Rebekah Arnold (4) 27 Kay McManus 28 Hayley Abel 28 Lisa Adams Birthdays in May 2 Mal Fry 2 Dominic Mould 3 Jessica Fitzgerald 7 Georgina Elson 7 Mark Williamson 8 Helen Pratt 8 Glyn Paskin 9 Ella Henson (8)

5 People Profile Sally Knowles I was born in December 1973 and, as I often remind my mother, it s a miracle I survived those austere times, born as I was in my parents bedroom in Loughborough, no central heating and during a cruel winter of strikes. Apart from having to endure having ginger hair and glasses and being frequently mistaken for a boy (it was the brown, bri nylon flares), mine was a very happy childhood, spent with my brilliant older brother and my wonderful, loving parents - nursery teacher mother and police inspector father. We didn t go to church when I was growing up at all, but I did pray occasionally and think I thought I was a Christian, although I had no idea what that really meant, and it certainly didn t impact on my daily life. I loved school, loved languages, loved singing and showing off and then, in 1992, I packed my bags and headed off to university to study French and German and to have what turned out to be the most amazing four years of my life. In my first week at university I met two other first years who said they were Christians and what struck me was it meant they really connected with each other immediately in a way I found intriguing and it certainly seemed to shape who they were. I decided to tag along with them and found myself attending the Christian Union and the local church and gradually began to realise, thanks to the patience of my friends, that I could have a personal and eternal relationship with God. There was no Damascus road experience, but rather a gradual change as I began to realise how much I needed that personal relationship with God through Jesus and how much I wanted it to shape me like it did my friends. Flash forward to the most romantic experience in my life, many, many years later A blushing bridesmaid at my brother s wedding back in July 2001, I was sitting in the pew of the church, singing with gusto, when I heard what can only be described as the voice of an angel singing next to me. Imagine my joy when I saw the voice belonged to a gorgeous, strapping, brown-eyed usher called Richard. It was really love at first sight (for me, I must add; Richard was just interested in my dowry of teaching materials and lesson plans) and, twelve months later my brother and his wife were donning their posh clothes for our wedding!! God has kept, helped and sustained us throughout that time, blessed us with two amazing boys and, more than ever, I rely on Him to shape and change me to be the wife and mother He needs me to be and I am so aware of His Grace and mercy when I, more often that not, fall short in both roles. Sally Knowles Monthly Notices DIGBY COURT SERVICE SUNDAY 27 May It is our turn to take a short service for the residents of Digby Court. The service will begin at 4.00pm and last approximately 35 minutes. We will be taking cakes in and chatting to the residents after the service as they have their cake along with a cup of rosy lee. If you are free we would love you to come along and add your voice to making a joyful noise to the King of Kings. If you can make it please let Roland know ASAP. Our visits are always appreciated by the residents. Soaking in the presence of God - you are warmly invited to the next soaking session on May 6 th at 7.30pm in the church. Come, soak, listen and receive from our Father. For more info please see Niall or Alison. Church Social We would like to invite you again for a spring walk in Bourne Woods on Sunday, May 20 th at 3.30pm. We will meet at the main car park. All are welcome - dogs as well! Hope to see you there!

6 This year I began to feel a bit like Moses! Not a lot but a bit. Looking back, I never did like water- whether it was the River Witham in Lincoln where my father put me at a very tender age in a canoe knowing I couldn t swim, nor when years later I got out into the shallows at Skegness (which extended for miles) and saw the water piling up in big waves on the horizon. Fortunately like the water of the Red Sea in Exodus, the walls of water were always miles away at Skegness. Fun During our recent series on Exodus, it occurred to me that when I was a little chap in short trousers at the age of four (nearly 66 years ago) and singing How did Moses cross the Red Sea?, I would still be marvelling at Gods greatness decades later when I didn t have the easy answers of the Cliff College Chorus Book. However at about the age Moses was getting in a bit of bother in Egypt I was a bit of a hot head and a rebel myself and spent about a dozen or so years in my own desert. When we moved from Lincoln to Thurlby in 1982, the Lord got hold of me again, and Kate & I decided that we had to live in a community where there was a Choir, a WI and a lively Methodist Church (unfortunately had we put of our moving until 2012 the final demand would have been much harder to find!). Since then we have attended 3 different churches starting at Thurlby Methodist Church where Kate found Jesus; Bretton Baptist Church, where, after 35 years of heavy smoking (pillar of cloud!) I had just quit, and in my twitchy state was saved from attacking the minister by a prayerful friend; and Bourne Baptist Church where we finally discovered that only Christians know about denominations. God and the world don t differentiate, and there can be times and places to be with different groups of Christians. Through it all we have learned that God remains faithful to us; that setting up and running TOOLBAR, 17 years into retirement, shows that God always has plans for us and sometimes when we least expect it! And that we already live in the Promised Land but also look forward to an eternity with the King of Kings, and who knows perhaps meeting Moses as well! Neville

7 bbc s Children s and Youth Article Book news by Angela Higgs Hello Bourne Baptist Church! Happy Summer Term to you all! A lot has happened in the life of the children s and youth work at the church in the last few months and a lot of volunteers have been busy making that happen so firstly a big thank-you to everyone who helps at all the mid-week groups as well as in Sunday school. So starting with our Monday night group, Young youth. We ve been continuing our series on how to grow as a Christian and so far we ve looked at prayer, the Bible, and fellowship; now we are moving on to mission. In this time we ve been blessed by hearing some of the stories from some of the members from the church, which has been a great encouragement to us all. We ve also had a good splash at our swimming social and we had so much fun that we re looking forward to going again very soon! We ve been having just as much fun at Tuesday Club as we ve recently been looking at the Easter story. Alongside this we ve played many games with the parachute, with music and with lots of running around. We have also made lots of crafts including a flower and pot for Mother s day, some very messy paper-mache photo frames and Easter egg baskets, with Easter eggs inside that never made it home! (yum yum). At the Senior Youth Group we ve been learning about how to live the life as a follower of Jesus. Topics have included worship, faith and listening to God. We ve had a lot of fun watching video clips and playing games, as well as sharing our musical talents at Singstar at our social! We ve also had some quieter reflective evenings as we ve looked at the Easter story and spent time thinking about healing and our personal relationships with God. We re looking forward to starting a new term in the new venue at the church where we hope to grow more as a group in our relationships with each other and ultimately God. Thank you for praying for the children and the young people at the church, it would be greatly appreciated if you are able to continue praying for the work that is done weekly for our children and youth. CHRISTIAN NOVEL BOOK GROUP MEETING At STONE HOUSE 12 SOUTH STREET (Opposite the south street car park next to Red Lion Public House) On Thursday 3 rd May 7.45pm We will decide on the most convenient time to meet and agree on some titles that we all might like to read. Please contact me if you are still interested in joining the group but are unable to come to the meeting Angela God Bless, Amy Rotherham Student Youth Worker