News Letter January 2008
Dear Friends,
A new year brings many new beginnings. For some, it will be a new beginning at work or at school. For others, there will be new relationships, or changing family circumstances. Most of us, at some point, will face new opportunities to serve God, or to branch out in some new direction of Christian service or witness. All of these new things should be welcomed and grasped with both hands. Christianity is a faith which is temperamentally shaped for newness.
You wouldn’t think it, when the Church is so often conservative and scared of new ideas – but in fact renewal is in our spiritual genes. God says “Behold I make all things new!” – and ever since the beginning of Jesus’ life and ministry, he has been doing new and surprising things at every opportunity.
As 2008 begins, there will be at least one new venture to welcome. The BWF (Baptist Womens’ Fellowship) which has served the women of our Church so well for so long, is coming to an end, and something new is taking its place.
Welcome to the Afternoon Fellowship – our new Thursday afternoon group for men and women, which we hope will be a positive new beginning.
When June Waller announced that she was standing down as BWF leader at the end of the year, we began a process of consultation to see what the meeting felt its purpose was, and to ask how it might change and develop. The answer is that it is a group which meets to build friendships and to nurture fellowship in a Christian context. This is done through informal meetings – sometimes with speakers, and at other times in shared activities.
The Afternoon Fellowship will be inviting men to come and join the ladies each Thursday afternoon, starting on 10th January. Meetings will begin with a cup of tea at 2pm, and the main meeting will start at 2.30pm, ending at 3.30pm. The new co-ordinator will be Heather Whitehead – our very good friend from St Peters Baptist Church. She would like to see the fellowship develop as a meeting place for Christian and non-Christian friends – a place to invite newcomers, and to get to know one another better. Meetings will move away from the “service” format, and will be varied in style and content.
We hope it will appeal to people of all ages – if you are free on a Thursday afternoon, please come along and give it a try!
As the new year gets going, there will certainly be other new things for us to get involved in. I have known many Christians who are suspicious and fearful of anything new. Their slogan is from the hymn “In heavenly love abiding” – “No change my heart shall fear, for nothing changes here!”
But our God is always doing new things. Change is part of life – and who created life? Let us not fear change, but embrace it, and offer it to the only One who does not change – our eternal and unimprovable God!
With best wishes, Stephen
