Pastor @ mbc’s Weblog

Thursday 15th January

For those who read last week’s post, Scoop made a good start on Tuesday lunch-time. There were not as many kids there as there might have been, but hopefully numbers may go up as the weeks go by. Those that came had a great time chatting, asking questions, playing games and watching film clips, as we began to tell them about Jesus – the greatest superhero the world has ever seen. Thanks for your prayers – keep praying – especially on Tuesday lunch-times!!!

This Sunday, we continue to think about “The Heart of our Faith”, as we look at why prayer is such an important part of our life together as a Church. It would be great to see you there, if you can make it. We began this series on January 4th, and each week, I will be supplying notes (for those who would like them) to take home. The notes are intended to help you remember what you have heard, and to encourage you to go on thinking and praying about what God is saying to us. You might even like to collect the notes, and make up a file to keep for the future!

On Sunday evening, there will be a “Songs of Praise” service at St John’s Church (6.30pm). This marks the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” – and it would be great to see you there as we meet with our friends from the other town centre churches.   Have a good week – Stephen

“I’m so hard up at the moment, that I am struggling to make one end meet!”

Friday 9th January

Next week, I will be helping to run a lunch-time club at one of our local Primary School in Margate. It will be on Tuesday lunch-times for the next fifteen weeks, and will be called “Scoop”. The club gives the children a really interesting and exciting introduction to Jesus – a chance for them to hear the real story about who Jesus is, and why he is so important. I will be working alongside Maggie, who works for Fegans – a local charity which offers support and guidance to children and families under stress. We are hoping to welcome 30 children to the club, and it will give us a fantastic oppotunity to introduce those children to the Good News. Please pray for us – we are relying on prayer partners to support us each week as we go into the school. Pray for the children, that they will be excited by what they hear about Jesus, and that they will want to know more. Some may even find that they want to come to our Church or to our young peoples’ activities.

This weekend I am away. Philip Graham will be leading the Parade Service on Sunday morning – and a visiting preacher will be with us in the evening – I’m sure it will be a great day. On Wednesday, we will be holding our second annual Senior Care Party – please pray that our guests will have a great time, and enjoy the felowship and the celebration.

There is so much bad news about at the moment – death and destruction in Gaza, economic gloom, cold weather, illness – we need to remember that God is God, and that ultimately He will triumph. He’s got the whole world in His hands – so even though there may be tough times to face, the end of the story is not in doubt. Keep trusting!

Have a good week – Stephen.

“My house is so cold that it steams up on the outside of the windows!”

Thursday 1st January

Happy new year everyone! Welcome back to the Pastor’s blog, which I hope to update each week with news and chat about life at Margate Baptist Church. Hope you all had a good Christmas. Lets try to make 2009 a much better year than most pundits seem to be predicting.

On the first Sunday of the year (4th January) we will be glad to see you at our 11am service, when we will begin to look at what God wants from our Church, and from our lives. Why are we here? What is our purpose? What should we be living for? These are some of the questions we will be asking, in our new Sunday morning series entitled “The heart of our faith”. In the evening, at 6.30pm, we will start a study of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, called “Gospel People”. The service will also include Communion – join us if you can.

May God’s blessing be in your hearts and in your homes throughout this new year. Stephen.

“The secret of living a long life is deep breathing – provided you keep it up for 80 or 90 years!”