News from the Networks
East Kent network
Eythorne Baptist Church
The summer break saw a good number of children (50+) attend our Holiday Bible Club, for 4 days of faith and, as we looked at the adventurous life of the disciples following Jesus, through the experiences of Simon Peter.
We were overjoyed to baptise a long-standing attendee on Sunday 29th September, and thrilled further for our next baptism booked in for January 2025, with a number of others showing interest, with a Christianity Explored course starting on 8th November.
We were also greatly encouraged to welcome 3 new people in to membership, as we’ve continued to see our numbers grow.
Points for prayer:
-
Give God the glory and praise for the spiritual growth we have clearly seen here, with baptisms, membership, courses and full sitting rooms for homegroups, that fruit has come from seeds planted and watered
-
Pray for the Diaconate here at Eythorne, with a number suffering ill health and other strains of life at the moment, pray that we will bear with one another well, with Christlikeness
-
Pray as we pull together the plans for Christmas services, as we seek to reach out to and draw in the community around us with the Good News. Especially pray for the Nativity and Carol Services on the 15th December. They are always well attended by family and those from the village, so pray that eyes, ears and hearts will be open to the truth of the Gospel
East Sussex network
Freedom Church Bexhill
We have just celebrated God’s goodness and given thanks for his provision in our Harvest service this last weekend. This collection of goods was given for our community food larder, ‘The Market Place’ which helps feeds around 60 local people each Tuesday morning in partnership with supermarkets and other charities who also donate.
We are encouraged that we could share a harvest supper with lots of local people and share the gospel with them over food and an evangelical theatre performance. Please pray that seed sown would reap a harvest of people.
At present we are re-advertising for a Children and Families worker. Please pray that The Lord has someone set aside for this role to help us in reaching parents and children in the area and linking more closely with local schools.
We continue to be encouraged in all our ministries as we seek to love and serve the Lord.
Having recently appointed a Full Time minister, elected a new leadership team and employed a church administrator it has been a time of change for the church but there is a sense of excitement and joy as we seek the Lord’s way forward in mission to our local community.
Gatwick network
Merstham Baptist Church
1874 - 2024
We reached the grand era of 150 years of witness here in the community by God's grace.
We meet every Sunday with regular visiting speakers and are currently studying Exodus. Monday sees a Bible study with folks form different churches currently in Esther. Thursday sees a prayer meeting.
We are also providing a weekly Cake and coffee outreach offering a safe warm space for anyone. This is proving to be beneficial to some lovely folk and they appreciate the company. We collect for
Love Works, our local food bank - much needed in this area.
This summer June saw us celebrate 150th anniversary! Wow, what a weekend of celebration!
-
Commencing with a open day with games BBQ face-painting and gift to locals as a way of MBC blessing the community.
-
Saturday Evening a praise and celebration of worship with "Enter" Leading.
-
Sunday saw a service with various messages from visiting friends. A special moment when in walked Ian Drummond and his wife Di all the way from Wales. The service was followed by a cold buffet and celebration cake.
A joint workforce with local churches meeting the young people from Merstham Park school. Greeted at the gate with cookies, milkshakes record number each day one day over 100 young people spending time relaxing in the grounds, playing games. Then a group would remain behind for discussion about Jesus. PTL
This Halloween, MBC provided an out-reach in the form of "Jesus is the Light of the World" - 163 bags of HOPE were given out.
As a fellowship we would ask for your prayers for:
-
our leadership and fellowship to continue to trust in Father God's grace and faithfulness.
-
Growth
-
More united work with the local churches
-
Knowing when to rest and listen to Father.
-
How can we continue to support the community around us.
-
For our buildings, in need of some tlc.
We send love and prayers to all local churches and thank you for your love.
Mid Sussex network
Sheddingdean Baptist Church
We continue to be challenged by our text of the year based on John 6:1-15
"God uses what we have, look up - look out"
We remain in a pastoral vacancy but God has blessed us as members of the Fellowship discover new gifts and take on new roles. We continue to develop positive links with the school where we meet on Sundays and were recently asked to lead a Harvest Assembly. Our Messy Church is enabling us to make positive links with families in the community.
Please pray:
-
For the provision of a new minister
-
For wisdom and guidance for the Leadership team during the pastoral vacancy
-
For Gods direction for our Cornerstone building project
-
For Messy Church on December 7th and how we can share the Gospel message with the parents and carers who attend.
-
For our carol singing outreach event in the community (we have booked a real donkey!).
North Downs network
New Life Church (Woking)
We are grateful to God for his faithfulness. Following losses and leavers after Covid, we had seen a decline in numbers and some financial challenges. However, recent months have seen some new families moving into the area and joining us, and we have also seen God meet (and exceed!) our financial faith targets. We stand amazed!
Last year we installed a lift on the outside on the building and enclosed it in a new atrium. This - and actually having the church name on the building! - has made us more visible. We still have some internal changes on the 1st floor to provide accessible toilets and update a very tired hall.
We continue to meet needs in the local community with our Foodbank, and we have started to see a few foodbank clients join with our Alpha courses. Our weekly "Chill 'n' Chat" drop-in serves some on the fringes, while our weekly crafting group is growing and draws others from the community.
We would invite you to join us in giving thanks to God for his provision.
Please pray:
-
that new attenders might integrate well into the church family;
-
that guests on the Alpha Course come to genuine and transformative faith in Jesus;
-
that we might see developing opportunities to engage with the local community;
-
that we might meet the ongoing 'housekeeping' needs for a new roof and new boiler;
-
that we might be able to raise the funds to complete our 1st floor changes to provide accessible toilets and a much improved environment in our upstairs hall
North Kent network
Strood Gospel Mission Church
Since our last update in June 2022, we continue thank God for his truly wonderful and bountiful blessings, as we have seen His hand at work in our local community.
Our “Grassroots” project continues to grow from strength to strength. It is a clothing (and other small household items, non-electrical) project, where donated items from the public are made available for anyone. People can come into the church and take what they need, for free. If they choose to make a voluntary cash donation, these are collected and 100% of the cash donations are given to local good causes, as the Church funds the operating costs.
Since the project commenced a few years ago, we have donated over £2,200 in voluntary cash donations to charities such as Medway Foodbank, Wisdom Hospice, Demelza and Wonderfully Made (a charity that provides school uniforms for those in need), as well as providing much needed clothing and household items to those that need them.
Our Meal Club is also proving popular, with over 80 meals served just last week. The Club is a safe place where anyone from the community can come into the church each week for a chat and a free home-cooked hot meal. We have additional support from volunteers from Royal Mail, as well as receiving food provided by Gillingham Street Angels, who source that food mainly from donations given by supermarkets across the Medway Towns. The Meal Club serves a lot of different people, from those that are homeless (who can also pick up clothes and sleeping bags etc. from Grassroots whilst they have their meals), to families with young children and older couples who just enjoy the company, and the warm welcome (and heating in the winter months!).
We also run a number of other weekly activities including a “Parents & Toddlers” group, a coffee morning, and a quilting group, with many members of these groups coming from outside of the church. In addition, we work closely with the Bread of Life, in providing a “Knit & Natter” weekly community get together at the café.
This year we have been able to offer the use of the church building as a polling station, which not only provides helpful income, but means a significant proportion of the population of north Strood have visited the church twice this year to vote, and to read and see what we are about whilst they are queuing to vote.
We continue to build strong and long-lasting relationships with members of our community, most of whom have not set foot in any church before. Whilst we are a fairly small church (less than 40 members), we have been able, through God’s wonderful provision, to put on a range of activities to support and love our community, which is located right in the heart of Strood. We are seeing increased numbers attending our church for our service on a Sunday morning, and our three “Growth Groups” during the week. We are hopeful that many of these new attendees will want to commit to the church and join us in membership.
Please give thanks to God for his faithfulness and sustaining love, and please pray that many in our local community will come to know the transforming power of Christ in their lives.
South Kent network
Folkestone Baptist Church
News:
-
We were pleased to have two baptisms in September.
-
Our leadership team elections have seen some fresh faces stepping up & taking a lead
-
Our gift day recently saw us buy 1200 gospels of John. We are trying to distribute them all within 12 months. Some have gone to workplaces, neighbours, in the town centre and door to door. We have seen prayers on the doorstep as a result. More than 400 distributed since late August.
-
Our Relaxation & Christian Meditation sessions have gone online with some early signs of success.
-
Harvest saw the church filled with families from our Girl Guide company and pre-school. We continue to build links.
-
In terms of preaching, we are reaching the end of our series on Scenes from the life of King David.
For prayer:
-
Finances are dicey. 2 generous members recently died leaving a 20% hole in our budget. While many members have increased giving and we are increasing money from room hire, energy costs still seem extremely high. Prayer is needed.
-
One half of our ministry team, Chris Ruddle, remains in poor health with unstable angina. Pray for Katy Ruddle who continues to lead with courage.
West Kent network
Westerham Hill Baptist Church
Westerham Hill Baptist Church is a small fellowship situated just inside the M25. In recent months a couple of faithful long serving members have been transferred to Glory. We feel the loss deeply, but we are so thankful for their contributions and we are delighted that new members have joined.
In the Spring we started a coffee morning, which at present is just once a month. We pray that God will use this and us to reach new people.
In the summer months a couple of our folk restored a weather beaten side wall of the chapel which was beginning to let in a liitle damp.They have done an excellent job for which we are most grateful.
On the first Sunday in October we celebrated our 137th Church Anniversary and Harvest Thanksgiving with friends and visitors. The Anniversary theme in the morning was on the same text 'We preach Christ Crucified' as the first sermon in 1887. The afternoon service on the wonders of God's creation and providence was followed by tea, again just as was the case 137 years previously.
We would value prayer that God would lead us into new ventures by his Spirit, while we still maintain our traditional Word and Sacrament ministry. We also pray that God will enable us to continue and indeed expand our Sunday School work.
We continue to thank God for faithful members who served so well over many years and also for a number of inspiring visiting preachers, including young men from Crossway Stratford with whom we have developed a close relationship in the gospel.
West Sussex network
Broadwater Baptist Church
It has been a very interesting 18 months or so for everyone at Broadwater Baptist Church. We've had some building issues to say the least. The first event involved a serious leak which led to the front wall of the church having to be rebuilt, but thanks to a lot of prayer and fantastic generosity, God provided the funds.
Eventually we were ready to return our Sunday mornings back to the main building only to find that the roof was extremely unsafe and we would need to find even more funds to cover a much larger work and could not use that part of our building in the meantime. You can imagine that it was a huge shock and as a church we were at times quite despondent.
Whatever the struggles we had we were minded to, in faith, search out what it was that God was asking of us regardless of the hurdles we were facing and that involved a great deal of prayer and discussion. Although it was not easy doing church in our cafe as we were forced to, we have experienced a different sense of fellowship, worship and growth in faith in the new space.
Church is so much more than a building. Because of the amazing faith and generosity of others, work has started on the roof repairs and on top of that we also have the extra funds to explore solar panels as well. Join us as we thank God for His provision and explore how we are the church He wants us to be in our service to Him and the community.
From all at Broadwater Baptist Church