WELCOME AND EDITORIAL

I have come that you may have life, life in all its fullness –
John 10:10b

Brr! It has certainly been a chilly winter so far! Christmas is over for another year and another New Year has come – 2011. Time marches on. We have another new motto this year, this time staying in John’s gospel for a second year. Take a little time to think about it and let the words sink in – what do they mean for you, and for those around you who maybe don’t yet believe?
I hope that regular and new readers alike enjoy this issue. Thank you to those who have contributed and those who have made suggestions for future issues. One reader contacted Mollie Messenger with a suggestion for a future interviewee. I have sent Mollie out and hopefully that interview will be in the next issue. Ann Tolputt has had a good idea for a future series on ‘Where are they now?’ giving news on people who have been associated with our fellowship in the past. If you have news and want to do an article please do! We begin this quarter with David Champion. I am sure many remember David and Lorraine. Please keep the article and ideas coming!
Belinda Walker, Editor
Please note that the opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the ministers or church leadership team

FOCUS ON..... The Baptist Missionary Society
We have all probably heard of the BMS. But who are they and what do they do?
Based at Baptist House, Didcot, the BMS train, send out and support missionaries in a variety of countries. Other staff work in Birmingham, in the IMC where would-be missionaries are trained prior to be being sent off to their new countries. Please don’t forget these missionaries in training in your prayers. Our own link missionary, Julia Stanbrook, is supported by the BMS
Julia works with young pre-school children in Brazil and has faced many challenges over language learning, housing and discouragement. The work now appears to be bearing fruit. Please pick up Julia’s prayer letter and support her in whatever way you can.
There are a variety of ways you can support BMS both financially or in prayer.
Why not become a 24/7 partner? These are people who give a small amount each month to support the work of a particular missionary or mission in a particular country. 24/7 partners are sent regular updates of mission activity to inform their prayer lives.
Alternatively, just contact the BMS to ask for prayer materials.
www.bmsworldmission.org.uk
I received a very nice letter from KathKoster who feels that readers will be encouraged by this story of church growth. I agree, Kath, and look forward to seeing back here when you feel able to travel down. I am sorry if I have not got all the names right!
Belinda Walker, Editor

A Hebridean Church
We hear so much in the media about the death of Christianity, fewer and fewer Sunday worshippers, generally negative reportage, that it is good to read of the growing church
Away up on the fringe of Scotland is the Long Island with its capital Stornoway where you will find ‘Martin’s Memorial Church’. It originated in 1875 as a free English preaching station providing English language worship for East Coast fisher folk, who could not speak Gaelic, then spoken widely in the Hebrides and elsewhere. Its firs minister was Reverend Martin.
Four years ago a new Minister Reverend Macneith arrived, and in those four years membership has doubled to over two hundred. Sunday morning congregation has gone up from eighty to two hundred and fifty and attendance at the evening service has grown from thirty to nearly two hundred and the mid-week prayer meeting from ten to between eighty to one hundred people.
The new minister says he hasn’t followed anyone else’s plan. The first thing one notices on Sunday morning is the number of children and teenagers despite the service being a traditional ‘hymn sandwich’. Evening service is more contemporary with a praise band and visuals.
The Reverend and his wife had a vision for youth work and secured a volunteer youth worker. His impact was seen in the expanding Sunday youth group called Impact followed by a midweek youth club and drop-in. The young people requested their own prayer meeting which takes place at Friday lunchtime and attracts thirty teenagers, and a Saturday night meeting called Encounter. However, the minister is determined that it mustn’t be exclusively a youth church. In the minister’s words
“we had a desire to grow up a church family and were ministering to people of all ages and backgrounds”
To that end the church has groups for senior citizens, a Guild (like the women’s ministry), a Bible study group with crèche, a Boy’s Brigade, new women’s, men’s group, a group of 20-30s with prayer and intercession groups.
All are independent of one another but all connect in to the main church. One young adult says
“There is no generation gap. The young can talk to the older folk and the older folk are really encouraging – I have never been to another church like this”
He adds
“As a church we have striven to be a true church family – a place where we love God, we love one another and where we love our neighbour. Our mission statement is where everybody is somebody and Jesus is Lord
PRAYER POINTERS: Praise God for this encouraging story!

BOOKWORM CORNER
Hello everyone. Yes, it’s me! The Bookworm. I can’t believe that 2011 is here already.
I have been getting rather overexcited about the Bible fresh initiative. Do you know that it has been 400 years since the King James Version of the Bible was published (and no, for any of you cheeky enough to ask – I do NOT remember it happening!)
I have signed up for the E100 Initiative. It is a new scheme intended to help people to get the most out of the Bible by suggesting one hundred essential passages to read over a period of time to be decided by you, the participant.
I don’t know if any of you have ever tried reading the entire Bible cover to cover. It can be daunting and some of the passages which set out finer details of the law and the way to perform sacrifices can be a little heavy going!
Katy and Chris, our pastors, are taking part in the E100 Bible Reading Plan, with sermons on some of the essential passages of the Bible. So there should be plenty of encouragement throughout the year.
Belinda has a few copies of a book on the bookstall which will help you to understand and reflect on what you are reading. The cost is £5.00. You can take part in the scheme without the book as the readings are set out in a leaflet on the concourse – and the leaflet is free of charge.
The idea of this initiative is to help you get the most out of the Bible and to grow in your knowledge of God and his ways. You can use any version of the Bible you like, not necessarily the King James which has beautiful language but can be difficult to understand.
That brings me on to my next point. Do you particularly like a particular translation of the Bible? What is it and why do you like it? Do you own a Bible in a language other than English and have you had insights into God’s character when reading this that you didn’t have when you read the English version.
Bible reading is a big adventure – please write in to encourage the others in the church family here in your experiences. Please leave anything for me in the W (for worm) pigeonhole.

THOUGHT FILLERS

Bibles that are falling apart are usually owned by people who are not
(source unknown)

If you think the Old Testament is a dry and dusty old tome, think again! This is the Bible that Jesus read – and knew and loved
Philip Yancey (author)

PRAYER POINTERS:-
Remember those who continue to work to translate Bibles into other languages.

The Last Laugh
Three pieces of string walk into a pub. The first volunteers to buy a round and goes to the bar. The Barman leans over the bar and says in an unfriendly manner
“We don’t serve pieces of string in this pub. Now, I want you and your friends to clear off before there’s any trouble”
The piece of string is upset and returns to his friends, and suggests to them that they should leave. The second piece of string is outraged. He points out that pieces of string have rights and goes to the bar to confront the Barman. The Barman snarls at him and says
“Didn’t you hear what I told your friend? You are not welcome here. Now, get out”
He is frightened and returns to his friends. Alarmed by the Barman’s manner, he suggests that they leave quietly. The third piece of string feels they should stand their ground. He volunteers to go to the bar. When he gets there the Barman leans over the bar and snarls in a threatening manner
“Are you a piece a string?”
The piece of string looks him directly in the eye and says
“No, I’m afraid not”

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
Do you remember David Champion?
I first knew David when he was teaching in Maidstone and attending the same church as my parents.
He came to be deputy head of Palmarsh Primary School in Hythe in 1983 and for a little while rented an ex-police house in the same road where Andrew and I lived in Palmarsh. It was at this point that we got to know him well. At first he was not sure about the new job, until he learned that several mums from the local Anglican church in Palmarsh had been praying for a Christian teacher to come to the primary school! He became a member of Folkestone Baptist Church, Hill Road branch (this was when Hill Road was daughter church of Rendezvous St.) and bought a little house in Ethelbert Rd.
In time he felt called to serve the Lord overseas and in 1987 went out to Zaire with the Baptist Missionary Society to teach in a school for ex-pat children, but because of political unrest the ex-pats were airlifted out in 1991. He then spent an interesting few months working for BMS in Budapest, Hungary.
By this time Graham Thomson was Baptist Minister in Folkestone and helped to arrange David’s secondment from BMS to Mission Aviation Fellowship so that he could take up a teaching post in Dodoma, Tanzania in December 1992 (BMS did not work in Tanzania at the time) It was here he met lovely Canadian teacher Lorraine. They married in June 1993.
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