Sue led our meeting today and intrigued us all by saying it would be an “upside down” time!

Sue read Psalm 63 introducing her theme for the afternoon where we thought about putting God first, thirsting for Him and allowing Jesus to be the centre of our lives,  Her song choices reflected that.

We commenced with the vesper (May the Lord, bless you and keep you), which we normally sing at the end and Sue showed us a frame with a hidden word that she had prepared which when turned upside down, read the word ‘Stones’.

We heard the story of Lazarus and the miracle of his resurrection.  Yet, we learned that Jesus tarried even though Lazarus was sick much to the dismay of Mary and Martha. Why did Jesus delay His coming to His friend? So that God would be glorified, Mary and Martha and the villagers would believe, they would glorify God and they would trust God for the future. But they had to do something really important – they were told to “Take away the stone”.

Jesus is looking for a willing response! He wants us to see and believe.  Do we see miracles in our own lives? Is there a stone or stones in our lives that stand in the way of us moving on and being blessed by God?

To help us understand, Sue brought 5 types of stones and a picture of a cross.

Fossils. The fossils were and are fixed in the stones, some perhaps over millions of years! Are we stuck in a comfort zone with an inability to change? Do we feel threatened and frightened by new things and ideas? Roll away the stone and place it at the foot of the cross!

Precious gem. This could be something important to us, attractive, beautiful, comforting and pleasing. It could be something that takes up a lot or too much of our time, something that we love more than God! Do we need to reappraise and put this at the foot of the cross?

Heavy stone. Are we carrying a burden, a worry, some anxiety, fear or even guilt over something in our past or present which weighs us down? Take it to the foot of the cross!

Ugly black stone. Sue handled this stone and her hands turned black! This is a stark reminder that sin separates us from God but also has far-reaching effects on those around us! Keep going to the foot of the cross!

White stone. Looked fine from the outside but Sue showed us that some of the inside was black. This represents those little white lies, gossip, angry and unkind words – those little things which perhaps don’t add up to much but are not ok.  Drop them at the foot of the cross!

The imagery that Sue brought to us was really powerful and we were encouraged to take the initiative, to roll away the stone, to believe and trust in God for a miracle and to see what God will do in our lives.

“When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.  “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

John 13 v 12 – 15 (NIV)

Think: “Jesus made time and space for everyone!” He had close and personal encounters with so many needy people.  He understood their deepest need and met each person with respect and dignity.  Pray for an opportunity to get alongside someone who needs help this week.

The verse of the week is inspired by the teaching the previous Sunday. You can listen to a recording by clicking on the link below:

https://downsbaptistchurch.org/resources/sermons/

It is always a delight to welcome back Graham Dawson from Holland Road Baptist Church. Having been a pastor, Graham brings such wonderful teaching and opens up the Word with clarity and practical insight to make us all stop and think.

Today was no exception as Graham opened up the mysteries of 1 Corinthians 15 concerning some interesting truths about the resurrection of Jesus and what it means for us.

What happens after we die? What sort of body will we have when we are resurrected? Graham said we can learn so many lessons from the garden, the animal kingdom and space! (1 Corinthians 15 v 35-41).

“What goes down must come up!” Graham reminded us that we sow autumn bulbs for spring flowers and the bulb/seed has to die before new life comes.  It is the same with us – for new life, physical resurrection follows physical death. And the wonderful thing is that there is something infinitely better.

Graham opened up the truth from the scriptures that identity passes through the ground. The daffodil bulb dies and becomes a daffodil, it doesn’t become a poppy! So with us, our individual identity reappears – there is no ‘identity theft’ – we are resurrected as ourselves and people will recognise and know us and we will recognise others.

Graham posed the question, why is the second body different to the first? Well, we need a body fit for the environment in which we live – the old body cannot crossover! The modified resurrected body is transformed and suitable to live in heaven.

The resurrection of Jesus is the prototype for every believer’s resurrection.

Death/dead versus resurrected/life
Perishable versus imperishable
In dishonour versus in glory (a glory that will never fade)
Weakness versus raised in power
Natural/physical versus supernatural/spiritual

Isn’t it wonderful to know that we are being changed into His likeness, that death isn’t the last word.  For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive (verse 22).

Graham left us to mull over the thought that “the reality of our bodily resurrection will always be richer than the language it tries to describe.” He also prayed that we would be at peace and would know the glorious hope to which we are called because of Jesus and what he did for us on the cross.  Death has been conquered and life will be transformed.

Why not read 1 Corinthians 15 over the next week in the light of some of these thoughts!

Thursday Fellowship reconvened for its autumn session on 4th September, 2025 and we welcomed back Beverley McArdle from Brighton & Hove City Mission as our first speaker. The programme up to Christmas is listed below.

Please do consider joining us at 2pm in the Parish Room of the Holy Cross Church unless stated – we can assure you of a very warm welcome! 

4th September – Beverley McArdle (BHCM Care Homes)

11th September – Maeve Whitchurch

18th September – Sue Cunningham

25th September – Jane Leaver

2nd October – Phil Cook

9th October – Graham Dawson

16th October – Sue Cunningham

23rd October – Ann Dracott

30th October – Gillian Clark (Books Alive)

6th November – Praise and Share

13th November – Connie Croly

20th November – Craft Afternoon

27th November – Roger, Rosemary, Tom & Mike from Seaford Baptist Church

4th December – Our memories of Christmases past!

11th December – Carols, Candles and Cake

For further information head to the following link:- Thursday Fellowship

To know God and to make Him known

A WORSHIPPING CHURCH OF PEOPLE WHO PRAY AND FOLLOW THE TEACHING OF THE BIBLE.

Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14 v 6

A WITNESSING CHURCH OF PEOPLE WHO SHARE OUR FAITH IN WORDS AND ACTIONS.

Jesus said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbour as yourself.” Luke 10 v 27

Our meeting today had a harvest/creation theme. It was a joy to welcome back our friend, Phil Cook from Lancing Tabernacle Community Church.

“As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”

Genesis 8 v 22 (NIV)

Phil remarked that some churches are not in the habit of commemorating harvest, which is a shame! Phil felt it was important to share the abundance of what we have with others especially those who have very little and he reminded us that it is Biblical!

We were encouraged to be enthusiastic in the harvest of the five ‘P’s because we should all be involved!

1. Ploughing: Harvest involves ploughing with thorough and necessary preparation for sowing in order to see good results.
2. Planting: We need to sow but also to know and believe that the seed will produce a great and mighty harvest.
3. Patience: Crops do not come up over night! Phil told us about the farmer who had to get down on his knees and put his head to the ground to see the green shoots. It is so easy for anxiety to take over while we are waiting for something to happen.
4. Power: Remember, nothing is impossible with God.   God multiplies. We were reminded of the stories of the feeding of the 4,000 and the 5,000 and how much was left over after everyone had been filled.
5. Prayer: We need to be faithful in prayer and a good place to start is by saying the prayer that Jesus taught His disciples, the Lord’s Prayer. It is a pattern for all true prayer.

This harvest time, let’s celebrate with great joy all that the God of creation, our Heavenly Father has provided for each one of us.

We sang, We plough the feeds and scatter and You shall go our with joy before Sue closed our meeting with the blessing from The Message version:

“God bless you and keep you, God smile on you and gift you, God look you full in the face and make you prosper” – Numbers 6 v 24-26

This week we were delighted to welcome as our speaker one of our own members, Jane Leaver.

Jane explained that her talk had been inspired by an old chorus which her Mum used to sing to her when she was a child.  Through this song (see below), Jane introduced us to various Bible Characters, some very familiar and some obscure; for example, few of us had heard of Shamgar, who merits just one verse in the Bible! But all seven characters in the song had one thing in common, they used whatever they had, however ordinary or insignificant, to serve God, with amazing results.

Jane also referred to the end of Paul’s letter to the Romans (chapter 16 v 1 – 16), which is a long list of some of the people who had helped him in spreading the gospel. Jane encouraged us all to recognise that God has given each of us unique gifts, and placed us exactly where He wants us to be, so that we can serve Him and His kingdom, and be a blessing to those we meet every day.

To finish our time together, we sang the lovely song, Beautiful Lord, wonderful Saviour as a prayer, asking God to take us, mould us, use us and fill us as we give our lives to the Potter’s hand.

Shamgar had an ox-goad,
David had a sling,
Dorcas had a needle,
Rehab had some string,
Samson had a jaw bone,
Aaron had a rod,
Mary had some ointment,
All were used by God.

Sue led our meeting today and was also the speaker! Thank you Sue for blessing us with your gifts – we so appreciate you!

Sue took Philippians 2 v 1-11 as her passage alongside the Graham Kendrick song, The Servant King, as we thought about the humility and servanthood of our Lord.

We were reminded that The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Graham’s song says, He came from heaven, a helpless babe, His glory veiled, not to be served but to serve and to give His life that we might live! God chose it to be this way. It’s hard to take it all in isn’t it! But it is by His example that we learn how to sacrificially serve others.

Verse 3 and 4 says that we should “do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests , but also to the interests of others.”

Sue encouraged us to use the gifts God has given us.  Sometimes we may have a tendency to do too much or even too little! Is there joy when we serve or do we do it grudgingly? Are we perhaps doing things we shouldn’t, like being square pegs in round holes? Whatever our circumstances we need to be faithful in using what God has given us to humbly serve others.

As Graham’s song says in the last verse, “So let us learn how to serve, and in our lives enthrone Him; each other’s needs to prefer, for it is Christ we’re serving.”  Amen!

We closed our service by singing this song as a prayer.

We welcomed back Maeve to our little gathering this week and interestingly, Maeve’s message was all about being welcoming!

Maeve told us about a series of incidents and happenings whilst on a little vacation in the Cotswolds.  She met a lovely old gentleman by the name of Wayne in a place called Upper Slaughter, who, after chatting for about half an hour, invited her back to the local hotel for a free coffee morning along with some people from the village. Wayne never mentioned the name of Jesus once or church, yet he was so warm, friendly and welcoming that it made a lasting impression. When she arrived at the hotel she was told that the free coffee morning was for local people only! Not so welcoming! But when Wayne arrived he told the group that Maeve was his friend and that he had invited her! Maeve remarked that Wayne’s church is the church she would like to go to!

What a contrast to the razzamatazz of Vice President J.D Vance and his large entourage visiting friends in the area. The local people were not at all interested or welcoming!

It led Maeve to think about Jesus and the ‘triumphal’ yet humble and lowly entry into Jerusalem riding on a donkey (Luke 19 v 28-40). No fanfare, no razzamatazz!

What was it about Jesus that made Him attractive to people? Most of the crowd stopped, looked and connected in some way. And that makes us think  about how we are perceived in church. Is it all about trying to be relevant to attract people like having a drum kit and offering great coffee and biscuits?! Surely, it is Jesus that makes the difference and connects us all and makes us attractive to those who are seeking!

Let’s be gentle, kind, friendly and welcoming to all we meet.

After a long summer break apart from four Coffee Mornings, Thursday Fellowship returned on the 4th September.

It was a lovely day and 13 members gathered for the first session where we welcomed back Beverley McArdle from the Brighton & Hove City Mission.

Beverley gave us an update on the work of the Mission which has been working in the city for over 175 years. Their vision is to see a Christian influence in every environment and to help facilitate this, there has been some structural reorganisation to accommodate a different focus and wider sphere to touch more people.  Beverley is now the Older Person Lead which encompasses so  much more than being solely responsible for the Care Home Ministry. There is a vision for partnering with Churches to assist them in reaching out to the Care Homes in their communities as well as enabling befriending opportunities for those who are lonely or isolated.

Beverley’s message to us was taken from the Great Commission in Matthew 28 v 16-20 with the emphasis on “Go!”

What are we being called to do? We were reminded that we all have a ministry! What a challenge for us! What might that look like for us as individuals?

Beverley told a very poignant story about an elderly gentleman who needed help with his Bible reading devotions. Although one of the Activity Co-ordinators in the care home was a Christian, he decided to ask the non-Christian to assist him with his readings! Food for thought indeed!

We were encouraged to pray for the Mission: That good partnerships will be formed with local churches; for new staff members for all of the teams; for continued funding to meet the needs, and for new opportunities to share Jesus.

If you would like to join our little group, please do come along on a Thursday afternoon at 2pm.  We can assure you of a very warm welcome.

For further details, head to: https://downsbaptistchurch.org/community/thursday-fellowship/

Yet another overcast and breezy day for the 58th Woodingdean Carnival held this year at Rudyard Kipling Primary School. Fortunately, it didn’t deter hundreds of people from joining the colourful parade from Central Park to the Carnival field and visiting the stalls run by local organisations.

Once again DBC had a stall sited with the other Woodingdean Churches, and one of the event organisers remarked how welcome it is for the local churches to be a part of the proceedings – they really do value the support! And we love being part of what goes on in our community too!

DBC did something very different this year by providing a free children’s craft stall with tattoo stickers and badge making.  This proved to be very popular with the children and there were many good conversations with the grown-ups.

A big thank you to Judith for organising plus her willing band of helpers and supporters.