The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.”

1 Kings 19 v 11-13a (NIV)

Think:  Do you hear God’s voice? Are you listening? Are you perhaps looking in the wrong places?

Challenge: 1) Go to a cave! Talk to God. 2) Reflect on His Word – Listen. 3) Worship God with obedience.

The verse of the week is inspired by the teaching the previous Sunday. If you would like to listen to recordings of any message, then head to

Sermons

Thursday 23 March – 6.00 – 7.30pm
Church Social in the original meeting place of DBC, the room at the back of the Green Hut Barbers.

Saturday 25 March – 3.00pm into the Evening
Celebration social at Woodingdean Primary School with food around approx. 6.00pm and maybe a quiz in the evening. All who have any association with DBC are invited to drop in and join us for however long you are able.

Sunday 26 March – 10.30am
Morning Service of Celebration at Woodingdean Primary School followed by a lunch.

Thursday Fellowship takes a break from its weekly meetings over the winter but there was an opportunity to meet at a Coffee Morning on Thursday, 2nd February at Faith’s.

16 members had a wonderful time of fellowship with lots of cake of course!

We really missed Kath who is in New Zealand at present and had been caught up in the terrible floods.  We were concerned to hear of the difficult and traumatic start to her long-awaited trip and spent some of our time lifting our dear sister to our Heavenly Father.

Kath – we miss you – we love you!  Peace to you and swift healing we pray.

We are so looking forward to our spring session commencing on Thursday 2nd March – Sue Cunningham will be our speaker.

We would love you to join us – for more information please head to Thursday Fellowship returns in March!

Thursday Fellowship will return on 2nd March for the spring session.

We will continue to meet in the  Parish Room of the Holy Cross Church, Woodingdean at 2pm each Thursday – please do join us – we can assure you of a warm welcome! 

Speakers lined up from March:

2nd March – Sue Cunningham
9th March – Wynn Funnell
16th March – Sue Cunningham
23rd March – Ann Dracott
30th March – Phil Cook
6th April – Maundy Thursday 
13th April – Keith & Laurel Barnes
20th April – Spring Lunch with Linn Davies
27th April – Sue Cunningham

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

Pastoral Vacancy
Our pastoral vacancy information and church profile are now on the Baptist Union website. We have also contacted Spurgeons Bible College to explore the possibility of having a student pastor.  We are also investigating whether we might qualify for a BU Home Mission grant.  

Live Facebook Feed and recording of services
Although we are no longer live-streaming our Sunday services, the sermons will still be available on the Sermons tab of this website.

Contact Details

We are in the process of updating the DBC members and regulars contact details.  If you have not recently completed a contact form, could you please ask Judith for a copy.  This will allow us to communicate more effectively with all of our DBC friends.

Leadership vacancy

In March, Kathy will be stepping down from her role as deacon, having served for 6 years. At the AGM we shall be looking to appoint someone new on the leadership team. Please prayerfully consider whether you could serve in this capacity, and feel free to speak to one of the current leaders if you would like to know more about the duties and responsibilities of being a deacon.

Gareth, Kathy, Rose, Margaret and Sue.

Three of our local churches are opening up their premises during the winter to provide a welcoming, warm place for people to go:

Churches Warm Spaces

Holy Cross Church – Fridays 9.30-12

Methodist Church – Thursdays 10-1

St Patrick’s Church –  Mondays 10-1

Everyone is welcome to go along to a warm and special space – for hot drinks, soup and friendship. Why not give it a try!

Dear all

Every blessing in Jesus to you all.

I’d like to thank all those who have given towards the school construction – the work has carried on due to the financial support of UK supporters. There is still a way to go so please keep praying for the continuing work at the school.

Meanwhile, the political/wider church involvement continues apace. At a recent prayer breakfast, Daniel and some other church leaders were able to meet with Susan (lady in the Orange jacket, who is the recently elected governor of Nakuru County) and Mwaura (the gentleman on the left, a senior member of the Nakuru administration and a secretary to the cabinet).  Praise God that they were willing to attend this church led event and be preached to (by Daniel amongst others) and prayed for!

This event is the pre-curser to a larger event being held on Sunday the 12^th February involving church leaders and the Government. This time President Ruto will be in attendance, as well as many other secular dignitaries. Again, it is so evident that the Lord has placed Daniel in a key position. He seems to be someone who gains favour with a wide range of important people and has a role in bringing them together. Please pray for the success of this coming event and especially for Daniel’s role in all this – he does feel the pressure and its only the Lord’s grace that sees him through these sort of events.

Blessings again

Paddy J

Gareth leads our prayer time this month. Please click on the link below:

A message from Daniel Guitau:

Hi.  Peace and Love of the almighty God and of Our Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of the world be with you all. As you know for the last four years life has been very challenging here in Kenya – drought, Covid 19, the tension during the General Election which was disputed and the very high price of food. In all this we witnessed the Grace of God. I’ve nothing I can be proud about because I know it is God who has brought us all this far.

I also want to take this opportunity to share my heartfelt gratitude towards you for standing with us by prayers and financial support. I know you did this sacrificially. May God reward you for He is the rewarder of those who seek Him diligently. May He also meet your needs and desires of your heart. Finally from  me and my family and the church and ministry that the Lord has put me in charge of, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. God bless you!

Also: I attach a photo of Daniel with the deputy president (DP) and his wife and a couple of the Nakuru church leaders in a meeting they had this week. They are hoping that their working with the government at this high level will help bring blessing to the church in Kenya. The DP’s wife (in green) is a very strong born again believer.

Thirdly: many of you have supported the classroom/school project. The building work has begun and I attach a photo showing this. Initially they are building foundations, taking down some of the old corrugated iron classrooms and then building 2 new classrooms. The building is being done in such a way that at each phase the result is usable, but further construction above and around is also possible.

Finally: I have received the Dolphin Academy’s KCPE results: The average score was 301, with the highest two being 374 and 371. The lowest was 263. Remember these are nationally held exams with approx. 1 million candidates. They are out of 500 and very hard. Only about 1% get over 400 and the average is usually about 200. I will find out the comparisons with other schools in the county in due course. But these are very good results, not quite as good as last year, but still maintaining the amazingly high standards the school has achieved in the last several years. Well done to the teachers and all at the school!

Did you know that there are currently two day-time house groups running on Wednesday mornings from 10.30 – 12? These small, friendly meetings offer the opportunity for informal study, prayer and fellowship.  They would love to welcome new faces so If you think you might be interested in joining, or would like to know more please speak to Maria or Sue C.