This afternoon we were treated to a very interesting and challenging talk from one of our own members, Jane.

Today Jane spoke about something she is passionate about – reading.  “Are you someone who re-reads a book?” was the question she posed.  If so, do we see new things in the text that we missed first time round?

Jane loves to read, and shared with us some of the books she read many years ago, which had had significant impact on her at the time.  She told us she had recently felt God moving her to re-read some of these books; this prompting was confirmed when she found she could source second-hand copies at a very reasonable price! The titles were familiar to a number of us: The Cross and the Switchblade by David Wilkerson, Chasing the Dragon by Jackie Pullinger, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom, God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew, and The God Chasers by Tommy Tenney.  Jane has set herself the challenge of re-visiting these books to see whether they still pack a punch . . . can she learn anything new?

One book which we will never tire of is, of course, the Bible.  Together we looked at 10 Bible verses which teach us that the Scriptures have been given to us for guidance, comfort, wisdom and instruction.  Through reading the Bible we draw closer to God and the Holy Spirit makes the Scriptures come alive.

God is always seeking to teach us fresh things about Himself – the Bible is one book which is certainly worth reading, and re-reading! This led us neatly to our closing song; a little chorus many of us remembered from our childhood – “The best book to read is the Bible”.

There will be an opportunity to bring harvest gifts to support the work of Woodingdean Food Hub at our Open Communion Service on Sunday, 18th October, 2026.

We are currently seeking information on the areas of specific need and will post details of these as soon as possible so watch this space.

Please do join us as we give thanks to God for His abundant provision and goodness to us and as we support those struggling in our community in these difficult times.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

2 Corinthians 1 v 3-4 (NIV)

Think: Even as Christians, we are not exempt from pain and loss, but no one is beyond God’s comfort. Is there anyone you can get alongside this week? 

The verse of the week is usually inspired by the teaching the previous Sunday and you can listen to any recordings by clicking on the link below:

https://downsbaptistchurch.org/resources/sermons/10.

What an enjoyable afternoon.  A time to do something a little different!  A time to chat while working with our hands in a creative way.

None of us could remember the last time we had seen, let alone played with Plasticine! It certainly smelled different to what we all remembered! Our task was to make something, anything we fancied, which we all did.  It was lovely to see the different creations – we have some very artistic individuals! Everyone’s model was splendid in it’s own way and showed something of the person who created it.

Sue then led us into a time of reflection with the text: “We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand” – Isaiah 64 v 8.

We then read other scriptures which amplified this thought and are well worth a read: Romans 9 v 20-21; 2 Corinthians 4 v 7; Jeremiah 18 v 3-4 and Ephesians 2 v 10.

We were then asked to make a pot with the remaining clay.  We were reminded and encouraged that God uses broken and imperfect people to accomplish His will and purpose. We are just earthen vessels / jars of clay; the treasure is God’s gift inside – not our power or might but His.

We sang two beautiful songs as prayers to close our time together before refreshments: Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on me, break me, melt me, mould me, fill me and Jesus you are changing me, You are the potter and I am the clay, help me to be willing to let You have Your way. Amen to that!

Thank you Sue for a lovely afternoon and to Lis for the scrumptious heart-shaped shortbread.

Ten members were present today as we welcomed Bryan Pickard to our meeting.

Bryan’s passage for his message was Isaiah 40 v 25-31. We learned that chapter 40 is a turning point in the narrative, where in the midst of change and uncertainty, God encourages His people:-

God is still all powerful and we are safe in His hands. He is the Creator of all things and He is a big, big God.  If you are in any doubt of this, Look up! God holds all things together yet He is still mindful of us and shepherds his people with love and tenderness.

God is all knowing and the everlasting God. He doesn’t grow tired or weary, and He doesn’t grow tired of us, yes, even you! Isn’t that reassuring to know!  He loves us as individuals and shares this with us – He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

God’s promise to us which shines out in verse 31 is this, all those who hope, trust and wait on the Lord WILL renew their strength – in their inner being, in their thinking and in their spiritual understanding.

Many of us needed to hear this message today – do you? Let’s stop and reflect as we trust His everlasting grace and love.  Remember, and be “confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1 v 6 NIV).

Opening hours:

Most Mondays 10am- 1pm (when volunteers are available)

Tuesdays 10am- 4pm

Thursdays 9am- 1pm

Due to low levels of volunteers, we are open on a reduced level at present and sadly have to announce that we will not be taking on a new lease in December and the shop will formally close on Thursday 29th October, 2026.

We would like to thank all those in the community who have supported local causes by shopping with us and to say a huge THANK YOU to all our wonderful volunteers, past and present over the 29 years of trading.

Our Autumn programme will commence on Thursday 3rd September:

3rd September – Phil Cook

10th September – Dr Ruth Butlin

17th September – Wynn Funnell

24th September – Bryan Pickard

1st October – ‘Crafty’ pm with Sue

8th October – Jane Leaver

15th October – Praise and Share

22nd October – Rev Karen Bell

29th October – Books Alive

5th November – Graham Dawson

12th November – John Casse

19th November – Maeve Whitchurch

26th November – Sort of Christmas Quiz!

3rd December – Roger and the Band

10th December – Carols, Candles and Cake

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

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

Wynn Funnell was our speaker today and brought a lovely testimony of how God has sustained her through the many trials in her life.

To help us to focus, Wynn once again brought her bag of tricks! This time the bag contained three stones which had one word printed on each of them – Faith, Hope and Peace.

Wynn asked the question, “What is your faith like deep down?” Life throws all sorts of things at us and we have to deal with them but we are not alone – God is there to help us. We were reminded just how important a strong faith is and so is a strong prayer life. This gives us hope and hope does not disappoint us! Not only that but we experience a deep peace, a peace that the world cannot understand or give!

We are called to go out into the world, in all the chaos and awfulness and to shine – to make the most of every opportunity and to take Jesus with us.

Wynn sang to us the lovely old chorus, Jesus bids us shine written by Susan B Warner:-

It was good to welcome back Dr Ruth Butlin from The Leprosy Mission. Ruth told her story of how she came to be involved with the organisation.

Ruth admitted that she was a somewhat idealistic teenager and had been looking for ways in which she could change the world for the better!

When she was at school, she knew she was interested in mission work and working with persons with disabilities. Those inclinations found their focus when Ruth attended a conference with her youth group. The speaker was from The Leprosy Mission and Ruth was so moved and inspired by the message and work that she left thinking, ‘this is what I have to do’. After the talk she wrote to The Leprosy Mission to say that she wanted to work for them but their response was that she needed to finish school and get her medical qualifications first!

There happened to be a leprosy research unit attached to the university and Ruth had the opportunity to visit leprosy infected people in hospital in Oxford which was a great experience and helped to reinforce her desire and confirmed the call to serve with the organisation.

Once Ruth had her qualifications, passed the interview stage panelled by Eddie Askew, and had undergone further cross-cultural training with TLM, and had come to terms with the many doubts about leaving this country and all that entails to work abroad, Ruth set out for Maharashtra, India in 1982. She felt that it was very much God’s plan and God’s call for her life. Whilst she was there she worked as the Medical Officer for the Miraj hospital. Her time was split between treating patients and training medical staff at the hospital’s large training centre. It was whilst working at Miraj that Ruth also had her very first taste of clinical research, something that she continues to engage with today.

In 1990, Ruth moved to TLM’s Anandaban Hospital in Nepal. She served as the Medical Superintendent at Anandaban throughout the 1990s, where she was in charge of the medical work at the hospital. As well as treating patients, she was responsible for planning medical programmes, hiring and training staff, some clinical research, and supporting Nepal’s National Leprosy Control Programme, particularly through training.

After working at Anandaban Hospital, Ruth took over as Medical Superintendent of Purulia for a period of two years, from 2001-2003. Although Ruth did not share this, details about Ruth on TLM website informs us that one of Ruth’s abiding memories of her time at Purulia is of a plaque in the chapel which commemorated a missionary who had travelled to serve persons affected by leprosy in the days before there was a cure for the disease.

Ruth says, “Those were the real heroes, the people who left their lives on the other side of the world and came to serve people who had no hope of a cure. They had to watch their patients get worse and worse but continue to offer as much care as they could to soothe them. They did all this with the awareness that they could contract the disease themselves. Most did not, but this woman who was commemorated in Purulia did. The plaque told of how she continued to serve her fellow patients until she died.”

After this, Ruth went to Bangladesh for a period of 4 years where she became a Medical Advisor which she confessed was much easier than being a Superintendant!  In all, Ruth has served for 25 years overseas, bringing healing, hope and a future to so many needy people.

Today, Ruth is still very much involved with sharing stories and raising awareness to different groups, writing, teaching and research.

Ruth brought updates on many of the projects that we have learned about in past visits and is was so encouraging to see the progress being made. Even when things seemed to be on hold it is clear that God is in control.

Ruth’s reading was from Isaiah 61 v 4-11.  It speaks of renewal, repairing, rebuilding and rejoicing and no more shame! This was such a fitting reading to accompany Ruth’s story and reminds us that each life is beautiful and no situation is beyond God’s power. There is hope and a future.

There was an opportunity to bless Dr Ruth and the work of The Leprosy Mission with a love gift which will be held open for a few weeks.

It is wonderful to know that our gifts and prayers do make a difference to so many people and also encourage Ruth and her colleagues to work at improving the lives of the many thousands of leprosy sufferers across the world.

Thursday Fellowship restarted on 3rd September after the summer break and we welcomed our friend Phil Cook, who not only spoke but also played the piano for us. There were 8 of us, with several on holiday and others unwell.

We thought about new beginnings, putting the past behind us and looking to the future (Isaiah 43:18-19). Phil spoke on the ‘Gospel of the Cross’, based on John 3:16 ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life’. He then explained the acrostic of the Gospel – God Only Son Perish Everlasting Life.

He stressed that GOD‘s pure, perfect and holy love is for everyone, a sacrificial love that is so great that it took Jesus, his ONLY SON to the Cross for us. Jesus came in the likeness of a man, in the form of a servant (or better, slave). By believing and trusting in him, we’re saved from PERISHING and so have passed from death to EVERLASTING or eternal LIFE!

What a gift for God to give! We need to exercise trust in God.  He does not want any of us to perish (2 Peter 3 v 9). Phil left us with that lovely thought that the moment we believe in Jesus, we get into the lifeboat and are safe for eternity.

A truly memorable message for our first session.

Grateful thanks to Sue C and Maria for their input this week.