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.

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.

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

Romans 8 v 28 (NIV)

Think: There are so many things that we do not understand but it is always best to trust God – He sees, He knows, He cares!

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.

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 Prayer

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

We finished our Spring session with a short time of praise focussing on Psalm 23 which Faith read from the NLT translation, and the opportunity to sing a few lovely songs – What a friend we have in Jesus (June’s favourite), I will praise You all my life and Faithful God (Jane shared a little on how precious these songs were to her and how they had sustained her through her life).

It was such a joy to welcome Wendy back and also June. (A big thank you to her son Steve for making this possible). We sang our special Happy Birthday song to Eileen and then enjoyed fellowship over a tea of sandwiches, scones with jam and cream (or cream and jam of course!) and cake, washed down with cups of tea.

We are so grateful to our Committee of Faith, Sue and Lis for all of their hard work over the past year and to all of those who help with making tea each week, with special thanks to Eileen. 

There will be a summer break before we gather on the first Thursday in September for our Autumn session. Look out for the coffee mornings we are hoping to run to maintain fellowship over the long summer recess. 

For our penultimate session of the spring term, we welcomed back John Casse.

John’s reading was John 14 v 1-8. John reminded us of the sadness of the preceding chapter where Jesus predicts His betrayal and also Peter’s denial of Him. In chapter 14, Jesus comforts His disciples by bringing much needed encouragement and hope. “Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Trust in God; trust also in Me.” But John’s focus was verse 6, where Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”

To amplify this important saying, John conducted an impromptu sing-along to the old song- I am the way, the truth and the life, that’s what Jesus said, with the chorus:

Without the Way, there is no going,
Without the Truth, there is no knowing,
Without the Life, there is no growing,

John asked the question, “Where do we stand?” Today’s world needs truth, but sadly, truth can be what you want it to be! Modern self-sufficiency is flimsy and futile and we need to look outside of ourselves.

This beautiful verse is a map for us, and highlights the fact that to live a live of meaning and purpose, we simply can’t do without it.  Jesus is truly the Way and the Truth and the Life and ultimately, no-one comes to the Father except through Him. Jesus came that we might have life in all its fulness.  His reservoir never runs dry and is always full to overflowing. We need to draw on that life giving water every day.

Take some time to meditate on the words of Jesus and the words of the chorus and ask God to reveal more of himself and to encourage you as you seek to go, know and grow!

John closed in prayer asking that we might sense God’s peace and presence and seek to follow Him in the ways He has provided in His Word and that God will continue to work in us and through us.

A good number of us braced the wind and rain to have fellowship together and to listen to Connie Croly’s encouraging and challenging message. Through stories, quotes and the words of hymns and songs, she challenged us with the question ‘What do you expect from God?’

We are meant to be ‘channels not reservoirs’. We need to take opportunities to encourage each other and other people who we meet in our normal daily lives. We have a great God and, by faith, we can expect much more from him. ‘He can do what none other can do.’ So, are we willing to let him have his way and not look for loop-holes or excuses, when we have those opportunities to share our faith, even embracing interruptions to our routine? What do people see in us? Do they see the beauty and holiness of Jesus? Let’s ‘stand faithfully in the right place’ and let’s be ‘channels not reservoirs’!

We were delighted to welcome back Claire Withams (Hospital Chaplain) to be our speaker this afternoon and to learn that Claire had been accepted for ordination. We had been praying for her over the past few weeks and were encouraged by this news and promised to continue to pray for wisdom as she seeks to unravel the complexities of the process!

Claire continued our theme of the past couple of weeks and brought a copy of the famous Russian icon entitled The Trinity created by the Russian painter Andrei Rublev in the early 15th century. The Trinity depicts the three angels who visited Abraham at the Oak of Mamre (Genesis 18 v 1-8) but is full of symbolism and has been interpreted as an icon of the Holy Trinity – an embodiment of spiritual unity, peace, harmony and humility – and in Claire’s words, an “all encompassing circle of love from the beginning of time to now.” As you can see from the picture below, these are powerful images. For a deeper explanation of the symbolism head to: 2021-06-01 Explanation of Andrei Rublev.pdf

Claire’s chosen reading was Matthew 28 v 16-20 – The Great Commission. In the light of this command from our Lord, to go into all the world and make disciples, Claire encouraged us all to share our faith – to keep on keeping on in the power of the Holy Spirit. God is with us and for us and goes before us so we can go with confidence and boldness.  Let’s be courageous and be ready to make the most of every opportunity – let’s bloom where we are planted. And Claire’s chosen song to close our meeting? I, the Lord of sea and sky (Daniel L Schutte) with the memorable chorus of:

Here I am, Lord, Is it I, Lord?
I have heard You calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, If You lead me;
I will hold Your people in my heart.

It is always a joy to receive a visit from Maeve Whitchurch on what was a very hot afternoon. Sadly we were low in numbers but we were refreshed by Maeve’s message as she brought a lovely word from John 4 about Jesus’s encounter with the woman at the well.

For the woman, it was just an ordinary day. She came to the well at the hottest part of the day to avoid people and to draw water but she found someone there.  Was it an inconvenience for her? Was she afraid? Did she feel vulnerable? Quite possibly! Maeve encouraged us to think about whether godly things can become an inconvenience at times and what can tip the balance! The meeting with Jesus changed her life though she wouldn’t have realised it at the time. (Read the full story in John 4 v 1-26.)

Do we expect an encounter with Jesus to disrupt our day? Do we take time out to listen, really listen, to stop talking and just be still? Jesus wants to talk to us! What is He saying to you?

Maeve read slowly some lovely scriptures for us to allow the words to sink into our minds and hearts culminating with that beautiful verse in Zephaniah 3 v 17 – “The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save . He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Lord, help us to be prepared just to sit and have a moment with you or even to stop and listen to the birds singing!

Maeve will also be speaking at our church service at Woodingdean Primary School at 10.30am on Sunday 31st May.