At the 11th hour on the 11th day of the 11th month 1918 ‘The war to end all wars’ – was over.  888,246  British and Commonwealth troops had made the ultimate sacrifice, many of them dying on the fields in Flanders.  Remembrance Sunday, the second Sunday in November, is the day traditionally put aside to remember all those who have given their lives for the peace and freedom we enjoy today. On this day people across the nation pause to reflect on the sacrifices made by our brave Service men and women.

Remembrance transcends all boundaries. It is a small yet important individual and collective act, a rare moment when the nation can stand together and reflect on the price of freedom. That price is still being paid. More than 12,000 British Servicemen and women have been killed or injured on active service since 1945.

We will remember them!

“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.”

Challenge: To recognise the suffering in others and take measures to help. May God give us a compassionate heart this week.

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

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

In an effort to help our local community during the fast approaching Christmas period, we are enthusiastically filling toilet bags made by one of our members  which we will be giving to local charity Off The Fence for distribution to the homeless women they are in contact with.

Suggested donations for each bag are :-

Roll on deodorant
1 medium pair of knickers
1 small pack of feminine wipes
1 small bar of chocolate
1 small anti-bacterial hand gel

For anyone wishing to donate to homeless men, the suggested items from the Off The Fence Team team are:-

Socks
Boxer shorts
Hats
Gloves/Mittens

If you would like to help us fill these bags or indeed fill one yourself, then please bring items either to Church on Sundays or leave at the shop, DBC Community Greengrocers, 1 Warren Way.

To find out more about the work of Off the Fence, either have a word with Jane Leaver or head to their website at https://www.offthefence.org.uk/

Thank you kindly.

Thursday Fellowship meets in the Parish Room of the Holy Cross Church, Woodingdean at 2.15pm.

We would love you to join us for fellowship and friendship.  All welcome.

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

Our motto for the year is –

“Look to the Lord and His strength; seek His face always.”

1 Chronicles 16 v 11 (NIV).

We will be once again be supporting Off the Fence’s Gateway project this Christmas by collecting items which will be made by the Gateway team into lovely Christmas presents for each client. Things like nice chocolates, special toiletries and gifts etc. If you would like to help in providing items for these gifts then please speak to Faith or Lis.

To find out more about Gateway, head to:

https://www.offthefence.org.uk/gateway

Gateway seeks to support women experiencing crisis in many forms and their Drop in Centre in Portslade provides a welcoming, safe space for women to go and seek help.

Speakers for the Autumn session:

5th September – Pastor Malcolm Haines

12th September – Sue Cunningham

19th September – Win  Funnell

26th September – Dave & Maggie Perkins

3rd October – Sue Cunningham – Please note that the start time will be 2.30pm for this week only

10th October – 1pm – Autumn Lunch with Lorna & David Sivyour

17th October – Connie Croly

24th October – Canon David Gutsell

31st October – Rev Simon James-Morse

7th November – Books Alive

14th November – tba

21st November – tba

28th November – Beverley McArdle (BHCM)

5th December – Roger Case & Eclectrix (tbc)

12th December – No meeting as room needed for General Election Polling Station

19th  December – Candles, Carols & Cake

Living Hope Ministries is the work of Richard and Elaine Brunton. The work began in response to the call of God following a trip to Africa in 1994. As a result, they began this ministry to build the church through equipping and supporting pastors and leaders, both in the UK and overseas.

On the 19th October, Living Hope Ministries celebrated 25 years with a special service at Lancing Tabernacle and five members from DBC attended.

Maria writes:-

We all joined in rousing worship and then the Chairman welcomed overseas guests. Richard then spoke about the beginnings of Living Hope. He took with him a piece of paper to Africa with only ‘one name and one number’ written on it.  From this contact the ministry spread far and wide.

We then listened to the key speaker, a Nigerian, whose message was the word ‘Go’, including in his talk, Jesus’ great commission from Matthew 28 verses 18 and 19.

A series of interviews followed and Christian workers from Africa, Europe and South America spoke about their links with Living Hope and the support that Richard had given them.  They voiced their prayer requests and urgent needs.  These included:  Bible teaching and training for the leaders and pastors (Kenya);  the challenges of pastors in competition with one another, and of working with the evangelical sector of the traditional Roman Catholic church (Poland);  and of doors opening for working with Christians in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia (Bosnia).

Before we were treated to a substantial lunch, a further interview was held with a part-time pastor, part-time musician (Bulgaria).  He served God in the north-west, the poorest area of Bulgaria, and reached out to people through his music, as well as working amongst the Roma, immigrants from Romania.  We were also ‘entertained’ by the ‘Right Now’ choir, a lively choir from Nigeria.

After lunch a final interview took place with Chio Fordham (Peru) who served as a translator for Richard on some of his South American trips. A door has also opened into Ecuador and we saw a video clip of Antonio, a pastor and leader there who is helping Living Hope achieve its vision of reaching more of South America.  This recently resulted in a visit to Colombia by the South America team.

We all prayed for these countries and for the teams visiting them in order to build friendships, teach pastors and encourage and support the churches.  Richard handed down batons to members of these teams serving three continents as well as to some pastors.  The batons were symbolic of the continuation of Living Hope Ministries into the future when Richard would become less effective due to age, reduced energy levels and maybe health problems.  He also gave gifts to his wife and five sons (all present) in gratitude for all the many sacrifices they had made for the work of Living Hope.

In conclusion we heard Richard speak about the future of Living Hope in which he saw the media ministry playing a significant part.  As well as the radio programmes which are listened to worldwide, weekly tv programmes are being produced to be shown in Africa, India and the Philippines.  Podcasts can now be downloaded from the Living Hope website and there is a YouTube channel and substantial literature.  Prayer was made for the media team.

Another time of worship followed and a very generous offering was taken for the work in the media.  The day closed when Richard and Elaine cut the celebratory 25th Anniversary cake.

If you would like to know more about Living Hope Ministries then head to https://www.living-hope.org.uk/

What a lovely time we had at our all-age harvest service. Once again our harvest gifts will be given to Brighton & Hove City Mission’s Food Bank which helps to support some of the poorest people in Brighton and Hove.

Malcolm read the whole of Genesis 1 in his inimitable theatrical style and made the creation story come alive. There were pictures to accompany the story to engage even the youngest in our congregation. The children were then sent out to see what they could find/see of what God had made while we watched a very powerful video from the BMS (Baptist Missionary Society) of their work with the South Sudanese Conflict Survivors in Uganda. These poor people are seeking refuge from unimaginable violence and terror and BMS are restoring hope and transforming lives. It is so good that our special monetary gifts this harvest time will go towards this life-changing work. Stop press – gifts raised totalled £132.50.

Malcolm then finished off his mini series  – verses of salvation by retelling the story of Paul and Silas in prison and the miraculous conversion of the Philippian jailer and his family – Acts 16 v 16-35. “What must I do to be saved?” The answer? Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved! To hear Malcolm’s short message, head to https://downsbaptistchurch.org/sermons/

After tea and coffee many stayed to share in a fellowship lunch. Being all together in this way, supporting one another and thinking of those less fortunate than ourselves was a special time. Thanks be to God for all His goodness to us.

Wow! What a super day for our Family Fun Day. It could not have been any better – beautiful warm sunshine and no wind!

A lot of people dropped in – loads of new faces and some old friends.

Malcolm led three mini services 10.30, 12.00 noon and 2pm – to hear his short messages on our theme for the day – “Grace”, head to https://downsbaptistchurch.org/sermons/

We all enjoyed a BBQ ably cooked by Pete, Dann and Gareth and there was an abundance of homemade cakes and freshly made popcorn.

A bouncy castle, craft activities,  tie-dying and table tennis kept the children and not so young people amused.

It was a very happy time of just being together and getting to know people. Sometimes church can seem a bit remote or even scary for some and having opportunities like this to do things a bit differently and have a bit of fun can build friendships, relationships and trust.

We love reaching out into our community.  We want to be a witnessing church of people and greengrocers shop who share our faith in words and actions.

This group is continuing to meet at Wendy’s home at 2pm on the last Monday of each month and has decided to keep the name ‘Encountering God’ as it seemed appropriate to our expectations from studying His Word.

As from Monday 30^th September we will be delving into a new book entitled ‘Here I Am’ by Andy Hawthorne.  The book encourages us to join God’s adventurous call to love the world and we will be drawing on lessons from Isaiah.   We are all eagerly awaiting this study.

Please feel free to join us either regularly or when you’re able to drop in for a taster session. 

For further details, why not give Malcolm a call on 07505 118634

The group has started up again after the summer holidays so why not pop along to:

564 Falmer Road, Woodingdean. BN2 6NA

Tuesday mornings from 08-45am-11.30am

Chat, pray and find friendship and support.

Family Fun – Sunday 11th August

Well we certainly had fun!

Malcolm took us through the story where Jesus calmed the storm (Mark 4 v 35-41).

To hear Malcolm read the passage with some thoughts to help us apply the story to our lives – head to our sermons page. https://downsbaptistchurch.org/sermons/

To help us we used a large parachute which we made into a boat. The children enjoyed sitting in the “boat” and singing songs and we all had fun in creating the storm with the parachute and on hearing those immortal words, “quiet! Be still!” the parachute came to a rest.

We thought about how scared the disciples must have been but then how amazed and excited they were to learn that Jesus had the power to rebuke the wind and calm the waves.

Check out the very short clip below:

We then moved the parachute over the chairs to cover all of the congregation to create a prayer tent and finished our session with the song – “with Jesus in the boat we can smile at the storm!”

Why not pop along to our Fun Day on Sunday, 15th September. We can assure you of a very warm welcome.

Family Fun Day