17 members joined us for the first meeting of our spring and summer session on what was a beautiful, sunny and warm spring day. It was so good to be back all together and what a special meeting it was!

Sue led us beautifully and introduced our motto for the year – Psalm 46 v 10a – “Be still and know that I am God.”

We had the opportunity to be still for two minutes and to focus on God. Surprisingly to Sue, everyone found that quite easy to do and seemed not to be distracted by the sounds from outside or wandering thoughts!

We then thought about some of the things that can help us focus better, like listening to a favourite worship CD, looking at a picture (Sylvia brought in a small picture of Holman Hunt’s ‘Light of the world’), holding a small wooden cross (a few of our number use these), lighting a candle, being out in nature and enjoying God’s creation, sitting by the sea and gazing up at the stars. All of these can help us to be still and to not just know of God but to really KNOW Him in our hearts and in our lives!

Sue had chosen some beautiful songs and readings which helped all of us to reflect that God is indeed our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble (Psalm 46 v 1), of which there is so much in this world.

We were all given a bookmark to take home and to keep close so that we can be reminded to take time to be still and know that He is God!

On a cold and murky February morning, Faith and John hosted a Thursday Fellowship coffee morning. I say coffee but tea was in abundance and so were the beautiful cakes that Faith had made to tempt us all. Who cannot resist cheese scones, ginger shortbread, lemon drizzle cake, chocolate cake and a superb Victoria sponge cake?

It was good to meet and share news – the winter seems so long and we were cheered by the thought that our devotional meetings will recommence at 2pm on Thursday 6th March in the Parish Room of the Holy Cross Church in Warren Road.

A highlight of our time together was the filming of a short WhatsApp Video, sending greetings and love to our dear friend Maria who is presently in hospital. We missed you Maria and are looking forward to having you back with us!

Thursday Fellowship commenced its spring session on 6th March and our very own Sue Cunningham was our speaker. Sue focused on the verse “Be still and know that I am God” which is our new motto for the rest of the session.

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

6th March – Sue Cunningham

13th March – Maeve Whitchurch

20th March – Our choices

27th March – Rosemary Kemp

3rd April – Lorna Sivyour

10th April – Dr Ruth Butlin (Leprosy Mission)

17th April – Maundy Thursday Communion

24th April – Connie Croly

1st May – Jane Leaver

8th May – Keith & Laurel Barnes

15th May – Phil Cook

22nd May – Sue Cunningham

29th May – TBA

5th June – TBA

12th June – TBA

19th June – TBA

26th June – Anniversary Tea

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

Jane leads our first Prayer Together opportunity for 2025 focusing on Colossians 3 v 1-17.

Gareth leads or online Prayer opportunity for December.  Please click on the link below to take you to the video:

https://www.facebook.com/downsbaptistchurch/videos/1395457354758620

A small but hardy bunch of carollers joined together outside DBC Community Greengrocers on Saturday 14th December to spread some festive cheer to passers by.

Although we don’t do it to raise money for charity, many people were keen to give and £20 was received which will be donated to the Woodingdean Youth Centre who do a very important work with young people in our community. Thank you to all those who gave so generously.

A big thank you to Mark who arranged a super backing track and to Gareth who supplied us with tea and coffee.

The shop is open until noon on Christmas Eve so pop on down and see Sue and her helpers and stock up on some lovely gifts for Christmas as well as all of the usual goodies.

The team will be taking a break over the festive season and the shop will re-open at 9am on Monday, 6th January 2025.

Thank you all so much for your support over the past year. Merry Christmas one and all!

Our last meeting of the Autumn session saw 26 people including 9 guests join us for our annual Carols, Candles and Cake service. We welcomed back our friend Phil Cook to bring us a festive message to prepare our hearts as we celebrate the real meaning of Christmas.

We so enjoyed singing the beautiful carols and listening to readings and poems as detailed below:

Phil started his message by wishing us all a Merry Christmas! But what does this mean? It is quite an old fashioned term and most people tend to use Happy Christmas these days. The word merry really means good, glad, rejoice and be of good courage not meaning being full of anything else like the feasting, fun and frolicking often associated with this time of year!

There seems to be little cause for rejoicing with the ills, trials and adversity that so many people face. Yet, the real meaning of Christmas lies in the true celebration of Christ’s birth.  His coming to earth as our glorious King is a merry and illustrious occasion! Even the angels took part in this merriment – “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2 v 10-11).

Let’s rejoice this Christmastime – we are the recipients of the greatest gift possible. Jesus, who came as a baby all those years ago is the Saviour of the World.

We then enjoyed tea and cake and the opportunity to share fellowship. Grateful thanks go to our hard-working committee for ensuring everything runs so smoothly each week and a special thank you to Lis for the wonderful Christmas cake so nicely packaged for each of us to take a piece home.

We take a break for the winter and will reconvene at 2pm on Thursday, 6th March, but there is an opportunity for a winter coffee morning at Faith’s home on Thursday, 13th February at 10.30am. 

Have a wonderful Christmas and all good wishes for the New year.

Thirteen of us gathered at Thursday Fellowship this week to hear our friend, Ann Dracott, speak about ‘creativity’ and especially the small things we can do.

Our Creator God made us to be a creative people. What can WE do when we’re limited by age, health or resources? Ann brought things she’d made – biscuits, a child’s knitted jumper and a poem. We can all offer something small – God doesn’t despise the small things (Zechariah 4:10). She gave examples – David, the young shepherd boy and the tiny stone in his sling, the small amount of oil and flour the widow offered to Elijah, the fishes and loaves that fed 5000 and the widow’s two mites.

We’re often put off doing even small things because some people can do things better than us, or we want gifts we haven’t been given! But God made the small gifts he HAS given us to glorify him and to bless others. Ann mentioned the little skilled jobs done by people building the Ark of the Covenant, Nehemiah and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and Asaph writing psalms. Galatians 6:9 tells us not to grow weary in doing good. We can all do small things for people who come across our path. ‘Actions speak louder than words.’ Ann finished by reading her poem on the Lord’s Prayer. Then we all enjoyed eating her biscuits!

A big thank you to Sue Cunningham for this lovely report.

A few of our number had the opportunity to attend Living Hope Ministries 30th Anniversary celebrations at Lancing Tabernacle Community Church (Lancing Tab) on Saturday, 30th November.

Our dear friend, the Reverend Richard Brunton and his wife Elaine have so much to praise God for and it was a joy to be able to celebrate with them and to hear stories from the past 30 years of how God has transformed lives and churches across, Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas.

To find out more, head to the link below:-

Living Hope Anniversary 30.11.24

Richard brought a word from Matthew 24 v 6-14 and posed the question from the passage, What is the gospel of the Kingdom?

• Jesus Christ is the Eternal King – the King of kings. Jesus was born a king, worshipped and praised as King from the beginning when the shepherds and wise men came to see Him. Even Pilate wrote “Jesus the king of the Jews” at His crucifixion much to the displeasure of the religious leaders. He is King whether we like it or not!
• It’s about righteousness – standing up for what is right and calling out what is wrong. This is becoming a massive challenge today and we will face considerable opposition. Persecution is increasing all around the world.  How much do we want Jesus in our lives?
• An eternal kingdom. Our sure and certain hope is that we will be with Jesus in heaven.  While we patiently wait for this, we all have something to do – to tell others our stories and to point them to Jesus and His eternal kingdom.

God is still working His purposes out.  The reality of death is very powerful so let’s proclaim the reality of Jesus and the eternal life found in His name. He has done and is doing wonderful things.  There are still people to be reached and then the end will come. None of us can be excused,  let’s play our part by being prepared to make the most of every opportunity and tell our story.

The first of our festive afternoons when we welcomed back, Roger, Tom, Rosemary and Mike from Seaford Baptist Church to delight us with some Christmassy music, a soliloquy (Mike) and a short message (Roger) to help us prepare for Christmas.

What a lovely afternoon we all had plus the opportunity of singing three carols, It came upon a midnight Clear, Joy to the world and O holy night.

Roger reminded us that Christmas which should be a time of joy, happiness and hope is so often burdened with unrealistic expectations which can be a recipe for disaster. Perhaps that is why the legal profession sees a spike in divorce enquiries in the new year!

The real message is that a new born baby, God’s own Son came and shook the world system. Hope, the real message of Christmas is not based on wishful thinking but on a sacrifice, one man,  Jesus, the baby born to die for the sins of mankind.  It is a hope which costs us nothing but to Jesus, everything! Remember that Jesus is the real reason for the season!

We enjoyed tea and mince pies and the giving and receiving of Christmas cards and look forward to our Christmas service – Carols, Candles and Cake on Thursday, 12th December, 2024.