We welcomed back one of our regular speakers to our meeting on the beautiful and sunny, Summer Solstice day!

After Jane’s talk last week from Ephesians about ‘putting on’ certain things and ‘clothing ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience’, Ann led us nicely into Ephesians 6 v 10-18, putting on the full armour of God.

What a delightful afternoon! Ann reminded us that we are all on active service in God’s army!  There is no time for retirement and this passage is a blue print for our training.

Ann requested a willing volunteer and Kath duly responded. Kath then with some help and much hilarity from all present, had to put on the various bits of the armour as Ann expounded some simple but profound thoughts about each piece and why each one is important and necessary for the battle we all face as soldiers of the Lord.

Belt of truth: The Word of God is our security and holds everything together.

Breastplate of righteousness: Protects our heart.  We need to love God and love others.

Shoes – Gospel of peace: Are we ready to go where God wants us to go? God has the right to send you where you need to go! Are you in a comfortable rut? We need to be active! Will you obey?

Helmet of salvation: There is no room for doubt. Protect yourself particularly your mind from unhelpful things coming in – say no!

Sword of the Spirit: This is the only attacking piece of armour.  Unlike Ann’s rusty, old poker, don’t be rusty in the Word of God – get reading! And while we are at it, let’s keep on praying in the Spirit with all kinds of prayers.

Ann reminded us that we are a forward moving army – there is no defence on our backs!

Do we look like real soldiers? Did Kath? Maybe not, but we are! We must not forget that we are on active service. Team work is required and although we are all different, we need to love, respect, trust one another and work as a unit. For some, the battle can be too much and we need to care for the wounded by being loving and forgiving to come alongside the battle weary to help restore with no judgment because ‘but there for the grace of God, go I’!

We also need to know our enemy as he will attack us when we are weak. We must focus on the campaign of setting people free from the things that bind them and not get side-tracked.  Our struggle is not against flesh and blood v 12! Jesus has already won the battle, death has been defeated, Satan conquered but we are His soldiers doing his work.

So, put on your armour every day.  Keep it in good condition and see what God will do through you.

Margaret leads our online prayer for June and her focus is Psalm 46.

Please continue in your prayers for Burundi. 

June 2024 update: Richard has sent some photos through showing new believers and also the foundations for a new church building. God is good!

Richard Brunton from Living Hope Ministries has asked Downs Baptist Church to pray for Burundi which is served by Richard and one of his teams.  The work of LHM is to teach pastors and leaders to build effective churches all over the world.  This includes the discipling of new believers.

We have just heard from Richard and Elaine (May 2024) that a new church plant for ‘Pygmy’ people is being planted in the country. Prayer changes things and brings encouragement to the churches and also to the team at Living Hope Ministries. Thank you.

The key person to pray for in Burundi is Pastor Eddy Bukeyeneza who works with four other pastors there.  In 2023 the pastors were responsible for the outreach ministry and preaching of the gospel in different communities and churches throughout Burundi.  They sent back reports of the number of new believers, which totalled 1254.  It was good to hear that some other believers were baptised roundabout Christmas time.

INFO ABOUT BURUNDI

The republic of Burundi is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of Africa at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and East Africa.  It borders in the north with Rwanda.  The capital city is Gitega, and the official languages are Kirundi (national language), French and English.  It is densely populated and one of the smallest countries in Africa.  It is primarily a rural society, and the land is mostly used for subsistence agriculture and grazing.  As of 2005 the country was almost completely deforested.  It is probably the poorest country in the world with widespread poverty, corruption, instability, authoritarianism and illiteracy.

It gained independence from Belgium in 1962 and has been ruled in the past by Tutsi dictators.  It experienced a genocide of Hutus in 1972.  55% of the population are of Hutu ethnic origin, 15% are Tutsis and less than 1% are Twa.

The Burundi constitution guarantees religious freedom, but several churches have been banned.  67% of the population are Christians, of which 62% are Roman Catholic and only 5% are Protestant.  32% of the people practise indigenous religions and 1% are Muslim.

If we look at the history of Richard’s team ministry in Burundi before it developed into the lively ministry of outreach and evangelism which we find today, we see that a door was first opened into Burundi, pioneered by Richard himself, in 2016.  Richard later handed over the baton to a team or group of people, so that they could take care of the visits to Burundi.  However, Richard continued to oversee them when they went out on mission. The job of the team or group was primarily to build friendships, to provide teaching for the pastors so that new believers could be discipled, and to encourage and support the churches, which they are continuing to do to the present day.

In particular, a telephone ministry has developed in the countries served by Richard and his teams.  This takes place when people in Africa gather in crusades, seminars and Bible study groups.  Gatherings of leaders pause as a live telephone message produced by Richard himself is translated into their language.  One such group who use this telephone ministry to share the word of God operates in Burundi.

As has already been mentioned, Burundi is very poor and mostly rural.  The pastors therefore have to go into remote  areas to plant churches where people generally are unreached by the gospel.  Pastor Eddy is assisted by Peter in the work who also serves the Lord in Kenya. Eddy’s job is to provide teaching seminars and to develop his friendship with the key country contact who stands with him in his ministry and in the ministry of the other pastors.

Please pray as follows:-

• For the new converts – that they will grow in their faith and be a witness to others.
• For Eddy, Peter and the other pastors as they conduct the outreach  ministry, preaching the gospel in different churches and communities throughout Burundi.
• For Richard’s team as they build up the pastors with their teaching as well as supporting the churches.
• For their telephone ministry.
• That all the resources that the team members need are released to them.
• That they are free to pursue whatever they see appropriate to the spiritual needs of Burundi.

An in-house day today with Faith leading and Jane speaking.

Jane posed a few questions to get us thinking! “When was the last time you had a good clear out of your wardrobe?” “Do you have what you would call, ‘old friends’ lurking in there that you can’t bear to part with or have kept ‘just in case’?” “Is there anything that needs to go?”

Jane’s reading was Ephesians 4 v 17-32 (NIV) focusing on verses 22-24, where the instruction is to put off the old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires, and to be made new in the attitude of our minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

If we know Jesus, really know Jesus, we have been made new – we are new creations and have been born again of the spirit of God. We need to put off our old humanity like a rotten garment and put on, like clean and new clothing, our new humanity recreated in God’s image, and live a life worthy of our calling which is honourable to God in terms of our attitude, our speech and lifestyle.

We looked at some of the things in  Ephesians 4 that Paul says we should put off, and were challenged to think about anything in our lives that had to go and not just what is in our wardrobes and drawers!

Jane concluded with some verses from Colossians 3 – Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.  And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Our closing song was the Marilyn Baker chorus, Jesus, you are changing me and we sang this as a prayer.

Jesus, You Are Changing Me
By Your Spirit, You’re Making Me Like You
Jesus, You’re Transforming Me
That Your Loveliness May Be Seen In All I Do
You Are The Potter And I Am The Clay
Help Me To Be Willing To Let You Have Your Way
Jesus, You Are Changing Me
As I Let You Reign Supreme Within My Heart

What a joy it was to welcome back Emily Kenward, Founder and CEO of local charity, Time to Talk Befriending which is celebrating 10 years of overcoming loneliness through relationship-centred, befriending services.

TTTB is our project for the year and there is an opportunity over the next few weeks to bring in monetary gifts which will bless Emily and her team and will advance the work and bring encouragement and hope to the lives of many older people in the Brighton and Hove area.

Whilst training as a social worker in 2011, on walking down Lavender Street in Brighton, Emily became acutely aware that there were large numbers of older people living in Brighton often in high rise apartments who spent each day alone, sometimes going for days or weeks without seeing or speaking to anyone. So, together with her local Church and other agencies, Emily sought to reach, connect, and engage with older people with a vision to identify their wants and needs and then assist them to become more socially included within the community.

At an ‘Honouring Older People’ tea party, neighbours who hadn’t seen each other for years were reconnecting. They were swapping numbers and sharing stories about how their lives had changed since they had not been able to leave the four walls of their homes without extra support. The majority of the 94 participants said they felt a deep sense of loneliness and that until Emily and her team of supporters had reached out, they thought they were ‘invisible’. The evidence collected from these events highlighted an overwhelming need to ‘see a friendly face at home’. As a result, Time to Talk Befriending was founded on the collective voice of these older people who said that they felt ‘invisible’, ‘forgotten’ and ‘alone.’

Emily then shared some heart-warming personal stories of people whose lives had been touched and changed by the support received, woven together with some thoughts from John 15 v 12-17 (which is helpful to read).

Love is not optional. We love because He first loved us! Jesus was intentional and spent time listening and engaging.  He loved without limits. Do we?

Jesus is our supreme example. Even though Jesus knew He was going to the cross to die an agonising death, to save us from our sins, He chose to spend precious time with His disciples teaching them how to love and what it looked like in practice. See John 15 v 17 – Love each other. Ephesians 2 v 10 – We are created to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do.  Emily encouraged us to grow intentionally in our walk with Jesus.

We are all chosen to serve and bear fruit. Friendship is one of the ways whereby we can reflect the Father’s heart. 1 Thessalonians 5 v 11 – Let’s encourage one another and build each other up.

Emily reminded us that the Christian life is a marathon and not a sprint – how true that is!

To find out more about the work, head to the Time to Talk Befriending website: Time To Talk Befriending

We welcomed back Dr Ruth Butlin from the Leprosy Mission for her fourth visit to our meeting.

Did you know that every two minutes, someone in the world is diagnosed with Leprosy?! That’s more than 200,000 new cases a year. Although it is curable, millions of people worldwide are living with the effects of the disease, from physical disability to mental health problems, poverty and discrimination.

The Leprosy Mission which celebrates 150 years this year is a global Christian organisation leading the fight against this terrible disease. Following Jesus Christ, they seek to bring about transformation; breaking the chains of leprosy and empowering people to attain healing, dignity and life in all its fullness.

They do all of this in four main ways:

• Diagnosing and treating leprosy
• Working to reduce the likelihood of people with leprosy being incapacitated after diagnosis.
• Fighting stigma and advocating for change
• Pioneering research

To read an account of Ruth’s last visit, head to: https://downsbaptistchurch.org/2023/10/thursday-fellowship-dr-ruth-butlin-the-leprosy-mission/

Ruth opened her talk by retelling the story of Hagar from Genesis 16. It is a sad story really but well worth reading and we were reminded that the God who ‘saw’ Hagar in her time of need ‘sees’ the needy, the lonely, those rejected and helpless today and He knows each by name!

Ruth then told us about the work at the Leprosy Mission’s Muzaffarpur Hospital in Bihar, India’s poorest state. Although the buildings are old and need replacing, people receive free treatment, loving care and hope in their greatest hour of need.

We learned about Rajisha (18 years old) whose fingers had become so clawed that she couldn’t feed herself.  Despite a quick diagnose from a visiting doctor to her village and medication to cure her leprosy, the damage had already been done to the nerves in her body and she became withdrawn and depressed. Travelling more than 100 miles on her own to get to the hospital, she was eventually admitted on to a ward and received the care she needed until she was able to undergo reconstructive surgery to her hand.  Her other hand needs surgery too! This lovely, young woman, so far away from her family, is recovering with girls of a similar age who have gone through what she has gone through. Rajisha now wants to train as a nurse because “I want to serve as I was served when I was so sad!”

Ruth will send through updates on the work by adding us to the monthly newsletter list, so watch this space, but if you would like to know more, check out the Leprosy Mission website at: Leprosy Mission

By God’s abundant grace and provision, huge progress has been made in the 150 years since Wellesley C. Bailey (1846-1937) founded the Leprosy Mission in India. We were encouraged to pray for the work, for resources to meet the needs of all those requiring treatment and assistance and for leprosy to be eradicated.

We look forward to inviting Ruth back and said goodbye with a monetary gift to aid the incredible work being done in the name of Jesus.

No speaker this week but possibly the first of many ‘crafty’ afternoons!

Sue led us in a couple of songs – Ah Lord God, Thou hast made the heavens and the earth by Thy great power, followed by All heaven declares the glory of the risen Lord. We then listened to the first six verses of Psalm 19 which is always an uplifting passage of scripture.

We were able to reflect on these thoughts as well as enjoying each other’s company as Kath led us in our activity of creating beautiful, colourful ‘stained-glass’ effect windows.

The sun was shining brightly through the window so the effect was impressive!  It was a shame to take them down but a lovely memento of our special time together and the opportunity to take our work home and display in a window.

It was a very calming and therapeutic time and was thoroughly enjoyed by all.  Thank you Kath for arranging.

We welcomed back Linda Davies accompanied by her colleague Roger to tell us more about the work of Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF). Linda delivered a very informative presentation with lots of photos and included some videos with personal testimony. The Bible passage to accompany the presentation was from Luke 7 v 11-23 – so apt!

Working in partnership with hundreds of other Christian and relief organisations, MAF enables practical help, physical healing and spiritual hope to be delivered to some of the world’s most remote and inaccessible communities. They work in 25 countries, operating 115 planes and serving 1000 destinations. Their pilots and personnel deliver relief workers, doctors, surgeons, dentists, vets, missionaries, Bibles, school books, food, medicines – everything that can only be safely and speedily transported by air.

Travel by road is just impractical as road systems are poor and little more than dirt tracks. These can be bumpy and uncomfortable for ill patients or become impassable during the rainy season and stranded trucks are vulnerable to bandits and deterioration of precious supplies.  What would be a 36 hour road trip in some cases can be achieved in a 1 hour flight! 

They believe that every community, however remote, should have the essentials for life and their vision is to see isolated people changed by the love of Christ. They provide access, save lives, transform lives and provide hope for a better future.

If you would like to know more about their work, head to:

Home – Mission Aviation Fellowship (maf-uk.org)

Jane leads our Prayer Together opportunity for May focusing on Psalm 90, a prayer of Moses, the man of God.

We welcomed Wynn Funnell to our meeting on a glorious, spring day – it felt like summer!

Wynn reminisced about her earliest memories – memories that made her smile.  Memories are precious aren’t they? For the most part we remember things that bring us joy and make us smile. But at other times, it can be painful and we can feel sad when we think of those whom we loved so much who have died.

Wynn told the story of a dear friend who had written in a book, “till we meet again, I will be thinking of you!”  Sadly they didn’t meet again but Wynn is confident that they will one day in glory and what a reunion that will be!

We were asked to think about our first memory of going to church and how it felt when we experienced God’s presence for the first time – was it wonderful? Was it frightening? We were reminded that God doesn’t force Himself on us but He lifts us from all of our burdens if we let Him. To illustrate this point Wynn read that famous poem ‘Footprints’ attributed to Mary Stevenson, written when she was just 14 years old which depicts a person’s life journey with God. The poem is written as a dream, where the person sees two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to them and one to God. The poem reveals that at the most difficult times of the person’s life, there was only one set of footprints, because God was carrying them. The poem is a message of faith and hope, showing that God is always with us. How comforting is that in the troubled times in which we live!