McGlyns lives a long way from the church, about an hour by public transport. This has been a hinderance to the good gospel work that he’s been able to do in that church. So a few months ago, James Pinto our Youth Minister ran the Brighton Marathon collecting sponsorship money to help purchase a motorbike for McGlyns and his wife.

Well, after all the money came in and was then transferred to Malawi, a great deal was found on a second hand Suzuki BP612… and here it is!

]]> http://www.bhmc.org.uk/2012/01/07/a-new-set-of-wheels/feed/ 0 http://www.bhmc.org.uk/2012/01/03/el-alfarero/ http://www.bhmc.org.uk/2012/01/03/el-alfarero/#comments Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:39:36 +0000 bhchurch http://www.bhmc.org.uk/?p=950 A few weeks ago we saw a video at church about El Alfarero, a student outreach project in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. It’s part of the work done by Graham & Debbie Frith – Mission Partners whom we support.

Check out the video below:

That’s My King

Bethlehemian Rhapsody

How would you sum up Christmas in three words?

But what about you? How would you sum up Christmas in three words?

‘Christ is Born’… How about that for a summary?

It’s amazing how in the rush of Christmas, full of parties and shopping we can easily forget what we’re supposed to be celebrating. And for some of us, Christmas isn’t a happy time at all. We can’t see what all the fuss is about. But the fact that ‘Christ is born’ is news worth celebrating. The Bible says it’s the best news ever for all people.

So this Christmas, come along to one of the services at Bishop Hannington Church. You just might find out why Christmas is worth celebrating.

This year will be a performance of The Three Musketeers…

D’Artagnan has travelled to Paris, determined to become the first female Musketeer and serve the King.  Unfortunately her timing couldn’t have been worse because the Musketeers have been disbanded by the evil Cardinal Richelieu who serves no one but himself, and has sent his agents out on a mission to destroy the King and all his followers.

Along with Porthos, Athos and Aramis, the three Musketeers still loyal to the King, D’Artagnan must fight through royal quests, one-eyed men, deadly women and evil plots, and is forced to face up to the question that haunts them all: do they choose to serve the King, or themselves?

Performed to great acclaim on its premiere tour last year, The Three Musketeers returns once again to dazzle and delight all ages.

The performance starts at 6.30pm.

Tickets costs £5 per person, £20 for a family ticket, with under 5′s free.

For more information please contact the church office – (012732) 732965.

On the evening I went to the Billy Graham meeting I was on a bit of a high having played on the winning side in a cricket match. At the meeting I realized that this really counted for very little against the eternal issues of life and death. I can’t remember much of what Billy Graham preached on that evening but do recall him telling the story of a motorbike accident that had recently happened resulting in the death of the biker. Billy asked the question of the audience if they knew where their eternal destiny lay. I knew I was not sure and that my sins separated me from a holy God. I hadn’t done anything outrageous during my life, I was probably seen as one of the better boys, but I still knew I was a sinner and wouldn’t be going to heaven without Jesus Christ becoming my Saviour.

So as the meeting ended I met up with a counsellor and after talking for a while committed my life to Jesus and asked him to come into my heart and be my Saviour.

Over the following weeks there was a growing sense of peace with God and an assurance of salvation. An inner joy. All the things that I had been taught over the previous 16 years moved from being head knowledge to a reality in my life. The bible became alive along with reading Christian books. The priorities in my life were changed. This has impacted on all aspects of what has happened during the past 50 years and has affected home life, work, money, and leisure time. One of the foundations for these changes was being part of a group of teenagers and early twenties who regularly met with the Vicar and subsequently one of the Curates, at the church I went to in Worthing. We spent many happy hours studying the bible together and getting to grips with its message.

Over the years I have found there have been, and continue to be, three major ways of strengthening my Christian life, none of them new or different to any other Christian. They are by reading the bible and Christian books, by prayer both individually and corporately and being with other Christians. It’s fair to say that at times personal bible reading and prayer have not been as strong as they should have been. I have had to learn that as in any relationship you have to invest time and energy into it for it to flourish. Bible reading has always been easier than prayer and I have been grateful to be part of a prayer partnership that helps to stimulate my prayers. I have also needed to learn that, as at the beginning of my Christian life, from the words of Jeremiah the prophet that, ‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart’ Temptations have come my way and there have been struggles with sin for which I have had to seek forgiveness and to remind myself of Jesus’ words that if you love me you will obey my teaching’ To build my relationship with Jesus I have to continue to learn from the words of that lovely children’s chorus to ‘Trust and obey, For there is no other way, To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey’.

I think God was very kind to me in giving me Christian parents who encouraged me to read the Bible and to be a part of the church. But really my attitude towards Jesus was at best indifference, and for much of the time I was quite ashamed of the fact I went to church, as it didn’t seem to be something that was generally acceptable. I did believe in God, but I think only in the same way that I believed in everything else around me, it was just part of how I understood the world to be. I think as I grew older I became aware that somehow you had to make a response to Jesus, but I didn’t really understand how or why and I really didn’t like change, and so I just found ways to avoid this.

2) How did you become a Christian?

When I was 18, I went to university in Reading. At university I was suddenly confronted with the opportunity to do basically what ever I wanted (within reason), and so of course I was confronted with the question of whether to reject Christianity or whether to continue showing an interest in it. I decided it would probably be good to keep going to church for a bit and made some friends there. And it was through spending time with one friend in particular (another student) and having another look at the Bible together that God showed me the many things that I’d misunderstood about Christianity. One of the key things was the revelation that what Jesus offers is fundamentally a relationship, an invitation to come to know God, rather than just a way into heaven (though that is part of the relationship). But it took a fair while before I was willing to do anything about this, as I was reluctant to lose out on all the things I wanted to do at university. I guess I didn’t see how good it is to know God. It was a question that Jesus asked in the Bible that finally persuaded me how good and how important it is to know God. He asked “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark8.36) Or in other words, it is better to know God than to have everything else, but not know him.

3) What difference has it made following Jesus?

The Bible tells us that when we come to know him, he comes and lives within us, and changes us. And I think one of the ways that God has begun to change me is to show me just how much I’ve misunderstood what the world is really about, and principally how little I actually realise who he is. And I think as I have been corrected and have come to know God better; it has begun to affect my life, the decisions I make, my attitudes towards things. I still get things very wrong though and still reject God in innumerable ways. It is only because Jesus was punished for my imperfect life and has given me his perfect one that I can still know God. Not because I now deserve to know him, or ever have deserved to.

During our evening services we’re going through our sermons series “Strength and Weakness” based on the book of 2 Corinthians. It’s probably Paul’s fourth letter to the Corinthians (although only two are preserved). In chapters 8 and 9 Paul addresses the issue of money, specifically being generous with it. The message in Corinth was no doubt much the same, the culture was such that money and lots of it could afford you a very nice lifestyle.

The Corinthians, though relatively rich weren’t being overly forthcoming in wanting to be generous with their money as Paul seeks to raise money for impoverished Christians in Jerusalem. In 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 Paul contrasts the reluctance of the Corinthians with the overflowing generosity of the Macedonians (Philippi, Thessalonica etc.), and more than that, with the generosity of Christ, who gave up everything for them (v.9).

I preached the sermon looking at three main points:

1. Christian giving is spiritual – it’s not just another bill to pay, but Christians are caused to be generous because God’s grace (v.1, 6, 7) is working in them. In fact giving is a Spiritual gift! – more on that later…
2. Christian giving is sacrificial – the Macedonian Christians gave out of severe trial (v.2), beyond their ability (v.3), generous giving is sacrificial, Jesus in his death ultimately exemplifies that.
3. Christian giving expresses solidarity – this is a big test, will the wealthy Gentile believers help the poor Jewish believers? Christians in giving have a great opportunity to display their unity!

We called the night ‘The Grace of Law’, a title pinched off Tim Keller, although unusually none of the content was. We didn’t have time to go through all the commandments, and think exactly how we apply them today. We just wanted to do one thing… to see the God’s Law is good!

Here’s three reasons that we looked at why God’s Law is good:

1. It’s Giver is good – the God who gives these laws is the God of covenant relationship (v.2), the God who speaks to his people (v.4), and the God who rescues his people (v.6) – God is presented as fundamentally good!
2. It’s Purpose is good – one of the refrains throughout the law given here is it’s purpose for good, so that “it may go well with you in the land” (v.16), and “so that you may live and prosper” (v.33).
3. It Protects what is good – the 10 Commandments acts like a fence, seeking to protect the good things that God gives – eg. the law against adultery is designed to protect the gift of marriage, and the law against idols is designed to protect the gift of God himself.