Dec 15/Jan 16 - Market Harborough Baptist Church

NEW HORIZONS
Coffee Shop
PA R T
O F MA R K E T H A R B O R O U G H B A P T I S T C H U R C H
MA NO R WA L K , OP P OSI T E T H E CO - O P
P H ON E 0 1 8 5 8 4 1 4 948
Outlook
Open 9.15am to 3.30pm Monday to Friday
Good value snacks and meals served all day
Menu favourites
Kay’s speciality homemade sweet and savoury scones
Cooked breakfast
served 9.15 to 11.15am
‘First snow, Market Harborough’ by local artist Michael Edwards, used by kind permission. michaeledwardsartist.co.uk
A joyful Christmas and
a bright new year from
Fairtrade goods,
greetings cards and
stamps for sale
MARKET HARBOROUGH
BAPTIST CHURCH
www.harborough-baptist.org.uk
December 2015 / January 2016
www.harborough-baptist.org.uk
We are a church
that takes Christ
to all the community
through
its vibrant worship
and Bible teaching,
its welcome,
its care
and its service.
— the mission statement of Market Harborough Baptist Church
MARKET HARBOROUGH BAPTIST CHURCH
REGULAR SUNDAY SERVICES
10am Morning Worship including Junior Church and Crèche;
with Communion on the third Sunday of the month
6pm Evening Worship including Youth Service every other
week; with Communion on the first Sunday of the month
A donation of 25p towards the costs of producing your
magazine would be really appreciated.
BAPTIST CHURCH Directory
Market Harborough Baptist Church
25 Coventry Road, LE16 9BX
Church office 01858 410693; Coffee shop 01858 414948
Minister
Rev Nick Cook
01858 462480
[email protected]
Outreach Leader
Jeff Bonser
Discipleship Leader/
Home groups
Mary Daniels
01858 462023
[email protected]
Pastoral Leader
Lindy Kendell
[email protected]
Church Administrator
Christine Wiseman
[email protected]
Church Secretary
Gill Pedler
01858 461173
[email protected]
Church Treasurer
John Ball
01858 433588
[email protected]
01858 440624
[email protected]
Outlook editor/designer Lin & John Ball
01858 433588
[email protected]
BMS World Mission
Janet Smith
01858 463376
[email protected]
BMS Home Mission
Pat Harding
01858 463225
BMS Birthday Scheme
Delia Woodbridge
01858 465311
[email protected]
Focus Group (women)
Beryl Lloyd
0116 2792327
Fun & Friends
(under 5s and carers)
Lindy Kendell
[email protected]
Stroke Club
Mrs E Taylor
01858 464545
Guides
Glynnis Sewell
[email protected]
COPY DEADLINE for next issue of OUTLOOK – January 17th
Dear Family...
Are things going from bad to worse?
A Cambridge theologian, David Instone-Brewer, has written an
interesting perspective on this in the December issue of Christianity
magazine.
Christians often adopt an ‘I told you so’ attitude to the news of
the latest disaster, natural or manmade, he says. Why? Because we
think all these bad things are evidence of us living in the ‘end times’
and simply inevitable.
But Instone-Brewer points out that things
really aren’t going from bad to worse –
although the doom and gloom of media
coverage may try to persuade us otherwise.
For example, proportionately far fewer
people today are victims of war. The Thirty
Years’ War (1618-48) wiped out one third of
the German population. We don’t see those
percentages today anywhere, thankfully.
There is massive religious persecution
today – but actually back in the fourth
century the Roman emperor Diocletian was
killing as many Christians as ISIS and Boko Haram are. Diocletian
slaughtered 17,000 Christians in one single month. At the time,
there were perhaps a million Christians, compared to billions today,
so the impact was absolutely huge.
What, you might argue, about the deaths from Ebola (11,282)
and AIDS (1.7 million)? Well, in the 14th century the Black Death
killed 60 per cent of Europe’s population. The flu epidemic of 1918
killed 70 million – or a staggering four per cent of humanity.
Instone-Brewer takes a close look at the ‘end times’ (Matthew
24:6-8) and says that the ‘wars and rumours of wars… famines…
earthquakes’ and so on are not signs of the end. Check it out! The
one thing that indicates for sure that the end is near is found in
verse 14. It’s when the gospel is preached throughout the world.
So rather than shaking our heads over the news headlines, let’s
pray for worldwide mission!
(the words) and
(who puts the ‘look’ into Outlook)
Welcome to our church!
You are welcome here, wherever you are on your faith journey: believer or
agnostic, conventional Christian or questioning sceptic. We look forward
to getting to know you and to the ideas and experiences you can bring.
How can we make you feel more at home? If you’re a wheelchair user,
ask to be shown the ramped entrance. The church has an induction loop
for anyone using hearing aids. If you have sight loss, ask for weekly service
sheets and hymns in large print or braille. This Outlook magazine is also
available in braille and large print.
Giving at Christmas
Christmas gift suggestions: to your enemy,
forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a
friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To
all, charity. To every child, a good example. To
yourself, respect.
– Oren Arnold, novelist, journalist and humourist 1900-1980
And when we give each other Christmas gifts
in His name, let us remember that He has given
us the sun and the moon and the stars, and the
earth with its forests and mountains and oceans
and all that lives and move upon them. He has
given us all green things and everything that
blossoms and bears fruit and all that we quarrel
about and all that we have misused – and to
save us from our foolishness, from all our sins, He came down
to earth and gave us Himself.
– Sigrid Undsetborn, lay Dominican who fled Norway because of her opposition
to Nazi Germany, received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1928 (1882-1949).
Happy Birthday!
to those celebrating with a gift to Baptist mission work in
December: Betty Rippin (7th); Satya Rothon (8th); Isabel Mantle
(9th); Philip Woodbridge (10th); Gyles Bicknell (20th); Janet
Smith (23rd); Angela Zemlak (24th). And those with January
birthdays: Christine Wiseman (21st); Cyril Adams (27th).
2
Nick’s Notes
A message from MHBC’s Minister, Nick Cook
… I will pour water on the parched ground and cause
streams to flow on the dry land. I will pour my spirit on
your offspring and my blessing on your children. They
will sprout up like a tree in the grass, like poplars beside
channels of water. Isaiah 44:3,4
They say that when something significant is happening in your life, you
tend to dream vividly, and remember the dreams afterwards. Well, there’s
a lot happening in the church at the moment, and we’re getting a lot of
pictures and verses. I shared one verse that was given to us in the last
edition of the Outlook.
Some weeks ago someone approached me with a picture they were
certain related to the church. Having shared it, we agreed that it was, but
we were not quite sure what it meant. The picture was of a large empty
room with a pipe coming out of one wall, from which was cascading a flow
of water. The water was running all over the floor, but there was nothing to
hold it, so it was running away.
At our Vision Day (see pages 9-11) we spent time going around the
building, and by the quantity of pink post-it notes generated, it’s clear
we’ve come to the conclusion that there’s much that needs to change. So
we’ve achieved the first part of the vision-setting process – realising where
we are and that it’s not where we want to be.
We then spent a lot of the afternoon plenary talking about what we
wanted to change. But it became clear that we were expressing personal
preference and choice, not vision. And with that came the realisation that
we don’t yet know what God wants these buildings to be used for. Until
we’ve fixed that, we can’t start designing the new space. It’s as if God was
offering to pour out his Spirit … but there wasn’t anything to pour it into. It
fitted the picture I was given perfectly.
There’s a long way to go, but we got the sense of God wanting to show
us what he has in mind, but needing us to pray and focus so that we can
hear what he wants to say. That, along with the Growing Leaders’ Course,
will be our big priorities for next year.
I hope you all have a very restful, peaceful and joyful Christmastime.
Yours, Nick
3
Celebrating without regrets!
With so much news attention on a world in turmoil and many
communities feeling the effects of devastating natural disasters, not to
mention the thousands of refugees on the move or
held in basic camps, it’s no wonder that some are
troubled by the image of Christmas as a season of
excess. The average UK family is expected to spend
£796 on Christmas 2015. Twelve per cent of people
say that their excessive Christmas spending will give
them financial problems for 2016.
And the way we celebrate often results not only
in spending beyond what is sensible or affordable,
but contributes to the ongoing destruction of the
wonderful world God has given us.
Thrown away
Do you like a traditional ‘real’ tree? It’s worth reflecting before you buy
one that six million trees will be thrown away when the baubles are taken
down, resulting in 9,000 tons of waste. One billion cards also end up in
the bin, along with 8,000 tons of wrapping paper,
125,000 tons of plastic packaging and 4,200 tonnes
of turkey-related aluminium foil!
Then there’s the food waste. The average British
family wastes around one third of the food bought in
for the festive period.
And what about the mindless hours slumped in
front of the TV? The average Brit watches 30 hours of
TV during Christmas week, which collectively totals
61.5 million kilowatts of energy!
How can we celebrate without regrets this year? Here are a few ideas to
get us started...
Trees: Look out for the council announcement about collection of used
trees in January to be turned into woodchips for use in our local parks.
Cards: Many people send email greetings now, but still the average
family spends £41 on Christmas cards. If you
like to send and receive real cards, make
sure you recycle. Last January, Sainsbury’s
had 1000 collection points for cards in its
stores and in response donated £9,000 to
the Forest Stewardship Council.
Packaging: Think
about packaging when you shop for gifts. Buy
those that require minimal packaging or choose
gift vouchers. If you have to buy with packaging,
make sure it all goes in the right recycling bin.
Gifts: Surveys say that at least one in 10 of the
gifts we give are things that are not really wanted
by the recipients! In the UK we spend in excess of
£600 million on unwanted Christmas gifts. Think
before you buy! Could you choose Fairtrade
goods? Or support projects such as Send a Cow?
Oxfam Unwrapped? Many charities offer imaginative alternative gifts
that bless others.
Have a wonderful and thoughtful Christmas!
Food: Plan your menus and buy from a list instead of with a trolley
dash! Check the ‘sell-by’ dates so there’s less likelihood of waste.
Lighting: Check you’re using energy-saving bulbs in your home and
look at the output of Christmas decorations.
4
5
Which Winnie the
Pooh character
might you be?
Winnie the Pooh: Eating disorder – he’s always
got his hand in the honey pot.
Rose Williams describes her contribution to the
recent church display on the topic of gifts
Piglet: Anxiety – fearful, often displaying a
fight/flight response or panic attacks.
Why did I decide to contribute to a recent church exhibition on
the theme of Gifts? Well, I’m not very good at saying what I’m
good at! But, for once, I thought I would think a little bit more
about what my gifting is and respond by decorating a shoebox to
display in the church.
My shoebox was full of
soft toys representing some
well-known Winnie the Pooh
characters – and here’s why.
I’ve worked for a Christian
charity now for over three
years and I facilitate the
Friendship Group which
meets once a week in
Harborough. Members are referred to the group by the NHS
Mental Health Leicestershire Partnership. Having had first-hand
experience of suffering mental health
issues for a number of years, I felt
adequately placed to look at helping
others in this situation!
To take up the role of facilitator for
the group, I needed to go on several
training events. The first session was
called Winnie-the-Pooh’s Great Mental
Health Adventure! During the training
I learned how to define the different
types of mental health disorders by
looking at the characters of Winnie
the Pooh and his friends:
6
Eeyore: Depression – low mood, low self-esteem,
lack of confidence, irritability and isolation.
Tigger: Bipolar – mood swings, with manic
highs and lows.
Roo: ADHD – or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a lack of
concentration.
Rabbit: OCD – repetitive behaviours causing anxieties.
Owl: Dementia/Alzheimers – memory loss and confusion.
Elephant: PTSD – Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, experienced as
recurrence of stressful events.
Christopher Robin: Schizophrenia – hallucinations (well, he
dreamed up Winnie the Pooh and all the other characters!).
My box challenged people to look inside to see someone who is
suffering now or who may suffer in the future with a mental health
disorder. How did it do that? Inside was a mirror. Yes, that’s right!
Unfortunately, most of us will suffer with one or more types of
mental health issues at some point in our lives.
How can we help? We need to start changing our thinking. Face
up to the realities. Free people from the stigma of mental illness.
Don’t put people in the boxes of our own expectations, but see
them as individuals. Include people, rather than exclude them or
overlook them for positions of trust or responsibility. Side-lining
them can cause further problems such as deep feelings of rejection.
We need to get alongside people, befriend them, allow them to
speak about their struggles. Accept them as they are. Isn’t that
what we all want?
So that’s the gift I described with my box of furry friends. God
has given me the gift of helping others suffering with mental health
disorders. I hope you enjoyed looking at my box and if you’d like to
ask me anything about it, please get in touch with me.
By the way, the second training session was all about Shrek – a
totally different adventure altogether. Just how do you accept a
green ogre who just wants to isolate himself?
7
Family
News
COMING TO THE BOIL!
Some reflections on the recent Vision Day from Gary Pedler, one of
the facilitators
Lindy Kendell reports from the church Pastoral Team
This is the season when we celebrate God’s coming to earth as a little baby.
What a wonderful gift for mankind! In October we were able to thank God
for the safe delivery of three new babies into our extended church family.
The stork was busy during November too! Dick Callan celebrated the birth
of his first grandchild Alfie, born the day before his grandpa celebrated his
60th birthday. Many congratulations, Dick!
comfort to know that she is now
at peace and with her Lord. Please
remember her sister Anne and her
family in your prayers.
²²²
The Pastoral Meal has been a
regular feature in the church
diary for many years now. This
year we will be meeting together
on December 6th. We thank
Yvonne Durrant and her team for
preparing it for us once again. It’s a
very welcome event for the oldest
in our church family and for those
who live alone.
²²²
Please remember in your prayers
all who have been bereaved this
year – there will be an empty chair
at their tables this Christmas.
A number of people are continuing
their treatment for cancer. Some do
not want their names made public,
but we can still pray purposefully
for them. God knows who they are
and is very near to them.
²²²
Jo Farnsworth had a stay in
Glenfield Hospital in November
having tests. Les Tooms, Bob
Moore and Mona Woodbridge
have been in hospital too. Please
remember them in your prayers,
and give thanks for the skills of
medical and surgical staff.
²²²
We were sad to hear of the death
of Barbara Dodworth. She had
been ill for many years and bore
her illness very bravely. It is a
May God bless you this Christmas. We look forward to all that
God will do for us, and through us, in 2016.
8
Day I found myself struggling to
lose myself in prayer due to the
babble of noise. Rather than trying
to blank it out, I found myself
fascinated by the sound, catching
a recognisable voice here, a
snatched word there, while all the
time the thought in my mind was
a picture of a saucepan of boiling
water!
Due to the rush of Saturday I
didn’t share this with anyone but
woke the following morning with
it still on my mind. My analytical
approach now had me thinking
that if God is the heat source and
we, the church, are boiling water…
what use could we be put to?
I told my wife Gill and as I
explained myself I must confess
To be honest, I seldom get visions.
I think in part that’s just the
way my brain works. My overlyanalytical mode of thought is quite
binary – such and such happens,
and therefore that occurs because
of it. In lots of ways this functional
approach helps me enormously in
my job as a structural engineer but
it is not so helpful when a rather
more obtuse thought comes
to mind. Perhaps this makes it
difficult for God to speak to me,
as often my default response is to
make light of an unusual thought
in a self-deprecating way and turn
it into an amusing anecdote to
share with friends over a pint!
However during the prayer
session at the end of the Vision
9
that I was rather taken
aback by her sudden
enthusiasm towards
saucepans and water.
However, having
thought about it further
and through discussions
with other people
maybe it’s not quite as
bizarre as I first thought.
At the start of the
Vision Day I didn’t
really have any firm
goals, other than to
try to gauge the mood of the
membership to create a vision for
the next 25 years of the church.
The morning presentation was
always going to be the easy
structured bit (there’s my logical
brain again) but the more
free-flowing afternoon would
be harder to assess until we’d
looked at the feedback from the
planned walkabout around the
church. We had devised a system
of coloured post-its, with pink
slips representing urgency. The
10
number of pink slips was at first
overwhelming, but we quickly
realised that this indicated a real
passion to build on the vision of
others in the history of MHBC. By
the end of the afternoon, I was
encouraged by the responses we
had received and I felt that we
were all in the same place.
The fact that we had over
60 people attend the day was
fantastic and with nearly 400
responses we have plenty of raw
data to sift through. The response
from people signing up for the
various actions groups was great
– and there’s still time for you to
consider joining a group if you
haven’t already.
I suppose the unexpected
aspect of the walkabout was the
number of comments about the
sanctuary. While on the surface this
would appear to be going over old
ground, we should also be aware
that a significant number have
joined the church since our last
sanctuary review. This will need
careful consideration and prayer to
allow us to discern God’s will for us.
The next key step in the process
is a prayer event for the whole
church which will take place in
the New Year. This will be focused
on our vision and our place in
the wider Market Harborough
community. In the meantime
we will review and present our
findings from the day and actively
begin to bring some of the action
groups together because –
returning to my saucepan – if you
keep a pan of water on a heated
stove without using it, it will
eventually boil dry. Therefore our
challenge is: what are we going to
do with all this hot water?
Thank you again for your
support on the day and also the
kind messages both Gill and
myself received; they were much
appreciated.
11
Sundays in December
Diary Dates
6th
ADVENT 2
10am Nick (Communion)
6pm Christmas Youth Service
13th ADVENT 3
10am All-age Service with Nativity Presentation from Junior Church
6pm Musical Service with Communion
20th ADVENT 4
10am Nick
6pm Carols by Candlelight
CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY
The Midnight Christmas Eve Communion at 11.30pm and the
Christmas Day All-Age Service at 10am will both be hosted by the
Methodist Church, with Nick preaching at both.
27th 10am All-Age Service led by Mary Daniels / Sunday Club
6pm No evening service
Other MHBC events in December
Christianity Explored concludes Tuesday 1st, 7.30pm
Walk the Walk fellowship walk, open to all, Wednesday 2nd and
Wednesday 16th – see Colin Basse for details
Pastoral Team Meeting Wednesday 2nd, 10am in the Crèche
Fun & Friends (for toddlers and carers) Wednesdays 1.30pm during
termtime, with Nativity in the church on Wednesday 2nd; Christmas
party on Wednesday 9th
Hymn Service Thursday 3rd, 2.30pm in the New Horizons Hall –
‘Choose your own carols’
12
Christmas Fayre in the church and Manor Walk, 4-7pm on Friday 4th
– see page 17
Breakfast Prayer every Monday, 9am in the Crèche
Focus (for women) Thursday 10th at 7.30pm for Christmas Thoughts at
Lindy’s. For more details, contact Beryl on 0116 2792327.
Welland Park Pre-School Nativity with Starfish Puppets Friday
11th, 1.45pm
Farndon Fields School Carol Service Tuesday 15th, 6pm
Meadowdale School Carol Service Wednesday 16th, 9.30am – to be
confirmed
Home groups meet each week in homes or at the church, some
during the day and some in the evening. For more details, contact Mary
Daniels ([email protected])
Also in December
Christmas concert featuring our church singers, Saturday 5th, 7.30pm
at St Nicholas Church
Prayer for youthwork Monday 14th, 10am at the Cube
Events to note for January 2016
Coffee morning in Harborough Theatre Lounge Saturday 16th,
9am-12noon
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity from Monday 18th to 24th
Church Members Meeting Thursday 21st, 7.30pm in the New Horizons
Hall
Churches Together Joint Service Sunday 24th, 10.30am at St Dionysius
Coffee shop management meeting Wednesday 27th, 9.10am
Winter Glory Conference for women Saturday 30th at Kettering
Conference Centre, 9.15-4.30pm, see www.winterglory.co.uk
For more information about these events, see the weekly news sheet or visit harborough-baptist.org.uk
13
THE BOOK OF
STRANGE
NEW THINGS
equivalent of email that his parting
gift to her was a pregnancy. Although
she was fully supporting of his calling
into space, she begins to feel less
sure when her own planet
begins to be subjected to
unprecedented disasters
and life in their small
town becomes a fight for
survival. Her trust in God
is being severely tested.
What will Peter do?
You may find it hard to
believe but, through the
medium of fiction, THE
BOOK OF STRANGE NEW
THINGS raises some truly deep and
fascinating questions about the nature
of mission and church planting. And
I’ve rarely read a mainstream novel
where the central protagonists, Peter
and Bea, are evangelical Christians and
are portrayed so realistically, without
cynicism. They are both lovely and
flawed, and so very believable. The
book is sci-fi, it’s a love story and it’s
an examination of faith and Christian
mission.
THE BOOK OF STRANGE NEW
THINGS by Michel Faber, is published
by Canongate Books. It’s also
available as an audio download and
as an e-book.
Review by Lin Ball
Peter Leigh is an evangelical Christian
on a mission – but a mission that’s very
different! He’s off into deep space to
be the evangelist and chaplain to a
group of alien beings on a
planet being prepared for
colonisation.
The scene is set for one
of the most interesting
bestselling novels I’ve read
for a long time! Michel
Faber has written THE
BOOK OF STRANGE NEW
THINGS – and that’s the
description the aliens have
given to the Bible. Because
when Peter arrives at their settlement
he finds he’s not the first Christian to
have been that way before. About 60
of the Oasans are already converts;
they are avid for more Bible teaching
and want to help to build a church. It’s
an evangelist’s dream! Or is it?
While Peter quickly builds an
empathy for the Oasans and even
an appreciation for their bizarre way
of life, he struggles to relate to his
fellow space explorers at the base,
all of whom seem chosen not just for
their professional skills but for their
non-attachment to Earth.
But meanwhile Peter has a more
pressing concern. He’s left behind his
wife Bea, who lets him know via the
14
Walton Chapel NEWS
Chapel Lane, Walton by Kimcote, Lutterworth
Mission Statement: To love and worship God, to serve Him in the community,
to extend His kingdom and glorify His name.
We are getting quite excited about our Christmas programme, particularly
as we have reached double figures in the number of children we have
attending regularly! For the first time we have an all-age Family Nativity in
which the children will participate. As we adjourn for coffee each Sunday
morning we see what they are capable of and therefore we anticipate a
great contribution.
On the following Sunday we will have a traditional carol service with
a number of our congregation taking part. The usual Sing Carols at the
Dog & Gun will take place on the intervening Thursday. Last year the pub
was crowded and we are hoping for great things this year as well. The
programme has been arranged by us, and Kimcote Church will provide a
Christmas thought.
Gordon Herbert
Diary for DECEMBER
1
6
8
13
14
15
17
20
22
24
27
29
Tuesday
Sunday Tuesday Sunday Monday Tuesday
Thursday
Sunday Tuesday
Thursday
Sunday
Tuesday
10am
10.45am
10am
10.45am
12.30pm
No meeting
7pm
10.45am
No Meeting
3pm
10.45am
No meeting
Bible Study: Mary
Rev Malcolm Barrett (Communion)
Prayer meeting
All-age Family Nativity Service
Community Lunch
Carols at the Dog & Gun
Traditional Carol Service
Christmas Eve Communion
Gordon Herbert
(See over for January diary)
15
Who’s waiting for your invitation?
It’s busy, it’s frenetic at
times – but Christmas is
probably the best time
of the year to invite your
friends and neighbours
to church. In a survey
conducted by ComRes
in October 2011, 41 per
cent of people agreed
that Christmas is about
celebrating that God
loves humanity. Many
people who don’t
usually attend church
like to sing carols and
see the nativity story.
So think about giving
away some copies of the
special Christmas events
invitation leaflets you
(Walton Chapel diary continued)
Diary for January
3
5
10
11
12
17
19
24
26
31
Sunday
Tuesday
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Sunday
Tuesday
Sunday
Tuesday
Sunday
10.45am
10am
10.45am
12.30pm
10am
10.45am
10am
10.45am
10am
10.45am
Rev Malcolm Barrett (Communion)
Bible Study: The Magi & Herod
Rev John Rackley
Community Lunch
Prayer meeting
United Service for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
Bible Study: Anna
Very Rev Brandon Jackson
Bible Study: Simeon
Rev Malcolm Barrett
16
can pick up in church.
The town will
be packed for the
Christmas Fayre on
Friday December 4th,
so make your your
friends and neighbours
know that there’ll be
plenty happening in and
around our church that
evening. Manor Walk
will, as last year, have the
fantastic attraction of
the reindeer from 4pm.
Reports Jeff Bonser,
our Outreach Leader,
‘Our church will be
open from 4pm to 7pm.
Along with the Manor
Walk traders, we’re
creating a Reindeer Trail
past the shops leading
to our coffee shop and
church. We’ll sing carols
in Manor Walk. Inside
we’ll have cards and
calendars in the coffee
shop, and a decorated
corridor leading to the
candlelit church where
children can collect
their Reindeer Trail gift
and make a reindeer
decoration. There’ll be
fairly-traded gifts, cards
and stationery gifts on
sale, music, hot apple
juice and mince pies.’
See page 12 for details of our
Christmas services.
Market Harborough’s Santa Fun Run returns to Welland Park on Sunday
December 13th at 2pm. Runners will meet outside the Welland Park Café
and can run either 5k or 2k. Adults pay £12 and under 16s £6 – a price which
includes your Santa suit! Details and registration are on the Race Harborough
website.
²²²
Christmas shopping? Our New Horizons coffee shop has cards, calendars
and gift items for sale. Please note that the coffee shop will close at 2pm on
Thursday December 24th and re-open on Monday January 4th at 9.15am.
²²²
Don’t forget the annual candlelit vigil organised by the Churches Together
Justice & Peace Group in the town square at 4.30pm on Friday January 8th.
17
Window on the World
News to inform and inspire prayer from our BMS
champion Janet Smith
Border blocks in Nepal could lead to humanitarian crisis
Amid the many troubles around the world in 2015, April will be
remembered for two devastating earthquakes that hit Nepal, shattering
the lives of millions of people. Now nationwide fuel shortages, caused by
over two months of blockades along the border with India, mean life for
people in Nepal is even more precarious. After months with limited access
to fuel, Nepal’s people are suffering as pressure on essential services
increases.
‘It feels like it’s getting serious now,’ says Simon Hall, a BMS World
Mission worker in Kathmandu, Nepal. ‘The Nepal Oil Corporation has said
to stop queuing – there’s nothing left to give. Loads of schools are closed
because parents can’t get their kids there. It’s not just fuel for transport
– it’s fuel for generators too. If hospitals can’t run generators, things get
bad.’
Taxi drivers in Kathmandu have been queuing for up to five days for the
chance to refuel their vehicles to continue earning a living and feeding
their families. People are cramming into dangerously overcrowded buses
to get around. One
such bus, which had
many people riding
on the roof because of
the lack of transport
available, skidded off
road recently, killing
30 people and injuring
many more. The lack of
fuel is also obstructing
efforts to reach rural
survivors of the earthquakes with the supplies they need.
In addition to a lack of fuel, Nepal is also now reportedly running out of
medicine and the price of basic necessities has soared.
‘There’s no end to it,’ says Alan Barker, a BMS worker in Surkhet, in the
Mid-Western region of Nepal. ‘India is blaming the situation on Nepal,
Nepal is blaming it on India. It’s very complicated, and three months
down the line nothing seems to have been done about it. Nepal is used
to moving from one crisis to another. There’s not a great hue and cry,
there’s not great protest like in other countries. People just try to get by –
building little wood stoves outside because there is no gas to cook with.
The blockade is affecting the whole country.’
The protests began after the government released its new constitution.
There are no signs of the border crossings opening up soon, and even
if they do it will take a long time for things to begin running smoothly
again in Nepal.
Please pray for Nepal:
18
•
that the conflict over the new constitution will be resolved;
•
for wisdom for Nepal’s government and for its relations with
India;
•
for the borders to reopen so that people can access the resources
they need;
•
for those who continue to be affected by the earthquake, whose
problems have been compounded by the fuel shortage; pray
that they would get resources before the cold winter sets in.
19
From the
MHBC
archives
at the Methodist Church, conducted by the
Rev C L Evans.
December 1965 was the wettest for many
years, with a total in excess of four inches.
However, the Christmas period was dry but
cold with frost all day on the 27th and 28th.
50years ago
100 YEARS AGO
The Market Harborough and District Freechurchman ceased publication in December
owing to increased printing costs and a
falling circulation. First published in 1904,
the monthly magazine remains a valuable
source of information on past news and
events.
The United Christmas Day Service was held
The church AGM in January was attended
by only 17 members due to the inclement
weather. It was unanimously agreed that
men who had served a long time on the
diaconate should be elected elders. The first
three were James Buswell, James Tookey and
Douglas Wooldridge
Walter Stimson.
Words of wisdom
Two verses of the hymn shared by Doreen Cole in one of the
small prayer groups at the Vision Day:
Without Thy presence, King of saints, / Our purpose fails,
our spirit faints; / Thou must our wavering faith renew /
Ere we can yield Thee service true.
Thy consecrating might we ask, / Or vain the toil, unblest
the task, / And impotent of fruit will be / Love’s holiest
effort wrought for Thee.
Our Christmas cover
‘First Snow’ is a watercolour of Market Harborough by Lubenham
artist Michael Edwards, and is used by kind permission. Michael
undertakes all kinds of commissions and his work is currently
displayed at Waterloo Crafts and Arts centre just outside Market
Harborough on the Northampton Road. Michael’s website is at
www.michaeledwardsartist.co.uk .
20