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Month: October 2024

One final post from Howard, Jean and Bela’s trip to Romania – in this one Howard tells of a meeting they had with some Ukrainian refugees.

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Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine a large number of refugees came to Romania with it being close by, and particularly to Cluj as a major city in the north of Romania and a communications centre.

At one time 50 refugees were attending and being helped by Manastur church. At MBC we have sent several thousand pounds to help meet their needs and also for aid which the church was
taking into Ukraine.

On our recent visit Bela, Jean and I had the privilege of meeting many of the refugees from Ukraine over a pizza lunch following the Sunday service. There are now 25 Ukrainians in the church, some of the others particularly from western Ukraine have returned to their homes, others have gone on to western Europe seeking better paid jobs there. However, the level of support available (e.g. from the Romanian government) has reduced due to the cost involved.

We met one young man who has learned Romanian from scratch in the 18 months he has been in Cluj and is now hoping to go to the university. However he and his family would like to return to Ukraine when possible as it is their home.

Two of the Ukrainians (on the left in the photo below) are staying with Nicu and Rita Reparuc (on the right) and I met them at Nicu and Rita’s house. The husband is an electrician and has had work in Cluj but doesn’t have any at the moment. His wife is a music teacher and has been able to continue to do some teaching over the internet. They are from Kharkiv, a large city of 1.4 million people near the Russian border which has been in the news a lot due to the large number of missile attacks.

They showed me a video on their phone of Kharkiv before the war with its beautiful buildings and parks. Also on their phone were some recent photos sent from friends in Kharkiv showing the terrible destruction there has been. I was shocked to see a photo of their apartment block which had been damaged with the windows of their flat blown out. This made what is going on in Ukraine seem very real.

Please pray for them as they decide whether to go back to Kharkiv in November to secure their flat with all the risks that may entail. There is a wider connection as Leeds has recently become twinned with Kharkiv partly as an expression of solidarity.

It also struck me what a difference smartphones have made with people able to keep in touch from a distance and work over the internet. How did we communicate you might ask? They had an app on their phone and they could speak in Ukrainian and the words appeared on the screen in English!

Jane Coates. Thoughts and prayers. LIGHT.

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He wraps himself in light as if it were a robe, spreading out the sky like a canopy, Psalm 104 v 2 NIV

You’re a fountain of cascading light, and you open our eyes to light. Psalm 36 v 9 MSG

Children are fascinated by light, rainbows and colour. The concept of light is challenging for small children, especially the idea that white light can be separated into rainbow colours, or even bent by passing the light through a glass prism. Yet, when I was teaching in primary school, the children loved to explore and have fun with different shaped prisms, making rainbows. The scientific explanation of different wavelengths or colours of light being refracted or dispersed by different amounts, causing them to separate, coming out of the prism at different angles, creating that wonderful spectrum, was often way beyond them. That would come later. But for now, it was fun to make rainbows.

We have some wonderful colourful light objects at home which delight the grandchildren. A multi-faceted glass crystal, a multicoloured lamp, and a magic book that opens with different kinds of light. These things delight and give joy.

Our early understanding of the God who created light from nothing, and Jesus as the Light of the world, are perhaps childlike in some ways. Some concepts are very hard to grasp. I love the description of our Creator God in Psalm 104, a Psalm which is very reminiscent of the Genesis creation account. Our Creator God wraps Himself in light. He made moon to mark the seasons, and the sun that knows when to go down. He set the earth on its foundations; and the land is satisfied by the fruit of his work. He is a fountain of cascading light.

We are now the children of light, and we live in the light of Christ. “You yourselves used to be in the darkness, but since you have become the Lord’s people, you are in the light. So, you must live like people who belong to the light.” Ephesians 5 v 8 GNT

The God who said, “Out of darkness the light shall shine!” is the same God who made His light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God’s glory shining in the face of Christ.

2 Corinthians 4 v 6 GNT

May we reflect the light of Jesus, as children of light. May our words and lives be attractive, winsome, so that others notice something rather different in us and be attracted to the source of that light and energy. May our lights shine in the shadows and the dark places. May our lights point out the way for others.

A Celtic Circle Prayer

Circle me Lord, Keep hope near, And evil afar.”
Circle me Lord, Keep light near, And darkness afar.”
Circle me Lord, Keep peace within, Keep fear out.”
Circle me Lord, Keep hope within, Keep doubt without.

Mighty God,
My protection be
Encircling me.
You are around
My home, my street
Encircling me
O Sacred Three.

Jane Coates

7th October 2024

Shelley’s message for w/c October 6th

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Dear friends

Thanks to everyone who was involved in celebrating the baptisms and dedication last Sunday.  Let’s keep Rachel, Amber and Jess in our prayers.

We look forward to our harvest thanksgiving café church tomorrow at 11am in the building and online.  If you are able, donations of food or money or a bit of both are welcome for the North Leeds foodbank and Caring for Life charity.  The food bank have specifically asked for…

Milk (UHT), soup, long life fruit juice, sweet and savoury spreads, long life sponge puddings, tinned vegetables, pasta/curry sauce, tinned fish, tinned rice pudding, tinned custard, tinned tomatoes, tinned meat, biscuits, rice, teabags, toilet roll and powdered milk (not baby milk)

We’ll have breakfast pastries, fruit and drinks to share during the service which will focus on ‘what is harvest?’ and the beginning of Ruth chapter 2.  There will be creative activities to join in with for all ages during café church.

Please ask about midweek activities, pick up a leaflet at the back of church or look on the website.  These include Beacon warm welcome café at 10am on Monday, craft group welcome space on Thursday at 2pm, Stepping Stones on Tuesday at 10am (please ask Diane Sunter or Lesley if you are new as the group is getting full and they want to make sure they can get you in!) and lunchclub on Wednesday.  There are housegroups and bible studies throughout the week.  Do ask if you are unsure or would like to try them out.  You don’t need to commit to being there every time and can go to more than one at a time. There’s Tuesday afternoon in the building (see Rod Russell or ask Lesley), Wednesday in the building at 7.30pm, Wednesday evening (see Diane Sunter), Thursday in the building at 7.00pm with Gareth Gadd. Friday morning at 10am (see Shelley) and Friday eve in Adel at 8pm, see Jonathan Darling.  Rock Solid for youth meet on Sunday evening at 7pm.

A reminder that there will be a get together with Krys Gadd for anyone who attended any of the prayer course, in the building after café church, tomorrow 6th October, bring some lunch.

It’s the next church meeting on the 15th of October at 7.30pm in the building and online. Please do come along.  Part of the meeting will be voting for a new deacon as well as saying thank you to those stepping down.  Lesley sent out the agenda and minutes last week, along with a zoom link for those who are unable to attend in person.  Please keep sharing what you think God is saying to us as a church.  We are looking ahead over the autumn and towards Christmas as well involving more people in welcoming and providing space for those new to the community to have chance to get to know others. We’ll have chance to continue this conversation at the meeting.

We have Andrea and Mark Hotchkin, BMS missionaries working in Chad, leading the service with us on 20th October at 11am followed by lunch together.  More details to come!

This is the same day Terefe leaves to visit those in Calais who need food, clothing and to share the news of Jesus.  We will be praying for him on the 16th October in the service.  He is looking for good quality clothes or shoes to take, financial support and prayer.  Please can items be brought to church and left with Lesley rather than around the building.

We continue to pray for situations of conflict all around the world. I was struck by an interview from March this year about youth praying in Lebanon.

Youth in Lebanon are Discovering Prayer – 24-7 Prayer International

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17)

Shelley

In church or on YouTube, join us this Sunday for MBC’s Harvest

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This coming Sunday, that’s 6th October is our harvest thanksgiving café church!

In church there will be a selection of breakfast pastries, fruit and drinks, and as in previous years two local charities – Caring for Life and the North Leeds and West Foodbank will be the beneficiaries. 

In this instance Caring for Life have asked us for monetary donations, whereas the food bank have more specific requests including: milk (UHT), soup, long life fruit juice, sweet and savoury spreads, long life sponge puddings, tinned vegetables, pasta/curry sauce, tinned fish, tinned rice pudding, tinned custard, tinned tomatoes, tinned meat, biscuits, rice, teabags, toilet roll and powdered milk (not baby milk).

However, on Sunday for those of us who for one reason or another find ourselves “gift less” there’ll be an opportunity during the service to give money directly online.

Thank you. 

Praise the Lord – two baptisms and a dedication

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By anyone’s standards, for any Baptist church to have two baptisms and a dedication during one morning Service is good going. But such was the order last Sunday at Moortown Baptist Church. 

For Jess and Rachel their baptism will be a highlight of their young lives and one that neither will forget. For little Amber it will turn out to be something that as she grows up she will forever be reminded of.   

It was a real privilege to be in the congregation, and a real joy to see MBC continuing to grow.  

Safely back in Leeds – Bela, Jean and Howard share more pictures from their trip to Romania

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We’re back!  We arrived safely back home on Tuesday morning from our visit to Romania.

For the second part of our stay we visited Manastur Baptist Church in the city of Cluj-Napoca.  Bela and Jean stayed at the home of Florin and Dana Fodor who visited us in Leeds two years ago and I with Constantin and Mariana Rusu who many years ago joined us on a church holiday.

We continued to be blessed by sunshine right up until the last couple of days.  We had a scenic excursion to the Apuseni mountains where we visited the new Christian centre at Belis.  We also visited the salt mine at Turda.

On Sunday we joined the service at Manastur church where there was a wedding of two young people from Haiti who had come to Cluj as students. It reminded us of Candice and Nelson’s wedding at MBC a few weeks ago.

In the evening we went to the Gypsy Church in the nearby village of Floresti.  We have supported this important ministry for a number of years.  We were made very welcome and Bela shared some thoughts based on her experience in India. 

We again gave greetings from MBC at both churches and we were asked to convey their greetings and best wishes in return.

On our final day we met Nicu and Rita Reparuc who over the years have taken in and fostered around 30 children. 

We return with lots of happy memories of the warmth of our welcome.

If you would like to share some of our memories simply open up the gallery by clicking on any of the pictures below .

Climate Change – local action group sets about addressing an environmental crisis.

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As a local church with a world wide mission, protecting the environment and in particular addressing the effects of climate change are, or at least  should be, two of the most vital challenges we face. 

Below you will see a number of flyers issued by the Alwoodley 2030 Climate Action Hub. Also you can find out more by visiting Alwoodley 2030: Climate Action Hub – About

Although specifically focused on Alwoodley this project is equally important to the residents of Moortown, or even Miami, Malawi or Mombasa. And that’s because without a global effort climate change, whether that manifests itself in the form of hurricanes, floods, melting ice caps et al is going to change the face of civilisation beyond recognition.    

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