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Month: July 2025

Shelley’s update for week commencing Sunday 27 July

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Dear friends.

Here are a few ‘keeping in touch’ things for the next few weeks.

We meet again on Sunday at 11am to continue with our theme of Fruit of the Spirit: love, looking into Acts 2.  There will be a group for our younger friends. A live stream will also be available. 

A word of warning… there may be local disruption for some on Sunday 27th July due to the Ironman event in North Leeds so check your routes here: https://www.ironman.com/races/im-leeds/traffic-impact You might want to cheer them on (I’m not doing this one!)

All the information for Summer was sent out last week and is available both in last week’s Newsletter (under the heading) Shelley’s update for 20th July – setting out the summer – Moortown Baptist Church  and in a seperate post in this week’s issue. There are also paper copies in church, just ask the welcome team. There is also a few new articles including news from the Romanian churches we support.

If you know someone in church who is ill and needs a visit do let Lesley know and she will contact those who support us with pastoral work.  This is something we will be in touch about more in a few weeks.

Looking ahead..

You’ll also see on the website a flyer from Krys about the craft fair coming up in October.

Finally, I want to share a statement with you from Baptists Together, BMS and Baptist Union of Wales.  Some of you may, like me be finding it hard to put into words and prayers the devastation we are seeing in Gaza at this time.  Whilst we acknowledge there are many conflicts in the world right now, most with complex roots, I find it hard not express my heartache when I hear what is going on from organisations such as BMS and Embrace the Middle East about people of all faiths and none suffering in unimaginable ways.  Please have a look at the statement and consider finding out more and making a response in prayer or action.

Statement Concerning Gaza, Israel, The West Bank and East Jerusalem

War Child UK who are working in many broken places around the world with children, have a slogan at the moment saying ‘Hold onto Hope’.  They say that in the face of suffering, holding onto hope is a rebellious act as they work for peace. We read this too in the bible, Hebrews 10:23 says “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess” or as the message version says, “Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going. He always keeps his word. Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out..”

In Christ

Shelley Dring

Minister

Moortown Baptist Church

MBC to revamp its online outreach

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As many of you will already know we are in the early stages of revamping our online outreach: our branding, our website, both its design and content, our weekly E-Newsletter, the posts we put out on social media and of course the images we show on screen at the beginning of our Sunday service.

As a first step we have decided that in order to make our online presence more eye catching we need to have at our disposal some fresh, up to date, high resolution pictures. 

To this end John Sherbourne will be spending the next few weeks planning and then visiting many of our projects: from Beacon and Lunch Club to Stepping Stones, from House and Bible Study groups to Rock Solid and of course our regular Sunday morning services. 

So, when you see John with a camera round his neck please don’t worry. However, bearing in mind that any pictures he takes could well end up online, if for any reason you or any member of your family would prefer not to be pictured just let him know and he’ll respect your wishes. 

 

July newsletter from Florin Fodor in Romania

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Dear friends, God is consistently inviting us to take steps of faith. Often, these will be invitations to follow Him into new places, where we will have to depend on Him. The past months offered us the opportunity to take several steps like these. Praise God. He was faithful and we experienced His presence and blessing.
  

Events at the Apahida School

“Rediscover the Joy of Being a Teacher” was the title of the seminar we organized for 45 teachers in Apahida town, in the spring.

 Starting from “Happy Teacher = Happy School”, we shared several ways to find joy in their personal and professional lives.

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Also, at the Apahida school, we taught students in two classes, about topics like life values, the influence of technology, bullying. One student said: It was the best class I ever attended!

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The “Lies Women Believe” Course

Dana taught this online course for 3 weeks and 25 teachers attended. The idea of the book is that women are attacked by the Evil One, who comes with untrue ideas and lies that we end up believing. We discussed that sometimes we believe that we are worthless or that the situations we find ourselves in will never change. We looked at the temptation that God is not good enough or that He doesn’t love us. One participant said at the end: Our discussions helped me answer questions that I did not dare to ask out loud. I think I began to understand myself better… both myself and others. I learned to have more confidence and to stop victimizing myself in difficult times.

Teaching the Prison staff 

Dana and I were asked to lead a course for 11 employees of the Gherla Penitentiary. It is a personal development course that lasts 7 weeks. Every Wednesday, we drove for 40 minutes and met with the staff. 

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At first, some were skeptical- they told us they joined because their leaders sent them. Then, in the following meetings they became more open and told us about different trials they face, at home and at work.

One of the topics was about the relationship with God. The Lord worked in such a way that we had the lesson just a few days before Easter. It was easier to share the Gospel with them and they told us where they are in their spiritual journey. 

The Book “Story in the Mirror”

My wife Dana recently published a book about a little girl who goes through many trials, but with God’s help, she overcomes them and discovers her calling to be a blessing to others. 

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Here are some excerpts from a review someone Dana doesn’t know wrote, after reading the book:

I identified with the main character of the story – Daiana. She captivated me from the beginning and transported me to the experiences of the mentioned biblical characters.

The author has a special way of captivating the reader through her writing, by choosing certain biblical themes, by the way she builds the biblical context. This book is equally interesting for both a teenager and a refined old man.

The painful experience that our character goes through encourages the reader to discover God’s love when she has to show forgiveness towards the one who hurt her and rejected her – her father. Towards the end of his life, she chooses to love and forgive him, thus being made free.

First European Conference for Christian Teachers – see the image at the top of this post. 

At the beginning of this month, we attended a Teachers Conference in Poland. 15 Christian Teachers from Romania joined us. It was a good opportunity for them to learn from the experiences of teachers from other 10 countries. We all came back with a greater vision, with many ideas and a bigger desire to apply what we have learned. 

Shelley’s update for 20th July – setting out the summer

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Dear friends

This week we continue to explore the Holy Spirit as we start a series about Fruit of the Spirit, taking us through the summer months.  We hope that it is something that you can explore afresh or for the first time over the Summer wherever you are and whatever age.  John 15:16 reminds us that Jesus said,

“You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last”.  Some of you may know that I always carry a banana around with me.  I call it my emergency banana and its helpful for those moments I suddenly feel hungry.  I realise as I look around the world how grateful I am to have an emergency banana.  However, as many of you know, a banana doesn’t last for long.  It soon starts to go brown and mushy.  The fruit that God wants us to produce is intended to not have a shelf life, it’s intended to go on long after the seed was planted and the fruit has grown.  The bible talks about the fruit of the Spirit in the book of Galatians chapter 5 and as we discover the fruit in practice in the bible and in our world, one thing to ponder and pray about is how this fruit might last and develop, how will it go beyond us and the immediate that we see?  How can we plan for this?  What difference does it make? We start tomorrow at 11am in church and in Sunday school as on our YouTube channel.  We’ll also share communion together.

Every year the Royal Academy in London hosts a summer exhibition based on a different theme each year to encourage people to think about a topic in a new way.  This year we would like to host our own summer exhibition by exploring the theme of the Holy Spirit.  This may be through painting, writing, music, photography, doodling, crafts, reading, words and more.  Please hand anything to me, Lesley or Linsey and we will put them up or can be incorporated in what we do.  Don’t feel you have to have a perfect ‘thing’, half an explored idea is good too, all ages and experiences welcome.  You may want to do it on your own or with others in a group.  Let’s pray that we have open eyes and hearts as we respond to Him!  This one way we can all share ministry together.

As the school’s finish and the summer starts, there is a temporary change in what we do as a church, but we wanted to be intentional about the change of pace providing opportunities to pray and worship, allowing time for holiday and creating new ways to connect and explore.  Thankyou to all those who are contributing to this. Below you will find a list of all the summer activities including regular groups and one-off events.  This is also available on the MBC website and reminders will be posted on social media throughout the summer.  Paper copies will be in church from next week.   

Monday 21st July Health and Safety meeting at 3pm in church building (do get in touch with John C or myself if you think you would like to help with any aspect of health and safety in the building)

Tuesday 22nd July Toddler tidy up and social at 10am starting in the church building

Sunday 27 July 11am service with children’s group Fruit of the Spirit ‘love’ Acts 2:38-47

Sunday 3rd August 11am café church Fruit of the Spirit ‘Joy’  

5th August 7.30pm Deacons meeting in the church building.

“But what happens when we live God’s way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard…”Gal 5:22 (The message version)

Blessings

Shelley

Shelley Dring

Minister

Moortown Baptist Church

Stewarding our tithe – a brief reminder of the projects MBC supports

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At a recent Church Meeting we were invited to spend some time considering where MBC’s tithe should go. 

Having read through a list of Bible verses relating to tithing (the practice of giving one-tenth of one’s income or produce to God as an act of worship and gratitude) we then listened to representatives from eight of the different projects and missions that MBC supports as they each gave an update on precisely when, where and how the contribution the church makes to their work helps to keep them going.

You can see from the images in the picture gallery above just how varied these projects are: from part funding a one to one counselling service (Pathways) to (MAF) keeping aircraft in the sky as they give support, including much needed medical aid to people living in some of the world’s most inaccessible regions. 

Here in a bit more detail are descriptions of them all.

BMS World Mission – MBC has supported the Baptist Missionary Society from the very start; not only financially but also by seeing a number of its members serve overseas. In addition, it’s been a long tradition here at Moortown to partner with individual missionaries; currently we are linked with Mark and Andrea Hotchkin, doctors based in Chad. BMS runs a wide range of support schemes, each one of benefit to over 300 mission workers – details of which are available via their website bmsworldmission.org 

The Leeds and Moortown Furniture Store – L&MFS was formed at MBC in 1986. Today, with its fortieth anniversary less than a year off it continues exactly where it began; collecting and then giving away unwanted furniture to people in need. As with BMS, the link between L&MFS and MBC has never been broken. In fact as I write the Store’s entire board of trustees is made up of five Moortown members. 

Grace Gospel Church – Co led by one of our members, this direct quote from the churches website says it all…  “We are evangelical Pentecostal by teaching and preaching the word of God. We follow the true doctrine of the Bible on bases of the Bible authority by the power and work of the Holy Spirit. We have Christ centered worship service including practical biblical teaching and fellowshipping one another. We go, we preach, we care for the soul for whom Christ Jesus died.”  

Pathways Counselling – Pathways is a Christian Counselling Service that by listening and providing support helps its clients navigate life’s challenges, whether they be short-term  or long-term. Once again Pathways has long standing links to MBC.

WEC – Radio Worldwide – Radio Worldwide uses digital media to spread the gospel. Besides a whole raft of outreach initiatives, simple daily posts on Facebook and the like ensure that even though many of its listeners live in isolated regions they still have access to the word of God. 

MBC Romania Fund – Another long standing partnership. MBC first made contact with the Romanian church in 1972 when two of our young students “smuggled” some books into the country for a local pastor who had recently studied at an Oxford college. Since then the link between MBC and what we simply refer to as “Romania” has grown into a close friendship with regular home and away visits being made by both individuals and groups. The support we give to “Romania” however, isn’t limited to social exchanges and funding an annual teenage Summer Camp. No over the years a number of our members have actually set about designing, funding and even installing some quite major infrastructure projects.  

MAF. Mission Aviation Fellowship – Imagine living in the sweltering heat of a desert, a two day walk away from the nearest doctor. If you did, then thankfully MAF may just be the answer to your prayer. Flying 115 aircraft across 25 different countries Mission Aviation Fellowship is often the only lifeline an individual, a family or an entire community has when an emergency strikes. For more years than I care to remember MBC has supported MAF, and long may that commitment continue. 

And finally the YBA Home Mission Fund. Like but a few Baptist churches MBC may not be the lively, thriving church it is today without the help provided way back when by the Yorkshire Baptist Association’s Home Mission Fund. For us, as for many other fellowships the seed money provided to help buy land, the funds given to assist with building costs and even to help pay a minister’s stipend demonstrate only too well how in reality the YBA Home Mission Fund really is a “Godsend.” 

So there you have it, the eight very different projects that as a church MBC currently supports. But you know whether or not that number remains the same or changes isn’t a decision our minister and our leadership team make on their own. No, it’s ultimately down to you and I. And that’s because in the not too distant future, we, as members, will all be invited to reconvene and prayerfully discuss, pray and then vote on the recommendations and suggestions our leaders make.

In other words it’s us – the whole of our membership – that decides who and/or what God wants us as a church community to help.

 

  

Shelley’s update for w/c Sunday 13th July

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Dear friends

A shorter email today as I am clarifying a few of the Summer activities and themes but there will be more news on this in the morning and early next week.

We look forward to seeing you at 11am tomorrow where we continue to explore the person of the Holy Spirit.  Tomorrow’s message includes both Old Testament and New again, as we look at ‘anointing oil’ as a picture of Gods power, consecration, and healing and what that might mean to us and the world today.  It will also link us into a creative series over the Summer looking at the fruit of the spirit, how do we see the Spirit moving in the early church, us and the world?  There will be creative ways we would like to encourage you to explore as part of this over the Summer either individually or with others.

After church, it’s the next ‘Unanswered prayer’ session with Krys G in the music room.  Feel free to bring your lunch.  Everyone welcome even if you haven’t been to a group before, just come along.  There will be a video to watch and opportunity to share.

At 7pm Rock Solid takes place in the building.  It’s a social night with pizza and curling so do come along, even if you haven’t been for a while!  Feel free to bring a friend.

Thanks to all those who shared with the church last week about the charities we support in our tithe.  It was good to have so many get together to share and pray both in café church and afterwards at the church meeting. Do keep praying for the charities and if you have any questions, thoughts or ideas do send them to myself or the deacons.  Lesley can pass any thoughts on at admin@moortownbaptistchurch.org.uk

Next week we have Beacon café and warm welcome craft group as usual and all the housegroups are meeting as well as lunch club.  It’s the last Stepping Stones Session next Tuesday, with a tidy up session the week after.  Wednesday worship takes place at 1.30-2pm in the music room.  Everyone invited!

In Christ

Shelley

Shelley Dring

Minister

Moortown Baptist Church

Who needs a fancy fajita when you can have fish and chips in Filey

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With many places in the UK pushing temperatures near to 30 degrees C you could be forgiven for thinking that yesterday of all days those of us old enough to know better would have stayed home. 

Such, however, was not the case for some of our lovely seniors who as they do during a usually topsy turvy English summer took the opportunity to jump in Rod Russell’s mini-bus and head to the coast. 

Fortunately, however, for them their chosen destination was Filey, which although still very, very warm was nearer the lower end of the Celsius scale than the higher.   

As for lunch, well no fancy fajitas and certainly no chilled white wine – instead pots of tea, the odd Coke and good old fish and chips. 

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