John Sherbourne

We are continuing to carefully and prayerfully plan the refreshing of Moortown Baptist Church through the autumn. As we look forward we are seeking to blend different ways of being church with use of the building. In doing this we know that  strengthening contact among the church community with reaching out is our priority.

In this we are continuing to listen to what God is saying to us and to one another’s experiences, expectations and insights.

As part of this process we’ll be asking questions across the whole church over the next two weeks, and encouraging your feedback on this.

Our ministers, Graham and Shona, are both on a phased return to work.

Graham is preaching, working alongside teams and visiting. He can be contacted in the usual manner.

Shona is preaching and connecting with people. She can be contacted by phone or email and will get back to you.

We shall be back in touch with you on what we have learnt and any plans/updates.

Every blessing

Susie, Shona, Shelley and Graham

This Sunday Family at Moortown sets us all an exciting challenge! However, in terms of needing lots of equipment, tools and inspiration this one appears to be remarkably forgiving. That’s because to complete it besides a piece of card, a bit of tin foil and some glue all you need are what we find all around us at this time of year… some berries, some pine cones, some acorns and some leaves. 

To find out more tune in to the Moortown Baptist Church Youtube channel on Sunday morning, or if you want a head start you can join Susie Newhall by clicking on this LINK.  

Once you have seen this little video I think you’ll agree with me that Susie made a brilliant job of her collage and just as she has shared it with us we would like you to share yours. All you need do is send a picture or even a bit of video of your work to mbcnewspics@gmail.com and we’ll feature it here on our website. 

Happy foraging everyone. 

Prayer has always been a bit of a challenge for me. I am not practised in the rhythm of prayer. But as I have reached more senior years and have often been wakeful for a short time in the early hours of the morning, just before first light, I have found that this quiet time of the day when my mind is more relaxed and perhaps has processed the other matters that has occupied it, that this is a good time to reflect and pray. It is also the time when I sometimes have a flow of ideas too. If I remember them in the morning, well that is another matter! Jesus needed time in prayer and his disciples would have regularly witnessed Him going to the garden, mountain or quiet place alone to be with his Father. Prayer and being with Father God was part of His rhythm of life. This led to the disciples to ask Him to teach them how to pray.  

So, it was with great interest that I read about Richard Gamble, who is planning for and has been awarded planning permission for an enormous Christian prayer monument, taking the shape of a continuous loop known as the Mobius strip. The Eternal Wall of Answered Prayer will be more than twice the size of the Anthony Gormley, Angel of the North sculpture. It is to be built on the outskirts of Birmingham, constructed using a million bricks, each representing an answered prayer from a member of the public. The Eternal Wall of Answered prayer will have three aims: to encourage prayer, to proclaim Jesus for the country and to preserve the Christian heritage of the nation. The site will also have a visitor centre, café and bookshop for an estimated 3,000 visitors a year, who will be able to use an app to access the database, for the stories of hope of a million people whose prayers were answered.  

The aim of the Eternal Wall is to make hope visible to the nation, to be a monument of remembrance to our faithful God who hears and answers prayer, as was Joshua’s Gilgal stones. (Joshua 4)  

“We’re trying to make the largest database of hope stories in the world visible and provoke a conversation about prayer. Everyone goes through storms in life, and hope is one of the greatest antidotes to anxiety and fear”. Richard Gamble 

I am really pleased that this project is going ahead. In these challenging Covid-19 times we need these accounts of hope and answered prayer. 

The Eternal Wall will stand for hundreds of years. They are looking for a million testimonies of answered prayer. (500 words) Eternalwall.org.uk/testimony 

Joshua 4 

¹⁹ The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. ²⁰ And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal. ²¹ And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’ ²² then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, ²⁴ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty; that you may fear the Lord your God for ever.” 

 

Jane Coates 

Last week and this a team of volunteers along with Kate and Graham helped me to start to deliver gift bags to every family connected to the groups we call Bubbles, Faithbuilders, Excavate and Inters.  Under more normal circumstances each of these groups would meet in the church building every Sunday morning.

The bags contained a chocolate bar, a Meandering with Moses map, a Family at Moortown postcard and an age appropriate book connected to our recent Moses series.

The gift bag drop is just one of the ways along with: Church at Home, Family at Moortown’s YouTube channel, Moortots/Oasis LIVE, phone calls, WhatsApp, texts and socially distanced one to one meet ups that we are employing in order to stay connected with each other, with our children and with their families at this very strange time.

Thanks to all those who helped to deliver this week.  It came just at the right time I think as many children will be heading back to school next week; many for the first time since March. It also means that we can now move on to sort something fresh and innovative for our regular mid week week families who make up our under 5’s groups.

If you are connected to the groups I have mentioned above and you either haven’t received a bag or you know of someone who would really benefit from connecting with church in some way, whether they have younger or older children, do get in touch with me shelley.dring.mbc@btconnect.com 

I look forward to keeping this conversation going with you throughout the autumn, and as a team I look forward to us all helping one another to develop exciting and creative ways to connect and build faith.

Thanks to all those who have joined in with our little walk around part of a north Leeds wood this week.  The idea of a Meander with Moses came from our Summer series on Church at Home on the YouTube channel each Sunday.

Throughout August we found out that Moses spent a lot of time on journeys, and throughout them while embracing the good and the bad, he needed to trust God… a bit like we all had to do when confronted with ace cartographer Shelley’s unique free-hand map! 

You can still download your map HERE or there are still some paper copies in a box outside church. 

Along our walk there are certain spots where you are encouraged to stop, and ponder a little thought to encourage you to think about Moses’ story as well as your journey with God. 

It was great to hear that some people invited friends and family along with them to do a socially distanced version of the walk. There’s a lot of research to suggest that being in the fresh air and the exercise we get from being outdoors not only does us good but also makes many of us feel closer to God.   

If you have any thoughts or questions about your walk with God then do message me on shelley.dring.mbc@btconnect.com

Oh and if you have any pics from your meanderings do as Adam and John did and email them to mbcnewspics@gmail.com 

As MBC heads into the autumn we shall continue to offer Church at Home and Family at Moortown alongside all our programmes for children, families, young people, adults and seniors outside the building. We are grateful for all who have and continue to lead these programmes.

We are reflecting on how things have been going over recent months and will be listening to individuals and groups across church in the coming weeks to learn what you value, need and want to take part in. So look out for this coming your way. In this way we will refresh all that we are doing in the coming months.

This is still our Moortown Baptist Church – it hasn’t stopped, but has been reset in many ways.

Home Groups and informal groups are a big part of this. In all, it is our aim for church to be open, accessible and vibrant as we focus on Jesus together.

In our planning we are being guided by asking what is meaningful, sustainable, safe and of course legal. We know church is being reset and is different in many ways and will continue to be so.

Now we are planning to open the church building to accompany all that is going on. As we consider the prayer, bible study, teaching and activities that we can offer we will be asking you what you want to come to into the building to do. That’s why last Sunday Margaret outlined how things will work and then Shona invited responses from you.

So MBC is focused now on what we are virtually, and in community and what we do in the building will simply be an accompaniment to this.

Our aim is to strengthen what we offer virtually (or online) with ideas for what you can do on your own or in your household and how you can connect with others in church even if you don’t come to the church building.

We know many of us are missing things like: meeting together, sharing in a church service for all, singing etc. However, things are quite different now. Church is being reset.

We also want to offer worthwhile activities in the church building that you would want to come to and help out with.

What to expect when you come to the building

When coming into the building things will be quite different as we follow advice and guidance which is constantly changing.

The first thing is to maintain 2 metre distance around each family group or household.  2 metres in our church is equivalent to 4 of our church chairs.

It will also be necessary to book in advance to come to a service, that’s why we are requesting that people book in with Kate Slater by the Thursday prior to the Sunday.  In booking in, Kate will require the names of all those attending in your family group, an email address and a telephone number. She will also need you to confirm that you are free of any Covid symptoms. We cannot accept block bookings as this will not be fair to ensure as many people as possible can attend over the weeks and booking in does not automatically mean you will have a place, again it will depend on numbers and ensuring the 2m distance is adhered to. Kate will let you know whether you will be able to attend on the Sunday or not.

When the church building does open we are requiring those who are attending to:

• Wear a face mask. A face mask must be worn by anyone over 11 years old prior to entering the church building, unless you are exempt from wearing one.
• Use the hand sanitiser provided
• Not shake hands with the welcome team, the welcomer will show you to your seats in the sanctuary
• Not to wander around the sanctuary
• If possible to have been to the toilet prior to coming to church as the main toilet on the back corridor are not in use
• Bring their own bible as the church Bibles are not available for use
• At the end of the service wait for a member of the welcome team to invite you leave through the door beside the church organ safely and at a safe distance

The services are at present will include only prayer, readings and a sermon as at present there is no congregational singing is permitted.

What we do depends upon you

Other events may be run in the building, such as space for prayer, bible study or evening family activities. These will all have limited numbers and may require advance booking too. The 7 points above have a Sunday service in mind, but there will be similar requirements of other groups or activities.

Coming back is going to be so different, we will miss some things but we are looking forward to seeing you again in the building

We want to put on meaningful things in the building, whether on a Sunday or any day in the week.

What we put on depends on hearing from you. We need to know:

What would you like to come into the building to do? What things could we put on in the building that might be of benefit to the wider community?

What part are you willing to play in what happens in the building?

Please get in touch with us by phone or email

We would love to know how you would like to take part and what you would like to come into the church to do.

moortown.baptist@btconnect.com

0113 269 3750

Please be aware that Kate Slater (our Church Administrator) works part time, so you may need to leave a phone message.

As well are these questions for everyone, you will asked questions and ideas will be shared in the group you belong to.

As church is being reset our main focus continues to be on what we put on virtually, what we put on in groups (whether for children, young people, seniors or home groups) and how we equip the Christian lives of individuals and households.

Being in the church building is not just about Sundays, but any day. What we offer in the building depends on us hearing your ideas.

When you come to the building we want you to come to something meaningful, accessible and worthwhile. We want you to feel safe when you come.

Once we have the information we will share a summary of what we have learnt and details of what is being planned.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Graham, Shona, Shelley, Carole, Kate; MBC Leadership Team and MBC Health & Safety Team