Praying for MBC

Hello church, One of the items at last weeks church meeting was finding safe and practical ways of praying for MBC as we try to navigate our way through the situation we find ourselves in.
 
We have had one or two suggestions. For example, we are looking into the possibility of holding a Zoom prayer time in the not too distant future.  We are also hoping to install a couple of benches in the church car park so that anyone wishing to pray for MBC can pray around the outside of the building and have somewhere to sit and listen and reflect.  We invite your ideas and input so please contact us with any thoughts. 
 
First of all, while we try to put the above ideas into practice, we are planning to open the building on Saturday 20th March for between 11am and 3pm and invite people to come to pray in the Sanctuary for 15 minutes at a time.  If this is something you would like to do please contact me with a few time slots that are convenient for you and we will aim put together a timetable and email people back with their allotted slot.  There will be a one way system, masks will need to be worn at all times unless you are exempt and there will be hand sanitizing stations available.  Once a chair has been vacated that chair will be replaced by a new chair to avoid the risk of contamination. We will only be able to accommodate six people at any one time and social distancing must be adhered to at all times.
 
There will be paper and pens available for people to write down their thoughts and reflections which can be anonymous if preferred and we encourage anyone who wants to, to take a selfie of themselves either inside or outside the church and to send it to mbcnewspics@gmail.com, you can add your thoughts and reflections to the picture if so desired.
 
Unfortunately, unlike previous prayer days we won’t be able to offer prayer stations or refreshments due to restrictions. We are simply providing a space in which to pray and an opportunity to come back into the church building even for such a small amount of time.
 
We hope to be able to post something on the website with photos and prayers gathered on the day so that others can share in what people feel God has said/is saying to them in order to encourage and inspire us as we endeavour to move forward.
 
I would be grateful to hear from anyone who would be willing to help facilitate the prayer day on 20th, either to help put together a prayer timetable, to be there on the day (for perhaps 30 minutes or an hour depending on how many offers of help we get) to be in the sanctuary while people pray to make sure that COVID guidelines are followed and to sanitise once a person has left the building or to help to clean up afterwards (please note you would only need to volunteer for one thing, and won’t be expected to do everything!)
 
If this ‘event’ proves popular then we will have further prayer days in the coming weeks and will also try to incorporate any further ideas we receive where possible.
 
Take care and God bless
 
Kate       

Kate Slater 

Administrator 

Moortown Baptist Church 

204 King Lane, Leeds, LS17 6AA 

0113 2693750

An invitation to help yourelf to something from our Bee Tree

I have to confess that every so often someone will send me something for the MBC website which before it can be shared I need to spend hours working on. It might be the spelling, it might be the grammar, it may be a combination of both or it might even be that I simply don’t get it. Yesterday Kate Slater sent me a piece which is so quirky, so what I needed at the time that I’m running it exactly as it was presented. It certainly made me smile, I hope it has the same effect on you. 
 
Hi John.
In a mad moment I thought it might be nice to decorate the tree in the car park again like we did at Christmas with the stars etc. This time I thought of bees. I ran the idea past the Beacon lot last week and so far have had contributions from Jane Coates and Diane Sunter (and a few from me). I’m expecting loads more. I know Penny Warnes, Karen Ross and Sue Gladman have also been busy. The bees have a positive message such as ‘Bee Awesome’ or ‘Bee Kind’ etc and a bible verse on the back. I hope that people take a bee as they walk past church and ‘bee’ encouraged. If you could make some sense of the above and put something on the website that would ‘bee’ fab!
I will buzz off now honey 
Kate

Church at Home – 10.45am Sunday 7th March. Jesus the Partygoer, on Facebook live and on YouTube

This coming Sunday, March 7th we are back to our familiar pattern of a live Facebook welcome and a full YouTube playlist. 

Our theme comes from our Journeying with Jesus series and this week we look at Jesus the partygoer. We will major on scripture from John chapter 2 verses 1 to 11. 

Our live Facebook stream begins at 10,45am and is available either HERE or at facebook.com/moortownbaptistchurch  while a link to our YouTube playlist is HERE or in its long form here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZIQtirtwcWjH3npZ-253tsny8-IL3xFN

Above you can see this week’s Chat Mat which will come in handy when you join our playlist. To download your own copy you click on CHAT MAT or pop up to the church and help yourself to a copy from the box in the carpark.  

Shelley marks World Book Day with a live interview with writer Joe Fisher

Ok, so maybe it was a day early early but when you have someone who is an author, spoken word poet, presenter, writer, comedian, event host, warm up man etc. etc. all lined up for a live Facebook interview anyone can be excused for treating World Book Day as a moveable feast. 

And that’s what happened last Wednesday when just a couple of hours after Shelley, Rowan and Daisy had presented live Moortots Playtime our Children and Families lead returned to our screens to chat with all round good egg Joe Fisher.

Joe’s most recent work is a beautifully illustrated and incredibly topical book called When the bugs came which is described online as “a funny, charming, heart-warming and authentic recall of the events of Lockdown as told my Jacob, Isla and Mum.”

During their chat which you can catch up with HERE Joe talks about where the inspiration for the book came from and just some of it’s themes; the importance of hand washing (with or without musical accompanyment), home schooling and of course isolation. He also, as all authors do plugged his website https://joefisherauthor.com/

Well done Shelley this was a great addition to your outreach armoury and hopefully just the first of many such treats. 

 

 

 

BMS roundup – news from Chad and France

Catch up here with all the latest news from MBC’s Mission Partners Mark and Andrea Hotchkin in Chad and John and Sue Wilson in Paris. 

The images you see below are scans of just one part of the messages, to see the whole thing, in high quality, please follow these links.

Hotchkin

Wilson

 

Sunshine, daffodils and cupcakes – Lunch Club serve up a doorstep boost for our Seniors

Earlier this week Gill Duffy and Susan Dabrowski baked some beautiful cupcakes which were delivered to 52 people (42 households) by 15 masked and sanitised volunteers!
 
We included our usual Lunch Club regulars in the drop-off and also a number of other seniors from the MBC congregation – recognising the long and challenging nature of this winter lockdown, we thought we could bring some cheer to more people at this time, with a friendly and familiar face greeting them on the doorstep.  The daffodils also reminded us all that spring is on its way at last!
 
The gifts were gratefully received and it was so lovely to see people and have a chat in person, rather than just on the telephone.  Whilst we cannot meet in a group in person at present, the senior members of our community are much in our thoughts, and we look forward to more doorstep visits this Spring 
 
With huge thanks to our brilliant cooks and willing volunteers who made this possible.
 
Carole Smith – MBC Seniors Worker

Church at Home, 10.30am 28th February on Zoom – Jesus the builder

This Sunday’s Church at Home, like last weeks is being help on Zoom. It begins at 10.30am and by now you should have received the invitation, meeting ID and password. 

As part of our Journeying with Jesus theme, today we think about Jesus the builder taking as our text Luke chapter 6 verses 46 to 49. Naturally our chat mat, which you can see above also focusses in on this thread and can we suggest that to get the most from it you need to either download a high quiality version by clicking HERE or pop up to church and help yourself to a paper copy which you will find in the box on the front steps. 

Sunday the 28th is of course Shona and Graham’s last day as MBC’s co-ministers so please do all you can to be with us. 

Time out, w/c Monday 22 February – join with us for two new prayers

Our latest Time out prayers are led by Kate Slater. You will find them below.

 

Time out is the name we are giving a new initiative which we hope will bring the MBC family together for short periods of prayer and reflection. 

However, Time out isn’t meant to be one way – it’s not simply a platform for us to pray and for you to listen. On the contrary it’s something for all of us to share in, whether that be emailing something to us (a reading, a poem or maybe a prayer) or perhaps even recording your own contribution which we can edit into a forthcoming package.

If that’s something you feel comfortable with please email your message or a link to your video file to either Admin@moortownbaptistchurch.onmicrosoft.com  or to mbcnewspics@gmail.com

Our first two videos which we posted on January 25th are below. 

 

We hope you enjoy Time out, and also that by coming together at either 12 noon or at 8pm as often as you can you will feel encouraged by a very real sense of connectivity. 

Church at Home, 10.30am Sunday 21 February – Journeying with Jesus, Chat Mats and Communion… all on Zoom

At 10.30am on Sunday 21st February we invite you to Zoom in on our new series, Journeying with Jesus. Each Sunday we’ll discover more about Jesus’ life by jumping into a bible passage from the gospels.  If you want to read ahead, have a look at the picture slide to see the list of themes that take us all the way through the Spring. 

One new way you’ll be able to join in will be to get hold of a ‘bible chat mat’ (see left) that will be available each week in paper form in the car park at church and also HERE on the website and Facebook in electronic form. 

The chat mat links to the theme each week and you can use it during the service as well as through the week in your own time. You can use your chat mat to think of questions, have a conversation, doodle, colour and respond in your own unique way.  

The first two services will be on zoom with both starting at 10.30am. The first of them (Feb 21) will also include a short Communion Service so do get in touch if you don’t have a zoom code and want to connect in. 

It’s always great to have your input so get in touch if you have any thoughts and look out for new opportunities to get involved.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Graham, Shona and Shelley

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