faith@work the magazine of glenrothes baptist church august 2014 [1] Contents page A PASTOR’S PAGES—DEEP CHURCH 1 THE COWANS AT LARGE 3 TREASURER’S REPORT 5 BAPTISMS 6 SHARING THE LOVE OF JESUS 16 ‘DO-IT-YOURSELF’ 17 MUSING ON THE MUSIC 21 ‘BLESSED ASSURANCE’ 26 CONNECTED BY GRACE—JOHN THORNTON (1) 28 PICTURE QUIZ—WE HAVE A WINNER! 36 SEEKING WITH ALL MY HEART 37 [2] A Pastor’s Pages In recent weeks, on Sunday mornings, the pastor has been preaching on the nature of the church—a ‘called out’ people—the bride of Christ—the family of God— the body of Christ. To give Jacob a rest (!) for this issue of the magazine, we are pleased to present this reflection by Lewis Allen, pastor of Hope Church, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, on a complementary theme. DEEP CHURCH . S. Lewis was once asked about his churchmanship. ‘Churchmanship,’ Cthat now almost-forgotten word, means whether you are High Church (favour formality and ritual) or Low Church (like to keep things informal and non-ritualised). Lewis replied that he was neither, but that he was in favour of Deep Church. Deep Church. That’s a great label, isn’t it? Something in it resonates with us straightaway. We want church to be meaningful. We want our experience of the gospel in community to be one which makes us think, helps us change, and develops genuine relationships. We want to be part of a living body, where we contribute, receive, and commit to building something lasting for God’s glory. We were made for depth. The gospel community, the local church, should surely be that place where we can help and be helped and encouraged to know God deeply and be deeply satisfied in him and committed to him together. Shallow Church, though, can be equally alluring. Of course, there’s something perverse in each of us. We all have those impulses for easy, quick-fix sermons. We often long for a church which just glides along, which we can duck in and out of with little commitment, savouring the delicacies of tasty, pre-prepared ministries just right for us. We shy away from the costliness of true relationships. We are scared of exposing who we really are to others, and sometimes equally scared of finding out just what sins and struggles others have. All too often we want to skim the surface. Bible, relationships, commitment: Deep Church is true community No. Let’s go deeper. Let’s protest against shallow ministry, easy answers [1] to the incredibly complicated demands of being a Christian. Let’s fight the temptation to keep friendships shallow. I wonder, could you look at these two lists? Could you check yourself alongside the descriptions, and be honest about where you see yourself? Let’s try it: In Shallow Church — We are commitment-shy. We prioritise attending meetings against building friendships. We seldom open our homes to others. We’re content to live as polite strangers with each other. We come together to affirm what we already know about the gospel. In Deep Church — We increase our involvement in church, not because of what we can get, but because of what we can give. We come to meetings purposefully looking out for others to encourage. We treasure others enough to invite them into our homes and lives. We count deepening relationships as the focus of growth in Christ, and as a sign of his Spirit’s work. We gather in order to learn, be shaped by and encouraged in the gospel, so that we can live it out more fully. The difference between Shallow Church and Deep Church is as big as the Universe. There’s a world of difference between reluctant attendance and wholehearted commitment. Our calling—in the midst of life’s tears and storms—is to be a community with such a love for Christ that seeking him and sharing are our controlling desire. Deep still calls to deep, as seekers discover and celebrate (Psa. 42:7). •• LEWIS ALLEN describes himself as a ‘Christian, lover of the Reformed Faith, and all- round enthusiast for life in Jesus Christ.’ Formerly pastor of Gunnersbury Baptist Church in London, he was called to plant Hope Church, Huddersfield, Yorkshire, in 2010. He is a Board Member of the London Theological Seminary, and the Assistant Director of the Christian Ministry Training Course. This article was posted on his ‘Reclaimed’ blog in February 2014, and is used with his kind permission. www.lewisallen.org www.hopechurchhd.org [2] THE COWANS AT LARGE uring July, The Grain Game led two weeks of ‘Friendship Camp’ in DSistarovat, Romania. The first week was spent with children from very poor backgrounds and children from a local orphanage, while the second week was spent with children who were there with their church. As well as doing our normal Grain Game programme, at night and in the morning in our small groups we were focusing on our theme verse of Micah 6:8, ‘He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?’ The pictures are of ourselves with our small groups from the second week. Alex with the ‘Samurai’ At the time of writing, we are back in Glenrothes, preparing for Grain Game Scotland, which Alex will be leading, 13-15 August. Our work in Africa will begin later in August. There are lots of details and logistics still needing to be resolved over the coming weeks so this will also take up a lot of time. [3] Mary Beth with the ‘Musketeers’ How you can pray for us • Pray for God to lead us in the camp in Scotland and that God will use this time with the children of Glenrothes to plant a seed in their hearts. • Pray that all our plans for Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Rwanda will come to completion in God’s complete sovereignty. • Pray for Alex, as we are still working towards gaining a visa for the States, and there has been no end of trouble. Pray that from now on the process will be smooth and will come to a speedy resolution. Because they haven’t heard, Alex and Mary Beth Cowan [4] from the Treasurer ust to update everyone on the finances of the church, Jhere is a list of the average offerings from April to July. Gift Aid returns for January to March were £3458.75 and for April to June, £2825.75. As you can see we only reached budget for one month in this period; however, the Gift Aid returns have made a huge difference to the overall figures. Month Average weekly offering (£) April ’14 1753.23 May 1796.70 June 1486.29 July 1718.49 BUDGET £1754 per week Well done to everyone who gave towards the Anniversary Thanksgiving Offering, which was to help toward the new heating system that we would hope to install before winter. One of our largest costs is for oil for the heating. We hoped to get £4000, and including the Gift Aid returns we have £5064.40. Apart from our usual costs over the last four months we have given gifts to Bethany Christian Trust and UCCF. We had another work party to do some of the repairs required to the building, and bought a set of scaffolding to allow us to change the projector bulbs instead of getting a company in to do it. We have bought a new photocopier as the old one was obsolete. As we own 22% of the manse we have paid 22% of the costs towards a new bathroom for Jacob and the family. We also helped with the costs for Jacob to go on a ministry trip to Romania, which he did as part of his annual holidays. We have had the accountants to pay (the Accounts for 2012/13 have been approved by OSCR). And we have had costs for the Sunday School prize-giving, and towards the Baptist Assembly. Helen Clarkson [5] BAPTISMS Marlyn Murphy 13 April 2014 With Rev Jim Turrent (Central Baptist Church, Dundee), our Anniversary preacher ‘My salvation did not come from any of my works but from the amaz- ing grace of God I now know and love. My life is now in his hands as I have confessed with my mouth and I believe in my heart. Today I take up my cross and follow Jesus.’ [6] Marlyn’s testimony (extract) was first baptised when I was 6 years old on Sunday 13th April I 1980—exactly 34 years ago to this day. I had one older sister, Michelle. We learned about God from our par- ents. At that time I knew about God, but I did not know God. I never thought I could ever have a personal relationship with God. I didn’t understand that Jesus died for my sins. I married young. I was 20 years old and then had my daughter Nyomi. I truly believed I would be married for life, so it broke my heart to end my marriage in divorce after 8 years. I was then a single parent truly seeking for healing and love in all the wrong places. The years of my early 30s found me looking for answers and hope from reading my own tarot cards—using crystals and gem stones— contacting psychics for readings—visiting spiritualist churches. I was led into Reiki [palm-healing, originally a Buddhist practice] which I believed was a way of finding healing.