Good Morning, I'm Chris and this week I'll be posting from Hadleigh Baptist Church in Suffolk giving you a taste of the ways we try to serve Jesus in our town. If you want to know more about us this is us!
Morning all!
I'm Richard Baxter (
@notthatrbaxter
), Pastor for Outreach at Carey Baptist Church, Reading (
@careybc
)
I'm the first host named Richard, and the first Pastor for Outreach on this account, so hopefully there'll be a little diversity at least in content I'm sharing.
Do you want to be encouraged by how the Lord is at work across the UK?
At
@OurLocalChurch
, weekly guests will tweet about their churches, with a focus on nondenominational evangelicalism.
A bit like
@OurCofELike
, but with more checked shirts and chinos.
More details soon!
Morning everyone, I’m Steve Crosthwaite. Pastor at Hollywood Christian Life Centre (south Birmingham, not LA!)
I’ll be sharing a bit of what goes on in Hollywood this week.
Good morning!
I have some more exciting things to share today, and I will also give you a video tour of our building.
Also: the meds next to my tea are 150mg sertraline. So here's your periodic reminder that pastors get depressed too, and that's ok. Jesus still loves us.
Good morning!
I'm the first guest host, Adam Thomas (
@AdamMerrivale
).
I'm the pastor of
@LitchardMission
in Bridgend, Wales.
We're affiliated with
@theFIEC
, so I'll also give you a window into their national conference.
I have a wife, 2 children and 100s of detective novels
International rugby referee
@Nigelrefowens
"The changes the Welsh Government are putting on us are not fair, and we must stand against that to force change in the Welsh Government but what's important is the way we do it ... The world population is growing. No farmers: no food"
This week I (
@Tim__Ambrose
) will be sharing a window into what God is doing in and through Grace Community Church, Tipton* (
@GraceCCTipton
) in the Black Country.
*that's just outside Birmingham - between Brum and Wolverhampton - for most people I guess!
This is our chapel, where people have been worshipping since 1939.
Our morning begins with a time of prayer at 10am, followed by refreshments at 10.30, and the service at 11am.
We're currently in a series in the Hallel psalms (113-118), and today will be looking at Psalm 116
This week our guest host is...
Tim Wilson (
@uk_timwilson
)
I'm a pastor at Wheelock Heath Baptist Church in Cheshire, UK
This week I'll be sharing a little about life in ministry at our local church
Monday is normally a quiet work day, but today I'm embarking on a 5-hour train journey to Blackpool for a 3-day
@theFIEC
Leaders Conference
I'll be sharing some highlights from the sessions, as well as some of the architecture, food and people
#FIECLeadersConference2023
Hello! I'm
@RyanBurtonKing
. I've lived in Haringey, London for almost 21 years, where I've serve over 10 years as pastor of
@gracewoodgreen
. God is faithful. I'm looking forward to introducing you to life and ministry here this week.
This week our guest host is...
Alistair Chalmers (
@ASChalmers
)
I'm the Pastor of Ferniehill Evangelical Church, Edinburgh 🏴
This week you get to join me and see into my life and ministry at Ferniehill.
My time on this account is drawing to an end! There's much I've not said, and I haven't skimmed the surface of what God is doing in and through
@gracewoodgreen
. But I hope despite what I've lacked in depth, it's been an encouraging glimpse at the breadth of ministry here.
Good morning!
Time for today's first mug of tea.
(I realise some UK pastors drink coffee instead of tea, which I find an odd decision.)
I hope you enjoy following my day, which will be quite different from usual...
👀
Bore da! My name is Simon Bowkett. I'm married with 4 grown-up offspring. We've been in pioneer ministry (we don't say 'planting') since 1985 and since 2004 we've been pioneering Christian communities in rural Wales through rural chaplaincy ministries for
Each Sunday starts with an informal meeting around pastries and coffee. The music group did this occasionally, then a couple of others started coming, and now it's a regular feature. I love it because Sunday starts with friendship, laughter, and prayer.
This week our guest host is Tim Diaper (
@TimDiaper
), Lead Pastor of King's Church Flitwick.
This week you'll hear something about what our church is like, how we seek to serve Jesus and make him known in our community.
Pic is me with my wonderful wife, Beth.
One of the great things about conferences like this is catching up with friends from elsewhere in the UK.
This week's dinner companion is the wonderful
@petekillingley
, who currently works with
@careorguk
Can churches survive a break with the Church of England?
I can confidently say "Yes!".
Because my church began breaking away in 1662.
Here is the origin story of Wheelock Heath Church...
Many people are anxious about walking into church for the first time.
I like to make videos to try and break down those fear barriers and make going to church less daunting.
This week our guest host is Jim Sayers (
@JDSayersMish
), pastor of Grace Church Didcot, a Grace Baptist church plant in west Didcot, South Oxfordshire.
Having featured some old, established churches, this is a small church plant of less than 30 people that started in 2019.
Today, I'm beginning recordings for a Christmas podcast called "Need I Say Myrrh?"
Every day during Advent, I'll be releasing short interviews with Christians about some of their festive likes and dislikes.
It was a joy to do the first interview today with
@DanRhysJames
Friday night is our youth group, Impact
We have a great group of young people - they're not normally in a church building on Sundays, but they join us on a Friday for some activities, snacks and a short talk about Jesus.
Please pray for the Impact team as they run this tonight!
I produce a booklet for each series we do. It has introductions to each passage, space for sermon notes and questions for the home groups or personal reflection.
In an attempt to keep myself from giving a false perception, I didn’t enjoy preaching today and don’t think I did a great job—felt flat and a bit stale. We had quite a few people away this morning so it felt very empty, which didn’t help. But… God is good and he was praised
Welcome to Our Local Church! This week we're coming off the M1 at junctions 9, 10 and 11 going to Dunstable.
Hi! I'm Steve Neal and I serve as Pastor to the Community / Evangelist. Follow along as we seek to bring the Hope of Christ from the heart of Dunstable.
This week our guest host is Tim Whitton (
@eaststreettim
), pastor of East Street Baptist Church in London.
This week you'll hear how we're trying to serve Jesus in an incredibly diverse and sometimes pretty rough part of South East London.
This is Ferniehill Evangelical Church in the South of Edinburgh. 2023 was a big year for us, we just moved back into our renovated building and they employed me as their first Pastor. Here's what we did as a church family yesterday...
This morning, we dedicated little Elsie-Rose to God, grieved with a family who lost their beloved Father and Grandfather and prayed for a lady who received sad news about her health on Friday morning. "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."
Another highlight of my day was meeting up with
@Jonathan_Black_
, a local Apostolic minister
I'm really grateful for the unity among evangelical churches in Bridgend. It's great to be able to enjoy fellowship and mutual encouragement with other ministers like this
The Chapel stands in an area where a lot of new houses are being built. No meetings here since COVID lockdown. They are keen for change and for new people to take things forward. Please pray?
Sisters and brothers, I'd so appreciate your prayers today
This afternoon some of us will head into Reading town centre to raise awareness of the nature and scale of abortion in the UK, and help people consider the value of human life
(1)
Sorry to be so controversial but to help me get a sermon written this afternoon, and to aid ecumenical efforts, I have made myself a cup of tea AND a cup of coffee.
Snapshots from
@gracewoodgreen
church life. We are in many ways reflective of the variety of cultures and classes that are in Wood Green. We are all very different from each other, but those differences needn't divide: Christ draws us near to God and each other.
Ironically, I'm not at my own church today.
Due to the FIEC leaders conference, we're having a "Pass the Pastor" weekend.
@parkchurchstoke
is in Stoke. It's a growing church and recently planted a new one.
It's more ethnically diverse than home, so I love going.
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten,
Throughout heav’n’s eternal days.
A 1,000 strong choir at the
#FIECLeadersConference2023
.
Tomorrow is my day off - and it's a day when Jamie's off work too. We try and spend some time together while Aoife's at school - usually walking the dog then eating together and watching some relaxing TV.
But the one thing that always surprises me about Fridays is...
This week our guest host is Matthew Weston (
@matthewweston
), a pastor at Grove Hill Evangelical Church in South Woodford, East London. Follow along for a slice of church life in outer London, and our work together with other churches in the area to make Jesus known.
Been at a Thanksgiving Service this afternoon for the life of a church member named Charles. Here are his two children speaking about his life; as his daughter said, "Dad would have wanted this service to point not to him, but to his Saviour".
Praise be to God, it did.
This week, you're in Leicester at Eyres Monsell Community Church (
@ForTheMonsell
) - a new church (launched January 8th this year).
Don't know what this week holds yet, but I'll strive to show you the ins and outs!
This was supposed to be posted this morning, but a broken starter motor scuppered things somewhat. I know previous posters on here have extolled the virtues of coffee. This is my position on the matter. Tea. Every. Time.
First thing on Thursdays is one of the highlights of my week. This hall is packed with 200+ pupils, and I get to teach them the bible. Every week. For 5 years I've done this. It's the school I used to teach in, so it's very special to me. This term we're doing the life of Moses.
Part of the pastors role is to visit the dying.Yesterday I visited an elderly member who is nearing the end of her life in a local nursing home.She will soon be at peace. It reminds me that death is wrong,we were never meant to die,and that the resurrection is beyond amazing
One of the things that has come through with real clarity for me in the last few days is that a lot of the work a local church does is often relatively unseen, usually non-glamourous and in the main non-shareable
In 2020,
@gracewoodgreen
sent out Adrian and Abigail Yeboah to church planting ministry in the Netherlands, where Adrian is now leading a church revitalisation in Amsterdam. This morning I met with Adrian over Zoom, as I do every two weeks, to provide pastoral care and counsel.
One of our Monday Club team started to coming to church after her kids came to Monday Club.
She came to a Carol service, did Christianity Explored, was saved!
She started to serve here and was baptised about 18 months ago! God is good.
Today I'm off to London for a Trust Board meeting for Daylight Christian Prison Trust. Daylight works to proclaim the gospel to men and women in prison through Sunday services, Bible studies, chaplaincy work and other increasingly creative ventures.
This is East Street Baptist Church. We sit right in the heart of East Street Market, famous for two things: 1) It's one of the oldest continually running markets in London (dates back to the 17th century), and 2) Charlie Chaplin was born in East Street...
The elders at Carey have kindly enabled me to spend time on Monday mornings reading / researching for a book that I'll be writing.
Hoping to make a bit of a dent on the pile this morning!
Over an hour just now meeting with a man, not from a religious much less Christian background, who recently began seeking the Lord and has come to faith. He has been watching our services online. Loads of great new Christian questions and showing a good grasp of Scripture.
Time for the school run!
We walk through the church car park to get to school - and so do lots of other families. So when the weather allows, we sometimes run activities afterschool in our car park, with games and a book table.
Tonight I'm at Grace Church Sandbach.
6 years ago today, our church planted it. It's now a thriving church.
Going there feels like a family reunion!
On a Sunday evening they meet in Sandbach Town Hall:
Good morning!
Here is my B&B mug of tea, together with the schedule for day 2 of
@theFIEC
Leaders Conference (which is handily printed on the inside of our name lanyards)
It was a really encouraging first day - just great to be with 1000-ish other people making Jesus known
Next week I've got the privilege of visiting our local primary school to do an assembly for them - I'm doing 6 this year. I've also been asked to talk to the year 1 children about what it means to belong to a church. It's great to have this connection with the community
9am this morning - marriage counselling call. Not a single year of pastoral ministry has passed without multiple marriages in crisis. Many common themes, mostly stemming from men who profess Christ not pursuing Christlikeness by submitting to Christ's commands.
Sarah still struggles and it has taken a toll on both of us, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. Please pray that God would keep us both (along with ESBC) looking to Christ and trusting him for everything.
Thanks for being with us this week...
I'm a pastor but also a parent with 2 adopted daughters who have additional needs. We had a review meeting at school yesterday for our eldest, and we're back this morning for a review meeting for our youngest.
The problem with tweeting about what I'm doing is: when I'm doing it, I forget to tweet about it
The Oasis is a main area of ministry I'm involved in. Carey were able to buy this old pub building, then about 11 years ago open it up for community engagement & into evangelism
Tonight we have a members' meeting. We're voting on an assistant pastor and 4 new people coming into membership.
In an independent church, the congregation have final say.
We also sing, have a devotion and pray because this is still church not just a business meeting.
On a Monday, is our toddler group "Little Fishes"
Under 5s come with their mums, dads, grandparents and even great-grandparents
The session includes a Bible story and a craft for those that are able.
But the relationships built are the most important
This Sunday we baptise a young woman who has trusted in Jesus.
As Baptists we don't baptise babies, only those who believe.
I'm not here to debate that, but I would like to show you what a baptism looks like...
Every Tuesday, King's Cafe opens its doors. Lots of people from the church family and the wider community pop in for good coffee and delicious home-made cakes. For many people, it's their first time in our building, and so an opportunity to make some good connections.
I didn't manage to get any photos of people at church today, but here's the building the church has been meeting in on Sundays for a little over 150 years.
The building is on Carey Street, which was named after the church rather than vice versa.
Earlier, I met with pastors from other local churches
Denominations vary. Personal needs, denominational needs and church needs are shared and prayed for
Do pray for one brother starting radiotherapy this week (won't share names publicly but God knows the name)
Today is a big day in our house! It's Aoife's 8th Birthday!! And as my primary 'church' is our family, we love to make a big deal of it! So it was up early for Pan Au Chocolats and Smoothies. And some presents. As an only child, she's very spoilt...!
Good morning!
I have a few exciting things on the schedule to share today, and will also share some more reflections on the FIEC Conference.
I got home at 8.30pm last night - hope other conference attendees arrived home safely too!
Welcome to Moorside Church in Drighlington! We're between Leeds & Bradford, just off junction 27 of the M62. We'll be sharing news, info, updates this week.
Keep checking in, there may be some videos...!
Come and join me for a 4-part video tour of
@LitchardMission
Let me know if there's anything else you want to know about our building and facilities!
🧵
I have been at a local conference with Open Doors this morning hearing more about what is happening in Malaysia.
We in the West have no idea what many of our brothers and sisters have to go through.
I went to a very helpful and provocative (in a good way) seminar earlier, about welcoming those with neurodivergence. The seminar was led by Kay Morgan-Gurr from the Additional Needs Alliance.
This is an important area that evangelicals need to think more about
Tonight is our elders meeting.
We have 3 elders.
Myself (paid) and two others (unpaid).
We have equal authority in the church.
But what does the meeting look like?
Tonight is Monday Club! The fastest hour of my week!
Around 40 children (5-11), nearly all unchurched. We have games, craft, free play, Bible story and I absolutely love it!
We have three groups all running at the same time on rotation.
This evening it was good to visit
@HighfieldsCDF
.
This must be probably the biggest evangelical church in Wales.
We often meet people here who have migrated out of rural Wales but who still view their family's village as 'home'.
In June 2023, after a couple of years of prayerful preparation, we set apart 8 members of
@gracewoodgreen
to plant a church in Enfield Lock. Here's one of a few illustrated threads I wrote in the early days of the work outlining our approach.
Who plants churches? Who is planting Grace Church Enfield Lock?
1. Gospel churches plant churches.
See Acts 13: a Spirit-attentive local church sets apart and sends out Paul and Barnabas to plant churches. So, we can say
@gracewoodgreen
is planting Grace Church Enfield Lock.
It never feels finished. And so a day off sometimes can feel like a day where I wish I was working. I'm still surprised at the constant feeling of pressure that I feel - and I think a lot of pastors feel. And I know the theology and truth behind that: but it doesn't stop feelings
Our basic strategy is to gather people for micro-church around kitchen tables (etc) in areas of low population density and support them through mission hubs meeting in market towns.
We had one in the orange place on Llandovery Mkt Sq until COVID with about 30 there on Sundays.
Obviously, I can't come to Blackpool without showing you some pretty lights.
Later this evening, hundreds of pastors will be here praying together for the UK.
Sadly I need to head back to the B&B with some paracetamol and hot chocolate instead.
See you tomorrow!
After a normal morning of school drop-off and quiet time, I'm working this morning from a local café - Tony's. I try and get here most weeks, as it's one of the few 'third spaces' on the estate where I can be out in public and meet people.
After a full evening at our Church meeting last night, where we covered a lot of ground and ran rather late, today has been quiet. I've been preparing ministry for a wedding on Friday, and leafletting with my wife and two others. We made a start on a cold foggy mo rning.
The Ukraine trip Ive been organising today is at the invitation of the head of church planting for the Ukrainian Union of Evangelical Christians - Baptists. They will be holding a summit 22-24 March in Kyiv as they seek to reach 100,000 people by planting 1000 churches by 2036.
Here's a preview of the running order for this morning's first session. I'm sharing it for two reasons:
1) I'm on it at 0941
2) It's a reminder of all the people behind the scenes who make conferences like this happen - the planners, the stage manager, the A/V team...
...super capable. We're not. We're winging it! With God's help and in faith in him: but it's both harder than it can look, and more brilliant than it can seem.
So... pray for your pastor this week. Maybe give him a hug. Encourage him after his sermon. Thank him for it.
Today is primarily a study and preparation day. On my list to finalise or work on: Sunday sermon, next sermon series, a later sermon series, 4 teaching sessions tomorrow, and a young adult conference in a couple of weeks. Will share more as the day progresses!
It's been interesting to hear some of the history of the churches on this account, so here's ours.
King's Church Flitwick was established in 1907. At that point Flitwick was a small village and Christians travelled to other local villages to attend church on Sundays.
Tonight's prayer meeting was led by Ryan Edwards. Our weekly prayer meetings involve a time of bringing prayer requests to the Lord, calling on someone to voice the church's prayer for each item, then praying through a Psalm (Pslam 91 tonight) in smaller groups.
Another thing that happened at
@LitchardMission
today was our Wednesday Coffee Morning
It's a group of mainly over-70s, some churchgoers and others not, who come together for coffee and chat
We also sing a few hymns and have a short talk
It's one of the highlights of my week!
We have a new group of people among us, who all know each other through the 12-steps fellowships as recovering addicts. They are lovely, spiritually hungry, and so ready for the gospel. Question is: which course to use to explain it to them? We've met on Thurs evenings.
Before the evening service, we've got a Bible study group of lads looking to be baptised which is a real joy.
Spread over Easter and the following weeks we are looking to have 8/9 baptisms.
We are praising God for the work he is doing in their lives all through his grace.
I hope you've enjoyed getting an insight into our ministry in Bridgend, and the joy of independent evangelical leaders conferences.
Here's your final opportunity to ask anything else you want to know before my time on this account comes to an end in a few hours...
👀
Let me tell you a bit about our situation in Didcot as its my day off. We live on Great Western Park, named after the railway that defined the town, though a long walk from the station. This Taylor Wimpey development has been well laid out with lots of green space.