Mark's Back

September 4th, 2023

Dear church family,

Mark is back after his Sabbatical! It is also that time of year where children go back to school, and life gets back into the swing of things after the summer.

I hope that you all found time to rest as we had a season of Selah over the summer and are now ready to dive back into our routines. However, as life and church return to their normal patterns, this should not come at the cost of rest and time spent with the Father. Our priority should be cultivating our relationship with Jesus and growing as disciples in our day-to-day lives.

What are your rhythms of spending time with Him and finding rest?

What do you want those patterns to look like?

As we resume our daily routines, let's prioritise our devotional practices, time spent in prayer, and resting in His presence (which could include worshipping with your church family, taking a prayer walk in nature or other activities) to maintain healthy rhythms and balance in our lives. This also ensures that we don't operate in our own strength but in His. We must continuously cultivate our personal spiritual growth through reading our Bibles, praying, worshipping, and spending time with God. We can hinder it by sacrificing our devotional times on the altar of busyness and apathy.

As it says in Matthew 6:33, 'Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.' In our day-to-day lives we should seek Him first and everything else will fall into it's rightful place.

With love,

Katie x

SUNDAY GATHERING 10:30AM Join us this Sunday as we begin a 3 week sermon series on Spiritual Warfare. For those who are unable to attend in person please join us on YouTube:https://youtu.be/i6BUcX3SaXk

YOUTH IS BACK beginning today all our usual youth programs are back after the summer break (except for Friday the 8th as it is Ammy & Liam's wedding). This includes BLAZE which is for years 6-8 on Sunday mornings, FURNACE for years 9-13 on a Monday night from 7-9pm, and IGNITE for years 7-13 on Friday evenings from 7-9pm. The young people can find out more information on these various groups by joining the respective chat on our church app. Otherwise email katie@willesboroughbaptist.church.

GIVING SUNDAY 24th September a letter has been sent out this week regarding giving Sunday so keep an eye out for that in the post and ahead of Sunday the 24th be praying about how much God wants you to give towards the Mezzanine and future building opportunities. Beginning on the 18th September we will be having a week of prayer ahead of giving Sunday - will let you know more information about that soon.

EXPLORING BAPTISM beginning this Sunday on teams we have our first of 4 sessions on Exploring Baptism - if you plan to attend please let Katie know: katie@willesboroughbaptist.church.

VISION LUNCHES if you are new, newish or thinking about membership come along to the Vision Lunches and sign up here: https://willesboroughbaptistchurch.churchsuite.com/events/e31fkdpm

Givaudan 10K Training Run - For those thinking of running in the Givaudan 10K road race on 8th October (or if you would like to run with others), Rachel invites you to join her for some training runs starting from the church car park on Thursdays at 6:30pm. Contact Rachel for more details on 07754 032449.

Givaudan 10K Road Race - Sunday 8th October 2023
The route for this run starts at the Julie Rose stadium and comes directly past church. Last year we set up an extra support 'Hype' station. This was a fantastic opportunity for us to be out there with our community supporting a local event. We provided water, sweets, music and most importantly, supporting the runners as they came up the hill with lots of encouragement! We had so many appreciative comments from runners last year and we will be supporting them again this year. More details to follow....
If you would like to take part as a runner, the run is open to all abilities; details are: https://www.sportingeventsuk.com/enter-an-event/givaudan-ashford-10k

"The 'Real' Meal"
Men getting real with God and one another. Come and quench your thirst, enjoy some food, make new friends and chill out together.
Where? Woolpack Pub, Smeeth & Brabourne Lees.
When? 7pm for 7:30pm on 4th September, then 1st Monday of each month until the end of the year.
Great grub - £10 each
Please let office@willesboroughbaptist.church or Ben Oliver, Mark Giles and Jerry Newson know by the Friday before each event if you are coming.