Issue 28, January 2015 Winchmore Hill Baptist Church Magazine

Issue028

Andy’s message

Announcements and news of the family

Missionary news

Feature

Diary

Poem

Contents

Flower rota and services

ContributorsAndy PotterAndrew ForsterRachel ForsterBinnie WestonJenny LaneJean Daniels

Editors noteIt’s the first Spotlight of the New Year!

A New Year brings with it new hopes and dreams for people all around the world.Although we may often live in uncertainty, hoping for a better tomorow, we must remember one thing is for sure and that is God has already planned all our tomorrows, we just have to trust him today.

We wish a beautiful tomorrow for everyone at Winchmore Hill Baptist Church and we hope the year ahead brings you peace and joy.

God Bless, Derek and Serena

The copy deadline for the February issue of Spotlight is Friday 23rd January 2015

Cover image - Aspen Morning by Donna L. Martin

A Prayer for the New YearThis prayer is part of a longer prayer which was written by Billy Graham and published in The Saturday Post in 2008. I hope that you will find it useful as you begin 2015.

Our Father and our God, as we stand at the beginning of this new year we confess our need of Your presence and Your guidance as we face the future.

We each have our hopes and expectations for the year that is ahead of us—but You alone know what it holds for us, and only You can give us the strength and the wisdom we will need to meet its challenges. So help us to humbly put our hands into Your hand, and to trust You and to seek Your will for our lives during this coming year.

In the midst of life’s uncertainties in the days ahead, assure us of the certainty of Your unchanging love.

In the midst of life’s inevitable disappointments and heartaches, help us to turn to You for the stability and comfort we will need.

In the midst of life’s temptations and the pull of our stubborn self-will, help us not to lose our way but to have the courage to do what is right in Your sight, regardless of the cost.

And in the midst of our daily preoccupations and pursuits, open our eyes to the sorrows and injustices of our hurting world, and help us to respond with compassion and sacrifice to those who are friendless and in need. May our constant prayer be that of the ancient Psalmist: “Teach me, O Lord, to follow your decrees; then I will keep them to the end” (Psalm 119:33).

As we look back over this past year we thank You for Your goodness to us—far beyond what we have deserved. May we never presume on Your past goodness or forget all Your mercies to us, but may they instead lead us to repentance, and to a new commitment to make You the foundation and centre of our lives this year.

Message from Andy

And so, our Father, we thank You for the promise and hope of this new year, and we look forward to it with expectancy and faith. This we ask in the name of our Lord and Saviour, who by His death and resurrection has given us hope both for this world and the world to come.

Shalom,Andy

The Week of Prayer for Christian UnityThis takes place between 18th and 25th January. On 18th January, many of the local ministers will be participating in our annual ‘pulpit exchange.’ Andy will be preaching across the road at Holy Trinity Church, Winchmore Hill, whilst we will be blessed by the ministry of Canon Shaun Lennard, Parish Priest at St. Monica’s Roman Catholic Church.

There will also be a morning prayer meeting at 8.30 am. The venues are:

Monday 19th January, Palmers Green URC, Fox Lane N13

Tuesday 20th January, Winchmore Hill Baptist Church, Compton Road N21 Wednesday 21st January, Grange Park Methodist Church, Old Park Ridings N21 Thursday 22nd January, St John’s Church of England, Bourne Hill N21 Friday 23rd January, St Paul’s Church of England, Church Hill N21 Saturday 24th January, St Monica’s Roman Catholic Church, Stonard Road N13. (with breakfast)

Peter and Janet Dallman, Japan

Following the success of the recent Marriage Course the Dallmans had planned a one day spiritual retreat for missionaries on the 30th December 2014. Praise God for his help and enabling. Chelsia, the new missionary from Singapore, has arrived safely at the centre. May she know God’s presence as she settles in to life at the centre.

Alaric Dunsmore-Rouse, the OMF Japan Language Adviser, has gone on Home Assignment for a year. Please pray for him as he spends time with family, supporters and churches. Haruhi Widmer will be working with the Dallmans in his absence. The plan is that she works at the centre for two days a week as Deputy Language Adviser (rather than full time). Please pray for her as she starts the new role and that the Dallmans, students and other teachers will all work well together.

A new Assistant called Miss Matsuhara has been appointed to work at the centre for two hours a day. The hope is that she will be able to help the Dallmans with the administration and perhaps, at a later date with some of the more practical aspects of the job. Please pray for enough help and support during a year when Alaric will be away and that the missionaries will be able to hear and follow God’s leading.

Betty Caplin, South Africa.

Betty sends her greetings asking that the Lord will give us a very blessed Christmas and 2015 full of lovely opportunities to serve him.

Betty thanks us for our prayers which mean very much to her. 2014 has been a difficult year in South Africa with strikes, much crime and unrest and dangerous roads. She usually drives on the smaller roads where it is more peaceful.

Missionary newsBy Rachel Forster

Betty hopes to attend the Dorothea Mission Days of Prayer from the 16th to the 18th January and asks specifically for prayer about her travel arrangements.

Please also pray for Anna, Bettty’s next door neightbour to whom Betty has grown close of late.

The new Emmaus Hospital buildings should soon be ready. This will extend the present intake which is necessary as Bergville and Winterton areas are vast with many families living further up in the mountainous areas. Please pray for the mothers with toddlers who have burns in the children’s wards. Please also pray for the patients in the TB wards that many will come to faith through the Scriptures in the cassettes and tracts they are given. There is a lot of multi-drug resistant TB in the wards and Betty has to wear a mask in those wards.

Betty continues to visit thirteen schools twice a month where possible. Precious still helps Betty with some of the school visits and has been very busy studying the Bible. She hopes that having a qualification in Bible knowledge will help her to get a post as a government teacher. Betty has included this encouraging verse in her recent letter:

“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

FeatureDoes Paul have anything to say about poverty?The Apostle has something both unique and relevant to contribute to our thinking on economic issues, argues Simon Jones, Revd and Ministry Team Leader at Bromley Baptist Church.

Everyone seems to have an opinion on the financial crisis. Economists and commentators, theologians and activists are pitching their ideas into the debate about how to make things better, fairer, more just.

One voice that’s curiously absent seems to be the apostle Paul’s. But I’ve made a stab at correcting that in a new booklet from Grove, for I believe that Paul has something both unique and relevant to contribute to our thinking on economic issues.

He was a manual worker who lived by making tents, shop awnings and other canvas and leather goods; if he didn’t make and sell his goods, he didn’t eat and couldn’t pay his rent. He lived like other artisans in the empire in a rented workshop, sleeping on a mezzanine floor above his bench, tools and canvas or in a room behind his workspace.

He bought his food at a street café if he’d made a sale and shared it with fellow craftworkers as they talked about Jesus and how they might embody his values in their lives.Paul lived in a world where an elite one-to-three per cent owned pretty much everything, called the shots and lived lives of hitherto unknown luxury.

The other 97-99 per cent got by as best they could. A few earned enough to enjoy a modest surplus – maybe a week’s cushion, a month’s in boom times; most scraped by a day at a time – if they got work today, they ate and kept the landlord happy till tomorrow.

So everything Paul says about money, he says against this background – a context that has a curiously modern ring to it.

Paul also joined a movement that already had some firm views about money. And economic justice, in the form of frequent acts of redistribution to ensure equality among his people, was at the heart of the Bible that Paul grew up reading.

The Sabbath cycle ensured that the poor were not neglected. Every harvest was to be taken in such a way that the crops at the edge of the fields were to be left for the poor to glean. Every seven years, the land was to be left fallow, allowing anything that grew on them to be picked by those without fields to work (Exodus 23:10-11; Leviticus 25:2-7). On top of that, slaves were to be released (Exodus 23:10-11; Deuteronomy 15:12-18). And debts were to be cancelled (Deuteronomy 15:1-6).

God’s idea seems to have been that no one, regardless of whether they’d brought it on themselves or not, was to be left in unsustainable debt and everlasting slavery. Grace was built into the economy.

Then every 50 years, everything was to return to how it was when the people entered the land. All the families would return to their portion of Israel. It was a reminder to the nation that the land belonged to God and they only worked it as tenants or stewards, managing it for their landlord, God (Leviticus 25:10-16).

Paul absorbed these radical economic values and they became the

bedrock of his understanding of how the Christian community should work. And while he outlines how the principles of mutuality and equality should work within the Christian community, he does so because he believes this to be God’s blueprint for human society everywhere.

It’s interesting that Steve Keen, professor of economics and finance at the University of Western Sydney, has suggested total debt cancellation as a way of getting the global economy out of the mess it’s been pitched into by an over-reliance on debt-financing of everything! He argues that a debt jubilee is politically improbable because it would cause the failure of many banks. But the alternative is a decade of economic stagnation with the poor picking up the tab for the rich world over-dosing on debt.

I can see Paul nodding in the door of his tent…

In Galatians 2:10, 5:13-14 and 6:7-10 Paul outlines an ethic based on mutual sharing and seeking the good of others – especially those in the household of faith. In Philippians 2:1-4 he argues that we should seek one another’s interests rather than our own, since through Jesus we have been freed from sin and competition and he offers his own life as an example of being content with our economic circumstances because

God will provide all that we need to live in the context of thanking them for sharing economically with him while he was in need (4:10-20).

And in 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 we have an outline of the heart of his thinking about money and mutualism that is based on the key jubilee principles of release and restoration. By the grace of God, the Macedonians have been released from the prevailing greed of the culture, freed to share their surplus with those in need, so that they in turn might have a measure of prosperity restored to them. And at the heart of this vision is equality (v13-15).For Paul the simple principle that everyone should have what they need and share what is left over with those who are in need determines our economic relationships. He was gathering support for believers in Judea because they were hammered by hunger and a crashing economy.

Paul’s economics are probably not directly transferable from his world to ours. But his was a world where government was weak and a wealthy minority called the shots; his was a world where the have-nots were hung out to dry by those who amassed wealth for themselves; and his was a world where the poor were squeezed by rising prices, high taxes and a lack of opportunity.

So perhaps his economic principles of mutualism and equality have something to say to our world of foodbanks, falling incomes, growing inequality and entrenched economic injustice. You can see if it does by reading Paul and Poverty: An evaluation of the Apostle’s Economic Location and Teaching (Grove Biblical Series B72) available from www.grovebooks.co.uk

Originally published in Baptist Times and written by The Revd Simon Jones is Ministry Team Leader at Bromley Baptist Church.

In last month’s spotlight we announced the safe arrival of Suki Khan to Charlotte and Zubair and brothers Raphael and Eli. We were able to welcome her in person as she performed her acting debut in the nativity play at the toy service on Sunday morning 14 December and, true to the words of the carol “no crying he/she made”

We have also been pleased to welcome a new Sri Lankan family, Kumar and his three children Olivia 10, Amos, 6 Aaron 5 and are glad to see them settling in happily and taking part in activities. It was also good to welcome back Kirk Edwards and his wife Dominique and his daughter Naamah (4). December was the month we saw the brief return of some of our university students including Chris and David Greenaway and it was good to catch up with their news.

With the arrival of Christmas cards come the newsletters and highlights of the year. Two former pastors Revd Ray Whitfield and Rev John Layzell have sent greetings and news. Ray has had a busy year including a memorable visit to Orissa, North India, as mentioned earlier in the year; Margaret was not well enough to go with him to India but they were both able to visit her brother John and wife Joan in Gorleston and later in the year went to Oxford to see granddaughter, Sarah, taking a leading role in a musical. Iain and Liz (Sarah’s parents) came over from the USA to see their daughter perform in the musical. Ray leads a fellowship group consisting of 7 Baptists, 3 Anglicans and 2 Methodists. He also does some preaching. Margaret sadly has had to handover the BMS birthday scheme to another former missionary. Through this scheme Margaret raised thousands of pounds over a number of years. We wish Ray and Margaret God’s richest blessings for 2015.

John and Judith Layzell’s (boys!), John and Andrew, are both doing well. Andrew has passed his Security Industry qualifications and since then has been doing various evening and night shifts, keeping people safe around Aldershot, Guildford, Haslemere and most recently Dorking with the aid of a German shepherd dog named She! John and Kate live in Basingstoke. John is still in the same Insurance Company though now in the IT department. He has passed the first year of the Open University Master’s Degree. Judith’s job came to an end in June when Surrey and Sussex Probation Trust ceased to exist. But three weeks later she began a two day a week contract for Kent, Surrey and Sussex Community Rehabilitation Company, where she will continue to work into 2015.

Judith trained to become a presenter for Bible Explorer (teaching Old Testament in primary schools). Since Sept she has joined John and another presenter in these lessons. John celebrated his 60th birthday November 2014 (Judith’s will be in December 2015).

In August they had a holiday club at church, enjoyed by both children and helpers. The church is growing and plans to develop the building are progressing slowly. We wish John, Judith and family God’s blessing for the future.

Announcements and News of the family

Written by Jenny Lane

Hazel March is now happily settled into her bungalow and the painting and decorating is complete. She has been to a neighbourhood meeting and met some of the neighbours who seem very friendly. Hazel is still deciding between 2 churches in the area. Andrew and Rachel Forster will be visiting her again some time and will be able to give us updates on her news. We pray for God’s blessing on Hazel as she continues to adjust to her new life in the UK.

John Melbourne has received further good news from his last blood test which shows no sign of cancerous cells. We give thanks and praise to God. John will continue to have blood tests 3 monthly and CT scans 6 monthly. We pray for John, Debbie and the family for God’s continued blessing.

Folk in need of prayer at this time include Joy and Arthur Shriever, Winnifred Hines, Dorothy Wisdom, Maureen Owers, Nesta Gibbs, Audrey Norman and all the Potter family especially Esther, as she continues to have further investigation. We pray for the Lord’s blessing and healing.

We also remember Susan (Jean Blaxland’s daughter in law) who is making slow progress after her stroke, and her husband Stuart; and Veronica Henly who is awaiting the results of an MRI scan. We pray for God’s blessing, healing and peace.

Keith and Barbara ask that we please pray for Helen Foster as she prepares for her departure from UK in January.

the son - A short StoryAuthor Unknown

A wealthy man and his son loved to collect rare works of art. They had everything in their collection, from Picasso to Raphael. They would often sit together and admire the great works of art. When the Vietnam conflict broke out, the son went to war.

He was very courageous and died in battle while rescuing another soldier. The father was notified and grieved deeply for his only son.

About a month later, just before Christmas, there was a knock at the door. A young man stood at the door with a large package in his hands.He said, “Sir, you don’t know me, but I am the soldier for whom your son gave

his life. He saved many lives that day, and he was carrying me to safety when a bullet struck him in the heart and he died instantly.

He often talked about you, and your love for art.” The young man held out this package. “I know this isn’t much. I’m not really a great artist, but I think your son would have wanted you to have this.”

The father opened the package. It was a portrait of his son, painted by the young man. He stared in awe at the way the soldier had captured the personality of his son in the painting.

The father was so drawn to the eyes that his own eyes welled up with tears. He thanked the young man and offered to pay him for the picture. “Oh, no sir, I could never repay what your son did for me. It’s a gift”.

The father hung the portrait over his mantle. Every time visitors came to his home he took them to see the portrait of his son before he showed them any of the other great works he had collected.

The man died a few months later. There was to be a great auction of his paintings. Many influential people gathered, excited over seeing the great paintings and having an opportunity to purchase one for their collection.

On the platform sat the painting of the son. The auctioneer pounded his gavel. We will start the bidding with this picture of the son.

Who will bid for this picture?” There was silence.

Then a voice in the back of the room shouted, “We want to see the famous paintings. Skip this one.”

But the auctioneer persisted. “Will someone bid for this painting? Who will start the bidding? $100, $200?” Another voice shouted angrily. We didn’t come to see this painting. We came to see the Van Goghs, the Rembrandts. Get on with the real bids!”

But still the auctioneer continued. “The son! The son! Who’ll take the son?”

Finally, a voice came from the very back of the room. It was the longtime gardener of the man and his son. “I’ll give $10 for the painting.” Being a poor man, it was all he could afford.

“We have $10, who will bid $20?”

“Give it to him for $10. Let’s see the masters!” someone shouted.

“$10 is the bid, won’t someone bid $20?”

The crowd was becoming angry. They didn’t want the picture of the son. They wanted the more worthy investments for their collections.

The auctioneer pounded the gavel. “Going once, twice, SOLD for $10!”

A man sitting on the second row shouted, “Now let’s get on with the collection!”

The auctioneer laid down his gavel. “I’m sorry, the auction is over.”

“What about the paintings?”

“I am sorry. When I was called to conduct this auction, I was told of a secret stipulation in the will. I was not allowed to reveal that stipulation until this time. Only the painting of the son would be auctioned. Whoever bought that painting would inherit the entire estate, including the paintings. The man who took the son gets every thing!”

God gave His son 2,000 years ago to die on a cruel cross.

Much like the auctioneer, His message today is: “The son, the son, who’ll take the son?” Because, you see, whoever takes the Son gets everything.

-----

“ He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.” - 1 John 5:12

Christian New Year’s ResolutionsHow can I use the New YearTo better serve my Lord?I’ll read my Bible every day,And be more in accord.

I’ll find new ways to serve others;I’ll love my neighbour, too.I’ll focus on “give” instead of “get”In everything I do.

I’ll forgive the people I’m mad at;Angry feelings I’ll discard;I’ll try to love my enemies,Even though it’s hard.

In the new year, I’ll lift people up,Instead of putting them down.I’ll fill my heart with love and joy,And never wear a frown.

I’ll let go of my worries;I’ll put it all in His hands;I’ll repent and try to sin less,And obey all His commands.

These new year’s resolutionsAre difficult, at best,But there’s something I can do each dayThat will put my soul at rest:

I’ll love my Lord with all my heart,With all my mind and soul,And if I do that essential thing,All the rest will be in control.

Poem

© Joanna Fuchs

Church services

Regular activities

Brigade Activities

Diary - January 2015

4th 10.30 Morning Worship led by Andy11th 10.30 Morning Worship led by Andy, including introduction of the

Motto Text for 201518th 10.30 Churches Together Exchange: Communion Service led by

Fr Shaun Lennard from St Monica's Roman Catholic Church (Communion led by Tim Gillard)

25th 10.30 Parade Service

Saturday 3rd 9am Prayer BreakfastWednesday 7th 10.30am Fellowship GroupWednesday 7th 8pm Midweek@WHBC - Bible StudyWednesday 14th 10.30am Prayer MeetingWednesday 14th 8.15pm Deacons' MeetingWednesday 21st 10.30am Fellowship Group

Wednesday 21st 8pm Midweek@WHBC - SocialSaturday 24th 3pm New Year Tea PartyWednesday 28th 10.30am Prayer MeetingThursday 29th 2.30pm Thursday Afternoon Club Thursday 29th 8pm Church Meeting

Mondays 7pm Boys' Brigade (Company and Seniors)Tuesdays 6pm Girls' Brigade (all sections)Thursdays 6pm Boys' Brigade (Anchor and Juniors)

4th January - Arthur Shriever11th January - Free18th January - Merdelyn Banton25th January - Jean Green

If you would like to feedback your thoughts on Spotlight or to contribute any stories or announcements, please email spotlight.wbc@gmail.com Digital PDF versions of spotlight can be sent on request, please email us if you would like one.

Copies by Post: Mrs Binnie Weston, 28 Seaforth Gardens, N21 3BSPhone: 020 8886 3239. Email: danebweston@talktalk.net

May I please remind people to enter their names in the new 2015 Rota. With thanks to those who have kindly nearly filled January already, February bookings would now be specially helpful, as that is a month which tends to get neglected!

With many thanks to all of you who paid for so many arrangements in the past year, enriching our worship. Binnie Weston

Winchmore Hill Baptist Church extends a warm welcome to all with an invitation to services, meetings and activities.The Minister is available for spiritual counsel and for discussion about baptism and church membership.

www.winchmorehillbaptistchurch.org.uk

Minister: Revd Andy Potter MSc, MTh 020 8882 2807andywithsarah@outlook.comDay off: Saturday

Secretary: Mr Andrew Forster020 8351 1744mail@andrewforster.co.uk33 Winchester Close EN1 2ES

Treasurer: Ian Blunn020 8807 9445ian@blunns.freeserve.co.uk41 Ulster Gardens, N13 5DP

Flower Rota (January 2015)

Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its own mould, but let God re-mould your minds from within, so that you may prove in practice that the plan of God for you

is good, meets all his demands and moves towards the goal of true maturity. (Romans 12:2; J.B. Phillips)