Baptist Union Council March 2014

We've received this report from Hayley Beckett, who is Secretary of the Eastern Baptist Association on the BU Council meeting of March 2014. This is reproduced below.  Subsequently, a much fuller account has appeared from the  Baptist Times and this can be found by clicking on this link.

Peter Stanford: Britain's First Black Baptist Minister

I came across this recently in the Baptist Times.  It's the fascinating story of a man who overcame much to become a leading Christian figure in Birmingham.

Baptist Voice March 2014

There's a new version of Baptist Voice out for March 2014. It is primarily aimed at people with visual impairment or who can't get to church, but actually it's pretty relevant to everyone!

Click on the Soundcloud link below to listen to it.  If you know someone in MRBC who needs a CD, please go to the sound desk as there's a copy there, or see Mark.  If you're from somewhere else, then contact Ralph Birtwhistle at BaptistVoice13@gmail.com  if you don't have facilities to download and burn a disk.

From this edition onwards, we would direct you to the Baptist Voice website to listen to future podcasts.   We will put reminders up about new podcasts from time to time on our Twitter feed which appears on the front of the MRBC website.

BMS Birthday Scheme

Mothering Sunday All Age Service

Our much loved Mothering Sunday Service is back again in 2014.   Do come and invite your family and friends - especially Mum!   If you want a poster or flyers, you can pick them up at church, otherwise they can be printed off from the links below.

A4 Poster      A5 Flyers

New old name - same blog.

If you have been going to MRBC for any length of time you will remember In Touch as the name of our now defunct magazine.  We started an online blog a couple of years back to publish the miscellany of material we still receive, much of which would have found its way into In Touch.   As a printed magazine continues to be unlikely, this familiar name has now been adopted for the blog.  Happy reading!

Pray for Syria

Today is the third anniversary of the start of Syria conflict. So far it has claimed between 100,000 and 150,000 lives, well over 10,000 of them being children.

Over 9.3 million have fled their homes and the UNHCR say that 2.1 million have gone to Syria's immediate neighbours Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq; about 100,000 have declared asylum in Europe with a small number offered resettlement by countries such as Germany and Sweden.

What's it all about? Below is the BBC's guide to the crisis.



The BBC have produced a page of reports about the crisis too: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25217799

We are encouraged to pray and not forget this crisis. TEAR Fund would like people to participate in a prayer vigil even if it is just at home. Materials are at http://www.tearfund.org/en/about_you/pray/prayer_news/syria_candlelit_prayer_vigil_feb2014/

Christians in Syria also need our prayers as they are caught between the two main protagonists, being persecuted by both..  They are crying out for help from Christians around the world.

“We have shouted out to the world, but no-one has listened to us. Where is the Christian conscience? Where is human consciousness? Where are my brothers?"
Archbishop Selwanos of the Syriac Orthodox Metropolitan of Homs and Hama.

Here are three simple ways we could help today:

Firstly by prayer.  Open Doors has some good resources as well as the Tearfund ones above.

Secondly we can act.   Why not try retweeting the EA's I Support Syria tweet.   International campaigns are noticed by politicians.

Thirdly we can give as there is a huge humanitarian crisis.   Tearfund is one good agency to send money through.   Their Syria Crisis page is here.

Churches Together in Felixstowe: Easter Services

Felixstowe Town Pastors Winter Newsletter

A downloadable version of this newsletter is available here

Open Doors - North Korea Lent Series

Open Doors are doing a special series of studies for Lent on the subject of North Korea called "Live like a North Korean". If you sign up on their special page  they will send you a daily email throughout Lent that includes a Bible passage, a topic to guide your prayers and some suggested actions to help you live like a North Korean.

It's a great opportunity to think and pray about North Korea.  The video below gives us one woman's story of persecution in that country.