Hither Green Baptist Church

Sorry for the static nature of the website in recent times. We are working on updating the website and gettting people trained in creating and adding material. We hope to have this happening very soon. Watch this space!

Our Sparklers group, for parents and young children, starts its new term tomorrow morning. If you look after a young child, you are welcome to come and join us at the church (see directions) from 10am until 12 noon.

Our Sparklers group, for parents and young children (mothers and toddlers doesn't quite cover it - we also welcome fathers and carers), has been running very successfully since we restarted it after Easter.

Sadly though, the end of term is already almost upon us - the final session will be on Wednesday 23 July. It will restart in September - date to be announced.

Thanks to those who have helped it run - including all the parents and children without whom it would be an empty room rather than a thriving part of the community.

The Easter weekend is now over. To some extent, that means things are back to normal - not that we forget the the message that Jesus died that our separation from God could be dealt with and rose to lead us in new life but that we continue to work out how God calls us to respond day by day.

One thing that is worth noting for next Sunday is that the clocks are due to go forward an hour. That means the 10:30am morning service will feel like 9:30am - remember to reset your clocks the night before and give yourself space to get used to the new time.

Easter is very early this year, falling on Sunday 23 March. Did you know that the last time it was this early was back in 1913? That was ten years after our present building was opened but predates any of our existing congregation. The next time it falls this early is in the year 2160.

Because of the way the date is calculated, it can sometimes even occur on 22 March but that last happened in 1818, when Hither Green was nothing more than fields with a few tracks passing across it and won't happen again until 2285!

See Snopes.com for more on Easter dates.

That is the title of a song by Godfrey Birtill, a worship leader our team discovered when they visited the Mission:Worship conference in Eastbourne last November. He didn't just pluck the lyrics for this one out of the air but was inspired by a piece of writing found belonging to a pastor who was subsequently martyred for his faith.

It fits very well with the themes we are studying at the moment and David used it in his sermon in the last service of 2007, The Fellowship of the Unashamed:

I am part of the fellowship of the unashamed. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still. My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure. I am finished and done with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colourless dreams, tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap giving and dwarfed goals. I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I live by faith, lean on his presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labour by Holy Spirit power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is Heaven. My road may be narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my Guide reliable, my mission clear. I will not be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded, or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity. I won't give up, shut up, or let up until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, and preached up for the cause of Christ.

I am a disciple of Jesus Christ. I must go until Heaven returns, give until I drop, preach until all know, and work until He comes. And when He comes to get His own, He will have no problem recognizing me. My colours will be clear.

The church motto text for 2008 is taken from Joshua 3:5:

Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you.

We are looking forward to 2008. Working with our new pastor, Honesty Kachidza, we have already begun to prepare ourselves for the way forward but, as we enter the New Year, we are setting aside time to ensure we do that full justice. We do not know exactly what lies ahead but we trust that God has amazing things for us and are excited to continue our journey forward with this as our motto.

Honesty will be unpacking more of what it will mean in sermons over the coming Sundays and the leaders will be taking some time away later in the month to work on this together. However, the whole church is encouraged to join in this listening and "consecration". What we hope for is that the sense of direction and purpose will not hang on a single thread but be confirmed by many strands of agreement.

ps. Thank you to everyone who came to our watchnight service last night, which was a positive and inspiring way to see the New Year in.

We have returned safely from our weekend away at Aylesford Priory. For anyone who turned up yesterday and found a notice on the door of the church, be assured that our normal Sunday events (10:30am morning service and 6:30pm LIGHT Cafe) will be back next week.

Recordings of the teaching from the weekend will be made available to the church later this week but, meanwhile, Wulf has managed to get his photos online - click on the picture of a goose to see more. Those connected with the church can contact him if they would like a guest pass to see pictures of people as well as birds and buildings!

Minutes from the September 2007 Church Meeting are now available in the members area of the website as a 296KB PDF file. Contact Wulf if you need login details to access this resource.

This morning's sermon from Honesty Kachidza will soon be available in the online sermon archive and members may also be interested to listen back to the message he gave to us on 24 June on being friends of God.

Church members will also find the question and answer session from this afternoon in the secure area of our site (contact Wulf if you need the login details), in advance of our discussions at this Wednesday's Church Meeting.