Connect

July 2019

Be refreshed

June has been a very busy month, not a bad month but a very busy one. I seem to run from one meeting to another or one youth event to another, and in the midst of it all I’ve moved house and have a sea of school and nursery end of term events to fit in. I do not think it is just me; everyone I seem to meet has been having the same experience. Roll on the summer holidays that is what I say. I need a good break.

Bearing in mind I write this as the heavens open outside my window and I give serious consideration turning on my central heating! Summer may not always be a sunny time, but it is definitely a time to adopt a different rhythm to life. I hope that it is going to be a lot slower. At the very least, it definitely seems that the summer months allow for more time as the normal rotas and rhythm of life change.

However, what will we do with that time? As someone who has worked in and around churches for many years, it can actually feel that the extra time is filled up with missions, holiday clubs, and camps. They are often really significant, fun and fruitful times. However, it can sometimes mean that come the start of September normal life starts up again and there has not really been much rest or reflection.

I have been in a couple of meetings with church leaders recently where the conversation has moved to the same sort of theme. It goes something like this. ‘If I started again and all I had was a sense of God calling me to something, a bible and the people with me. What would it all look like?’ ‘Would it look like my life just now? Busy, programme-driven and full of energy-draining activity or would it look altogether more exciting, vibrant and fruitful?

In the message translation of the bible, Eugene Peterson writes this paraphrasing Matthew 11:28-30“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”

It’s a beautiful translation full of brilliant ideas like; ‘recover your life’, ‘real rest’, ‘work with me’, ‘unforced rhythms of grace’, nothing ‘heavy’ or ‘ill-fitting’ and ‘live freely and lightly’. We all want lives like this. Don’t we?

What an amazing invitation from Jesus. I wonder if in the summer months when we all have a bit more free time and opportunity if we may all benefit from taking up this invitation. What if our book at the side of the pool was a bible? What if our walks in the warm summer evenings were times of prayerful dialogue between you and God? What if sitting in the garden or at a beach, we began to ‘learn the unforced rhythms of grace?’ What if summer time was a time of intimate connection between you and God?

Be refreshed

Ali LaingNext Generation Development

Coordinator

The verses preceding this passage give an insight into intimacy. Jesus prays to the Father and gives thanks for the intimate relationship he enjoys with His dad. He then extends the prayer to include us. “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.” Through Jesus and the outpouring of His Spirit, we have access to the Father. Jesus reveals to us that we can come into the very presence of God.

There is no other way to describe this but outrageous. Outrageously good that is! Because of Jesus we have an invitation to spend time being refreshed in the presence of God. What if we all took up this invitation? What would it look like if this summer we ‘hung out’ more with God and learned how to ‘live freely and lightly?’

Birthday Bash in DundeeOn Sunday 9th June the Baptist churches in Dundee came together for a special Birthday Bash to celebrate the Baptist Union of Scotland’s 150th Anniversary. The event was held in the Panmurefield Baptist Centre in Broughty Ferry and hosted by Broughty Ferry Baptist Church.

The sun shone and it was a real family day with activities for all ages including inflatables, face painting and lots of games. Here is a photo of Rev Jim Turrent from Dundee Central Baptist Church getting a soaking – what a good sport!

There was also plenty of cake being handed out with a special 150th Anniversary cake being made for the celebration.

Is your church doing something to mark the BUS 150th Anniversary celebration?

If so, let us know and we will try and feature this in the next issue of Connect!

Summer = Soul Survivor!

Hundreds of young people will descend on Lendrick Muir with their camping chairs and tents from 20th – 24th July for Soul Survivor Scotland.

BUS Younger will once again be hosting a camp, which will see young people from a number of our churches camping in the BUS Younger camping village. As well as fantastic teaching from Mike Pilavachi and Andy Croft, there will be great times of worship in the big top with worship leaders Beth Croft and Dan Goodright. There will

also be a whole host of seminars on and wide variety of topics on how we live out our faith in daily life.

There will also be cafes to chill out in a grab a hot chocolate – what’s not to love?! There will be a late night worship zone, a silent disco, a ceilidh on the last night and the SU Activity Zone with go-karting and a bungee-run – sounds like fun!

What’s more, young people from across Scotland will be joining together to worship God, soak in His presence and take time out to hear from Him.

Kayleigh Nicol from Leven Baptist Church who joined us last year had this to say, “Soul Survivor is an amazing event where your thoughts are challenged and your faith renewed. I would encourage everyone to go if they are able and enjoy meeting new people your own age who also have a passion to know and share the word of God.”

If you haven’t signed up – what are you waiting for?

If you are from one of our churches and are wondering how you can get involved, why not pray for the event and ask God to move in power!

Many things are different over the summer period. Kids are at home, people go on holiday, the pace of church tends to slow down and very occasionally a big yellow thing appears in the sky.

Summer also creates some different opportunities for us as churches to engage our communities. Outside activities become possible, this allows us to engage people in the places they gather and for us to use our own outdoor spaces to make easy invitational opportunities. I thought it might be helpful to spark your imagination to mention a few projects from around our family of churches.

Connecting with your community this summer!

One church which has a garden space invites the community in for community BBQ’s once a month throughout the summer months. This has allowed them to connect with a whole group of people they would not otherwise connect with. Similarly a number of other churches have used their space (or even rented space) to put on community family days. With all sorts of different events. Both of these projects are about showing up in our community and saying ‘we are here’ and that ‘we are here for the good of our community!’

Another church went to a local walking path, busier than usual due to the good weather, and handed out bottles of water to folks walking their dogs, walking with family, runners and cyclists. A simple way to express generosity.

And of course many of our churches will run holiday clubs, both presenting the gospel to lots of children and blessing their communities by providing places for kids to go during the holidays.

Whatever your context, take advantage of all the summer offers to be present in your community. And pray for all those churches involved in these kind of projects over the summer.

Baptists from Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline West, Inverkeithing, and Rosyth, joined with Viewfield Church, along with one brave soul from Holy Trinity, Dunfermline (Viewfield’s neighbours!) for West Fife’s United Baptist Prayer Gathering.

A band came together from a number of the churches to lead opening and closing praise (including a song written for the occasion). Alan Donaldson spoke with humour and incisiveness, about the needs of our nation and how best to pray for the Church in our land. Viewfield’s flexible seating meant we were in groups around coffee tables, ready to pray for the church in our nation, and for each of our local churches.

9th June Prayer Gathering in West Fife

Date Time Region Venue

Sun 18th Aug 6.30pm Renfrewshire Greenock BC

Sat 31st Aug 1pm South West Milestone Christian Fellowship, Girvan (The Big BBQ!)

Wed 4th Sept 6pm North Edinburgh Churches Leith Bc

Sun 29th Sept 6.30pm Highlands Alness BC

Fri 4th October 7.30pm Glasgow Bearsden BC

Regional Prayer GatheringsAs part of our 150th anniversary celebrations we are encouraging our churches to hold regional prayer gatherings throughout the year. A number of gatherings have already taken place. A National Team member will attend each gathering, where possible, bringing the Prayer Baton as it travels around the country. So far, the following regional prayer gatherings have been confirmed:

The Jubilee Baton is a powerful symbol of our identity, our past and our future. It made a late appearance after being at the parallel gathering in East Fife. Pete Hutchison from Viewfield signed the scroll. We have been inspired, challenged and encouraged. Thank you Lord!

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