Minister: Rev. Roger Stark

Praise: 
In September we celebrated ten years of ministry by our pastor Roger Stark.  We thank God for his pastoral concern for us all, and for all that has been achieved through his leadership, in the local community, and in the wider community too.

In October, we baptised a young married couple who had recently come to faith.

Prayer:

• For the ongoing work of our church
• Lively Sunday worship,
  S-Club, youth group and weeknight house groups.
• Community outreach, through;
  Pre-School, Toddler group, Wet Your Whistle fortnightly drop-in, and regular bridge-building events.

Minister: Rev. Peter Dominey

We praise God for the new 'Partners' who joined us recently.  This includes several people who were 'seconded' from other local Baptist churches to help give us a stronger core, for which we are grateful.  We thank God that our work on the Kursaal (or Wood-grange) estate has continued, despite the unexpected deaths of a couple of the leading figures this year.  We are thankful that our giving has increased this year ahead of inflation.

We are looking to grow as a community and our mid-week cell meetings also meet as larger clusters now on an occasional basis. We are asking for God's guidance around whether we should look to appoint a pastoral worker on a full or part time basis.  We also want to explore the idea of running a charity shop, which could double as a drop-in base for the unemployed.

Minister: Sean Fountain

We give thanks for:

• Our new Minister and his family.
• Our new church hall, ‘The Welcome Centre’ is now fully functioning and Community work is building up. Grants have been received to upgrade the stage area of one of our church halls.
• Continuing work and witness of our ‘Open doors’.

Please pray for:

• New zeal and vision as a new Ministry begins.
• Our continuing desire for community involvement.

Many of us make resolutions at the start of a new year that we will get fit and be more healthy. We feel better and we are more effective when we are healthy.

The Association is distributing two resources to the churches that we believe could help to make churches more healthy and effective. One is the "Fit 4 Life" material. The other is the "Toolbox for Small Churches". Please pray that these resources will be placed into the hands of the right person, that they will be used and that they will contribute to the health and effectiveness of our Gospel mission

Although nights are long the days will begin to draw out as the promise of spring grows.  Easter will be early this year. The promise of new life and hope in the future is there! 

Please give thanks for:
~~ those recently come to faith and growing in discipleship
~~ those in churches giving their time and energy to new initiatives
~~ those faithfully serving as leaders of churches, house groups, youth 7 children's work and all mission ventures.

Please pray for:
~~ the twenty or so churches in the EBA seeking pastors
~~ candidates coming to the ministerial recognition committee
~~ the EBA Council considering how best the Association can be structured to support the churches & ministers in their work
~~ the Regional Team as it seeks to fulfil its ministry of care and encouragement.

Associate Minister: Rev. Lynsey Heslegrave

Give thanks for encouragement in our work with our young people; increasingly, they are bonding together in deepening friendship. Three committed to the Lord at a recent weekend at Letton Hall.

Please pray for us as we begin in earnest the search for a new Senior Minister following the retirement of Rev. Rod Sawtell. The Church Profile was adopted at a recent Church Meeting: pray for those who read it and that the right person be lead to make further enquiries!

Minister: Rev. Paul Green

We are very thankful and praise God for continued growth in many areas of church life. On the first Sunday in the new year we will be celebrating 2 baptisms, we begin a new Alpha Course in January and in February half term we will be running our 3rd consecutive children's Holiday Club.  However, the teenager youth group 'Rootz' and the Parent and Toddler group 'Little Pips' are showing signs of tiredness and numbers attending in recent months have dropped significantly.  Please pray for these as we seek God's direction for the future.

Minister in Training: Steve Rudge