All Out For God: Take your shoes off – it’s time to go outside!

This Sunday, May 30, Release International has organised a special online event where you can hear from guests who know first-hand what it’s like to suffer persecution for their faith. Sharing a message with us in a Facebook Live event starting at 3pm (also on YouTube) will be Susanna Koh, whose husband, pastor Raymond Koh, was abducted four years ago in Malaysia and who is still missing, and also Release friends Petr Jasek and Helen Berhane. Petr was imprisoned in Sudan, sharing a cell with Islamic State fighters, while Helen spent two years in an Eritrean prison, suffering abuse and torture, simply for proclaiming the gospel. After hearing from our guests, we’ll head outdoors – barefoot! – to pray for our persecuted family. Yes, this year Release is asking you to go outside in your bare feet – to show your solidarity with those who sacrifice so much for the name of Christ. More information and how you can take part is available here:  https://releaseinternational.org/all-out-for-god/

Christians in Parliament and Release International: National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast 2021 Online

Release International would be pleased if you could join them at the 2021 National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast Online, which will be livestreamed on Friday 25 June from 8:00-8:45am. The theme this year is Life Beyond Covid: A Renewed Hope. The main speaker is The Rt Revd Professor NT Wright. The event will include prayers led by parliamentarians, hymns led by special guest singers and the keynote address. Following the breakfast event, Christians in Parliament principle partner Bible Society will be hosting a webinar for church leaders from 10:00-11:00am, titled Re-imagining Mission, and this will be followed by a programme of webinars hosted by partners from 11:00am-3:00pm. Release International will be hosting an online Zoom meeting as part of the webinar programme, entitled Blessed are those who are Persecuted: Hearing Christian Voices from around the World from 1pm to 2pm on that day hosted by the Revd Imtiaz Ashraf. Our special guest partners include Pastor Eric Foley from Voice of the Martyrs Korea, Dr Berhane Asmelash from Release Eritrea and Revd Hassan John, Release partner in Nigeria, who will be sharing about their work with our persecuted family. More information and how you can take part is available here: https://releaseinternational.org/breakfast

Day of the Christian Martyr

Release International is planning a very special online service on June 29^th to commemorate the Day of the Christian Martyr. This online event will start at 7.30pm and is expected to run for approximately one hour. Please do join for what promises to be a moving and inspirational evening as we remember those of our Christian family who have paid the ultimate price for following Christ. There will be a special contribution from Release partner Revd Waseem in Pakistan who recently interviewed relatives of the victims of the 2016 Lahore park bomb blast. More information and how you can take part is available here: https://releaseinternational.org/docm/

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In our prayer for others on Sunday, Jessica Kennedy reminded us to be thankful for all the good gifts God has given us. When life returns to a ‘new normal’, let us not take these things for granted.

Let us pray

Heavenly Father

As we look to the future and our world opening up again, we remember and give you thanks for all the joys and adventures in life that make it so fulfilling.

We thank you for theatres and cinemas, and the opportunity to escape into drama and another world.

We thank you for music, – for concerts, gigs, opera and festivals. For singing along (loudly and badly) to our favourite songs or getting lost in the splendour of classical works.

We thank you for museums and art galleries, for our history that they show us and remind us of and the beauty they preserve.

We thank you for zoos and aquariums, for the excitement of seeing bizarre and often unimaginable creatures, and for the work they do in conserving species and educating us.

We thank you for play activities, for trampoline parks and soft play, for laser tag and paintball, for the fun we can have with our friends and children playing together.

We thank you for sports, both indoor and outdoor, for swimming and gyms and rugby and football, golf and tennis, croquet and jousting. We thank you for the exercise for our bodies and the chance to play with teammates.

We thank you for pubs and restaurants, for the opportunity for a pint after work or a family lunch. We thank you for proper chips.

We thank you for the opportunities to go on holiday, to fly on aeroplanes to far flung lands or take the train to the coast.

We thank you for freezing British sandcastles and cerulean blue warm foreign seas.

We thank you for city explorations or jungle adventures, for snow-drenched mountains or boating escapades. For the chance to experience new cultures or discover hidden British secrets, and mostly to spend quality relaxed time with those we love.

We thank you for friends and family, for hugs and laughter and love, for meals together and birthday celebrations and joyous weddings. For dinner parties and burnt barbecues, game nights and date nights. For popping out for a coffee or over to your mum’s. For popping anywhere.

We thank you for our church, and the opportunity to meet together to worship you and support each other in body and spirit. And to raise our voices together in song to your glory.

Lord God, in a world filled with more suffering perhaps than in any recent living memory, we pray your hand on all those who need comfort. And we remember your beloved son Jesus, who suffered with us, and died so that our suffering need not be boundless or endless.

We give you thanks for all the good things we are missing and we thank you for the hope and certainty we have in Christ, that all these good things will return. We pray that until that day comes that we will be sustained in strength, physically, emotionally and mentally over the remaining weeks and months.

In Jesus name we pray,

Amen

[Photo: Photo by Ben White on Unsplash]

Catch up with all that has been going on over the past few months within the youth and children’s work at the church.

Dear Friends,

Please see the attached letter from the BGBC trustees.

I thought it was about time that I wrote to you all with an update on our plans for Bessels Green Baptist Church for this Autumn.

Please do read the attached letter. I would particularly like to draw your attention to a survey that we are carrying out to find out how you are doing and how things are going from your perspective. www.bgbc.co.uk/survey

Please do keep in touch and let Andy or I know how we can pray for you and better support you at this time.

with our love and prayers.

Charlie and Andy