West View Baptist Church, Hartlepool

A family friendly church in the town of Hartlepool

Get in touch if you have anything you’d like us to share.

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A table feast, a dozen songs and a Sheraton crowd

It’s been a busy bank holiday weekend for the folks from West View. Our Filling Station on Friday was well attended with some of our regulars although we did have to break out the towels for some of our guests courtesy of a rather heavy and unexpected rain shower.

We had a lovely compliment paid to the team. One of our Filling Station friends described the conversation he has with members of our team as been uplifting and helping him with his confidence and finding ways to sort out his problems. He described talking to the people from our church team as “speaking to the ears of God”.  What a fantastic way to describe our simple offer of a community meal and friendship.

Our Sunday service was a little different this week. We had a café style to the service, with a break for coffee and cakes in the middle rather than at the end. Ian and Amanda led with the music for us and Esther led on the scriptures and activities for our children centred service. Our  focus today was on the table of hospitality and the invitation to share the feast that is what God invites us to share. Esther took us through Romans 12 v 1 – 2  and v 9- 21.

 

 

 

We also looked at Psalm 23. V 5 -6 and Isaiah 25 v 6-8. We encouraged all to do something different by inviting them to draw 0n their tablecloths and share their ideas on what they would like to see as part of a feast. Esther shared a number of photos showing family and church family celebrations and the street party held for the recent royal wedding. She also shared her own recent experience of finding herself almost looking for excuses when she was asked to provide hospitality and accommodation for a visitor. This is a danger we all face either in responding to an invite or indeed in offering an invitation or hospitality ourselves.

We also played the parable of the Great Banquet to help our young and young at heart to think about the message here. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BZwdwpE7_9c

We also had a short service at Sheraton Court on the afternoon. As our pastor was away on holiday we used a collection of videos on a laptop in order to lead the service. We continued the theme from the morning. We had so many residents and family members we ran out of chairs and song sheets. I’m always amazing at the lengths that the staff in Sheraton Court go to in order to provide stimulation and memory prompts. Their mining area gives an example of the thought they put into things for the residents.

 

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Get air in your balloon, Hold on to dreams but fulfil your potential.

It’s been another busy week for the folks at West View Baptist Church. On Friday we held our regular Filling Station community meal and on Saturday morning we held our Big Brekkie in support of the work of Christian Aid. I left the church on Saturday after sorting out the tables and chairs and putting things ready for our Sunday Service. Imagine if you will my surprise when I turned on the radio in my car to be greeted with the words “When love is the way no child will go to bed hungry in the world again”

Shivers ran through me. I’d just spent two days with my church friends feeding people. It does not get any more real and timely than that. I was of course listening to Bishop Michael Curry sharing the Word with probably one of the biggest audiences in the world. I listened absolutely riveted to the reminder of his talk for the Royal Wedding. I couldn’t wait to get home and hear his talk from the very beginning. What saddened me over the course of the weekend was the amount of “Christian” commentators lining up to find fault and take potshots. My stance on this is simple, rejoice and celebrate the fact that God’s Word  about love and indirectly, through his fire references, about Pentecost just got broadcast to billions. Bishop Curry may not be your style of preacher but he hit the spot with many people. Pray that his words prompt something in those that heard him.  Oh and spare a thought for any preacher who gets asked for a “Michael Curry sermon” the next time someone wants to organise their wedding.

Tim led our Pentecost service supported by Jonny and Amanda. We had a last minute change of songs as we found Song of Kingdom Come that we had used in our Chrisitian Aid event really powerful (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQDQrhpYY2Q)

Tim was very brave and used some balloons for our children to help illustrate the idea of the Holy Spirit rushing in and filling the disciples. Imagine if you can our pastor throwing around limp balloons with no air in them and then being instructed by the children in our church how to blow up a balloon and tie a knot in it and  you get the picture.

Tim shared Acts 2 1:21 with us. He then asked if we had ever had a dream as a child? He reflected on the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Tim’s sister wanted to be a bird. Tim was similar in his dream. He  wanted to be a pilot. Then he found he needed glasses. Jam jar strength glasses. That put paid to that dream. So he decided to study engineering and build aircraft. He had success in engineering but not in building aircraft ,  he ended up in Hartlepool working on power station stuff.

It’s a struggle to live up to our own dreams. Tim asked us to think instead about fulfilling our potential. For Jews Pentecost was a harvest festival. Jerusalem was a busy place.

Jesus gave his followers a task to go to the ends of the earth and make disciples. Visualise the whoosh the tongues of fire as a visual symbol of God’s presence and power. However we need to all remember that Pentecost was not the first time the gifts of the Holy Spirit were bestowed on people. This was repeated throughout the Old Testament. Think of Ezekiel or Moses with the dry bones , the burning bush and the Pillar of fire. The Holy Spirit was not just invented at Pentecost. Bezalel is the first person in the bible being equipped by the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Gifts of craftsmanship and artistry to build the tabernacle. King Saul is given gifts of the spirit, yet he clearly wasn’t spiritually mature. He was a bit rubbish at times.

The Holy Spirit is given by Jesus to his disciples in John 20: 22. Maybe Pentecost is the reboot, the jump start the turning up of the volume. Now and then we need the jump start. Business like their power lunches, we like our power tools. The same powerful God fills his believers with the power of his Spirit so we can witness. The disciples huddled timid and afraid and then they receive the power and the languages, one of many gifts given to the church.

Tim also highlights that the the list in the Bible is not definitive , God gives the gift that the church needs at the time it is needed. The primary purpose of the Holy Spirit is to empower, to allow us to witness.

Word-challenged Peter is now eloquent. They are given when we need them. The Holy Spirit should constantly fill us as set out in Romans 8 and Ephesians 5. The emphasis of Paul is to make our lives more godly.

How do you know it is working. Often we see a dramatic change we see fruit. List the fruit in our lives. These are the things that mark us as living His way. Maybe we struggle, feel a lack of joy, a lack of self control, maybe we rush in. Paul says ask God to fill you and to keep on filling you. Acts 2 declares the wonders of God. When our experience is and should be that God has poured his love into us and we are filled with joy. It even helps when we are struggling to pray. The Holy Spirit comes to give us power to live, to witness to worship. Pentecost gives us this. We can’t bottle it or contain it. Jesus says the Holy Spirit blows where it pleases. But how do we get the jump start for our flat battery. The answer is simple. We don’t need a special experience or a super hero praying for us. Jesus says in Matthew 7:7-11 NIV
[7]“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. [8] For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. [9] “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? [10] Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? [11] If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
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It is given in the simple response to us asking, nothing more complicated than that, ask and it will be given, seek and you will find.

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3 blogs in one: 1 prayer walk and two services.

It’s been a hectic weekend. Despite not having a Town Pastor’s shift I seemed to have packed an awful lot into a short space of time. On Saturday Amanda and a few friends went to Westoe Baptist Church for the Great Baptist Bakeoff. I’m glad I didn’t have to judge that one as every single church I know seems to have multiple cooks and bakers who create the most delicious flans, biscuits, flans; cakes, scones and flans.

Whilst they were doing that I joined a small team of mainly Anglican brothers and sisters in Christ for a prayer walk around the town. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I’d decided to make every effort to join them. I’d already got some ideas for focussing prayer and praise at a local level from the recent NBA Spring Assembly so I was up for seeing what I

Some of the prayer team

could learn. We walked from the War Memorial, along past the People’s Centre, the football ground, the supermarkets, museums, the FE college, Middleton Grange shopping centre, One Life centre, York Road and up  through the Burn Valley. I learnt that there were many different facets and factors that might need praying for, such as chaplaincy in the FE colleges, small suppliers trying to earn a living supplying ever bigger supermarket chains, NHS workers, volunteer food programmes, outreach services such as Mind and Hospital of God dementia care and a multitude of businesses along the way. I made some new friends and learnt of and shared my own experiences of Hartlepool. For me it was telling that as soon as we started praying in the square we were approached by a homeless person needing some food. One of our vicar friends arranged to meet at a local fast food establishment a little later in the walk and was able to help. Pray for all those who do not have what they need to make ends meet. We all seem as churches across Hartlepool  to be committed to rising to this challenge. This prayer walk reinforced a message from the Assembly. Mark Greene had pointed out that we probably all use some form of projected words for our worship, often with a beautiful but unknown nature scene as a background. Imagine he said how much

more powerful it is to sing praise and pray over a familiar scene from your own town or neighbourhood.

On Sunday we had a morning service at West View led by Ian and supported by Jonny and Amanda. Tim brought today’s word.

We were a little thin on the ground today due to illness. Tim brought the next highlight in his series from the Bible. It was a real headliner,  Exodus 20… the Ten Commandments. Not one you can leave out. Still something that most people in society know and recognise.

Tim said we could spend a lot of time going through these, but he reckoned it would be like a domino effect as we nodded off one by one. Charles Spurgeon, John Stott and Karl Barth have all variously been credited with saying something along the lines that a good preacher needs a bible in one hand and a newspaper in the other. That is still true today. Tim decided to focus on just the one commandment,  “You shall not murder”. This Tim suggests is one most of us might think we can tick this one off, but you have to think about what Jesus said in the sermon on the mount. Go beyond the goodness of the scribes and the Pharisees. “Keep the law” Jesus said to the young man who questions. He did not throw over the laws. The scribes over elaborated the laws and exerted immense social pressure. Matthew chapter 5 reinforces this message.

Tim asked “Should the Ten Commandments be engraved on the walls of courtrooms?” It seems like a good idea but if they stay on a wall that is just like the mistake of the scribes and Pharisees. Jeremiah 31 talks of the law being written on our hearts. Jesus asks is to consider what the transformation of the heart looks like. The people he describes on the mount are people at different stages in life. Anger and contempt, the elimination of these is the first stage that Jesus is talking about. Anyone who is angry or says you fool, earns the same label as the murderer. Anger is a vital emotion it compels us to act, to do something . Remember when Jesus got angry in the Temple. Martin Luther King , William Wilberforce, they changed things when they got angry at injustice. Somebody else’s anger can stop us in our tracks. Alone anger is useful and in itself is not sin. But it is dangerous that we can choose to be angry, and replicates itself in many ways . Verbal abuse, road rage . Most people do not know how to deal with anger. It doesn’t work out well if we respond in anger. Look at the world to see where this ends up. Collosians 3 says lay aside anger. Contempt is the bigger brother of anger, never justifiable or good. Do this to your brother and it’s equivalent to murder…raca is the Hebrew word for fool, for even humorous phrases used in contempt. Sticks and stones .., is not a true statement. Contempt combines so much of what is evil about anger. Tim shared how his grandmother used to tell people off if she caught them calling someone a fool. She saw this as a rule from the Bible not to be broken.

Simply sticking to the rules is not enough. Jesus is looking for the transformation of hearts. He even sends the Holy Spirit to help. Paul says in Romans 13 he that loves has fulfilled the law.

We must learn to live the life Jesus teaches. Verse 23 in that says if you’ve fallen out with someone this must be dealt with first. Imagine walking out of your own wedding or baptism in order to reconcile with someone.

Second illustration is from the legal system. Imagine you have an adversary , try and resolve it before you get to court says Jesus. Our society today is obsessed with our rights. The Jesus way is that we need to think of our obligations. Jesus invites us to learn to love. In Ephesians 4 don’t let the sun go down whilst you are still angry.

Peace patience self control. Be reminded as you wash up after dinner today. Jesus doesn’t just want you to wash the outside of cup he wants the inside clean as well.

Service number 2 on Sunday was “The Gathering” of all  the Baptist Churches at Oxford Road for an evening service. Ian led this service supported by Amanda and Tim with  Maurice from  Owton Manor bringing the word.

Maurice’s theme was unity. He started by offering the scene of the 3 mighty warriors or generals from 2 Samuel 23:16 who went through the enemy lines at great risk to themselves and got water. They presented it to David couldn’t drink it as they’d risked their lives. David poured it out as a love offering.

Move on 500 years to the greater Son of David. Jesus in John 17:20 is praying for unity. He wanted the people of God unified with God. Adam and Eve’s act of rebellion created huge disunity. Death, disaster, restricted growth were all consequences.

So what is the hallmark or standard that our unity needs to reach. Colossians 1:20 wants peace and reconciliation. Ephesians 1;8 also unpacks this ideal. This was not a casual thing, it was the will of God. Wanting a time of fulfilment under God’s Authority.,

Unity in the church, in marriage, in work. As believers we need to hear the heart and desire of Jesus. A superficial likeness is not what is needed here. 1 Corinth 12 talks about the various and necessary parts of the body.

When you are joined together you need to work together. Functioning together in a caring spirit.

Unity means agreement in strategy, lightening burdens , tackling projects in numbers.

Good things are happening amongst us as Hartlepool baptists as churches together. Maurice highlighted the example of Steve and Roger Sutton, seeking out churches that are working together . The Gather organisation is now nationwide. God is doing this work across the nation, through conferences and stories to tell.

Unity is a basic desire to restore all things. It is a priority for the Lord and so it should be for us.

Unity is vital for us all as individuals, partners, families and churches. Needs to be born in the heart. Only possible through obedience to the Holy Spirit. David’s generals fulfilled David’s thirst through love and loyalty.

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Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tyre?

It’s a great question posed in West View Baptist Church today. We were led by the Guinea BMS Action Team supported musically by Jonny. (PS He passed his driving test this week so the title of this blog is apt!).

Our theme today was around prayer, From my own experience prayer is a powerful tool, but we don’t always get an immediate answer or the answer we want. When challenged about unanswered prayer on the street I often say that we need to know that with God there are at least three possible answers, yes, no and hold on…I’ve got a better  idea.

The team shared with us that we need to commit to praying every day and God will answer. Prayers were answered both at home and in Guinea for  the team and those around them. Safety was a known issue when they went to Guinea . The team never prayed themselves for safety. They subsequently realised that all of the folks at home were praying for their safety. They never felt threatened or at risk. Prayer works. God fully covered them at all times. The continuous prayers make a difference . Pray and pray again was their message.

The team got the children in church to move from one end of the church to the other standing on a sheet of paper each to keep them safe from lava. After we lost a few to the lava flow, they got the idea that they all needed to stand on a sheet of paper and pass another sheet or prayer provided by the action team down the line. By working together they all got safely out of the lava flow. This exercise with the sheets demonstrates us praying together as a team. Sharing problems is like asking for prayers for each other and for others. God answered all those prayers prayed together. The extra prayer in the exercise enabled the team to move forward. The prayer from home enables BMS people to move forward.

Eleanor then read from the NLT James 5:7-19

James outlines the importance of patience in prayer. Eleanor learnt patience the hard way in Guinea, thrust into a classroom with no common language with 80 2 year olds, trying to sort them out three days a week. She admitted to clock watching initially , but learnt patience, and began to work well with the kids. The real test was to be patient for God, 3 weeks of strikes meant the school had to close. The team would walk 4 km to school each day praying and get there to only have to turn back. Frustrating, and a hot tired dusty journey. In those 3 weeks of alll the missionaries in Guinea, all the staff in Didcot were praying , all their supporters were praying. And their prayers paid off as the strikes came to an end.

Prayer is more than struggling. James covers 3 points
He shows that it is not just powerful prayer is but also how to pray. Praying regularly and repeatedly. The team’s first answered prayer was that the strikes were suspended. But then the strikes seemed to start up  again and the team might not have got to say goodbye and finish the English course they were holding.

Sing praises

Anoint one another during sickness . If we are powerfully praying then we should be praying for the return of Jesus we should be anointing each other

Elianne was the french teacher for the girls, she was very busy. She taught children in the morning, then taught the girls , then went home to cook food for the family then run discipleship courses. Despite her busyness she would say Jesus is coming. Just as the girls were expecting an end to the strikes , she is expecting Jesus to return. She models the prayer of a righteous person being powerful and effective. Some examples of answered prayer for the team in Guinea, water tank overflowed after prayer, a new night guard brought water from his well. Even travelling to the airport the tyres of the vehicle were on wheels that could not have been removed if got puncture. No punctures happened either way.

Eleanor urged us all to form prayer groups to pray together. She shared the  example of someone from another church . The brother in law of Chris , Jim hada  bleed on brain. Jim was rushed for surgery whilst people were prating for him and is now fully recovered and back home . Do we need to pray more? Do we need to pray together. Eleanor asked us how many go to west view weekly prayer group? Do we pray before Filling Station? We should if we can.

This certainly hit a chord for me. As a Town Pastor I’ve been having an ongoing conversation with a regular in the night economy for over two years now. I’ve prayed that he finds the answers and that he comes to realise that, far from being the atheist he professes to be, he is questioning and seeking answers. I didn’t seem to be making any progress yet my last contact with him two weeks ago apparently gave him sleepless nights. I had left him with the thought that if I was wrong about God, then I’ve simply spent my life doing nice things with a group of friends and having something to do on a Sunday. However, I said if you’re wrong…. and then just left it there.

Apparently this gave him sleepless nights and a need to know more, He’s jealous of people with faith, terrified of the certainty that I shared with him as did the others on the team.  Bizarrely as a self confessed atheist he wears a set of rosary or prayer beads and indeed when pressed cannot remember a time when he did not wear a cross of some description. I left him with a simple message, pray about it and then decide. Put down the cross as something he does not believe in or alternatively embrace the cross and everything the cross stands for. No prizes for guessing which outcome I’m praying for. Join me and pray that the way is made clear for this troubled young man.

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On the vine, at church and at work.

It’s been another busy weekend. Amanda and Terry travelled to Heaton Baptist Church in Newcastle for the Northern Baptist Association’s Spring Assembly. Terry reckons that Heaton Baptist Church makes the best coffee of any church he’s been to in recent years. Our guest speaker was Mark Greene from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity. Mark is a funny and engaging speaker and Amanda and Terry had both heard him speak a few years ago at Leading Edge in Warwick. Indeed his book “Thank God it’s Monday” is something Terry used to help him have discussions about faith in his workplace.  Check out the NBA facebook page or http://www.thenba.org.uk/assembly to see some extracts from the sessions.

Sadly this Sunday we were met with some vandalism to the new ramp at church. It’s really frustrating when we’re trying to reach out to the community and this sort of damage occurs. However we pray that whoever feels the need to do this sort of thing realises in time the implications and costs from such actions.

Tim led our Sunday service accompanied by Jonny and Amanda. Today’s prayer points…Pray for Leah captured by bokka haram who wasn’t released as she would not convert to Islam. Pray for Peter struggling with illness. Pray for Ian that he will feel your healing touch. Pray for those struggling in Filling Station and across the town. Pray we always find the right  words and actions to reach those God puts in front of us.

We had a bit of fun with a serious message today as Tim used balls of wool to connect the whole church to the vine that we are instructed to be part of.

Tim led us in continuing theme of looking at highlights from the Bible. Focus for today was on Exodus 3  and Moses’s encounter with the burning bush.

An epic part of this story is that it gives hints as to what is going to happen to Moses. Tim reflected on the fact that this week the public have been talking about the naming of a prince. Queen Victoria always vetted her grand children’s names. Names are important. People agonise over what we are called. Parents have books to refer to. They trawl the internet for backgrounds and meanings behind names.

This passage is all about a name. Moses was doing his best to lose his name, remember his journey is from bulrushes baby to Egyptian prince. We encounter him her in chapter 3 whilst he is trying to lose his Egyptian accent. It was worth losing for him, he was raised as a dirty secret in the court.

Remember he killed the slave driver and goes on the run. He marries, begins a new life and job. Did he have nightmares, we don’t know. Here is a Midanite shepherd trying to live a new life trying to stay on the straight and narrow, one foot in front of the other following the sheep.

But Moses’s eyes stray . Moses’s commissioning start here with a look and a turning aside to see why the bush isn’t burning . God upsets the settled, the recommended or established path. God’s people can be depended on to shift their gaze from the established to the new and the different . This is a story between a wily conniving outlaw (that’s Moses) and a God who bends him to his will. Seems standard story , burning bush , deprecation and Moses humbled. Yet here is the question from Moses, what if the Israelites are sceptical? This is a power play, it’s subtle but it’s there, remember Jacob (which means the heel) grabbing his brother’s foot whilst still in the womb. Remember if you know someone’s name you can get their attention you have power. God’s answer is so perfect. “I am who I am”. A great answer with God saying don’t box me in don’t categorise me . A better translation might be  “I will be who I will be.” Moses signs on for God’s mission in the world here.

Tim gave us all a bit of a Hebrew lesson. He wrote the Hebrew characters for God

They are the same as “to be” or “I am” this is the big thing to note and we miss it if we only read the English.

No vowels in the Hebrew . God’s name is unutterable so vowels added. Jehovah is the vowels from the word for lord with the word for god. Or is it Yahweh? It appears 6800 times in the kJ bible.

The Greek for I am is used in the New Testament. This translates to us as Ami or friend.

Gods secret name is unutterable but wrapped up in this name is the holiness of god. I am the vine, I am the way

On the other side of this story , Moses doesn’t need to ask God’s name . By Exodus 15 he knows God well. He had learnt who God is, and had learnt the nature purpose and truth of God.

He followed his ancestors and his descendants followed him . To know God you have to be with him. It’s a full contact participation sport. God will be who he will be. We cannot second guess him. Maybe we have questions for God he will answer. Tim pondered on what God might have in store for us all. Think about the opportunities in the coming week. Most of us don’t see ourselves in the superheroes of the bible. God uses ordinary fallible flawed people to do extraordinary things. Interestingly Mark Greene was making a similar point at the Spring Assembly. He gave the example of a grandmother who didn’t feel she had any meaningful work in her church. She didn’t feel she was sharing the work of the church or the love of God in any way. However after each service she would meet up  with her 23 year old granddaughter and talk about what had happened at church that day, what the pastor had preached on and what songs and scriptures had been discussed. She was reaching a younger generation with the word of God. The pastor also got to realise that rather than just preaching to the over 50s he was preaching to young people albeit with a 2 hour delay built in.

God does not ask us to do it on our own. He distracts us to new directions, but never leaves on our own always reminding us “he will be who he will be”.