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Focus

We wish all our readers

a very blessed Christmas season

and best wishes for the New Year!
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

Tottenham Baptist Church Magazine
December 2001-January 2002

 

Weekly Diary

Sunday

Family Service & Sunday School - 11 am

Evening Worship - 6.30 pm

Communion: 1st Sunday   Evening                        3rd Sunday  Morning

Weekdays

Wednesday      Midweek Meeting     8 pm

Thursday         Girls' Brigade            6.30 pm

Friday               Boys' Brigade           6.30 pm

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our Christmas edition of Focus! First of all, our apologies to those of you who missed our usual November/December edition. We had to forego publishing in November because there wasn't enough material to make it worthwhile. We did warn you that things might change during this period of transition! However, to make up for it, this is a bumper edition including Christmas items and the reports from our AGM held in November.

So read on and enjoy what you find. I would welcome any comments good or bad. And especially any contributions - news, articles, opinions, prayers etc. Thanks again to Rosemarie Griffiths for typing up for us. And I wish you all a very happy Christmas, and a truly blessed 2002.

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It is said that you need good lungs to sing this carol properly and there are more than a few red faces at the end.

From an early age James Montgomery was out of step with the majority. His parents, Moravian Missionaries to Barbados, had both died of yellow fever and he hated the strict boarding school in Yorkshire where he was forced to live. The only thing he enjoyed was writing poetry, but that was not enough for the Moravian Brothers, who thought that he was wasting their time and so put him to work in a bakery.

He loathed this even more and ran away with three and sixpence (around 17¸p) and some of his poems wrapped up in a bundle. Hungry and tired he managed to sell one of his poems for a guinea and that kept him until he got a job with a chandler. That did not work out either but this next move was the one that changed his life.

James was taken on as a clerk for a radical newspaper called "The Sheffield Register". Its proprietor, Joseph Giles, was committed to print only the truth as he saw it and eventually was forced to flee the country as a result of his extremely liberal views. James admired him greatly and when the chance came for him to take over the paper he relished the opportunity to carry on in Joseph Gale's footsteps. He changed the name to "Sheffield Iris" and he ran any story that criticised or exposed the authorities. He was put into York Castle prison twice, once for printing a song celebrating the fall of the Bastille and the other for writing an article condemning the way in which a riot in Sheffield had been dealt with by the military commander. He was always defending the downtrodden in all sorts of different situations, from a tirade against State Lotteries to an article defending the teaching of writing in Sunday Schools.

Even the Church was not exempt from his criticism, and he wrote a satirical column under the pseudonym Gabriel Silvertongue. Later he felt quite ashamed of these writings and destroyed most of them. However, one thing that continued to infuriate him was the opposition, from some quarters, to the singing of hymns in the Anglican Church. Thomas Cotterill, Rector of St. Paul s, Sheffield, had a very difficult job to get his hymn book, containing a number of Montgomery's hymns, accepted by his own congregation. They took the matter to the Ecclesiastical Court in York hoping to get the book banned, but eventually a compromise was found. The Archbishop of York would allow the hymns to be sung if they were vetted and the book dedicated to him. That did not bother James Montgomery as long as people had a chance to express what they felt through this new medium.

When he died the City Corporation gave him a public funeral and a statue to his memory was erected.

The Hebrew language has two words of strength. One is koach, the other gevurah. Koach is the ability to overcome an enemy. Gevurah is the ability to overcome oneself, to control the desire for victory and practise self-restraint. You need one kind of courage to win a war, but you need another to make peace. Peace is hard because it means letting go of emotions that lie close to our sense of identity itself. To make peace, Jews and Arabs must both let go of deeply rooted feelings of vulnerability and pain. That is hard, but there is no other way.

The Jews of Israel seek security. The Palestinians want dignity, the space to build a land of their own. Those are not incompatible objectives. They can be reached by negotiation. They cannot be achieved by violence on either side. If I defeat you, you lose. But I also lose, because by diminishing you I diminish myself. If, though, we can forgive one another for the pain we have caused each other, there is a chance of reconciliation and, eventually, co-operation.

The imperatives now are moderation, an end to violence, and a principled rejection of despair. Jews and Palestinians have suffered for too long. Abraham's words still summon us to a future of peace.

* This is an extract from an article which appeared in The Times and was written by the Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.
 

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MILL GROVE - Harvest Festival gifts

Many thanks to all those who gave so generously at our Harvest Thanksgiving; what a display we had! In fact, the next morning Malcolm had difficulty packing it all into his car prior to taking it to Mill Grove, where it was most gratefully received, together with a cheque for £217.19p.

As Keith White who is in overall charge says at the conclusion of his letter in "Links" ----- "It is a simple work of faith but a growing and living testimony to God's faithfulness".

Miss V Maddison, Church Secretary.
 
 
 
 

THANK OFFERING 2001

Thank you to all those who gave so generously to the Thank Offering over our Church Anniversary weekend in October. We must give thanks to God for the way He has led us in our giving, the total to date is £1,944.00.

As agreed at our Church Meeting in September this will be used to purchase new pew Bibles and light weight folding tables for the Church hall.  Please notice I have said "Total to date"-any late gifts would be gratefully accepted and added to the total!!!

Les Paskell, Treasurer
 
 

WHAT GENEROUS "SOLES" YOU ARE!

A HUGE, HUGE "Thank You" to all of you who donated shoe boxes filled with gifts, clothing, knitted teddy bears and financial gifts for the children, men and women in Kosova.

We took 48 shoe boxes and many bags of clothes and teddies which, was an amazing achievement. You will have helped to make many children and adults very happy in the weeks approaching Christmas.

Clive and Ruth Doubleday, directors of the Christian Charity "Smile International", through which these shoe boxes will be delivered, greatly appreciated the thoughtfulness shown by you all in the gifts that you gave. Their letter of thanks is in the Church lounge.

Thank you, once again, for all your kindness and for sharing and showing the love of Christ in this very practical way.

Janette Whitehead
 
 
 
 

Family Gospel Festival

I would like to take the opportunity to say many thanks for your prayers and support for the Family Gospel Festival on the 26th October at the Broadwater Farm Community Centre. The event was a great success as we raised £700 for Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia research. I am pleased with the feedback that I am getting - it is very good. So I am thinking that if all goes well we will have another one on the 7th September 2002 with the help of God. Love to us all. God bless.

May Richards.
 

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A Marriage Blessing for Maria and Malcolm Patten

As you enter the little world

That you promised to make brighter for each other,

May he who harnesses the waves

And hangs the sun out in the sky

And puts the song in the birds

Especially bless you

And make your marriage a good and a happy one!
 
 

Love is indeed "a many splendored thing!"

When it is given and returned,

It enriches both the Lover and the Beloved.

And as long as two people love each other,

Nothing in this world is too difficult or too impossible,

For wanting to do something for the one you love

Takes all the burden out of it

And the roughest way becomes smooth

When you can travel it hand in hand.

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Take off with BMS Medical Teams
A new short-term mission programme will enable teams of medical professionals to use their expertise to help people in some of the world's poorest countries.  I

n February 2002, BMS World Mission will send its first two Medical Teams for three weeks to Bangladesh and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The teams of eight will be involved in specialist medical work and training at the Evangelical Medical Centre (IME) in Kimpese, DRC and at the Christian Hospital in Chandragona, Bangladesh.

At IME, a well-developed, 400-bed hospital, the team would be providing in-service training and performing surgery. The hospital at Bangladesh, provides health care for 100,000 local people, and requires a team comprising professionals including dentists, orthopaedic surgeons, eye surgeons, plastic surgeons, gynaecologists & physiotherapists.
 
 

Birthdays in the BMS Medical Fund Scheme:

NOVEMBER

MRS. K HATCHETT 4th

MISS M JOHNSON 16th

ARIZONA SMITH 20th

DECEMBER

VICTORIA PLUNKETT 14th

JANUARY

EMMA PETTIT 1st

MISS O PERSSON 5th

ADAM HATCHETT 26th

 (People whose birthdays are listed here receive a birthday card depicting the work of the BMS medical teams. In return they give a gift towards this work. If you would like to receive a card and make a gift on your birthday please see Janette Whitehead to register.)

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Minister's Report

I thank God for all the work and faithful service that these reports represent. This year I would especially like to commend everyone for their generosity in giving to the church. We continually see our needs met and the weekly offerings increase. Of course our treasurer would encourage us to give more, and indeed the Bible encourages us to give our tithes AND offerings for the Lord's work! But this year we have been able to give £2500 towards other worthy causes (BMS, Home Mission, Spurgeon's College, and the Bible Society) as we as a church tithe what is given through the offering plate on Sundays. Thank you for your faithfulness in giving.

This year has been a special year for me in that I was privileged to take sabbatical leave in Cameroon, West Africa, and later in the year married Maria. This may have distracted me a little from my work, but I am sure that both my time away and getting married to Maria have made me a better person and I trust as a result a better pastor!

The disappointment of the year is that we have had no baptisms. But there are some who have enquired about baptism for next year so we pray the drought will be short-lived. On a positive note we benefited from the Breaking Down Walls project, and especially from the contributions of Rosemarie Davidson-Gotobed and the then Mayor of Haringey Herbert Brown to that programme. We must not forget that to build a multi-ethnic fellowship takes effort. It does not happen on its own.

Another key aspect of our church life that has grown this year is our Pastoral Care Team. Made up of eight members of our congregation our PCT will serve to boost the level of pastoral care and support within our church. They will prove to be very important people in our church.

Finally I thank you all for your continuing love and prayers and support through another year. God has been faithful to me and given me much to rejoice over. May He continue to bless our life together.

Malcolm Patten.
 
 

SUNDAY SCHOOL/YOUTH GROUP

The Sunday School is currently enjoying its new, brightly painted surroundings and it is attracting anything from 6 to 11 Juniors each week and between one and four primary children. Mrs. Kath Hatchett and Mrs. Leola Reid teach the 8-10's and Mrs. Ivy Legore takes the 5-7's age group. Victoria and myself lead the singing and the games. Sadly due to ill-health Miss Lena Starling no longer teaches the primary group but continues to actively support the Sunday School in a "behind the scenes" role and by attending Sunday School and NCEC meetings.

The Youth Group, under Mr. Paskell's guidance has maintained a consistently encouraging number of youngsters with between 5-14 young people attending every Sunday.

During last year's Nativity Service, the Sunday School and Youth Group presented different items which was a new move for us and helped to establish their separate identities. The Sunday School's angelic theme worked well, as did the Wallies sketch performed by the Youth.

This year's Bible Exploration was based on the theme of "Remembering Mary" and was quite a challenging series of studies. Those who completed the course received their certificates at the Festival of Youth Praise, held at Enfield Baptist Church in June.

Our Easter Holiday Club for 5-11 year olds was, as usual, a great success this year's theme being "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe". It was good to see different people leading various activities and both children and adults thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We had our usual mix of games, Bible stories, memory verse, songs and crafts and welcomed both Church and non-church children. Particular highlights included walking through the wardrobe into Narnia and of course, chasing after the white witch and Aslan, the lion both of whom enjoyed an encore at the Holiday Club Family Service, the following Sunday.

The children and young people worked separately again to present the 170th Sunday School  Anniversary on 20th May. They did themselves proud and excerpts were later performed at the Festival of Youth Praise.

I am pleased to say that the Sunday School and Brigades worked together once more to host the children's "Light Party" on 31st October. We all enjoyed the evening, which consisted of games, singing, and a Bible talk and memory verse and, of course, food!!! About eighteen children came along to join in the fun.

We are just about to start practising for this year's Christmas Service which is centred on ..... but on second thoughts, you will have to wait and see! Thank you to all of you who continue to hold the children and leaders of the Sunday School and Youth Group in your prayers. It is greatly appreciated and needed just as much as ever!

Janette Whitehead
 
 

GIRLS BRIGADE REPORT 2001
This year we have 5 Explorers, 17 Juniors, 4 Seniors and only 1 Brigader, making a total of 27 girls 1 Lieutenant and 6 Auxillary workers. Unfortunately a lot of the older girls have now gone their own way, but they do pop back from time to time.

Last year our Christmas Fayre on 7th December raised £122.25. This was followed by the Girls and Boys Brigade party, which we invite the Sunday School too. This was for the under 11 s. The following week we held the older ones party, where if you had been passing you may have wondered what we were doing, as I never heard so much screaming from a game of Murder in the Dark (and that was just the staff). We also took part in the District Christmas Carol concert at Trinity at Bowes.

In May we had another successful Display with the Boys Brigade, and it was an honour to have the Mayor of Haringey, Herbie Brown as visiting officer.

Although there was no camp this year, camp for 2002 has been booked at Littlehampton Baptist Church from 17th 24th August.

In September Joan and Tracy Stokes started up the 1st Chelsea Company, I am pleased to say all is going well. She has 11 girls, 1 Warrant Officer and a Lieutenant, who is in London at university. Joan is also hoping to come to camp with us next year, and if we have the room we will take some of her girls with us.

We have also had a couple of special birthdays. Mabel Johnson, one of the founding members of the Company was 90 on 16th November, and Victoria will be 18 on 14th December, which means I am also coming of age as I have now been Captain for 18 years.

In the next few weeks we are holding our Christmas Fayre on 6th December at 7.00 p.m. Please come and see what we have, the Seniors have been very busy making cards and all sorts of things. And of course, the Christmas Party, under 11's will be on 13th December and for the older ones, the party will be the following week.

Belinda Plunkett
Captain
 
 
 
 

THE BOYS BRIGADE
We were doing well at this time last year, but soon after the Display the Sports Centre next door started a football evening on Friday evenings and the boys from James's Place left us to go there. For once we had a dry day for the Battalion Sports when once again we came joint second.

I really had high hopes of winning the Bible Quiz, but only two boys turned up on the night, so we did not qualify for the trophy. However Larry and Mandela did so well that we were only a few points behind the winners.

We are looking forward to the joint Boys Brigade, Girls Brigade and Sunday School party again on 13th December, just a few days after wrapping the parcels for the people at the Alms Houses.

Once again my grateful thanks to Paul Ambler, John Bambridge, Stephen Cook and Tony Bohan: without whose help we could not keep going. Our numbers now are as follows:-

Anchor Boys - 6 (sometimes 10);

Juniors 8;

Company 4;

Senior 1

The highlight of our year was the Service at St. Paul's Cathedral celebrating 100 years of the London District Boys Brigade, when 2 officers and 6 boys from each company, and friends attended. Mr. Shoard organising a double decker bus for the Battalion made our journey easier.

Miss V Maddison
Officer in Charge.
 
 

BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY REPORT
Once again, everybody showed their generosity during last year's Sunday School Christmas Service by raising the outstanding amount of £515.00 for our annual BMS Appeal. This money was sent to further the work in South Central Asia a very dangerous and difficult place for a Christian to work, and helped to break new ground for the BMS.

Throughout the year, we have continued to receive news and prayer letters from our World Link Missionaries in Brazil - John and Maria Dyer not forgetting their son, Joao Marcos. They have now lived and worked in Brazil for 23 years and have just moved to their fourteenth address! Currently, they are developing leadership training courses and literacy work in and around Rio Grande do Norte, in North East Brazil.

The children in the Sunday School have continued to receive the BMS children's magazine "WOW" (Window on the World) and have enjoyed collecting the stickers based on stories of people and missionaries in different countries. The adult magazine, "World Mission" is available on the table at the back of the church for anyone who is interested.

The Girls Brigade have also been studying the BMS in greater depth this year, with Mrs. Hatchett and it has been good to go along and find out how much they have learned.

A special "Thank You" to all of you who contributed to the BMS Birthday Scheme. Your donations have enabled the sum of £192.00 to be sent to support medical work during the past year.

Janette Whitehead.
 

GIFT AID

Just a reminder, in case you have forgotten, Gift Aid is a very good source of income for the Church and if you pay Income Tax and give any amount to the Church it does not cost you anything !!!

All you have to do is to fill in your name and address on a form which I can give you, let me know what you give, either by our envelope scheme or cheque, and the Church can reclaim the income tax you were deducted on the gift you made. This can be one gift or as many as you wish. If you want to know more speak to me.

Les Paskell, Treasurer
 

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Let me introduce you to our new Pastoral Care Team which we have set up in our Church during the past year. They are meeting regularly to pray for the members of our congregation and to offer care, prayer and support on behalf of the Church when anyone is sick or in need. As our Church grows in numbers it becomes more difficult to keep up with everyone and someone may be sick or going through difficult circumstances without anyone realising or taking the trouble to contact them and offer what spiritual or practical help that may help. Our Pastoral Care Team has been set up to support me in my pastoral duties.

At the moment we are still in the stage of forming the Team and working out how we can best organise ourselves. So don't expect a sudden explosion of pastoral care bursting out all over the Church!! But we hope in time that this team of people will become an important aspect of our church life and one much valued by everyone.

The people who have made up the team are people who have already been actively caring for people with phone calls and visits and in this way shown that the Holy Spirit has given them the gift for this kind of ministry. They have also been recognised by the church meeting. At the moment there are 7 people involved (a good biblical number - Acts 6:3!) but there is room for more to be involved and if this interests you then please ask me about it.

Those serving in our Pastoral Care Team are:

Thornton & Leola Reid

George Wheeler

Grace Tyzack

Hilda Gosling

Clare Lee

Margaret McGlynn

You may feel free to contact them just as you would myself with prayer requests, or if you think they may be able to help and certainly if you are unwell. Then we can pray for you and visit or offer help if needed.

However, lets remember that we all have a duty to love one another, encourage one another, and pray for one another! So let us strive to ensure that when we meet for Sunday worship, we take the trouble to get to know one another and care for one another in the Lord's name and to benefit the fellowship of our Church.

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