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Call to prayer
We have, collectively and individually, been asking God for His provision in bringing us the right candidates to lead us as our minister.. God has been gracious in sending us His people who are also exploring if they may be the one that God is calling to Newbury. The search team and the deacons together have identified 1 person to bring in front of the whole congregation on the 23rd April.
As a church we are now called to pray daily for discernment of the will of God concerning our next minister. It is our hope and our experience that we hear God speaking to us in and through each other.
God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows our needs in the future. He knows the people He will send to us for nurture, support and encouragement in their faith journey. There remains much to learn about this candidate and much for the candidate to know about this church, however the one question that we are focussing on: “is this the person that God is calling to lead NBC?” Please pray every day for clarity of the will of God regardless of our individual preferences, desires and needs.
Please join us in prayer about this matter;
Daily using the prayer in the
prayer letter here.
Monday 3rd April on the
Zoom call here
Monday 17th April in the church between 10am until noon. 2:00 pm until 4:00pm or 6:00 pm until 8:00 pm
Sunday 23rd April 4:00 pm until 6:30 pm. NOTE there will be childcare provided between 5:45 and 6:30 to enable as many as possible to join us.
Reflection
At our church meeting and lunch we considered the challenges of “being a church that is humble”. Both Graham and Paul, in their respective sermons, acknowledged the challenge of being a leader whilst maintaining the “emptiness of self” that Paul calls for in his letter to the Philippians. Chris talked of the need to be childlike, but not childish, Brian showed us the need for both Moses and Jethro to show humility in listening to each other in order that God’s will is done. Many of those who spoke at our meeting acknowledged that it is easy to assume that leaders in church are the same as leaders in the world, bolstered by plaudits that build egos in people and obscure the work of God. Some spoke of the experience of finding their motives shifted by success. Others warned of the risk of hubris from what seems like “success” in the church, the strength of our Youth and Children’s work, the numbers of new people joining us… and other examples.
We reflected that our leaders and deacons are motivated by serving God not selfish pride, however the words from Graham’s message reminded us that it is easy to accuse those leaders of acting from selfish motives when they make decisions that we personally don’t fully understand or agree with.
This has been the most challenging of our topics to date. As we prepare ourselves to collectively determine the will of God for the future of our church we pray that we will have the courage to listen to what God is saying and the humility to accept that God alone knows what the future holds for His church that is NBC.
Maundy Thursday - 6th April
Please come and join us for this time of celebration and reflection on the meaning of the Last Supper. This is a really important event in the Easter calendar that has tended to be a bit overlooked in recent years. This is an opportunity to come together and learn, pray and celebrate. The service will start at 7:30pm and last for around 45 mins.
Save the dates - in addition to the prayer meetings listed above…
We have been working to find the very best ways to enable everyone at NBC to have both formal and informal meetings with the candidate. In these days of electronic communications and global access to our church information it is a particular challenge to keep information confidential. Working with all those involved and taking advice from our Southern Counties Baptist Association we have agreed to provide access to online services conducted by the candidate and recorded on YouTube. This will allow everyone to see and hear the candidate preach on many topics. Our small group leaders will be able to assist anyone who is struggling with the technology so that everyone has an opportunity to see and hear the candidate ahead of the service on the 23rd April. Anyone still struggling with this should contact any of the deacons who are all willing and able to help.
For obvious reasons we will not publish the full name or current location of the candidate in the e-news or in our weekly prayer letter as these are searchable in the public domain. This information will be shared in a private e-mail to church members on Sunday 2nd April
Saturday 22nd April - 12:00 - 15:00
We will hold an “open house” for everyone who would like to come and meet the candidate for the role of minister at Newbury Baptist Church. This will be an informal setting with plenty of opportunity to meet, discuss, explore and understand each other. We are also delighted that his wife will be joining us for this introductory session.
Sunday 23rd April - 11:30 - 12:15
After our morning service there will be a formal interview with the candidate. This session will be hosted by a member of the search team. Everyone is invited to raise questions that can be put to the candidate. Please send your questions by e-mail to
Pauld@newburybaptistchurch.org.
Join us in prayer this week.