Autumn 2023

www.sandridge-pc.gov.uk 36 AUTUMN 2023 Local church news T he last few months have been very exciting ones for the Baptist Church! he end of May saw the Induction of our new minister, the Rev Darren Street. At a packed service, he and his wife, Ruth, were welcomed, blessed, and installed into the pastorate here. We welcomed visitors from our wider denomination, the local community and beyond. It was lovely to see so many faces joining us adding their smiles, singing voices and words of welcome. Thank you to all who attended and made the day very memorable and joyful. The next day, we celebrated Pentecost. We’re blessed with a wide variety of languages being represented at our church and, so, we made our attempt at a !rst Pentecost sound as we welcomed each other in words that were both familiar and unfamiliar. But, whatever the sound, the message was clear as we welcomed the Holy Spirit into our midst. One of Darren’s !rst tasks was to prepare one of our number for believers’ baptism. Unsurprisingly, given the name of our denomination, baptism for mature believers is a big thing, and one about which we make a fuss. It marks a huge highlight in our church’s life. Do say hello to Darren and Ruth if you happen to be passing by. For more information see www.mbfc.org.uk , email churchsecretary.mbfc@gmail.com , or call 01727 857786 W e have recently been busy with some improvements at church. The chancel has new lighting which allows us all to see the beautiful roof timbers – perhaps for the !rst time in its history. Re- decoration is planned for the autumn. We also have some smart new noticeboards in both our churchyards. Our next big project will be the Lychgate, which is the village war memorial and a separate listed building. It belongs to the village and not the church, but acts as our gateway, so we have taken responsibility for the project. We have applied for grants to help restore it and are collecting donations too, although these have sadly been quite slow coming in so far. Cra" Church for families is now an established monthly event. This takes place at 10am -12pm on the third Saturday of the month. Just drop in for cra"s, refreshments and activities. The dates for the rest of 2023 are Saturdays 21 st October, 18 th November and 16 th December. The Flower Festival will take place as usual this Autumn from Friday 6 th to Sunday 8 th October. For more information, see page 39. Another date for the diary is 2 nd December and our ever popular Christmas Fair from 11am-1.30pm. Do come and join in, we’d love to see you. For more information, contact us through the church website: www.sandridgechurch.org.uk Rev Wendy Sellers: revwendy55@gmail.com