ABE/FEBE

Birth announcement!

A new baby is born - a daughter for the Rue de Sèvres church in Paris. It is the Rue des Ternes Baptist Church, and it held its first service last Sunday, 18 November, in the basement of the chapel which will from now on be its home.

Thirty or more adults were present, including quite a few from the local area, and eight children.

This is something to thank God for. We thank Him for enabling us to see the realisation of our dream, the dream of planting a new church in an area of Paris without an evangelical witness.

It is also a matter for prayer. May God grant that, under the leadership of its young pastor, Edward Nelson, this new-born fellowship might rapidly grow in size and in grace, and soon reach adulthood.

North Finchley

John Kilpatrick plans to leave the pastorate of High Road Baptist Church, Finchley in the summer. John and Gill then plan to move to Scotland. Please pray that they and the church will know the Lord’s wisdom and guidance for the future.

Clapham

Please pray that the local council will approve their application for planning consent for a new building.

Clapham

Jonathan Gardner, with his wife Abigail, is taking up the pastorate at Clapham (south London), and the induction service will take place on 3 February. Jonathan was formerly pastor at Beulah Baptist Church, Watford, which sadly had to close at the end of 2006.

Cuckfield visits Thonon

There has been a long connection between these two churches, and in more recent years we have made it sound more formal by calling it twinning. It has been customary for a group from one church to visit the other each year. In 2006, eight members from Cuckfield spent 21-25 April in Thonon: 6 flying from Gatwick to Geneva, and 2 driving from their French home in Normandy to Thonon. The party enjoyed generous French hospitality, both in the church building and in homes; also meeting friends old and new. The relationship has been in place long enough for people on both sides to remember the names of the people they met last time, and there were joys and sorrows to share. Despite the fact that all of the 8 people were, as it happened, grandparents – age-range 50-68 – I was invited to meet with the teenage group on the Friday evening, share their picnic, and talk with them. All 8 attended the Sunday morning meeting, at which Steve Gunderson, Cuckfield’s recently-appointed Associate Pastor, preached, with translation, simply but effectively on the lordship of Christ. Fitted into the busy schedule was a visit to Geneva to do a tour of the UN buildings, and to see the Reformation wall, which commemorates the most notable reformers of European countries. There are statues, and inscriptions in several different languages, which would have repaid further study. On the last complete day, the party went by car to Chamonix, and on further east into Switzerland, where some were photographed in their shirtsleeves, standing in the sun in front of huge banks of snow cleared from the road. These exchange visits are heartily recommended. Pastor Nordine Salmi appreciates them, even though it makes him work even harder than usual to organise events. It was planned that he should come to England in June to attend the Evangelical Ministry Assembly in London, and to speak at Cuckfield Chapel’s mid-week meeting on 28th. Bob Campen

Twinning (eng)

There were eleven of them. Eleven friends from our twin Church in Chesham, to the north-west of London, who were brave enough to cross the Channel by plane, train or car to meet up at the rue de Sèvres on Saturday morning at breakfast-time.

There were only a handful of Parisians to receive them —but what Parisians! Tough walkers, who were delighted to escort our British guests as they discovered some of the beauties of our magnificent capital city.

Eating together on three occasions —one in our favourite bistro at the corner of the streets Saint-Romain and Cherche-Midi, enabled us to prove once again how sweet it is for brothers and sisters in the faith to be together.

One of the highlights of our time together was the recital given on Saturday evening by Daniel Wayenberg, as young and as generous as ever. A delight, which I am sorry to say some of our readers missed.

Judging by the happy faces of our visitors as they left, we believe we are right in thinking that their Parisian weekend was as enjoyable for them as it was for us.

Now it’s up to us to prepare for the return match —next year, God willing.