Early morning service.

Morning Service. Creche andSunday School groups.

Evening Service.

Xtreme (years 7-13)Contact: Danny Brown (354392)

The Olive Tree.

MX (years 3-6) Youth Club.Contact: Steve Thomson (358848)

Time Aside - Ladies Discussion Group.

Refresh Bible Study Groups.

Tuesday@Two.

Xplode (years 9 - 10) Youth Club.Contact: Simon Roper (351657)

Tick Tock Parent & Toddlers Group.

House Groups.Youth House Group.Contact: Danny Brown (354392)

Xchange (years 7 - 8) Youth Club.Contact: Hannah Beech (24051)

Martin Hodson 8 Tay Avenue, St Peter’s, Worcester WR5 3UB

358869 martin@stpetersbaptist.org.uk

Steve Thomson 32 Rosemoor Gardens, St Peter’s, Worcester WR5 3QS

358848steve@stpetersbaptist.org.uk

A .pdf version of ‘Trans ’ is availablefor download on the website.

More information about the church andaudio downloads of recent sermons, canbe found on the church website:www.stpetersbaptist.org.uk

Please send articles to:magazine@stpetersbaptist.org.uk

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and thepower of the Most High will overshadow you;therefore the child to be born will be called holy -the Son of God.” Luke 1 v35

I’m writing this on (26 November). I’m making this globalholiday from consumerism the beginning of my Advent journey towardsChristmas. I’m spending a day without spending. It’s now 5.00pm and I’vekept a clean sheet so far. I’ve had very few noticeable side effects and noreal withdrawal symptoms. Usually Becky and I go out for coffee on a Sat-urday morning but today we survived a pleasant walk by the river without acaffeine-oriented destination. And there are Christmas gifts for family andfriends to think about, but they are waiting for another day.

For 24 hours at least, I’m reminding myself that I’m part of the 20% of theworld’s population which consumes 80% of the world’s resources. I loveand am loved by a God of justice and I don’t think I can honour him with-out facing up to this injustice and the damage our consumption is doing tohis planet. He cries: ‘Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a nev-er-failing stream!’ (Amos 5.24).

You might think I sound a bit smug here. That’s not how I’m feeling. This isjust a day. I know I will be part of the seasonal burst of consumption thatdoes so much for the high street economy. I want to buy nice presents forothers and send tasteful cards and have a fresh Christmas tree and eatwell. I love Christmas. I love the celebration of Jesus’ birth and the way thatgatherings and greetings and gifts are central to this.

So what am I doing today? Trying to salve my conscience by some con-spicuous abstinence? Well not really. I’m trying to make myself . That’swhat I’ve determined to do this Advent – . I know that I can get sweptup in doing what I always do, or following what the rest of society is doing.Advent is a season to stop and think. To think about what we are celebrat-ing and we are celebrating.

I’m not planning to become grumpy and about Christmas.But I am planning to let Advent remind me that what matters is not what Ispent but what Jesus spent for me:

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich,yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty mightbecome rich. (2 Corinthians 8.9).

Praying you have a Thoughtful Advent followed by a Happy Christmas.

Counselling Service was set up in 2000 by a group of Christiansin Worcester. A team of volunteer counsellors give their time to clients of allfaiths and ages. For this second in a series of articles introducing thevolunteers at , I asked one of our counsellors to explain why shebecame one of our volunteers.

“My name is Josie Calam and before I became a counsellor I taught Primaryand Special Needs children for 24 years. I’m married to Richard and we havethree grown up sons. Matthew, the youngest, married his teenage sweet-heart on the Saturday of August Bank Holiday this year. Rob lives with hisAustralian wife near Perth and the eldest, we call the boomerang kid, isliving at home again after working in London as a demi sous chef forGordon Ramsey.

I came to nearly four years ago as a student counsellor. AlthoughI had placements in other places, was the best experience Icould have had as a trainee counsellor: they were nurturing; supportive;encouraging and very professional. I think the Team Meetings make aninvaluable contribution to that ethos. Rooted in prayer, they create a spacein which we can learn and support each other in what is otherwise a veryisolating profession.

I think counselling is important because it provides answers to issues whichcan’t be resolved with medication. For example, the symptoms of depres-sion can be alleviated by medication but unless the issues which areunderlying it are addressed then the condition can be triggered again andagain. ADHD and hyperactivity in school children are commonly diagnosednow but only Northern Ireland and Wales have acknowledged the benefitsof having counsellors in schools. Culturally, we have a society which createsmany of these conditions by not being free/allowed to talk about ouremotions and our responses to traumatic situations – we’re proud of the ‘stiffupper lip’ – and so culturally we see counselling as unacceptable too.

Unlike Christian counselling, as a Christian who counsels I meet the clientwherever they are in their life; their faith need not be the starting point. OftenGod is blamed, or criticised for allowing, for example, abuse to happen andit is at this point I think my response as a Christian may differ from that of anon-Christian counsellor. I can, when appropriate, help them explore theirexpectations of God and how He may have been there in other ways theymay not have thought about. In some situations, this has led to reconciliationand a desire to try ‘church’ again.” Christine Jennings

‘SPIRIT OF CHRISTMAS’ VARIETY CHARITY CONCERTon FRIDAY 9th DECEMBER

at ST PETER’S BAPTIST CHURCH

This December we are delighted to bring to St Peters Church our 5th AnnualConcert in aid of The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, whose aim is tosearch for a cure for the many young sufferers that are confined to awheelchair because their muscles slowly and irreparably deteriorate caus-ing an early death.

Our concert is a really happy occasion, bringing to you a non-stop variety of. The is provided by local successful choirs and solo-

ists with popular seasonal songs, carols, spirituals, entertaining classicalnumbers and even musical sketches which this year will be from ‘Hansel &Gretel’. The will be provided by local people with fascinating careersand interesting stories to tell, including a Glass Maker from Stourbridge, apopular Wildlife Conservationist in Worcestershire, and an Author cum Col-umnist cum BBC Broadcaster with a heroic story!

6-00 pm - Finger Buffet 7-30 pm - Concert

£5 – Concert only : £11 – Buffet & Concert £4 – Concert only for 10 & under

Please support us – we are sure that you will enjoy it

Further details are on the St Peter’s Baptist Church’s foyer notice board andfliers in Eden Café.

Please call me, Mike Field, on 01886 888320 to order tickets or for any fur-ther information. We are offering a £1 discount from the two advertised fullprices to any St Peter’s congregation member, staff and friends. It is impor-tant to order your tickets from me if you want the discounts.

We hope to welcome you on the 9th December. Thank you – Mike Field

Christmas greetings to you all from the Collins Clanhere in Rotorua, New Zealand.

This will be our second Summer/Hot Christmassince our arrival, and with another new year fastapproaching we have been truly blessed, testedand bruised in the last 12 months within our faithas we continue to settle into the “kiwi life” in serviceto God by word, deed and action.............

2011 brought an Easter visit from Grandma and Granddad, Lewis and Har-rison welcomed with a traditional Powhiri at Chapman Christian College,NZ residency, a whistle stop visit back to the U.K (including Spy School Holi-day Club!), a change of job for Paul, managing cultural differences and diffi-culties for Heather at school, Rugby World Cup and more recently,appointment as Children’s Ministry Leaders at Rotorua Baptist Church.

Upon reflection of the last year we could not have envisaged any of thisoccurring without the strength of our faith supporting us as a family, and asindividuals, because at times it has purely been of God’s will and not ours.We have truly learnt to make ourselves vulnerable especially over these lastfew months since taking counsel with our mentors and, therefore, as afamily we await the New Year in joyful anticipation and intrigue as to howour lives will be spoken into in 2012.

We have much to be thankful for and much to look forward to, and withstrength not in our ability but that of God we await the next chapter of ourlife down under in the land of the long white cloud.

Love as always, Paul, Heather, Lewis & Harrison Collins

ADDRESS: 1 Waitawa Place, Lynmore, Rotorua, 3010, New ZealandEMAIL: handpcollins@yahoo.com FACEBOOK: Heather-Paul Collins SKYPE: CollinsClan36)

This is the last of a series of three articles looking at the results of the SpiritualHealthcheck we conducted earlier this year, and which nearly 100 people fromour church replied to. The third aspect of our vision as a church is to godeeper in mission.

Here is the summary of the ten statements in this section of the survey.

Overall people did not score this section quite as strongly as the other two.

The majority of people responding by moderately or strongly agreed with fourstatements in this set of ten; about giving regularly to support Christian work,praying for people we know to become Christians, feeling confident to tell oth-ers about our faith and seeing our daily work as an act of worship. These areall very encouraging.

The lowest scores relate to offering to pray with people who are not yet Chris-tians and knowing who our mission partners are and praying for them. Thefirst of these might not always seem appropriate but often people are gratefulto be prayed for, or with. The second of these might seem more surprisingand certainly praying for our mission partners is an important and powerfulway to support them. The church’s mission calendar (in the form of cards in aCD case) is a very practical way to do this.

This graphic shows which words occurred most frequently in response to thequestion “What is one thing you could do to go deeper in mission?”

The next course starts onat

in with ataster evening - literally! - there willbe a finger buffet; it will be an op-portunity for those interested in at-tending the course to see what it willbe about. It will then run until andincluding Thursday 29th March 2012,weekly. The atmosphere is informaland relaxed and each session in-cludes a delicious two course meal!

God has really been working in thelives of those who have attendedprevious courses and there aresome great stories to tell of howGod has changed their lives andhow they have come to have a rela-tionship with him. We have receivedlots of positive comments about theimpact has had on them:-

“

So, why not invite someone onto this course - or come along your-

self if you feel uncertain aboutwhere or how God fits in to your life.We would love to see you there.There are invitations at church whichcan be completed and returned, youcan express your interest through the

page on the St Peter’s web-site, or you can contact Jim or JulieJohnson by email atjohnsonjs@talk21.com or by phoneon 01905 769 048.

Tim Parker

We recently received a letter and some information from a localgroup helping Christians form and build friendships with each other, here'swhat they had to say...

Hello from . We specialise in bringing Christians together acrossthe UK and Ireland in a personal, safe and effective way. We operate OF-FLINE with real people to help you. As a member you will benefit from ourcaring, hands-on approach and enjoy our whole-hearted commitment tohelping you enrich your lives. puts you in touch with other singleChristians. We know that turning to an organisation like ours to find newfriends can be daunting. Your experience with will be very differ-ent. We are here to support you and won't leave you alone in your search.We believe adamantly in providing the personal touch. Let us show youright now - call us on 0121 427 1286 or look at ourwebsite www.friends1st.co.uk.

Two years ago Shumi was part of the kid’s clubthat is held in her neighbouring slum area.  Shewas one of the older girls, but still enjoyed colour-ing in and playing games. That changed. Aboutone and a half years ago she got married andnow has just given birth to her second child.Barely more than a child herself -she is probably17- she has two children under the age of one.

Life for most girls in the slums is rough.  Some arein very difficult, and sometimes abusive, work situ-

ations; others are married off to men they don't know.  Shumi's situation isbetter than most, as her husband is a follower of Jesus, and he tries towork hard.

The kids' clubs brings us into relationships with different families inthe slum, and the opportunity to bring God's love into the lives ofsuch girls.

Please pray for O.M.’s work in Bangladesh

Geraldine

We also asked people what the church could do to help us go deeper inmission. Some responses which cropped up a few times included;

to

ing to share the good news with their friends

activities in St.Peters and in Worcester more broadly

So as you reflect on what you can do to go deeper in mission, here are a fewquestions which may be helpful;

what did they do?

really special event and many people who don’t normally come tochurch are open to going at Christmas and like to be asked

one? Would I dare to pray for an opportunity to do that?

example, by using the mission calendar to pray for one each weekafter lunch on Sunday

“Once upon a time GOD dreamed a dream and in that dream was YOU.

You might not have known it, until now, but you are His masterpiece: lovedchosen and created by design…a unique gift to this world.”

These were the words that were spoken to open the ladies’ at Cambridge Community Church (C3) at the end of October that I

attended with our eldest daughter.

The aim of the conference was to show how our life story fits into God’sstory that was His plan from before the beginning of time. He knew usand loved us since before we were born and His desire is for us to be allthat He has destined us to be. Our disappointments and failings, crisesand wilderness experiences are all chapters in our book of life but, be-cause God wants the very best for us in our lives, He gives us opportunitiesand reassurances that enable us to begin new chapters. These new be-ginnings will help us to recognise His great love for us just as we are andgive us the confidence to know that He is there to guide, protect and blessus along our way.

We were encouraged not to let the past dictate our future and to allow Godto make a valley of trouble into a garden of hope. We looked at the storyof Ruth and Naomi – two ordinary women used by God in extra-ordinaryways and discovered how both found a new beginning, a new chapter intheir story. Ruth found a new faith in Naomi’s God, a new and preciousrelationship with Naomi, a new life with Boaz and through their son Obedwas included in the genealogy of Jesus. She took the risk and that al-lowed her story to become part of God’s story.

Naomi’s life began a new chapter when she made the decision to return toBethlehem – her pain was turned into a time of restoration and healing.Ruth stayed with her and because of that, Naomi found contentment again,back with her family and with a grandson to love and cherish.

God says about our past, “But forget all that – it is nothing compared towhat I am going to do. For I am about to do a brand-new thing. See Ihave already begun!” (Isaiah 43:18,19a). Allow your story to become partof God’s story.

Kate Harley

hill tribes and taught in local schools, as well as having time to visit thelocal area and go across the border to Burma.

It was a truly action-packed two weeks. But even though we were there tohelp these children and the work of Kid's Life, we were enriched andchanged by it. It was so humbling to see the pure joy in these children afterwhat they’d been through, to see how Christ and Kid's Life had transformedthem and to learn from watching them serve and love others. Having adaily routine so focused on worshiping God did so much for our spiritualgrowth, and the way Kid’s Life fully relies on God to provide is inspiring. Theatmosphere there really is indescribable.

In fact, the only way to really understand it is tocome yourself! EVERYONE makes a differenceand brings something out there, and for thesechildren to see people travel across the world toshow them God’s love means so much, as theyare constantly told that they are unworthy by theirsociety.

Watch this space in theNew Year for more information about plans totake a team out next summer…

Jennie Potter

St Peters Baptist ChurchSaturday 17th December

10.00am - 12.15pm

Church for the whole family

For more information contact:Emma Pettifer: emma@pettifer.net or 763793

OrSteve Thomson: steve@stpetersbaptist.org.uk or 358848

Come along and get messy with lots of crafts, celebrationand story time and . . . .

finishing with everyone having lunch

Last August a team of 12 people set out from St Peter's Baptist Church towork with Kid's Life Ministries in Thailand. For everyone it proved to be achallenging, if not life-changing, experience.

We spent 2 days in Chaing-Mai, recovering from the long flight, acclimatis-ing to our new surroundings and getting to know each other. This includeda boat-trip and visiting an Elephant Park and the famous night-markets,which for most of us was incredibly exciting because we'd never done itbefore. Those who had already been to Kid's Life however knew whatawaited us and were eager to get going up to Fang...

As soon as we arrived we knew why!As our minibus drove in, we weregreeted by over 80 children and mem-bers of staff lining the driveway, wav-ing and cheering and running downwith us. A big banner hung over theentrance with all our names on wel-coming us to our Thai family- it wasvery special and we knew what anamazing and blessed fortnight we

were going to have.

Our basic activities consisted of getting up (pre-5am!), walking rounda huge map of Thailand on the floor of the meeting room to pray for thecountry, doing some morning exercises, leading devotions for the children,getting ready for school,  breakfast (we're still only at 7am by this point!)..then after the children had left we would have a team devotion followed bya staff meeting, before either doing jobs or going off-site. When the chil-dren came home from school we taught them English and then helpedthem with their homework and chores until dinner, after which there wasoften either worship or an evening activity. It was such a privilege to get alongsidethe children and staff in their daily rou-tine- to show them love, to help them, todo fun things with/ for them after schooland at the weekends and do jobs thatthey wouldn’t otherwise have time to do,such as painting the new sandpit andother parts of the site, creating displayboards, translation work and teachingthem sewing skills. We had wonderfulopportunities to share the gospel through music, story-tellingand testimonies on and off-site as we also did some evangelism work in

After all the input earlier this yearwhen I went to Bosnia Herzegovinafor a fact finding field trip to acquaintmyself better with all that is going onthrough Novi Most, here are some ofthe latest good things that are hap-pening there.

Ali Holstead, one of the leaders in aplace called Capljina, has now beenappointed field director. This hasfreed up Gill Rowell, Director of NMI,who has been to preach here severaltimes. This is all part of trying to de-velop a more local leadership.

In each of the three centres there is aclose link with the local churcheswhich have been strengthened duringthis year.

In Capljina all the youth work to datehas been based in a shop, but nowthere are moves to also runn a pro-gramme for children in the churchbuilding itself. This may sound easybut needs prayer as the evangelicalchurches in Bosnia Herzegovina aresometimes considered to be cults.

In Mostar the church has started torun a youth Alpha course. This wasinstigated by Claire Gingell, whocame here in May to preach, with thepastor of this church. This came out ofthe summer camps and the interest ofthe young people to go further anddig deeper into becoming and grow-ing as Christians.

Another new thing in Mostar hasbeen the ‘detached’ youth workwhereby, in a town square, several ofthe leaders and young people fromKlub gathered and played football.This attracted a group of young peo-ple and as this happened severalweeks running, it became a fixture!Now the winter has set in there is aneed for this work to have some shel-ter so the team are praying for a suit-able and reasonably priced locationfor this to happen. The Klub buildingis quite small for all that goes on, sothis extra influx is welcome, but theydon’t want to lose the young peoplethey already have.

In Jajce the programme for the winterhas opened with more young people,and they now have more musicclasses and the ever favourite baking!They too have started a youth Alphacourse and ask for prayer that thismay help the young people to growin faith.

I have now been to three churches inthe West Midlands to share aboutNMI in my new role as volunteerspeaker. In each I was receivedwarmly and they were very interestedand generous. More importantly, asignificant number of people havesigned up to pray. I’m looking for-ward to further assignments.

Maggie Reeves

The LORD gave me a vision while I was walking on the beach;

So lost in His presence, I felt heaven I could reach.

Then He came down and joined me and we just took a walk.

Being in His presence I tried, but just couldn’t talk.

I couldn’t help but wonder why He would come to me

But after He began to talk I could clearly see;

He started pouring out His heart and I listened as He spoke

Of the pain He always feels when He is made to be a joke.

It broke my heart to hear Him say the things He said

Many people think they’ll live with Him when they’re finally dead.

We walked a while in silence; then I began to cry.

He allowed me to feel His pain and suddenly I knew why

He chose me to talk to, He knew I’d understand

The way He was feeling; then He took me by the hand.

I stopped and turned to look at Him and when He looked at me,

The HOLY SPIRIT descended and His glory I could see.

He said, I want to thank you for your sensitivity

To the FATHER and the SPIRIT, to take time to talk to Me.

You know there will be countless souls who’ll want to talk to Me

When the day of judgement comes, but they are going to be

Heartbroken when I look at them with tears in My eyes

And tell them I don’t know them; then they’ll begin to cry

They thought because they went to church twice a year at best

That this would be enough for them to find eternal rest.

But they failed to ask Me to forgive them from their sins,

Therefore, not invited for never let me in.

Bill Adams

Reflective Seasonal Worship 9.00 amChristmas Family Experience 10.30 amCandlelit Carol Services 4.30 and 6.30 pm

Midnight Service 11.15 pm (ending by 12.10 am)

Christmas Morning Celebration 10.00 am (lasting about 45 minutes)

New Year’s Day falls on a Sunday this year and we are doingsomething a little different.

Between 9.30 and 11.30 am there will be a range of opportunitiesfor worship around the building. You can arrive and depart when-ever it suits you and build a worship experience from elements likethese:

You’ll receive a programme when you arrive and you can choosewhen to go where, and for how long.