BOOKS AND MUSIC

Most of us have Christian books and many of us buy worship music. We probably have lots lying around the house that could bring blessing to others by offering it to the church to build up a library for people to borrow from. We already have some books but the existing library would benefit from updating.

So if you would like to organise books or set up a music library or both then please speak to one of the deacons.

FRIENDSHIP CLUB

Some folk are considering starting a group that will offer a couple of hours per week to reach out to those outside the church of any age, who would appreciate some company. Edinburgh has a reputation for being a lonely city and there is real need especially, but not exclusively, amongst older people. The group will probably meet during the afternoon on a weekday but it will depend on who is available to help before we decide which day of the week.

So if you could spare a few hours on a regular or casual basis then please get in touch with andrea.mill@blueyonder.co.uk 07974 824236.

PUBLICITY GROUP AND MAGAZINE TEAM

We are taking a fresh look at how we communicate with people not in our church to let them know what we are about. So we are considering setting up a small group of people of mixed ages with ideas, creativity and technical ability to review the media we have and to design what we need to build the Bristo of the future. Everything from the website to the noticeboards outside and leaflets inside, social networking etc. No-one is too young or too old!

We also require additional people on the Magazine team, for planning and putting the magazine together, getting others to write contributions and also to occasionally contribute themselves..
If you feel led to offer help in one of these areas please contact robert.mill@blueyonder.co.uk

Baptist Assembly in Scotland 2010

This year’s Baptist Assembly will be held in Dunfermline at the Vine Venue from Thursday 28–Saturday 30 October. The theme will be ‘Communities of Conviction’ and will involve an exploration of the key convictions that shape our Baptist life and witness, both here in Scotland and globally. Our speakers include: Rev Dr Ian Randall, formerly Director of Research at Spurgeon’s College, a highly respected historian and author of a book entitled ‘Communities of Conviction’; Rev Dr Stuart Blythe, a lecturer at the Scottish Baptist College and Rev D. Marc Owen, the Church Life Secretary for the Baptist Union of Wales. Our new General Director, Rev Alan Donaldson, will also be giving a keynote address.

The theme will be explored through Bible Study, break out groups and through telling good stories of what God is doing both in our churches and in our global partnership with BMS. So please make a special effort to join us and book early.

Assembly is a wonderful opportunity for Baptists across Scotland to come together to discern and discuss, to be inspired and resourced, to worship and to fellowship. This year there will be some significant opportunities for us to discern the will of God in areas affecting our common life together. Please think about who the key people are in your church fellowship and encourage them to be delegates. Please come and join us, and encourage others to do the same.

Reflections from Andrea

Andrea Mill was recently asked by the Scottish Baptist Lay Preachers’ Association to write an entry for their blog exploring an aspect of the theme of “Worship”. This is her blog that was published on the SBLPA web site on February 12th.

What are your expectations when you come to church? A cosy social gathering? Healing? A powerful encounter with God? Prophecy? A good sing?
Previous generations would not have dreamt of coming to church late. The norm would have been to be present 15 to 20 minutes before the start of the service to sit with heads bowed as preparation for coming onto the Lord’s presence. But things have changed even in my life time. Now it is more the norm for most to arrive in the few minutes before the church service is about to start and there are always some who come in 5, 10, 15 minutes or more late (but perhaps that is just my church?!).
Before I start sounding like one of those “grumpy old women”, let me explain where I am coming from!
I understand that lives are busy and sometimes things happen to cause lateness, but something has happened in the hearts of many Christians to change the priority of coming to meet with God in the overall scheme of things, so that we tend to rush into His presence without taking time to prepare for our meeting with Him.
Anyone in business appreciates the importance of preparation to get the most out of a business meeting so why should a meeting with the King of Kings be different?
Look at the preparation laid down in the Old Testament for people to purify themselves before going to the tent of meeting and even more stringent rules for the priests.
I am not one to advocate getting stuck in the past, but as Christians we must be on our guard about being infected by the culture around us. We must make an effort to live lives that are different. Our lives must speak of where our priorities lie.
What is more important, an extra 20-30 minutes in bed or 20-30 minutes reading the Bible and opening our hearts towards the Lord? If we rush to church in a bad temper with those we live with because we have not allowed enough time to get everyone up and out, it can be half an hour or so before we have come to the place where we are ready to meet with God. By then half the service is gone and we have missed a golden opportunity to go deeper with Him.
Brothers and sisters, I challenge and encourage you to make it a priority in the coming weeks to take time either before you leave for church or by getting to church earlier to pray and prepare your heart to enter the holy of holies. If we rush from the things of the world it takes time to refocus our thoughts on the heavenly realms. So ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit BEFORE going to church. Ask God to give you something to give to someone else. Ask for Him to draw close to you and meet your deepest need.
Ask and you shall receive. Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. Enter his courts with thanksgiving and expect a powerful encounter. You won’t regret it!

WOMEN WALKING WITH GOD CONFERENCE
Janis White and I met up with Lorraine Polland and about 1200 other women for this conference on the evening of 5th March and all day on Saturday 6th. There was great worship from Lou Fellingham and teaching from Proverbs about wisdom, but the most interesting part was a talk by Debra Greene about Redeeming our Communities. She has organised prayer meetings for thousands of people to come together to pray for a particular topic. For example, prayer for the police force brought hundreds of non-Christian police to the meeting as well as other local authority figures. She is from Manchester, which used to be called ‘Gun-chester’ until they got together to pray for a reduction in gun crime. Her message is that we (you and I) can make a difference to our local communities by asking what the needs are from different organisations involved with the community, social work, police, education, health etc and organising people to pray into action what needs to be done. She will come to Edinburgh if we want her to get involved. But we don’t need to wait. Never underestimate the power of prayer. All the infinite resources of heaven are at our disposal if we take the time to engage in partnership with God to bring about what is on His heart. The conference was inspiring and is on again next year but the real work starts with us, if we care about what God cares about. Let’s keep on praying ……..

SBLPA conference 13 March 2010
This was my first attendance at the Scottish Baptist Lay Preachers’ Association conference and I left feeling energised and encouraged from having spent a day with fellow lay preachers and time with the Lord.
The day consisted of the AGM (a very small part!), two teaching sessions by Edwin Gunn either side of an excellent three-course lunch, finishing with communion. Edwin’s theme for the teaching was the Word and the Spirit; the first session focussing on the Word and the second on the Spirit. He quoted the following to emphasise the need for balance between both:
“The Word without the Spirit is wood and stubble, The Spirit without the Word is froth and bubble.”
The content of his presentations are available on the SLBPA web site so there is no need for me to reproduce the essence of the teaching, but it reminded me of how easy it can be to let things slip, how easy it is for the devil to get in little by little in our churches and in our own lives: a bit less Bible-reading here: a bit less prayer there: forgetting to ask for the Spirit to come: forgetting that we are engaged in spiritual warfare. And before we know it there are all sorts of problems that we are trying to sort out in our own strength. So it is important to maintain a healthy balance between the Word and the Spirit.
It was also good to network with other lay preachers and to hear what the Lord is doing in other parts of the country. When I put my name forward to be a lay preacher I had not bargained for becoming part of the whole organisation of SBLPA with an AGM etc. However, I now appreciate the benefits of coming together to encourage one another and to promote excellence in preaching the word of God. It is an awesome privilege and one that none of us should take lightly.
This was my second Saturday in a row at a conference having attended the Women Walking with God conference the weekend before (see opposite). It was interesting to note what a difference it made to my preaching and power in ministry both Sundays having spent the whole Saturday with the Lord. I’m sure there must be a sermon in that somewhere!!

Editorial - Autumn 2009 Bristo Magazine

This issue of the Magazine has been an unusually long time in coming. My apologies for that! Maybe it’s appropriate though, since the theme for this issue is Firstfruits.

Fruit, wine and vegetables all take time to mature or ripen before they are really good quality and ready to eat or drink. An unripe, immature fruit or vegetable may be hard compared with the luscious, juicy ripe state. It may even be harmful or poisonous whereas when ripe it is good to eat.

Christian lives also take time to ripen and mature. For fruit, vegetables and wine, just the right amounts of rain and sunshine are both needed. Apparently this year’s French wine vintages are going to be the best for over 60 years because there has been just the right amount of rain and sun. Similarly we need the right amount of ‘Son-shine’ from Jesus and the right amount of the Spirit’s refreshing ‘rain’.

May you know the firstfruits of the Spirit this autumn.

Robert Mill

FROM THE PASTOR

Dear Family,

This edition, our theme is ‘Firstfruits’. There’s an apple tree in the back garden of the manse, the house we live in. It’s just outside my mum’s room, and she gets a lot of pleasure watching birds come to eat the fruit, now that they are ripe. This year the crop is the biggest I’ve seen. And one thing that’s impressed me is that, despite the seasonal winds pushing and pulling the branches, most of the fruit stays in position, ripening all the time.

And it makes me think how the Bible talks of Christian disciples being the firstfruit of the Kingdom of God. The big passage on this is Romans 8. So when I think of the apple tree and the lives of Christians, I see a few things in common.

First of all, how long it takes to ripen! Not just a single season or a few short months. Spring. Summer. Autumn. Sun, rain, wind. Our Christian lives are like this. Being a Christian is about being on a journey. It’s about movement, not just a moment. Jesus told us to go and make disciples, not simply invite people to decide to believe. That involves us changing, as well as others coming to change among us. Growing. Maturing. Ripening. Which one of us can claim to be fully ripened yet? It’s a journey that continues until the Lord plucks us from this life.

Secondly, why do apples stay on the tree? Because they need the energy and to be fed from the tree. And this is why we need church. If we are cut off prematurely, we stop growing. Become stunted. And drop off to rot.

But thirdly - how lovely and tasty is a ripened apple! It’s worth waiting for. For all to enjoy. So this is my prayer for you, my friend: may God continue to ripen and mature you on the branch. May you survive the seasons and the storms. And may the fragrance of your fruitfulness in your continued maturing be a blessing to all who come to taste you as a firstfruit of the Kingdom of God.

In His love,
Jim

David Nemeshegyi

I turned 32 this year. Both Agnes and I were brought up in Baptist families in Hungary. This background had its advantages and disadvantages at the time but retrospectively we think the former far outweighed the latter. I was the second child in the family and had four sisters and three brothers. We lived in Fót, a small town just outside Budapest. Agi is from Kondoros which is in the south-eastern part of Hungary.

We went to the local Baptist church. With a membership of around 70, it was a relatively small congregation, with a characteristic combination of small town values and a fairly conservative Baptist setting. In this church I was baptised at the age of 14. I was blessed to have a youth pastor who constantly challenged us by his personal example to gain a deeper understanding of God and the Bible and to apply this in our everyday lives.

My previous experience:
After high school I trained as a nurse at college. In 1999, the last year of my studies I felt a strong attraction towards ministry, mainly by the influence of the life and example of my aforementioned youth pastor. However, I haven’t gone straight to seminary but decided to do national service - which was compulsory back then. In those days there were two options: you either joined the army and did the military training or you worked for a charity agency. Joining the army provided an excellent opportunity to witness in a non-Christian environment and proved to be a useful experience. In 2000 I started my training at the Baptist seminary in Budapest. Beside classes we had placements in churches each year, where we were involved in youth work, visiting the sick and preaching. More recently, I worked as a care assistant in Newark, Nottinghamshire whilst studying part-time at IBTS in Prague.

Why we have come to Bristo Baptist and what we would like to be involved in:
Margaret (died 1093), mother of King David I of Scotland, was of Hungarian origin and a friend of mine in Newark suggested that upon arrival in Edinburgh I should reclaim the throne for Hungary. On a more serious note, I got to know the work of Bristo Baptist Church through Jim Purves whom I met in Prague. Agnes and I felt drawn to Bristo because of the conscious effort people make here to understand what God is calling them to in His Kingdom. We want to be fellow seekers of this vision, by fellowship, study and participation. If I was asked to mention one area of church work I am especially interested in, it would be the ministry towards the elderly. This attraction comes mainly from a sermon I heard in April 1999 in my church, based on Leviticus 19: 32. I believe it is very important to uphold this divine instruction, with the full weight of authority of the Lord behind it, to treat the aged population with respect and dignity. I need not speak about how timely this ancient legislation is in our society.

Hobbies:
Both Agi and I like to walk in the countryside, to marvel about the beauty of the created world. In addition to that, football is a long-standing passion of mine. Here in Scotland many will remember the 1960 European Cup Final at Hampden Park between Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt. That night a magnificent display from Ferenc Puskás secured the fifth European title for the Spanish side. Puskás was also the leader of the Magical Magyars, feared all over the world in the early fifties. Along with many Hungarians I still wait for the resurrection of those glory days.

David Nemeshegyi

Pedro González

My name is Pedro Gonzalez. I am 23 years old; I was born and grew up in a farm in the middle of the mountains in the south of Argentina, in El Bolsón, a little town on the border with Chile.

I come from a big family; we are 11 children, 6 boys and five girls. They are not Christians, but have very good values: I grew up seeing my Mom helping poor people, I lived among the poor. I was a poor child, but with one big difference, I was educated for my family. I never liked this kind of life, living around the suffering, I always wanted a different life. But that was not possible, because I started to participate in a Christian community, I have to confess that it was for a girl. But that was the first step toward Jesus life. And when I started to read about Him, my life changed! My paradigm changed, my outlook of the life changed; it changed for the Jesus paradigm, the same of my Mom has; love your neighbour as yourself. It was there when I could understand my Mom, and love the life that I had. A real life, dedicated to God’s kingdom and his justice.

The last year I realised that I belong to my home town, and I want to spend the rest of my life serving God there. Trying to help the poor to get education, as I got it.

Today I am in Edinburgh trying to still grow up in the God kingdom ethics, and trying to help Bristo Baptist Church in the extension of that kingdom.
Pedro González

TREASURER’S REPORT

It doesn’t seem like it’s been many weeks since I last had to write a magazine article. It’s now right in the middle of the year, and it’s fairly difficult to know what to say. At the best of times it’s very difficult to make money sound interesting, depressing maybe as yet again Banking starts to hit the headlines .... particularly difficult now as our church savings aren’t bringing in very much interest (if any at all!).

Our agreed budget means we need to have an average weekly income of about £1100. We’re currently averaging around £920 per week including hall rental. Our expenditure is fairly much to target. We’ve slightly overspent on building repairs; from past experience when dealing with an older building it is very difficult to accurately estimate for any repair work, and one piece of work tends to lead to another piece of work. We’re over budget by about £1000; however, all the work we planned to do has been done, and we’ve under spent on other areas of our budget so the overall impact is not too bad. Many of you will notice the work that’s been done in the sanctuary. We’re trying to make all work done cost neutral. The refurbishment work is being paid for through the sale of pews and benches.

If anyone has any questions on our budget / expenditure please ask me, or drop me an email and I can give you any more details. I don’t really want to fill the magazine with pages of numbers, just to give a general idea of where we are and how we’re doing.

In the next few weeks we’ll be announcing our Christmas appeal. Our aim is to send £3500 to Lom to support their winter soup kitchen. For the last two years we’ve managed to successfully raise this sum of money ... and we hope to manage to do the same again this year. We’ve had visitors from Lom this year and our contacts there are very special to us (see p. 15). I will be sending out the appeal letter soon—meanwhile please pray about what you can give sacrificially to this.

Paul Watson

CHURCH BARBECUE—VOGRIE COUNTRY PARK

Twenty-eight of us met for a barbecue at Vogrie Country Park, near Pathhead, Midlothian on 19th September. The barbecue site we had booked was in the middle of a small wood (which made David very happy) and had an adjacent field for ball games as well as a shelter, just in case!
We all had a great afternoon relaxing, playing football, chatting and exploring the park. It was great to meet some new people from the International Club as well as catch up with others we had not seen for a while.

Linda Watson

HEALING TESTIMONY

This year I started doing a Christian Counselling Course at Waverley Abbey (see the front cover for a picture of its grounds) and as a result have had to have some personal counselling. My father died when I was two and my mother when I was six and then my sister and I were raised by my aunt and uncle - two completely different environments - the first very loving and affirming - the second more critical and undemonstrative.
Through the counselling I became aware of just what a big impact my father’s death had on me. I had always felt relatively untouched by their deaths but now realise how I came to shut down emotionally and have always kept people at a distance.
This year the Lord has healed me of a lot from my past but at CLAN He went much deeper. The first night Kenny Borthwick spoke about the baptism of the Holy Spirit and being empowered as a result. I began to wonder if I had been “baptised” or just “filled” so the next day started praying for it. On Monday morning as we started to worship I felt the Holy Spirit come upon me and the Lord say “This is your baptism of the Holy Spirit. Your father gave you to me before he died. I have always held you in my arms and have always loved you. I have always been your Father.” Then I felt warmth around my heart and the love of God fill me and wave after wave of His love wash over me. It was a deeply moving experience that has changed me and I now realise how I had been keeping God at a distance too.
I knew in my head that He loves me but now I feel it in my heart. As a worship leader I have sung the songs about love for many years but now I totally get what they are about - the words have so much more meaning and emotional impact.
After being filled with God’s love I felt Him say that I was being empowered to preach healing into His church. I already am a lay preacher (on the Baptist Union list) but my heart goes out to all those who are broken and holding back from receiving what God has for them in Christ through the Holy Spirit. I work as a LighterLife Counsellor, which is secular, but very healing for those with weight problems. I see how our past affects us and how many people turn to food or drink (or other things) as a coping strategy and Christians are not exempt from this. I sense the Lord is calling me to those in the church so they are better placed to reach out to others. I long to see the church become freed from its past to be the expression of God’s love and compassion in this land. But I believe that before we can “go”, first we must “come” to the Lord to receive some measure of healing ourselves on our journey with Him.
Andrea Mill

CHRISTIAN WORKER STUDY PROGRAMME

The Christian Worker programme is run by the Baptist Union of Scotland.
The Christian Worker certificate is achieved by following a 2 year structured programme and an optional third year of study can be undertaken to obtain the Christian Worker Diploma.
I completed the Christian Worker Certificate in 2001 and then took some time out before completing the Diploma year in 2005. Since last year I’ve been involved in helping to plan the course.
I originally enrolled on the course because I felt the need for some more structured Bible study than I’d been managing on my own! I really enjoyed doing the course and meeting other students at the study days. I’d be happy to talk to anyone who’d like to know more about this. Basic details for the course starting in October are as follows:
Year 1: October 2009 – June 2010
The programme commenced this year with a study day on 10th October in Dedridge Baptist Church. In each of the two years a second study day takes place in the spring to enable students to meet and discuss with the tutors and each other what has been studied throughout the winter.
All home assignments are completed by early summer each year. Preparing for the assignments involves reading from the Bible and set books and manuals, supplied as part of the course.
The cost for the first year of the course is £110, which can be paid in instalments throughout the year. Course fees include all set texts.
Approximately five hours a week are needed to do the course, although this will vary depending on the individual. If you have not studied for a while a little extra time might be needed to get up to speed.
For further details or course application forms contact George Petrie (01506 856274, george@gmpetrie.plus.com) or talk to me (0131 669 8156, jonahhams@btinternet.com)
Linda Watson

THANKS FROM LOM

Dear Brothers and Sisters
We, the church board of the Baptist Church in Lom, are writing this letter to thank you for all you have done for us and our ministry during the years of partnership. As we wrote two months ago we’ve been facing some serious financial problems but thank the Lord, He used our brothers and sisters from the partnership churches in Clevedon and Beuford to help us manage the situation. Hope you all are doing well and have your needs met.
We also want to thank you for the financial support for the soup kitchen for poor people that we do every year. It starts in November but as it takes almost a month for the money to get to our bank account we would like to ask you to send it a bit earlier so we may have about two weeks to organize our work before Nov. 1st. (talking about shopping some things in advance).
Thank you very much. May the Lord bless you abundantly and keep you close to His heart.
Blessings,
Bethlehem Baptist Church - Lom

BETHANY SPONSORED WALK

The Bethany Christian Trust website said, “Come and join us on Bethany’s sponsored walk around beautiful Loch Leven at Kinross. Loch Leven is a Scottish National Heritage site boasting incredible scenery and a treasure-trove of wildlife in its natural setting. Make a difference in the lives of homeless people and enjoy a stunning day out at the same time.” So on Saturday September 12th, about 14 people from Bristo Baptist Church did. The Watson and Gladwin families plus Pedro tackled the 4.5 mile walk while the rest of us enjoyed a leisurely 11.5 mile stroll.

It was an amazingly beautiful day and there were apparently over 200 people out supporting the walk, while dozens of hang glider and paraglider enthusiasts observed us from above the local hill – even the sun paid us a visit! I was left wishing I had brought some sun cream (balding heads and plus 20 degrees sunshine don’t mix well!). Yet ultimately I felt glad that I was able to do something, anything, that could support the invaluable work of Bethany among the homeless and marginalised in Edinburgh.

As a church we support Bethany in many ways – hosting the winter night shelter, providing clothes, soup and helping hands for the Care Van, donating Christmas presents – yet one visit to their website, reveals so many more ways in which we could help and reminds us of the reasons why. Beneath the surface of our affluent, ‘well-to-do’ city, there is a lot of need and many hurting people. Please keep Bethany in your prayers, and visit http://www.bethanychristiantrust.com/ to see what you can do to help.
Who knows, maybe you could join us on next year’s sponsored walk!
Matt Baines

TRANSFORMATION

I am sad
I feel hurt
And lonely
I withdraw
I surround myself with a cocoon
of smiles and words that say
I’m fine – keep your distance

I lie on my bed
I read my Bible
And pray
I am surrounded by a cocoon
of the Father’s love
I tell Him how I feel
And cry
I feel waves of merciful love wash over me
I feel safe

I rise up
A smiling butterfly
Ready to face the world
To love and be loved
To give and receive
To hurt and to heal
Safe knowing the Father’s arms of love
Are always waiting to pick me up
And transform me

Andrea Mill

July / August 2009

The Lom team visiting the evening service

From the Editor

“... Three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea ... I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, ... in danger in the city, in danger in the country ... I have often gone without sleep ... have often gone without food ...” (2 Cor. 11: 25-28 NIV, excerpts)

If there’s anyone who knew what it’s like to endure trials of all kinds for the sake of Christ and the gospel, it was Paul. It’s a rare Christian (at least here in Edinburgh) who is faced with trials similar to those Paul had to endure — but consider those Christians in other countries who face persecution and similar dangers. We, however, all do have to endure trials of various kinds. Trials of family life and relationships. Trials in the workplace. Trials because we have no work. Trials of illness, pain, disability and suffering. And many others.

Do we feel joy in our heart when we face the trials of life? James tells us that we must “consider it pure joy” because our trials test our faith and develop perseverance. Are you ready to be tested?

Robert Mill

From the Pastor

Dear Family,

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Timothy 2.1).

‘No pain, no gain’. My mum hates it when I say this to her! And I understand why. She suffers from severe, chronic rheumatoid arthritis. It can be really, really sore for her to move at times. Yet it is also so necessary. For unless she keeps exercising and making the effort to do so, she will stiffen and become ever less mobile. I can understand this a little, in the physical sense. But I see it even more clearly when applied to our Christian life.

It seems to me that there are two stages to becoming a Christian – perhaps even two flavours – sweet and sour. They are integrally woven into one another and we can’t have one without the other too. On the one hand, there is the sheer wonder of what Jesus has done for us, in taking our sins and sickness into Himself, experiencing the consequences on the Cross of Calvary, and freeing us from the bonds of the devil, disease and death. All He has done for us that causes us to stand back in wonder and adoration as mere spectators to the marvellous mercy of God. But on the other hand, there is the way that He draws us into His own experience of living for the Kingdom of God. The way that we are, through our baptism, brought to see that we are to be united with Him in His death and thereafter in the power of His resurrection. There is this call to purposeful participation in the life of Jesus Christ, owning His sense of self-identity and Father’s child, taking to ourselves His commitment to expressing of earth the presence and purposes of the Kingdom of God. Pursuing the Nazareth Manifesto, outworked in our culture and context.

And so while there is a time and place to sit back and wonder at the sheer grace of God, there is also a place for getting up and getting on with the challenge. Enduring trials. Pressing on towards the goal. Committing all things to God in prayer and pressing on to win the victor’s prize. It is this that matures and develops us as God’s children.

Over this summer period, I pray that you find times to enjoy holy hedonism: simply relishing and relaxing in the sheer grace, love and mercy of God. But I also pray that, in such times, God speaks to you and shows you afresh the narrow path that you and I have been called to pursue.

That, realizing who and what we are because of Jesus Christ, you can focus and grow into the person God wants you to be. That together we might forge ahead and see the expansion of the Kingdom of God in and through our life and witness together, as the congregation of Bristo Baptist Church.

In His love,

Jim

Treasurer's Report

First of all I’d like to thank you all for voting me for a second term as Deacon and Treasurer. I very much appreciate the confidence shown in me in allowing me to continue to serve the Church in this dual role.

I recently presented last year’s accounts at the church AGM. Knowing we had substantial repair and maintenance work to be carried out on the church and manse we set ourselves quite an aggressive budget, and we met most of our targets for income. However there are problems in maintaining older buildings, and one piece of maintenance work can often reveal other problems which require immediate attention, resulting in us overspending our budget by just over £6000. All this overspend was made on capital building and repair works.
This year’s budget is set to be equally challenging, though with less money being set aside for repairs and maintenance, there should be more money available to use in other church work. Last year we postponed making a gift to the BMS. This year we hope to be able to give a more generous gift.
In summary:

Income actual 08/09 budget 09/10

Church Offerings etc. 52633 50000
Tax Refund 9638 8000
from Fair Trust (in lieu of rent) 2400 2400
from Fair Trust (bills) 1934 2000
use of Halls 5640 8000

Total 72245 70400

And for special offerings we proposed again to support the LOM winter soup kitchen, and a further love gift to LOM, along with gifts to BMS and Bethany.

Income actual 08/09 budget 09/10

LOM - winter kitchen 3500 3500
BMS 0 1000
Bethany 10 500
LOM - gift with mission trip 1673 1500
General Mission 40 0

Total 5223 6500


Paul Watson