Patterns of Mission

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The 2021 Autumn Council Meeting of the Gwent Baptist Association will be held “live” via Zoom on Thursday, 30th September (7.30pm). The main theme for the event, which will incorporate some brief items of AGM business, will be ” Patterns of Mission in a post- Covid Age”. The guest speaker will be the Revd. Gavin Calver, CEO of the Evangelical Alliance. All are welcome. To join the main meeting at 7.30pm or a question and answer session about Association business at 7pm click on: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89642347019?pwd=SjFocVpIMlRCMm02RU4yUFFBU2phQT09

Missional workers bound for Gwent

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A message from Association President Tim Moody.                                                                                                 


I am excited to pass on wonderful news of something God has been stirring within the Gwent Baptist Association in partnership with the Baptist Union of Wales. Working alongside the BUW and, in particular, Simeon Baker, the Association officers have been looking at the possibility of welcoming two missional workers from Los Angeles to the Gwent area.

Simeon said:“As a Union, we are pleased to be working in partnership with the Gwent Baptist Association to offer this opportunity of ministry and mission to the churches. We are humbled that God is calling people from beyond our shores to engage in reverse mission here in Wales. Jeff and Linda Kim have been known to us for some time as we have prayed with them and held numerous conversations over the past 18 months. We now look forward to welcoming them in August. 

“They come with a heart to serve the church here in Wales and experience of cross-cultural mission. We are grateful to the Rev Peter Cho and the fellowship at Tabernacle, Newbridge for helping Jeff and Linda learn more about church life here in Wales before moving to the place God has for them. We invite you as churches to pray with us, that God would open a door for them to minister and serve in one of our churches. Pray for them also that they may know God’s provision and blessing as they travel and move home all the way from Los Angeles to Wales. Welcome them and take them to your hearts.”

As an Association, we want to thank Simeon and BUW for all their work in bringing about this fantastic opportunity, and it is with great excitement we look forward to welcoming Jeff and Linda to Gwent. Please could I encourage you all to lift these two wonderful people in your prayers as they make the final preparations for their move to our region. 

More information will follow soon about opportunities for churches to be involved with this incredible move of God.

Every blessing

Tim

24-hour Prayer Event

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The Gwent Baptist Association is running a 24-hour Prayer Event via Zoom on 7th -8th May. The main theme is based upon the life of David and is adapted from Chapter One of Jonathan Forman’s new booklet Pray without Ceasing. Individuals, groups and church congregations are encouraged to take part. The appendix to the notes prepared for the event shows a sign-up sheet which can be used by individual churches to organise people for the prayer day allowing them to choose a specific hour they would like to cover.

The prayer event begins with a Family Prayer time at 4.30pm on the Friday and it will conclude on the Saturday with a Final Celebration at 7pm. For more details on prayer topics and how to take part , please click here . You can also contact Jonathan Forman on pastorjforman@gmail.com

CHURCHES ON THE FRONTLINE!

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Churches and chapels in Wales are right on the frontline in these days of the Coronavirus pandemic and never before in the last 100 years have their leaders faced such a huge challenge, the Revd. Dr Kang-San Tan, General Director of BMS World Mission, told an online meeting of the Gwent Baptist Association.

Many churches were helping to support their local communities by establishing or being involved in foodbanks, volunteering and generally befriending those in need but a bigger task still lay ahead, he said.

“We need to share our resources with the deprived and the poor at home and oversees. We are called by God to be salt and light in this troubled world and we will be accountable to God for our actions.

“We must go back to Scripture and renew our sense of God-centred mission in terms of providing practical, emotional and spiritual support to all we encounter who stand in need. But God has created new opportunities for us during these difficult days and we must seize upon them while relying, as always, upon His strength” he added.

Dr Tan and his wife, Loun Ling Lee, were the guest speakers at the Association’s Spring Event and they took as their theme “Mission Impossible?” Loun, the editor of the Lausanne Movement’s bi-monthly global mission publication, Lausanne Global Analysis, said: “There is a dangerous tendency to turn inwards when we are in trouble. God wants us to help people outside the walls of our buildings whether in the local, national or international context. The gospel is not just to be preached but to be demonstrated in the life of individual believers and churches. The question must be: ‘How can we help to bring healing to a broken world?’”.

Prayer

A new prayer booklet, Pray without Ceasing, was launched during the event. It has been written and produced by the Revd. Jonathan Forman of Blaenau Gwent Baptist Church, Abertillery and it will be one of the resources used by churches in the Association during a planned two-year prayer programme beginning in May.

For more information and details on how to order copies of the booklet, go to:https://bgbchurch.weebly.com/pray-without-ceasing.html

Others who took part were Association chairman the Revd. D Marc Owen of Moriah Baptist Church, Risca; Tim Moody, Assistant Pastor at Moriah and President of the Association; Mrs Eryl Dykes (Ebenezer Baptist Church, Abertillery) and the Revd. Dr Suzanne Roberts, a retired Baptist minister and former missionary who attends Tabernacle Baptist Church, Newbridge.

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

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… That’s the rallying call for all Christians who believe in the power of prayer especially during these challenging times. Prayer is a massive force for good and an essential ingredient in the Christian life. Now you can obtain copies of an impressive new booklet ‘ Pray without Ceasing – a guide to 24 hour prayer for the church ‘.

It has been written and produced by the Revd. Jonathan Forman, minister at Blaenau Gwent Baptist Church, Abertillery. Jonathan has a real heart for the Lord and is on a mission to underline the importance of prayer in the lives of individual followers of Christ and church fellowships. Jonathan is a member of the Gwent Baptist Association’s Officers’ group and a trustee of the Baptist Union of Wales.

So if you are going to invest in anything, then make a start by investing in prayer! For more information and details on how to order copies of the booklet, go to:

https://bgbchurch.weebly.com/pray-without-ceasing.html

Call for global access to Covid-19 vaccinations

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A message from GBA President Tim Moody

Dear Friends,

At the start of the year, I wrote to you all with a simple message: Hope is alive!  A message I firmly believe in, a message I have seen the truth of. In fact, just this week, a wonderful lady of 90+ years joined us via Zoom for our online service –  on her new tablet, for the first time!  Hope is alive!

Whilst I don’t want to underestimate the incredible challenges we have all faced over these last 12 months (as the pandemic has drawn on), I do want to draw your attention to those who maybe find the idea of ‘Hope’ a hard one to grasp.  I’m thinking in particular of those who aren’t currently in a ‘priority group’ for the vaccine.  They include some of the most disadvantaged and marginalised people in our world, people who, without the Baptist family stepping up, may never see the blessed gift of a vaccine.

And so it is with both ‘joy’ and a belief that Hope is alive for all, that I am able to let you know of a campaign which is being launched by BMS World Mission, Baptist World Alliance, The Baptist Union of Wales, Baptist Together and The Baptist Union of Scotland.

The campaign is aimed at making sure there is equitable global access to Covid-19 vaccinations.

To play your part in bringing about Hope for these people, I ask you to consider joining with the Baptist family by filling out a petition which will be sent to the UK’s Prime Minister at Number 10 Downing Street.

I believe we are at a time when simply knowing about the problem isn’t enough.  Dare I say it, but even humbly praying isn’t enough.  I believe now is the time for us to take action.  To be the hands and feet of Jesus and speak up for the oppressed and let justice roll across the nations.

So I ask you, would you join with me in signing this petition to make sure the least and the last are not forgotten as the world looks to bring an end to the Covid pandemic? To do so, simply head to www.covidfreeworld.org.uk for more information and to add your name to the petition.

Every blessing,

Tim                 

HOPE IS ALIVE!

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A Christmas and New Year Message from our president, Pastor Tim Moody

Stood in the kitchen, wondering how they were going to feed all the new guests arriving at the inn?

Wrapped up warm around the fire as another chilly evening sets in.

Gazing up at the night sky watching the stars dance to their own, wonderful beat.

A knock at the door.

A chorus of angelic voices.

A blinding star.

We can so often look at the Christmas story like a children’s nativity play, with cues and costumes and a teacher, down on their knees, mouthing the lines to the various characters. The innkeeper, stood behind the door, waiting for that infamous ‘knock’.

But we do well to remember that lives were rudely interrupted that first Christmas as one too many guests knocked the door, the cold night strangely warmed by heavenly hosts and a star that would lead the way. God didn’t wait ‘till the scene was set and the audience were sat quietly to begin the story of Emmanuel, God with us.

Instead, the promise God gave to Adam and Eve in the garden, the rescue plan as old as the earth, interrupted the hustle and bustle of life that first Christmas. A messy stable, some unconventional guests and an escape plan to Egypt isn’t exactly how we might plan a rescue mission to begin, but isn’t it wonderfully comforting to know that the Covid pandemic and the whirlwind of 2020 won’t stop God in His tracks?

As I write this, I’m listening to a song with the line “Hope is alive, Jesus is here”.  This year, maybe more than any other year for many of us, we need to hear the truth, that, despite all we have faced, all the distraction, the worry and the hurt:

HOPE IS ALIVE!

I love the wonder of the Christmas story.  Can you imagine being any of the people caught up in Jesus’ birth? Would you view it with awe and wonder or merely an inconvenience? Hope alive in a new-born baby or just more guests to sort out?

This Christmas and New Year, I pray you would remember that just because it hasn’t all gone to plan, it doesn’t mean all is lost.  Just because this Christmas might look different to the ones we’ve always had, it doesn’t mean hope is lost.

In a lowly stable, with no bed to rest in, the Saviour of the world was born.

“For God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son.”

I want to declare a message loud and clear from all of us involved in the Gwent Baptist Association:

HOPE IS ALIVE!

And we are excited to see all that God has in store for us in 2021.

We wish you every blessing; we pray for your continued safety amongst these challenging circumstances, and we look forward to journeying with you in the New Year.

Tim Moody

President

Gwent Baptist Association

JONATHAN IS A NEW TRUSTEE

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The Revd. Jonathan Forman ( Blaenau Gwent Baptist Church, Abertillery) has become a new trustee of the Baptist Union of Wales English Language Wing. He has been a pastor at Blaenau Gwent for the last six years.

His father was a minister of a church at Farnham, Surrey and Jonathan was a student at Moorlands College, Christchurch, Bournemouth for four years before he gained a BA degree in applied theology majoring upon pastoral and evangelism studies. It was there he met his wife, Elora, a fellow student whose home church was Rhiwbina Baptist Church, Cardiff. They were married in 2007 and have two young daughters – Lily-Rose and Hope Esther.

Both Jonathan and Elora felt the Lord was calling them to the South Wales valleys which resulted in them moving to Blaenavon in 2008. The couple served as outreach workers and then joint pastors at Blaenavon Evangelical Church for six years. Jonathan responded to a call and was inducted into the pastorate at Blaenau Gwent in November 2014 and the church has been blessed by their tireless work and service to the Lord. Jonathan completed a two-year course of studies at the South Wales Baptist College, Cardiff in 2016 becoming a fully accredited Baptist minister in 2019.

Jonathan is also a keen musician having studied contemporary drumming at the Guildford Academy of Contemporary Music and he enjoys helping to lead worship by playing the guitar and singing – in addition, of course, to preaching.

PRAYER PACK

Jonathan has taken a lively interest in the work of the Gwent Association and the Union since moving over to the Baptist family. He became a member of the Association’s Officers’ Group in 2017 and represents the Association on the BUW Home Mission Board and the BMS Council of Reference.

Jonathan firmly believes in the power of prayer and has taken the “lead” for the Association in arranging some inter-church initiatives including a 24-hour prayer event, supported by a comprehensive prayer pack, which took place over the weekend of 24/25 January. This was Gwent’s launch of its programme to mark the BUW 2020 Year of Prayer although sadly most of the face-to face prayer meetings have had to be cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Association secretary Geoffrey Champion said: “”Jonathan is truly a humble and faithful servant of the Lord. He always makes a considered, positive, practical and godly contribution to our work as an Association and his ‘Can do’ approach is an inspiration to all of us.” He also expressed the Association’s gratitude to Mr. Huw Stephens ( Bethesda Baptist Church, Rogerstone) who stepped down from the role of BUW trustee after seven years of excellent service.

A letter from our new President

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Dear Friends,

It is a huge honour to be writing to you as the newly-appointed President of the Gwent Baptist Association. Thank you to those of you who joined us for our first ever ‘online’ Autumn Council Meeting (AGM ) where we were privileged to hear from the Revd. Dr. Arthur Brown from BMS World Mission sharing news about the work in Lebanon and Chad as part of the harvest appeal.

As many before me have said, we find ourselves in ‘unprecedented times’, but I am hugely encouraged that we are not in uncharted waters. Indeed, the people of God have often found themselves in situations that required new ways of thinking and acting: from those worshipping through the journey of exodus to those worshipping in the unfamiliar context of exile. God’s promises are unchanging, and it is on this foundation we can be assured that whilst ‘lockdowns’ and closures are occurring all around us, God is still very much on the move in the lives of those in our communities.

As we consider the new nationwide lockdown here in Wales, I am mindful of the amazing work which is being done by churches and volunteer groups up and down this Association. However, I am also aware that, as this process drags on, the needs of those in our communities increase.

I have recently been approached by a volunteer group from Risca who support the vulnerable within our community and further afield. Whether it is picking up shopping, making a phone call once a week to everything in-between, these people do an amazing job and make a massive difference to the wellbeing of so many.

SHOPPING

In recent conversations with leaders from this group, they spoke of the growing number of people they are now in touch with, across the region. People who are finding themselves in need of help or assistance – shopping, phone calls, prescription pick-ups etc. Two particular urgent needs have come to light in Crumlin where a gentleman needs a weekly shop and his bins putting out and another in Abertillery where a lady going through chemotherapy has just come out of hospital and would benefit from the kindness of an occasional telephone call and the offer to pick up some shopping.

Whilst I highlight these two particular urgent cases, more and more people are coming forward with simple needs, and it is here, I believe, we see the people of God being the hands and feet of Jesus for their communities.

Could you, or indeed someone within your congregation, help support someone in the local area with a phone call, a shopping trip or by picking up prescriptions?

If you are in Crumlin or Abertillery, could you support this dear lady or gentleman?

If you are interested in knowing more about these situations or exploring how you can mobilise the people of God to serve in the community, please do not hesitate to contact me by email – tmoody083@gmail.com – and I can help put you in touch with the appropriate people.

Please be assured of the ongoing prayerful support of all the Officers of the Gwent Baptist Association – for you and your congregations.

Every blessing,

Tim 

23 October 2020 

Pastor Tim Moody, Moriah Baptist Church, Tredegar Street, Risca NP11 6BU

GOD’S AMAZING WORK!

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The Revd. Dr Arthur Brown

“Lebanon may be one of the most strife-torn countries in the world and its capital Beirut one of the most dangerous cities but God is still doing amazing things there through His church”, the Revd. Dr Arthur Brown, BMS World Mission director for mission, told the Gwent Baptist Association’s autumn council meeting held on 8th October.

In an informal interview with newly-inducted Association president Pastor Tim Moody, Arthur said Lebanon was on its knees and its people exhausted but yet the local church was growing amidst all the trouble and turmoil. Having been based in Lebanon working for BMS World Mission for a period, Arthur continued: “It is amazing to see once-sworn enemies, Syrian Muslims and Lebanese Christians, now helping each other and many are becoming brothers and sisters in Christ.”

Arthur said there was a great need for prayer for Lebanon because of the continuing violence, political, economic and social problems but we needed to thank God because he was bringing people to faith. He also referred to the outstanding medical work being undertaken at the Guinebor 11 hospital in one of the poorest African countries, Chad. He thanked the Association and churches in Gwent for their prayerful and practical support of these and similar BMS World Mission initiatives.

The Revd. D. Marc Owen (Moriah Baptist Church, Risca), who chaired the meeting, extended his grateful thanks to Arthur for his own personal contribution to the important ongoing work of BMS World Mission and for the organisation’s massive commitment to helping some of the poorest and most needy people despite all the obstacles they had to face.

Others who took part in the meeting were retiring president the Revd. Dr Suzanne Roberts, who led the opening devotions, and superintendent the Revd. Mark Thomas (Mount Pleasant Baptist Church, Blackwood), who said how encouraging it was that local churches had continued or embarked upon effective “online” ministry during the Covid-19 crisis.

About 50 people representing 15 churches were present at the virtual meeting which also incorporated elements of an annual general meeting.

A special appeal was made in aid of BMS World Mission. More information can be found at bmsworldmission.org/give/