St Andrews Baptist Church Weekly Bulletin
Sunday 28 September 2025
A warm welcome to all who are worshipping with us this Sunday—whether you are with us in person or online.
For Sunday service information, see below. You can access our services through our website (www.standrewsbaptist.org.uk)
This Sunday:
10am: Abi Ngunga will be preaching on “Revelation from God through vision 3”, based on Zechariah 2:1-13. This service will include Communion. If you are joining us online, have your wine/juice and bread ready.
There will not be a Special Offering during the Communion service on Sunday 28 September 2025. Instead, there will be a Special Offering on Harvest Sunday, 5 October 2025 which will support Genesis Acaye. You can find out more about Genesis on the BMS website: https://bmsworldmission.org/gacaye
6:30pm: Paul Grinyer will be preaching on “Asking: who do you say I am?”, based on Matthew 16.
Rooted (P7–S2) and Impact (S3–S6) Youth Groups: 6:30-8pm and every Sunday. For details or to sign up, parents email rooted@standrewsbaptist.org.uk or impact@cornerstonestandrews.org.
CHURCH ACTIVITIES THIS WEEK:
Wednesday:
tots+: 9:30-11am in the Room Downstairs (for babies and pre-school children with their grown-up). For further information please speak to Jane Harrison or contact totsplus@standrewsbaptist.org.uk
Lunchtime Communion Service: 12:30pm in the Room Downstairs, followed by soup and rolls.
Thursday:
Pastoral Visitors’ meeting: 2:15pm.
Friday:
Stitch and Blether: 10am in the Room Downstairs. Juin us for crafts, a cuppa and a blether. All welcome!
Admin in-office hours: 1-4pm.
Family Home Group: 4:30pm in the Room Downstairs. For more information contact families@standrewsbaptist.org.uk
Saturday:
Prayer meeting: 9am on Zoom.
Farmers Market Café: 10-1 in the Room Downstairs. Why not pop in for a coffee and a chat. All welcome!
Next Sunday:
10am: Join us for ourHarvest Thanksgiving service. The talk will be about “The Lord’s Harvest”, based on Matthew 9:35-38
6:30pm: Angus Ross will be preaching on “Exemplifying: Paul and Barnabas”.
NOTICES:
Transport Ministry: If you are struggling to get to church, or to healthcare appointments, email transport@standrewsbaptist.org.uk or leave a message on 07388 616629. The coordinator will get in touch with you, and we will do our best to help you where we can.
Harvest Sunday, 5 October: We are celebrating the harvest on Sunday 5 October and therefore if you are able to bring fruit and vegetables to help decorate the church that would be super. Some of the Micah group will be in church from 10:30-12:30 on Saturday 4 October or you can bring your offering on Sunday 5th October. Many thanks.
Pastor Abi is away from Monday 29 September to Wednesday 8 October. During this time Pastor Paul Grinyer is covering for him for any emergency pastoral care. Non- urgent pastoral care continues to be available through the pastoral care team pastoralcare@standrewsbaptist.org.uk. Alternatively, you may contact an elder or your pastoral visitor.
Find out more about being a deacon: The Church Annual Meeting includes election, or re-election, of deacons who serve in many practical ways, often behind the scenes. If you want to know more about what is involved and consider whether this an area of service for you, please speak to David Harrison or any other deacon to find out more.
We are excited to enter into a new year of working with our young people! From now until Christmas, the “children’s moment” during our services will be focusing on “What if…” questions. “What if…” questions are questions that can spark creativity and prompt deeper thinking and allow us to explore fundamental aspects of faith. We hope that you gain as much from them as the young people! We look forward to sharing more about what we’re doing at Beacon Kids and creche as the weeks go by!
Update from Crèche and Beacon Kids: The new session of Crèche and Beacon Kids is well underway! We are so grateful for the families that entrust their children to us each week. This semester we are thinking about the attributes of God and what that means for us if we want to follow Jesus in his mission. In crèche it’s been a joy to see our 2-4 year olds learn about God through stories and crafts. So far, our 5-8 year olds have been thinking about being faithful and trustworthy. Our “older” young people are learning about God’s attributes and will be looking at Paul’s letters – this was a bit of the Bible that they said they didn’t know so much about. If you would like to be part of the amazing team that has the privilege of nurturing faith and curiosity in our young people then please speak to, or contact, Margaret Sutherland (margaret@standrewsbaptist.org.uk) for more information!
This year’s Harvest Thanksgiving with Messy Church and the St Andrews Churches Eco Network is taking place up at Craigtoun Park on Sunday 28th September. We’ll meet in the large white Picnic Tent (next to the café) starting with games and activities at 3pm followed by a seated family-friendly worship service beginning around 3.30pm. During the service we will bring forward items for the Harvest table so please bring one piece of fruit or veg with you for this. A warm invitation is extended to everyone to join us – it’s a joyful ecumenical event and there will be time to socialise with snacks and drinks (provided) after worship. For further details contact standrewschurcheseco@gmail.com
The Families First Board of Trustees and team would like to invite you to their 24th Annual General Meeting on Tuesday 30 September 2025 at 7pm in St Marks. Their AGM is a great opportunity to help them celebrate their achievements over the past 12 months and to find out what Families First has been getting up to. Papers for the AGM will be available to view on their website in due course: www.familiesfirststandrews.org.uk but please RSVP to officemanager@familiesfirststandrews.org.uk by Wednesday 24th September.
James Gregory Public Lecture: Monday 6 October, 5:15pm in the Booth Lecture Theatre, Medical Science Building. Dr Gareth C Japhet speaking on “Breaking Down Barriers in a Divided World”. Admission free. More information from www.jamesgregory.org.uk
PRAYER ITEMS FOR THIS WEEK:
Prayer points for 30-day prayer challenge for Israel-Gaza
Let’s pray with the BMS world mission for 30 days for the safety and peace of people caught up in Israel-Gaza war. Take just five minutes of quiet each day. Why not open and close each day with the words below?
Opening prayer:
Lord… we hear the news about the land called ‘Holy’ each and every day and we feel so helpless. We don’t know where to go to find even a hope that things can get better. So give us strength as we take these few moments, as we pray in the certainty that you love us intimately, that you see our hearts and also our tears, that you know our thoughts, that you hear our spoken words and those that we feel only able to utter silently.
Today we pray very specifically for…
Closing prayer:
Lord, strengthen us, hear us, help us keep faithful: as we cry out for an end to the war, and a recognition that we have to work with and not against one another. Particularly may this be true in communities in Israel and in Palestine and within governments. Lord, bring peace urgently, we pray.
SUNDAY: For journalists working within Gaza. For good internet connections. For courage even when they know their own lives are in danger because of the work they do. For upholding professional standards. For connections they have with those outside Gaza to ensure their work is made widely available.
MONDAY: For the many organisations speaking up here in the UK, including BMS World Mission. For strong creative approaches to human rights. For partners resourcing them with information in Palestine and for those who advocate directly. For them to have a clear message. For their leaders and staff teams. For them to be salt and light.
TUESDAY: For people in the northern Gazan towns of Beit Hanoun and Beit Lahia. They sit just a mile from the nearest communities in Israel. Homes in these towns have been almost entirely destroyed yet still people try to live there. For those who cling to the hope that one day they might rebuild lives there. For them to find food and shelter. For safety from the war.
WEDNESDAY: For those in the Gazan town of Khan Younis. Recent pictures show that almost everything is destroyed. Forced displacement from most of the area is almost complete although some will have chosen to remain. For those surviving there on meagre rations. For those unable to move out because of age or ill-health or just a lack of strength.
THURSDAY: For those serving in the House of Lords as Bishops. For them to speak courageously even when they feel the tide is against them. For them to speak boldly and from a conviction of what you, Lord, have done for them. For a prophetic voice. For minds that seek truth amongst the fog of lobbies and complicated language.
FRIDAY: For Baptist churches in Israel. Most are in predominantly Arab towns like Nazareth. For their witness often in neighbourhoods that are made up of mixed communities. For them to be good listeners but also speak clearly to the truth that you bring to each of us. For strength when they are shunned, when church members might lose work.
SATURDAY: We pray for Wissam Nasrallah, a BMS-supported worker Chief Operations Officer at BMS World Mission partner Thimar in Lebanon. Pray Wissam would show great wisdom in discerning how Thimar can respond to growing humanitarian needs in Lebanon while its own civilians cope with years of insecurity and conflict.
The morning service starts at 10am, in-person and online, and includes crèche and Beacons Kids’ provision. The evening service starts at 6:30pm.
Items for the bulletin: Items for the bulletin should be emailed to bulletin@standrewsbaptist.org.uk (or leave a message on the church answer machine, 01334 472285) (by Wednesday 6pm)
www.standrewsbaptist.org.uk
ST ANDREWS BAPTIST CHURCH SCIO
is a registered charity in Scotland (SC053674).