Evangelism is Simple, Really

Trevor Purnell

Rob Redding

 Here's another story from the WEBA Baptist Times Supplement which is now available from your church secretary or administrator!

Thanks to Trevor and Rob from Milton Baptist Church who were willing to share their story with the rest of us.

Trevor Purnell and Rob Redding have helped each other through a number of life’s ups and downs.

They met when Trevor lost his job and took on work as a security officer. Rob showed him the ropes and they became close friends. Trevor and his partner Jenny looked after Rob when he was recovering from a mild heart attack; then he was there for them when Jenny was diagnosed with cancer and later died.

“It broke him, he was in a terrible state” said Rob. “I decided I had to be there for him.” One day near Christmas, Trevor phoned and asked if they could meet for a coffee. Rob explained that he was about to go to a Carol Service. “I’d like to come” said Trevor.

Although Rob is far from shy about explaining his Christian faith (you can see his baptismal testimony on youtube -www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoECc_NPig8) he’d always avoided going on about it to his good friend. What he didn’t know was that when Trevor was round at his house, and he went out of the room for a minute, Trevor was in the habit of sneaking a look at his daily Bible notes, which he’d left on the coffee table. Trevor went to the carol service at Milton Baptist Church, Weston-super-Mare, and enjoyed it. He went back again on Christmas Day.

“It was like something spoke to me inside” he says. “I knew I had to keep going to church.”

By the new year, Trevor was driving the church minibus, and soon he said he wanted to be baptized. “Since that day I have never looked back, and God truly helps me through both the highs and the lows of my life” he says.

Many of us, like Rob, will have friends who are struggling with life, and the last thing we feel like doing is telling them what to believe. What does Rob suggest we do?

“Be aware of what God is doing around you…Evangelism is simple, really. It’s not preaching the gospel, and shoving it in their faces, it’s living it in front of them.”

God Moving in Small Churches

Today I can't resist pulling together three little things that have come through the WEBA office. Grace Tucker at Ruardean Hill (membership: 7) sent me photos of their first baptism in twelve years yesterday. Then I had a request for any churches who might be able to lend Lawrence Weston (membership:11) a water heater for a baptism there. Then there was a request from the new Gospel Community Choir at Shirehampton, who have been borrowing Lawrence Weston's chairs for their rehearsals but now there aren't enough, and they wondered whether  any churches might have stackable plastic chairs they don't need.
Gordon Hindmarch (one of our Regional Ministers) remarked yesterday that exciting things are happening in our smallest churches. That's certainly how it feels today.
Please pray for the leaders and deacons of our Forest of Dean churches who are coming together for a quiet day tomorrow (Saturday 18th June). This is another new and exciting development for a number of our small churches.
And if you can help with the heater or the chairs, do call the WEBA office on 0117 965 8828. Thank you!

Burnham's Transatlantic Baptism Service

Sophia Hurley with Steve Ayers

Steve baptises his daughter Becky

Burnham-on-Sea Baptist Church will be welcomed into the West of England Baptist Association at this Sunday's 3 in 1 Event in Weston-super-Mare. So it's especially good to share with you this baptismal service with a technological twist:

When Sophia Hurley was planning her baptism at Burnham-on-Sea Baptist Church she thought that one member of her family would not be able to see it.  Her Gran, Phyllis Hampshire, moved out to Canada fifteen years ago and she couldn’t travel back for the service. 

However the church was able to set up a link over the internet that meant that the whole family was able to enjoy the service together.  Phyllis, who had to get up at 5 a.m. to watch the service, was delighted to be able to watch the ceremony and talk to her family afterwards.  “It was amazing to see it and I really felt I was a part of it”, she said.  “It was very special and great to be involved.”

Church minister, Steve Ayers, was pleased that the all technology worked.  “We’d never done this before but it worked out really well.  I was really pleased that Phyllis could share in the ceremony with us from Toronto.  It was a particularly special day for me because I baptised my daughter, Becky, at the service too.”   

The Baptism Service was followed by a sit-down meal for 125 people.

Thanks to Steve Ayers for sending us this story, and to Drew Lawrence for the wonderful photos.