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News from Stechford Baptist Church
		Articles 100 Year Celebration to take place on 31 December -- By MartinTurner Posted Friday, October 6 2006 Stechford Baptist will hold it's 100 year celebration on 31 December 2006. The event will run from 6.30 pm throughout the evening, with a Watchnight Service taking the church into its second century. Stechford Baptist began life some time in 1906 -- records clearly indicate that a group of people began praying at the end of January 2006, but an exact start date has not been established. To avoid the risk of a premature celebration, the church has decided to celebrate right at the end of the year. Invitations will be going out to former members, attenders and well-wishers for the event. Doctor How? kicks off Sunday 15 October at 6.30pm -- By MartinTurner Posted Friday, October 6 2006 The new series, Doctor How? kicks off on Sunday evenings from 15 October at 6.30pm. Doctor How?, which will feature frequent time-travel, focusses on the questions of how to live like God meant something to me today. Absolutely compulsive viewing for 13 years through adults. There is no connection with any television series of a similar name. Stechford returns to normal as bridge reopened -- By MartinTurner Posted Friday, October 6 2006 Stechford is now gradually returning to normal with the reopening of the bridge over the railway line last Monday. There are still works at the corner of Victoria Road and Station Road, and for most of the week Victoria Road has been no-entry from Station Road, although it seems that most of the traffic has ignored this. New song - I will follow (MP3 and score) -- By MartinTurner Posted Saturday, August 19 2006 A new worship song, "I will follow" debuted at Stechford Baptist's 'Heroes' event on Sunday 13 August. Download score Download MP3 As with all materials on this site, visitors are free to use these in churches provided that they note the copyright information. Lyrics: I will, I will follow I will, I will follow I will, I will follow Him I will, I will follow I will, I will follow I will, I will follow Him God has called me To set aside the dreams I led for God has called me To live my life for Him for ever Though suffering lies On the path he has shown me The goal of life Is to lay it down for Him I will… (Jesus, King for Ever Jesus, Departing Never Jesus, I love you more than any - any - anything Jesus, like no other Closer than a friend or brother Jesus You are my King) How to get to Stechford Baptist in roadworks -- By MartinTurner Posted Sunday, August 13 2006 The roadworks make it harder to get to Stechford Station and Stechford Baptist. But not much harder, if you know the way. From Ward End (coming South or clockwise along the 11 route / outer circle / A4040) Driving along the A4040, you would usually come to an island, followed by a bridge over a river, followed by the Iron Lane/Station Road one-way triangle, and you would go on up the hill, over the railway bridge, along Station Road. To get to Stechford Baptist, go one exit on the one-way triangle further, down Albert Road. This will bring you under a railway bridge. The first road on the left is Frederick Road, which takes you up to the station. The second left is Victoria Road, with Stechford Baptist after about fifty yards. From Yardley (going North, or anti-clockwise around the outer circle). You come to a place where it says 'Road Closed', and offers you a diversion to the Station. The diversion sign takes you left down Lyttleton Road. Do go down Lyttleton, but then immediately take a right turn down a one-way past the row of shops (if you followed the diversion you would eventually get to the same place, but it takes much longer). At the end of the row of shops, go left down Victoria Road. This takes you past the station. Keep left along Victoria, and Stechford Baptist will be on your right, shortly before you get to Albert Road. Station Road Bridge now closed for eight weeks -- By MartinTurner Posted Tuesday, August 8 2006 The Stechford Roadworks, which are the theme of Stechford Baptist's 'God at Work' series on Sunday mornings, are now in full swing, with the Station Road bridge closed to traffic for an expected six to eight weeks. Traffic is being diverted up Manor Road, along Church Road, and back down Flaxley Road, and traffic for Stechford Station is being diverted along Albert and Victoria Roads, past Stechford Baptist Church. Traffic lights have been installed on Church Road, but are, as yet, not operational, and temporary traffic lights have been seen on Victoria Road. In other Stechford developments, the Matalan building at the Stechford Retail Park is finally being demolished, although there has been no confirmation that it will reopen. In another blow to the Retail Park, Powerhouse closed along with the entire Powerhouse chain at the start of August. Demolition of the triangle where Iron Lane meets Station Road seems to have stalled for the time being. UCB radio broadcasts Stechford Baptist series what would Jesus say to...? -- By MartinTurner Posted Thursday, August 3 2006 UCB radio, http://www.ucb.co.uk/ is broadcasting a series with Ray Jellicoe, Janet Down and Martin Turner beginning Friday 4 August. It will be each week on Friday morning at 7.35 am, and goes week by week through the "What would Jesus say to… series." Heroes for Sunday evenings -- By MartinTurner Posted Friday, June 30 2006 Sunday evenings' youth events will take the theme 'Heroes - what are YOU made of?' for July and August. Picking up on Superman (now that he has returned), the England World Cup Team, Andrew Murray, and other heroes, both factual and fictional, the series will try to unpick what makes a hero heroic, and how God can turn us into heroes. Biblical figures under the hero-scope include Gideon, David, Stephen, Jesus himself, and, for the final episode, us. 'God at Work' hits the news -- By MartinTurner Posted Friday, June 30 2006 'God at Work' is featured in an interview to be broadcast on Saga Radio on Sunday morning, 2 July. UCB radio have planned an interview with us on Monday morning, 3 July. Birmingham News covered the story - with photograph - on page 4 of the Thursday 27 June edition. God at Work - new series for summer -- By MartinTurner Posted Saturday, June 24 2006 Faced with the prospect of 16 weeks of road works in Stechford, the Baptist Church has taken things into its own hands with a new Sunday morning series for the summer "God at Work". Based on the Bible's most famous re-building project, described in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, the series is for everybody with a stake in what God is doing: [b]Pre-Christians[/b] (you think you might want to be a Christian, but you aren't yet) who want to find out exactly what God's programme for their lives might look like before they go for it. [b]New Christians[/b] who want to get started on God's Big Project. [b]Old Hand Christians[/b] who've been part of God's team for a while who may need a refresher course, or just another look at the blueprints. [b]Ex-Christians[/b] who perhaps stepped out of God's Big Project a while ago, and are just wondering about maybe rejoining it. [b]Re-Christians[/b] who are just re-starting their Christians lives (possibly as a result of the previous series 'relight the fire'. [b]God at Work[/b] runs every Sunday from July to early September at 10:00 am for 1 hour. Ring 0121 244 2724 for further details. Refreshments afterwards. All Stechford Baptist events are free of charge. Station Road Bridge to be closed July to October -- By MartinTurner Posted Friday, June 16 2006 Station Road Bridge is to be closed from July to October 2006, so that work can take place on rebuilding the railway bridge. It seems likely that buses will be routed down Albert Road in one direction, and up Flaxley Road in the other. This should not affect access to the church -- in fact, it may give an opportunity to make the church better known to local people. At the moment there are no plans to close the station during that time. There will be a Consultation Day at Stechford Cascades on June 20 from 4pm to 9pm organised by local councillors and the City Engineer. Youth group tries hand at sword fencing -- By MartinTurner Posted Monday, May 15 2006 Many youth groups (especially in previous generations) have tried their hand at 'sword drill' - a quiz where young people have to find passages in the Bible quickly. Stechford Baptist youth, however, spent Sunday evening trying their hand at sword fencing, albeit with non-lethal weapons. Under the supervision of a British Academy of Fencing qualified coach, they learned the basics of attack and defence, and then were thrown straight into a series of refereed fights to five hits. Click here to see the fencing gallery: http://www.stechfordbaptist.org.uk/Youth%20and%20kids/Fencing/index.htm Note The weapons in use were specially designed man-made fibre weapons of the same weight and similar flexibility to FIE size 3 weapons. Appropriate masks were used throughout, and safety precautions were explained beforehand. Even with these safer 'fun' weapons, we do not recommend this activity where qualified instructors are not available. Unmissable Relight the Fire message on Podcast -- By MartinTurner Posted Sunday, May 14 2006 Steve Willetts of Derby City Mission today spoke passionately and personally about finding strength in God, as part of Stechford Baptist's 'Relight the Fire' series. Sharing powerfully from his own experiences, Steve looks at how in all kinds of situations, where others are unable to help us, God is able to restore our lives. His message is available on PodCast at http://www.stechfordbaptist.org.uk/media/podcast.xml or through iTunes (search for Stechford). iFaith youth events launch this weekend -- By MartinTurner Posted Friday, April 28 2006 iFaith, the new series of youth events at Stechford Baptist church, launches this weekend. http://www.iFaith.org.uk at 6.30pm on Sunday 30 April in Victoria Road, Stechford, B33 8AH. Following on from the popular series "What would Jesus say to…", iFaith picks up the challenge of living as a Christian in today's Birmingham. Aimed at Senior School, college, university and job-starters age group, the series features live music, drama, some spectacular audio-visuals, punchy messages from the Bible from specially invited guest speakers, and, of course, as always, a very large dose of humour. All the events are free entry, and everyone is welcome. The series runs in parallel with the am series "Relight the Fire", which brings people back into church life after an absence of weeks, months or even years. New song - Relight the Fire -- By MartinTurner Posted Sunday, April 23 2006 A new worship song, 'Relight the fire', makes its debut at Stechford Baptist this week, as part of the launch of the series "Relight the Fire". Music and lyrics are available for download here: http://www.stechfordbaptist.org.uk/documents/Relight%20the%20fire%20with%20text.pdf As with all our materials, the song can be freely used in worship, but we retain copyright and it should not be distributed without prior written permission. "Relight the fire" series welcomes ex-churchgoers -- By MartinTurner Posted Friday, April 21 2006 Stechford Baptist's 10 am Sunday morning series, running from 23 April to 25 June, is an open invitation for former churchgoers to start again with God. The series will mix older and newer forms of worship, and aims to be an unthreatening environment for people to rediscover the Christian faith, perhaps after years of absence. Each meeting will last 1 hour, followed by an opportunity for coffee or tea and to meet other church-goers. Want help improving your English? -- By MartinTurner Posted Tuesday, April 18 2006 Would you like to learn to read and write English? Do you know someone who wants to? POSSIBLE English as a Second Language (ESOL) & Basic Skills classes. Your choice. Tell us what you want. Adult Education & Stechford Baptist Church are hosting a DROP IN SESSION Monday April 24, 2006 10am - 1pm at the Stechford Baptist Church Hall 74-76 Victoria Road Stechford B33 8AH Kids get surprise of their life as Santa arrives for Easter -- By MartinTurner Posted Sunday, April 16 2006 Visitors, Sunday School children and regular attenders got the surprise of their lives today when Father Christmas turned up for the Easter Sunday morning service at Stechford Baptist Church. They had already been warned to expect the unexpected through flyers that went out across the neighbourhood in the previous three days. The church was packed for Easter Sunday, including one life-sized toy bear, which insisted that it had just woken up and came from Bordesley Green. However, the real surprise came when a familiar figure in a red suit with all the trimmings burst into the hall with a sack-full of presents to wish the children happy Christmas. Speaker Martin Turner said afterwards: "We planned in a few surprises for today's service because we wanted people to understand just how surprising the first Easter was. Living and growing up in a 'Christian' country, it's easy to take it all for granted. Children know the story about Good Friday and Easter, but it often doesn't get through to them that for the people of the day who actually experienced it, this was utterly, utterly unexpected. "People sometimes talk very knowingly about the fact that today we have so much more scientific knowledge and people 2000 years ago were much more easy to convince with talk of miracles. But, actually, that's all hogwash. People in the first century knew all too well that the dead do not come back to life. And they hadn't been brought up on a generation of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and horror films and TV shows which might have given them the impression that people sometimes did. "Nobody expected Jesus to come back -- but all the historical evidence we have says that he did." The message is available on PodCast (without Santa) at feed://www.stechfordbaptist.org.uk/media/podcast.xml What would Jesus say to Doctor Who? -- By MartinTurner Posted Saturday, April 8 2006 "Coincidences" keep piling up for Stechford Baptist's "What would..." series. The Britney Spears event achieved international media coverage when it coincided with stormy protests in the USA over the star's proposed portrayal of a conservative Christian. The Tupac event coincided - very sadly - with the shooting of a man at a Birmingham rap concert a few days before. The Simpsons announced their movie the day before "What would Jesus say to Bart Simpson". On a lighter note, UK Gold TV has chosen the weekend of "What would Jesus say to Doctor Who?" to re-run the entire Time Lord's 2005 series. Organiser Martin Turner said today: "As part of Sunday's event we intend to try some time-travel experiments of our own, as well as looking at what makes the Time Lord tick. We may even get a visit from a Dalek." Responding to questions about why a church is focussing on a fictional character, he said: "Doctor Who has reflected the changing thoughts and morals of Britain for forty years. Many of our culture's dreams, aspirations, and, most of all, fears, have been ploughed into this series. Jesus used fictional characters in his parables all the time. But they were figures people could understand and relate to. "Around the time of 'What would Jesus say to Britney Spears', we had a huge response from the secular media, all positive. But there were Christians who said 'how dare you judge this woman?' Actually we had no intention of judging anyone, which is why we picked for our themes figures that people look up to. But that is one of the risks when you talk about real people. With Doctor Who, no-one is going to come back and say 'how dare you judge the man in the TARDIS?'" Simpsons Movie confirmed - what would Jesus say? -- By MartinTurner Posted Saturday, April 1 2006 Stechford Baptist Church is to ask the question: What would Jesus say to Bart Simpson?, the day after US audiences saw the first preview of the Simpsons movie. To be released July 2007, the film is being trailered in the US before Ice Age 2. The Stechford Baptist Church event, 2 April 2006, "What would Jesus say to Bart Simpson?" is the penultimate in a series which has drawn international attention for its look at Britney Spears, Stephen Hawking and Tupac Shakur, alongside William and Harry, the editor of the Daily Mail, the bloke on our Street, Saddam Hussein, Posh and Becks, and Bob Geldof. Organiser Martin Turner said today: "Our Bart Simpson event is going to be a lot of fun. But there's a serious point to it. The Simpson's is easily the most spiritually-aware cartoon series ever produced for mainstream television. In one of the early episodes, Bart sells his soul to his friend Milhouse, imagining that it really isn't worth anything. But things start to go wrong for him until his sister Lisa buys it back. In another episode, Bart becomes famous as the boy who says 'I didn't do it'. "Bart is a loveable rogue, but there's always the sense that he is teetering on the brink. Over the many episodes he has taken in almost everyone in the series. But the person most taken in by Bart is Bart himself. Just occasionally, Bart sees himself as he really is. And these can be painful moments on the show. "The reason we took this theme is that, actually, there's a little of Bart in all of us. We develop the notion -- but it's an illusion -- that because we've always got away with being like we are, then we have a right to. How many of us have justified our worst behaviour to the people who love us most by saying 'that's what I'm like -- I have to be true to myself.' "What would Jesus say to Bart? You'll have to wait until Sunday night for that." The event will also be available by Podcast from late Sunday night. Speaker Owen Porteous. MC Ray Jellicoe. More on the Simpsons movie at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4867252.stm Powered by Coranto
Stechford Baptist Church • Victoria Road • Stechford • Birmingham B33 8AH. Map. Stechford is in the Stechford and Yardley North Ward, and is close to Hodge Hill.