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In this issue:

Worship in Month.

Dates for your diary.

Good News - some thoughts from our minister.

Something New for Sunday Evenings.

An Oportunity to be involved in something new.

News from Jenny Smith in Budapest.

News from Pete & Lizz in Thailand.

News from Susan Caddy in Albania.

Dedication of Hayley Abayon.

Worship in December.

Worship in January.

Themes and readings for morning services:

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Children in Tots and Co.

Coming up in December:

Coming up in January:

... and other dates:

Christmas Tour (at St John's) � Friday evening and Saturday daytime 9th and 10th December

'The Christmas Tour' is an exciting invitation for people of all ages to take a step back in time and walk together through the traditional Christmas Story.�Places are limited for each tour. Tickets �1 each; under 2s free but need to book a ticket.

Ticket booking by e-mail on christmastour@stjohns�church.co.uk, or from the Christmas Tour Ticket line 07989 469249

Please note that the tour includes stairs.

Saturday 17th December 11am in Harborne High Street Churches Together in Harborne encourage members of our fellowship to join in with this - those who prefer not to sing will be able to give out Christmas cards with details of local church services.
Pray for good weather!

Carols by Candlelight

Please note that this service is on Sunday 18th December at 6.30pm (previously held at 4.30pm) and you are invited as usual to stay afterwards for coffee/tea and mince pies. I have offered to arrange lifts for those unhappy about travelling in the dark but who would otherwise wish to come to the service. If you are one such person or if you could provide a lift for someone, could you let me know so I can match passengers to chauffeurs.

This will be John and Linda�s last Christmas before John retires so it would be lovely to have a good turn out. Plus Sylvia and the HBC Choir have been rehearsing hard to make sure that a wonderful sound will emanate from our building!

If you can provide mince pies for after the service could you please at HBC let Brenda know.

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 18-25 January 2006

Our church is to host the Unity Lunch on Sunday 22nd January. Tickets will be �1 for adults and 50p for children. Those attending are asked to bring food to share for the main course. HBC is providing a starter and tea/coffee afterwards. Tickets on sale soon.

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Our Minister, Rev John Evans writes:

Good News

My dear friends,

Christmas is a time for sharing the good news, the good news of Jesus Christ. It is one time when our nation joins together in sharing in a Christian Festival albeit often without knowing the real meaning.

The story of Christmas is well known, the birth of Jesus and the visitors who came to worship him presents a cosy tableau and makes us feel comfortable. Yet the real Christmas story in much more exciting when you think of the Incarnation, when the eternal Son of God took human flesh entering our world as a human being. This is the most stupendous event in the whole of history. This story is for telling not only at Christmas but through the whole year.

In the New Year we will be looking at �People who saw Jesus�. Not just at his birth, but through his life and made great discoveries. Details are printed elsewhere in the magazine.

During the first three months on the New Year we are going to do something different Sunday evening, We will be showing the J. John videos of Just 10 when J. John goes through the Ten Commandments. This will not be a service, but an informal evening when we will be sitting around tables with refreshments, listening to music, watch the video and opportunity will be given for people to remain and discuss the video. This is an opportunity for you to invite your friends to come with you to a non threatening evening to hear what God is saying through his commandments to the world. Click here for details.

Christmas is for celebrating � let�s celebrate and invite others to share in our celebration. Please use the special invitation, which have been prepared.

Linda joins me in wishing you all a Happy Christmas and New Year.

Your friend and minister,

John

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Something new for Sunday Evening.

On Sunday evenings at 6.30pm, in January, February and March, we shall be showing a series of Just10 videos. Just10 is a series based on the timeless wisdom of the 10 commandments � values and principles for life in the real world. Each evening combines music, film and a video presentation by J John � a man widely regarded as one of the most creative speakers in the UK and with a very different take on life.

There will be special invitation which you can use to invite your friends

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An invitation to be involved in something new.

Harborne Methodist Church is now worshipping at St Peter�s Church in Old Church Road, Harborne. We are disposing of the South Street building but still feel drawn to be alongside people on the High Street as in the past.

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Jenny Smith works for the BMS World Missions teaching theology students in Budapest. It is the seventh year that Jenny has lived in Hungary's capital after spending three years there in the 1990s, returning as a BMS volunteer in 1998 and then training as a full-term BMS mission worker over the last year.

News from Jenny Smith in Budapest.

While we were there, we listened to an interview I had done on Catholic Radio, about 30FK, the singles club. Our last party was a couple of weeks ago, attended by about sixty people, and again well received. This time there seemed to be more people interested in the idea of meeting for Bible study, so that may yet happen, possibly in the new year.

At college we are focussing on preparing the students for oral exams, which will be done in the last week of term, from 10th December. (Written exams will be in January.) I have not done these much in the past, and am very grateful for Christa's experience with them.

I will be speaking at our college worship service on 1st December, probably about one of the Psalms we have been reading in our midweek Bible studies. Expressing such thoughts clearly in Hungarian is still a challenge for me! Three days later, on Sunday 4th, I will again be addressing a congregation in Hungarian, at my own church. Our monthly Agape (communion service and shared lunch) is to be followed this time by an introduction to BMS World Mission. I have very carefully translated our mission statement, and will be using the opportunity to prompt people to think about what mission really involves, as well as encouraging them to pray.

Yours,

Jenny

More information about Jenny Smith and BMS World Missions here.

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Pete and Lizz Maycock were members of Harborne Baptist Church, and are now working for BMS World Missions. They are in Thailand, in language study this year before starting work with the youth department of the Karen Baptist Convention.

News from Pete & Lizz in Thailand.

Did you know that: Every extended family member has their own title in Thai - so there are 4 different words for 'grandparent' and 3 words for 'uncle', depending on their relationship to the mother and father.

We are trying to remember what to call our parents and brothers, before we start on names for cousins and aunties etc!� Thanks for all your emails over the past 10 days.� Abigail is now settling in to her new surroundings, although most of her time is spent eating and sleeping - not a bad life! In between Abigail does manage to squeeze in some increasingly energetic crying, proving that her lungs are developing well! She is graciously sleeping soundly now, allowing us to quickly write this email.� Lizz is trying to catch as much sleep during the day as possible, and we're all delighted to have Lizz's parents with us to give sound baby advice and help with the cooking and cleaning.

Many of our Thai friends have been over to visit us, and it has been great to introduce them to Abi.� Pete went back to school on Wednesday after a week off, and fortunately he hasn't forgotten all of his Thai yet!� He has another 5 weeks of study until the government exam.

Praise God for:

1) Abigail
Praise God for her life, and pray for continuing good health as she grows and develops.

2) His love!
We weren't sure how we would feel starting our family so far from home, but we have certainly known God's loving presence close by, and it has been fantastic that so many people, here in Thailand and around the world, have been praying for us and sending wonderful cards and gifts.

Please pray for:

1) House hunting
As yet we don't know where in Chiang Mai we will be moving to in January. Pete is hoping to take a trip north for a few days to find a house while Lizz's family are around to help out and keep her company.� Pray that Pete will find the right home for us.

2) Thailand
This month the Thai Church of different denominations are joining together to fast and pray for the nation.�Please pray that Thai Christians will grow in maturity of faith as they dedicate themselves to prayer, and for the Thai Church to be really effective at reaching out with God's love to their neighbours.

With our love and grateful thanks for your wonderful prayers and support.

Pete, Lizz & Abigail xxx

More information about Lizz and Pete and BMS World Missions here.

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Susan Caddy is working for BMS World Missions. She is in Albania.

News from Susan Caddy in Albania.

Dear Friends,

Not only did the clocks change in Albania last weekend, and people were still late for church (shouldn't they have been early?), but so did the weather and the electricity supply. On a sunny day like today it can still be very warm outside at midday but the mornings and evenings are much cooler now. As far as the electricity situation is concerned we have been warned that this winter we are likely to have even more problems than normal. Within a couple of weeks we have gone from regular daily power cuts from 10am til 2pm, which are inconvenient but doable, to 7/8 hours off in the day and further cuts in the evening. Today the electricity went off at 7.30am and came back on at 4.30pm, went off again at 5.30pm until 7pm has just blipped off for 5 minutes at 7.50pm and will probably go off again before the evening is out!! For me this is annoying, as is the fact that the water tanks seem to be running dry by midday, leaving us without water until teatime every day, but just think about the impact this has on businesses, the hospital and clinics etc. Even in the capital Tirana the cuts are now serious. Lack of rain is being blamed, Albania's electricity is generated using water turbines, as is the last government for not acting on a foreseeable problem.

On a more positive note, it was great to witness Enela's baptism back at the beginning of October. Her husband Edi did not come but the fact that her Dad did was very special and Prema too who was able to visit from England. Enela and her three boys have all been unwell over the last few weeks with flu type colds and this week has been hard as they remembered the one year anniversary of her Mum's death, for which her brother and sister came back from Greece and family and friends visited.

We have seen lots of students back at church after the summer and some new faces too. We have had two Saturday morning meetings for the girls and at the first one it was great to share something of what we had been doing over the summer. This ranged from me having been in England, two of the girls who work for CCC being in America, two girls having been on teams showing the Jesus film in the south of Albania and others being at home and some of those unable to get to church at all over the summer. The common testimony was that we had known God with us in each different situation.

I enjoyed my short trip to Macedonia as BMS world mission representative at the AEP/VUSh conference in Ohrid. As well as enjoying the bible teaching, meeting people and voting at the AEP Board Meeting, I also enjoyed catching up with an American family who are missionaries in Struga, which is the first town you get to after crossing the border and has a large Albanian population.

We have had several visitors to Vlora during October. As I mentioned earlier Prema (BMS missionary in Vlora from 1994-1997) was able to come and visit and be here for Enela's baptism which was an encouragement to Enela and to us. The McBain family made their first visit back to Vlora having left back in March to work in Tirana. (When Brazilian missionary Gorge leaves in December Graham will be taking over the pastorate of 'The Light of the World' Baptist church in Tirana.) The following weekend we were invaded by 'girls' from Tirana as we celebrated Susan Lodge's birthday. In fact in the end only three of the BMS girls came down accompanied by Ruth Robinson who heads up the volunteer section at head office and was in Albania on an awareness visit. We had a good time including home made bowling in the corridor of my flat using empty sprite bottles as the pins and a very dodgy beach volleyball! Not quite sure what the downstairs neighbours made of it. It was just as much fun as going bowling at the bowling alley in Tirana, although I must admit I haven't been there yet! Our next Vlora visitor will be our BMS Europe boss, Philip Halliday, who will be with us the weekend after next.

There has not been much work for me at the Women's Health Centre but again this year I will have responsibility for HIV/AIDS day activities on 1st December. It was good to chat with several people at the AEP conference about Women's' Health issues and I am planning to get some materials ready that can be used by other people as well as being able to visit other women's groups myself. In the mean time I have been fully occupied with supporting the girls and women at church and I am enjoying meeting weekly for bible study with Aurora and Elona and individually with Anila and Aida.

Personally I have been a bit down recently and would value your prayers for the work here and for me and my family. Dad is not doing as well as he has been and Mum is struggling at the moment. It is hard to know how support them when I am so far away.

I hope that this finds you well and thanks once again for your support.

With love from Susan

More information about Susan Caddy and BMS World Missions here.

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