LEIGH BAPTIST CHURCH “MESSENGER” AUGUST 2026
VERNON ST / CHURCH ST. LEIGH. WN7 1BH
Website : www.leighbaptistchurch.org.uk Contact: admin@leighbaptist church.org.uk
Pastoral Leader – Val Hulme ( Days Off Tues and Fridays)
email : pastoral.leader@leighbaptistchurch.org.uk TEL 07817142192
Check LBC website for updates and info also LBC FACEBOOK page
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Sun 2nd Aug 10.45am Worship Service led by Val Hulme
Sun 9th Aug 10.45am Open Service 1:30 pm Cantonese House Group
Sun 16th Aug 10.45am Sunday Bible Study
Sun 23rd Aug 10.45am Worship & Communion Service led by Val Hulme 1:30 pm Cantonese House Group
Sun 30th Aug 10:45am Open Service
Wednesdays 5th, 12th, 19th & 26th Aug Prayer Meeting 10am - 11am. Drinks at 9.45am
Wednesday 5th Aug: 11:15 am Deacons' Meeting
Other Users of the Building:
Wednesdays 5th, 12th and 19th Aug - All Singers Great and Small Community Choir 7.30 - 9.00pm
Thursdays throughout Aug 10am - 12 noon Atherton and Leigh Foodbank
Saturday 1st August 12:00 pm: RCCG using the building for a baptismal service.
Kathleen and Daniel Gula are visiting the UK again this year, and are due to speak at Bethany Evangelical Church, St. Helen's Road, Leigh, WN7 3PA, on Saturday 15th August, time to be confirmed. Do come along to hear of the work that their family are doing amongst internally-displaced people in Northern Nigeria, and to hear how God is blessing them.
I wonder if you agree that most of our shared prayers are usually local and focussed on our own lives, whilst so much of the world is troubled by wars, earthquakes, wild fires, famines and persecution? Let's regularly lift up before God: the people of Venezuela, Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine, D.R.Congo (ebola), NW Nigeria (boko haram) Myanmar, Spain & France (fires) and many more.
SUSANNA WESLEY - HEROINE OF PRAYER.
In the late 1600’s and early 1700’s, Susanna Wesley gave birth to 19 children, nine of whom died in infancy. Her health was poor and her marriage was unhappy. On two occasions her husband was imprisoned. Her house was burned down (twice). Yet, despite all this, it is not an exaggeration to say that her prayers changed the world.
When she took her children to church and the vicar failed to preach the gospel, Susanna started a Sunday School in her kitchen for her own children. However, more and more children arrived, then parents started coming and eventually nearly 200 people came each week to hear her pray, sing and explain the gospel.
She gave all her children six hours of schooling a day and each one got an hour a week of her undivided attention. What a woman! How did she survive the loss of 9 children and the sadness of a dysfunctional marriage without becoming bitter?
The answer is that she was a woman of prayer. This was more difficult for her than for most people. With 10 children, she had no quiet place to go, so she would pull her apron over her head whenever she wanted time with the Lord! The children knew that this meant she was not to be disturbed. She prayed for each of her children by name and even for her errant husband. Her simple prayers were answered in remarkable ways.
Two of her children, namely John and Charles , were used by the Lord to start the Methodist denomination and tens of thousands of people heard the Good News of Jesus through the preaching of John Wesley and the Hymns of his brother Charles.
So Susanna Wesley, a housewife with a hard life from a small English village in the middle of nowhere became the “mother” of eighty million Methodists in more than 130 countries today.
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE THE POWER OF PRAYER. (with an apron over your head!)
David W with acknowledgments to and inspiration drawn from "How To Pray" by Pete Greig. (available on Amazon)