LEIGH BAPTIST CHURCH “MESSENGER” JUNE 2026
VERNON ST / CHURCH ST. LEIGH. WN7 1BH
Website : www.leighbaptistchurch.org.uk Contact: admin@leighbaptistchurch.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 7th June 10.45am Worship Service led by Val Hulme
Sun 14th June 10.45am OPEN SERVICE
Sun 21st June 10.45am Bible Study Sunday
Sun 28th June 10.45am Worship and Communion Service led by Val Hulme
Wednesdays 3rd, 10th,17th & 24th June Prayer Meeting 10am - 11am Drinks at 9.45am
Wednesday 17th June: 11:15 am Deacons' Meeting (To be confirmed)
Other Users of the Building:
Wednesdays throughout June - All Singers Great and Small Community Choir 7.30 - 9.00pm
Thursdays throughout June 10am - 12 noon Atherton and Leigh Foodbank
Friday 5th June 12:00 - 3:00 pm Pensioners' Link Volunteer Event
Sunday 21st June 3:00 - 9:00 pm Ebeneezer Christian Fellowship will be using the building for a Baptismal Service, Worship and fellowship.
"Lights for Christ"
NWBA along with Luther King Theological College are organising a Women's Day at Latchford Baptist Church on Saturday 20th June 2026 10.00am to 4.00pm, lunch included but donations would be welcome. Latchford Baptist Church, Loushers Lane, Warrington, WA4 2RP
The speaker, Chrissy Remsberg, is the pastor of Beacon Church, a Baptist church in Stafford. She is also the co-leader of the Firestarters Network, which is committed to Baptist churches helping other churches to
grow. Her passion is to see people released and empowered to use their gifts to share Jesus and grow the
church. She has co-authored two books around mission and church planting. Chrissy will explore with us
what it means to be women whom God has chosen and called into his purpose for us and the Church.
Lights for Christ ‘In Him we are chosen’ Eph 1:11
If you are interested in attending this event, please speak to Val, especially if you will need transport.
* Our July Church and Congregation meeting will be on Sunday 12th JULY. Please put this date in your diary and make every effort to join us for this meeting. Rev. Neil Brighton, our Transitional Minister, will be joining us .and Onesimus Project will be covered.
All Singers Great and Small Community Choir will be performing their latest concert, "The Stories This House Could Tell" on Friday 24th July 7:30 pm. Tickets £5.00 will be available soon.
A gentle reminder: The list of duties on the rota sheet on the partition window is useful for the Leaders to see which duties will be covered or need to be covered each week. Please use this to record your commitment to one or more duties. For the second month running only one name appeared for a single duty for the whole of MAY.
Celebrations
The month of May has seen a number of celebrations. It started with May Day and dancing round the maypole in some villages and schools; one of my happy memories from childhood. I enjoyed a small family party for my Birthday and churches celebrated Whit Sunday (Pentecost) on Bank Holiday Sunday.
Unfortunately our country now ignores the fact that the Bank Holiday was for Whitsuntide, the Birth of the Christian Church and the anointing of the Disciples with the Holy Spirit found in Acts 1. I am reading a book by Billy Graham’s daughter, Anne Graham Lotz, which is making me think afresh about what the indwelling of the Holy Spirit can really mean in the life of Christians, as we seek to draw closer to God. It certainly had a big impact on those first disciples, changing them from fearful, timid followers of Jesus into those who went out, spreading the word about the Saviour that the people had crucified, but who rose from the dead, ascended into Heaven and is seated at His Father’s right hand. Many Christians testify to the fact that the tasks that God has prompted them to do have only been accomplished because of the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. People have been led to live in places they would never have thought of going to. Why? Because God had something for them to do there.
Many new councillors celebrated winning on polling day; some pupils celebrated the end of exams. On TV we witnessed the end of ‘The Race Across the World’ and how the winners celebrated victory, but not only them, for all four couples celebrated reaching the finish and signing the book – a great achievement given some of the terrain they had to negotiate. That reminds me of Paul’s words in 2 Timothy 4:7 NIV, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” It had not been an easy journey for him to obey the Lord’s instructions taking the gospel into hostile situations, being imprisoned, but because he was faithful and obeyed God many new converts were made and churches formed. But also, because he was away from the churches, we, two thousand years later, can learn from the letters he wrote to them in our New Testament.
Many times we wonder why some people do not respond to the preaching of the Gospel, or to hearing about it from a friend, but is it in God’s timing? 2 Peter 3:8 NKJV says, “With the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day,” and in Isaiah 55:8-9, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways”, says the Lord. “For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” However, in Isaiah 55:11 He says “My word -- will not return to me empty, but will ---- achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” The Lord uses different ways to call people to accept Jesus as their Saviour and sometimes it can take a long time before they respond, but 2 Peter 3:9 tells us that “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, ------ but is patient toward us, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
It is good to hear that in these days God, through the Holy Spirit, is using dreams and visions of Jesus to reach some people who would not normally be able to hear the Gospel. He wants those who do not know Him through Jesus to be found. An illustration of this is found in Jesus’ parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15:1-7 which tells of a shepherd looking at his flock of 100 sheep and noticing that one was missing, so he left the 99 who had returned to the fold safely and went looking for the one that was lost. It would not be easy to find where that sheep was, but the shepherd would search until he found it and returned it safely to the fold. There would be great rejoicing with his friends and neighbours. Jesus said that in a similar way there would be great rejoicing in Heaven when one person repented and trusted in Jesus as their Saviour. Christians also celebrate when someone acknowledge Jesus as Lord and becomes a member of the Church. Let us continue to witness and be faithful to God's calling so that many celebrations can take place as the church grows spiritually and numerically.
KATHIE