LEIGH BAPTIST CHURCH “MESSENGER” NOVEMBER 2025
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 Nov 2nd 10.45am Worship by Revd Neil Brighton
Sun Nov 9th 10.45am Remembrance Service at Cenotaph. No service at LBC but serving drinks*
Sun Nov 16th 10:45 am Sunday Bible Study (shorter version)Val Hulme then Church and Congregation AGM
Sun Nov 23rd 10.45am Communion service Val Hulme
Sun Nov 30th 10.45am Open Service
Wednesdays 5th 12th 19th & 26th NOV 10-11am Prayer meeting. Drinks at 9.45am
Other users of the building
Wednesdays throughout NOVEMBER 7.30pm All Singers Great and Small community choir
Thursdays throughout NOVEMBER 10:00am - 12:00pm: Atherton and Leigh Foodbank.
Wed 12th NOV 1pm Churches Working Together in Leigh - Leaders' meeting
Thu 13th and 20th Nov - ALFB volunteers safeguarding training.
ADVANCE NOTICE: Sat 6th Dec 10am-12noon Putting up Christmas Decorations (all help welcome)
Our next Church and Congregation Meeting will be our AGM on Sunday 16th November after a shortened Bible Study Service. Please put this date in your diary. It is the meeting where we appoint deacons for the coming year and confirm roles/jobs within the church. As Jean will be stepping down from her role as deacon at the end of the year, and Val has stated her intention of stepping down from non Pastoral Leader responsibilities at the end of the year, this will also be the meeting where we agree who will take on those responsibilities. Continue to pray for God's guidance in appointing deacons and for people to step up to other roles.
Some of Val's "extra" duties include : organising lettings, dealing with renewing contracts, bookkeeping, issuing invoices, banking, renewing church parking permits; ordering paper towels, sugar sticks,
cleaning and other equipment from Nisbets; Designated Person for Safeguarding.
She will continue as Pastoral Leader with a view to retire by the end of June 2027.
Advance Date for your Diary
All Singers Great and Small will be performing their Christmas Concert at Leigh Baptist Church on Wednesday 10th December, 7:30 pm. Please make a note of the date in your diary. Tickets £5.00.
* As has become our custom over recent years we will not be holding a service on Remembrance Sunday (Nov 9th) to allow people to join the official service at the Cenotaph. We will however be showing brotherly/sisterly love by serving free drinks to people passing by and returning from the Cenotaph. Those who can help please join us for 10am to help erect the gazebo and set up etc. Please note that all local roads around Church , including Church St, will be closed from 10am or earlier. You may need to park and walk to church.
SAINTS OF GOD
There are a few significant dates in November. Most people will have acknowledged Halloween on October 31st in one way or another, even with a Light Party! But it actually means ‘the eve of All hallows, that is, All Saints’ Day’ on November 1st. In certain branches of the Christian Church that day is set aside to remember all the Saints.
Everybody has their own idea as to who the Christian Saints are. We might think of the patron saints of our Countries in the British Isles or in other parts of the World who lived in the1st Century AD, although many of them were born in other countries. Scotland’s St Andrew, one of the Apostles, was the first one to meet Jesus and to be called by Him. He is known as the first missionary because he brought his brother Simon (Peter) to Jesus. England’s St George lived in the Middle East, probably Palestine and was a Christian martyr, but was known for the legend that he killed a dragon. St David of Wales was a monk from Pembrokeshire who went all over Wales spreading the Gospel and setting up monasteries. He was known for his missionary zeal. Ireland’s St Patrick was from a Christian family. He had been captured by the Irish from the Scottish / English borders at the age of 16. After a number of years he escaped and studied for the Church in France. He was later appointed Missionary Bishop in Ireland. All of the Patron Saints were enthusiastic about spreading the Gospel.
I have always been inspired by the lives of the Northumbrian saints, especially St Cuthbert. As a teenager he was a shepherd. One night while out on the hills he had a vision of a Christian soul being taken up to Heaven. It was St Aidan. This encouraged him to become a monk at Melrose Abbey. He was known for his missionary journeys in the surrounding area and ministry of healing and other miracles amongst the people. He eventually became Prior and then Bishop of Lindisfarne, off the North East coast. Another saint from the 1st century was the Venerable Bede who wrote a history of England and was known for his many writings and translating the Bible into early English. He spent most of his life in the monastery at Jarrow.
We might also think about the many Christian martyrs and those who have been or are being persecuted for their faith but do not have the title of Saint. There is a hymn which we sang in the 1950s which gives a different view of what a saint is. It mentions people living ordinary lives with ordinary jobs who are faithful Christians serving and helping the people in their local community. I think it started with the words, “Sing we a song of the saints of God, faithful and loyal and true” and ends with the singer hoping to be one too. Whoever we each think of as being saints it is good to have a special day to think about them and to draw inspiration from their lives and seek to follow God’s will for our lives.
Another special date is 30 November which this year will be Advent Sunday, the beginning of the weeks of preparing our hearts and minds to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Each Sunday in Advent traditionally has a theme, and on the 1st Sunday we think about Jesus’ Second Coming, fulfilling His promise to His disciples, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3). Acts 1:10-11 says that when Jesus ascended into Heaven, two men in white told them that He would return in the same way as they had seen him go. The Second Coming is mentioned many times in the Bible and is therefore very important, so what does it mean for us? We need to be prepared. Only God the Father knows when it will be, not even Jesus. In Matthew 24 we read of the 12 virgins, 6 of whom were left out of the wedding feast because they were not ready when the Bridegroom arrived. We need to always be found faithful in our devotion to our God. Many fall away, but we need always to be ‘at peace with Him’ until Jesus comes or calls, otherwise we could be left out of God’s kingdom in the new heaven and earth. 2 Peter 3:9,10 tells us that the Lord is patient with us, ‘not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief’. So let us, in Paul’s words in Thessalonians 4:1, ‘Live to please God.’
‘As the lightening comes from the east and flashes to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.’ Matthew 24:27 NIV KW