No.18 15th March 2024
Hi,
We are coming up to a very busy period of events at church over Easter - make sure you take note of what is going on - and there is the opportunity to help out too.
Below you will see that this week we are in part 5 of Andrew Wilson's book '
Unbreakable'...we are looking at the Bible from various angles realising afresh how remarkable and trustworthy it is. This week we consider how the Bible is not about US, but about Jesus ... in last Sunday's sermon we heard how two men had brought us such different outcomes.
Adam had brought us all under judgement.
Jesus brought his righteousness.
Or as Andrew Wilson puts it, 'Jesus is the new Adam, who passed his garden test by submitting to the will of the Father, crushed the snake, and gave life to the dead rather than death to the living.' (It's a great little book, and worth getting the e-book here for less than the price of a cup of coffee.)
Enjoy the mag.
M
Sunday 17th March, 10.30am
Rev Scott Kirkland
Reading - Romans 6
Stay For Lunch on Sunday
This Sunday, after the church service, join us for a delightful, fundraising lunch in support of Scripture Union Scotland.
It's an excellent opportunity to learn more about the impactful work SU does through it's ministry.
Come hungry and eager to discover how SU is making a difference.
Your generous donations will be warmly welcomed and contribute to the continued success of SU Scotland's work.
DONATE:
There will be space to donate cash or to donate via bank transfer. Feel free to donate either via this online
link, in cash on the day, or there will be forms available on the day also.
Let's gather, share a meal, and strengthen our support for SU.
See you there!
Jacob
Getting to Church: Should anyone require a lift to Belmont House School, then please do let us know. Please email office@nmnewchurch.org
Letter from the Manse
Dear Congregation,
Thank you that so many of you remained after worship last Sunday to meet with our new Free Church friends from Glasgow and Argyll Presbytery. There must have been about one hundred of us present. Many of you reported back to the elders how encouraging you found their participation in the meeting to be.
The next big step in our process into the Free Church will be on 26th March. That night, the full Glasgow and Argyll Presbytery will meet and have our application presented to them by those who visited us. Let’s continue to surround this process in our prayers.
Thank you also for voting for me as the first minister for the congregation when we enter the Free Church! Since discussing our departure from our former church, there has been no point at which I have taken that Call for granted.
Regarding the elders elected last Sunday, circumstances had meant that for a season, Andrew Little had stepped back from eldership. We were delighted that Andrew was presented with the other elders for election and will return to active eldership later in the year. Currently, Graeme Lipsett serves as one of our elders. However, Graeme has decided that it is timely for him to step back from active eldership in the summer. We will express our appreciation for Graeme’s service more fully at that time.
We have a very busy season of worship and extra congregational fellowship coming up over the next several weeks.
This begins this Sunday when we shall linger after worship over a sandwich lunch to hear how we can help serve the Lord through the work of Scripture Union (SU). Some of our young people will share their experience of SU. Please do stay, support this work and enjoy fellowship with one another.
On Sunday 24th (Palm Sunday) we are so looking forward to welcoming some of our newest members. We now have one hundred and twenty-nine on our congregational roll. On Palm Sunday we shall have the special joy of witnessing the Profession of Faith and Baptism of one of our youth. Please make sure you extend a very warm hand of Christian fellowship. This will be a very significant day in the history of our new congregation. More on that next week.
Please see all the activities listed below in the magazine and put them into your diary! The Lord is laying before us significant encouragements at this time. Let us be neither indifferent to these nor complacent. It is such a privilege to serve the Lord together as a little part of the larger Body of Christ, His Church. We should not underestimate how the Lord might use even our simple attendance at these gatherings for the blessing of His people and the glory of His name.
With warm regards,
Scott
Conversion Therapy Consultation
Christian Institute has provided lots of information about this important topic.
HOWEVER, THEY REMIND US IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE YOU NEED TO PUT YOUR RESPONSE IN - HAVE YOU DONE THIS YET?!
The deadline for submitting a response on the Conversion Therapy Bill is 2 April 2024.
Here is the consultation document:
Here is the commentary from the Christian Institute to assist with you submitting a response:
SO, Please do submit a response in your own words, AND Please DO submit a response! The document link above makes things clear and helps with providing a reasonable answer too. For instance, some phrases it suggests you can consider in your own response could be along the lines of...
"Failing to be ‘trans-affirming’ could be caught by the ban. Only pro-trans advice would be allowed. This would push many more people down the route of life-changing drugs and surgery which they may later come to regret."
"The consultation says celibacy could be an act of suppression (para. 56). But this is mainstream Christian practice for the unmarried."?
"Parents must not be at risk of prosecution simply for discouraging their child from taking damaging puberty blockers."
The deadline for submitting a response on the Conversion Therapy Bill is 2 April 2024.
Here is a link to the site where you submit a response.
Please remember to submit a response.
LATEST NEWS
Special 30-minute Zoom webinar: join us this Mon 18 March
The Scottish Government’s public consultation on its proposals for a conversion therapy law closes in less than three weeks. We need your help to show there is a strong groundswell of public opposition.
We are holding a 30-minute Zoom webinar on Monday 18 March at 8pm to look at how the proposals could impact our ability to share the Gospel and raise our children in the faith.
There will also be an opportunity for questions.
Please do encourage your friends and church family to attend. This is the zoom link for using on Mon 18th.
The Christian Institute.
Hizkidz Trip!
Last Friday 20 of our Hizkidz, 5 older sibling teenagers and 18 of their parents/grandparents went for a trip to Wonderworld Soft Play centre after school.
We almost had the place to ourselves which meant the kids could play together safely while the parents spent most of their time chatting and drinking coffee!
It was a great time spending time relaxing and having fun together and it was lovely seeing the children organise games themselves and playing altogether. Some of the adults joined in the fun at the end too! Susan and Scott took great delight in beating Molly and Anna down the big slide although even Scott's attempt at a lying down technique didn't beat Susan flying over the bumps! (Video footage exists of Jacob, Pauline, Fiona, Scott and Susan and can be viewed via Pauline on Sunday in return for a small donation to SU or the church ??)
The following Sunday at church I witnessed a beautiful moment when one of our younger Hizkidz was sat between two of our older Hizkidz and was copying their body language during the songs and prayers. I was reminded of how important the building of relationships in our church family is as each generation looks to the next to see how to live a life of faith.
Our trip to soft play was our first get together as families but some more adventures are in the pipeline for the Spring/Summer term!
Pauline
House Help?
Can you help? A friend of a friend is looking for a flat in Glasgow/Glasgow area for the month of May while she's between flats. She's working with International Study Abroad to help students from the US settle in Scotland. If you can help, could you get in touch with Jess Ingleson (jessfair@outlook.com) and she can pass your details on.
Ladybird Book of New Church
Cafe Connect is not on this coming Tuesday
as there’s a funeral at the Baptist church that day.
Speak to Elizabeth S if you want to know more about Cafe Connect.
Easter Code
This week Newton Mearns Baptist Church has been host to hundreds of Primary 7 pupils.
Pupils from Crookfur, Mearns, Belmont, Hutchesons, Uplawmoor and Maidenhill Primary Schools explored the Easter story through drama, storytelling, crafts, a quiz and reflection. I was able to be part of the team for three of the five days this week.
The pupils were all really engaged throughout the morning; listening intently and asking questions as we did a whistlestop tour of Jesus minstry and then looked more in depth at the last week of his life.
The staff and parent helpers who come along with the pupils also thoroughly enjoyed the event as they got to sit at the teacher's table, being served drinks and snacks, while the team of volunteers lead the children through the morning.
Pauline
We gather round the Word in our meetings on Sunday and other times, and we hold to it as the revealed Word of God for us today.
This is the 4th in the series of looks at God's Word from different 'angles' as we serialise Andrew Wilson's short book 'Unbreakable'
This week:
THE CENTRE OF SCRIPTURE
It’s Not About You:
If I had just been resurrected from the dead, and I wanted to show my friends and followers that I was alive again, I know how I’d do it. A flash of light, a trumpet fanfare, a loud bang, and then I’d suddenly appear in front of them – no, even better, above them – announcing ‘It’s me’ in a booming voice as triumphantly as I could.
What I wouldn’t do, I can be certain, is sidle up to them one day as they’re walking home in misery, tell them off, take them through a detailed Bible study, tear a loaf of bread in half, and then vanish into thin air in the middle of dinner. Yet that’s what Jesus did.
The reason he revealed himself like this, it seems, is that he wanted to take them through the Scriptures, and show them how Israel’s entire story points to him. Appearing with a bang would be impressive, but it wouldn’t help them see how the centre of Scripture is Jesus himself. So after a quick rebuke – ‘You guys really don’t get it, do you?’ – he goes through the whole Bible, beginning with Moses, and explains how all of it points to the suffering and glory of the Messiah. Apparently, knowing that Jesus was alive could wait. Knowing that Jesus was the centre of Scripture could not.
The difference in the lives of these two disciples was dramatic: ‘Hey, didn’t it feel like your heart was on fire, as he went through the Scriptures?’ Later that day, when Jesus did a similar study with his other followers, Luke tells us that he ‘opened their minds’ as to what the Bible was about. That’s the dramatic difference it makes, when you grasp that Jesus is the centre of Scripture. If you read the Bible as if it’s mainly about Israel, or mainly about you, it’s like reading it with a cold heart and your eyes shut. When you discover it’s mainly about Jesus, and God’s purpose for the nations through him, your heart catches fire and your eyes are opened.
As part of my job as a pastor, I do a lot of weddings. One of the strange side-effects of this is that I often see pictures of myself in other people’s houses. Because I’m the guy who pronounces them husband and wife, the wedding photographer often catches me in the background, smiling and clapping as the married couple have their first kiss. But I know that the picture isn’t really about me. It’s about them, and I just happen to be there in the background. For me to think the photo was primarily about me would be the height of ignorance, or arrogance, or both.
When we read the Scriptures, Jesus is the centrepiece. He’s the one the photographer was trying to capture. We’re there too, in the background, and we can appreciate that and give thanks for it. But the Bible isn’t about you.
It’s about him.
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Jesus is the new Adam, who passed his garden test by submitting to the will of the Father, crushed the snake, and gave life to the dead rather than death to the living.
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Jesus is the new Eve, the ancestor of all new life, through whom the promised rescue finally comes about.
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Jesus is the new Abel, whose blood announces that family feuds, murder and death are on the way out, and that subsequent generations will be acquitted rather than condemned.
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Jesus is the new Enoch, who knows God, walks with him, and is not subject to the power of the grave.
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Jesus is the new Noah, who finds favour in the eyes of the Lord, and in whom humans are rescued from the judgment they deserve.
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Jesus is the new Abraham, who trusts God, leaves his homeland to start a new nation, and ends up inheriting the world with his galaxy of descendants.
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Jesus is the new Isaac, the miraculous child, offered as a sacrifice out of obedience to God, and rescued from death when all seemed lost.
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Jesus is the new Jacob, who saw heaven opened, received the promises, wrestled with God, and commissioned twelve guys to bless the nations.
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Jesus is the lion of Judah, praised by his brothers and victorious over his enemies, to whom the whole world brings tribute and obedience.
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Jesus is the new Joseph, the beloved son who is sold for the price of a slave, abandoned, and left for dead, but who remains faithful and then gets lifted up to the right hand of the King of the world.
And that’s just in Genesis.
You’re not the centre of Scripture.
He is.
Wednesdays 7.15-8.15pm.
20th March we meet at The Coopers Home
look out for details this week on email/whatsapp
If you need a lift please email office@nmnewchurch.org.
Easter Events
Sunday 24th - Morning Worship at 10.30am
followed in the evening with...
'The Case for Christ' Movie Night
Join us on March 24th to watch The Case for Christ based on a true story and inspired by the 1998 book of the same name by Lee Strobel.
A great event for the whole congregation. Please pray and bring along any of your interested friends and family.
Certificate PG … followed by refreshments.
We are planning to hold a drop in 'discover Easter' event on Good Friday in Belmont for families in our community.
An excellent opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with others.
The afternoon will consist of various stations with crafts, challenges, drama, storytelling and an egg hunt with every activity pointing to Jesus and the real reason for Easter.
Can I ask you to do three things please?
1. Share the event info with families. Flyers will be available and an image which can be shared on Facebook, WhatsApp etc
2. Pray for the preparation and running of the event and that families will come and ultimately come to know Jesus.
3. Volunteer! If you are free on the day can you help with any of the following tasks: set up in the morning, car parking, welcoming, serving refreshments, helping at a craft, drama or challenge station or tidying up at the end?
If you can please speak to Pauline or Sandra on a Sunday or email Pauline - children@nmnewchurch.org
CAN YOU HELP... We're looking for the following items:
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short pieces of clean guttering
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medium/large fake leaves
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stones/pebbles for decorating
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roman soldier helmet and sword
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short pieces of wood for families to make crosses, nails, sandpaper and hammers and someone who would be happy to lead this activity!
Good Friday Service at NMBC at 8pm
We shall join with Newton Mearns Baptist Church on their premises for a Good Friday service.
Though worshipping on their premises and with them, they have kindly asked us to lead the service.
Dawn Walk
Meeting at Rouken Glen Garden centre carpark- 6.30am...a time of fellowship as we head towards worship at church and remember that first Resurrection morning.
Easter Sunday morning service
Bemont House School at 10:30 am.
Evening ...
On the evening of Easter Sunday a group from church are planning on heading to the Origin Scotland Resurrection event at the Usher hall.
If you would like to join us but you need transport contact Jacob (youth@nmnewchurch.org).
Pre booking is required (HERE) which we would ask you organise yourself and while they do ask for a recommended donation that is only voluntary. We will be leaving Belmont at 17:30 for the event.
Any questions get in touch with Jacob or head to this link for more info
UFM Scottish Day Conference in April. - one of the confirmed speakers in Jayne Dumbuya.
She and her husband Lamin serve in Sierra Leone and will be inspiring to listen to.
Speak with Catherine A if you want more info about this event.
NMNC - Finance Team
Scott chaired our first Finance Team meeting this week.
The Team comprises Sandy McDougall (our Treasurer), Lorna Hamilton, Murray McNicol, Cara McPhail, and Lawrence Renn.
They met on the day we received our first Gift Aid payment from HMRC!
The Team was encouraged by the developing financial position of the New Church.
Our monthly Givings continue to be ahead of costs, and this is allowing us to start planning the future development of our church and its mission work as we move towards the Free Church.
Most of us have set up monthly standing orders via our banks and completed gift aid declarations. If you would like assistance in doing this, please contact Sandy on finance@nmnewchurch.org or if you see him on the piano/in worship, seek from him whatever help you may need."
B.Y.O.C. please
CAN YOU HELP?
it makes such a difference if people bring their own cups rather than using the disposable ones each week - can you help?
Safeguarding at Newton Mearns New Church
Safeguarding – Ensuring a Safe Church for All
If you suspect or witness harm or abuse, or it is reported to you, you must immediately report it to one of the Safeguarding Coordinators:
Sue Anderson – 07970 261429
Giving at NM New Church
There are a number of ways to support the church financially. The giving page gives details - click here
A number of people have been asking if cash or cheques can now be given. From this Sunday you will have the opportunity to leave offerings in the plate or basket on the table at the back of the church.
If you have any questions please speak to our Treasurer Sandy or email him on finance@nmnewchurch.org
The New Church has a What's App Group for Prayer
See magazine no.4 for an outline of how this Pray Now group operates.
Speak to Margaret Boyd if you would like to be added to this group or email your details to mandmboyd@hotmail.co.uk
You need WhatsApp on your phone to get set up
We live stream our services on YouTube from our first Sunday. You can find the service here.
You can also find the service by searching on YouTube for Newton Mearns New Church.
Martin Boyd, 15/03/2024