Tilehouse Street Baptist Church,
Hitchin Tilehouse Street Baptist Church,
Hitchin
OUTLOOK
We are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good
works,
which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10
Dear Friends
“The Ongoing Story”. I wonder how many of you reading that are thinking, “That sounds familiar”? I hope the majority. But you are forgiven if you’ve not yet made the connection.
Three years after I began my ministry here I was privileged to share in celebrating the church’s 350th anniversary. And as part of those celebrations, Gill Mayes, Pam Slade and Marion Woodbridge together with Sam Hallas published the well-received booklet Tilehouse Street Baptist Church 1969-2019: The Ongoing Story. And it’s with that focus I write my last piece for Outlook.
It would be very easy to look back and reminisce. But this is the April / May issue. In fact some of you will be reading this after I have left Hitchin and started on my next adventure with God. And so I’m going to look forward instead.
The last supper - Leonardo da Vinci
We will have just walked with Jesus once more from the triumphant entry into Jerusalem to the poignancy of the Last Supper, through the despair and resolution of Gethsemane to the pain and agony of the cross. And then we will have sat in the blackness and hopelessness of Saturday. But then. Then came the resurrection. And we can say, “Hallelujah! We are an Easter people and there is hope.”
Open church
I have been blessed with a very biblical number of twelve (!) people who have served with me as deacons at some point during the last ten years (See picture below). The current diaconate consists of five of those good folk. A team of people strong in their faith and with a wide-ranging set of skills between them. And alongside them are a number of others already taking on a variety of responsibilities ensuring that church ministry and mission continues while the search for a new minister begins. “Hallelujah! We are an Easter people and there is hope.”
Although my diary is (currently!) rather empty from 6 April onwards the rhythm and routine of Tilehouse Street continues. Gathering every Sunday for worship. Meeting for weekly prayer on-line. Praying together in person once a month. Supporting the Foodbank. Actively involved with Phase. Part of Churches Together. Open every Thursday for tea and coffee and a chat. Gathering to study and discuss God’s word once a week. Enabling other churches to meet for worship. Providing good, reasonably-priced accommodation for various community groups. Enabling a much-needed and valued preschool and nursery to continue. And who knows what else in the future? For you remain, as will I, (wherever we are) “God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Sunday 24 May will be Pentecost. Embrace the celebration of the anniversary of the coming of the Holy Spirit on all people. Prepare, if you wish, with the resources provided by Thy Kingdom Come which this year will explore a different Bible story each day demonstrating God’s transformative presence, power and love at work in the lives of people and places. But most of all welcome the Spirit; the power that raised Christ from the dead. And in that power, building on all that is good that has gone before, go on and write the next chapters of Tilehouse Street: The Ongoing Story. For “Hallelujah! We are an Easter people and there is hope.”
Every blessing,
Jane
Jane with present and past deacons.
The 2 who are missing were also mentioned
Peter Bleasby and Anne King.
