Ministry Update – Heaven, Outreach, Small Group Training, Q & A, Building Offer

Heaven: We had a lovely day at Downham Baptist this past Sunday. There was a new family visiting the church, and we had good attendances in the 10.30am Bible class and small group time. Hannah Neilly’s mum, Averil, spoke in the ladies Bible class, and I believe it was blessing.  In the morning service, we looked at the topic of heaven from Revelation 21-22. What an encouraging way the Bible ends! The audio to that sermon will be online soon here.

Outreach & Small Group Training: On Sunday afternoon, a few of us went out into the community to knock doors and pass out leaflets. Most people were not interested, but we did have one good conversation on our last door. Before the evening service, we had an hour’s training on Sunday school and small group ministry. We are excited about the possibilities of using small group ministry to reach, teach, and minister to more people.

Question & Answer Service: In the evening service, we had a Q & A service. As you see from the questions below, it was a lot of fun as well as quite challenging at times! (I think the children had a great time trying to stump me.)

• Why are the names in the Bible mostly boy names?
• Why does God let people choose who they want to believe in since He wants them all to believe in Him and go to Heaven?
• Does God have a big heart? Does God’s heart ever beat?
• Why is God three people?
• Are we allowed to pierce our body? Does the Bible say anything about tattoos?
• God says not to hurt His creation. Does this include nature? Is God upset when we hurt nature? Does God care about nature?
• Will God forgive our sins even if we continue to commit sins? Did Christ forgive our sins before/after we become born again?
• Is God being mean because He kills people? Doesn’t the Bible say do not kill?
• When Paul wrote ‘all Scripture is inspired by God’ did he know his letters would be part of Scripture or was he referring to the Old Testament?
• What is the significance of Mark 14:51-52?
• Could you please explain James 2:10?
• Who are the twelve disciples? Aren’t we all disciples since we are His followers?
• Why do things in Bible say ‘thou’, ‘thy’, etc.?
• Do we know the exact number of miracles Jesus did (not including the miracles in the Bible), if so, how many?
• Why is John the Baptist called John the Baptist?
• How did satan become corrupt? Does that show God is not pure?
• When God gave Solomon his wisdom, why wasn’t Solomon wise enough to know that having 700 wives and 300 concubines was wrong?
• Why did God make The Ten Commandments, if He said we won’t be able to keep them? Such a waste of time!
• What do the angels and devil look like?
• Does God have a throne and is it gold?
• How many angels are in Heaven?

Building Offer: Many of you have given and prayed much for a building for Northwest Baptist Church. For the last 5-6 months, we have been in negotiations with the landlord of a building that we hope to rent while applying for a change of use to church use and then to ultimately purchase. We are getting close but there are still some obstacles to overcome, so please pray for God to work and for His will to be done.