Author: beaconchurchrubery

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends In 1857 a small group of people covenanted together to form Rubery Congregational Church. 155 years later, now called the Beacon Church Centre, we are still in Rubery proclaiming the word of God and offering friendship and support. Over the years ways of being church have changed and we…

Minister’s Letter Dear Friends We have begun our series looking at the five functions of a church. To remind you these are Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Mission & Service and Outreach & Evangelism. Only when these all combine together is a church fit for purpose, in this case serving God. When one is missing the church…

Minister’s Letter Dear Friends It cannot have escaped your notice that the Olympics and Paralympics are being held in the United Kingdom this summer. Awarded to London events are being held across the country and the torch relay has even gone into the Republic of Ireland. The cost is staggering but the construction work involved…

Minister’s Letter Dear Friends Being a minister brings many joys – and some sadness and frustrations. On 27th June I will celebrate the 25th Anniversary of my ordination to the ministry of the United Reformed Church. That day in 1987 was a day I remember well, it came the day after the funeral of my…

Minister’s Letter Dear Friends At the end of this month we celebrate Pentecost, the Christian festival that marks the anniversary of the day the Holy Spirit was poured out on all believers and the church was born. Unfortunately the celebrations around the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee led the government to move the Spring Bank Holiday from…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends This month sees the celebration of Pentecost, God’s gift of the Holy Spirit to his people. At his ascension Jesus told his disciples to wait ion Jerusalem for the gift his Father was to send them. Ten days later, on Pentecost, came the gift of the Holy Spirit and…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends The United Reformed Church is going to be launching a ‘welcome campaign’ early in 2012 with adverts strategically placed on hoardings and in newspapers across the country. It will be emphasising the radical nature of the welcome that people can find in the church. The emphasis will be that…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends I wonder what comes into your mind when you think of the Easter story. It is a very familiar story with enough twists and turns to keep the new reader enthralled until the last page. The problem is we know it so well, or do we? The main character…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends By the time you read this we will have had our initial exploring evangelism meeting with Dave Schwan, Pastor of Grace Community Church. I have no idea what we will discuss or what we will decide but I know that as a church we have to get to grips…

Dear Friends Throughout our lives we meet people and make new friends. Sometimes it is through a chance encounter, sometimes it is because we join something new, other times it is because a friend introduces us to another friend of theirs. Some friendships last, others fade either because one of us moves or because our…