The Bible is full of many powerful promises, God speaking out His plans and letting people know what He longs to do in our world and in our lives. But God’s promises need to be mixed wit hfaith. The writer to the Hebews says, ‘We received the same promises as those people in the wilderness, but the promises didn’t do them a bit of good because they didn’t receive the promises with faith.’ (Heb 4:2)

If we want God’s promises to do us good and to become validated in our lives and lived out in our daily experiences, we have to believe. We have to take the promises and allow them to find a home in our hearts. Medicine has great potential to heal, but while it sits unopened in a bottle on a shelf, it will do us no good. Only as we open that bottle and taste the medicine, allowing it into our bodies, will we experience its healing properties. Similarly, we have to drink from the promises of God, taking them into our very beings and believing in their power if we are to see them working their power in our lives.

This Saturday (3rd November) we will be distributing leaflets around Goldthorpe – so please join us at church at 11 a.m. if you are able to help with this.

On Sunday 4th November we will be holding our ‘Do Something’ weekend, when we will be supporting the local Salvation Army Christmas appeal and ‘Winter Warmer’ appeal. Please bring the following items to church if you are able:

• Tea or Coffee
• Tins of ham and corned beef
• Jars of jam and lemon curd
• Bags of sugar
• Long life Milk
• Long life fruit juice
• Selection boxes
• Boxes of sweets
• Tubes of crisps/ packs of crisps
• Christmas pudding
• Box of savoury/ sweet biscuits
• Mince pies
• Instant gravy mix
• Stuffing mix
• Yorkshire pudding mix
• Pickled onions
• Chocolate Log
• Custard
• Hats, scarves, gloves
• Winter coats
• Hot water bottles
• Thermos flasks
• Foil blankets

From Friday 9th November, a new group is meeting in the community room. ‘Music & Movement For Under Fives’ is being run by the local Family Centres and is open to children under 5. It will meet from 1.30-2.30 p.m. on Fridays for 5 weeks, but places have to be booked in advance.

On Friday 16th November between 1 and 3 p.m. we will be meeting at the Salvation Army to prepare goody bags for the Christmas Pantivity and to round up the sheep for the Advent Sheep Trail! These two initiatives, hosted by ‘Dearne Churches Together’, are both very exciting. 4FrontTheatre will be in Goldthorpe on 26th November to perform ‘Job & Jingle’ to local schoolchildren and to the community (evening show at 6.30 p.m. at GPCC) and we will be giving out goody bags to all who attend, containing an Advent calendar, small gift, Christmas leaflet and news about local church services.

Between 30th November and 15th December we will be hosting an Advent Sheep Trail in Goldthorpe, Bolton-on-Dearne and Thurnscoe. Knitted sheep will find their way into local shops and the quest is to find their names before our Christmas celebration service on 15th December at the Salvation Army. If you are knitting sheep for this, please bring them to the Salvation Army by 16th November when we’ll be naming them and getting them ready for their Advent adventures!

Thank to the generosity of church members, we were able to give everyone who attended the Light Party a ‘Bag of Hope’ containing a booklet of Bible stories and some chocolates:

We were also able to provide lunch for the families who attended and to give people the opportunity to have a fun time celebrating our local community. Thanks to all who attended and to all the church volunteers who helped to make this a really fun day.

We also spent time thinking about heroes, walking the heroes’ labyrinth where some of our heroes (William Booth, Gideon, Blaise Pascal, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa) were remembered and making hero bunting.

Alison’s hero is (not surprisingly) William Booth, though she also made bunting to remember the influence of her parents.

Julie’s Bible hero is Gideon, perhaps because despite his insecurities, he still obeyed God.

Making hero bunting:

Heroes don’t have to be people with super powers. They simply have to do what is right, even if they feel afraid or face opposition. Jesus said that we are the light of the world. Because of His Spirit living in us, we can be heroes too! – it’s a question of learning to trust and obey.

Thanks to all who attended and helped at the Light Party today. As always, we had a lot of fun looking at how Jesus is the light of the world and calls us light too!

There were a variety of craft activities to enjoy, including making concertina candles and light lanterns.

People also had the opportunity to play different games:

We included traditional games like apple-bobbing and ‘Pass The Pumpkin’!

Next weekend is our ‘Do Something’ weekend, when we think about the practical ways we can serve God in our local community.

On Saturday 3rd November we will be distributing 2000 leaflets advertising the church’s activities to houses in Goldthorpe. If you can join us for this, please meet at church at 11 a.m. and we will be taking leaflets out. This is something nearly everyone can be involved in and the more people who come, the quicker it will be!

On Sunday 4th November at both services, we will be collecting food and other items for the Salvation Army Christmas hamper appeal and winter warmer project. Instead of bringing fresh produce as for a harvest festival, we will be collecting the following food items:

• Stuffing & Yorkshire pudding mixes
• Gravy Granules
• Tinned ham/ corned beef
• Selection boxes
• Tins of sweets/ chocolates
• Chocolate log
• Christmas pudding
• Tea
• Coffee
• Sugar
• Long life milk/ long life fruit juices

Please ensure the ‘best before’ dates on all items is after Christmas.

We will also be collecting:

• hot water bottles
• thermos flasks
• foil blankets
• hats
• scarves & gloves
• winter coats

Thank you in anticipation of the help and provisions you will bring which will make a real difference to local families.