Glowthorpe Lantern Parade
We are really looking forward to different community events happening soon.
Glowthorpe Lantern Parade is just over a week away! It’s happening on Tuesday 25 November between 4.30 and 7.00 p.m., with the actual lantern parade happening at 6 p.m. This will be at the Welfare Grounds and Dearne Playhouse in Goldthorpe.
It’s a free community event, funded by the Inclusion & Unity Fund (BMBC Love Where You Live), and we hope that all who have been busy making lanterns with artist Sue Walpole will come and pick up their lanterns on that day from the IKIC youth centre near the medical centre between 4.30 and 5.45 p.m.
There will loads of free entertainment outdoors, including Helter Skelter Arts with their light-up stilt walkers, bubbles and fire performer, plus Marbles Make Up is offering free face painting thanks to our funding. There will be a disco bike leading the parade and providing music for us, and we are excited to think of this celebration of light. Indoors, drinks will be served, toilet facilities are available and we hope to have a variety of children performing inside the Playhouse.
Food vans will be available, so you can eat your tea and have a drink/ cake/ sweets while you gaze on the RSPB Old Moor huge lanterns and enjoy this free community event.
Parking is available in the right hand car park, but please walk to the event if you’re local!
Dates For December
๐ช๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฏ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
‘Churches Together’ prayer meeting at Furlong Road Methodist Church, Bolton upon Dearne (1.45 p.m.)
๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Coffee morning at GPCC (10 a.m. – 12 p.m.)
๐ฆ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Our church service is at 3 p.m., followed by our Christmas meal. Please book in for the meal.
๐ช๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Singing carols at Parkside Care Home at Wombwell at 2 p.m.
๐ฆ๐ฎ๐๐๐ฟ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ฏ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
‘Stations To the Cradle’ at Goldthorpe Railway Embankment & the Salvation Army (11 a.m. – 2 p.m.)
๐ฆ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ฐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
GPCC service at 3 p.m.
๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Our last ‘Mindful Moments’ session of 2025 will be at GPCC between 6 and 8 p.m.
๐ช๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ณ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Parent & Toddler Christmas party (9-11 a.m.) at GPCC. Raffle drawn.
๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ญ๐ต ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Parent & Toddler Christmas party round 1! (9-11 a.m.) at GPCC. Raffle drawn.
๐ฆ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Carol service at 3 p.m. ‘A Miracle In Town’ will be our theme!
๐ง๐ต๐๐ฟ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Our Christmas Day service will be at 10.30 a.m. at GPCC. Join us to celebrate our Saviour’s birth!
๐ฆ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ฎ๐ด ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐ฟ
Our service will be at 3 p.m. as usual.
Please note that the Parent & Toddler group will run on Wednesdays and Fridays in December until 19 December and will resume on๐ช๐ฒ๐ฑ๐ป๐ฒ๐๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฒ.
Please note that there will be ๐ป๐ผ ๐บ๐ถ๐ฑ๐๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ธ ๐บ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ผ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐.
News from India
We have recently heard from Fredrick and Reeba in Bangalore, India. They spend time visiting different towns and meeting local church leaders, pastors and evangelists. The majority of the village pastors and evangelists are literate in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, and Hindhi languages, but not in English. Although Bibles are available in their respective languages, there are currently no concordances or explanatory commentary in the Indian languages.
They are fortunate to have William MacDonald’s commentary on the Old and New Testament, which was translated into Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi languageโs and published last month in October 2025, and only found in city Christian book shops. The package costs ยฃ10 for the Old Testament and ยฃ10 for the New Testament. Additionally, the commentary bible, which has a wealth of biblical history, cultural contexts, and definitions for all names and towns, is costly for village pastors to purchase. An extremely helpful commentary for all pastors.
Their desire is to buy these commentaries and hand out to every village Pastors, Evangelist and leaders so they also can educate and teach people in their villages.
God recently made it possible for them to purchase twenty sets of Kannada commentaries today, and these were delivered to the village of Aimangala in the Chitradurga District and freely distributed to Pastors and Evangelistโs in need. The pastors in the village were ecstatic, stating that they had never seen a complete Kannada bible with commentary in their native tongue. For having such a blessing in their lives, they all thanked God.
In the coming days their aim is to purchase a set of 100 commentaries and deliver to five towns in the upcoming weeks, if God wills. Every villages would receive twenty Bible commentaries. We are grateful for your prayers so that we can obtain these commentaries for the evangelists and village pastors in the towns & states listed below. Thank you, God Bless,
Your prayers for 100 bible commentaries are much valued.
The Kingdom of God
Last night at our Bible study, we look at what Jesus had to say about the kingdom of God, a common theme in His preaching throughout the 3.5 years of His public ministry. John the Baptist before Him preached on this theme too (‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’ Matt 3:2), a sentiment echoed in Jesus’s opening words of ministry (‘”The time has come,โ he said. โThe kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!โ (Mark 1:15))
A kingdom is a place where a king rules. The kingdom of God is not a geographical location as such (though its presence in our midst (Luke 17:20-21) gives it a geographical aspect; where God’s people let God rule becomes the kingdom of God.) Jesus taught about this kingdom through parables, stories which capture our imaginations through their very ordinariness but which have the power to reveal spiritual truth to us.
The parables of Jesus describing what the kingdom of God is like remind us of the smallness of a mustard seed (which grows tall) or of yeast (which in comparison to other ingredients in bread making looks insignificant, but its influence is pervasive and changes the character of the bread completely. See Matt 13:31-34) Where God rules, justice, truth, love and honour will be seen. There is both a present and a future aspect to God’s kingdom, as the parable of the nets demonstrates. (Matt 13:47-52)
God’s kingdom is likened to a treasure and to a pearl of great pice (Matt 13:44-46). In these parables, we see that what we treasure requires commitment and cost; the people in these parables gave up everything to obtain the treasure and pearl. The kingdom of God is radical in nature (see Matt 19:16-24), requiring our whole-hearted commitment and obedience. The rewards are great, but God’s demands on our lives mean that we have to yield everything we are and have to His rule. Matt 6:33-34 reminds us that we must seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (with the promise that our heavenly Father will meet all our needs) and forms the basis of our prayer, ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ (Matt 6:10)
In Christ Jesus
Today we looked at our identity as God’s people who are ‘in Christ Jesus’ (Col 1:2, 1 Pet 5:14, 1 Cor 1:2), This identity gives us a completely different identity to our lives before we knew Christ, as Eph 2:1-10 makes plain; the ‘before’ and ‘after’ of conversion is a significant factor in our lives which is worked out through our everyday living (see Eph 4:17, Col 3:11-12). Being in Christ means we are given a new wardrobe, a set of designer robes of righteousness to replace our filthy rags!
We looked at 8 blessings and benefits of being in Christ:
1. A Fresh Start
2. Reconciliation
3. Freedom from guilt, shame and condemnation
4. Hope
5. Peace
6. Access to all Godโs blessings
7. Access to all Godโs promises
8. Inclusion in Godโs family and a new sense of belonging
๐ ๐
๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ก ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ญ
We have the chance to make a fresh start through our relationship with Christ. We are now new creations (2 Cor 5:17) and not only have life, but eternal life. (Rom 6:23)
๐๐๐๐จ๐ง๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
2 Cor 5:21 tells us we are reconciled to God through Christ, having free access to the presence of God at all times now that the curtain in the temple has been torn in two.
๐
๐ซ๐๐๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ, ๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง
Rom 8:1 reminds us that there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Through forgiveness, we have been given freedom from the guilt of sin and can now count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Jesus. (Rom 6:11) We can walk tall and live without that nagging, haunting sense of condemnation.
๐๐จ๐ฉ๐
Rom 15:13 reminds us that the God of hope can fill us with joy and peace so that we overflow with hope, not living in despair any longer. We have hope even in troubles because we know that Jesus has overcome the world. (John 16:33) We may have to wait patiently at present, but we have the hope that God is faithful and will fulfil His promises.
๐๐๐๐๐
Rom 5:1 tells us that we have peace with God through Christ, and this spills over into peace with other people. We find that God’s peace can be given to us even in difficult situations; it is able to guard our hearts and our minds. (Phil 4:6-7) When worry is displaced by Jesus, we can know peace.
๐๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐’๐ฌ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ
Eph 1:3-9 reminds us that we now have access to all God’s blessings, including being chosen, adopted, forgiven, redeemed and being lavished with God’s grace. The God who loves to bless can bless us!
๐๐๐๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐’๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฌ
2 Cor 1:20 reminds us that all God’s promises are ‘Yes’ in Christ Jesus and so we have access to these great and precious promises. Our part is to speak the ‘Amen’ of faith as we wait for their fulfilment.
๐ ๐ง๐๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐ฌ๐ ๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐
All of us need other people (Gen 2:18), and in Christ we are made members of God’s family and brought into the body of Christ. (Rom 12:5) The church is meant to be a place of fellowship, unity and belonging – God’s answer to the human need for belonging.
As we enter into our identity in Christ, we continue to live in Him and grow in spiritual maturity.
Overcoming Temptation
From the age of twelve to the start of His ministry aged 30, we know nothing of what Jesus said. He worked as a carpenter like His father and had other brothers and sisters (learning family relationships as we all must!) His baptism was the start of His public ministry, and here, we see His identity as God’s beloved Son affirmed by God Himself (Matt 3:17). Immediately after this, He was led by the Spirit of God into the wilderness to be tested, to be tempted by the devil. (Matt 4:1-11) This is a key moment: if Satan could cause Jesus to sin as he had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, the plan of salvation would have been wrecked.
We see that the years of learning and the time spent in prayer and fasting led to vistory over temptation. Temptation itself is not sin, but can easily lead us astray (see James 1:13-15).Satan questioned Jesus’s identity as the Son of God and wanted Him to use His power for His own selfish ends – turning stones into bread (to assuage His obvious hunger after fasting for 40 days and nights), using God as His divine protector for no other reason than self-satisfaction. His final temptation was to try to prise worship from Jesus. On each occasion, Jesus defeated the enemy by the word of God, quoting from Deuteronomy 6 and 8. He used the sword of the Spirit, just as we must. The devil’s lies and half-truths cannot be argued with; they must be defeated by God’s powerful words of truth.
Jesusโs victory in the wilderness set the scene for His ministry throughout His life on earth. He would do Godโs work in Godโs way. He would put Godโs will before His own (even in the Garden of Gethsemane.) He would live out His identity as Godโs son not by pleasing Himself but by pleasing God. He would reserve worship for God alone, and would not seek to find security, significance or self-worth anywhere but in God.
In this, Jesus models for us how to overcome temptation. He does not listen to half-truths, but simply leans on the word of God as His weapon. The more we absorb the word of God, the better chance we stand of overcoming temptation and resting secure in our spiritual identity.
