British Summertime Begins
This Sunday 29th March the clocks go forward. The actual time change takes place at 1am, moving forward to 2am. So please remember to put your clocks forward before you go to bed.
Blog
Reflections, Announcements, & Updates from the BCEC
BCEC’s Attempt At Online Broadcasting
It was so great to see so many churches exploring new technologies. As we continue to pray for the situation regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, and churches try and find the way to continue to provide support for communities around us, we thought it would be good to share how we did things this past Sunday. We are all trying our best to figure out how to use and leverage these different technologies, so this is just to share what methods that we’ve used. If you’ve got ideas be sure to share them as well!
BCEC.online + Community Response
We want to make sure people are staying connected during the Covid-19 pandemic. We believe people should play their part in social distancing. and preventing infection.
To help us keep in touch please sign up to our BCEC.Online List
BCEC’s Action Plan for COVID-19
TL;DR: Love Your Neighbour. Spiritually draw close, Social physically distance. BCEC Sunday Services are online only. Minimize group meetings unless necessary.
Last Updated 19 March 2020
This is the Pastoral Team’s proposal to deal with the rising epidemic of COVID-19. We understand that different members of the congregation will have different feelings and concerns about it, and we hope this document will help the congregation members to know the church’s plans now and going forward.
40 Days of Redeeming Love
It’s that time of the year again, no not Christmas, but the lead up to Easter. It’s something we like to call Lent in the church circles. And in our church, we love to partake in a church-wide reading during the Lent season. This year, Lent officially begins Wednesday 26th February and ends Easter Sunday 12th April.
Family Retreat 2020
The BCEC Family Retreat 2020 has been cancelled due to uncertainty surrounding the covid-19 outbreak in the UK.
We hope to be able to invite you to join us in 2021.
Silent Night
It wasn’t really a silent night was it. Mary and Joseph, tired from a long journey, no doubt frustrated about the lack of accommodation. Words spoken. Conversations had. Frustrations vented. About the long journey. About what happens next. Mary, pregnant and weary, uncomfortable from the travelling, with aches and pains from carrying the child in the womb. And no birth happens in silence. It happens in groan and cries and weeping. And the trial and labour of childbirth culminates in the cries of a newborn.
It was not a silent night.
And yet, there was something very different about this night.
Christ’s birth — Jesus — fully God, fully man — broke through the darkness of the world, and let the world know sin will be silenced.
There will be no longer any place for murder, for hate, for injustice, for abuse, for war, for crime. There is no place for greed, jealousy, bitterness, factions, drunkeness. There is no voice for violence, destruction, selfish ambition, and pride.
The birth of Christ silences the volume of sin.
The sound of Christ’s arrival, burst through a still night, not with empty pomp and circumstance, but with a clear and decisive sound of victory. The victory in His arrival would resonate throughout all of the past, present and future. An eternal sound of triumph.
Darkness was silenced that night.
And yet, you and I, even when hearing the clear sound of Christ’s victorious triumph — the declaration of his victory over sin — the forgiveness from sin in our lives — still too often we turn a deaf ear to His words.
“He who has ears, let him hear.” Do you hear? Do you hear what I hear? Or do you hear what you want to hear? Do you hear the voice of our Lord, our friend, as He whispers “I am with you, even til the end of the age?” Do we hear Christ say, “I come to give life, and life to the full?”. Do we hear Him say to us, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men?” Do we hear him say, “your sins are forgiven…”
Or do we, drown out his voice, ignoring His words, so we can listen to ourselves?
Telling ourselves things to make us feel better. The selfish words to soothe our itchy souls : Live for yourself, do what you want, it’s not hurting anyone. The pitiful words borne from our prideful insecurity : you’re no good, no one loves you, you’re ugly…
Whilst Christ, continues to declare around you, that He is King. He is Lord. He is Victorious. “Come to me and I will give you rest, “ he says in Matthew 11. “With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible,” Matthew 19:27. “ I no longer call you servants, instead I have called you Friends,” John 15.
Why would you choose to silence Christ, to only hear yourself? What sound can come from within that is greater than the voice of God?
The sound of Christ comes in a powerful voice commanding the storms to cease, and in the joyful words encouraging the children to come to Him. It is the sound of clear and true teaching, and soft and gentle promises saying you are forgiven. It is the voice saying Father forgive them, and the voice saying I will come again.
Why turn away from that voice? The voice that spoke the universe into creation. The powerful triune voice of God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. That speaks and reverberates from the beginning of time to… the voice that says I Am … the voice that says, It is Finished.
Don’t turn away from the voice of God, from the triumphant declaration of his victory — instead let the triumphant sound of God’s victory tear down the walls around your heart that keep you shut off from him, trapped by your own fears and failing.
Listen. Listen for His voice. Let sin in your life be stilled by the glory of God.
Kingdom Vision
There’s this moment in Luke 8, when Jesus is speaking with his disciples, and they’re asking him to explain the parable of the sower. And Jesus tells them, “the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that ‘though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand.’”
Summer Cultivation Classes
This Summer, we’ll be having a series of different classes to help train us up for the future.
Our Worship Training, hosted by Ben, will be looking through parts of the WorshipCentral course, having discussion and helping us grow as worshippers.
Thursday Nights: July 4, 11, 18, 25
ALPHA
What’s it all about?
Alpha is a chance to explore life and the Christian faith in a friendly, open and informal environment.
Starting on Thursday 16th May, Alpha consists of a meal together, then a talk on a different aspect of the Christian faith each week (over 11 weeks) followed by conversation and discussion where you are open to ask any question and share your thoughts. We hope you will come and join us.
BCEC Quiz Night
We challenge anyone not to love a good quiz night! It’s an excellent and fun evening of getting your thinking caps on, and bonding with old friends and making new friends…!
This Easter Sunday
Of the pivotal turning points in a Christian’s life, one is the moment they become a Christian, the next moment is when they decide to take up the decision to declare their faith in the form of baptism. (And I know, with faith, God grants more and more spiritual defining moments later on too!)