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What We Do Here in Crich & the
Surrounding Area
We believe that the Lord has
placed us here at Crich Baptist
Church, to worship Him first of all, and then to serve Him in the
proclamation of the gospel. Our immediate part of 'All the world.....' is
where we live. So week-by-week, you will find us doing some, or all of the
things this section tells you about. We would like to do more, much more,
and as the Lord enables we will.
THE
LORD'S DAY : This is a day that the Lord Himself has set apart,
and we seek to honour Him in it. Our two services, at 10.45am and 6.00pm,
have at their heart the desire to worship and honour Almighty God. Preaching
occupies a high place in our services, indeed we believe it is God's
divinely appointed means of proclaiming the gospel, and of expounding the
scriptures. Our pastor will often preach a series of sermons consecutively
from one book of the Bible. A different series in the morning, and another
one in the evening. From time-to-time he will also speak on a topical issue.
Gospel passages are sought out, and expounded from the Old and New
Testaments. Indeed Christ can be seen from Genesis to Revelation.
SUNDAY SCHOOL : Our Sunday School welcomes all children, but most
are of pre-school, primary and junior ages. The children learn the message of the
Bible in a friendly, caring and responsible environment.
The Bible gives clear moral
guidelines which will enable children to steer their way through the
confusion of today's society. It also answers the deep questions which
perplex children as well as adults, "What happens when I die?", "Who is
God?" and "How can I get to heaven?"
We aim to make the lessons
lively and interesting with visual aids and related crafts.
Sunday school begins at
11.15am in the Schoolroom at the back of the church.
We also welcome all the
family to our Morning Service which begins at 10.45am and includes a talk
for the children.
PRAYER MEETING : Prayer is vital in the life and ministry of our
church. Our weekly meeting for prayer is held on Tuesday's, at 7.45pm. This
meeting is held in the Schoolroom, as most of our mid-week meetings are.
We also hold a monthly Prayer
Meeting for the 'Suffering church', praying especially for Christians around
the world who are being persecuted for their faith. This meeting is held in the home of one of our members.
LADIES MEETING : The ladies from our church have a monthly
meeting, held on the first Wednesday of each month. Apart from
valuing the fellowship with each other, the ladies look forward to the extra
opportunity of receiving teaching from the Bible, which is usually brought
by the pastor, or another invited speaker.
CHURCH MUSIC : We love singing hymns, and our belief is that
whilst we truly enjoy what we do when we are together, we do not let our
music become entertainment. Our hymn book is 'Christian Hymns', and we
rejoice in the many God honouring and inspiring hymns it contains. Our hymns
are mostly accompanied by one of our members playing the organ, all the
hymns sung at meetings in the Schoolroom are accompanied on the piano.
SEEKERS CLUB : Every Thursday evening in term-time our 'Seekers
Club' for young people meets at the church. Partly because of numbers,
we now have two meetings, one beginning at 5.00pm for those of primary age,
the other at 6.00pm for the juniors. It is an opportunity for both groups to
learn about the Bible and its message. Each week there is a Bible lesson,
followed by an activity to help the young people remember what they have
been taught.
Besides the time given to the
serious teaching of the Bible, there are also plenty of games, crafts and
competitions as well as a refreshment break.
BIBLE STUDY : Thursday is a busy day in our church week, as we
gather together again in the evening at 7.45pm for more in-depth Bible
study. Our pastor will again take a series of messages, expounding a passage
from a particular book of the Bible. The pastor will occasionally
intersperse these studies with a consideration of subjects of topical
interest.
DOOR-to-DOOR WORK : As part of our local evangelism,
we engage in regular door-to-door visitation. We have tried to cover all the
village, and when all have been visited, we start again. The people doing
this work are not always given a good reception, but in fairness most are
courteous, and even if they are not interested in the gospel challenge which
is presented, they will accept the literature we leave with them. We have
however had a number of very profitable conversations 'on the doors' this
summer, so do pray for us in this work.
At Easter and Christmas we
will also visit each home, leaving gospel literature and giving a special
invitation to our church services.
OPEN
AIR PREACHING : From April till September, one Saturday
morning each month, you will find a group of us outside the church, here in
the centre of Crich, preaching the gospel. Saturday morning is usually very
busy, and the Market Place is full of people doing their shopping, and in
the summer months these numbers are swelled by holiday makers visiting the
area. The Summer of 2004 has been good from the point of view of people that
have stopped to listen, would their car windows down, to hear better what we
are saying. This has not always been our experience.
As well as those men from the
church who speak, we have other folk from the church positioned around the
Market Place, engaging people in conversation about their response to the
gospel of Jesus Christ. They will also hand literature out to those who will
accept it.
SCHOOLS : Being a village community, we have opportunity
through our pastor to help local schools. He is invited to take Assemblies,
and is often being asked to take part in a number of school activities. We
try to foster a good relationship by making our building available to the
local schools, should they have need to use our facilities. This has been
very beneficial, with increasing numbers of children coming to our 'Seekers
Clubs.'
THE
ELDERLY : Once each month the pastor is invited to visit
the local Senior Citizens group, he and a lady from our church go along. He
is able to give a short gospel address, and with the help of the lady from
our church playing the piano, the old folk are able to enjoy singing hymns
familiar to them.
BOOKSTALL : We have a large Church Bookstall, with a
good stock of Christian books and greetings cards.
OUR
RECORDED SERMONS : All the sermons in our church are
recorded. Many of them are made available to a wider
congregation on the Internet, using our own church website, also
www.sermonaudio.com and at
www.graceandtruth.org.uk . |