Fast and Feast

23 Mar 2011 | | Posted in UncategorizedNo Comments

Fast and Feast

We are encouraged during this period of Lent to deliberately give something up …. FAST for 6 days and FEAST for 1 day

Why?
to recalibrate our hearts and lives and consider what Easter is all about. We get to live because Jesus died and rose again

to militate against a culture of entitlement

Daily Bible Readings

… for us to read together during this period. Download a pdf of these readings from John’s Gospel.

Prayer and Worship

Thursday 31 March 6pm ’til midnight at Holy Corner

HALF NIGHT OF PRAYER including CHURCH MEETING (7.30-9.30pm)

Friday 1 ’til  Thursday 7 April

WEEK of 24-7 PRAYER: The half night of prayer leads us into this week of prayer. Sign up for a slot at www.mbc.org.uk/247

Wednesday 20 April
DAY and NIGHT of PRAYER: We join in the city-wide initiative of 40 Days of Prayer in the city with TryPraying.

Friday 22 April

GOOD FRIDAY Service at Holy Corner 6.00pm

Sunday 24 April

EASTER SUNDAY 9.00am Early Morning Communion at Holy Corner; 10.30am BAPTISM at Holy Corner; 4.00pm Beach BAPTISM and PICNIC at Scoughall, Dunbar

Autumn 2010 at mbc

30 Aug 2010 | | Posted in Uncategorized1 Comment

No matter what they tell us
No matter what they do
No matter what they teach us
What we believe is true

At first listen, it is easy to dismiss Andrew Lloyd Webber and Boyzone as being immature philosophers.

There is a sense, however, that they are right! What we believe so influences the relationships, decisions and actions of our lives that it acts as truth for us – even if it is not!

If we believe that God is all powerful, can do anything, wants to be dynamically involved in our lives, could not love us more etc…. then these thoughts have deep and radical implications for the whole of our lives, because they direct our paths.

Conversely, if we view God as disinterested, impersonal, inactive etc…, or even as we view ourselves as one outside the orbit of this divine attention, then the direction, outcome and the success of our lives is negatively affected.

In this time of change and challenge, of exciting opportunities and major decisions, we would do well to ground ourselves more firmly in the grace and truth of the good news we have received and we would be wise to be ever and increasingly open to the Holy Spirit (who leads us into all truth!)

With this in mind, I would like to recommend two things to us all:

  1. Starting in October, the inter:act team will be reading through the whole Bible in a year. This year, the Elders, Staff and Apprentice Pastors will be joining them. Can I encourage all of us to engage with this discipline and to do so together? There will be a daily blog entry to encourage us in this venture.
  2. Our two sermon series during this autumn term are  designed to stimulate us to live out of truth. ‘Wise’ is a series based, unsurprisingly, in the wisdom literature of the Old Testament and is designed to help us make godly decisions as we walk through this world. Our evening series is based in the gospel of John and will be a great opportunity for us to bring our friends to meet Jesus.

Looking forward to a fantastic autumn at mbc!

- Karl

Invest

4 Jun 2010 | | Posted in UncategorizedNo Comments

June 2010
A letter from our Senior Pastor, Karl Martin

I am so excited to be part of this Church we call MBC, and to have the privilege and responsibility to lead.  I have delighted in seeing the movement in the church towards an intentional missional DNA, towards a love of the city in which we live and a desire to place ourselves individually and collectively at the centre of all God is doing in this world.  I love seeing a growing knowledge of Father God and a deepening confidence in the gospel in us, I love that together we are increasingly looking like Jesus.  All this is His plan for us and through us for the world.

It is against the backdrop of all that Father God is doing in us and wants to do through us, that we made a bold and faith filled decision to offer for the Methodist Central Hall at Tollcross.  We see this building as part of God’s plan for us as a church.  We see it as a base for our Missional Expression activity, we see it as a training centre for our calling to be transformed and transformation for Edinburgh and Scotland.  You may wish to listen again to the vision talks on the website and read the vision documents there.

We would love to encourage you to Invest with us in this venture.  We believe it is right to buy Central Hall and to make some minor alterations to make it fit for missional purpose.  This will cost us up to £1.85m and will need all of us to examine our hearts and bank accounts and to give as we are led.  We will have a gift day on June 20th and another in September, and would love by then to have raised 50% of the monies needed so we can proceed with confidence.

Can I ask you to pray about what you can give or pledge to give.  We will need one-off donations as well as ongoing gifts, month on month.  It may be that now is the time to consider selling some item of value –  a house, a car, some jewelry, art?   It could be that some of us will be called to give something up, foreign holidays, some luxury….

It might be that you know others who have been blessed by MBC or would share this vision and would like the opportunity to invest themselves, please encourage them.

It is important to understand 3 things.

  1. No gift is too small or too large – everyone will be able to afford different amounts – all gifts are equally appreciated.
  2. MBC does not have significant reserves – we will not be able to buy this building unless we all give sacrificially.
  3. This is not ultimately about a building its about the ministry that will flow out of this building – it’s about the missional training that will happen in the building.

This Building will be a Power Station

This Building will be a Lifeboat Station

This Building and the way it is used is a statement of the life of God in this city and in this nation.

So I want to invite you to invest with me. There is a sense in which I am asking a generous people to be generous again – a people who have sacrificed to sacrifice again.  I am not inviting you just to giving but to investment - there is a difference, however subtle.

  • I am inviting you to invest in God’s Kingdom – trusting that he can take care of us.
  • I am inviting you to invest in this City, not just to take from it - invest in it’s life,  invest in its redemption – its transformation.
  • I am inviting you to invest in legacy – our children and our children’s children and generations of those who will come to know Father God because we invested now!
  • I am inviting us to invest generously and sacrificially in response to the generosity and sacrifice of the Lord we serve and for the sake of the majority who have never heard of Him let alone encountered Him.
If not us, then who? If  not this, then what?   If not now, then when?

1 Timothy 6:17 -19

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

Your Pastor,
Karl

You can send a cheque or transfer funds or set up a regular standing order to our separate premises bank account. The bank account details are:

Account: 06004840,
Sort Code: 80-02-85,
cheques payable to “Morningside Baptist Church”.

You can also pledge to give in the future and a form is available. If you have not signed a gift aid form and are a UK tax payer, please complete one and send it to the Finance Deacon so we can add value to your gift.