No.123 30th September

Hi,

Hope this finds you well.

The key thing for this weekend is NOT to step over the bag of groceries laid out for bringing to the Harvest Service as you leave your house and end up empty handed at church.
Buy the goods - Set an alarm (I can set mine to 'nag' - seriously) - Pick up bag... a wee insight into my way of working there.

It's been a quiet week - I read last weekend Amy Carmichael's comment that before saying anything you should ask if it was 'Kind, true or necessary'. So the decision is either to start thinking before speaking, or stop reading Christian devotionals. Seriously though, that little nugget was quoted in Alistair Begg's Truth for Life Daily Devotional. It's time to start thinking about Christmas (don't blame me - Scott started it - see below) and this book is a great gift.

So, yes there is a Christmas mention below...but other events in Oct and November coming your way.

But thinking about this Sunday I'll leave you with a great tweet from Andrew Wilson -

aw tweet

Enjoy the mag!

MB

Ps don't forget the Harvest goods!

Commissioning Service

for JACOB INGLESON

Everyone is welcome to morning worship on Sunday 9th October when we will be formally launching Jacob’s ministry amongst us.
Please note the date and plan to stay on afterwards as we enjoy a delicious lunch and time of fellowship in the Maxwell hall.

Ladybird Book of Maxwell

Ukraine - Russian Gospel Websites

ukraine map

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on February 24, 2022. Seven months later, the ongoing conflict has forced the migration of some 12 million Ukrainians, according to the United Nations.
Stories like Pastor Sergey Nakul’s (See link below) allow us to see the pain of war and its effects on the lives of millions. Grief over loss, fear of attack, and uncertainty about the future have become the daily reality for many who today need to hear of the hope and restoration that the gospel of Christ brings.

The Gospel Coalition have a new Ukraine and TGC Russia websites now live having used financial gifts to enable a team of Ukrainian and Russian translators to launch these two vital resources for the church in Eastern Europe. So far they have published around 65 articles that address basic questions of the Christian faith and other relevant issues.

Read more about this here.
To see the Ukraine site go to https://ukr.thegospelcoalition.org/, and our Russian site can be found at https://ru.thegospelcoalition.org/
Please consider sharing these links—especially if you know anyone who speaks Ukrainian or Russian.

Caption Competition

from last week's photos of the work in the grounds...

"What do you mean 'It's only a 50 pence piece!' Keep looking!"
or
"Penalty to Rangers!"

"Obviously, I would have offered but Linda would kill me if I got my jacket dirty."
or
"You're South African, just pretend you're looking for gold"

Our Church is a member of Eco-Congregation Scotland (more info here.) and I have been working as our Eco Representative appointed by the Board.
Over recent years we have

improved our Sanctuary Heating in an Eco friendly way by installing Air-Sourced Heat Pumps and the sanctuary has become a much more comfortable environment with new seating etc.
taken steps to improve our Halls by Double Glazing the whole building.
upgraded some of the lighting in the Halls to Sensor operated lights.

We are in the process of seeking approval for a free Energy Audit with Energy Savings Trust through Business Energy Scotland. Hopefully this will give us more energy saving ideas and help us reduce our Carbon Footprint going forward. Now that we are having tea/coffee after our Service in the Sanctuary and using disposable cups I believe we should be looking at reducing the number of single-use cups that are simply disposed of after the service.

However we still have lots more we could be doing!

I would like to set the Congregation a challenge!

I think it would be better for the environment if each individual bought our own reusable cup (I recognise some of you already do this) which we could bring to church and take home every week. This is one practical way we could all contribute to reduce our Carbon Footprint as a Church. In addition to the reduction in wastage, with the ever increasing cost of the recyclable cups, this would also help our church finances!

Graeme Lipsett

Maxwell's Christmas Choir!

IT’S OFFICIAL – CHRISTMAS STARTS HERE!

So said Marks and Spencer in a recent advert! Well, here in Maxwell, Christmas may not be ‘here’ but we are starting to prepare for it.
One of the things we would like to do is to form a choir to sing Christmas songs for a musical evening in December and possibly at the Christmas Eve service.
This is a link to an audio file of one of the songs planned for the choir

If you are interested in singing in the choir, please let Ian Gillis know by emailing him on gillisian44@gmail.com and/or by coming to the first choir practice. A date will be arranged soon. Other practices will be arranged at that first meeting.
We look forward to seeing you and hearing you!
Scott

Stefan & Martina Update

This link below takes you to short update News Letter from Stefan and Martina.
They are in a period of transition at the moment so keep take a moment to read their news and keep them in prayer:

Our reorientation time begins ...
with the dispatch of this update. In preparation, we attended (via Zoom) a three-day workshop of the American Navigators in July. The main focus was on how to use these three months until the end of the year well to process the past, seek God's presence and make decisions for our future. We are thankful for Kelley McCutchen who is accompanying us during this time. We are also thankful for our support team, with whom we regularly exchange ideas and advice. Please support this very special time in prayer. As mentioned in previous updates, we are very tired and exhausted after many years in Japan. Furthermore, it is our wish that God gives us clarity about our future and that we can start our new roles with new motivation in January.

A verse that stands over our re-orientation time is Exodus 33:14: "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." We are very thankful that God will guide us during this time and lead us into His presence. In order to really focus on this reorientation time, we will not be writing any prayer updates in the coming weeks. However, please feel free to contact us personally if you have any questions or just want to know how we are doing.

Read the rest of the letter here...

Amazing God

Last Sunday Colin led our prayer of Adoration and Confession.
It was around the alphabet: A-M Adoration and N- Z Confession

Here is a reminder...and an opportunity to pray it over again...
Awesome
Bigger than you can imagine
Creator of everything
Designer
Engineer
Fantastic
Good, so good
Holy, holy, holy
Infallible
perfect in Justice
Kind
Loving
Magnificent

We are sorry, please forgive us
being Nasty
Overlooking others who need help
and Passing-by on the other side
when we:
... don't take chance to be Quiet and listen out for Your voice
...don't show Respect
...make others Sad
...Tell lies
...are Unforgiving
...are Violent
and Selfishly want, want for ourselves
or eXpect You to do what we want
when we are grumpy and Yell and shout
when we Zone out from having you at the centre of our lives.
Amen

There will be more news about this Curry and Quiz night coming soon - but Grace, Tara and Chiara hope you can keep the date free and join them for what will be a really enjoyable and fun event.
Speak with Kirsty Bell if you need more info just now.

Christian Persecution in China

Tuesday 4th October | 7.30pm

Living for Jesus in the face of growing authoritarianism

with Release International partner Bob Fu, President ChinaAid

bob-Fu (1)
This October we are delighted to host Release International partner and ChinaAid President Bob Fu, for a series of live events across the UK. Join us to hear how your support is helping our brothers and sisters in China to persevere.

DATE: Tuesday 04 October TIME: 7.30pm
VENUE: Hamilton Baptist Church, 23 Kemp Street, HAMILTON, Scotland. ML3 6QL

See Mag 121 for info re Bob Fu and this event.

Questions from Ian

"Hello lovely people of Maxwell, I am in need of some help. (too right - Ed!)

I am hoping to put on several quizzes at Maxwell through November and December for both fellowship and evangelical opportunities. However, I find myself in need of a team of willing volunteers (and advisors). If you can help just send me a message: 07793968349."

Fighting for the Family

Conversion Therapy - Assisted Suicide - Education
The Christian Institute Scotland are touring Scotland to help Christians understand these topics better - 'the need to fight for the family has never been greater'
More information will be in future magazines but note the Glasgow dates are Mon 7th and Wed 9th Nov.
https://www.christian.org.uk/scotlandtour/

The weekly prayer meeting is now on a Thursday!
7.15pm - 8.30pm
All welcome.

Are you on the Pray Now WhatsApp Group?

If you want to be added to the group to receive prayer news then simply ask Margaret and she will add your number to the list.

If you have a matter that you would like to be prayed about in this way, you can contact Margaret Boyd or Scott and they will organise for news to be sent out.