Local Ministry

WHAT WE DO HERE IN CRICH, AND IN 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 Church Bookstall, with a good stock of Christian books.

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 .

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