Up and Coming Events
What does it mean to be a mature Christian??
Ever wondered about growing up as a Christian? We’ll be exloring this theme in our new series in our Sunday services and finding out what the Bible has to say on this topic. Check out our programme and hope to see you soon!
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World Day of Prayer
Did you join us for the World Day of Prayer? If, so it was great to welcome you! Our focus was on prayer for Zimbabwe – look out for next year’s event – it’ll come round before you know it!
Family Service and Food Fun!
It was fabulous to welcome 40 friends to our service on Sunday in a truly interactive service. There was drama, songs and even prayer using half-pennies as we thought about the story of the Widow’s offering in Mark’s gospel. There was a fabulous family atmosphere as people of ages enjoyed the worship and the yummy food that followed!
Cafe Church was packed out!
On Sunday 26th January 2020, cafe church was prepped and ready!
The people came in on time, not late, the children did crafts and the adults ate cake.
There were songs, there was drama and even applause, especially when Mark did his caricatures!
Just look at the pictures you’ll see no-one was snoring, ’cause cafe church can never be boring!!
We went bacon bappy!
It was great to see so many of us gathering for prayer at 9am on Sunday 12th January. Did the large quantity of bacon baps on offer encourage everyone to come? I guess we’ll never know…..
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Christmas nativity and carol service
It has been lovely to welcome so many guests and new friends over the Christmas period. Our nativity service on 15th December 2019, featured 15 children and young people and our carols by candlelight on 22nd December 2019 had a fantastic atmosphere with over 60 people attending and enjoying hot rolls after the service. If you were among our guests, we’d love to see you in 2020 too – come along and join us for our regular events, details of which you’ll always find here!
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Christmas Lights…
Did you come and see us at the Christmas Lights Switch-on on Sunday 1st December 2019? If so, it was great to meet you! If you enjoyed Christmas crafting, you’ve loved the Christmas books and you enjoyed the bell-ringing (well, okay, you might not have enjoyed it, but we did our best!), then why not come to one of our Christmas services? We’d love to see you and most of them involve food! All the details are in the up and coming events up above!!
Not that sur-prize-ing!
Our recent prize giving service for the young people of the church was a great success. It was great to be able to reward the children and young people who come along each week with some fabulous books about what it means to be a Christian. Check out the pics below to see our Sunday School superintendent awarding the prizes!
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We remembered
Remembrance Sunday on 10th November 2019, featured a poem in the service, a cross wreath outside the church, two minutes of silence and a special display. Thanks to Jen and Isabel for putting this together and for everyone who contributed. It was also great to be able to send 12 shoeboxes to Samaritan’s Purse this year. Special gifts that we pray will make a difference to the life of children in other parts of the world.
Sunday School Sheep!
Don’t forget our kids Sunday School runs every week. The young people join us in the Service for the first 20 minutes before going to their session. At the moment we’re looking at the life of David. There’s lots of interactive activities too – it was biscuit-making this week!
Harvest Festival
Sunday 29th September 2019, was the date of our fabulous harvest festival! The church was full as we met together for our special sharing service to thank God for all that He provides for us. We collected food for the Rothley Baptist Church Food Bank, sang and shared together. The service was followed by our harvest supper – a great time to chat and get to know each other better. Another great time together as a church – why not join us for our next event?
All the fun of the fayre!
I hope we had the chance to meet you at the Syston Summer Fayre on Saturday 31st August. It was a privilege to chat to so many people, see families join with us in craft activities or just have a seat and play with the toddler toys. It was also fantastic to have the chance to pray with people and to invite those we met to fill in a prayer card. Lots did and we prayed for everyone in our service the next day too. We believe in a God who hears and answers our prayers! If you enjoyed meeting us, why not come along to one of our events? It would be nice to see you again and everyone is always welcome!
Service and grub!
Thanks to all who joined with us for our friendly family service and fellowship lunch on Sunday 25th August 2019. There was a ladder sermon, creative prayer and great songs and some great grub in our lunch which followed the service. Why not join us next time round?
Syston Baptist Church Out and About!
It was great to enjoy our church outing on Tuesday 13th August 2019! We paid a visit to the Black Country Museum in Dudley and a big shout out to Barry the bus driver for taking us there! We had a great day together and enjoyed getting to know each other better, chatting and having fun. There was lots on the programme including trips on trolleybuses, time to look round period shops, a black and white Laurel and Hardy film in the old cinema, picnic lunch together, all the fun of the 1920’s fair, a lesson at school (!) and even a trip down a coal mine. Thanks Liz, for organising such a great day!
Yee-hah!
We had a great time with our friends at Quorn Baptist Church on Saturday 3rd August 2019, as we joined their barn dance event. We all had a great time together and enjoyed a ploughman’s supper too! The evening helped raise funds for faith in later life and it was a great event to have been able to attend.
A new way of doing church
It may be have been raining outside, but there was a smashing atmosphere inside at cafe church on Sunday 28th July. We thought about keeping on praying, looking at the parable on this theme that Jesus told. Songs of praise, readings together, dialogue drama, illusion illustrations, prayer journal and prayer wheel crafts and lots of cake made the event a special one. Look out for our next Summer event – details will be posted here soon, or check out our Facebook page (@systonchurch)!!
Friendly Family Service and Fellowship Lunch
Sunday 30th June was a great service as we considered the story of the rich young man who came to Jesus. The service featured dramatic re-enactments, a quiz show drama, poems and interactive illustrations as well as songs and a creative prayer. If this sounds good, why not join us next time? After the service we all enjoyed a fellowship lunch together and enjoyed welcoming friends from Canada too!
Wednesday mornings at church. . .
Come along to learn about the difference God makes to our lives and ready the Bible with us. We’re doing a brief overview of every book and we’ve just reached Jonah! Cakes are also an important part of enjoying being together! There’s prayer and worship too, of course. . .
10.30am start, 12.30pm finish!
On Gard-en!
Did you spot us gardening on Saturday 1st June 2019? It was great to work as a team to tidy and weed and make the church grounds a bit more presentable! Perhaps we chatted to you as you passed? If not, do so hello next time, or even come and join us!
We went to the flicks!
A recent church outing was to Cineworld in Loughborough on 10th May 2019. We went to see Breakthrough – an incredible true story and a modern day miracle. It tells of a tragic accident when a 13 year old fell through the ice on a frozen lake and stopped breathing for over an hour. Whilst in hospital, his mum prayed for him and, amazingly, he came back to life and completely recovered, suffering no ill effects. This was a top film for us and we rate it at 5 stars! Go and see it if you can!
Church for the community
Cakes and church – always a good combo! Thanks to everyone who came along on Sunday 26th May where we thought about the parable of the bridesmaids that Jesus told. We enjoyed singing together, an interactive Bible reading which everyone could join in with, a dualogue drama and a talk with a trick! As well as this there was craft for the kids, making a variety of lanterns to take home as a reminder of the story. Our half-hour afternoon service always has a very friendly and informal feel, so look out for the next one at the end of July!
The Big meet
Sunday 12th May 2019 was part of an encouraging weekend for us as we hosted visitors from other evangelical churches. We enjoyed a prayer breakfast on the Saturday, with bacon cobs and a song or two. The next day was our service at which Phil Walter from FIEC gave the talk and churches shared their prayer needs. The event was followed by a scrummy tea, with all the different churches bringing cakes, crisps, sausage rolls and sandwiches. A very encouraging time for us all. So special thanks to North Church, Carley Evangelical Church, Laburnum Road Community Church and Cropston Evangelical Church who all joined with us.
Back to school. . .
We were delighted to welcome Sandfield Close Primary School to our church on Friday 10th May 2019. 60 children, their teachers and parents joined us for what we tried to make as fun and interactive a morning as possible, as we shared what Christians believe. Thanks so much to the school and the children who were brilliantly behaved. We hope it might be the first of many events! Would you like to arrange a school visit to our church? Get in touch via our contacts page.
Photos below are of us setting up for the morning, but you can see pics of the classes on the Sandfield Close website.
He is risen!
Were you someone who joined us for our Easter Sunday morning 2019 celebrations?! I hope you enjoyed it if you did! We began with a lovely cooked breakfast and chat – great to begin this special day with time to encourage each other. Then it was in to our friendly family service, which included the church band, Easter egg hunt and Easter talk with an illustration of the message of Easter – Jesus died for us and has risen, too! One special part of the service was a creative prayer, where we thought about our “filthy rags” (sin) represented as black paper, and stuck these to a cross at the front of church to think about all that Jesus bore for us. Check out the pics of the day below!
Easter Coffee morning with extras!
We don’t know if there is such a thing as ‘palm Saturday,’ but it was on the Saturday before Palm Sunday (13th April 2019) that we held our Easter coffee morning! There were plenty of cakes on offer, along with Easter books, cards and crafts on our Easter table. Fantastic crafts were available for the children to make and new for this year was our Easter Egg hunt puzzle. Complete the hunt, gather the clues to win prizes! There were Easter books, sweets and chocolate to be won! The whole event was free and it was great to see so many families coming to join us. Why not join us on Easter Sunday morning too? Details above!
Magnificent Mothering Sunday!
Thanks to everyone who came along to our special Mothering Sunday celebration on 31st March 2019. We joined together for a lovely luxury continental breakfast and enjoyed quality time together before our special family service. During the service we focused on Jesus the Good Shepherd and psalm 23. As well as drama, action songs, and favourite songs of worship, we also had creative prayer with sheepy bookmarks, flowers and hand-made cards from the Junior church for the ladies, and the first performance from our church band – tuba, saxophone and piano, played by some of our young people. They played, while we sang! A lovely event – check out the pics!
Cafe Church for the Community
It was fabulous to see over 30 people at our most recent cafe church event on Sunday 24th February. Thanks for coming if you were one of them! We spent time thinking about the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Why not read about it here? There was the usual arrange of fabulous cakes and doughnuts, drama, interactive readings, songs, a videoclip looking at a transantlanic rower who became a Christian and a trick with a message. Not bad for 45 minutes! Look out for our next mothering sunday continental breakfast on 31st March!
Cheesy!
Wednesday 20th February was the night for the church’s skittles evening and it was a lovely time of friendly fellowship. We chucked the cheese at the skittles and sometimes, even got some down! In between there was time to talk and encourage each other and after the fun and games there was sausage and chips to enjoy together. A great event, with church friends of all ages. Look out for more church socials, especially as the weather warms up!
Family and Food!
Our new approach to the last Sunday of the month began this week! We enjoyed a family service followed by a fellowship lunch in a lovely friendly atmosphere of Christian fellowship. This will be alternated with a cafe church event, so look out for these too! Keep your eye on our website for more details, coming soon!
Carols by candlelight
What a lovely atmosphere in church on Sunday 23rd December at 6pm. There were Christmas lights, candles, traditional carols and readings from the bible telling the Christmas story. Colouring for kids and mince pies were also on hand as we all celebrated together this special time of year. Why not join us on Christmas day if you missed out?!
Special nativity service
Our annual nativity service was enjoyed by a full church of friends and family on Sunday 16th December 2018 and included a nativity play and songs which the children of the junior church had prepared. It was enjoyed by all and special thanks go to Liz for organising and rehearsing with the children in preparation for this favourite of our church calendar.
Did you spot us at the Syston Lights Switch-on?!
It was great to meet so many people and have the chance to chat, share a Christian newspaper, play a marble game, give out a free book about Christmas and give away a mince pie. If we met you, why not pop along to the church for our Christmas services?
Daniel makes a splash!
It was lovely to celebrate Daniel’s baptism together on Sunday 4th November. The church was full of friends who had come to celebrate and we enjoyed singing Daniel’s favourite songs and listening to him give the reasons why he wanted to be baptised. After the service we enjoyed a lovely fellowship lunch together, complete with yummy fruit cake! The pictures tell the story of the day. . . .
Cosy Cafe Church
Cafe church is fast becoming an established part of our church programme as we learn about a Bible story together. On Sunday 28th October we thought about buried treasure as we explored Jesus’ parable and the man who found some hidden in a field and what he did next! Relaxing on the sofas, cake and coffee in hand, we thought about what Jesus meant and even looked at a new UCCF video about Mark’s gospel.
Prizes for the young people!
Sunday 21st October was our annual prize giving service for our young people. Our children and young people make such a difference to our church and are very important to us. It is great to have a service dedicated to them, where we can give them some great Christian books as prizes for all that they give to the fellowship. If you’d like to check out some Christian books yourself, why not check out Good Book company ?
Meet the gardening team!
It might be the same folks you’ll meet on a Sunday morning, but did you know that the Syston Baptist Church congregation are also pretty handy with a pair of gardening gloves? Working together, everyone joined together on Thursday 18th October to get the gardens ready for Autumn, chatting to our community as they passed. Great to make the most of the great weather. Why not pop in for a chat this Sunday morning?
Harvest Festival
Sunday 30th September was a day of special harvest celebrations as we thanked the Lord for all that He provides for us. We enjoyed an interactive family service in the morning, and in the evening joined together for a sharing service in which those attending shared scripture readings, favourite hymns and songs and testimonies of how God is at work in their lives. We also enjoyed a bring and share harvest supper – a great way to enjoy quality time together whilst remembering all that has been provided for us.
Cafe church creates a buzz!
Did you come to cafe church on Sunday 16th September?! There was plenty going on as we learned together about the prodigal son parable in an informal service. Interactive readings, traditional hymns, drama, video and a trick illustration all combined for a church in a cafe experience. Children learned about the family in the prodigal son story by decorating home-baked gingerbread people. A great family atmosphere as we learned about Jesus together. Look out for our next cafe church event!
Hidden Treasure at Syston Carnival
The church team all worked together to put our best foot forward for Syston and carnival and it was great to meet so many people who live in the area. If we chatted to you – it was nice to meet you!! As part of the event we provided a toddler play area, and free book and newspaper give away. Taking our theme of hidden treasure, there was a kids craft table making treasure boxes and bags, complete with craft crosses and other items for the children to decorate. We even had our first ever treasure hunt – thank so much to everyone who hosted a clue on their stall for us! We hope those of you who competed our challenge had fun as we searched for hidden treasure “The Bible”! As usual, everything was our favourite price – free! Look out for more community events at the church soon!
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Church Outing to Twycross Zoo!
What a fabulous time we all had at the zoo on Tuesday 21st August! This year we were able to hire a coach and as well as looking at the animals we also enjoyed a picnic together and an ice-cream in the afternoon. Times together like this are so great for building relationships with each other and remembering that we are a community who share a faith in Jesus. Want to join us next time round? Why not begin by joining us for cafe church – look out for it at 3pm on Sunday 16th September!
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Wedding Bells. . .
It was lovely for our church to be able to host the wedding of Rebecca Cioca and Ben Doe on Saturday 28th July at 2pm! The ceremony was very special and involved many family friends and we were happy to be able to help out a little too. We wish Mr. and Mrs. Doe well as they begin married life together!
Keen to clean?
Thanks to everyone who came to help clean the church on Monday 23rd July, so that everything looks great for the wedding of Rebecca and Ben on Saturday! We gardened as much as we could bear, but it was tricky in the 32 degree heat!
The pic shows a gardening session from another time when the grass was green!!
Supporting each other in fellowship and faith
We looked at the amazing story of Jesus walking on the water in our family service on Sunday 24th June – an inspiring event in the Bible. The service was filled with dramas using walkie-talkies, some great songs of worship and prayer in which we thought about about how Jesus enables use to row against the wind! After the service we enjoyed a fellowship lunch together, spending time together and encouraging each other in our faith.
God is at work in our church and it was great to share together.
No need to search, it’s Cafe Church!
Great cakes and tea started off our cafe church event on Sunday 10th June at 3pm. It was lovely to welcome visitors to our church and to celebrate an informal service together, in a relaxing and friendly atmosphere. We looked at the Bible story when Jesus washed his disciples feet and worshipped with a couple of favourite hymns. There was a sketch featuring feet (!) an interactive reading and a trick followed by a prayer that helped us to remember that Jesus knows our name.
Look out for more cafe church events and join us then – new friends are always welcome!
You can use the contacts page to sign up for our newsletter, check this page on our website for details, or look out for posters in the Syston shops!
Morning has broken!
There was another great opportunity to encourage each other and pray for our community on Saturday 2nd June. There was a great atmosphere and it was good to focus on God at the beginning of our weekend. There may have been a spot of breakfast too. . .
It’s a bap! (And a prayer!)
There was a lovely atmosphere in the spring sunshine at our bacon bap and prayer meeting on Saturday 5th May 2018! We enjoyed a lovely breakfast, (with some healthy options!) with plenty of serve-yourself tea and coffee and prayer then made a great start to our weekend. We sang some songs of worship, read encouraging passages from the Bible and prayed for Syston and the work of our church. We believe that prayer makes a difference.
What are you reading this week?
We’ve recently re-launched our church library, which is packed with fascinating reads! You’ll find books looking at Christian teaching and some fantastic biographies about the difference Jesus has made to people from a while variety of backgrounds and cultures. Look out for our book review feature in our services and just ask if you’re not sure where to start. Simply browse, sign-out, read, pray and talk about the book you’ve read with others. New titles are being added most weeks so don’t forget to check!
Easter Sunday celebrations!
Easter Sunday is special to Christians the world over, as we celebrate the fact that Jesus is risen. It was no different at Syston Evangelical Baptist Church on Sunday 1st April, as we joined together to worship and rejoice on this wonderful day. We began with a lovely cooked breakfast at 9am, welcoming friends and enjoying food as a great start to the day. We then moved into our friendly family service with readings by the children; hymns old and new; prayers where we brought tissue paper flowers to symbolise something we wanted to bring to the cross; a trick with an egg and bag to help us to understand the new life that Jesus offers; and our traditional Easter egg hunt for the children!
Not able to join us this time round? Don’t worry, there’s plenty more coming up – check out this page for details, or get in touch on our contacts page to receive weekly e-mail updates!
Easter Coffee Morning
It was so lovely to welcome folks to our Easter coffee morning on Saturday 23rd March. We enjoyed cakes, coffee and crafts together as we sought to serve to our local community. We also had an Easter stall to browse selling books, bookmarks and gifts to help us to think about the message of Easter: Jesus’ death and resurrection. A fantastic message of Good News!
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Mothering Sunday Moments. . .
Mothering Sunday on 11th March 2018, gave us some great moments to remember. Our lovely luxury continental breakfast was enjoyed by all, and there was a lovely family atmosphere as everyone chatted together and enjoyed a relaxing start to the day. The breakfast was followed by our family service, complete with the distribution of handmade cards by the Junior church and spring primroses for the ladies. The children also presented songs and readings and the whole congregation joined in playing percussion instruments for the first song!
Prayer starts the weekend. . .
We enjoyed meeting together for prayer on Saturday 10th March 2018 at 8am – as you can see from the photo! As well as an early cup of tea and a bacon bap, we enjoyed worshiping together and praying for each other, our church, Syston, and ministries round the world. A great focus for the start of the weekend!
Cafe Church in the snow!
It might have been snowing outside, but we enjoyed a great cafe church event on Sunday 11th February 2018! Children made woolly sheep crafts and sheepy marshmallow cakes and everyone chomped down a doughnut or two. During our half-hour service we focused on learning about Jesus as the Good Shepherd – His sheep know His voice and follow Him! We joined together in responsive readings, songs and hymns old and new, acting out John 10 using the children’s sheep puppets and a trick reminding us about trusting Jesus, just as the sheep trust the shepherd. There will be more cafe church events in the Spring and look out for the family service on Sunday 25th February at 10.30am, for another informal and friendly service!
Prayer Breakfast
Saturday 3rd February 2018 at 8am saw us chomping on our bacon baps and sharing fellowship together, before praying for each other and the needs of friends and relatives. We also sang some songs of worship and looked ahead to up and coming events. Look out for more breakfast events in the next couple of months!
Fabulous Fellowship Lunch
We all enjoyed a fun family service on Sunday 28th January 2018 with
interactive scenes helping us to think through how to show compassion like Jesus did and some excellent colouring to help tell a Bible story! The service was followed by a fab fellowship lunch and it was great to see almost 30 folks, young and old, joining together for a yummy buffet lunch. A real chance to catch-up and look after each other. Look out for our next community event – cafe church on Sunday 11th February at 3pm!
We bacon-bapped and prayed!!
A great time was had by all on Saturday January 13th as we enjoyed our early morning prayer meeting. Our time began with a tasty breakfast of bacon baps, accompanied by steaming hot tea. Then we had a time prayer together looking to the year ahead. If you missed this one, don’t worry, there’s another opportunity to join with us next month!
Plenty of Christmas Sparkle at Special Nativity Service!
There was a lovely Christmassy atmosphere at our special children’s Nativity Service on Sunday 17th December. The church was full of people who enjoyed the children’s singing and specially written nativity play. This year there was a large cast and the singing was top notch! Such a special way to reflect on the Christmas message. As well as the children’s presentation, there were also traditional Christmas carols, a fun Christmas trick to explain what Christians believe with mince-pies and hot drinks after the service. Look out for our next Christmas event on Christmas Eve, when we’ll be having a Christmas carol service with Bible readings and more mince-pies!! All are welcome!
Did you see the church in the snow on Sunday 10th December 2017?
In case you missed it, check out our Christmassy pic!
We were there when the Christmas Lights were switched on!
It was great to be part of the Syston Lights Switch-on this year, a new event for us as a church on Saturday 2nd December. We had a stand on the park giving out Good News newspapers and details of Christmas Events at the church. We were also selling handmade Christmas cards prepared by Anne-Marie and a wide range of Christmas gift items from CLC. At church we had a table giving out papers and Christmas info along with free tea and coffee and minced pies to get everyone into the Christmas spirit. It was great to be able to talk to Systonians and a chance to chat about all that Christmas means to us as Christians. Look out for details of all our Christmas events on this page!
Shoebox Appeal
Thanks to everyone who brought their shoebox filled with Christmas gifts on Sunday 12th November 2017. These will be sent to Samaritans purse as part of their annual appeal Operation Christmas Child for a young person who would not otherwise receive any Christmas presents. We were thrilled to be able to send off 11 boxes this year. Look out for details on the website of the country they are sent to!
Remembrance Sunday
Have you spotted the wreath underneath our church memorial plaque? It was laid on Sunday 12th November as part of our Remembrance Sunday service. Thanks to Elsa for helping us to arrange this.
Clean and pray triumph!
The church is looking better than every following our event on Saturday 4th November 2017, when we cleaned, polished and tidied! Next time you come to join us, you’ll have to play spot the difference. Can you see what we’ve done?! Our hard work was followed by sausage and chips together and a time for prayer for our work as a church in Syston. A great way to spend a Saturday afternoon and a big thank you to all who were able to join us.
Prize Giving
We recognised the important contribution that the children and young people bring to our church at our special prize giving service on Sunday 29th October. Nine young people received their prize books as a way of encouraging them and thanking them for their valuable contribution. Some of the fantastic titles the young people received included Word on the Street and Diary of a Disciple: Peter and Paul’s Story. It has been great to see our Sunday School grow this year! Children and young people are welcome to come along and join us for Sunday morning fun – don’t miss out!
Last Gardening for Growth for 2017!
Our working party descended on the church for a last garden and outside clean-up for 2017 on October 17th. Daniel helped his dad with litter picking, whilst Liz, Anne-Marie and Haydn weeded for all they were worth! Pat was also part of the weeding posse, but got to do the fun-stuff as she planted some winter pansies! Can you spot the difference below between this time and our last gardening event?! Look out for our Big Church Clean and Pray, coming up at the beginning of November for another chance to serve the Lord together as we look after our church.
Cafe Church
We all enjoyed a great Cafe Church on Sunday 15th October 2017. Great to welcome new faces to our informal and friendly service of worship which was focused on how the ark saved Noah and how Jesus saves us today! Look out for our next Cafe church event in the new year!
Safeguarding Training
As part of our ongoing commitment to providing a safe environment for children and vulnerable adults, Liz and Anthony were able to attend the CCPAS Facing the Unthinkable day course on Saturday 14th October 2017. It will help us to continue to strengthen our safeguarding policies and procedures as we seek to reach out to our community. The church has a flourishing and growing Sunday School, available every Sunday morning from 10.30am.
FIEC Joint Prayer Breakfast and Service
Thanks to all who joined us for our prayer breakfast at Cropston Evangelical Free Church on Saturday 9th October 2017, followed by our joint service on the Sunday. Really encouraging to join together and to have some great teaching from Derrick Tickner! We have so much in common and it was great to share together so we can pray for and support each other.
Harvest Celebrations
We had a special time thanking God for His goodness as part of our harvest celebrations on Sunday 1st October 2017! At our family service we sang traditional Harvest hymns and songs, watched though-provoking drama, launched our Christmas shoe box appeal and looked at 1 Corinthians 3: 6 – 7 – we can plant the seed, but only God can make it grow! In our evening harvest sharing service we enjoyed a range of stories, Bible verses, reflections and tricks with a message as well as some rousing songs. This was followed by our superb harvest supper with plenty of time for chatting and building our friendships. Old and young alike joined together for this special event.
Ark in the Park huge Carnival Success!
Our Ark in the Park stand at the Syston Carnival on Saturday 2nd September 2017 went down a storm! We had lots of visitors who were keen to join our craft stall to make animal face masks and finger puppets and our toddler play area was as busy as Piccadilly Circus! There was plenty of space for mums and dads to chill out too and also enjoy some adult colouring of Bible verse book marks. There were tricks to engage parents in conversation and Good News newspapers, and gospels to give out. The brand new leaflet about the church was given to all our visitors, many of whom also browsed the hand-made cards made by Anne-Marie, which was another fantastic feature of our stand. Great to be able to expand into a double-pitch this year and to make new friends as we sought to reach out to our community. Thanks so much to everyone who helped to set-up and pack-up, and to be a part of the stand, giving-up their time so willingly. Look out for more outreach events in October, when it’s cafe-church!
Ever wondered what a family service is?
It’s a fun way to learn about God in an informal service that looks at a simple Bible story. For our family service on August 27th 2017 we had. . . . the story told in card, drama, songs, games, lego models, tricks and creative prayer. What a great way to learn about God! Great for young and old and always welcoming! Check out the pics below!
Top Gardening Team
The church members worked as a team and gardened till they could garden no more on Tuesday 22nd August. Chatting to members of the community as they passed and enjoying lunch together, it was great to tidy up the garden for which we care. We hope that this will be part of our Christian witness too!
Fellowship Lunch
Sharing a meal together is something that Jesus often did with those around Him. We like to do the same! So we all enjoyed lunch after our service on Sunday 20th August. Great to be together and encourage each other in our faith.
Church Outing to Tropical Birdland
The weather was fine and so was the company! How great to spend a day at Tropical Birdland with members from the church on Tuesday 15th August. Young and old enjoyed chatting, a picnic and looking at all the fantastic parrots. There was even ice-cream and an adventure playground for the junior church! It’s so important to spend time together, and build strong friendships as part of our church ministry. Check out the pics!
Cream Tea in the Church Garden
It was lovely to use our church garden for a cream tea on Saturday 12th August. Thanks for all who helped out, included those who enjoyed our massive church scones! It was also a great chance to use our new church tables. As well as tea (in our new church mugs!) and scones with cream and jam, there were also games for the children and live jazz piano music. There are lots of events these month, so check out the details above!
The Cleaning Team
A big thanks to everyone who turned out for church learning on Monday 7th August. The church is looking superb and it was great to work together, vacuuming, polishing, dusting, hoovering and even fence repairing! Everything is now looking great for our special event on Saturday 12th August – come along and join us for a cream tea in the church garden!
Bacon Bap and prayer
It’s now a well-established event on our church calendar and it was good to meet for prayer on Saturday 15th July. We enjoyed breakfast together before praying for God’s light to be made known in Syston. A really good time of fellowship and a great way to pray for our summer outreach events. Look out for our other prayer events over the summer which are twinned with our events!
Birthday celebration
It was good to celebrate a special birthday as Mary was 88 years young! Mary has given so much to the church over the years and Sunday 2nd July was no different as she shared a fabulous cake with us all! Thanks Mary – it was yummy!
Big Church Clean and Pray
The sun shone for the church workers who gathered for a good spring clean of the church on Saturday 10th June. Pews were polished, kitchens were cleaned, junk was sorted and gardens were weeded! It was great to have the chance to chat to the neighbours and work together to make a difference. A big thank you to everyone who came and helped out. After our work session, we also enjoyed chips and sausage from the chippy (yummy!) and spent time together in prayer for the church. There will be more of these events through the summer months, so do come and join us!
Gardening for growth
A top team of church members worked together on the garden on Tuesday 30th May. It was hard, but rewarding work and good to chat with neighbours and the community who passed the church during the day, many of whom told us: “You’re doing a good job!” As well as hacking back the bushes, weeding the flower beds and attending to the weeds, we also enjoyed a packed lunch together and chatted about our faith. Thanks to everyone who gave up their time on this day!
Fellowship Lunch
We enjoyed a lovely family service together on Sunday 28th May looking at the parable of the talents with sketches, dramatic readings, a trick illustration and songs of worship. The children were full of energy and it was great to have them involved! Thanks to everyone who took part in our fellowship lunch which followed the service – delicious food and great to spend a bit more time together without rushing home to check on the Sunday dinner! Look out for our next fellowship lunch coming soon!
Happy Birthday Josie!
Congratulations Josie on being 90 years young! It was lovely to celebrate with Josie her special birthday on Sunday 21st May. Liz also baked a fantastic cake for the mid-week fellowship on Wednesday 24th May. A great few days for the fellowship!
Michael Card Concert
Everyone enjoyed the wonderful Michael Ca
rd Concert evening on Sunday 21st May at 7.30pm at Holy Trinity Church, Hinckley. In an intimate acoustic set, Michael spoke about the challenges of living for Jesus in the modern age and encouraged and urged us to take our faith seriously. There was also fantastic musicianship on show as he sang whilst playing a grand piano or whilst strumming his specially made Martin guitar. It was an unforgettable night and a great way for us to share together. Click here for a YouTube performance of one of his powerful songs!
Bacon Bap and Prayer
Another month, another great BB and prayer!! We joined together on Saturday 20th May to worship, share breakfast together and encourage each other. A great time of prayer at this growing event. Look out for more prayer ideas coming soon! Why not join us next month? Well be meeting to pray on Saturday June 24th at 8am!
FIEC Churches encouragement weekend
Churches from Carley, Laburnum Road and Cropston joined together during the weekend of Saturday 6th and Sunday 7th May at Syston Evangelical Baptist Church. Focusing on encouragement, we enjoyed a prayer breakfast on the Saturday, sharing prayer needs together. On the Sunday evening we met for a service of celebration, with expressive worship and prayer and a fantastic message on encouragement from Steve Cooper from Grace Church, Loughborough. A great time for us all to refocus and spur each other on to share the gospel with our different communities.
Listen to Steve’s encouraging message and check out the pics below!
Like the idea of a prayer breakfast? Look out for our bacon bap and prayer on Saturday 20th May at 8am!
Prayer-time!
Time to read up on the latest prayer news for a Sam Russell, a Relay worker with the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship. We support Sam as a church and you can read his May 2017 prayer letter here.
Easter Celebration!
It a special Easter at Syston Evangelical Baptist Church as we remembered the incredible life-changing message of Easter. We met to reflect and consider Jesus’ sacrifice for us on Good Friday at a new service time of 3.30pm, and we met to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday itself. We began on Sunday 16th April with our traditional cooked breakfast, prepared by the men of the church which is always a lovely way to begin our celebrations.
Everyone enjoyed good food and fellowship before the service itself began at 10.30am. This had a wonderful selection of Easter hymns and songs, dramatised readings, an Easter egg hunt and Easter eggs were also used to retell the Easter story – each tiny egg containing a little prop to remind us of something. The children also coloured pictures which were used as visual aids for our story.
We also had a new idea this year with a wooden cross to which we tied strips of cloth – a reminder of bringing ourselves to Jesus again and committing our lives to Him. There was a lovely atmosphere and it was so good to celebrate together. Look out for our next inter-church celebration coming up in May!
Strike!
Everyone enjoyed our bowling social at Hollywood Bowl on Tuesday 11th April. We all joined together to throw a bowl down the alley and see the pins scatter, with some having more success than others! There was a lovely atmosphere as young and old had great fun, enjoying fellowship and spending time with each other as a church. The event also included a sausage supper back at church which gave everyone time to talk over a yummy meal. Look out for our next social event coming in August!
Coffee Morning
A big thank you to all who attended our coffee morning on Saturday 1st April. It was good to welcome folks from the local community and to enjoy tea, coffee and home-made cakes together. The children enjoyed playing with the toys and challenging each other at Pop-up-Pirate and for the rest of us it was time to talk and enjoy each other’s company. There was a warm and friendly atmosphere and Isabel’s Easter stall was another centre of attention. She did a brisk trade in Christian books, cards and even coasters! Look out for our next coffee morning in the Autumn, but don’t worry, there’s lots of other great events coming up. . .
Mothering Sunday Cream Tea
Sunday 26th March saw us join together to celebrate Mothering Sunday. In a friendly atmosphere we considered the story of Ruth and Naomi in the Biblical story of a mother and daughter-in-law. The children sang and gave out handmade cards and beautiful flowers from the local greengrocer to the ladies of the church. After the service, we enjoyed a yummy cream tea with freshly baked scones. It was a great way to thank God for all those who care for us.
Bacon Bap and Prayer
Everyone is now well into the swing of our monthly bacon bap and prayer meeting and this month was no exception! We met together on Saturday 18th March between 8 and 9.30am for fellowship, worship, reflective Bible reading and prayer. There was a great atmosphere as we prayed for the needs of those we know and for Syston. We also enjoyed breakfast of a bacon bap and a cup or tea or coffee before praying and it was a great way to start the day. Do join us for our next prayer meeting on Saturday 6th May at 8am. This meeting will also be with believers from Cropston, Carley and Laburnum Road FIEC churches.
Visitors
It was great to meet Tim and Sarah Ganger from the USA on Friday 17th March. They were visiting as part of the Acts 29 conference in Manchester which was considering church growth and revitalisation and were accompanied by Adrian Russell from FIEC. Tim is a non-staff elder at Covenant Community Church in Houston, Texas which meets in a school used as a dance venue during the week. We enjoyed meeting and praying together and it is so good to remember that we a family of believers all over the world. You can find out more about Acts 29 here and visit Tim and Sarah’s church website here.
Cafe Church
We enjoyed meeting together for cafe church on Sunday 12th March at 3pm. Like church, but in a cafe-style, the event provided a warm, friendly and informal atmosphere to think about what it means to follow Jesus. We began with doughnuts and a cuppa and when everyone had settled in we joined together in a short half-hour service. This time round it included a couple of favourite hymns, a sketch and interactive Bible reading looking at the parable of the sower as well as a short prayer, a simple magic trick to illustrate what it means to follow Jesus and a final song to the twanging accompaniment of a ukulele! Look out for our next cafe church service in the summer and don’t forget the cream tea that follows the Mothering Sunday service – all are welcome!
Fabulous Fellowship Feast!
It was great to spend together after the service on Sunday 26th February 2017 when we enjoyed a bring-and-share lunch. It’s always good to have a bit of extra time to encourage each other and to think about what has been happening at church and what lies ahead for the future! Thank you to everyone who came along and brought contributions. Special mention must be made of Haydn’s legendary apple pie – almost as big as one of the church tables! Look out for our mothering Sunday cream team and Easter Sunday breakfast – coming soon!!
Bacon Bap and Prayer meeting
We gathered together on Saturday 18th February 8.00 – 9.30am for our monthly prayer meeting. It was good to share news and encouragements together and to spend time in prayer and worship. The bacon baps and tea and coffee went down well and it was a great start to our weekend. Watch this space for details of next month’s meeting!
Prayer news
We support Sam Russell in his Relay work with the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship. You can read his February 2017 prayer letter here.
Love Brunch
Thinking about the greatest love story ever told brought everyone together on Saturday 11th February. Amidst the Valentine’s decor (thanks team!) there was a brief reflection on how Jesus demonstrated His love by laying down His life for us. There were a few rope tricks to illustrate the theme and a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. We enjoyed a delicious brunch together (fried eggs, bacon, sausages, hash browns and beans) as well as copious tea and croissants. A help-yourself toast station well a selection of jams completed the hospitality. If you like food, why no pop along to our family service on 26th January? This will be followed by a bring and share lunch – don’t miss out!
Bacon bap and prayer
We met to share a bacon bap and to pray on Saturday 21st January 2017. Everyone enjoyed a cup of tea and bacon in a bap and fellowship to get the weekend started! This was followed by worship together and prayer for the needs of our church and community. There was a real sense of unity as we met together, even over the washing-up! Look out for the next Bacon Bap and Prayer event on February 18th 8 – 9.30am.
