On Thursday 2nd March 2017, Leigh Road Baptist Church Pre-school, Marguerite Drive, Leigh-on-Sea celebrated World Book Day with millions of other children around the world. The children and staff were encouraged to come to pre-school as their favourite character from a book.
Diane Allmark, LRBC Pre-school Manager said, “World Book Day is a highlight of our calendar at Leigh Road Baptist Church Pre-school. It was a delight to see all the children and staff dressed up as their favourite literary characters; from little Oompa Loompa’s in Roald Dahl’s classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the Cat in the Hat by Dr Seuss.”
This fun day also raised over £50 for Crackerjack Children’s Trust who provide resources and support for children with disabilities.”
For more information on Leigh Road Baptist Church Pre-school call 01702 471924
You’re invited to share Christmas with Leigh Road Baptist Church this advent season. We’ll adventure together and discover afresh the amazing story of the first Christmas and the light that Jesus can bring to us all in our everyday lives. A warm welcome is assured…
We look forward to seeing you.
Open a door this Christmas to…
FRIENDSHIP. Christmas is a time for fun and celebration, and for many of us that means letting our hair down and having a drink or two with people whose company we enjoy. If you like, you could bring some friends along to Beer & Carols at The Broker Freehouse, Leigh Road.
Beer & Carols 7.30 pm Sunday 11 December at The Broker Freehouse, Leigh Road
THE CHRISTMAS STORY. Many of us remember singing Christmas carols as a child and we all have our favourites. They bring back memories, stir emotions and teach the Christmas story in a memorable way. LRBC offers lots of opportunities to sing carols over
Christmas – it doesn’t matter how well you sing, as long as you sing with enthusiasm.
All Age Nativity 10.30 am Sunday 11 December at LRBC Carols by Candlelight 4 pm & 6.30 pm, Sunday 18 December, at LRBC Candlelit Midnight Communion 11.30 pm, Christmas Eve, Saturday 24 December at LRBC Christmas Day Service for all ages, 10-11 am, Sunday 25 December, LRBC
GENEROSITY. Christmas can be fun, but if life is tough it’s so much tougher at Christmas. It feels like everyone else is partying while your life is a struggle. Could you give a donation to the suspended meals scheme at Oasis Coffee House, 189 Leigh Road and bless someone who is experiencing food poverty this Christmas? You can also give online at www.lrbc.org.uk/suspendedmeals
GOD. If something is on your mind and you want to share it with God, you could say a simple prayer. Maybe you need help with a difficult situation, or perhaps you are grateful for the good things in your life. Pray out loud or pray silently, at home with the door shut or out walking along the seafront, whether you’re religious or not – we believe God hears it all.
An open door awaits you at Leigh Road Baptist this Christmas and throughout the year…
ON SATURDAY 2ND JULY 2016 Space the 14-18 Youth Group of Leigh Road Baptist Church are raising funds for Tek Ura by taking part in the Colourthon Paint Run! A 5K fun run where runners will be covered head to toe in paint and colour in Chalkwell Park!
Tek Ura is an Albanian NGO with which our friends Ani and Daniel work through BMS World Mission.
Tek Ura helps the marginalised Roma and Gypsy peoples living on rubbish dumps in Albania in the capital Tirana.
The youth group want to support the work of Tek Ura with these forgotten people.
Volunteers from the LRBC Community Team has another fab Leigh Folk Festival, from the 27-24th June 2016. We joined with the #FolkFestArmy that make it happen and helped with the information tent, building stages and gazebos and even comparing the stages.
It was a wonderful event in the sunshine and the music, poetry and festivities really pulled the community together. Roll on next year!
Along the Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea postcards painted by children from Barons Court Primary School have appeared on the windows of shops throughout the week as if laid down by a mystical snail for the Leigh Art Trail.
Leigh Road Baptist Church and traders from the Love Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea, worked together to provide a prominent space to encourage these young artists.
The trail and windows were visited by thousands of people over the week in early June 2016.
Our thanks are extended to the The Lions Club of Leigh-on-Seafor their donation to the work of Leigh Road Baptist Church in the community. The recent donation will go directly to help the following projects of the church and our community coffee house Oasis.
Kay Large, Leigh-on-Sea Lions Community Committee Chairman said about the donation, “We were delighted to be able to help the community projects of Leigh Road Baptist Church in this way. As Leigh-on-Sea Lions we are about serving our community and those in need, these church projects are certainly achieving that.”
The specific projects that will benefit are Oasis Suspended Meals and Coffees. This scheme at Oasis Coffee House, 189 Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea allows customers to buy a meal/coffee for someone experiencing food poverty or homelessness in the Southend-on-Sea area. Vouchers and gifts are issued to a range of local charities, such as foodbanks and those who work with homeless and vulnerably housed people. These vouchers can be redeemed at Oasis Coffee House. We also donate to churches that provide meals for homeless people, as well as offering free meals at our discretion to people we meet that need them.
Ruth Fordham co-manager at Oasis said, “Our thanks to the Lions Club of Leigh-on-Sea, theirs and all donations are fantastic. They have allowed us to feed hungry homeless people as the weather has turned colder. Just today we have fed 5 people who really value the opportunity for a hot meal and a place in the warm for a while – it means so much to them – thank you!”
The church is also part of Christians Against Poverty (CAP) and together we are passionate about releasing people in our area and nation from a life sentence of debt, poverty and their causes. Through CAP services, which are run by volunteers from the Church we are tackling poverty head on. We’re currently involved in providing The CAP Money Course a free course that teaches budgeting skills and a simple, cash-based system that works. In just a few weeks, it enables participants to get to grips with their finances so they can budget, save and prevent debt – details of the latest and nearest course can be found on the dedicated website
Alan Cook (pictured 2nd right) CAP Money Coach was very thankful, “Any donations allow us to freely extend the reach of our CAP Money Course service. We are soon to start a new course at Blenheim Children’s Centre and are currently visiting a prison to help offenders get their lives back on track”, he added, “We recently received the following feedback from a client, “I’ve learned lots about my spending and life on the CAP Money Course. It really is life changing finding solutions to becoming debt free – thank you!”
Finally people from across the area were enabled by the Leigh-on-Sea Lions donation to provide gifts to children in poverty abroad through the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Appeal that the church is a collection depot for. The Lions enabled us to purchase 200 pre-printed Christmas shoeboxes to give away to anyone who wanted to fill a box to donate. This worked! As in the end over 698Christmas Shoeboxes went from the church to delight and bring happiness to children around the world including places like Iraq.
Here’s a short film about the journey of some of the Shoeboxes the people of Leigh-on-Sea and across the area packed and donated. Thank you!
You’re invited to share Christmas with Leigh Road Baptist Church this advent season. We’ll adventure together and discover afresh the amazing story of the first Christmas and the light that Jesus can bring to us all in our everyday lives. A warm welcome is assured…
We kick off the Advent season of waiting expectantly – take a moment of stillness before all of the ensuing mayhem that can often come in preparing for Christmas.
Family Nativity
Sunday 13th December, 10:30am
Join us for our traditional treat – the family nativity service. Fun, laughter and ‘Away in a Manger’ – just perfect.
Beer & Carols, The Broker Pub
Sunday 13th December, 7:30pm
Join us at our local pub for a good Carol sing (and a pint).
Carols by Candlelight
Sunday 20th December, 4pm & 6:30pm
Get in the mood to celebrate Christmas and join us for our ever popular annual Carol services. Sprinkled with candlelight and served with mince-pies.
Candlelit Midnight Communion
Christmas Eve, Thursday 24th December, 11:30pm
We would be delighted if you could join us to welcome in Christmas day with a very special candlelit midnight communion.
Christ is Born! Family Service
Christmas Day, Friday 25th December, 10am
‘The light of life’ Come and celebrate with us on Christmas morning. Christmas Starts with Christ!
You’ll find the Merry MerryStitchmas Tree on the patio of Oasis The Coffee House and Leigh Road Baptist Church, 189 Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea from 17 December 2015 to the the new year 2016.
Visitors to see the Merry #MerryStitchmas are encouraged to take a selfie and share the stitchmas joy on #merrystitchmas tagging @THECRAFT_CLUB and @OasisCafeLeigh on Twitter and Instagram and post them on their facebook page.
For Christmas 2015 The Craft Club Yarnbombers wanted to do a community project that would involve the Year 7 students that they work with and also raise awareness for a wonderful local volunteer association, CAVS (Castlepoint Association of Voluntary Services). CAVS offer a befriending service for people in our community who are lonely or socially isolated.
So their plan, to make a 10ft christmas tree out of knitted and crocheted squares. The Year 7 students would make pompoms to adorn the tree and they would raise awareness and money through a raffle for CAVS. Once the squares have been displayed on the tree they will be removed to make blankets for the homeless.
They put a poster out to their Facebook and twitter followers asking them to donate small knitted/crocheted squares.
And what did their followers do? They knitted, they crocheted and they donated over 1800 squares!!!
The squares making up this tree came in thick and fast from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany, Belgium, Turkey, USA, Japan and Bermuda.
So, their tree had to grow….it went from 10ft to just under 15ft!
The fabulous caretakers at the school they work at made the wooden structure for their tree, with the wood being donated from Daws Heath Timber & Canvey Supply. They then set about putting the squares onto the tree structure, they said, ‘a huge task but so enjoyable watching the tree come to life.’ The students made nearly 100 pompoms in the workshops and they were able to swag these around the tree. We lit the tree up for all to see at the grand unveiling on Friday 11th December 2015 at The Appleton School, Benfleet.
The tree has now been felled and moved to the patio of Oasis The Coffee House and Leigh Baptist Church, 189 Leigh Road, Leigh-on-Sea.
After Christmas the tree will be taken down and work will begin on the blankets for the homeless.
After Christmas the tree will be felled and the squares will be sewn together to form blankets for the homeless.
Emma Nash, Minister for Oasis The Coffee House, said: “The headteacher of Appleton attends Leigh Road Baptist Church and mentioned it to us. We went to see it and said, wow, that would be great on the patio as it’s cold and the patio isn’t being used. We have followed what the yarnbombers do and love it, it’s brilliant that the tree will bring people joy over Christmas and then warmth when turned into blankets for the homeless in its next life.”
Vast armies undead do tread through the night and
In hordes march towards hapless victims to frighten.
They stumble in step with glass-eyes on the prizes;
Bunched hither, hunched over in monstrous disguises;
In sizes not lofty but numb’ring a throng;
To unleash on their prey the dreaded DING DONG.
Small faces with traces of mother’s eye-liner,
Peer up to the resident candy provider.
And there to intone ancient threats learnt verbatim;
They lisp “TRICK OR TREAT!” Tis their stark ultimatum.
Thus: region by region such legions take plunder.
Does this spector-full spectacle cause you to wonder?
Just how did our fair festive forebears conceive,
Of this primeval practice called All Hallows Eve?
The answer, if anyone cares to research,
Surprises, it rises from old mother church.
On the cusp of the customary All Saints Day
The Christ-i-an kinsfolk made mocking display.
These children of light both to tease and deride;
Don darkness, doll down as the sinister side.
In pre-post-er-ous pageants and dress diabolic,
They hand to the damned just one final frolick.
You see with the light of the dawn on the morrow,
The sunrise will swallow such darkness and sorrow.
The future is futile for forces of evil;
And so they did scorn them in times Medieval.
For this is the nature of shadow and gloom;
In the gleaming of glory there can be no room.
What force is resourced by the echoing black?
When the brightness ignites can the shadow push back?
These ‘powers’ of darkness, if such can be called,
Are banished by brilliance, by blazing enthralled.
So the bible begins with this fore-resolved fight;
For a moment the darkness…. then “Let there be Light!”
First grief in the gloom, then joy from the East.
First valley of shadow, then mountaintop feast.
First wait for Messiah, then long-promised Dawn.
First desolate Friday and then Easter Morn.
The armies of darkness when doing their worst,
Can never extinguish this Dazzling Sunburst.
So… ridicule rogues if you must play a role;
But beware getting lost in that bottomless hole.
The triumph is not with the forces of night.
It dawned with the One who said “I am the Light!”
You are always welcome to join with us as we explore each Sunday who Jesus the light who expels all darkness is.
Explore who Jesus Christ is this Christmas visit 