Walsall Christadelphians

Wednesday 7th – Saturday 10th August

We are holding lots of activities to share the good news that Jesus IS King. This is one of the central themes of the Bible and we would love to share it with you. The Bible tells us how Jesus will reign over the whole world when God establishes His Kingdom on this earth. This good news isn’t just hope for a future time though.

Let us show you how Jesus is King over his people now, the relevance this has today and how it affects the way we live our everyday lives.

We are going to be in Walsall Arboretum, with puppet shows, introductory Bible talks, nature walks, cakes and drinks, face painting, crafts, live music and more… 10am – 4pm, Wednesday 7th – Friday 9th.

There will be Bible talks, “Introducing Jesus” and “ The Jesus I Never Knew”. These will give opportunity to begin exploring Bible teaching about this intriguing man and getting to know the real Jesus. The talks will be held in the Walsall Campus of Wolverhampton University. 7:30pm Wednesday 7th and Thursday 8th.

Meanwhile, we are arranging a Holiday Club for children. 2 fun packed days of painting, sculpting, singing, acting, laughing, running, jumping, creating, listening, talking, reading, learning – in fact, the only thing we’re not doing is sleeping! The club will be held at the Walsall Deaf Centre, Lichfield Road. 10am – 3pm, Thursday 8th and Friday 9th.

The evening of Friday 9th, 6:30 – 7:30pm will see our Jesus IS King concert. We will be sharing the good news that Jesus is King through songs and Bible verses at the Arboretum Bandstand.

The morning after, Saturday 10, 11am – 12pm we will be back in the arboretum for a traditional fete with games and side shows.

We’d love to meet you at any of the events that we have planned.

I suppose I “knew” God from an early age. I belong to a family where both my parents are Christadelphians, as were all of my grandparents and most of my great grandparents. I went to Sunday School and we regularly read the Bible together at home.

I learnt a lot about Bible characters, their different stories and the teachings of Jesus. Growing up, I think I took it for granted that God exists, that the Bible is God’s Word and that it is literally true – Noah did build an ark, the Red Sea did part, Jesus did rise from the dead.

Through my teens I realised I would have to decide whether I believed these things or not for myself. Believing the Bible just because I’d been taught to do so when I was young wasn’t going to be good enough anymore.

Christadelphians don’t baptise children – that has to be a personal commitment which you make for yourself.

If anything, the thought of joining the church simply because most of my family had before me, made me delay the decision. If I was going to be baptised I wanted it to be for the right reasons and I wanted to be serious about the commitment I was making.

I was finishing my A levels. I’d applied to universities but didn’t really want to go. I’d deferred my entry in order to take a gap year but didn’t know what to do. Life was changing around me and I didn’t know where I was heading.

I realised that one consistent thing had been the Bible. I appreciated the same passages in new ways. I listened to familiar teachings for the first time. I started to get to know God.

I was baptised and I’ve been getting to know God ever since.

Click here for the Spring 2013 edition of Walsall Christadelphians Newsletter.

I guess I always wanted to know and learn more about God and the Bible but never knew how to go about it or where to start… such a massive book, where do you begin?

I was brought up in a Christian household and went to church every Sunday, became a Sunday school teacher in my teens and always felt I needed and wanted to know more about the Bible.

After some trials in my life and having a child ask me the question “What do you think happens when you die?” I started looking into what I actually believe. Who is my God? I know I believe in Him but what is that big book really all about?

I started reading my Bible from the beginning and couldn’t make much sense of it. I had lots of questions and was determined to find the answers. I’d heard about Christadelphians and turned up at a Bible class one night by myself, I didn’t know anyone and I felt a bit out of place. The first thing I learnt was to read the Bible for myself! I had A4 pages of questions and people to ask to try and figure out what the Bible actually teaches. After looking into it for about a year and becoming confident in what I believed, going to my nearest Christadelphian church and reading my Bible most days, I got baptised into the saving name of Jesus Christ and started my journey to the Kingdom of God.

My family have different beliefs to me and sometimes this can make life difficult but that’s why this verse means a lot to me and I try to remember it every day.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13

In this edition of our newsletter:

• Trouble in the Middle East
• Past, Present, Future
• Jon Ensell has lunch with the Queen
• “How I came to know God” by Fiona Hale

Click here to download the newsletter.