Happenings at Balham - June 2021 - Making a Difference in our Community - Balham Seventh-day Adventist ...
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Happenings at Balham – June 2021
Making a Difference in our Community
Main text: For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret
thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. Ecclesiastes 12:14
The main news item as I write is the interview with Dominic Cummings, a former Government
advisor. He was explaining to a parliamentary committee about the mistakes made by the gov-
ernment over the Covid crisis. He was implicitly suggesting that the Prime Minister was not
only incompetent with his dealings, but also was dishonest. He was revealing some of the mat-
ters that had been done in secret. Some people have responded by suggesting that all politi-
cians lie and, in any case, the main thing is that we are out of Europe and the vaccine is working.
Some commentators are suggesting that many people don’t care about the matter, and there
are unlikely to be any consequences for any government ministers from the whole matter.
Another story to hit the headlines is that of the journalist Martin Bashir and his interview
with Princess Diana over twenty years ago. Martin is accused of falsifying bank statements to
get Diana to do the interview which has had tragic consequences. This too has had mixed re-
sponses, with some saying many journalists employ dirty tricks, and what Diana said may have
been true so the ends justify the means.
The third story has lost international inspection of late, but is still a talking point in America
especially with TV channels such as CNN, are the cases being brought against Donald Trump.
There has been a mixed reaction to this too, with some arguing what he said or did is in the
past, and we should move on, and there should be no consequences for his misdemeanors.
It seems that some people live by the philosophy that, if you can get away with it then you are
probably smart or, that many people don’t really care about whether people act immorally.
The main text above is a reminder that what man doesn’t see, God sees and ultimately, we will
be judged accordingly. Many of Pharisees in Jesus’ time seemed to forget this truth, and
thought that they could pretend to be righteous by their open acts, although their hearts were
far from God. Someone once told me that you can fool some of the people all of the time, and
all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool God no time! Sometime we forget this
even as Christians, and feel that if people don’t see us and the Church doesn’t call us into
account then we are ok. But the Bible reminds us otherwise. Yes, no-one in Church may know
that we abuse our spouses or children. No-one else may know we have been unfaithful even to
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God. No-one in Church may know we are partial to the odd alcoholic’s drink. But God knows and
He wants to do more than change our behavior. He wants to change our hearts.
Our outward behavior or our ability to say the right thing or quote from the right Ellen White
book may well impress other church folk. But God knows the heart.
Whether we get caught or not, or exposed or not should not be the yardstick by which we
measure ourselves but, we should be continually asking God to take us higher and to transform
our characters so we can be like Him. And yes, people will see this, but at least they will be
seeing the real us and hopefully be lead to glorify our father which is in heaven.
President: Pastor Emmanuel Osei’s update
The latest messages from the President can be
found on the link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqMBdoVWUqo
From the Pastor’s desk: Group leaders were appointed and asked to report each
week to Pastor on the number of members contacted and whether they had
stated specific needs.
Week ending 1st May-30
Week ending 8th May -30
Week ending 15th May-31
Week ending 22nd May -19
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What happened in May
Business meeting
This focused on the re-opening of Balham Church and we decided after discussion
to re-open on the 12th of June.
Health programmes
There were two this month. The first one was lead out by Sally Amanquah of
Croydon church and she looked at natural cell rejuvenation and how certain ali-
ments can be treated with body’s natural stem cells. Sally also reminded us of
the Newstart programme which encouraged healthy living through Nutrition, Ex-
ercise, Water, Sunshine. Temperance, Air and Trust in God.
The second programme looked at Diet for children with special educational needs
and was lead out by Trudian Francis. Having defined special needs, she set about
suggesting those with special educational needs (SEN) needed support. Trudian
suggested that certain foods can adversely affect the SEN, and it is important
for parents to model healthy eating themselves to encourage their children. Af-
ter many questions and comments by those in the platform, we were told they will
be a part 2 which will be more focused on adults.
Making Disciples and Building Communities Divine service
This was lead out by the Grey Family and was a creative look at the subject using
a variety of Praise teams, demonstrations, readings, stories, music and a message.
This will act as a launch of this project at Balham Church.
Health Ministries Weekend
The Sabbath Divine service highlight was the sermon by Dr Thomas Jackson. He
looked at the importance of forgiveness and love in relationships and in creating a
healthy environment in our homes. He shared that the ability to forgive is a gift from
God and it releases us and frees us so we can live a life of joy, peace and health. The
highlight of the afternoon programme was the couple, Jeremiah and Rachel Nobela.
They shared how natural remedies could be used for many ailments such as, colds,
flus, burns and chest infections, and how a simple diet and obedience to the laws of
health could very much improve our life chances. On Sunday, Dr Jackson continued
the theme of healthy living and the use of alternatives in living a balanced life
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Coming up in June 2021
Camp meeting: 31st of May to 5th of June
There are several elements to this programme
1) Main programme
2) Children’s programme
3) Teens and Pathfinders Programme
4) Balancing your emotions workshops
Please note there will be no services from Balham during Camp
meeting i.e. No prayer meeting on 2nd of June and no Sabbath
services on 5th of June but there will be a Communion service on
Friday 4th of June on the main programme platform.
Camp meeting Main programme
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Camp meeting Children’s Programme
Camp meeting Teens and Pathfinders programme
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Camp meeting Balancing your emotions programme
To find out the timetable of the Camp meeting programmes, click on the links
below
Programmes https://sec.adventist.uk/events/campmeeting-2021/adults-schedule/
Workshops https://sec.adventist.uk/events/campmeeting-2021/adults-schedule/workshops-presen-
tations/
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Day of Prayer and Fasting: Wednesday 9th of June @ 7.30pm
We will be holding a special service to mark our return to Balham Church on the
normal prayer meeting zoom platform. See flyer below
7Re-opening of Balham Church and PM Day – Sabbath 12th of June
Starting at 11.15am, we will be coming together again as a Church, having been
separated for 15 months. The service will be streamed via on our Church website
balhm.adventistchurch.org.uk (go to tab’ Watch live’) for those not able to come
to Church and more information about the conditions by which we will be worship-
ping and fellowshipping will be given in the days leading up to the return to Church.
Day of Fellowship – Sabbath 26th of June
Another special service where we invite the Church to come together for all ser-
vices starting from Children’s Sabbath school and ending with AYS.
Weekly Services from the 12th of June
Sabbath School at 9.30am: these will be held in individual classes either by
zoom or conference calls, each with their own login details.
Regular Divine service – Sabbaths at 11.15am. This can be viewed from the
Balham website balham.adventist.church.org.uk and going to the tab ‘Watch live’
Bible study: Sabbaths at 4pm will be a recurring zoom booking and the login
details are going to be the same each week and will be as follows:
Tel 020 3051 2874
ID: 8529 6223 863
Passcode: 241887
Wednesday night prayer meetings@7.30pm
This currently takes place on the last and first Wednesday of the month. We
will be using a recurring zoom booking so the login details are going to be the
same
8Tel: 020 3051 2874
ID: 856 6559 0847
Passcode: 911949
Youth meetings
There are two main meetings organized by the Youth department and they are
happy for us to join them.
Fridays 7pm –Youth Bible Study (every week) – On Zoom – ID 4711472888
Sabbaths 5pm – AYS (every other week)– On Zoom - ID 471147288
9Returning tithes and conference offerings during the lock down
Click or copy and paste the link for instructions
https://sec.adventist.uk/departments/treasury/tithes-and-offerings/treas-
ury-coronavirus-covid-19/
The Bank details are as follows:
Name: South England Conference
Sort Code: 40-45-28
Account no: 1101 4153
Please indicate your gift aid reference when making the payment to the confer-
ence so the Church can receive a recompense from the Government.
Alternatively, if you would like your tithe to be collected, please see Pastor
Akakpo.
Local Church offering during the lockdown
For those who want to contribute to the local Church budget, note the details.
Our Bank: Barclays Bank Account name: Balham SDA Church
Account number 00150142 Sort code: 20-21-78
In the reference section of the online banking, please indicate whether this is
for General Budget or COVID-19 or the recently set up Hardship Please contact
Clinton Monfries on 07958 217715 for more information.
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