‘How shall they hear?’—the apostle’s question is one that should echo in every Christian’s heart. Although the gospel has advanced further across the globe than ever before, billions of men, women and children remain lost in their sin and ignorant of Christ and his salvation.

Why not attend the Annual Mission Day 2026—on Saturday, 24 October—to hear from GBM missionaries who share this conviction and have been sent out with the life-giving message of Jesus. God willing, the missionaries will include Daniel and Ellie Caballero, Reuben and Cathy Saywell, Adrian and Abigail Yeboah, Andrzej and Monika Kempczyński, the GBM Radio Team, James Hammond, and friends serving in West Africa.

On the day Calix and Bea will be welcomed as new missionaries. So, this would be a good year to attend for the first time. The day will conclude marking some significant GBM comings and goings, then hear God’s word preached and worship together with Christians from many churches.

You don’t have to be a delegate to attend the day, it is open to all. Throughout the day there are opportunities to attend short sessions with individual missionaries to hear about their work. It really is a fantastic and encouraging day, and I would really encourage you to attend (although sadly this year Andrew and I are unable to as we have the joy of attending a wedding!).

Rachel

Is Anyone Thirsty? As I write this, we have had rain! Why is this newsworthy, it is because of the long hot summer we have enjoyed (mostly), although there have been serious impacts across the country, with drought conditions declared and many wildfires, in the worst cases de stroying homes as well as many acres of habi tat. It is sad when we see pictures of the devastation caused, but we are grateful to those fighting fires and those working to keep our water supplies suffi cient. We have been asked to conserve wa ter yet remain thankful that we can still find drinking water in our taps and have enough for our daily needs.

This reminds me of those words of Jesus when he said’ Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. Whoever has believed in me as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ ( Referring also to Isaiah 55:1 ‘Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters) In that time, water supply was precious, hence the many mentions of wells in the bible and mention also of the squabbles over who had the rights to water their cattle at which well as Isaac discov ered (read Genesis 19-22) leading to the digging of the new well named Rehoboth at which there was no quarrel. May we in our fellowship always follow that example.

Perhaps this was why Jesus so often used the image of water to describe the spiritual thirst of mankind. When we experience a severe drought of water it can lead to our physical death and the lack of the living water that flows from Jesus will also lead to our spiritual death to sinfulness. Only Jesus is the source of this living water, and it is only by turning to him that we can find spiritual refreshment and new life. Even as Christians today, we can experience times of drought, times when we are cooling off (as the weather is beginning to now) and times when we drift away from what the scriptures have said. It is interesting that Jesus chose to remind us in that command to come to him for refreshment that this is in accordance with the scriptures.

Hopefully, we will soon be receiving more rain, and our reservoirs will once again be filled. My prayer for all who read this today is that our spiritual reservoirs will not run dry and that we might be filled with that living water that comes from our Lord Jesus. He is the true source, and may we be His rivers of that life giving water to all those thirsty people we meet.

Stuart

Elder

September 2026

Remember we have times for prayer every week:

9am– 9.40am Saturdays on Zoom – except 12th, see below (ask Calix for sign in details);

Wednesday evenings in our Mid week Fellowship times, as well as when we meet on Sundays for worship.
Wednesday 2nd September is out  Fellowship Prayer Hour in the Chapel 7.30pm – 8.30pm This is our regular
monthly opportunity for all of us to attend in person.
As last year it’s our Saturday Prayer morning 12th September 9am – 1pm in the chapel. Much to pray
about. Join us for any part of this period, as much as you can spare.

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Praying & caring for the Community – Standings Court; Winterton Square
They all joined together constantly in prayer. Acts 1:14 Do you have a heart for prayer?

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Preaching out this month:

6th D Ansell – Copthorne am; S Piggott – Redhill am; 13th S Beadle – Smallfield am;
20th SP – Smallfield am; 27th DA – Appleyards am; SP – Copthorene am

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GBM deputation ministry; Calix Furus – Tues 1st – Laxfield; Sun 13th – Trowbridge; Tues 15th – Rendlesham;
Sun 20th – Wellingborough

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Forward reminder: Our Harvest Sunday will be on 4th October with a Harvest lunch at the Chapel.
Harvest gifts of groceries, etc. will be donated to the Brighton & Hove City Mission Foodbank.

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Connect asked Gill Beadle to share about the Church Awayday:

I’ve jotted out a few thoughts about the away day and hope these can be of use to you . What a good day we had.
On Saturday 6th June many of us attended our away day at Dalesdown, with our speaker Gareth Jones . The day was entitled “Teach Us How To Pray”. Unfortunately the weather wasn’t very kind to us , but that didn’t dampen our spirits or our desire to hear more on the topic of prayer.
Gareth asked us to consider a number of questions regarding prayer which we answered using an app from our devices and allowed us to respond in anonymity, or aloud if desired.

One particular question we considered was “ Why Do You Think The Disciples Asked Jesus “Teach Us To Pray””. It became clear that they had witnessed Jesus praying and wanted to learn to do the same to strengthen their relationship with
Jesus and God, as their Father, and with each other.

We all learn a lot from each other when praying TOGETHER, …..in unity, becoming more mindful of each others needs, assuming a collective ownership and common purpose while forming a deeper relationship with God as our Father.
Gareth was also clear in his message “Ask big “ – “ Don’t be vague in your prayers; ask the Holy Spirit and he will provide if it is God’s will “. We must trust Him with our needs today and tomorrow, always giving thanks for what we already have.
”God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work in us.” Ephesians 3 v 20

At a recent members’ meeting, the church were happy to appoint
Rich Smith as a deacon at Rehoboth. Here is a testimony from him:

One of the greatest blessings I have had in my life is a continuous, lifelong exposure to the gospel. By God’s grace, I have had limitless opportunities to pray, meditate and contemplate his glory and majesty. While there have, inevitably, been extended times when my faith in God has been sideswept or smothered by pressures and distractions of life, there has never been a time when I have not believed. There has also never been a time when I can remember not knowing Rehoboth.
My foundations lie first and foremost in a strong and loving Christian family. I have had consistent involvement in church life from under the table at Sunday School at Abbey Baptist Church in Abingdon, to youth clubs at Whittlesey Baptist Church, baptism at Dorking Baptist chapel in 2003, a larger church experience at Chessington Evangelical Church and now a blessing to join the deaconate at Rehoboth.

I gave my life to Christ in 2001 at Pioneer Christian Camp after hearing a talk on the joys of heaven. Throughout my school years, those ten days were in hindsight a much-needed pool of Christian fellowship and teaching in what could be very arid times spiritually in school. After nine Pioneer Camps, the Lord led me to Royal Holloway Chris-tian Union where I was handed the role of Prayer Secretary which took me back to basics on un-derstanding prayer and leading a strong prayer life. At that time, I also linked up with Christ Church, Virginia Water. These were particularly blessed times as April was at university only an hour away and was able to join me at Christchurch on a regular basis and started to integrate herself into Christian fellowship for herself, culminating in her conversion at Rehoboth on a rainy New Year’s Day in 2012. How’s that for a start to the year…

April and I joined Rehoboth in 2016 and were blessed from the outset with a loving church family with whom we felt we could not only worship the Lord but also serve with and work amongst. We are particularly grateful that we have managed to find our own grooves to serve in the church via piano, pulpit, PA and pottering in the kitchen (I had to make that four ‘p’s).

With a background in music, Steve invited me to join the piano rota, and this set me in a more public, up-the-front presence in church. I do believe that regular worship involvement gave me a strong foundation for being at the front of the chapel and led to serving the Lord from behind the piano to behind the pulpit. I am acutely aware of the need for consistent service and for working with the church body tending the vineyard.

I am most blessed and humbled to be elected as a deacon. I pray that I will be able to take the tools that the Lord has blessed me with and bring them to a deaconate level and serving the people of God at Rehoboth.

Rich
May 2026

Do you sometimes feel that your Christian service – including your efforts to share the gospel and obey the Great Commission – is yielding little fruit?
Missionaries can struggle with such doubts as well. The world seemsso Hard; the task so big; the workers so few and fragile. Yet God’s victory is sure! The Lord Jesus Christ has conquered death and broken the power of sin. Our enemy the devil is a defeated foe. How can we be certain? Because Jesus has been gloriously raised from the dead and is seated at the Father’s right hand!
Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain. ! Corinthians 15:58

Please join with GBM during their Week of Prayer—Sunday 7 to Sunday 14 June, to pray with this great hope in our hearts. Each day will focus on the work of different missionaries in a Zoom prayer meeting.

Sunday 7 June – 4pm – Andrew & Marea Cook – Serving Today radio ministry
Monday 8 June – 1pm – Calix & Bea Furus – preparing for Madeira
Tuesday 9 June – 3pm- James Hammond in Bordeaux, France
Wednesday 10 June – 8am – S & A in Belgrade, Serbia
Thursday 11 June – 12pm – Aries & Jodith Liboro in Valenzuela City, Philippines
Friday 12 June – 4pm – P & S in Central Asia
Saturday 13 June – 9am – Adrian & Abigail Yeboah in Amsterdam
Sunday 14 June – 4pm – Andrzej & Monika Kempczyński in Legionowo, Poland

You can register to join the prayer meetings at:
https://www.gbm.org.uk/week-of-prayer-zoom-prayer-meeting-registration/

You can find out more about the week of prayer in GBM Herald Magazine or on

The GBM website https://www.gbm.org.uk/events/week-of-prayer/

Rachel

Mission Secretary