Bethel Methodist Church, Bangalore

Bethel Tidings

21&2 2, B eth el N ag ar 1st M ain , O ff Ko d ig eh al l i R o ad , K .R .P u ram H o b l i , B AN G AL O R E - 560 036.

W eb site: b mc b an g alo re.o rg

Pasto r: Rev. T. David Livingston

Cell: 99865 26450 E-mail: pasto r.bmc@gmail.com

(For private circulation only )

A B I LINGUAL MONT HLY BULLETIN O F BET HEL MET HO DIST CHURCH

Volume 9-2 February 2015

Wait on the LordWait on the LordWait on the Lord

Bethel Methodist Church, Bangalore 2

- 2015

Bethel Methodist Church, Bangalore 3

Pastoral Letter Dearly beloved,

Warm greetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The Tamil annual camp went on very well and the outcome is very encouraging. This

year many new people from the congregation attended the camp; students also

attended in a good number in the parallel Youth Camp. The gathering of congrega-

tion under one roof and praying together is a beautiful picture of the church of our

Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord used the speakers very effectively. I deeply appreciate the

camp coordinators who have organized everything very systematically including new

people who took up responsibilities. I am sure we will continue to grow in the Lord

with a refreshed spirit.

But those who wait on the LORD Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up

with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not

faint. Isaiah 40:31

The highlight of this month is the beginning of the Lent season. The secret of a Chris-

tians strength is in waiting upon the Lord. A surrendering attitude with spending

dedicated time at the feet of God is key to the process of waiting. This essential disci-

pline is not easy for all Christians, all the time and hence it requires an external stim-

ulus and enforcement of discipline. The Lenten season provides an opportunity to

enforce this self-discipline of waiting on the Lord.

Such waiting is not wasting of time but as the Word promises, it is the only way to

soar high in the life ordained by God. One day John Knox approached the court of

Mary, Queen of Scots, and was warned that it might be better to postpone his visit as

she was in one of her angriest moods. He continued on his way replying, Why

should I be afraid of a queen when I have just spent four hours with God? There-

fore, I encourage all those who want to live a brave life before men to humble before

God in prayer. If you love the Lord, then show your love by taking up the discipline of

prayer during this Lent.

As children prepare for the exams, I greet all success to them. I encourage the par-

ents as well who are striving along with them and coaching them. May the Lord pro-

vide his wisdom and knowledge to your children. The prayer times in Lent will add

blessing to your preparations too. We appreciate our District Superintendent Rev.

David Nathaniel who visited us last month and preached in our Church. He has also

placed the request of supporting the By faith building project of the Indiranagar

Methodist Church. Let us generously contribute and support this project of our

mother church.

Grace be with you always. Rev. T. David Livingston

Bethel Methodist Church, Bangalore 4

,

. . . . . . .

, . . . ( 40:31)

. . . . . . . . (John Knox) , . . . . ! !. . , . . . .

Bethel Methodist Church, Bangalore 5

. . . .

- 2015 22 , 9:30 10:30 : : & :. & .

!

( )

Bible Quiz OPEN BOOK (English)

On 21st Feb 2015 Saturday at 6:00pm

Bible Portion: Old Testament

Facilitators: Rev. David Livingston & Mrs Jeya David

To address the need for a Bible outline study and

Orientation towards Bible Survey Camp (9th & 10th May, 2015)

(Program will be followed by Potluck dinner)

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- -

(Hannah Marshman) 1767 1847

. .

1767 13 . . . .

15 . . . . . . 1791 . .

: 1799 29 . 1800 . 1800 1 . . . .

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1818 5 , . , . . , , , , . . , , . , . . . . . . 1847 2 . . . , . 1847 5 .

Training for Sunday School & VBS Teachers

On 8th Feb. Sunday @ BMC

After English Service (~11:30 AM)

Conducted by Pastor

Open to all interested

Program ends with Lunch

Register with Mrs Giftlin (97427 46159)

Bethel Methodist Church, Bangalore 8

Soaring to Sri Lankan Shores Soaring to Sri Lankan Shores - Rev David Livingston Sri Lanka Trip was planned by God more than man this was the thought that the team felt ever since we reached Chennai International Airport . Pastor, Mr. Franklin DC, Mrs. Glory Philips and Mrs. Rani Thiraviyam from our Church and Rev. Ramesh Christopher and Mr. Jesuratnam from Pondicherry were the six member team. January 9, 2015 seemed a wrong day for us to land in Colombo, as the re-sults of the Sri Lankan Presidential elections were getting out. There was a mood of tension, expecting riots. It worried us if our itinerary would go well as planned or we

would be in the indoors in Colombo. We were told that few highways were closed in the country. Despite all speculations, the day turned out to be pleasant and profitable one for us. Since the roads were empty on account of a declared holiday, we had a jolly ride around the beautiful city of Colombo without any traffic hassles. On the day, we

managed to even obtain the authorization pass from the Army office to visit North-ern Lanka - a difficult task if tried on any other regular day. We could freely go around the Parliament even as official helicopters hovered above us transporting former and incumbent presidents - all at no cost, as though somebody has meticu-lously planned our moments. Thank God for all this.

After an overnight stay in the lodge, we finished our prayers and left the city of Co-lombo and moved to every city and the destinations on time as planned. Our fellow-ship with the Christian families where we stayed overnights was a lovely sharing ex-perience. Thanks to Pastor Jackson who arranged everything systematically and took us to almost all the important places in the country which we wanted to visit. We

thanked him for somehow arranging our favorite Indian Sambar and Rasam in food, in addition to Sri Lankan delicacies. It wouldnt have been as easy as this for a tourist.

Our cab driver Ramesh was also a Christian and he gave good company to us with much humor and safe drive in his musical chariot. He also hosted us in his house.

The highlights of our visits are: The towns we visited were Colombo city (the capital), Kandy (the beautiful hill city

and Buddhist head quarter), Mattakalappu (the Methodist tradition began here), Vavuniya (war affected Christians), Jaffna and Valvettithurai (full of war memorials and captain Prabhakarans residence), Mullaitheevu (the climax war footage memori-al), Mannar and Thalai Mannar (the fishermens plight) among others. Also we passed the sight of Triconamalee (beautiful Gulf sea) and Kilinochi on the way.

The people We met many families and servants of God. We were hosted by the Methodist

Church of Sri Lanka President Rev. Thayaseelan who is now retired. All the common people whom we met had a sad story of suffering and fighting. They are economical-ly poor and have a simple lifestyle. The affluent people mostly live in the Central part

of the Country and they dont have sad stories. There are many Hindu turned Chris-tians among Tamil speaking people; otherwise there are Buddhists, Muslims and

Hindus spread all over the provinces. The life of Tamil people who live in Northern Province are sad ones as they are still budding from War and Tsunami desolations. Looks like it will take a long time for

Bethel Methodist Church, Bangalore 9

them to stand. Towns need to be built for living, schools for education and churches are needed for worship. The military force is maintaining a strict control all over the

country. However, the small country, smaller than the size of Karnataka with just a 3 crore population, is very beautiful and spacious, eco-friendly and well maintained. People are well disciplined and they have a good sense of cleanliness. The ministry The ministry in the central and Southern provinces of Ceylon is traditional and reli-gion is very nominal but the Northern Province has lot of life. The Christian ministry in North is by the war affected people for the war affected people. Mostly the inde-pendent workers and Churches are striving to work for the needy believers. Well-to-do Churches from South are hardly connected or available to meet their needs. The missi