Pastor's Corner Sept 2011

Thankfulness seems to be rapidly vanishing from our society; with selfishness and greed seemingly predominating. There is a preoccupation with our rights and entitlements, which has all but stamped out any feelings of gratitude and appreciation. This can be seen in the homes, work place and society at large. We need to guard against it in the church, in our relationships with each other but supremely in our relationship with the Lord.

As a gauge of our thankfulness, let’s ask ourselves the question, when was the last time we said ‘thank you’ to someone or to the Lord? And perhaps how many times have we said ‘thank you’ this past month? Saying thank you is so important and so encouraging. It says that you care about that person, appreciate what they have done and that you are not taking them for granted. It says a lot about the person saying thank you too!


richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

Pastor's Corner September 2011

Pastor’s Corner

How many of us can still hear our parents saying, ‘what do you say?’ Or can hear ourselves,
perhaps even quite recently, saying it to our children or grandchildren? Of course, it is the
question asked to evoke the response; ‘thank you,’ to some kind deed or gift. It is a
question we pose to our children from time to time, though I must admit they are
getting much better and tend to need less prompting nowadays.

Later on in the month we are going to be celebrating Harvest here in the church. We, like
many churches, will be using it as an evangelistic opportunity, as we do with Christmas and
Easter. However, again similar to Christmas and Easter, we need to guard against us viewing
it only in an evangelistic light. It is a time for us above any other to be thankful, as we
reflect upon God’s provision for us, our families and our church, both on a material and
spiritual level.


richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

International Student Meal Evening

Our main activity for students is our International Student Meal Evening (ISME), held every other Thursday at 6pm, to which you are warmly invited. The evening includes food, a short English language session, a time of worship and short message about the Christian faith.



richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

International Student Meal Evening

Next meeting
Thursday 25th August at 6pm.

As Bournemouth is a centre for language schools we have the privilege of meeting students from all over the world, and because of this we are happy to provide opportunities for friendship and language learning. It is our great joy to have welcomed many, many international students to the church.

richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

Sunday Evening Prayer Meeting at Richmond Park Church

As well as our Sunday morning service, we meet to pray Sunday evenings in the church at 6.30pm. You don't need to be in a church or with a group of people to pray; praying is just talking to God and you can do it walking along the street, doing the housework, while fetching a coffee from the vending machine in the office... but sometimes it's really good to get together and have other people back-up your prayers.



richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

Morning Worship at Richmond Park Church

Then someone from the leadership team, or sometimes a guest speaker from another church, will spend 30 minutes teaching us about what the Bible says and how that applies to our lives today. We mainly use the New International (NIV) Version of the Bible. We have two BSL (British Sign Language for the deaf) signers in our church who interpret for our deaf members. On the third Sunday of every month the service includes taking Communion (also known as Holy Communion or the Eucharist). This is when Christians eat a piece of bread and drink a little bit of wine or red grape/currant juice as a reminder of Jesus' body being broken for us (the bread) and his blood spilt (the wine) when he died on the cross and how grateful and amazed we should be that he went through all that suffering to pay the price for our sins and reunite us with God the Father.

richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

Morning Worship at Richmond Park Church

We do indeed sing our praise songs (modern hymns) along to the music of a guitar, keyboard, trombone, and drums, sometimes clapping along, and a couple of people even shake a tambourine! No organs or pews or stained glass windows for us! We have chairs set in rows; a Powerpoint projector beams the words of our songs onto a screen, we don't have hymn books; we don't have prayer books either - people pray out loud when they feel able to, from where they are standing or sitting. Some of the ladies dance to the songs, using expressive hand movements, or waving flags. Sometimes before the sermon our amateur drama group will act, or use puppets, to visually present their five minute interpretation of a Bible story or theme.

richmondparkchurch.org.uk an evangelical pentecostal church in Boscombe, Bournemouth, Dorset, UK