Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin

OUTLOOK

Outlook October/ November 2026

Letter from the Deacons

Dear Friends

Once again Nelson, Skitty, Tails and Podge spent last night in our garden. We don’t have a large garden but have tried to make it a safe place for local animals, birds and insects. We put out feed, water, grow insect friendly plants and have couple of insect hotels, leaving much of the garden to nature over the Summer.

Our changing climate has been more noticeable this year than previously. There is no doubt that human activity has affected the planet. We are perhaps past the tipping point and our climate will be changed for all life. I don’t suppose that our feeding stations will make a global impact but we do what we can. As the late

Archbishop Desmond Tutu said “Do your little bit of good where you are; it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.”

As we look at our world we see many things we would like to change. We can help out locally with Phase, the food bank, being a good neighbour etc. We make our offerings to charities maybe Christian Aid or Operation Agri. But how can I help to change the big national and international issues? I believe in the power of prayer, I believe that prayer can and does work. But I have always found open prayer difficult, and often avoided engaging. Recently I’ve come to see that there is something powerful in speaking your prayers aloud. Often someone’s spoken prayer is just an affirmation of one’s own thoughts. Occasionally some new perspective opens up. Not that I have become a “prayer warrior” I still struggle to put my thoughts in order and then into words. Through prayer we can seek God’s intervention. A key verse for me is:

'This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.'
1 John 5:14

At Joyce’s inspiration THS held a daily short prayer session of just fifteen minutes on Zoom each evening during the Global Week of Prayer. The event brought together the of prayers of thousands of Christians all seeking God’s direction for our broken world. Did my faltering prayers lead to change? Did all these prayers make a difference? I have faith that they did as “ his ears are attentive their to prayer” (1 Peter 3 v12).

Oh and in case you are wondering: Nelson is a one eyed hedgehog, Skitty a fox who might just have ADHD, Tails is a fox who strangely holds his brush erect and Podge, a hedgehog whose name speaks for itself!

Paul Chamberlain (Deacon)

Rev Jane Writes

It hardly seems possible that six months have passed since I retired – although going away for nearly a third of that time helped! I’m pleased that a number of you were able to follow my Australian adventures on Facebook and often enquired about ‘Chairlie’! (If anyone would like to see / hear more I am very happy to come and share with you).

That adventure over I’m now settling (sort of) into life that is retirement in Rugby. And so it seemed about time that I wrote and said an enormous ‘thank you’ to you all for your incredibly generous gift of £1350, some of which has already been spent on a fish tank (pictured above), one artistic piece of wood, three plastic plants, fish food, water treatment fluid, water testing strips, a small fishing net, replacement filters and … five guppies and five harlequin rasbora (otherwise known as fish!!) Sadly though I’ve already had a bereavement (one of the guppies). Hey ho … so just nine fish at the moment. (The tank’s capacity is 20-25 small fish so a few more purchases are possible). Thank you too to those who donated to Phase – the wonderful total of £290 was raised. I’m deeply touched.

I’ve been accepted into membership at Rugby Baptist Church (for the third time!) but you and the community that is Tilehouse Street Baptist Church will always hold a special place in my heart and in my prayers.

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel …
Philippians 1:4-5

God bless you all,
Jane xx

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