We’re Back!

From Mark and Sarah Hubbard

The wanderers have returned! Thank you all for welcoming us back with such warmth. It is difficult to squeeze the past 3 months into a short space but let’s see what we can do.

For those of you who don’t know us, we’re Mark and Sarah and Mark is the minister here at Redcar Baptist Church. After working for the church for 7 years, most ministers get 3 months away from work. This time is a time for stopping, a time to step back from visible responsibilities in the church.

It’s a time for rest – physical, mental and spiritual. So, naturally, we thought the most restful thing would be to buy a caravan and take our 3 small kids travelling across Europe for 9 weeks.

We started our time in Austria cycling and paddleboarding nestled by a lake in the mountains, we then went to Lake Bled in Slovenia where it poured with rain for 48 hours, then onto Venice, 3 stops in Croatia, an overnight ferry to the hills in Central Italy, on to Trento in Northern Italy, up to Lake Constance in Germany, another stop in Germany and finally closing the trip in Holland.

We have had the most incredible journey. We made 17 different stops, travelled through 8 different countries, accidentally abducted one kitten and ate 4000 ice creams. It has been a remarkable experience and we are full of gratitude for this truly unique time.

It wasn’t always pretty and wasn’t always comfortable but it was worth it. We have come home refreshed and ready to go, with a renewed sense of gratitude, purpose and joy. We hope that over the months to come we can share stories and lessons learned. We look forward to it!

Blank Canvas’ Summer of Fun

From Abi Hedges, CEO Blank Canvas

The summer holidays can cause a mixed reaction amongst young people – excitement about being off school, potential holidays, some (hopefully) warm weather, time to chill and play and have fun. But also for some, anxiety, boredom, and dread. As a charity, we’re connecting with young people who are disappointed that the usual activities aren’t running in the holidays and don’t have much to do.

So we’ve been really pleased to get funding to run a whole bunch of positive and fun activities for young people to get involved with, make new friends, get outside, get fed and have a whole load of fun. Young people have built positive memories and done things they maybe haven’t done before.

‘Bicnic’

Each Monday we’ve run ‘Bicnic’: beach activities and picnic. We’ve headed to the beach with our packed lunches for sandcastle building, paddling in the sea, cricket, football, sand art and loads of chilling and chatting. The weather has mostly held up great for us and we’ve headed out in wind, cloud and sun!

Wednesday trips out

On three Wednesdays during the summer, we’ve taken young people out and about, with trips to Errington Woods, Saltburn and a treasure hunt around Redcar. Highlights have included competitive games of mini golf, heading out en masse on the train, ice creams on the beach, exploring in the woods and arcade prizes!

Meal and movie

Every Thursday evening, young people have gathered at St Hilda’s Church for Meal & Movie Night. There’s been a different summer themed craft or activity each week, games, opportunity for young people to get their nails done, and the group has a new favourite detective game - Mafia. It has to be said – not many films were watched!

Alpha update

Over 30 million people have done the Alpha course over the last 30 years. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a 10 week course for small groups to explore Christianity. Each session consists of a 20 minute video and a discussion on a particular topic, like ‘Forgiveness’ or ‘Who is Jesus?’

Redcar Baptist Church, like many churches around the world, has been running Alpha courses for years, giving people the chance to ask the big questions about life.

This term, however, it’s been a bit different. This time we’re running the course in a language of Iran: Farsi. But, I hear you ask, How does that work? Good question! There are seven of us in the group: me and Sarah as the English contingent, and 5 lovely people from Iran. The Alpha videos have been dubbed into Farsi, and several of the group have great English and translate during the discussion.

I wondered how it would go, with the obvious language challenges, but it’s been really great. There’s been so many great questions asked and we’ve loved sharing stories.

We’ll be starting more Alpha courses soon - both English and Farsi! Get in touch if you’re interested.