Christmas at ABC
We have a full range of Christmas services and events throughout December caterig from toddlers to senior citizens, including our Christmas Fayre below. For full details, please see our events page.

 

Champion's Challenge Holiday Club Monday 4th - Friday 8th August
Our much awaited Champion’s Challenge Holiday Club kicked-off with eighty enthusiastic youngsters enjoying a jam-packed  week of fun, drama, games, crafts, small-group bible discussion, puzzles, and songs with actions. The theme of the week was sport and especially the Olympics, so each day included a challenge between teams such as eating doughnuts dangling from string without the use of your hands. A special favourite was the introduction of puppets, Aunty May and Connie, who told the bible stories each day along with Connie’s adventures. The holiday Club finished on a high with about 150 children and parents enjoying a lively service followed by an evening  BBQ together.

Aylestone has just become a lot Greener and Cleaner!
As part of the HOPE 08 initiative Saturday 5th July, an old car tyre, a burnt out mattress and graffiti were amongst the many items removed from the streets by a team of volunteers aiming to CLEAN UP their community. Equipped with paint brushes, litter pickers and bin bags a total of 20 adults and teenagers from Aylestone Baptist Church took to the streets of Aylestone to paint over 30 graffiti green roadside boxes and bag over 10 bags of litter. The community responded generously to the appeal to CLEAN OUT items of old tools, mobile phones, bicycles, unwanted spectacles and sewing machines that could be passed on to charities for re-cycling. The final tally  included 25 sewing machines and a huge variety of tools which will find new homes in the developing world thanks to charities such as Tools with a mission and Bikes 4 all. While all this was going on, visitors could investigate a GREEN UP Eco Fair in the church with stands from a variety of environmental organisations and their suggestions to makle society greener.

Aylestone Baptist Church Open Day!
This year's Open Day in April was in part a thank you to all in the community who gave so generously throughout last year to out kitchen and toilet refurbishment project. We had children's crafts, a bouncy castle, a treasure hunt, face painting, and lunches. We made new friends and caught up with some old acquaintances, everyone having a really great day.

Good Friday's Walk the Story
On Good Friday, we joined with the other churches in Aylestone for 'Walk the Story' - a service on the move. Carrying an eight foot cross, we told the Good Friday story with readings and hymns at various stations around Aylestone. Seventy people walked with us, many more stopped to stare! We hope that it acted as a step towards restoring the awareness of Easter for those living in our community.

 

 

Taste and See
Devised by local dramatist, Elaine Pantling, we put on two performances of a dinner play for Easter 2008. Set around a 3 course meal, the actors, narrators, choir and dancers shared the Easter story with the audience who were invited to take part, some of them being gently coerced into taking the role of Jesus' disciples! Both performances drew a full house and many watching were deeply moved by the crucifixion scene in particular.

 
Taste and See - our Easter performance

Kitchen and Toilets project completed!
We are delighted to report that the refurbishment work to our kitchen and toilets is now complete. Our Church hall has been used to serve the community for many years, through youth clubs, a lunch club for the elderly, a meeting place for people with learning disabilities, chess, dance or slimming clubs, not to mention its availability for parties, public meetings and the like.

 
The old kitchen facilities

The work is now complete, at a cost of almost £50,000. We  received generous grants from a number of trust funds and are particularly pleased to receive £10,000 from the City Council Area Committee. The remainder of the money came from personal gifts from church folk and members of the community, to whom we want to say a really big THANK YOU! Here is the finished result:

 

New kitchen and disabled toilet

Importantly, the hall with its new facilities attached is again available for hire. We are very keen to see it used throughout the week by people or groups from the community. If you would like to know more about hiring the hall, either for a one off event or as a regular booking, please contact Angela Waffhorne on 0116 229 0141.

Jonathan Edwards visits Aylestone Baptist Church
We were delighted to welcome Rev Jonathan Edwards, General Secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain to our Church in January. The visit was booked up eighteen months ago, but by God's grace his visit coincided with the completion of our refurbishment work and the launch of our Urban Saints progamme. Following his sermon in the morning, calling us to be a church of prayer, he officially opened the new facilities and we shared lunch as a church together. In the evening, 70 Baptists from across the city gathered to worship and be inspired by Jonathan's message "The call to be missionary disciples." It was an excellent day and we thank God for Jonathan's ministry - his words of wisdom and encouragement.