Bilston Mission Church

25/11/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/17TLU8nqwq/

The quilt is on display at Loanhead Church 💜

The quilt will be available to view daily:
🕚 Monday–Friday: 11am–12.30pm
🕑 Saturday: 2pm–3pm
☕️ Refreshments will be available during these times.

All are welcome to visit, take time for quiet reflection, and learn more about the Speak Their Name project.

02/10/2025

As a church we are looking at how we can better serve the community and people in Bilston. As part of that, we would like to develop our church building into a community resource. Do you have any thoughts or ideas you can share with us about how we can best do this? You can DM us or add a comment below. Or let us know and we can arrange to chat over a coffee.

15/12/2023

Earlier today, we brought round the nativity scene that sits at the front of the church at Loanhead. As we laid them out, a gust of wind blew over the inn keeper standing with his lamp – breaking his arm! He’s currently being glued back together before he joins the others in the nativity scene. He’ll never quite be the same again, but he has his place as part of the set.

It got me thinking of how there may be times that we may feel that we are not good enough to be there – but how each one of us is invited to come to the stable in Bethlehem to worship the new born king. In many ways that’s one of the most important things in the story. Shepherds called by angels. Wise men led by a star. An inn keeper who just happened to have a stable that could be used by a young couple in their time of need. They were an unusual group!

Wherever you see a nativity scene this year, I hope you’ll take the time to stop and think about how each one was invited – and how you too are invited to worship the new born King this Christmas.

13/12/2023

Join us for some carol singing at Bilston Church on Sunday at 4 p.m. followed by tea/coffee/juice and mince pies. As well as sharing in carols, we'll watch a video of children acting out the story of Christmas and make Christingles together as we share in a moment of reflection on the story that lies at the heart of Christmas.

Suitable for all ages , we'd love to have you along - no booking required, just turn up! Bilston Church is in Castlelaw Crescent, Bilston.

13/12/2023

As I look at the Christmas cards I bought yesterday, I see that a good number have “Peace on earth” as their theme – and last Sunday, we had a focus in our church service on Peace. It’s a focus not only on the peace that Christ brings into our hearts but a yearning and looking forward to a time when there is peace on earth.

Remembering this, many churches lit the Peace candle on their Advent wreath, with a belief that Christ will and does bring peace. Others though refrained from lighting them, in response to a call from Christians in Bethlehem. They asked this, knowing that their Christmas celebrations will be muted this year with the war being waged between Hamas and Israel.

Whether our candles were lit though as a sign of what is yet to come, or were unlit as a sign of standing with those who experience a lack of peace, we have a longing for a time when the words of the angels to the shepherds is seen. When we truly see peace on earth.

08/12/2023

I wonder what you put at the top of your Christmas tree. When I was younger, my parents used to put a Santa on a pair of skis at the top. Even after one of his legs got broken (wasn’t me, honest!) he just got sellotaped back together and put back up!

Most Christmas trees though haver a star at the top – reminding us of the way that the wise men were told about the birth of Christ and through that were guided to worship him.

As you see Christmas trees appearing in different places – perhaps even as you put up your own – take a moment to look at what is at the top. And if it is a star, stop and reflect on the way God guides each of us to see who Jesus is, if only we will stop long enough to look and listen.

04/12/2023

As I walked along Princes Street this morning, I saw a sign that said “Merry Xmas.” It got me thinking about the meaning of the X. It had always confused me until I sat beside someone at a lecture at university who put X every time Christ was mentioned by the lecturer. I thought they had borrowed it from Xmas until they explained that X represents the Greek letter chi, - the first letter in the word Χριστός (Chrīstos). As a result, X has been an acceptable representation of the word Christ for hundreds of years.

So maybe when you read a sign that says “Merry Xmas” you’ll see that it’s not so much an attempt to squeeze Christ out of Christmas but simply shorthand. It may, strangely, be something that even draws attention to the fact the Christmas is about Christ and remind us to keep the focus there. Perhaps it may also serve as a conversation starter as you share with someone else what the X in Xmas stands for.

03/12/2023

Today is the first Sunday of Advent and the theme is HOPE. Hope is described in the dictionary as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen.”
It’s what makes us look forward positively, expectantly. It’s a stirring inside us that there is something better ahead. Take hope away and you are left with nothing worthwhile – it leads to a dark place called despair.
Today as we light the first of our candles on the advent wreath we recall that God seeks to breathe into our lives hope. A hope that dispels the darkness and despair, as we realise that God holds all things and holds each one of us. A realisation that changes our perspective.
I had almost given up my hope of seeing the blessing of the Lord in the land of the living. Let your hope be in the Lord: take heart and be strong; yes, let your hope be in the Lord. Psalm 27 v’s 13,14

02/12/2023

One of the oft used phrases at this time of year is “the nights are fair drawin’ in,” as we notice the days shortening and the nights lengthening. I know of no one who enjoys that feeling – the darkness encroaching more and more on our day and robbing us of something. Instead, we naturally like the light!

One of the verses often used in Advent is taken from Isaiah chapter 9 in the bible:
The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

It’s then used in Luke’s gospel as Zechariah speaks of the coming Saviour. Pointing forward to the way that Jesus brings light into the darkness. He still does that today and I pray that the light of his presence may touch your heart in this Advent season.

01/12/2023

Officially, Advent begins with the fourth Sunday before Christmas – which is Sunday coming. However, if you have an advent calendar then you will have opened the first of 24 or 25 doors today and either eaten the chocolate or enjoyed the picture! So we thought we would begin our Advent Reflections a couple of days early.

Advent is “the arrival of a notable person or thing.” Ask most children and the notable person they associate with Christmas is Santa – and they look forward to Christmas with talk of “how many sleeps until Santa comes.”

I don’t want to take the joy of that away from them – but there is something much deeper and significant as you’ll see in the picture of the Advent Calendar below, with a Nativity scene at the end. A reminder that the story at the heart of Christmas is the coming of Jesus Christ among us. Take time today to give thanks for that and follow us each day to make this part of your countdown this Advent – preparing to celebrate his birth. The arrival of the King of kings.