I don’t want to give the impression of having full English breakfasts with great regularity, but having enjoyed Adrian and Ed’s fabulous Easter Sunday breakfast, I found myself recently at the Winter Gardens, enjoying another good start to the day. This time it was the Eastbourne Civic Prayer Breakfast – a collection of Christians from across the town. Some are councillors (one is our mayor!), some are leaders of churches, some are leaders of businesses around Eastbourne, and some from charities – Street Pastors, Beachy Head Chaplaincy, Kingdom Way Trust, PARCHE and more.
What a good thing to take place. Surely it’s good to be reminded about our commonality as Christians, all that we share, all that unites us – one church, one Lord. Maybe we express it differently in our worship or perhaps we organise our structures differently but it has to be a shared common purpose that we are engaged in, in our different settings: to glorify God by loving our neighbour, and following Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.
Unity is something that St. Paul writes about frequently in his letters (poor Paul, so many of the early churches he was writing to were experiencing fractures and disagreements in their early years.) One of my favourite of his writings about unity relates to Holy Communion:
“ The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16-17).
One cup, one bread, one table, one Lord. Maybe not too different from a Civic Prayer Breakfast that felt sacramental in many ways. One egg, one slice, one bowl of muesli, one coffee… and still one Lord and one Saviour. And from the oneness, some live out their discipleship leading business in our town; some at 3:00am on a Saturday morning as pubs and clubs shut; some in a howling gale on Beachy Head seeking those feeling desperate and alone; some in a lounge in a care home with people living with frailty.
The main speaker at the breakfast was Rev. Les Isaacs OBE, the founder of Street Pastors in 2003 in Brixton. An excellent speaker, the point he made which I found myself thinking on for the rest of the day, was a comment about working together. I am paraphrasing, but it was along the lines of: ‘never do anything alone/always work in partnership with others’. I very much hope that that’s the case for my ministry, and it made me think actually that’s true for us as a church too. In recent weeks and months we have connected with Christian Aid, with Street Pastors and PARCHE, with Churches Together in Old Town, with our two denominations, with the Foodbank, the list goes on and on. Les Isaac’s words made me think that our aim at Emmanuel mustn’t be to try and be wonderful alone and independently of other groups, but to try and be wonderful working together with those in our community. By doing so, we’ll be wonderful for God.
Rev. Paul
Excerpt taken from Emmanuel Magazine May 2026. The magazine, published ten times annually, features articles contributed or authored by our members. It includes a delightful blend of testimonials, devotions, book reviews, prayers, jokes, upcoming events, and more. Grab your copy of the latest magazine at the church foyer. If you prefer to receive a copy by mail or email, feel free to reach out to us.