Gospel Standard

We are please to present our Spring 2025 newsletter here for your consideration and trust that this will be of interest to you.

The trustees would thank everyone who has responded to the wider consultation on the proposal to close the Harpenden Bethesda Home. We are in the process of acknowledging the responses received and are now undertaking a detailed analysis of this feedback.
 
Where common themes are identified, we will continue to produce Position Statements to address the points raised and publish these on the Consultation Feedback webpage on the GSBF website.
 
Do please pray the Lord will go before all those who are currently walking through this pathway

In November 2024, the trustees wrote to supporters setting out the challenges that have been faced by current and previous Bethesda trustees over the past 50 years. 
Click here for the November 2024    information
 
Since that time, the trustees have continued to prayerfully seek the Lord’s will for Bethesda, in particular the future of the Harpenden Bethesda Home.
 
At the beginning of 2025, the Lord hedged up the way of the trustees so that in February 2025, with heaviness of heart they began, following the decision to consult on the closure of the Harpenden Bethesda Home, to make the necessary preparations so this process could start in the working week beginning Monday 3rd March 2025.
 
The Trustees have prepared a letter to supporters that sets out the background to the current consultation on the closure of the Harpenden Bethesda Home.
Click here for this letter.
 
The document setting out the business case for closure of the Harpenden Home provides more detailed information and is here
 
We would welcome feedback on the proposals made together with receiving any thoughts on other viable options that trustees could consider. If you do wish to submit feedback to the trustees, please email your responses to trustees@gsbf.uk by Friday 21^st March 2025.
 
Do pray especially for the residents at this time together with their relatives, Powers of Attorney, the Home Manager, staff, Home Support Group members and the trustees.
 
 
 

In November 2024, the GSBF trustees circulated two documents to supporters of the Charity. The first document was a letter setting out in detail the challenges facing Bethesda, at the current time, and their impact upon the Charity. The letter also made reference to challenges faced by previous trustees over the past 50 years. A copy of the letter can be found by clicking here.

The second document is a copy of the Chairman's address given at the GSBF Annual Meeting Saturday, 5 October 2024. The address provided a reflection on the issues faced by the trustees and those managing the Bethesda homes. The document also includes an analysis of the Charity's financial situation over the past 10 years and a more detailed analysis of the operation of the Bethesda Homes over the past five years. A copy of the address can be found by clicking here.