Category: Newsletters

May 22, 2020

Friday Connection – 22nd May 2020

Welcome to our 10th Friday Connection

“Is it that time already?” How many times do we ask that sort of question? And just now – is it Ascension Day already? Yes, last Thursday! Time moves on, the Christian calendar moves on as it does each year, no matter what is happening at the present.

One of our readings this week, Acts 1:6-14, carries us in our Christian calendar to remember Jesus leaving his friends to go back to be with God – we are part of a world in our faith that has heaven and earth as the two parts of God’s creation – and Jesus moves between the two parts without effort. He leaves us to carry on the work that he began – that work has been spelled out in verse 8: “you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria and to the very ends of the earth”

So just like the disciples we are to begin just where God has put us – them in Jerusalem; then the wider area – Judea; the area of Samaria that has “foreigners” living right next door; and finally to all the world. And if that seems a daunting agenda, Jesus says we will be given the power we need to do the work by the Holy Spirit!

But just now, like the disciples, we are to wait 10 days until Pentecost on the very last day of the month – and while we wait we pray using the prayer journal for Thy Kingdom Come,

looking for pointers from God, for the names of people to pray for to come to faith.

The other readings for this Sunday are: Psalm 68:1-10 and 32-35, John 17:1-11 and I Peter 4:12-14. The Psalm’s last verses tell us to sing to God, who rides the skies, just as Jesus has risen to be with God. The Gospel reading asks that all Christians might be one in being God’s people and proclaiming his promises through good times and bad, because he is our faithful God. As one of our songs reminds us: What a mighty God we serve!

With our love and prayers

Irene and Terry

I thank you, Lord, for creating us all in your image,

for giving us hearts that can love like you,

for the goodness of others,

for those who help the poor and needy,

for those who show consideration,

for being able to forgive like you,

for fortitude through life’s trials,

for your glory shining through those seeking to

make the world a better place.

I thank you Lord for sharing your Life with us,

for suffering for our sakes,

for giving yourself up on the Cross,

for the splendour of your Holiness,

for loving us all, now and always,

For all this and more I thank you Lord. Amen

May 15, 2020

Friday Connection – 15th May 2020

Welcome to our Ninth Friday Connection – 15th May 2020

Do you feel life is on hold, life is dream-like, or life is just different. While we are not meeting in church our Christian life is not on hold – indeed Christian life is not a dream but full and purposeful, a Christian life can be quite different to the lives of so many who do not know Jesus and the full life that knowing Him means. Though we are living differently from eight or nine weeks ago we need more than ever to stay close to Jesus and each other by whatever means we can as we encourage and charge each other to go forward in whatever situation we find ourselves.

As we look at the readings for the week we are encouraged. The Psalm for the week is so joyful and reassuring so please read it and know our God: Praise our God, all peoples, let the sound of his praise be heard; he has preserved our lives and kept our feet from slipping. For you, God, tested us; you refined us like silver. Read it all and be glad. Likewise as we look at the Gospel reading we are challenged to go forward with courage.

John 14:15-21 Another Helper

Here we are in week nine carrying on our thoughts from last week – we are walking with Jesus as he continues to support his disciples and encourage them for the work he is going to leave them to do when he returns to be with his heavenly Father. We need to listen carefully for the words are intended for us too.

Jesus in effect says that he will still be around when he goes back to God – an event we remember this coming Thursday – Ascension Day. He will do this by sending his own Spirit, his own breath, his inner life. He uses a special word for this – he calls the Spirit “another helper”. This is a term that is many sided. It doesn’t simply mean someone who comes to lend assistance in our lives – it does mean that as well – the Spirit comes to give us strength and energy to do what we have to do, to live for God and witness to his love in the world – yes, even in times like these. It means two other things: another word that is used is “comforter” – to give an extra strength to meet special needs; yet another word is “advocate” – to help us to speak up for Jesus.

So in the days of this week, and the days that lie ahead, the Spirit of Jesus will be with us at every step in every situation, to be our helper, comforter, and enabler, giving us the words and actions we need.

Don’t forget to make use of the Prayer Journal you have received from this Thursday to Pentecost Sunday on 31 May – we can wait on God as the first disciples waited for their gift of the Spirit – and pray for five people we know to come to know Jesus for themselves.

With our love and prayers
Irene and Terry

The readings for the coming Sunday are:
Psalm 66: 8-20; Acts 17: 22-31; 1 Peter 3: 13-22; John 14: 15-21

May 8, 2020

Friday Connection – 8th May 2020

Welcome to our Eighth Friday Connection – 8th May 2020

Dear Friends,

Can you believe that this coming Sunday will be the fifth Sunday after Easter, that day when we celebrated with great joy the resurrection of our Lord and Saviour? Easter day, the day when sin and death were defeated by Christ’s death and resurrection and gives us assurance and confidence that whatever happens, Jesus walks with us and God will protect us. Psalm 31, verses 1-5 tells how King David put his trust in God, how he acknowledged God as his rock and fortress in whom he put his trust. Surely when we accept and believe in God this is our experience too.

Our Gospel reading for this Sunday is John 14, verses 1-14, and gives us the words that Jesus used when talking to his friends about his own life, and his own approaching death. In trying to prepare them for his leaving them and returning to God, he offers them some of the best known words in the New Testament: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life! Nobody comes to the Father except through me.”

When we feel we have lost our way in life, in Jesus we find the road back to God, to Jesus, and to ourselves. When we hear so many words in the world, all claiming to contain the truth, in Jesus we find that genuine teaching that makes sense of anything and everything that happens to us. When we have been hearing of so many lives lost in recent weeks, perhaps someone close to us, in Jesus we hear the promise that He gives us a life that begins in this existence, but goes on all for all time, and beyond time. Jesus has come in to our world to open up the path that leads us to God, and we only find it through Him.

These are words that we all need to hear, and take in, and seek to pray and live by each day. There is a beautiful song, from the Bible Society that says it so well:

Do not be worried and upset, believe I God, believe also in Me,
There are many rooms in my Father’s house, and I’m going to prepare a place,
prepare a place for you.

I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me,
I am the way, the truth and the life, and I’m going to prepare a place,
prepare a place for you.

After I go and prepare a place you, I will come back and take you to Myself,
so that you may come and be where I am, and I’m going to prepare a place,
prepare a place for you.

I am the way, the truth and the life….

With our love and prayers, Terry and Irene

If you would like to look at any or all of the readings for this coming Sunday they are:

Acts 7:55 to end; Psalm 31: 1-5; 1 Peter 2.2-10; John 14. 1-14

April 30, 2020

Friday Connection – 1st May 2020

Welcome to our Seventh Friday Connection – 1st May 2020

Dear Friends we hope you are all well and feeling at peace in this strange time. Perhaps you have been able to do jobs that have been waiting for a while; maybe you have found a new hobby or craft; you may have been able to think and meditate on your life as a Christian and read your Bible more and dig deeper into God’s word to us.

When we lived and worked in Derbyshire in the 1970’s we had a very bad late fall of snow, just after the sheep had all had their lambs – there were drifts four feet deep in the whole valley that was Edale. For almost 48 hours without stopping only for food and a short rest, the shepherds in the valley kept searching and digging until every one of their sheep and lambs had been accounted for. The most distressing sight was a pile of lambs in a farm yard, all had perished but the most poignant sight was the efforts of those shepherds tirelessly searching until ALL had been found.

Project that into one of the readings for today – John 10 verses 1-10, the parable of the Good Shepherd. Jesus never stops searching and finding those folk who have lost their way in life – often through their own misguided efforts and ideas. And when we are feeling lost, in times of questioning and sometimes doubt or fear, Jesus always calls us back to himself, to receive the love, life and assurance that only he can give: “I have come that you will have life in all its fullness.”

The picture of God as our shepherd is written throughout the whole of the Bible. One of the other readings for Sunday is Psalm 23 which we probably all know by heart and which brings strength and comfort to many. It is so wonderful to know that Jesus wants us to have that fullness of life and that Gods unquestioning love for us is shown in so many verses. Although it is not one of the week’s readings Isaiah 43 tells us ‘I have called you by name, you are mine, do not be afraid. You are precious to me and I love you’. If a shepherd cares for his sheep with great care and devotion, how much more does Jesus love and care for each of us. Also in Isaiah 40 verse 11 He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart…

What wonderful readings for the week, full of peace, encouragement and love.

And I will trust in You alone, And I will trust in You alone,
For your endless mercy follows me,
Your goodness will lead me home.
© Stuart Townend (click on the link to hear the song).

These are the four readings for the week if you would like to study them all:
Acts 2:42-47 • Psalm 23 •1 Peter 2:19-25 • John 10:1-10

With our love and prayers Terry and Irene

April 24, 2020

Friday Connection – 24th April 2020

Welcome to our Sixth Friday Connection – 24th April 2020

Dear Friends it is good to meet together each week in this ‘connection’. As Christians we need to meet together to study the word of God and this week one of the readings we are looking at is Luke 24: 13-35, the story of the disciples on the road to Emmaus.

As we walk along the Christian road we do not know what lies ahead. When we get to the end of the track will we turn left or right? Is there a bend in the road and what is beyond? Is there a hill to climb and what will be seen when we get to the top? Will it be a hard journey or a gentle stroll? Will we meet friends on the way? When we reach our destination will there be a reunion with family and friends and will they have a welcome meal waiting for us?

During the first meal in the Bible in Genesis 3 verses 6 & 7, the woman took some fruit and ate it. She gave some to her husband, and he ate it; then their eyes were opened and they knew they were naked. Death itself was traced to that moment of rebellion– the whole creation is subjected to decay, futility and sorrow.

Luke, echoes that story, in the first meal of the new creation in Jesus – “He took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, then the eyes of both were opened and they recognised him” – Luke 24 verse 31. Death itself is defeated, God’s new creation, brimming over with life and joy and new possibility, has burst into the world of sorrow. The risen Jesus is the sign of this new world. Jesus has gone through death and entered a new world, a world of new and deathless creation.

I wonder if the disciples travelling on the Emmaus Road with that stranger noticed what sort of road they were travelling – was it stony, hilly, a hard climb? I think nothing about the road they were journeying would have been noticed or mattered as they listened to that stranger explaining the scriptures to them, the how, the why and the importance of Jesus and his life, death and resurrection . Can you remember when you first listened to or read this portion of scripture? Did your heart burn and did your imagination run riot as the experience of those disciples, not named and not the ones we know from the bible passages echoed in your life? We are not named in the Bible, though God knows each one of us intimately.

The travellers’ eyes, hearts and minds were opened as Jesus shared a meal with them and broke the bread and suddenly, at the breaking of bread, they knew with whom they had been travelling, that Christ had risen. Their real experience meant they had to turn around and rush back to tell the others what a miracle had happened. Their wonderful experience helps us to believe all that the Bible offers us through Jesus.

We are invited to listen to the exposition of the Bible, to have our hearts burning within us as fresh truth comes out from the pages. Only when we see the Old Testament reaching its climax in Jesus will we understand it.

We too are invited to know Jesus in the breaking of the bread. This is the central symbolic action of all Jesus’ people. Scripture and sacrament go together – we find Jesus in the Bible, in worship, but especially now walking alongside us on our road through life.

With our love and prayers, Terry and Irene

April 17, 2020

Friday Connection – 17th April 2020

Welcome to our Fifth Friday Connection – 17th April 2020

As we join together again it is difficult to believe that the coming Sunday will be the fifth Sunday we have been unable to worship together physically. Despite the situation we are still able to speak to each other by telephone and other electronic means and, of course, through our prayers for each other, the situation and our world as all countries work hard to combat this virus.

Are you contagious? Hopefully not with the virus or any other illness but with the Christian Spirit. For us as Christians we need to be contagious so that others can catch the Spirit and know how much God loves them.

The Gospel readings for Sunday are from John 20:19-31 and the Acts of the Apostles 2:42-47. As we read these portions of scripture we see how the apostles reacted to the resurrection of our Lord and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

In the reading from John we see that the disciples were locked away and afraid. Although we are locked away and some of us may be wary of how life is going to return to some normality, we know that in God’s plan we are safe. After his resurrection Jesus appeared to the disciples and said to them “Peace be with you” and emphasised that by repetition. Even when Thomas doubted because he wasn’t with the disciples at Christ’s first appearance, Jesus came and again reassured him. John tell us of these incidents and says to us today …these things are written that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that through this belief you may have life in His name.

In the Acts of the Apostles we learn how the apostles lived and how they shared their faith so much so that “…every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”. In this exceptional time when we are separated from each other we still have opportunities to dispense our faith, maybe by encouraging each other in our church family but also by being able to speak to friends who aren’t believers and showing God’s love in our care and concern.

You may be eating your meals alone, or with one other or with a family. The disciples “…ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God…”. Meals may have become more of an important and enjoyable part of your day as other activities have become curtailed. Thankfulness is part of a Christian life so rejoice in every day, the weather, the jobs that you’ve been able to do because of the lockdown and the food we eat to keep us healthy. While we offer our thanks to God, remember those parts of the world where health services and food are scarce. Consider what we can do to help. There are so many ways and things we have to be thankful for, even in this different and difficult situation.

As you pray each day remember that Jesus is the Christ and through belief in Him we have life in all its fullness. Jesus still leaves his peace with all who believe. Easter is a daily celebration for all his followers.

We send our love and prayers
Terry and Irene

April 9, 2020

Friday Connection – Good Friday (10th April 2020)

Welcome to our Fourth Friday Connection

Good Friday – On our Walk of Witness this year we shall be travelling together in our hearts and minds as we remember what Jesus did for us on Golgotha.

The cross is where Jesus took our sins away by his willing sacrifice. Good Friday fulfilled all the prophecies about who would be the one true Saviour who would bring peace. Psalm 85 verse 10 says “Love and faithfulness meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other”. Jesus asks for nothing from us except faith – a faith which follows His teachings. Even when Jesus was on the cross and being mocked he asked His Father to forgive those mockers.

He asks us, his followers, to live a life of love and forgiveness as he did. We know that the suffering of Jesus is followed by a glorious resurrection on Easter Day. Hebrews 12 verse 2 asks us to “fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of God”; because of Jesus we are blessed and put right with God who reigns with righteousness and peace.

The first disciples were not in a church when they met the risen Jesus – they were at home, behind locked doors, afraid of what the future might hold. Jesus burst through their doubts and fears, and showed them that their lives could have purpose and meaning that they could not know without him, and know his presence and power in their homes and lives and world. This year on Easter Day we will be at home, perhaps feeling unsure about the future – with the risen Jesus we can find a certainty that he will be with us in every part of our lives, no matter what the future may hold – we can still say: the Lord is risen – He is risen indeed! Amen.

See, what a morning, gloriously bright, with the dawning of hope in Jerusalem;
folded the grave clothes, tomb filled with light, as the angels announce Christ is risen!
See God’s salvation plan, wrought in love, borne in pain, paid in sacrifice,
fulfilled in Christ, the Man, for he lives: Christ is risen from the dead!
… And we are raised with him, death is dead, love has won, Christ has conquered;
and we shall reign with him, for he lives: Christ is risen from the dead!
©Stuart Townend (b.1963) and Keith Getty (b.1974)

Easter Sunday Communion at Home

Why not use this simple communion at 10.30am on Easter Day to bring us together as a church family?

Take a small piece of bread and some juice and say:

Bring bread to the table – Bring the body of Christ
Bring wine to the table – Bring the blood of Christ

Holy God, we praise you. We bless you for creating the world, for your promises to your people, and for Jesus, in whose face we see your fullness.

Born of Mary, he shares our life.
In broken bread he shares his life: with the hungry, the exploited & the poor.
In poured wine he shares his promise: with the oppressed, the hopeless and the excluded.

With thanksgiving we break the bread & lift the cup.
We proclaim Christ’s death & resurrection. We claim the promise of life.
We share the gifts of bread & wine, and share his gifts of love & life in our daily lives.

Unite us in faith, encourage us with hope, inspire us to love, that we may serve as your faithful disciples, until we join with all your people around your banquet table. Amen

April 3, 2020

Friday Connection – 3rd April 2020

Welcome to our Third Friday Connection – 3rd April 2020

As we gather together again through our Friday Connection we thank God for all the blessings we receive as his children. At this different time in our lives we realise how much we need the care and love of our heavenly father. God encourages us, uplifts us and give us the power through the Holy Spirit to reach out to others and, if not in physical ways, certainly in prayer.

We are at the beginning of Holy Week and as we mark Palm Sunday our reading is from
Mark 11: 1-11.

Two processions entered Jerusalem on this day: from the east Jesus rode on a donkey down the Mount of Olives, cheered by his followers. From the peasant village of Nazareth, his message was about the Kingdom of God, and his followers came from the peasant class. They had journeyed to Jerusalem from Galilee about 80 miles to the north, a journey that is the central part and dynamic of Mark’s Gospel.

On the opposite side of the city from the west, Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. Pilate’s procession proclaimed the power of empire: cavalry, horses, weapons, banners, marching feet and beating of drums.

The two processions are in direct contrast and confrontation – between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Caesar – the kingdoms of this world.

Here we are told the implications of following Jesus on the way to the cross, to Jerusalem: the way of confrontation with the authorities, but also the place of death and resurrection. In these difficult and challenging times, we still have to choose to follow the way of Jesus, for it is the way to LIFE even in the darkest times, life that is full of hope, joy, courage and expectation. We have been given the Holy Spirit to fill our lives with the vital necessities of that LIFE that only knowing Jesus and believing in God can give.

As we continue to pray for our world, our nation, our communities, our key workers, our friends and families we thank God that we can take our concerns to Him and accept his peace. The church family is here to support you so please ask for prayers through our several ways of contact. Here we ask for your prayers for Jane and Jonathan who are both very unwell. Jane was ill first and was very poorly but is improving, Jonathan is poorly and still ‘rubbish’ (his word) so please remember them and all those who are struggling in any way as we continue along the road to recovery.

With our love and prayers to you all
Terry and Irene

March 1, 2020

March 2020 Newsletter

Deuteronomy 31:8 The Lord, He goes before you. He will be with you. He will not fail you nor forsake you. Do not fear, nor be dismayed.”

God’s promises are wonderful. He made this promise to the Israelites when they were in trouble and He makes the same promise to us today. We need to remind ourselves daily that He is there before us; that He will never leave us and that He will always be with us, no matter what happens to us in life or in the world.

Throughout the Bible God makes promises to His people and His promises never fail. Psalm 100 says ”…his love endures for ever and his faithfulness continues through all generations”. How many of God’s promises can you find or recall? When we remember and realise that God’s promises are true and solid our faith calls us to respond by the way we live.

Living a Christian life is not always easy but resting on God’s promises day by day gives us strength to face any difficulties, courage to carry on and a deep joy that nothing else can give us. With this knowledge we know that “..nothing can separate us from the love of God” and whatever happens “…if God is for us who can be against us.” God blesses you every day – walk in His light. Amen

Services in March

Worship at 10:30am

1st – Revd T Nowell Holy Communion
8th – Mr K Chester
15th Revd A Burrows

All Church services have been cancelled until further notice, following the guidance from the government. Please see this post for details of alternative online services and resources.

Dates for your Diary

Mon. 02 March. – Craft & Friendship group – 10.30am
Wed. 04 March. – 1st Lent meeting, Steps to the Cross – 2pm
Fri. 06 March. – World Day of Prayer at All Saints – 10.30am
Fri. 06 March – Coffee Drop-in each Friday from now – 9-10am
Mon. 09 March – Craft & Friendship group – 10.30am
Thurs. 12 March – 2nd Lent meeting – 2pm

All events have been cancelled until further notice, following the guidance from the government. Please follow us on Facebook to keep in touch during this time.

Environmental Concerns

The churches are full of people trying to care for God’s creation. The church of England’s lenten journey is called Care for God’s Creation. The Methodist church, along with other churches, is part of Creating a climate of Change – Living Lent.

Living Lent encourages us to become part of a community who will respond to the call to climate action by making significant personal commitments to changing our lifestyles for the sake of climate. Living Lent majors on us realising that changing our climate is not just an activity but a lifestyle.

Can you change your lifestyle for Lent? 40 days but 40 days which might help us to continue changing as we hunger & thirst for righteousness, for instance, knowing that we might refuse a plastic bag for our fashion buy but think deeper about the child who might have made the item in a sweatshop! We need to think beyond the obvious in our living.

Groups and Events

Fairtrade Fortnight | 24th February – 8th March

The Fairtrade foundation campaigns for living wages for millions of those across the world who provide a lot of our food. This year they are concentrating on cocoa farmers. A Fairtade price for their crops means they are more likely to receive a living wage meaning they can feed and educate their children. Please support Fairtrade.

Pantomime

Thank you so much to all our players, backstage helpers, front of house staff, singers and Jonathan, our Musical Director for the wonderful production of our pantomime on 14th & 15th February. Three full houses cheered on and joined in as well as enjoying choc ices and trying for one of our fantastic raffle prizes. The amount raised was £1,020. This will help the church pay for the fire alarm system which will cost nearly £6,000 but is necessary to ensure safety to everyone on our premises.

Mission in Britain

Thank you to everyone who attended the coffee morning which raised £89.40 to help the Methodist church carry out it’s mission throughout the country. Thank you also to those who collect through the year in Mission in Britain boxes.

Fundraising

Our shrapnel and FISH

Our loose change does a lot of good, supporting different charities during the Autumn up to Christmas. We have decided to put out the loose change box again to support Food in School Holidays. Lots of families struggle to feed their children during school holidays when there are no school meals. Because of this the local churches provide vouchers to ensure the children don’t go hungry. If you can help by dropping your loose change in the box, the money will be very helpful to alleviate the struggle some parents might have.

Goodbye to our dear friends, Sylvia Marrows & Marjorie Farnsworth

Sylvia moved to our church when ‘Big Wesley’ closed and used her musical gifts from the beginning in our choir. She was Sunday School treasurer for a long time and a member of the Women’s Circle until fairly recently when, after a fall and a broken hip, she was unable to walk very well. For many years she sold choc ices with Mrs Brown at the pantomime. Her faith enabled her to be a central and much loved member of the church. Her funeral is in church on Tuesday, 10th March at noon.

Marjorie also was a life-long Christian and as a child attended the Salvation Army. Living in Walmer Street meant she could easily become involved in many aspects of our church life. She was a member of our Women’s Circle and leader for many years and she enjoyed singing at the pantomimes and with the singing group. Marjorie had worked as a cook and used her baking and sewing skills to support all the churches activities. Whenever she was asked to read in church there was no hesitation and she had a beautiful reading voice. Her funeral is in church on Tuesday 24th March at noon. There will be a thanksgiving service held in church at a later date.

We shall miss both Sylvia and Marjorie but thank God that we were able to share part of our Christian journeys with them. Romans 14:8 ‘If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.’

Closing Prayer

Thank you God for times of fun & laughter. Help me to remember You in times of happiness as well as times of trouble. Amen

Download a PDF version of the Newsletter

To download a PDF version of the newsletter, please click here.

February 4, 2020

February 2020 Newsletter

God’s Closeness

As Christians we believe God is close to us and that in Jesus we see his human face and that gives us comfort and assurance. Do you sometimes feel though that YOU are far from God? Are we sometimes like St Paul – so sure of our rightness that we don’t even consider what God would require in our living? And yet God came close to Paul and showed him how vital a Christian way of life is to His world.

The 25th January is the day when Paul is commemorated by Malta when he was shipwrecked. He was so impressed and thankful for the kindness and hospitality he and his fellow travellers were shown. The Week of Prayer this year focused on hospitality and was prepared by Christians Together in Malta & Gozo. We long always to know the closeness of God but
sometimes we have to readjust our thinking and living. It is easy to slip and forget to welcome and be a part of our church community, our support of others who are not like us, and to be generous to those who have little.

Paul said he received “unusual kindness” and with humility we need to offer this to those of other denominations, religions, nationalities, refugees, those who are different – and to do this simply because this is what our faith demands and is the way we will show that God is close and working through our lives and our world.

Services in February

Worship at 10:30am

2nd – Revd Nowell, HC
9th – Revd Nowell
16th – Revd Nowell – Mission in Britain, Cafe Church
223rd – Section Service at Central Methodist Church

Dates for your Diary

Mon. 03 Feb. – Craft & Friendship group – 10.30am
Mon. 10 Feb. – Craft & Friendship group – 10.30am
Fri. 14 Feb. – Dick Whittington – 7.30pm
Sat. 15 Feb. – Dick Whittington – 2pm and 7.30pm
Sat. 22 Feb. – Mission in Britain Coffee – 10-11am
Mon. 24 Feb. – Craft & Friendship group – 10.30am
Wed. 26 Feb. – Church Council – 2pm
Thurs 27 Feb – Men’s Meeting – 7.15pm

Environmental Concerns

Throughout 2019 we considered several ways of helping our environment and the climate: illegal palm oil in a lot of our food, particularly confectionery and what it is doing to wildlife forests in Borneo and the rain forests across the world; how plastic wrapping paper and glitter cards at Christmas cannot be recycled; consideration of overconsumption to satisfy our wants rather than our needs; the careless over-use of single-use plastic; care with our use of water in our homes & gardens and re-usable water bottles; fast fashion which demands vast resources. These are just a few of the ways of living we considered.

Have you needed to adjust your ways of living and shopping e.g. using less plastic, and, if so, how have you been able to adapt to a more sustainable way of living? It is clear from what is happening in the world, with exceptional floods and heat that the climate is warming and we need to live sustainably if we are going to be able to save God’s world. Perhaps you need to email / write to your MP to ensure they lobby for right living, or to shops which are full of plastic? One letter or email is thought to say to those in power that at least eleven others are thinking the same, so don’t hesitate to speak out.

Heavenly Father, give us courage to care for your wonderful world. We pray that we will be filled with a spirit of concern for the future of our environment; bring an end to the exploitation of the earth’s scarce resources; and live as responsible stewards protecting and respecting this gift of creation God has placed in our hands. Amen.

Groups and Events

Pantomime – Don’t forget your tickets!

Friday evening 14th February, 7.30pm
Saturday 15th February, 2pm & 7.30pm

Tickets £5.00 from any cast member or Terry on (01522) 754254

Mission in Britain February

Sunday service on 16th February at 10.30am when we consider how our church supports Mission in Britain.

Saturday Coffee 22nd February with Cake & Bric-a-brac stalls along with a raffle. If you have a Mission in Britain box please bring it to be emptied.

Men’s Group – 27th February

Men’s Group will meet at 7.15pm on 27th February when the speaker will be Paul Disley, all men are welcome.

Thanks, Thanks, Thanks

Leaving Care Gift Service

Thank you to everyone who supported the young people who are making the transition from Care to independent living.

Christmas Giving

Our shrapnel (loose change) and the Folk Carol Service, with thanks to Jonathan and friends, raised £325.00, which will mean we can provide nine toilets for families in Africa so they will not have to go into the unsafe bush and the threat of disease because of unhygienic conditions will be greatly lessened.

NOMAD Lunch

Thank you to everyone who supported our soup lunch for the homeless which raised £180, and we sent 20 hats, 31 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of gloves and 10 books.

Other News

Church Envelopes & Assessment

The new year’s envelopes are now available. If you do not have church envelopes and think you would be able to give through the scheme them please ask Rosemary and she will provide them. The benefit of using envelopes is that even when you cannot attend church you are still able to put away your weekly contribution and can put the envelopes on the plate next time you are at church. This means that our church has a steady income which ensures we can carry out our mission more effectively, pay our gas & electricity & upkeep and pay our assessment.

Our assessment is the amount we have to pay each quarter to the circuit as our contribution to our Minister’s stipend and living expenses. At this time our assessment is £11,500 per
year. Totalling our assessment and our own church expenses means that to keep afloat we require £10 a week from each member. We also realise that not everyone can contribute this amount so we have events through the year to raise funds so we can continue our work here on Monks Road.

Thank you everyone for your support, not only of our church, but for the support you give to all the charities and good causes to which we contribute throughout the year.

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