Thursday, July 15, 2010

July news

Other Dates for your July diary

July 1st Elders Meeting 7.30pm
2nd to 5th July General Assembly of the URC
6th July Glebe Service 1.30pm
12th Coffee Morning 11am
15th Church meeting 2pm
18th CTBB songs of praise St Chads 6.30pm
19th Area meeting Langley green 7.30pm
26th Coffee morning 11 am
31st Diana’s Farewell Service at Broadway 3pm.

Brownie meetings
Thursday evening 6pm to 7.30pm
Girls between ages of 7 to 10 years
For details please ring Fiona 01922 685063
Or Yvonne on 01922 682078
Brownies is the only uniformed organisation to meet on Thursdays..
This month the Church will be praying especially for the people who live in the following streets :

Chapel Str, Smithfield Rd, St Clements Ave, Well Lane, Lichfield Rd.

july news continued

Dear Friends,
How strange it seems to be writing my last newsletter to you after thirteen years! Earlier this month I attended Minister’s Summer School – an annual conference for URC ministers from the West Midlands Synod – and was encouraged by the enthusiasm I was hearing from the ministers. We were asked to think about some of the things that we really value about the United Reformed Church and the thoughts were flowing! I wanted to share some of them with you to remind you of the great heritage which we share in our reformed denomination.
We believe in a Trinitarian God - Creator, Saviour and Holy Spirit.
We are an inclusive church, which welcomes a rich diversity of people.
The Lord’s Supper, in the URC, is open to anyone who is a friend of Jesus and wants to know him more.
The authority of our church is the Bible, discerned under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
We are committed to ecumenism. (That churches of different denominations should join together to do God’s work).
The “governance” of our church is based on the authority of the church meeting guided by the Holy Spirit. Every Church Member has a voice in the decision making of the Church.
We believe in the “priesthood of all believers” and that we are all called to various ministries – whether you are a listener, a flower arranger, an elder, an administrator, a treasurer, a minister, a singer, a welcomer or all the other jobs that are done in our church – that is your ministry.
We are a church which is committed to challenging injustice in the world and working for peace.
We have a history of encouraging education for both children and adults. (The TLS course is recognised by other denominations as being an excellent course.)
We are a church which values equality. (For instance – our stipendiary ministers all receive the same stipend, whether they are a moderator or a local minister).
Elders in the URC are ordained to their special ministry.
Lay preachers in the URC are recognised as a hugely valuable resource.
We are a part of the Reformed tradition of churches around the world. ( We sometimes forget that the Reformed Church is bigger that the Anglican Church world-wide!)
We value the traditions which make up our church – Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Churches of Christ.
……………………………………………………..continued...

July news

Editor’s July 2010
As a director of Comex with a long association with the Glebe centre it is pleasing that at the moment the centre is doing well.. The funding crisis has past for the moment and some really excellent volunteers have come forward. One lady called Monica who has spent some time helping at the Glebe told of her experiences at the last meeting of Comex.
She found the challenges quite inspiring and one case she had been very involved in who was a long term alcoholic, once he had been started on the road to recovery, bought a packet of sweets with his first benefit cheque and immediately shared his sweets with Monica.
No big deal you may say,
but for those who live totally disorganised lives that the achievement of filling in a form to get some line of support is a real milestone. If they do not start on that path the road down will inevitably end in premature death and a totally wasted life.
Certainly the Glebe has offered that support for a great many years and saved a lot of those lives. The support given by this church to the Glebe. If we can move along to forge closer partnerships with like minded support organisations we can be even more effective.

Regards
Ian.
Message from Jason working on our garden project in Niger

We have just distributed cow pea and peanut seeds to our women's garden participants. Once those are harvested we can plan another round of vegetable gardens. This is a crucial time right now as the sparse rains have just started. Depending on how much rain falls we will know how the food security situation will play out for the next year and if the current near famine will turn into an
acute disaster situation. We can't control the rains, but our garden interventions have certainly been a huge blessing to the families touched by the project, on the larger scale probably a key to preventing future famine. Our sincere thanks for your interest and your efforts on behalf of Niger.
Pictures at oaktreetrust.blogspot.com
Let us all pray for some good rain there in Niger!!