News Archive
October 2008
Review: Rachel Unthank and the Winterset
Rachel Unthank and her band, The Winterset, sing haunting traditional folk songs mainly from the north east... » more
Facing fears
In the monthly Write Life group we have been facing our fears. For a short period in my life I experienced an intense, all-pervasive fear which led me to act in strange ways. I struggled to understand what was happening, but preoccupation with that was a dead end... » more
Jean's latest journey
I know I’ll still keep in touch with many of you. After all, an American tradition is the annual Christmas epistle. In terms of my communication as a Mercy Ships missionary, however, this is the final edition....
» more
Are you a record breaker?
A massive thank you to all those who stood up against world poverty and in support of the Millennium Development Goals last Sunday morning: you're all world record breakers! » more
Are you in a position to hear God?
One of the challenges of the life of Jesus is to imitate the way he never reacted, only acted... » more
What am I afraid of?
In the monthly Write Life group we have been facing our fears. Here is my
response to the exercise...
» more
Friday feast
For my first post, it seemed like it might be a good idea to point you in the
direction of other blogs by way of an introduction to the medium. For
now, I'll be including only Christian and church-related sites,
although there is a vast amount of good, thought-provoking,
controversial, entertaining, well informed, but not specifically
Christian writing out there for your delectation...
» more
Latest bulletin
Sunday's bulletin (October 19th) is now available to download here.
The fear of not having enough
In the monthly Write Life group we have been facing our fears and asking ourselves questions that include: What does your fear smell like? What does it taste like? What does it sound like? What does it feel like? What colour is it? If your fear was an animal, what would it be? To overcome your fear, what animal would you need to
become?
Then we've imagined God beside us, and as we tell Him of our
fear, we listen as He speaks. And we write. Here is my
response to that exercise. We'll be posting more in the following
weeks...
Weekly review
Even though we don't like to admit it, Christmas is coming and presents need to be bought. If you are looking for a good book for children, apart from the usual sleigh bells and nativity tales, here's my recommendation... » more
Stand up
Last year more than 43 million people worldwide "Stood Up Against Poverty". The aim this year is to have 67.5 million, which is 1% of the world population. It doesn't take long, doesn't require you to give any money - just a few minutes of your time.
Next Sunday in our morning service we will be joining in this worldwide stand. There are lots of events planned in our area this weekend organised by Make Poverty History North East.
If you want to know how to make a difference to reducing poverty how about talking to Rachel Rai, our Traidcraft rep, or Julie Sheasby, our Tearfund rep. If you want to know more about Lert sa Wat and how to support this project, please speak to Melvyn and Maureen Wallhead and ask them about the new Christmas gift catalogue. And there are still a few tickets for The Stand on November 8 available from the church office.
With God we can make a difference
Have you been wondering how to share God’s heart for the poor? Do you ever feel overwhelmed and not sure what to do with the massive issues out there?
We know what God is saying, but we often struggle to do much about it, apart from feeling guilty.
This Sunday morning in our all age family service we will be reflecting on how, with God, we can make a difference. Through worship, stories, reflection on the Bible and ideas for practical action we’ll try to connect with what God is saying and doing. Come prepared to be challenged, encouraged and enabled!
We are bringing an offering of food and groceries for Common Ground and a Harvest Offering shared between Solomon Able and Common Ground.
“The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.” Proverbs 29:7
Care for a cappuccino?
How often do you take time for a chat over coffee (or tea)? Probably the most valuable thing we can give someone else is our time – and I think that’s one of the reasons why the Alpha course has proved so successful. Time to ask, time to talk, time to think - so hard to find in today's society. So why not attach that time to a meal, which we have to eat at some point anyway? All of a sudden, it’s not wasted time.
Here’s another way in which Christians are finding time to share their faith in a way that others outside the church find attractive. Costa Coffee on Welwyn Garden City’s high street opens after hours on a Sunday for a “cafechurch”, led by a former Baptist pastor, where people enjoy coffee and debate on a range of issues from debt and angels to marriage and parenting. Now all 600 branches of Costa coffee have been given the thumbs up to do the same if approached.