My Church Needs One of Those

Bagging a better future

PROMISE BAGS is an Indian business giving holistic freedom to women trapped in caste-based discrimination. ‘Our mission is to offer freedom to Dalit (or Untouchable) women trapped in 3000 years of a caste system in which they have been treated with less dignity than an animal,’ said founder and CEO Elisha Chowtapalli. The company currently provides employment for 12 women in a safe, loving and caring environment. The women create beautiful and high-quality leather and jute bags, handcrafted with heart and passion, samples of which will be on sale at CRE National 2021. ‘We produce 100 per cent genuine leather bags,’ said Elisha. ‘Our dream is to employ 100 women by 2025.’

He brought a selection of bags to CRE National 2017 – and sold out! This year visitors will discover a variety of products suitable for family, church or business needs. Forty per cent of profits from sales go towards a notfor-profit education project with Dalit children, started 13 years ago (see lightkids.org) Promise Bags are on stand A54 at CRE National 2021.

Getting to root of eating guilt

THE LIVES OF a lot of people in our churches are secretly ruled by food. So says Professor Deborah Lycett of Taste & See, a unique blend of fact and faith helping to bring freedom to lives ruled by food, dieting and emotional eating. ‘Many people feel guilty whenever they eat or step on the scales,’ said Deborah, who teaches in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at Coventry University. ‘This unhappiness makes them want to eat more and they find themselves in an endless cycle of dieting, overeating and feeling miserable. But God wants to set us free! He wants us to taste and see that he is good and that food is good, too!’ Designed with and for churches and developed out of research at the university, Taste & See is a 10-session audio-video, smallgroup programme that anyone can run! ‘It’s not about dieting but learning to eat in response to our body’s natural signals of hunger and fullness, rather than in response to our emotions and what we see or smell!’ said Deborah. ‘The Christian principles of love, acceptance and freedom with responsibility fit well with this and are included in the programme.’ Taste & See are on stand E8 at CRE.

Nothing beats sitting on it

CRE National 2021 Sandown Park, Surrey 12-14 October 2021 www.creonline.co.uk CRE South West 2022 Westpoint, Exeter 23-24 February 2022

Pop goes the pupil

THE LOCKDOWN HAS proved a mixed blessing to the founders of a popular school resource. Miz Porter, creator of iSingPOP, said: ‘The crisis has been really bad because children have not been allowed to sing in school but good because we have developed a whole new area of ministry using YouTube and visual resources.’ Founded 15 years ago, the organisation has been reaching 90,000 children a week thanks to a classroom worship programme. Resources are provided to help children and families engage in collective worship whether in school, church or at home. The vision for the project came when Miz, 48, was taking a band into schools to lead singing and discovered the children wanted to be the band. ‘I realised they need to be involved in every aspect of the programme,’ she recalled. ‘That is the skill which our team of enthusiastic leaders have developed over the years.’ Classroom Worship from iSingPOP unites the whole school in collective worship. The one-a-week, 20-minute session involves almost no advance preparation and can be lined up with Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. iSingPOP will be in action at CRE National 2021 (3pm, Tue 12 Oct) and aim to ‘take years off your age’ at their interactive workshop! iSingPOP are on stand U9 at CRE National 2021.

z CCSM (Chinese Church

Support Mission) is continuing to serve

Christians under immense pressure by supplying them with Micro SD Cards containing multiple versions of the Bible. Stand U1.

z CHURCHECOMISER offer a new way to heat your church with all the benefits of a traditional hot waterbased system but without the water or the boiler.

Stand J1.

z GOOD TO GIVE are a top provider of Gift Aid management for churches with more than 400 charities across the UK already relying on their services. To date, the organisation has given back to their clients over £12.3 million worth of income. Stand U6.

z THE HT-400 HYMNAL Plus (pictured) plays more than 2880 traditional hymns and modern worship songs – especially useful when regular musicians aren’t available at weddings and funerals. Stand N1.

z LONG-STANDING exhibitor

GoPak manufacture a wide range of furniture for churches with their iconic twin-leg design a staple item in hundreds of places of worship. Stand T1.

Communion beyond Covid

A LIVERPOOL COMPANY is helping churches administer communion in a way that helps prevent the spread of Covid-19. The elements are delivered in a small pre-filled communion cup containing a double seal. Peeling off the first seal reveals an altar wafer. A second seal reveals nonalcoholic grape juice. Suhail Suhail, director of Miracle Meal in the UK, is already dealing with regular orders. ‘Churches have found our product useful during the pandemic,’ he said. ‘Many delivered the communion elements individually to members in advance, to be used during services broadcast online.’ The vision for Miracle Meal belongs to Dominic and Alidia Symes in South Africa. The couple were on holiday in Singapore when they learnt that Dominic’s father had been diagnosed with cancer. Turning to God for support, the church in which they were worshipping used the communion service as an integral part of prayer for healing. On their return to South Africa the couple spent two years researching how to encourage more to take communion. Miracle Meal finally came to fruition with companies set up in South Africa, America, Canada and the UK. ‘Our heart is to supply the communion cup to every Christian on this planet at a fair price,’ explained Dominic.

World’s ‘busiest’ Bible

THE GOOD NEWS Bible – Family Edition is designed to get families engaging with and experiencing the Bible together. Using a diverse range of exciting features, this brand-new resource provides space and tools for families to find confidence and rhythm in exploring scripture at home. Some of its key features include: • Unique opposing landscape page layout, allowing for multiple ways of engagement • More than 400 interactions, based on the themes of Think, Chat, Do, Create and Watch • Removable and reusable ‘whiteboard’ jacket, for writing, drawing and being creative • Loads of space inside for writing, doodling and drawing • 26 online videos that help support and unpack the tricky bits ‘There is something for everyone, whether you like to reflect on what you have read, openly discuss questions and opinions, draw and journal or watch some video content,’ said the Bible Society’s Jack Imbert-Terry. ‘It is all here in this Bible.’

The Bible Society are on stand A26 at CRE.

Stream team at your service

OFFERING EXCEPTIONAL image quality for streaming services in low light – that’s the advantage of a camera system installed by one CRE exhibitor. APi Sound and Visual have been busy fitting cameras throughout the pandemic – including St Andrew’s Church in Cullompton, Devon (pictured). The system provides two-camera streaming with integrated switcher and streamer. ‘The main benefit of these cameras is that they offer exceptional image quality even in low light, a frequent problem in many churches,’ said APi’s Andy Pidsley. ‘The supplied joystick remote control has a number of pre-set memories so that commonly-used shots can be quickly recalled, with the joystick allowing fine control.’ A four-input switcher and combined streaming unit makes the whole process of selecting a source for the projector and stream simple and removes the need for an additional computer to perform the streaming function. A 22” monitor shows a four-way split of the different input sources available to the mixer. Finally, a small microphone on top of the rood screen picks up singing and other ambient sounds – just for the streaming audio. APi Sound and Visual also provide installation training with on-going telephone support as and when needed. APi Sound and Visual are on stand J6 at CRE National 2021.

z THE NINEFOLD PATH from

Lifewords is a series of studies on the beatitudes providing a platform for the exchange of ideas on following Jesus and getting to know him better.

Stand B8.

z THROUGH THEIR Associate

Church Programme,

Interserve support local churches working through the challenges of presence and gospel engagement among people of other faiths and cultures.

Stand A42.

z IN THE Open Bible Trust’s book James: His Life and

Letter, we discover why the brother of Jesus did not believe him to be the

Messiah – and why all that changed. Stand A65. z WITH CAPACITY TO process up to 60 baskets per hour, ideal for church hall use, the Advantage warewasher range from

Nelson (pictured) also provides thorough disinfection against the threat of future pandemics.

Stand J3.

z ‘DOWN TO EARTH, real, un-religious – that’s why

Sorted has helped my

Christian faith so much!’ says adventurer and TV presenter Bear Grylls.

Stand D6.