Contactfeb2018

CONTACT

Magazine of Erdington Methodist Church Station Road - February 2018 GROWING GOD’S KINGDOM IN ERDINGTON, THROUGH WORSHIP, PRAYER, ACTION AND FRIENDSHIP 1

Contents From our Minister, Malcolm CGK II (Celebrating God’s Kingdom) Churches Together Lent Groups Handsworth Gang Show reImagine Church New year resolution?

Magazine Articles The BBC to increase coverage of religion Friday Friends Shoe Box Appeal Lenten Valentines Prayer for strength News from the Beavers Mystery Young People’s Residential Young People and Worship Changes – a suggestion All in the month of FEBRUARY Boot Sales, a Crafty Mission - 1st February 2018 New Year Letter from our District Chair, Rev Ian Howarth Insanity February 2018 Regular Meetings Tuesday Club Sunday Worship Weekly Church Activities

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From our Minister, Malcolm Dear All, During 2018 I would like us to explore together issues surrounding RIGHTS & RESPONSIBILITIES. In this letter I reflect on the following theme: When is it right to say sorry if you have offended someone. I guess all would subscribe to the adage 'You cannot please ALL of the people ALL of the time'. Inevitably some people will be disappointed or even offended. However, a central theme for Christians is that it is more important to honour God than to please other people. This is not easy. As we entered 2018 many of us of prayed the words of the Methodist Covenant prayer: Your will, not mine, be done in all things . . . when I am valued and when I am disregarded . . .

For many people, including Christians, it is important to say sorry to God. To put it another way: confess our sins.

I sense it can be healthy to apologise to the god we believe in for doing those things which undermine or destroy the core of that belief. I guess that some people think that any notion of apologising or saying sorry is unimportant . . . they live as though they need never apologise to their god or to anybody else.

Recently a friend said: 'Malcolm why do you say "I apologise if I have offended anybody . . . you are entitled to your opinion". This got me thinking! Yes, I am entitled to my opinion (and thank God in this country we have freedom of speech). Nevertheless, I also have a responsibility to express opinions in a way that causes least 3

offence. I need, as it were, to strike a balance between RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES. So I have a question: How can we as individuals and faith communities balance RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES in such a way that God is honoured and God's will is done?

Reflecting further about what my friend said I wonder whether there is a difference between what I mean when saying "I apologise if I have offended anybody . . . � and what is being heard.

Perhaps people are hearing: I am wrong to say what I have said, I am wrong to express this opinion. BUT What I mean is: in apologising, I wish to acknowledge a reality that we live in a sinful world, where 'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God' (Romans 3 v23) ‌including me. Hence even with the best preparation and considered thought inevitably there is room for error, misunderstanding and that perhaps what I (or others) say is contrary to the desire of God's heart.

In future maybe what I need to say is: 'This is what I believe God has laid on my heart, I want to apologise to God and you for any offence that may have been caused due to my human frailty.'

Is it reasonable to assert that causing offence and being offended is part of life? You may like to look at the Methodist Worship Book page 256, where as part of the liturgy for Good Friday you will find, put on the lips of God: How have I offended you? Answer me!

Next time I am hoping, God willing, to explore: Forgiving our RIGHT . . . or our RESPONSIBILITY? 4

All good wishes for Love Joy and Peace as we journey through 2018.

Your minister and friend, Malcolm

CGK II (Celebrating God’s Kingdom) The next CGK planning meeting is on Wednesday 31st January at 7.30 pm at Four Oaks.

Churches Together Lent Groups There is still time to take part in these ecumenical discussion groups which take place during Lent. If you are interested then please speak to Nick Riley as soon as possible.

Handsworth Gang Show 20th-24th February - at the Crescent Theatre at 19.30pm with a Saturday matinee at 14.30 pm www.handsworthgangshow.org.uk

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reImagine Church Just two months to go until the Reimagine Church Conference in Birmingham on 10 March! (see poster later in Contact). With more than 100 people already registered, this event promises to be a powerful experience for anyone interested in engaging new people in mission in the 21st century.

Now is the time to book in. Please contact the Birmingham District office at office@birminghammethodist.org.uk or 0121 449 0131.

The conference itself is free. Participants will be asked to contribute £5 on the day to help cover lunch, hot drinks, and snacks, though we don’t want this small cost to be a barrier to anyone attending, so please do book regardless of your ability to contribute.

Limited spaces available for childcare for children age 5 and under.

Please indicate your request when you book.

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New year resolution?

As of 1st January 2018, the Chinese government has banned the import of plastic waste. Presumably our Government knew that this was coming because they are currently consulting on the possibility of a reversion to a system whereby soft drinks containers are deposited items. They have also proposed eliminating unnecessary plastic waste over the next 25 years.

In 2016 the UK exported 400,000 tons of plastic waste to China therefore the cessation of this trade leaves us with an immediate problem. If we can no longer send it to China, what are we going to do with it?

Greenpeace reported in 2017 that 16 million plastic drinks containers are sold every day in the UK. The trade body for plastic bottles manufacturers tell us that all of these bottles are recyclable.

However, the raw material for these bottles contains less than 7% recycled material. World-wide this is a two million tons a year business. No wonder there are so many discarded bottles on our beaches.

Given the size and immediacy of this problem it is probably time that we each took it a little more seriously. The mantra which is promulgated by everyone with regard to plastic waste is 'reduce, reuse and recycle' and to date we have all focused almost exclusively on 'recycle' to exclusion of 'reduce' and 'reuse', probably because that involves us in doing less. This is exemplified by two relatively small changes in everyday living, which are in increasing plastic waste immeasurably, possibly, unnecessarily?

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Firstly, on Christmas day I was responsible for some of the Christmas lunch, including the gravy. I looked in the cupboard for an 'Oxo' cube and was greeted by a plethora of little plastic pots.

There were four in the space that would previously been occupied by about 24 'Oxo' cubes. The manufacturers of stock cubes have replaced the little solid cube wrapped in a piece of foil with a new product in a plastic pot with a non-recyclable foil lid and sold it to us at a higher price on the premise that it will give us tastier gravy.

This is a product which is larger, therefore requiring more packaging, heavier because it contains water and the packaging is less easily recycled and yet we have still bought into it. The range available on the supermarket shelves is an indication that there is additional profit to be made here.

Secondly, in every home that I visit it seems that the humble bar of soap has been replaced by a bottle of liquid detergent, often accompanied by a matching bottle of little used hand lotion. Here the debate is more nuanced. It takes about five times more energy to produce liquid soap than a bar of soap. The packaging is even more biased because the plastic pump bottle consumes 20 times as much energy as the wrapper for a bar of soap. But a bar of soap comes from raw material grown on the land rather than oil out of a well. In addition, it is reported that whilst washing hands with liquid soap we all use less water than we would with a bar of soap.

However, because the liquid soap dispenser is made of multiple parts it is very difficult to recycle. Yet another redundant plastic container that may well finish up on our beaches.

But to return to 'reuse, reduce and recycle', drinks containers are an exemplar for all of these. If your tipple is a soft drink then it has to be a clean container, but it could be recycled. If your tipple is water 9

then maybe a reusable container would be in order. Many of the suppliers of the bottled water that line the shelves of our supermarkets and convenience stores take tap water, filter it, check that it is pure, sterilise it and then sell it to you for about 300 times the price of water out of the tap. The use of a reusable water container would fit in well with 'reduce, reuse and recycle' and save you some money each week.

On the 27th December Price Harry was the guest editor on the Today program and right at the end of his broadcast piece, he talked about everyone doing their bit to make the world a better place. Nichola used to put it slightly differently, if you don't do anything about it you are complicit. As Christians, we are tuned in to this message, to start from where we are now and work out from there.

How many plastic things in your house/home are unnecessarily one trip. What small changes could you make to your life that would reduce the pile of plastic waste that can no longer be sent to China?

Peter Farley

Magazine Articles Our church magazine was one of the first things that Revd Nichola Jones put into place when she became our Minister in the year 2003 . . . I think! She asked for volunteers to form a small committee to meet every month with a view to suggesting topics of interest which would be suitable to include in a new venture. This new 10

venture happened to be the birth of our church magazine, 'CONTACT'. In a short space of time we were soon producing 40 pages of material over a period of 10 months in every year.

Quite a few years have elapsed since the first edition was produced, but as a general rule the number of pages in Contact have lessened. It is encouraging, however, that the magazine is still welcomed by friends not only in our church, but in others too.

More contributions are always needed, however, to ensure the continuous commitment of the magazine. On a few occasions I have heard comments such as "I don't know what to write," or "I'm no good at this sort of thing". Don't worry about 'Can't and 'I'm no good at writing', just give it a go! An increasing number of people attend our church regularly. It would be refreshing to find in our monthly Contact some new ideas and thoughts.

Please will you think about this. Nick spends a lot of time putting together the magazine and printing numerous pages. He along with committee members past and present and people who attend churches in our circuit as well as our own church, would be pleased to read more articles of interest in Contact.

It would be remiss of me if I didn't thank those children and adults who have written for Contact.

So - Thank you everyone.

Barbara Rawson

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The BBC to increase coverage of religion The BBC has recently pledged to ‘raise our game’ on religion by increasing the portrayal of all faiths in mainstream shows The corporation said it would ‘enhance’ the representation of religion on TV and radio dramas and documentaries. It said it would also create a new global religious affairs team, headed by a religion editor, in BBC News. The BBC will also keep Thought For The Day on Radio 4's Today programme The corporation recently published the conclusions of a review into its coverage of religion and ethics, and Director General Tony Hall said audiences of all faiths and none have said they want to learn more about those topics.

‘They recognise that, if we truly want to make sense of the world, we need to understand the systems of belief that underpin it,’ he said. He added that he wants the corporation ‘to do more about Christianity and other beliefs as well.’

The plans include: There will be more about non-Christian festivals like Diwali, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Ramadan and Eid on mainstream programmes like The One Show, The Chris Evans Breakfast Show and Newsround.

There will be landmark programmes to ‘explore religion in all its forms’, including a major TV series about the world's sacred sites, a 12

Radio 4 series on morality in the 21st Century, and a Radio 2 initiative to encourage young people to discuss issues about peace 2019 will be ‘A Year of Beliefs’, with programmes looking at how people make big decisions and where they get their moral values from.

There will be more ‘people-led stories that have warmth and depth’, such as observing vicars working in local communities.

There will be tie-ins with music and comedy, and more digital-first video and social media content.

The role of the religious affairs correspondent - currently Martin Bashir - will be upgraded to religion editor, leading BBC News's new global religious affairs team. BBC News will also broaden the range of interviewees and contributors to represent a wider range of opinions and practices from the Parish Pump Website

Friday Friends Friday Friends is a group which meets at South Parade Methodist Church on Friday Mornings (not 2nd week) for those who are living with dementia or are having memory problems. We meet from 10.30 am until 12.30 pm.

Our programme consists of Music, Exercise and various activities.

Meetings start with coffee and a quiz, then an activity at approx 11.10 am for about an hour, and we finish with (more) coffee and chat.

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Shoe Box Appeal One of our preachers during Advent was Lynne Crow and at some point, during her service she threw out a question 'do you support the Shoe Box Appeal?' This rang a faint bell in my head and I remembered that David Parker had talked to me about his involvement with this in the past, both in St Neots and Lichfield.

A little research reveals that this is the everyday name for a scheme known officially as Operation Christmas Child. Officially it operates in the run up to Christmas and is organised by the charity Samaritan's Purse. https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operationchristmas-child/how-to-pack-a-shoebox/ The premise is to give a shoe box sized parcel, wrapped with Christmas paper and containing appropriate gift items to as many destitute children as possible around the world as near as possible to the 25th December. The web site reveals that in 2016, 850,000 shoe box parcels from 9,000 churches were sent to 17 different countries around the world.

Samaritan's Purse make the task as easy as possible. They ask that boxes are filled for either girls or boys with the age ranges 2-4, 5-9 and 10-14. Then for each of these groups they make suggestions about what should be included. Years ago, when I walked the Inca Trail Machu Picchu with/for Imperial Cancer Research Fund I was asked to pack paper and pencils to give to children along the route, because when these are available they are too expensive for most local families.

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Also, very helpfully, Samaritan's Purse tell you what not to include.

For example, your parcel might finish up where the weather is hot and therefore chocolate is not appropriate because it would melt and spoil.

During the year I hope to write more about this so that any who would like to join with me and contribute a shoe box towards the end of the year will have had ample warning. Samaritan's purse asks that if possible each box is accompanied by a contribution towards that cost of distributing these gifts.

In years past we have taken up three charitable collections over Christmas. But for the last couple of years this has downsized to two. I would like to propose that the third collection is reinstated this year and the monies collected be used to help with the distribution of any Shoe Boxes that our church members and adherents contribute.

Watch this space, remember November is Shoe Box time.

Peter Farley

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Lenten Valentines During this month Ash Wednesday and Valentine’s Day share the same date! It seems an odd mix, yet there is an obvious link: love!

Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday, is about learning how to love God more, as we give Him space in our lives. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on Jesus’ experience in the wilderness (Luke 4:1-13).

Jesus was led into the desert by the Spirit, where He was tempted

by Satan, but demonstrated the path of real love. Jesus is tempted to turn stones into bread. Love gets to the heart of human need, not just satisfying physical desires. Satan tempts Jesus to worship him.

However, worshipping God is the beginning of love and results in sacrificial service to meet the needs of others. Finally, He is tempted to put God to the test, by jumping off the Temple. Only real love can change hearts by practical love and care.

Lent teaches us how to live out the love of God in practice, as we follow Jesus in the way of the cross.

Valentine was Christ’s follower, committed to sharing God’s love with others. We know little about him, except that he was a priest who lived in the 3rd Century AD and was martyred on February 14th. Emperor Claudius felt that soldiers in the Roman Army were distracted from their duty by their wives, and so attempted to outlaw marriage. It is believed that Valentine married couples in secret. He also helped Christians in Rome during times of persecution. He demonstrated the importance of showing real love in action.

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In trying to understand the meaning of her revelations from God, Julian of Norwich found: ‘What, do you wish to know your Lord’s meaning in this thing? Know it well, love was his meaning.’ from the Parish Pump Website

Prayer for strength Dear Father in heaven, Thank you for the example Jesus gave us when He was in the wilderness – the desert where He was tempted by the enemy of all that is good.

Lord when we are tempted to give in to temptation, whatever form it may take, help us to remember that Jesus was tempted too, in the same ways that we are. But He looked to you for help and strength; He looked to your word and trustworthiness.

Help us to know your help and strength too. Help us to resist temptations by trusting you through Jesus. Help us to be good examples to others who may be struggling with life issues and to lead them also to you. Lord, please help us, as only you can.

We ask in Jesus name, Amen.

By Daphne Kitching 17

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News from the Beavers On Sunday 15th October 2017 Jayden, Emily, Benjamin, Jack and Joseph attended Blackwell Adventure for the Chief Scouts awards day. Presenting the awards were the deputy Lord Lieutenant David Bradnock together with the Birmingham County Scouts Commissioner Andrew Lloyd. After the presentation all persons took part in two Blackwell Adventure activities. However all of these persons have moved up into our Cub section.

On Thursday 23rd November and Thursday 30th November 2017 our Beavers attended the Pets at Home shop in Sutton Coldfield to have a presentation from Dave about how to look after pets in the home. Various animals were shown to the Beavers and if the beavers wanted to hold the animals they were able to do so.

I wonder if any of the beavers asked Santa for a pet for Christmas?

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Two of our Beavers Connor and Rhys looking after the guinea pigs at Pets at Home.

Here are the 177th Beavers together with Mang ( Anastasia Willetts ) an explorer Scout from the Perry Hall Explorer Scout Group who came into Beavers together with her mother to teach the Beavers Hand Bell ringing and to help them with their Music 21

badge. The Beavers gave a performance for their parents in the church hall to show them what they had achieved. Thank you both for helping our Beavers with their music badge.

The above photo shows Ari, Halle, Joseph and Isable who have just recently being enrolled into our Beaver Colony. Also on the right of the photo is Arian who was presented with his Chief Scouts Bronze award and finally Dominic who was holding the flag.

Many thanks to Lynn & Paul for keeping us up to date with what the Beavers get up to - great to hear about their achievements too - ed

Mystery Mystery creates wonder and wonder is the basis of man's desire to understand.

Neil Armstrong 22

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Young People’s Residential From 3rd January to 5th January 24 young people visited The Pioneer Centre in Kidderminster.

We were greeted by friendly staff who truly looked after us during our visit, with clean beds, bedding and all ensuite rooms that sleep six. Full English Brekki at 8.30, baguettes with various filling for lunch at 1pm, good wholesome dinner of meat and veg at 6pm.

The weather did mix up our original plans but Malcom kept it all under control and Fitzroy kept us entertained most of the time (God Bless him.)

Day 1 movie night Day 2 - Archery, indoor caving and indoor inflatable assault course, quiz night - led by Kairon and Kate. Jasmin visited us all the way from London to meet our youth team members and introduce herself as president of youth leaders uk.

Day 3 - Zip Wire and abseiling after lunch then our journey home.

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Throughout our stay we all lived with each other, some strangers and some not so strange, and shared our love for Jesus, drinking lots of coffee, sharing stories, chocolate, facing fears and sharing the passion in music.

Thanks be to God for letting us take part and may there be many more to join us in our next adventure.

Tracey Clarke The Residential was wonderful, even though I went there simply for a night to deliver my session. Sai said it was ‘Great fun. I met some really nice people and I hope to go visit their church soon as possible. They’re my friends now.

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Young People and Worship Changes – a suggestion Following Malcolm’s suggestions during worship a few weeks ago we had a Church Stewards meeting and there was feedback that people may have misunderstood what Malcolm was suggesting.

First of all it was emphasised that Malcolm was putting the idea forward as a suggestion for further discussion.

Currently our young people join us at the beginning of worship and the first part of worship is often therefore targeted at them, appropriate hymns, young people’s address etc.

Malcolm clarified at our meeting that what he was suggesting was that the young people initially go to their own group and join us in worship for the latter part of our service where worship will once again be targeted in their direction instead of at the beginning.

This is not meant to be divisive, or that the more mature in our congregation aren’t welcome but that the focus will be worship that may appeal more to the young people – but may equally appeal to older people too.

Over time it may also be possible that our young people will use this opportunity to be more involved in the leading of this part of the worship too.

I hope that clarifies a little what Malcolm was saying because I and other Stewards received feedback after the service that indicated that people hadn’t fully understood what was being proposed.

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I’m sure that encouraging our young people to bring their varied gifts to morning worship in a way that works for them is something we would all ‘sign up to.’

God Bless Nick Riley Senior Steward

All in the month of FEBRUARY It was: 80 years ago, on 24th Feb 1938, that the first toothbrushes with nylon bristles were introduced, by Du Pont. Until then toothbrushes had been made from the hair of boars or hogs.

65 years ago, on 5th Feb 1953, that sweet rationing ended in Britain.

Also 65 years ago, on 28th Feb 1953, that British scientists Francis Clark and James D. Watson announced that they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA. 60 years ago, on 6th Feb 1958, that George Harrison, aged 14, auditioned to join John Lennon’s skiffle group the Quarrymen (which later became the Beatles). The audition reportedly took place on a bus, and Lennon felt that Harrison was too young. from the Parish Pump Website

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Boot Sales, a Crafty Mission 1st February 2018

An evening of discussion and food. Led by the queen of the boot sales Rev Helen Roberts.

Every Sunday hundreds of thousands of Britons attend boot sales.

Every year we complain that people don't come to church because of all the activities on Sundays‌ especially boot sales. This is a chance to start a redressing of the balance. Come and share in a discussion about a practical approach to boot sale mission. There will be demonstrations of craft techniques and bacon roles. (because that is what you eat at a boot sale right? There will be a veggie option too) Stockland Green CafÊ at 7.30pm Tea, coffee and Bacon rolls available Light hearted discussion with Andrew Brazier Craft demonstration and creative ideas from Helen Roberts

Any queries contact Andrew Brazier on 07794639382 or email andrewbrazier@hotmail.com

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New Year Letter from our District Chair, Rev Ian Howarth This letter comes with greetings for the New Year and as an update on some key District initiatives for 2018.

These are part of our plan to have clear goals as we go about implementing our District Mission Policy: 'The Birmingham Methodist District seeks to grow disciples of Jesus Christ for the Kingdom of God through strategic planning and equipping leaders towards growth -

• in numbers of new disciples, • in depth of discipleship, • in transformation of communities and society.'

Initiative 1: Church without Walls Across the District we are working on several pathways to help us go forward in mission. i)

Church Mission Plan

In her presidential address last June, the President of the Conference, Lorraine Mellor, challenged each church with the question: 'Do you have a growth plan, or an end of life plan?' This first pathway asks each church to consider refreshing or developing a new mission plan, to think strategically about its future, and where it realistically plans to be in five years time.

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ii) Focused attention on mission in worship We have suggested that each church: A. incorporate a very concise, two or three sentence explanation of its mission into the spoken welcome at the beginning of every mission service B. build a system of intentional welcome and individual follow-up for every newcomer C. include a form of lay testimony regularly in worship services D. invite preachers to include a mission question, story, or application in every sermon. iii) An event outside the churches’ walls in the week 20 - 27th April 2018 In the District Team we would really like to hear how these things are going in your church(es), what plans you have, what support you might need to implement them, and what the response is, and it would be good to coordinate responses and share stories. Could someone from your church please get in touch with us, either at the District Office, (office@birminghammethodist.org.uk,) or with Trey Hall and the District Mission team, (mission@birminghammethodist.org.uk ), preferably by the end of February. We are available to help in this, and I hope and pray it is a way of us going forward together in our mission.

After April, we hope to do a fuller survey so we can evaluate how helpful the process has been in developing the mission of our church across the District, and help us to plan further support.

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Initiative 2: Twinning with Kadoma District, Zimbabwe We are very fortunate to have within the district four presbyters with roots in Zimbabwe, as well as two Zimbabwean Methodist Fellowships, meeting in Coventry and Birmingham. At our Synod last May, we agreed to build on this by forging a twinning relationship with a District in the Methodist Church of Zimbabwe.

The MCZ has responded very positively to this, and has suggested we pair with the Kadoma District a large District in Zimbabwe, that goes up to the Victoria Falls and into Zambia!

We have received a video from the Bishop of the Kadoma District, which is now on the District website: https://www.birminghammethodist.org.uk/assets/Uploads/ 2017-12-01-VIDEO-00000024.mp4 and we have produced a video about the link (https://youtu.be/inDVTLBHRXk), I hope those videos can be shown in churches across the District to raise awareness of this new twinning.

To plan further, we have been invited to send a small group to Kadoma to meet people in the district and attend their Synod in April this year. I hope to have the exact dates soon. We hope to have a mixed group of male/female, ordained and lay, and if you are interested in being part of that, or know someone who would be, please let me know. (speak to one of the Stewards)

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Initiative 3: Community Sponsorship of Refugees Spearheaded by David Butterworth, our Mission in the Economy officer, Birmingham District agreed to be one of the first organisations in Britain to offer community sponsorship of a Syrian Refugee Family. The bureaucracy surrounding this has meant it has taken a lot more time to get off the ground than we originally thought, but we have found suitable accommodation and put in place a support package and we are now in a position to say that we expect the family to arrive in the middle of February. We thank all who have supported this, and worked so hard at it, and pray it will be a real practical sign of our ongoing commitment to help those who are displaced and on the edge in a variety of ways.

Initiative 4: Berlin link Over many years there has been a link between the Birmingham District and the Berlin Methodist Church, with occasional exchange visits. There has been something of a gap since the last visit of our German friends in 2013, but we have had an invitation for a group to go to Berlin for a long weekend from 7th - 12th June. If you are interested, or know someone who might be, could you please contact Ian Athey on ianathey@btinternet.com Initiative 5: Safeguarding Conference The District Safeguarding Group is arranging a Safeguarding Conference for all Ministers and Safeguarding officers at South Parade Methodist Church, Sutton Park Circuit. It will be 10-3pm on 26th June. Further details to follows but please can ministers and 33

safeguarding officers or anyone else that wishes to attend note the date for their diaries.

The National Safeguarding Advisor, Tim Carter will open the Conference. We are in the process of arranging key guest speakers.

As you will see from the above, 2018 promises to be an interesting, exciting and challenging year for the Birmingham District. I hope in your situation you feel encouraged to know that you are part of a church that is truly Connexional, local and regional, national and world-wide, through which we support, encourage and challenge each other.

As we have renewed our Covenant at the beginning of the year, we never forget that in that covenant God promises us new life in Christ. I pray that new life in Christ may be real for you this year, to inspire and encourage you, in your life of discipleship.

Thank you for all you do in His name, Every blessing, Ian

Insanity Doctor: ‘Has there been any insanity in your family?’

Woman: ‘I’m afraid so. My husband sometimes thinks he's the boss.’

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February 2018 Regular Meetings

Each Saturday 10.00 am to 12.00 noon

Tuesday Club Every 2nd Tuesday in the month at 2.00 pm

Sunday Worship All worship starts at 10.30 am unless stated otherwise below.

4th 11th 18th 25th

HOLY COMMUNION - Rev John Ingyon RACIAL JUSTICE SUNDAY - Nikki Murcott ALL AGE WORSHIP - Rev Malcolm Oliver CIRCUIT SERVICE at South Parade - 6pm Tom Watts

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Weekly Church Activities Sunday

10.30 am

MORNING WORSHIP and Young Church

Tuesday

2.00 pm

Tuesday Afternoon Meeting

Wednesday

9.30 - 11.30 am 12.30 pm

Stay and Play Luncheon Club - (1st and 3rd)

Friday

5.00 - 6.15 pm 6.15 - 7.45 pm 7.45 - 9.15 pm 7.45 - 9.15 pm 5.30 - 6.30 pm 5.00 - 6.30 pm 7.30 - 9.00 pm

Beavers : Lynn Turner Cubs : Elizabeth Baizon Scouts : Paul Harris Explorers : Lucy Porter Rainbows : Debbie Barnett Brownies : Lesley Carter Guides : Helen Rainsford

Saturday

10.00 - 12.00 noon 10.30 - 11.30 am

Coffee Morning : Lesley Morgan Church open for prayer : Margaret Curzon

Please hand any items for the March 2018 CONTACT to any of the Editorial Team (Peter Farley, Christine Rankin, Ann Tomes & Nick Riley) by 15th February 2018 at the latest please, or alternatively email me: nickriley@blueyonder.co.uk with the word ‘CONTACT’ in the title.

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