newsletter 8

CONTENTSThe Great Stockton Heath Bake-Off 1Adrian Plass Discipleship Evening 2Discipleship Bible Study Series 2Graham Horsley At Synod 3Widnes Street Pastors 3Wesley Hospital Report 4New Song "CAT" Projects 4Penketh Little Angels 5Sabbatical Leave 5The Widnes Foodbank 5Sutton Church Anniversary 6The Thatto Heath Marian Trail 6Nutgrove Community News 7Stockton Heath and Active Hope 7Hello World 8Food Hygiene Training Course 8Diary Dates 8

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THE GREAT STOCKTON HEATH BAKE - OFF

The night of 28th February 2015 will go down inhistory as one of the most successful social eventsof our church. The day before we had sold only 30tickets but in the end we had at least 72 adults and10 children! The Hall was decorated with buntingand we had a gazebo for all the cakes - even thisproved too small.We had four classes for the cake competitions:Novice, Victoria Sandwich, My Favourite Bake andBy Children Under 12. Cake making was optionalbut encouraged so much so that we had 41 entriesin total. The 3 judges were Mark Coles, EileenRobson & Pauline Faulkner and they found theywere "caked out" by the end.While they were judging we decorated cup cakes,tasted chocolate, played cake bingo and 'cakebeetle' as well as a food related quiz, guess thekitchenutensil fromphotos takenat oddanglesanda baking word-search. There were also activitiesfor the children on the baking theme.We took the left over cakes to the YMCAwho weremost appreciative and we raised £ 245 for theWarrington Foodbank - but these were almost anaddedbonus towhatwasawonderful churchsocialoccasion.So if youare looking for ideas for a church social wewould recommend you try a bake off - we can offerhelp if needed.Janet Stott

Sankey Valley Methodist Circuit

Newsletter No. 8June 2015

SVMC CIRCUIT NEWSLETTER NO. 8 - JUNE 2015 PAGE 2

ADRIAN PLASS DISCIPLESHIP EVENING

The Circuit evening on discipleship hosted byPenketh brought together people from at least15 of our Methodist churches as well asecumenical and District friends.Adrian andBridget Plass shared insights, Biblestories, personal experiences of what it meansto be a disciple of Jesus Christ in the 21stcentury:- We are invited to follow Jesus Christ. The firstdisciples didn't know where they were going tobe led, they had no formal training. Theytrusted.- We need to be learners and let other peoplechallenge our thinking and change us.- Being a disciple is a hard, rocky road at times.We fall into holes along the way. Sometimesdisciples hang on by their fingertips, despiteeverything. But often new insights, grace anddepthof faith comeout of thehardexperiences.-We've got our own language asChristians butwe need to talk to people in ways they canunderstand and be honest. Laugh at the thingsthat don't matter that we get all serious about;recognise there are things we don'tunderstand.-Goddoesnot goout of hisway to find fault.Wedo a lot of guilt in the church. God goes out ofhis way to love and be gentle.- One of the costs of being a disciple is beingalongside people in their long term needs andquestions. Sometimes people seemimpossible butGodcan transfigureour feelingsinto genuine love. Who is God calling you tolook after, be alongside?- Sometimes we give the impression that

discipleship is either about a gin and tonic in thebath or martyrdom; sometimes we'd like oneand God is calling us to the other. Often it'ssomewhere in between.-Wedon't needadull imitationof something theworld has got e.g 'PrayBoy' or 'Repenthouse'.We have abundant life in Jesus, we havecommunity.- Jesus was very good at being with 'wine-bibbers and sinners'; people no-one elsewanted to spend time with. We put up fencesandmake judgements.WeseeJesussuddenlyjumping over a fence. 'Where are you going?'we ask him. 'I'm going to someone who needsme over there. You don't have to come but I'mgoing anyway.'- Being a disciple is walking the narrow way.The narrowest thing we could walk is atightrope. When you walk a tightrope you haveto put your arms wide out - this gives balance;walkingwith our armswideopenalso speaksofgrace.We thank God for an evening full of laughter,stories, poems, much encouragement and yetchallenge.Lucille RogersDISCIPLESHIP BIBLE STUDY SERIES

Our Discipleship Bible study series at Prescotand Whiston brought together 20 people forprayer, discussion and an exploration of someof the key Gospel passages on discipleship.We came because we had enjoyed the lastBible study series, becausewewanted to learnthingswecouldapply to ourworking / daily livesas Christians, because we wanted to get toknow the Bible better... We thought about thedifferent aspects of learning and followinginvolved in being disciples of Jesus, the costsand joys, and how we can play our part inmaking more disciples of Christ. Throughoutthe sessions we remembered that we are notalone in this. We have Jesus' promisedpresence, the gift of the Holy Spirit, to inspireand enable all we do and say. We werechallenged to live as people of integrity - doesthe loving Christ we believe in and follow showthrough in our actions, in how we treat people,


in the compassion we show to people in need,in the injustices we stand against? We grew inour faith, knowledge and love and are thankfulfor all the shared wisdom and experiencesoffered by the group.Lucille Rogers

GRAHAM HORSLEY AT SYNODAttendees at Presbyteral Synod in April 2015heard GrahamHorsley speak about 'The BabyBoomer Generation'. By this he meant thoseborn approximately between 1945 and 1964:one of themost under-represented age groupsin our churches, but also potentially the mostreachable group. Few churches are reachingout to them.Baby Boomers, claimed Graham, areinherently activists, being of the generation of'long-haired rebellious rockers'whosoughtandfought to change the world, at least in theiraspirations. The Methodist Church ishistorically an activist denomination - whyaren't we making more of the connection?We watched a humorous song video thattransformed the anthemic 'Born To Be Wild'into the 'ageing rocker' version 'Bored, Tubby,Mild'.

Grahamchallengedus toengage incommunityenhancement with our local 'baby boomers',and pointed us to the resources via his own'Living In Three Dimensions' website online athttp://www.l3d.org.ukStephen Froggatt

WIDNES STREET PASTORSIt has been a great joy and a privilege tocommission two Methodist Street Pastors -StanandJanWoods fromFarnworthMethodistChurchWidnes. A full Church servicewas heldon Sunday January 18th 2015. Other StreetPastors came in support dressed in theiruniforms and two had been out on the streetsuntil a few hours before the service.

They were presented with the Street Pastors‘cap’ by one of the Trustees –RayRoberts whospoke briefly about their work.They join a group of 20 people from Anglican,Methodist, Catholic, Christian Fellowship, andDeeper Life faith groups who go out on thestreets of Widnes on Saturday evenings andearly morning Sundays, offering care and helpand listening skills.They build up relationships and gain credibilityfrom the community showing that the Churchhas come alongside them to support them.The local government, thepoliceand thehealthauthorities appreciate all that the ChristianCommunity of Street Pastors can offer thepeople ofWidnesandhavesupported the teamwith monetary support at the same time asgaining knowledge received from the sharedstories.Monetary support and prayers come from allthe local churches in the Widnes area.May God support and strengthen them as theyliveout their discipleshipandservantministry inGod’s Name.For anyone wishing to be trained as aStreet Pastor please speak to Rev’d JennyMacGregor and Jan & Stan Woods.


WESLEY HOSPITAL REPORTOur previous Circuit Charity efforts raisedmuch-needed funds for the Wesley Hospital inMyanmar. Recently Revd Stephen Kingsnorthreceived an email from Dr Luai describing howthe money was being spent.

Dear Stephen,

Kindly accept our heartfelt gratitude for yourgenerous effort of raising funds for WesleyHospital. We are really thankful to churchesand individuals in the Sankey Valley MethodistCircuit. The following is a brief account of howthe funds were used and are going to be used.

Microscope (£1,000) -This is being used in thelaboratory to makediagnoses of malaria,tuberculosis, and to dotests for urine and stoolexaminations

i-Chroma analyzer (£2, 100) - This is beingused in the laboratory for various serologicaltests and it is really handy and it enhances theHospital’s capability of making a greaternumber of correct diagnoses on patients

Oxygen concentrators (2x £600) - These are wellused and already benefitthe patients in the wards

Patient monitor (£800) -This is being used in theoperating theatre tomonitor the patients'vital signs

Remaining balance (£3,000) We are going tobuy a Diathermy machine for use in theoperating theatre. This machine is to stopbleeding from wounds during operations.

With our love and prayers to you all.

Luai

Our own thanks too to all churches andindividuals who contributed so generously tothis project.

Stephen Kingsnorth

NEW SONG "CAT" PROJECTS!As New Song Church holds services in bothBold Street and Latchford churches it alsoworks alongside them on various projectsparticularly involving the community. A homegroup has just been set up in Lyon Court atLatchford. This is in addition to a monthlyserviceofHolyCommunionheld in there too. Inaddition to this there is a monthly Bible studyheld in Station Coffee at Latchford on aWednesday evening.

Bold Street and New Song members haveworked alonside each other on maintenancedays and on making the exterior of Bold Streetlook attractive and welcoming with hangingbaskets due to go up in June. We are workingtogether on a number of events to fund work inthe building including updating the soundsytemand lighting.Childrenare involved tooasNew Song Kids are collecting coins in theirSmarties tubes which will be given to Tea andToast, the project for homeless people at BoldStreet. Other community events have takenplace and are in the pipeline.

NewSong's regular communitywork increasesthrough the Hot Drinks Ministry at WaltonCrematoriumandFoxCovert cemetery and theCommunity Action Team ("CAT") wherepeople are amazed and delightedwith what wedo. "LovingGod, LovingPeople" sumsupwhatwe believe and what we do.A CAT project - Before and After

Kit Heald


PENKETH LITTLE ANGELSLittle Angels at Penketh Methodist Church iswhere mums, dads, babies, grandparents,childminders and carers come with their littleones, aged from a few weeks old up to nurseryor school age. We all spend just over an hourworshippingGod. All sessions are Bible-basedandwe followa theme foreachschool term–egcreation, the weather, parables of Jesus.A typical session takes the form of 2-3 actionsongs – jumping, clapping, using musicalinstruments, walking and wiggling are a few ofthe things we do – leaders, children and alladults. We then have story time. Being a localpreacher I thought this would be quite easy. Itwas not. For you are sitting on the floor, at eyelevel to the children and adults, and the olderlittle ones love to interact with you and anyvisual aids you use. A craft time follows this andthen a prayer before snack time. Bubbles anda prayer finish our time together.Ournumbers range from25-30adults plus theirchildren. As we have a few childminders whocome theybringmore thanonechild.Several ofour mums regard this as their “Sunday church"time.This works because of the prayers prayedbefore each session, and that God is theremaking his presence felt to everyone duringthis time together. This work could not be donewithout a cheerful band of leaders and helpers.At one sessionwehadbeensingingand talkingabout thankingGod and it was time for a prayerbefore snack time. I said we were all going tosay a thank you to God for our snack time. Thetwo year old tiny tot next tome started clapping.That was our prayer.Diane Bennett

SABBATICAL

Revd Jenny McGregor is on sabbatical leavebetween June and August this year. Allenquiries should meanwhile be directedinstead to the Senior Steward of Jenny'srespective churches, who will then forwardthem as necessary to the Staff Minister who iscovering for her there. Thank you.

THE WIDNES FOODBANKDue to low incomes, sudden crisis,redundancy, benefit delays, unexpected bills,people can find themselves struggling to putfood on the table. The choices can be payingthe rent or eating! People become ill and withno sick pay find themselves in deep distress.Widnes Foodbank provides emergency foodand support to local people in crisis.A gift of food does more than just fill emptystomachs. It can help to prevent familybreakdown, housing loss, crime and mentalhealth problems as we take time to listen andsignpost people to further support.

Widnes Foodbank is runby ecumenical churchvolunteers and with atrustee managementgroup administrated frompremises at Trinity

Methodist/URC. As with other Foodbanks, it isalso connected to the Trussell Trust and issupported by many different referral agenciesi.e. frontline care from doctors, citizens advice,social services and care workers. They havefive distribution centres so that people canchoose where to go to pick up their muchneeded supplies. We have ecumenicallytrained warehouse workers and designateddriverswhogive voluntarily of their time to help.Recently we have had interest from theSamaritans who wish to work with us andsupport us, and we also work well with HaltonBorough Council who have encouraged thelocal Halton/Arriva Bus Company to acceptvouchers for free bus rides given to people onthe day that they pick up their supplies. What ajoy to work with such a team of willing, non-judgemental workers who seek to live out theirdiscipleship in practical ways.

Jesus said, ‘I was hungry and you fed me… Iwas a stranger and you welcomed me…’Matthew 25:35ff

Rev’d Jenny MacGregor is a Trustee ofWidnes Foodbank.


SUTTON CHURCH ANNIVERSARYSutton Chapel began on the corner of LancotsLane and Sutton Road. I don’t think that thefounders could ever have imagined that 170years later we would still be worshipping here(now in the third building).The Chapel was built with copper slag whichwas made into bricks. It was a basic building,and it still is! By 1871 the Methodists had outgrown the chapel and it was passed over to theWelsh Methodists. There they stayed: it waslooked after by two wonderful Christian ladies,Gladys and Blodwen Jones.Unfortunately that chapel had to close but it isnow used as a base for the Celebration Choirunder the leadership of John Beirne. Somusicand singing still fill the old chapel.The Methodists then moved to a larger churchin Sutton Road. This one was built like mostMethodist Churches with an upstairs, balcony,school room and stage. They had a brassband, a football team, a wonderful choir,walking days and music festivals. (We havephotos of past Trustees.) Sadly when theyrealised the church was getting past its best;with coal subsidence as well as being next tothe brick works, they started raising money tobuild a new church. One of the fundraisingefforts was a weekly dance every Saturdaynight. It was 1/ 6d a ticket and my friends andI never missed! Such happy memories!So in 1961 the doors opened to our new churchwhich was built in New Street. This was aprefabricated building and this is where wecelebrated the 170th Anniversary ofMethodism in Sutton on 31st May 2015. RevdLucille preached at the open air service, whichwas followed by a picnic lunch (held in theschoolroom) and an opportunity to look aroundthe displays of Sutton through the years. TheMayor of St Helens, Councillor Steven Glover,found time to attend and join in the celebration.We remember past members who, throughlove and care of these churches have made itpossible for us to continue our worship heretoday and serve God in this place.Anita Lewis

THE THATTO HEATH MARIAN TRAILNutgrove Methodist Church continues to buildon the recent improvements and changesmade by the congregation. The most recentinnovation is the inclusion of the church in theThatto Heath Marian Trail. The Marian Trail isa walk around the Thatto Heath community,taking in several of the local churches tosee theplaques highlighting women of the bible, whichare displayed in the grounds.Nutgrove MC chose to highlight Queen Vashti,whose story can be read in the book of Esther,as their character. Queen Vashti was a strongand independently minded woman whorefused to be treated as an object of desire byher husband and his friends. The plaque is tobe found amongst the shrubs on the left handside of the pedestrian footpath to the left of thechurch.Thanks are owed to Jenny Griggs whoorganised the trail and to JohnHuntwhodid thework to place the plaque in our gardens.

Balmer St has also joined in the Marian Trail,but with no gardens has plumped for two veryattractive hanging baskets. The successfulluncheon club continues to function eachTuesdayatBalmerSt. Over 20diners gather atBalmer St for a substantial lunch of soup, maincourse and sweet. Why not call in and see thehanging baskets before you eat?Martin Wood


NUTGROVE COMMUNITY NEWSThe Playgroup continues to operate in the newbuilding and has a healthy number of childrenon its roll. Someof thesechildrenattendMessyChurch which continues with monthlymeetings, run by church members Maureen,Janet and Thelma. The church benefits fromtheir activities in many ways not least bydisplaying in the church some of the artworkand the craft produced by the children eachmonth. The removal of the pews and theirreplacement with chairs has enabled the mainbody of the church to be used in a much moreflexible manner, and so Messy Church, whichhas now outgrown the Wesley room inNutgrove School, is held in the main churchbuilding.

It has also made it possible for a mums andtoddlers group to meet at the church onWednesday mornings from 08:30 until 11:00.We regularly meet with over a dozen childrenand their mothers/grandmothers, sharingstories about the children and about the world.There is plenty of space for more if anyone isinterested in joining us. Tea and toast areavailable throughout the morning, and the StHelens Credit Union can be accessed after11:00.There are tentative plans for more activities ofthis kind, perhaps a group for dads and theirchildren, or other family style ministry in thefuture, when resources allow.Martin Wood

STOCKTON HEATH & ACTIVE HOPEAround 50 members of our Church continue tosupport Active Hope in a very practical way.Last October Half Term our Church supportedour third Adventure Academy which helpedgive 30 children some days out to remember.The tasks includedpraying, fundraising,drivingminibuses, preparing food, helping withactivities such as mountain biking, archery,using a climbing wall and this time it includedexploring the Dingle. Several of us ended upwalking up the streamwhich gets quite deep inparts.

This was followed by the recent May eventwhichwasaweekendof activities onAnglesey,walking, beach games and climbing up BlackMountain, for 60 youngsters including 30 ofthose we met in October. Five of our Churchmembers including Mark Coles stayed on thisresidential helping with various activitiesthroughout the Bank Holiday weekend.Many additional people have become involvedwith Active Hope this year in many ways. Overthe last three years we have helped make apositive impact in the lives of over 200 childrenfrom all sorts of backgrounds and it's importantthat we continue to help Dan Curtis and hisActive Hope staff and volunteers with theirexpanding work in our local area.Kevin Gillibrand

HELLO WORLDThere is a long standing tradition that when youfirst create a new website or learn a newcomputer programming language, especiallyone of those connected with the internet, thevery first thing you see, or in the instance of anewly learned language, the very first programyou write, should simply say, “Hello World!”.This is because it is the simplest program youcould possible write and you are indeedspeaking to the whole wide world.Jesus also said to his disciples ‘Go out into allthe world and preach the Gospel to allcreation’ (Mark 16:15 NIVUK). Putting thesetwo circumstances together, means that ourcurrent generation is the first in the wholehistory of humanity that any individual person,or Church, using internet technologies, canactually speak to the whole world. Youmay bethe smallest Church there is, but you have thecapability to broadcast the Christian messageacross the entire planet and with currenttechnologies, you don’t even have to be acomputer programmer or even know verymuch about computers. How fantastic is that?If you have the capability to write an email, ordocument such as Churchmeeting minutes ona computer, you also have the innate capabilityto speak to the world. The current Circuitinitiative is for Discipleship and you cannot getcloser to true Discipleship than obeying thecommandof our Lord Jesus to takeHisWord tothe whole wide world.How can this be done? Simply by linking yourChristian blog or Church website to an internetforum such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram ormore (there are many more!) which can bedone without a computer, just using asmartphone or tablet. Text, photos and evenvideos can be shared, and it's all totally free touse. If you are already a Facebook or Twitteruser and think that setting up a ChurchFacebook page is pretty easy (which it is), thenyou also have the capability to set up a Churchwebsite, the advantage being that on awebsiteyou can do so much more, although there is asmall cost. See me for more information.Chris Betts

DIARY DATESSafeguarding Meeting - For all churchSafeguarding Officers - 7.30pm on 14th July2015 at Penketh Methodist ChurchLocal Preachers and Worship LeadersMeeting - 7.30pm on 3rd September 2015 atVenue TBACircuit Meeting - 7.30pm on 16th September atVenue TBA

NEXT ISSUESubmissions for the next issue should reach theCircuit Office [email protected] by Monday 31stAugust at the latest. Thank you in advance foryour articles and permission-cleared photos. Wereserve the right to edit all submissions.The publication date for the next issue is the 16thSeptember Circuit Meeting.

Monday 6th and 13th July 2015 Prescot & Whiston Methodist Church, 7pm-9.30pm Saturday 11th July (please bring packed lunch) St James (Rainhill), 9.30am-3pm If you are interested in attending either P&W or Rainhill training, then please ring Emma Thompson at CRC 01925 652228 or [email protected]

Booking is essential by Thursday 25th June

This is for you if you serve at a church coffee morning, coffee bar, lunch

etc

FOOD HYGIENE TRAINING COURSE

newsletter 8

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