november 2017 in touch -...
TRANSCRIPT
What’s happening in the life of St Andrew’s and St Bartholomew’s
www.stastb.church
Yes folks, it’s getting nearer that time of year when we scratch our heads, scrutinise the shops (or internet),
and sacrifice our savings for a suitable present for those we love. And, no, I don’t have any bright ideas
either. There is a limit to the number of socks you can give, and bottles of peaches pickled in vodka and
gooseberry.
So, my next best go-to is Tim Keller (Have I mentioned him before?). He has just brought out a new book
on the book of Proverbs. ‘The Way of Wisdom’ is a year of daily devotions from Proverbs. He has already
written an excellent daily devotional on the Psalms, called ‘My Rock, My Refuge’. The book of Psalms is
about how to fully trust God in faith; Proverbs is about how to live that faith out in daily life. He writes “If
the bible were a medicine cabinet, Psalms would be the ointment put on inflamed skin to calm and heal it.
Proverbs would be more like smelling salts to startle you into alertness.” Both available from ‘The Good
Book Company’ for £9.99.
Alternatively, you might want to buy somebody, or ask for yourself, his book on work called ‘Every Good
Endeavour’ (£7.99) People may find themselves asking about their work, Why am I doing this? Why is it so
hard? What can I do about it? Work may seem just a means to an end, to earn money to enjoy life outside
the workplace. But God’s plan is radically more ambitious as he has actually created us to work. Our faith
should enhance our work, and our work should develop our faith.
Tim Keller started thinking deeply about a Christian view of work when a member of his congregation met
with him to ask what it meant to be a Christian actor. Over years of thinking and teaching on work, Keller
has observed five ways the gospel can transform work:
1. Christian faith gives you a new identity, without which work can sink you.
2. Christian faith gives you a new concept of the dignity of all work, without which work can bore you.
3. Christian faith gives you a moral compass, without which work can corrupt you.
4. Christian faith gives you a new worldview, without which work will be your master instead of your
servant.
Christian faith gives you a sophisticated hope without which work will frustrate you. What on earth can I get them for Christmas? Keep thinking, but here are three ideas even if Uncle Hubert
never reads books and has never considered Christian faith. Socks, maybe? Incidentally, I have all three
books. (A bottle of peaches marinated in vodka and gooseberry coulee sounds rather nice). Maybe not.
Keeping you informed
NOVEMBER 2017
In Touch
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What on earth can I get them for Christmas?
Jonathan
www.stastb.church
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In Touch Keeping you informed
‘UP’ – ‘IN’ - ‘OUT’ 5 YEAR PLAN IN ACTION OUR CHURCH
ALPHA IN THE NEW YEAR?
Why not start 2018 with a New Year’s resolution – to
explore the Christian faith in a non-threatening envi-
ronment? Well here is the opportunity.
St Andrews are running an Alpha Course in January,
starting with a free Alpha Supper on Wednesday, 17th
January. During the evening a short outline of the
course will be given. You can then decide whether
you want to participate in the course proper.
The Alpha course will run for 6 weeks every
Wednesday starting with a meal at 7.30pm from 24th
January to conclude on 28th February.
If you have wondered about the ‘meaning of life’ or
simply have an enquiring mind then this may be for
you. More details can be obtained by speaking to Lo-
raine or Chantal within St Andrews Church Office –
Tel 01452 712154.
Many have found this course life changing for the bet-
ter – why don’t you give it a go?
What is it? A chance for you to see all the many options
for service that are available here at St Andrews. A chance to
speak to other volunteers and a chance to ask questions and
understand what is needed.
When is it? Sunday 19th November
Where is it? There will be stands in the concourse with
information about how you can get involved and people you
can speak to as well.
Why is it happening? St Andrews is a huge Church with
a full range of activities and groups to suit every need. How-
ever this wide and varied programme cannot run itself and
we need people to get involved in order to keep things run-
ning smoothly. This day will enable you to see what best
suits your gifts and talents and will also have details of train-
ing opportunities in order for you to learn new skills too.
Christ calls us all as his body to play our part in working for
his Kingdom come along and find out what part you can
play here at St Andrews!
For more information please come and chat to me.
Laine Lewis.
VOLUNTEER SUNDAY IS HAPPENING HERE!
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In Touch Keeping you informed
December 31st
9am and 10.30am as usual. No FUEL
December 2nd
Women’s Advent evening
December 3rd
Advent Carols at St.Bartholomew’s 3.30pm
December 9th
Samaras Aid Concert
December 10th
Thanksgiving for those who have died
3pm
Carols at The Old Elm 8pm after FUEL
December 16th
Carol Singing at Tesco Churchdown 1-2pm
December 17th
Christingle Service 4pm
Carol Service 7pm
St. Bartholomew’s
Tuesday 21st November at 7.30pm An interview with Helen Wilson.
www.stastb.church
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In Touch Keeping you informed
Helen Wilson will be known to many of you, and this
month there’s another opportunity to hear her talk about
her work in translation and literacy through the Wyc-
liffe Centre.
At our Thursday afternoon meeting we’ll be updating
on the General Meeting which was held in Edinburgh at
the end of September.
Both meetings are in the church lounge, and all wel-
come.
25th November is the start of the 16 Days
of Activism Against Gender-Based Vio-
lence Campaign. A lot of the work MU
does overseas helps to reduce violence by
equipping women with the skills to become economi-
cally empowered. And in the UK some areas are able to
work closely with local domestic violence refuges. For
the last two years our branch has tried to raise aware-
ness through information displays in the church con-
course. This year will be a bit different - please look
out for more info in the service leaflets.
Janet Ross
On Saturday 9th December at 7.30pm the Wide Valley
Singers will perform a festive concert at St Andrew’s
Church, in support of the Samara’s Aid Appeal
(SAA). The programme will include well known
Christmas numbers as well as some traditional carols
to suit all tastes.
There will also be a short video presentation with up-
to-date news about the work of SAA. During the in-
terval mince pies, mulled wine and a non-alcoholic
punch will be served and there will be an opportunity
to find out more about the charity and buy raffle tick-
ets. The event is kindly being sponsored by local busi-
nesses, Clarkson Evans and Creed Food Services.
SAA provides aid to those affected by the war in Syria
and the Middle East. In just three years it has sent 87
artic lorries and shipping containers of humanitarian
and medical aid and clothed around 250,000 displaced
people in Syria, Iraq and Jordan.
One of the greatest priorities in Syria is for front-
line, emergency medical care. SAA has sent 11
ambulances to Syria, and opened two hospitals. They
have converted three of the shipping containers into
"Meditainers" providing life-saving medical and surgi-
cal care, and now the charity aims to build a critical
care hospital.
Please bring your friends to enjoy an entertaining
evening and support this amazing work. Tickets,
£5 including refreshments, available at St An-
drew’s Church Office: 01452 712154,
Thursday 23rd November at 2.30pm Meet and chat
with an update on the General Meeting
CHRISTMAS CONCERT FOR SAMARA’S AID APPEAL
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OBTAINING SILVER FROM BEING GREEN!
At St. Andrew’s we have strived to be green and have
been on an Eco journey for a number of years. Last
year we registered with A Rocha a Christian Environ-
mental Charity, who initiated a scheme whereby
churches are able to work through an online survey, to
establish how Eco Friendly they are. Through the
completion of the survey awards can be achieved and
this April we were awarded the A Rocha Silver Eco
Church Award and we are the first church in the dio-
cese to achieve this level of award.
The survey covers a vast amount of questions focused
upon Worship; Buildings; Land; Lifestyle of our
Church Community and Mission Work and Global
engagement. We were amazed at what we are doing
already. Here is a list of a few items that helped us
receive the silver award:
Car share scheme – lifts to services/church
groups; community taxi service for health ap-
pointments run by volunteers;
Recycling; garden waste and food waste bins;
LED light bulbs;
Clothing recycling schemes used to help Syrian
refugees – Samara’s Aid;
Traidcraft stall following services and at our
Coffee Morning;
Office printing on both sides of paper, and us-
ing paper from responsible sources;
Toilet Twinning;
Home groups covering the topic caring for
God’s creation;
We are now on our journey for the Gold award and our
next Eco projects include:
Making a Bug Home with the Children’s
Groups so bugs have a home for the winter;
Install bird boxes within the church grounds;
Actively encourage you all to donate used
stamps; used felt tip pens; coffee pods and baby
food sachets in the collection point in the win-
dow sill of the Church corridor which helps lo-
cal Charities;
Increase small group studies on Caring for
God’s Creation with both adults and children;
Planting an apple tree within the Church
grounds;
Encourage you all to take a lifestyle audit to see
what your environmental carbon footprint is and
look at ways of improving what you do (see
http://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ for an easy 5 minute
environmental health check)
Please let us know of any Eco work that you do and
please encourage those around you to make small
changes in their lifestyle which will make big steps in
caring for God’s wonderful creation.
The A Rocha website has plenty of Eco resources.
Please take a look at: https://ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/
resources/
Please help our Church by considering ways of being
Eco Friendly and don’t forget we now have green bins
for paper; card; glass; cans and plastic so please use
them wisely – Be Seen To Be Green! Thank you.
Chantal Whitehouse
All services will be at St Andrew’s unless otherwise stated 5th November Fourth Sunday Before Advent
9:00am Holy Communion @ St.Andrew
10.30am All Age Communion
3.30pm Evening Prayer @ St.Bartholomew
7pm FUEL
12th November Third Sunday before Advent
9:00am Holy Communion
10.30am Family Worship
10.50am Remembrance Service at St.Johns
7pm FUEL
19th November Second Sunday before Advent
9am Holy Communion
10.30am Family Worship
7pm FUEL
26th November Sunday before Advent
9:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Family Worship
3.30pm Holy Communion @ St.Bartholomew
7pm FUE
3rd December First Sunday of Advent
9:00am Holy Communion @ St.Andrew
10.30am All Age Communion
3.30pm Advent Carol Service @ St.Bartholomew
7pm FUEL
Weekday Services 9:00 am Monday to Friday in the Quiet Room - Morning Prayer 10:00 am every Thursday in the Quiet Room – Holy Communion
www.stastb.church
USEFUL CONTACTS
The Vicar Jonathan Perkin 01452-548437
Curate
Ben Lillie 01452-540610
Children’s Workers Alison Summerskill & Laine Lewis
01452-862737
Reader Alison Summerskill
Youth Pastors
Daisy Cordery & Jack Neave
Creative Pastor Rhiannon Davies 07960-853314
Churchwardens Richard Badley 01452-713641 Kevin Sadler
07821-368590
Administrator Loraine Yates 01452-712154
Treasurer
Rachel Limbrick 07799-648219
Assistant Treasurers Alice Oakes, Di Rowe
01452-712154
PCC Secretary Enid Castle
01452-712946
St Andrew’s Church Centre Station Road, Churchdown
Gloucester GL3 2JT T: 01452 712154
Office Hours Monday-Friday 9.30—12.30 pm
In Touch Keeping you informed
WORSHIP FOR NOVEMBER17
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