st mary's students freshers guide

FRESHERSWelcome Guide

STUDENTS

St Mary’s

St Mary’s Freshers Welcome Guide 1

WelcomeMatt Coombs - St Mary’s Student Worker

St Mary’s Rev. John Peters

I became a Christian whilst at university and being part of a strong student group and church were invalua-ble in helping me grow in faith, make friends and cope with the pressures of student life. My hope is that through what we do here, new students will find a supportive home from home. I am also very aware of the amaz-ing contribution young adults can make to church life. This is something we have always welcomed at St Mary’s.

Lucy TrewinnardStudying at Heythrop Col-lege, University of London, Theol-ogy. Coffee Fiend, Haiku-Extraordinaire, Soap Addict.

James GlassNatural Sciences student at UCL. Former county junior table tennis player. Occasion-al funny guy.

Ruth Mason Having just gradu-ated from the Royal College of Art, I now have the pleasure of being the Voluntary Student Pastor at St Mary’s while teaching A-Level History.

Merenna Wilson I’m a 2nd year the-ology student (ful-filling the Christian stereotype) and am loving being in London before I move to India in the next few years. My two passions in life are Jesus and cheese!

Christina Hettiar-achchi Often mistaken as a slightly insane Sri Lankan, I am 20, fresh out of law school and playing a constant game of tug of war with God about what my life should look like.

Justice WoodsFrom the mountains of North Carolina | Studies Interna-tional Relations in London | Is a bit of an old soul and still considers Pluto a planet.

Andrew Swindley. Third year theol-ogy student at Heythrop College. I like singing, cycling and sarcasm. Standard.

Sam McDermott 20 year old Music student at Goldsmith’s University. I loves music, travelling, hot weather, and tonic water.

James Slatter I’m a music student at the Institute of Con-temporary Music Performance in Kilburn. I play guitar and love live music!

Izzy Jones I am Izzy and I am a classi-cal music nerd, garden lover and cooking legend.

Alice Hodgkinson Hi, I’m Alice and I’ve been a student in London and at St Mary’s for a year. Love uni life, always chatting, LOVE cheese and love Jesus (obvs). Come chill, I’m always around (unless work-ing hard on essays – unlikely).

Alice HanfordI’m 18. I am at Central School of Ballet finding it challenging and intense but really enjoying it. I love finding great little coffee shops (London has loads!).

Luke Johnson I’m a medi-cal student at UCL and enjoy meeting up with friends, playing guitar and eating absurd amounts of delicious food.

BIOgr-aphies

Hello! Welcome to London! How exciting, you’re about to start Uni! For many, the first term can seem quite daunting so a few of our current students at St Mary’s have put this guide together and our hope is it might be a little help to you. Try not to worry too much, have fun, relax, this is a brilliant stage of life and we at St Mary’s want to support and encourage you all the way through it! Please check out our website and Facebook page (details on the back) which will let you see more what we are like and what we get up to.

Looking forward to meeting you soon!

When I first moved to London to start uni last September I was blessed to find so many churches that offered a young network of Christians. What stood out about St Mary’s for me (and of course there are many other churches that have similar setups) was the Tuesday night Student Gathering.

I found out about St Mary’s through a friend I’d made in Freshers’ Week whose church at home was planted out of St Mary’s, and I was more than happy to make it part of my “church search” when I found out that it was probably the closest church to my university halls.

The first event I went to was the Student Gathering and it was this weekly event that drew me in, partly because the food at the start of the evening is considerably better than the catered food that I was getting in halls, and partly because of great the community atmos-phere... The visit to the pub after the Gathering was also a selling point.

The student group continued to provide me with the environment of like-minded London students who I could openly be myself with. The small groups gave an easy space to make friends and enabled me to have source of prayer support throughout the year. Through the other aspects of the Student Gathering; worship, talks and socials, a homely, welcome, family feeling was created. Something that can make a real difference to your uni life when you’re in that new environment.

I’ve had an awesome time being a Student at St Mary’s for the past year and look forward to meeting and shar-ing the experience with you, and the rest of this years Freshers.

The summer before I started university I went away to Cambo-dia as part of a Tearfund trip. It really impressed upon me the importance of finding the right church, so when I moved to London finding the right church felt really important to me. I spent my entire first term church-hopping, searching for the right one. Looking round churches is a good learning experience. Something that I became more aware of was that churches have different views on spiritual gifts. Some believe prophecy and healing and other spiritual gifts all happen today, whereas others believe they’ve died out and so don’t focus on them at all. (St Mary’s does believe in them).

Throughout my church hopping, I never experienced a feeling of ‘this is THE church for me,’ that’s not to say it doesn’t exist but I don’t think you have to worry about it. What kept drawing me back to St Mary’s was the presence of the Holy Spirit during the service and also that they made considerable time at the end of the service for ministry in the Spirit. Gradually I began to realise how important the work of the Holy Spirit was to me; and churches that didn’t offer ministry in this way, despite being good churches, felt insufficient. It was this and a few other little things that made me feel as though God was guiding me more towards St Mary’s.

It is very easy to get into a consumer attitude when you are church searching and to avoid this I would just advise that you be aware that there is no such thing as a perfect church. I would also recommend not taking as long as I did to commit to a church if you find a church where the Spirit is at work and the people are open to Him, just go for it. Above all, pray about it and know that God will be with you on this journey.

Good luck and God bless X

2 St Mary’s Freshers Welcome Guide St Mary’s Freshers Welcome Guide 3

Church HoppingJAMES GLASSMy Experience s of

Student s at St Mary ’ sLUCy TREWiNNARD

So, you think St Mary’s might be the church for you? But you’re not sure how to get stuck in and feel like you belong?

Besides turning up on a Sunday, attending the Student Gathering, and potentially forming a prayer triplet, there are many ways you can really

throw yourself into church life.

If you are passionate about the arts, media, fashion, or entertainment industries how about finding out more about Artisan (3rd Monday of the month,) a place for those involved in these industries to network

and pray. Want to know more about prayer ministry or prophecy? Keep an eye out for our associte rector Barry, and his wife, Mary Kissell’s

courses on these and other subjects.

More generally, there is perhaps no better way of getting to know more about the church, its ethos, and community than volunteering! Serving

in the church will enable you to learn more about the church and its mission as you invest in it and also provide brilliant opportunities to meet

new people and make new friends.

Whether you are musical, great with kids, or just love washing up, there’s something that everyone can get involved with! For any techies among you, have you thought about working the sound desk, or help-

ing with lyric projection? How about the welcome team, information desk, or stewarding team for those of you who love

chatting? Then there’s kids church, the youth group, the worship team, worship leading, the Slouch Café on sunday evenings, homeless meals,

and the Life Course taskforce etc. etc. etc.

Take your pick! Whatever you chose, more help is always welcome. The information desk at the back of church has sign-up clipboards, or you

can contact someone in the church office – where, incidentally, an extra pair of hands never goes amiss!

[email protected]

A few months ago I felt like I wanted to go to something at church mid-week that wasn’t just for students, or had any kind of agenda but was purely space for God to move. I suggested it to John, the church leader, after a vision dur-ing church on Sunday.

A few weeks later I got an email saying that he thought it was a great idea and he would like me to lead it, which was a really good way for me to grow in my leadership. I called it ‘More’ and the first one we held had about 40 people there.

There isn’t really any formal structure to More, it is all about be open to God. Though we always worship and pray and see where God takes it. It’s really exciting seeing your ideas come into fruition, and God moved powerfully during the time. We will be doing more of these throughout the year which we would love to see you at.

M O R EMERENNA WiLSON

Throwing Yourself

Into Church LifeRuth Mason


My testimony can be summed up in one phrase; God healed me! But to me that does not do justice in describing God’s love for me, love so great that it gave me life.

Last July I was diagnosed with a rare heart condition, one which resulted from having abnormally small valves within my heart. I suffered from what was called an episode, where my heart would essentially give up; I’d get severe chest pains, a numbed right arm and have difficulty in breathing. My condition developed fast from having small valves into having shrinking valves.

The more we prayed the worse my condition got from having an episode once a week to three episodes a day, the more we asked God to heal me the higher up the heart transplant list I was placed. I don’t think I ever gave up praying, I think I succumbed to waiting on God and being patient, easier said than done when your life expectancy is four months long.

After a couple of days on the Life Weekend (our ‘experience the Holy Spirit’ weekend), I suffered from a se-vere episode on the train back into London, it was the first time many of my friends at St Mary’s saw me in that state. Proceeding to church that evening, I got prayed for after receiving a word of knowledge and was instantly healed of a condition that the doctors deemed incurable.

To this date no doctor has been able to give me a medical explanation for being healed. I call it a miracle because

I stand here alive with a strong with a healthy heart, when my medical expiration date was February.

My testimony isn’t one of physical healing alone; it is one of God standing by me through the hardest year of my life, one of God filling me with hope, one of God giving me strength to carry on and above all one of God staying true to his promises.

The Now & Not Yet Page attached to our Facebook page is a place for Students at St Mary’s to share stories of signs and wonders that God has done which will encourage the rest of the group. It is also there to put things that need praying for so we can get behind people and support them in prayer. At the end of the year the page maps God’s faithfulness to us as a student group encouraging us in our faith and proving that no prayer is too big or too small for our heavenly Father.

NOW & NOT YETCHRiSTiNA HETTiARARCHCHi


eventsMoving from a super small town in the mountains of North Carolina to a culturally diverse city like London was a massive change, in every possible way. It was so completely different from the backwoods I’d been living in (not really…but really) and I had to learn pretty quickly how things worked in a multicultural city. But it wasn’t just learning about English culture, how to speak “properly”, or studying new subjects and junk like that, but I also learned a lot about myself (clichéd I know, but true).

I mostly realized that things are about 20 thousand times better (and more fun) when you find a good group of people that are going to be positive and encouraging to your heart. That may sound rather simplistic, but it’s so true. It’s really hard to stay encouraged and really love with God when you aren’t surrounded with people who are just that. It can wear you out really quickly trying to do it on your own, which I learnt the hard way.

When I joined a small group at St Mary’s Student Gathering it was almost like I could breath again. I was being overloaded with new things and I really needed an encouraging and safe place to sort through it all, which is was exactly what I found at St Mary’s. It was so relaxed and laid back. It was so easy to get to know people too because everyone was super kind and friendly and so ready to make you feel at home and included. And the best part is getting din-ner for £2 every Tuesday night…. But really, I knew that coming to university in London was exactly where I was supposed to be and what God had planned and that it was going to entail some massive chang-es. I had a lot to learn and finding a place that was going to continue to encourage me in that was exactly what I found coming to St Mary’s.

International S t u d e n t s

JUSTiCE WOODS

‘Restating the importance of ministry in the power of the Spirit!’

13th OctoberSt Mary’s11:30 - 19:30

SUNDAY 6:30PM

07/10/12

ST Mary’s Church

W1H 1PQ

Connect wITH

STUDS&

GRADS


London is a great place to live and is generally still very safe. However, people do try their luck and so I hope my fairly obvious tips help to keep you in one piece!

1. Keep all your valuables in a safe place on your person! It’s obvious but London is notorious for pickpockets so be particularly aware in tube stations, markets and big crowds.

2. Late in the evening and in winter when it gets dark earlier, it’s recommended to travel in groups. Use your common sense - don’t walk down any dodgy dark alleys that make you feel unsure.

3. The traffic in London is pretty mental and people often cross roads without a second thought. Be particularly aware of cyclists! They’re often hard to see and can be hidden by cars or they whizz past paying no attention to traffic signals. I have seen pedestrian and cyclist colli-sions so make sure you look carefully when crossing the road.

4. If on a night out, always look out for one another and stay together in groups. Before you leave for the evening plan clearly your route home! The tubes close at about midnight so make sure you know how to get the night buses back or when your last tube leaves.

5. Never accept a drink from a stranger or leave your drink alone in a bar. Though it is flattering to be offered one you’re better safe than sorry. Info:• In a genuine medical emergency call 999 or 112 for an ambulance.• www.tfl.gov.uk• www.met.police.uk

City SafetyALiCE HANFORD

Keeping healthy is probably not top of your list of most exciting univer-sity activities, and that’s because it’s not. But here I am trying to explain to you, as our resident medical student, why it’s so important that you give it your best shot anyway! So bear with me for the next few hundred words as I try and give you the raw essentials to staying tip top.

Freshers’ Week is just going to end up being one non-stop, crazy, lack-of-sleep, fun period of time which come Christmas you’ll realise you don’t even remember, so just hold on for the moment and catch as much sleep as possible. However, sometime within these next few weeks you will inevitably encounter what is known as ‘Freshers’ Flu’ which I will gladly diagnose for you: this is a lovely mixture of several illnesses ranging from a cold to glandular fever, or even worse - Man Flu! Don’t panic, everyone ends up with their share of germs so you defi-nitely won’t miss out!

How can you make your battle with Fresher’s Flu as swift as possible?

1. Get your 5-a-day (if this isn’t possible, take vitamin supplements) 2. Aim for at least 7 hours sleep a night (I know this might be a little unrealistic for some of you)3. Drink plenty of water (especially if you’re going out drinking, to avoid headaches in the morning!)4. Buy some soap to wash your hands with5. Try to cook your own food (Spag-bol, Tuna-Mayo pasta etc.) to help your diet gain a bit more variety than 3 pot-noodles a day

This will not only make you healthier, but happier too!

Staying Healthyin Freshers’ Week

LUKE JOHNSON


What can I say about living on a budget in London? Well the long and the short of it is don’t spend your money. The less you spend on pointless things like books the more you have to spend on the essentials; food, jazz clubs, and whiskey. As long as you stay switched on with your finances you shouldn’t have problems which are impossible to overcome. One of the most important ways of managing your budget is finding out where your biggest expenditure is and targeting it.

I obviously cannot speak for everyone but commonly students in Lon-don suffer with transport costs. I would be willing to bet that after beer (one of life’s staples) transport was my biggest expenditure. These costs can however be softened easily. Firstly, buy a student railcard! They are £28 and well worth it, they can be linked to your oyster card offer-ing significant savings on travel. Secondly, consider not using transport in London too much, it is easy to slip into a habitual use of the tube (IMPORTANT buses are cheaper than the tube) and to start using it whenit is not necessary. Leaving aside a little more time to walk not only saves you money it also makes you feel physically better and enables you to see some beautiful bits of London.

One common technique for self budgeting is to take, for example, £50 out at the start of the week andrestrict yourself to this amount. This can work if your self discipline is strong. I tried this and failed, I find thebest solution to relax: have a sensible attitude to spending, an accurate knowledge of your bank balance, and a willingness to occasionally say no. This is what I did in my first and second years and I am yet to go bankrupt.

The best way to manage on a tight budget is small regular savings, like own brand foods from supermarkets (Morrisons has an excellent range) and perhaps three pints in the pub not four.

Living on a Budget ANDREW SWiNDLEy

Best Date SpotsSo, well done in acquiring your date. Now for the massive conundrum that everyone faces... what to do? With so many places in London, one can find one’s self getting very overwhelmed. Luckily, you have this guide to the best dating spots in London!

Well why not start off with something free, try out the Tate Modern (London Bridge Tube) which will give you endless opportunities to show off your rapier wit. Pay attention to the closing times though because it can cut your date quite short, but not to worry as there is the Benugo bar just the south side of Waterloo Bridge within the BFI, about a 5 minute walk away from the Tate Modern.

If you fancy wooing your lady with your cultured musical taste, hit up a jazz bar, find some good nights in London. Try out Ronnie Scott’s in Soho, Troy Bar in Shoreditch, the 606 club in Chelsea, or everyone’s favourite, The Priory Tavern in Kilburn every fortnightly Thursday for the Sewage Jam night (free!). You could even flaunt your musical talent by getting up and playing. Prices may vary night to night.

If you want to go for the traditional, cliché date of taking her out for dinner, try walking down Camden Passage by Angel tube station, there’s a great place called The Elk in the Woods down a cobbled street, it’s really quirky and romantic and will leave your date thorough ly pleased. If you really want to budget your money and still want to go out for a meal, go to Nandos, you can never go wrong with Nandos, they are everywhere and very kind on the pocket.

Remember, above everything else, be confident, and have a good time, dates are supposed to befun!

SAM MCDERMOTT


Hello Freshers’, you all love music right? Well London has plenty of gigs, jam nights and club nights to offer, so you’re in the right place. Plenty of bands grace London’s venues each night:

If you’re into indie/rock Camden has a great scene with venues such as the Barfly and Proud which host some of London’s best bands.

If you’re into funk/jazz then look no further than Sewage one of London’s best jam’s. Sewage is run by some ex-St Mary’s students and is also full of great musicians! This is every second Thursday at the Priory Tavern in Kilburn.

If you’re after some soul then check out Troy Bar in Shoreditch (Old Street) every Tuesday evening from 10.30pm (after the Student Gathering), which hosts some of London’s best singers and you never know who you might find down there! Upstairs at Ronnie’s in Soho is also host to some amazing talent.

If classical music is more your thing then you can check out free concerts at the Royal College of Music - the regular concerts run by students are well worth checking out!

There are plenty of great clubbing spots as well - St Mary’s very own Rich Titchener runs a club night at the Jazz Café in Camden from 10.30pm every 3rd Friday, ‘A night of Hip Hop, Dup step, breaks and funk’.

So, as I said, there’s plenty on offer – Enjoy!

www.barflyclub.comwww.proudcamden.comwww.priorytavern.comwww.troybar.comwww.ronniescotts.co.ukwww.jazzcafe.co.uk

Gigs and VenuesJAMES SLATTER

New Wine – New Wine is a movement of churches working together to change the nation through a network of church leaders, summer conferences, training events and resources. We at St Mary’s also host Venue 2 at the London South East summer conference.www.new-wine.org

Soul Survivor/Momentum - The heart of Soul Survivor is to envision young people of all denominations to capture first a vision of Jesus, and then to equip, train, empower and release them into his ministry in their every day lives.www.soulsurvivor.com/uk

Fusion – Equips students, serves churches, develops student workers.www.fusion.uk.com

Tearfund - working in more than fifty countries around the world, responding to disasters, campaigning for justice, helping churches do whatever it takes to get close and stay close to the people who need them.www.tearfund.org/en

Things we wholeheartedly recommend…


This is great hot or cold! You can make a huge batch and share it around your house or just freeze it for later. You can experiment with other veg too or maybe add meat. If it’s too spicy add a spoonful or so of natural yogurt. There are a lot of ingredients but it all adds to the tastiness!

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil• 1 onion• 2 cloves garlic, crushed• Pinch of ginger (fresh preferably but doesn’t really matter!)• 1 carrot, sliced• 1/2 tsp turmeric• 1/2 tsp crushed chilli• 2 tsp ground cumin• 2 tsp ground coriander• 1 cinnamon stick (or a pinch of powder)• 400g chopped tomatoes• 800ml veg stock• 150g red lentils• 150g puy or green lentils• 400g chickpeas, drained• 200g fresh baby leaf spinach

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and fry the onion until it begins to brown. Add the garlic.

2. Add the carrot and spices and stir well to coat vegetables; cook for 2 mins. When you can smell the spices, they are cooked, so add the tomatoes, stock and lentils. Cook over a moderate heat without a lid for 30 mins, or until the lentils have softened.

3. Add the chickpeas and heat through.

4. When you are ready to serve, remove the cinnamon stick, stir the spinach through, and serve with toasted whole meal pita bread or brown rice a few sprigs of coriander.

Bon appetite!

Chickpea and Lentil Stew Serves 4 (£4 to make) iZZy JONES

Cosmopolitan:

- 1 shot of Vodka- ½ shot of Triple Sec- at least 1 shot of Cranberry juice- ½ shot Lime juice

Shake/ mix it all together for one of the most popular and tasty cocktails!

Woo Woo:- 1 shot of Peach Schnapps - 1 shot of Vodka- at least 2 shots of Cranberry juice

tropical tasting, make it your own, adding more or less as you like – GO CRAZY!

The real Shirley Temple: - 2 shots of Grenadine syrup/ squash - Can/ measure of Ginger Ale

Mix altogether and enjoy a truly tasty cocktail without the need for that alcohol extra!

Cocktails and Mocktails are there to be experimented with, you should go mental and see what you can come up with, BUT if you don’t trust yourself there are thousands of recipes that can be found on the internet, tastes for one and all, you will be sure to find one that is per-fect and DELISH!

Cocktails / MocktailsALiCE HODGKiNSON


Matt CoombsStudent Worker

e. [email protected]. 020 7258 5046

tw. @matt_coombstw. @stmarysstudents

f. www.facebook.com/stmarysstudents

Ruth MasonVoluntary Student Pastor

e. [email protected]

Church Office (Mailing Address)St Mary’s Church Office

245 Old Marylebone RoadLondon

NW1 5QT

Church BuildingSt Mary’s ChurchWyndham Place

York StreetLondon

W1H 1PQ

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