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Christian Festival Week at Overseal (Leicestershire) (October 1990 edition of the magazine) Just back, we feel happy, tired, excited and privileged to have been involved. We combined with a small number of local folk to make up the team and together we were able to make a contribution to all community activities in Overseal from Darby and Joan and Pensioners' Luncheon Club to Youth Clubs and Playgroups. One outstanding meeting was in a pub with local teachers and community and social workers specially invited to consider the question, "Are Christian Attitudes past their sell-by date?" A number of people came to faith and several hundred more were set thinking. No section of the community seemed to resent being invited to take a part in this celebration of the 150th Anniversary of St. Matthew's, Overseal. It was great taking a team from St. Thomas' and I felt genuinely proud of each member. It was especially thrilling to have two of my own children sharing fully in the project. We were wonderfully supported by folk at home, with daily meetings for prayer, help with transport and special contributions on the last Sunday from the Drama Group and Sowers. We must pray on for the Church in Overseal. They are doing a fine job and deserve as much help as possible. And we need to think carefully about how we can reach out effectively to our parish with the Good News. Christopher Frith The Decade of Evangelism (December 1990 edition of the magazine) -A call to pray for a decade 1991-2000 The Bishop of Hulme explains how to recognise a Missionary Church. It will have these five marks: 1. Wide Friendships Ask yourself and ask others why they started coming to church. Nine times out of ten, the answer will be "through a friendship". If church members have few friends outside the church, now will your church grow? 2. An Open Door The door of your church may be open (if it isn't firmly closed to keep in the heat), but for outsiders it is a daunting entrance. How can you lower the threshold for them? 3. Worldly Relevance Does your church "scratch them where they do not itch"? Or what is it doing to meet the needs that people actually feel? A programme of self-preservation will not attract new members 4. Attractive worship Integrity and honesty are needed more than excellence, then the visitor may say "surely God is in this place". 5. Faith that lives More than the other four, this is what counts. If people experience in us the love and likeness of Christ, they will want to know more. These are what will make new Christians in the Decade of Evangelism Every Christian has the duty and the joy of passing on to others the Good News of Jesus Christ. We are to be 'ambassadors for Christ' - sharing in his work, reflecting his likeness, and inviting others to join in the same pilgrimage. During the next ten years we are being asked to commit ourselves in love and service to others. As Christ binds up the broken-hearted and sets captives free, we are called to bring the message of his love to all, whether poor or powerful. The first Sunday of the year is the day on which many Christians renew their dedication to God's work. The first Sunday of this Decade also falls on the Feast of the Epiphany which reminds us that Christ is for all the nations. His good news speaks to each of us individually but it also speaks to whole communities. Wherever it is received, it brings hope to situations of division and despair, and affirms all that is just and pure. We are called to dedicate ourselves anew to spread this word, and to prepare the way for the coming of his Kingdom of justice on earth. But the Church itself must listen to Christ. We too, need to hear the Gospel afresh, be touched by its challenge and its power and continually transformed by its message. Churches Together in England has begun a new way for Christians to work together in our country. It is right that our first common undertaking should be to evangelise. We wish to join with you in making the next ten years a time in which our priority is to live, to proclaim and to teach the gospel. Let us also pray that we may all grow to a deeper unity formed by the Spirit, so that the world may believe in Christ, and through him come in worship to the Father. His Eminence Cardinal George Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster Revd Dr John Newton, Ex-Moderator, Free Church Federal Council Revd Desmond Pemberton, National Superintendent, Wesleyan Holiness Church Most Revd and Rt Hon. Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury A Year of Alpha (December 1997 edition of the magazine) During 1997, we have run four ALPHA courses, three in the evenings and one in the afternoon. Over 200 people have so far participated in our courses. Some have found a living faith in Jesus Christ for the first time. Several others have found their faith and their lives renewed. Marry have been relieved to have been able to air their questions and doubts and discuss them with sympathetic people. Nearly everyone has enjoyed the experience - not least the sharing of a simple but excellent meal at the start of each session! ALPHA will continue during 1998. Alpha Continues (December 1998 edition of Mustard Seed) Fiona Chisnell is a district nurse and she has just completed an Alpha course at St. Thomas'. She tells Mustard Seed about her experience. Since January 1996, eight Alpha courses have been held in St. John's Church Centre. Alpha is a ten week course introducing the Christian faith and is designed for ordinary people. Whatever your age you are welcome. A is for Anyone interested in finding out more about the Christian faith. Whatever your age, you are welcome. L is for Learning and Laughter. There is joy in learning about the Christian faith. P is for People and Pasta and Pudding. An opportunity to get to know other people and make new friends over a light meal. H is for Helping each other. The small groups give you chance to discuss issues raised by the talks in a supportive environment. A is for Asking anything. No question is regarded as too simple or too hostile. I was having a difficult time at work and a colleague told me, out of the blue, that what I needed to do was join an Alpha course. My brother, who lives down in Kent, had been on one and he advised me to go. And then I saw an advert for Alpha in the local paper and so I rang up and went for h. On joining Alpha I felt like I had come home from a long and tiresome journey. The warmth and fellowship generated by the group was unreserved and refreshing. I have had the opportunity to explore personal thoughts and share other opinions, which has enabled me to put into perspective a lot of misconceptions about my faith. I have now been able to put my trust in Jesus Christ in a personal way. Alpha has allowed me a deeper insight into my true self, facilitating a new outlook on life. I really feel like a different person, as if my internal flame has been ignited. Fiona Chisnell The Millennium in our Parish (December 1999 edition of the magazine) Millennium...what springs to mind when you hear that word? Big dome? Millennium bug? 2000th birthday of Jesus Christ? Scripture Union surveyed 687 7-11 year olds with the question: "When you hear the word "Millennium" what is the first thing you think of?" Only seven mentioned Jesus. The task of the churches in the Millennium is to forge a link in people's minds between the year 2000 and the name of Jesus Christ, and the possibility of personal meaning and public hope. How can our churches use the Millennium to make Jesus known? In 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read "If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." Paul goes on to say in v.20 "We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us." We need to take this wonderful message of Christ, and what he has done for us, to others. The Millennium is a marvellous opportunity for the church because it is the 20001'' birthday of Jesus Christ the Lord of the church. The Millennium signs outside our churches remind us and others of this. Special Millennium events have been organised by all three churches and listed below are dates and activities for December 1999 and January 2000. An invitation to attend is extended to you and your family and friends. Millennium candles or gospels are being distributed in the parish during December along with the annual Mustard Seed publication. Nanette Sanderson Outreach to the Elderly (December 2002 edition of magazine) As a church, we are committed to share the love of Jesus and we recognise six core values to inspire our mission and ministry. Two of those core values call on us to welcome and include all as of equal importance regardless of age, and to show God's concern for the lost, the suffering etc. For the best part of ten years, a small team of members from St. Peters' and St. Thomas' have visited, on a regular monthly basis, the three residential homes for the elderly which lie in our parish. We hold a short service, encouraging the residents to join in if they can and if they wish, and then we spend a valuable time with them chatting or sometimes just listening. For a number of reasons, those currently able to carry out this service has reduced and we really need to strengthen the team. The outreach is a gift of friendship and sharing which is its own reward. It is wonderful to see, for instance, a lady in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease lifting her head and singing along with us a well known hymn. Often hymns, readings or prayers trigger memories of the ways in which residents used to be involved in a variety of Christian communities. It is one of the saddest losses of the frail elderly that the opportunity to symbolise, articulate and celebrate their belief is only rarely given. We are able to provide the occasion. The smiles on their faces share their appreciation with us. We have learnt that the frail figures grouped round the television can be much more alert than is supposed at first sight. Many will only have introspective thoughts and memories to occupy their mind, and a regular act of worship, linked with a friendly visit, provides a welcome break in the routine and a breath of fresh air from the outside. Please, if you feel drawn to this work, would you give it a try? We meet at 1.10pm in St. Thomas' vestry and then visit the three homes on the third Wednesday of every month, returning home by 3.30pm. Just come along or, if you wish, contact David Oldale or the church office. For retired practising lay Christians being involved in this work could be not only for the benefit of the residents in the homes, but also for their own spiritual development. Fun in the Rain -A home group distributes Easter Eggs (June 2006 edition of magazine) If you live on the new houses built at the top of Rhodesia Road, then a wet night at the beginning of April could have been entertaining for you! A hardy bunch of us braved the cold and rain, in Biblical costume, to deliver Easter eggs and the Easter edition of Spotlight. This was the Home Group that meets at 13 Bee Hive Road, and it was our mission activity for the year. Response to our knocking on doors to deliver the Spotlights in person and give Easter eggs to young members of the house hold were varied but most were positive and we all enjoyed ourselves. Who knows perhaps the Christmas Spotlights can be delivered by Carol singers giving out mince pies as well? Janet Turville Playing Your Cards Right or Discovering the Levels of Engagement -thoughts on St Thomas' Year of Mission (August 2006 edition of magazine) Some years ago I met a young Nigerian evangelist who was concerned to reach the Muslim men in rural Nigeria. He discovered that they spent a fair amount of their day sitting in the shade playing cards. This was much more a relaxed social activity rather than heavy betting. They actually spoke to each other while they were playing cards. This young evangelist, named Ezekiel, said to himself, If I am going to reach these men for Christ, I must learn how to play cards. And this he did which enabled him to build relationships with the men and develop a ministry with a group of people. Reflecting on the Church Open Day and Flower Festival at the beginning of July and on a number of things that have happened over the past couple of years, I was wondering what we have learned about levels of engagement between church and community. Can we develop some of these insights further as we try to move forward as a church? What might we continue to develop in the future? Prophetic actions are those where an individual or a group of people have had a vision and brought that vision to the church and then put it into action. Illustrations of such actions might be The Big Draw Saturday morning event, the Friday evening family event at the close of the Summer Holiday Club, the Flower Festival and Open Day, the Rendezvous activities, a coffee and cake garden event or the trip to Blackpool. All these actions and others beside broke new ground and indicate that the prophetic initiative can arise from members of the congregation. Further, we note that Gods prophetic word is often embodied in action (cf. John 1:1-3, 14). Creative activity was central to the Big Draw in October. September Rendezvous and the various childrens activities such as the Summer Holiday Club also include creative activities. To create something not only stretches us it helps us to get involved in the meaning of the project in mind. If we are created in the image of our Creator God, then people need to be encouraged to develop their creative side (Gen 1:1ff). Using the holy space differently has very much come to the fore since the church building was refurbished. As well as being a place for worship and teaching it has also been a place for community activity. Parties, concerts, a bouncy slide activity, childrens games, carpet bowls, refreshments, quizzes, line dancing and barn dancing, displays and simply opening the building to allow folk to look around. While God does not live in temples made with hands, what we do with and in church buildings has a place in the progress of the gospel (1 Kings 8:27-28). Engaging the people groups has always had a place in the life of the church; usually these groups are defined by age or gender. At St Thomas we have a whole range of such groups, but what about relational activities for friends and family or activities with neighbours? There have been some prophetic actions in this direction also, but we do need to give more thought to it. Many of us have talents or expertise that does not naturally seem to fit with our religious duties. Yet we have already been able to utilise talents and expertise such as local and family history, bowling, digital camera skills, line dancing etc. in the interests of the kingdom of God. Expertise of this nature might be a key that on the one hand unlocks the door to the establishing of new groups or on the other to new levels of engagement. Can we extend our levels of engagement to include groups which focus on interests or issues such as bikers, walkers, sewing groups, football teams, film buffs, art or other creative activities? Perhaps as we attempt to develop and restructure our Open House Groups we can be more open and set up groups which embrace people with specific interests. The New Testament church was always on the move engaging new groups of people (e.g. Acts 8:4; 10:34-48) Starting where people are in their search for faith is another way into levels of engagement. I spent 13 years as Chaplain to Holidaymakers on the East Coast of Norfolk and Suffolk. The question we were always asking was, how can we engage people in their fun so that holiday may become Holy day? In an age where having fun has become a main aim in the lives of many people; we need to ask where we fit in. There are things that happen such as church picnic, cricket match and we do a number of fun things in the church building. Yet are there other ways of doing fun things? br> Beginning where people are involves knowing something of how we come to faith. The journey to faith often involves moving though a series of stages. While it is extremely difficult to know what triggers off that process to faith in an individual, certain steps appear to be required. The gospel must be accessible to various levels of interest and understanding if people are to get a handle on a living faith in Christ. The process may go something like this just looking- friendship fellowship witness understanding the gospel Bible teaching- worship - discipleship and service. Do we have the stepping stones in place that will enable a person seeking to move from no faith to faith in a living Saviour? (Acts 18:24-26). Equipping and enabling the people of God will lead to further development in ministry. This is not something new to St Thomas. There have been many such training opportunities. Yet we all need to be continually renewed, inspired and have opportunity to develop new skills and insights. Early on in the Year of Mission we had a training day along the lines of relating faith to life. Clearly the training and the enabling of people needs to continue. Thinking slant (or outside the box) is another key element. This brings me back to my Nigerian friend, Ezekiel. He really did go outside the box and, no doubt, some believers found his approach hard to take. Thinking slant is about identifying the vision God has for you and me and possibly others. It means prayer, reflection on the Bible and reflection on the every day situation in which we find ourselves. John Christie found himself redundant at 55 having worked as a Commonwealth public servant in Melbourne Australia for many years. He says: I shared the trauma of fellow employees with a lifetimes service to the department, facing early retirement, retraining for other lesser work, some finding that even at 50 they were told they were too old by other employers. John continues: I encountered many examples of deep anxiety, depression, anger, and confusion, resentment of feeling cast off and devalued, feeling of less significance. This led John to do some serious thinking and praying about how to respond to the situation. The outcome is that John now has a group of about 20 pre-senior men aged 55-65 who have come through a similar experience of forced retirement. John started to think slant, identified Gods hand in the situation and was able to reach older men for Christ. David Sanderson |