The Churches across West Wickham are joining together in Holy Week to produce a produce a goodie bag to bless commuters as they head off to work on Maundy Thursday morning.
It was a venture that West Wickham & Shirley Baptist ran last year with success, so we are joining together to cast the net a bit wider. The idea is that we get a production line going on the morning of Tuesday 7 April to assemble the bags, which will contain a bottle of water, some chocolate eggs, an energy bar, and a booklet with some Easter reflections.
We’ll then distribute these in a very light touch fashion on Thursday morning, offering them to people with a simple ‘Have a Happy Easter’. If you are interested in being part of the ‘production team’, or available to help on Maundy Thursday morning (from 6:30am!), then please let Jon know as soon as possible. Thanks.
Saying Yes To Life
Yes, we’re doing a plug for more Lent resources.
‘Saying Yes to Life’ is the title of a book by Ruth Valerio and it’s the Archbishop
of Canterbury’s Lent book for 2020. Ruth Valerio is Global Advocacy and
Influencing Director at Tearfund, described as an environmentalist, theologian
and social activist.
It’s a book that you can read by yourself or is equally suitable for groups to
mull over together and be challenged by the issues it raises. It encourages us
all to lift our focus from natural, everyday concerns to issues that have an
impact on millions of lives around the world. It draws on some strong biblical
themes to help us all consider matters of environmental, ethical and social
concern.
In short, the golden thread is what it means to be human and a follower of
Jesus. Not a bad thing to contemplate during Lent.
Lent Dilemma
Dan writes:
At this time of year, I have a dilemma. Not being raised in a church tradition that “did Lent” the thought of giving something up still seems… odd; and I struggle to participate.
I see the biblical merits and good intentions. Sacrificing something of value to try and identify with Jesus in the desert. However, Luke 4 says “Jesus returned… in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.”
My dilemma lies in our method, not the intention. Often, we go for a minor-substitution approach. A pseudo New Year’s resolution. Sugar for sweetener. Chocolate for fruit. Caffeine for decaff. TV for books. Smoking for vaping. Swearing for “Dag-nam-it!”
All great ideas, but do these types of substitution help draw us closer to God? Do we finish 40 days full of the Spirit? Does news about Jesus spread as a consequence?
This year, as we pursue God together, consider making a swap that answers with a resounding “Yes. Amen and Hallelujah!”.
The Lent Locker
The season of lent can offer a great storehouse of opportunities to ready ourselves for Easter. Here are a few things in the Lenten pipeline:
Ash Wednesday, 26th February, 8pm @ St John’s
Jesus Christ has died; Jesus Christ is risen; Jesus Christ will come again.’ The Prayer and Worship Teams invite you to mark the start of Lent with an evening of prayer and worship. If you can’t make this time, there is a Communion Service with ashing at St Francis at 10:45am.
Quiet Day, 7 March, 10:30am-3:30pm @ St John’s
Organised jointly by St Francis, St Mary's and St John's. It will focus on the “I am” sayings of Jesus. Please join us when you can.
New Teaching Series
Building on our ‘Pursuit of God’ series, we’ll flip the focus and start a new series called ‘God’s Pursuit of Us’, thinking about the extraordinary lengths to which God goes to bring us back to himself.
Vocations Explorations
Southwark Diocese are increasingly inviting people to explore different expressions of ‘lay ministry’. In March, there are a couple of opportunities to consider this in more detail:
i) Vocations Fair – 19 March, 6:30-8:30pm at St Mary’s Church, Lewisham High Street, SE13 6NX; and
ii) Vocations to Lay Ministry: Residential Conference – Friday 6 March – Sunday 8 March, Wychcroft Retreat Centre, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 4NE.
You can register for both of these at southwarkvocations.eventbrite.com
There are also details about ‘Lay Pioneer Ministry’ in the leaflet on the Welcomers’ Table, or via the Southwark Diocese Website.
Advent Approaches
I’m sure none of you need any reminding that Christmas looms on the horizon!
You might require more of a nudge to register that the season of advent begins next Sunday. And I wonder what message you would expect to hear from ‘your vicar’ about advent and what it represents? I equally wonder, if you’re really honest, how impervious to that message you might be, and why?
I’m not going to give you any leads as to what engagement with advent might offer – but I encourage you to reflect on those questions, and see if God might be calling you to approach the run to Christmas differently this year.
Next Sunday, we’ll start an advent series called ‘Christmas Playlist’, looking at some of the most popular songs of Christmas – ‘Last Christmas’, ‘All I want for Christmas’, etc – to see what nostalgia and desires they tap into, and compare that with what the nature of God’s promises to us.
A Couple of Opportunities
Below are some positions in two different organisations, both of whom are doing great work:
Amber CPC are looking to appoint someone as a Centre Administrator for one day a week (7.5 hours), starting in the next couple of months, on an initial 18 month contract. Please see the Job Description on the Welcomers’ Table for further details, and contact Susannah Davis at susannah@amberpregnancy.com to make enquiries, or apply.
St Christopher’s Croydon Community Project is looking for volunteers to join the team. Once trained, volunteers help empower Croydon communities to hold important conversations around dying and bereavement, and offer support around those discussions. For more information contact Carol Trower, the project lead, on c.trower@stchristophers.org.uk or begin the application proceed with this link: https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/volunteer_role/creating-conversations-volunteer/
Alpha Courses
St John’s will be hosting their next Alpha Course at SJ’s in the New Year. However, if you are unable to commit to evening meetings, there is an opportunity coming up to attend a course that will be running over lunchtime.
Starting on 4 October, St Francis Church will be giving people the chance to explore the Christian faith through Alpha. The sessions will start at 12:30pm and be done by 2:30pm, to allow for the school pick up. There will be also be facilities for accompanying children. The meetings will run on a Friday with the following dates currently planned:
4, 18, 25 October 8, 22, 29 November
6, 13 December
To register your interest, speak to Jon or get in direct contact with Hazel at St Francis on hazelos58@gmail.com or 020 8777 5034.
Book Recommendation
If you view the Summer as a chance to catch up on some non-work-related reading, then can I add a ‘God book’ to your list of must reads. It’s ‘Dirty Glory’ by the author Pete Greig, champion of the 24-7 Prayer Movement.
It’s a very accessible follow up to ‘Red Moon Rising’ and continues to chart the 24-7 story, as it has gained momentum across the globe. Full of personal and honest stories, it’s not only a testimony to God’s faithfulness, but an inspiring call to any Jesus follower not to settle for less and coast it in our Christian walk. It’s a big claim, but I am pretty sure that if everyone in the church read this and responded, it would change us dramatically – what we do, and how we do it. As one of the chapter closes:
May I have the courage today
To live the life that I would love
And waste my heart on fear no more.
(John O’Donohue)
'The Turning' Initiative
‘The Turning’, wait for it, is a simple street evangelism programme, which began in a Baptist church in Reading a few years ago. It has now been rolled out across the country among a variety of church traditions and this autumn it’s coming to London, with Bromley taking something of a lead. It’s actually become a project of the ‘Transform Bromley Borough’ initiative, to bring together as many of the churches of the Borough to impact the community.
Bromley is breaking down into 5 hubs and Churches Together in West Wickham have agreed to the hub for ‘Hayes & West Wickham’. The initiative will begin on Saturday 21 September, with more details to follow. Aware of the mixed feelings evangelism can evoke, I hope you are encouraged by the ethos behind this initiative: “At the heart of this is not some form of technique which will magically enable effective witness to happen. Rather it’s a shared opportunity for us to allow God to change our mind-set - to look outwards, build our confidence in our faith and witness, and really see our local community as a mission field.” Please start praying about it.
Thy Kingdom Come
You may recall this global initiative from last year – a focused 9 days of prayer between Ascension and Pentecost. The emphasis of the prayer is that God’s Spirit would empower his church to greater works of evangelism. We want to join in with this movement, so here are some of the ways to key in:
· Write down the names of 5 people you know who are not Christians and pray for them every day during this period;
· Every day at 9:30am, between Thursday 30 May to Friday 7 June, there will be prayer meetings at Coney Hill Baptist Church for all the churches across town;
· We will post daily prayer prompts on our Facebook page during this period.
For further ideas, go to https://www.thykingdomcome.global/
Mental Health Awareness Week
Team Refresh
If you were unable to make the APCM last week, it was mentioned that in the coming weeks we will engage in a process to renew our Teams. Some of the steps will include:
i) Asking individuals if they are willing to step into Team Leader roles;
ii) Putting together a clear explanation of what each Team aims to do and how people can be involved;
iii) Give everyone an opportunity to step away from / step up to involvement in a particular team.
Please commit this to prayer – both for us collectively as a church family and how it impacts our mission, but also the individual response that you might make.
Churcher Family Farewell
Hopefully, you have all registered the fact that Peter’s last working day in the parish is on Easter Sunday.
To give him and the family the send-off they deserve, we’ll be having a big tea and cake party immediately following the service on that day. We recognise that Easter will mean commitments for many of you, so we will bring the shedding of tears to an end in plenty of time for you to make it to any lunch engagements.
That’s about all we can give away publicly (wink, wink), but it’s also worth reminding you of the date of Peter’s installation at his new job in Ilfracombe – 13 May, 7pm. If you were thinking of making the trip, or hoping to but weren’t sure how you might get there, please can you let Jon know so we can think about travel arrangements.
Autumn Scheduling
We’ve got an exciting few weeks coming up, with a few changes to our usual schedule. So here you go:
28 October We begin a new series exploring hospitality called ‘Table People’. We hope to demystify hospitality and recognise that so many encounters Jesus had happened around a meal table.
4 November We will be meeting in the Assembly Rooms for our 10:00am service. We’ll let you know nearer the time what we’ll be thinking about together, but for now, please note the change of venue.
18 November George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilisation, will be preaching at our 10:00am service. George is known for his passion for Christ and will challenge us in what it means to be a follower of Jesus.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome
The greeting extends to one and all as we gather this morning to celebrate Harvest together. We make a couple of special mentions though. One, to our Uniformed Groups as they help us celebrate this annual festival – as always, it’s great to have you with us, and thank you for all the contributions that you make towards our collections.
Two, it’s great to have the Simpson family and their friends in our midst, as they give thanks for Aaron and mark that with baptism. We hope you’re able to jump on board with the celebrations today, and it’s our privilege to share this special occasion with you.
All of that makes for a fairly full service, but we hope the unifying mood is one of giving thanks to God for all that’s good in our lives.
Possible Openings
This week we have a selection of possible mission/job opportunities. Firstly, OM (Operation Mobilisation) are putting out a plea for people to deploy their everyday work skills in the mission field. It could be as a career break, or those moving towards retirement, but their Africa director is looking for people in the following areas:
- Financial Developer
- Personnel Manger & Personnel Officer
- Administrator
- PA to Associate Area Leaders
The place of work would be either South Africa or Zambia. They’re also looking for a financial manager and administrator in OM Malawi and OM Mozambique. If you’re interested then speak to Jon.
Southwark Diocese are also advertising a number of jobs at Trinity House and Southwark Cathedral via the Church of England Pathways Jobsite:
http://southwark.anglican.org/about-us/vacancies/ The jobs include:
- Property Administrator & Part-time Admin Assistant
- Finance Officer & Choir Chaperones