Unsurprisingly, the Corona virus is dominating headlines and conversations at the moment. I hope you’re managing to walk the line between taking the concerns seriously, whilst not becoming unduly anxious.
It’s all too easy to become pre-occupied with our own affairs in these circumstances. It’s good that churches deliberate over matters such as the best way to administer Communion, but let’s be honest, there are bigger issues: keeping foodbanks stocked, how people will manage childcare in the event of closure, food for kids who have free school dinners, care for the most vulnerable…
Our local foodbanks have already put out a plea for help, indicating a 30% drop in incoming supplies, at a time when demand is anticipated to increase (please see inside for details of the goods they would like). The coming weeks will present a moment when we can show people what ‘Christian concern’ can really look like. God Bless.
Spreading Hope At Easter
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.
Unity, Prayer & Mission
As we draw near to the end of our ‘Week of Prayer for Christian Unity’ it’s worth reminding ourselves that our ‘togetherness’ and the prayer that fuels it, isn’t just something that we pay lip service to in a programmed week of the year. The three components of the heading – unity, prayer and mission – are inextricably
connected. This is no better exemplified than by Jesus’ own prayer that his followers would be completely in step with one another so that the world would recognise that God sent Him for their sake:
“I am not just praying for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who have faith because of what
my followers will say about me. I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.” (John 17: 20-21)
Our Churches Together Service at Emmanuel on Saturday starts at 10am, with a focus on prayer – which seems to fit quite well with some things we’ve been talking about recently…
The Pursuit of God
If you don’t like being challenged then don’t pick up Tozer’s book, ‘The Pursuit
of God’ – the title of our current teaching series. He wasn’t one to mince his
words, but written in the late 1940s, many parts have a surprisingly
contemporary ring:
“We have been trying to apply
machine-age methods to our relations with God. We read our chapter, have our
short devotions and rush away, hoping to make up for our deep inward bankruptcy
by attending another gospel meeting or listening to another thrilling story
told by a religious adventurer lately returned from afar. The tragic results of
this spirit are all about us. Shallow lives, hollow religious philosophies, the
preponderance of the element of fun in gospel meetings, the glorification of
men, trust in religious externalities, quasi-religious fellowships,
salesmanship methods, the mistaking of dynamic personality for the power of the
Spirit: these and such as these are the symptoms of an evil disease, a deep and
serious malady of the soul.”
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
Parenting for Faith
This is an 8 week course that we are really excited to be running in the New Year for the first time at St John’s. It’s a little different to other parenting courses – the clue is in the title, but it’s specifically focused on how we nurture a close walk with God in our children, rather than looking at parenting more generally.
It’s doesn’t matter the age of your kids, and it’s also a great course if you’re a grandparent, godparent, aunt or uncle. Grab the insert for more details of dates and timings, but we will provide a meal, and aim to offer people who can babysit to allow couples to come together. If that’s not going to work for you, the course is still effective if you have to mix and match, say alternate weeks between you.
There will be limited places, and we anticipate they will go fast, so let Amber know as soon as possible if you want to book a spot.
Harvest Celebration
This weekend we mark Harvest with our Uniformed Groups in an ‘All Together’ service. Don’t forget that Tea & Coffee will come before the service, starting at about 9:45am.
Harvest is a great opportunity to express our thanks to God for so many things that we often take for granted. It’s also a time to extend generosity to others and remember our collective responsibility to care for this amazing world which God has given us. During the service, we’ll be taking a couple of collections:
· Food for the Bromley Foodbank; and
· A money collection for Link to Hope and their project the ‘Inn of Love’ – details of which we will profile during the service.
We look forward to seeing you there to celebrate God’s goodness.
Feeling Connected?
There has been some recent global research amongst the 18-35 age group around how they navigate church, faith and life in general. They called these millennials the ‘connected generation’ in recognition of their incredible ability to utilise technology to connect with others. At the same time, it was noted that alarming numbers expressed feeling ‘relationally disconnected’.
In old fashion terms – lonely.
The need to feel supported, experience face to face contact with others, be part of a loving community isn’t just a millennial thing, it’s a human thing. We’ve always said that it’s hard to fully experience that on a Sunday morning, so we encourage people to join a home group. That’s simply a smaller group of people who meet at someone’s home during the week, to encourage each another, explore matters of faith and spur one another on to pursue our vision of ‘doing life with Jesus’. Philippa Tagg has oversight of these groups and has included a message inside about leadership of these groups. But more generally, have a chat with her if you would like to find out more.
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.
The Turning Final Update
The Turning is only a week away, and here are the final details for the programme:
7 Evenings of Worship, Prayer & Testimony
Sunday 22 September, 6:30pm @ Coney Hill Baptist
Monday 23 – Friday 27 September, 7:30pm @ Coney Hill Baptist
6 Mornings of Training & Outreach
Monday 23 – Saturday 28 September, 10am – 1pm
Monday & Tuesday @ Coney Hill Baptist
Wednesday & Thursday @ St Mary’s, Hayes
Friday & Saturday @ St Francis, West Wickham
We are looking for people to pray, be involved in the outreach on the streets, and engage in follow-up conversations with anyone who expresses a desire for that (any or all of those). There will be a sign-up sheet in church on Sunday, or if you’re not around then, send Jon an email.
Good Mental Health For All: Through All the Changing Scenes of Life
Southwark Diocese are continuing their hard work to promote awareness of mental health issues, and how we might best support one another through them.
The above day conference will be held on Saturday 23 February, 10am-3pm at St Mildred’s Church in Addiscombe, CR0 7EB. It includes the involvement of organisations like Mind, The Children’s Society and The Association for Pastoral Care in Mental Health. It will be a great opportunity to hear from experts in the field, as well as local churches who run projects aimed at mental health and wellbeing. There will also be a market place of resources.
If you want to book, please email – Marlene.Collins@Southwark.Anglican.Org
Discerning our Gifts
This is the next subject in our ‘Gifts’ series that Dan will be speaking about on Sunday.
In the coming weeks, we’ll be suggesting a few different tools that are available to help us work out together what our respective gifts might be. We are also giving thought to a ‘personality test’ that we could do as a whole church – to help us get to know one another better, and understand how we each might exercise our gifts. So watch this space…
Another aspect of this whole arena is the idea of ‘calling’. Exploring vocation often takes time and space, and so the Diocese offer regular Quiet Days to facilitate this. The next one is on 8 February, 10:00am-3:30pm. It offers a mixture of short talks, reflections, prayer and plenty of room for personal prayer and reflection on the ways in which God might be calling. If you are interested please let Jon know.
Prayer & Healing Service
We like to provide space for people to receive prayer for anything on any given Sunday.
However, it feels timely to hold a complete service directed towards prayer and specifically, an opportunity to receive prayer for healing and wholeness. Our time together will include some teaching and sung worship, but will offer plenty of space for people to ‘Be Still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46: 10). There is something special about coming together as a church family in faith in this way, so we encourage you to put the date in your diary now – Sunday 1 October, 6:30pm.
‘But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness
will rise with healing in its wings.’
Malachi 4: 2