North Chippenham
Group of Churches
RECTORS
RAMBLINGS April 2008
RECTORS
RAMBLINGS
THE GOSPEL OF MARK - I
want to record my gratitude to the Rev Joseph Morris who brought a wonderful
dramatisation of MARK 'S GOSPEL to St Paul's church at the beginning of April. Some 200 people of all ages gathered and
found the experience both profound and moving.
It was lovely to hear the whole sweep of Mark's account of Jesus and to
realise how much he packs into 16 short chapters.
We were very blessed to
have Joseph with us and I am so glad I said 'yes' and that we let Joseph minister
to us or was it Mark who ministered?...or was it Jesus himself who ministered
to us that night? Thank you, Joseph, for
bringing Mark's words alive and for enlivening us with Jesus himself! (I have since had an email from Joseph in
which he said that the time with you in Chippenham was the highest point of my
stay in England.....I hope we can do it again.)
TEAM VICAR
APPOINTMENT - by the time you read this I hope that we will
have appointed a new colleague. We are
due to interview 4 candidates on 23rd April and I am praying that
one of them will be just right for us and we for them! Although an appointment may have been made we
are not likely to be able to make a public announcement until they have had
time for clearance etc.
MAY 25th JOHN
COLES PARK - St Paul's church will be holding a joint
Outdoor service with the Baptists on Sunday 25th May at 10.15am in
John Coles Park. It should last for less
than an hour. There will be SPARKS ON
SUNDAY also and special provision for children.
It should be a lovely event to invite friends and family to. Bring your picnic lunch and please wear a
SPLASH OF COLOUR!
ARCHDEACON'S
VISITATION - takes place at 7.30pm on Wednesday 7th
May at St Paul's church Archdeacon Alan Hawker asks all this year's and last
year's church wardens to please attend.
CHRISTIAN AID WEEK &
SERVICE - is during the week 11-17 May and the united
service is at 6.00pm on Sunday 11th May at Sheldon Road Methodist
church please come along!
CANON ANN ASHCROFT - congratulations
to Ann (Team Rector of the By Brook Benefice) who is to made a non-residential
Canon of Bristol Cathedral ie she keeps the same job in Yatton Keynell but
will be called Canon Ann Ashcroft!
MY RE-LICENSING - will
take place at the home of the Bishop of Swindon on Thursday 15th May
at 10.30am. This means that I have a
licence for the next 7 years here as Team Rector ......but neithers means that
I will definitely be here that long nor that I may not get a further licence in
the future. As far as I can see God
wants me here at this time all things and timings are in his hand!
CHIPPENHAM DEANERY -
please keep two of our full-time clergy in your prayers as they are both
off long-term sick Tony Fensome and Val Powell. As you might imagine this leads to real
questions as to how work is covered in this area of the Church of England and
means that others have to carry the load!
REV SAM RUSHTON - is
the new person responsible for ministry in the Diocese of Bristol. She is going to live in Cepen Park North and
will be licenced to our churches and therefore exercising ministry in them and
leading various services etc. With her
husband Peter and boys Matthew & Adam they are expecting to become part of
St Paul's church. It should be great to
have them around and I am sure they will contribute a lot to our life. Welcome to all 4 of you!
MONDAY MAY 12th
(the resting place) - is the name of a new coffee drop in and time
to talk and sharing any concerns a place where people will be around to
listen to you from 10.30am until noon.
You'd be most welcome to drop in to St Paul's hall for a chat!
SUNDAY 18th
MAY -
7.00pm in St Paul's hall will be an OPEN TO GOD.
SUNDAY 25th
MAY -
6.30pm in St Paul's church will be an IONA HC service.
GOING DEEPER - I
want to commend this idea of Going Deeper into our sermon series on HOW TO BE
CHURCH (looking at 1 Corinthians 11-14).
We are holding open evenings of talk and study which should give the
opportunity to really get to grips with Scripture. Details will be on the notice sheet follow
but this will start on 30th April.
THE VILLAGE HALL ON
SUNDAY -
takes place on Sunday 18th May from 9.30am in Kington St
Michael Village Hall and promises to be (as the previous ones) well-worth
coming along to. It is a lovely way to
engage with God and each other to find a different way of worshipping and
growing together!
LEE ABBEY 2008 - a
date for your diary .....we are having our next Lee Abbey weekend 10-12 October
2008. We are very fortunate that our
speaker will be the Rev Paul Bayes who is the National Mission & Evangelism
Adviser for the Church of England.
Please contact Ron & Margaret Pool (655544) for more details. It should be a great weekend and a lovely way
to get to know one another and to go deeper into God.
THE LEADERSHIP @ ST
PAULS -
I am hoping to announce some names of people who will take on the new
leadership roles at the St Pauls with Langley Burrell AGM on Wednesday 23
April. It will partly depend on who
becomes churchwarden etc but I hope that we can have an initial structure of
leaders for the next year which will be a year of transition as we move fully
into the new way of working.
Juts to remind you ....the
headlines are that we look to have a PCC that acts as Trustees (meeting say 4/5
times a year) with an important role played by the Chair and Churchwardens. Also, we are looking to have
co-ordinators/leaders/elders/facilitators (or whatever we call them!) for 6
areas of church life: Resources &
Property; Worship & Discipleship; Outreach; Caring For Ourselves; Youth
& Children; Out Of Parish.
THEMES
& READINGS - we are continuing our series in 1 Corinthians
HOW TO BE CHURCH. These will be the main
Bible readings:
May 4 The Greatest Gift 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
May 11 Pentecost Acts 2:1-21
May 18 Tongues & Prophecy 1 Corinthians 14:1-25
May 25 Good Worship 1 Corinthians 14:26-40
MIDWEEK BIBLE READINGS - at our midweek services of Holy Communion (10am on Wednesdays at St Pauls and 10am Thursdays at Kington St Michael) we are continuing a series FROM THE BEGINNING (Genesis 1-11)
May 7/8 The Rainbow Genesis 9:1-29
May 14/15 Pentecost Acts 2:1-21
May 21/22 Trinity Psalm 8:1-9
May 28/29 Tower of Babel Genesis 11:1-9
PRAYER FOR THE MONTH I think this is my favourite of all.........
Eternal God and Father
You create us by your power
And redeem us by your love
Guide and strengthen us by your Spirit that we
may give ourselves
In love and service
To one another and to you
Through Jesus Christ our Lord
Amen
SIMON TYNDALL