The Bible Reading Fellowship

As Christians we will all be wanting, by the grace of God, to reach out with generosity and kindness to those around us, as best we can. Despite the present difficulties, BRF are committed to encouraging and equipping you to be effective in your Christian journey, witness and ministry. They'll be offering practical ideas and support for readers, ministry volunteers and all their followers – so that social distancing doesn’t mean being cut off.

Over the next few weeks, they'll be providing practical ideas and spaces for us all to stay in contact and support each other. Please do stay in touch… through whatever channels you like best.

For prayers, Bible verses and ideas for you, your friends and your neighbours to remain positive and hopeful, check in on the BRF Facebook page

Whether or not you’re a parent, join the growing numbers flocking for up-to-the minute advice, ideas and discussion of how to support children and teenagers during the crisis on the Parenting for Faith Facebook page

For ideas for supporting older people, head over to the Anna Chaplaincy website and sign up for Debbie Thrower’s blog

If you're a teacher, parent or carer concerned to keep children on track with their learning, go to the Barnabas in Schools website where you can browse curriculum-linked ideas to do at home. We'll be adding more activities that children can do without adult supervision.

Social distancing does not mean social disconnection!

Julia x

Life at Christ's Church 25.3.20

Obviously over the last few days we’ve had sweeping changes to our lives – in all areas!

The Church building can longer be open, which is very sad – but the GOOD NEWS is that even though the building is closed – THE CHURCH IS STILL OPEN!

STILL OPEN through our social media sites – this website, our Facebook pages, Twitter and Instagram

which have sermon vlogs, blogs, prayers, information and much, much more to keep us focused on the positive and hopeful rather than all the panic and fear of so much around us.

STILL OPEN through email and telephone – The Vicarage: 01204 525196, parishsec@hotmail.co.uk

Always someone there to answer your queries, to offer support and arrange help with shopping etc.

We have an amazing group of wonderful people who have offered to phone regularly for a chat or to do shopping, collect prescriptions, etc.

Just let us know if you need us.

STILL OPEN many of our church group leaders have been phoning round members of our congregation whom they know, to find out if everything is going OK in these difficult and uncertain times. However, it may be we don’t have your full contact details and if that is case please do contact us if we can be of any help at all.

STILL OPEN to receive your desperately needed food for the Grub Tub, which is now in the front porch of The Vicarage, so on your daily exercise you could pop by and drop it in. We will be taking it to Urban Outreach regularly.

STILL OPEN to receive your orange envelopes as we try to keep our Grade II listing building warm and aired to protect it ready for service beginning again the future. Maybe you’d like to change your gift to a standing order through your bank – just download the form HERE and return to your bank.

Finally:

In this time of fear and uncertainty we have to lean heavily on what the scripture tells us. “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.” - the words of scripture haven’t changed!

God is seated immovably upon the throne and continues to have

“plans to prosper us and not to harm us but to give us a hope and future”.

Stick with us, there’s a lot we’re all going to be processing over the next weeks and months, so why not journey through this as a family – a CHURCH FAMILY.

Let’s choose to support each other if we can’t meet to worship.

Because He’s still good, even when life is not.

May the Lord keep you safe and hold you in his loving arms.

God bless

Wendy

Some useful links for families and children

Many of our children and young people are anxious about Coronavirus and its implications. Their routines have been shattered and there are many unanswered questions. Here are some resources that might help:
Online materials from JKP Books:

http://www.jkp.com/jkpblog/2020/03/i-have-a-question-about-coronavirus/

For resources to worship at home with your children there are some really good on-line suggestions here:

https://www.facebook.com/worshipingwithchildren/

https://engageworship.org/engage-at-home-daily-family-prayer-and-worship-activities

https://issuu.com/churchpublishing/docs/candlewalk5?fr=sNmZhNjY3MDM3Mg for a lovely way to calm little ones – “Candle Walk” is a book but they are offering it online for free at the moment.

Messy Church have produced some great suggestions for Messy Church at home:
https://www.messychurch.org.uk/resource/breaking-bread-fun-family-prayer-time

ISingPop - combine music, faith and fun. They've made many of their songs available on their YouTube channel, great for bopping around at home or school (if you are open for key worker children).

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCd7DPjgn_5vaW1lnFR05JSw/videos

The 96.5 Bolton FM ‘Prayers for Bolton’ Show

Ian Smart and Sue Snowdon will be presenting this inspirational programme each Sunday at 11am which will include an act of worship for those currently unable to attend church worship. The “preacher”
this Sunday will be Canon Chris Bracegirdle, the vicar at Bolton Parish Church.

Bolton FM is available on 96.5FM and online at www.boltonfm.com – it is also available on your smartspeaker and digitally via TuneIn. 

If anyone would like a prayer request broadcast on air in the hour preceding the show then please record your request on your phone and email the sound file to admin@boltonfm.com

Julia

Life at Christ's Church

Hello Everyone

We do hope you have managed to read the Vicar’s Blog and watch Rev’d Julia Gordon’s video which were posted on this website a couple of days ago.

We are hoping to bring you updates as, and when they are required about the life and times of our church during this time of great uncertainty and worry.

The news is we have been informed by the Diocese that APCMs (AGM) which normally have to be held before the 31 May each year for churchwardens, deanery synod reps and PCC members to be elected must now be held by 31 October this year.  This means that our present  PCC and officers will continue in post until we can actually have a meeting.

Archbishop of Canterbury to lead first national virtual Church of England Service

The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is to lead a national broadcast as the Church of England responds to the challenge of becoming a “different sort of church” in the face of the coronavirus crisis.

The service including prayers, hymns and a short sermon will be broadcast online by the Church of England and broadcast across 39 local BBC radio stations this Sunday, Mothering Sunday as congregations across the country find new ways of sharing worship together after public church services were put on hold.

National Day of Prayer

This Mothering Sunday, 22 March, all major denominations are calling all churches to a National Day of Prayer and Action.

At such a time as this, when so many are fearful and there is great uncertainty, we are reminded of our
dependence on our loving heavenly Father and the future that He holds.

At 7pm this Sunday, light a candle in the windows of your homes as a visible
symbol of the light of life, Jesus Christ, our source and hope in prayer.

We have the great privilege and freedom to be able to call upon God, wherever we are, individually and corporately, for healing in our country.

Please pray for all in leadership at this time, making decisions about the containment of the Covid-19 virus, for those working in health and social care, and especially for the most vulnerable, whether elderly or those with underlying health conditions.

Message from Rev Wendy Oliver

I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’m living through some kind of disaster movie at the present time!  What will happen next? Society seems to have gone a bit bonkers doesn’t it?  Well never fear God is still here and so is Christ’s Church, Harwood.

Sadly though in the light of the Government guidance around non-essential contact to help stem the spread of the Coronavirus, the Archbishops of Canterbury and York have issued advice that public worship is suspended until further notice.  Therefore, it is with great sadness that we must announce that there will be no more formal worship services held at Christ’s Church, Harwood during this very difficult period.  Our APCM (AGM) due to take place on 28 March is also postponed.  All other church groups including the Lounge Café are cancelled until further notice.

However, this does not mean that the church is not still alive and active!  WE ARE!!!  We are still church although in different ways.  AND there are lots of ways we can support one another, stay in touch, pray even if we don’t meet for regular worship on Sundays.

There is no way COVID-19 will defeat us!  I know many people are feeling fearful of the future and what it holds, but remember we are a Church of HOPE!  That hope is what will bring us through to the end of this difficult time.

How can we bring HOPE in this situation? Well first let’s look to scripture, Psalm 23 is a marvellous place to start, with acknowledgement that God is the good shepherd always with us, meeting our needs, even if that leads us to walk through the shadow of death, he brings us through to the other side and is still with us.  Let’s remember too that as Christians we have HOPE of a future, eternally with God.

We can PRAY, and if we don’t know the words to use, or we feel we’ve never really prayed before and are nervous why not try using the Lord’s Prayer.

Christ’s Church, Harwood has a Strategy Team which is looking at different ways we can still be church in a very different world. 

Although there will not be usual worship services on Sunday morning the church will be open this Sunday from 9.30-10.30am for people to come and spend a time of quiet reflective prayer in our beautiful church building.  Obviously safety measures will need to be adhered to.  

From Monday 23 March a number of us will, in our own homes, be using the Church of England Daily Prayer at 10am and 7pm.  If you would like to join in the app can be downloaded at the Google and Apple app stores, it’s called Daily Prayer.  It is very easy to use.

It is hoped that we will be able to make sure that the majority if not all of our regular congregation will be contacted by someone from church and are putting plans in place so everyone knows we are there for them.

Our social media sites will be regularly updated with prayers, podcasts, videos and information to help everyone through.  The magazine due out at the beginning of March will have lots of articles prayers and articles which we hope will encourage us all in this difficult time.

Please remember that we also have a Grub Tub here in Church and many people will need help from Food Banks during this time of uncertainty, so if you have an extra tin or two, toilet rolls or anything else which could help someone else, please do drop it off on Sunday mornings whilst we are open.

The Canon Slade register will also be available to sign and a collection plate for your regular giving.  Please remember that just because the church is closed we still have to keep it aired and cleaned, we also have a busy churchyard that needs maintaining and without all of us continuing to give financially, it can quickly fall into disrepair.  It is 181 years old after all!!!

A small number of notice sheets will be available for collection on Sundays for those who can’t get online, together with lists of people who are available to volunteer to shop & deliver food and for those who are self-isolating and need our help.  There are also some volunteer forms you might like to put through your neighbours doors to let them know you are there for them. We are already being contacted by members of the community to see if we can help out as they are self-isolating.

Finally my dear brothers and sisters let’s remember that even if we are self-isolating, feeling ill, alone and scared that God is always there and if we ask will wrap his loving arms around us. Also we, The Church is there for you too.

Be safe and trust in the Lord.

Wendy

Monopoly Run Manchester 2020 - WINNERS!!!

On Sunday 15th March our Scout group entered a team of six into the first ever Monopoly Run Manchester.  The Monopoly Run has been running in London for many years but this is the first time one has been organised in Manchester.

We had to meet at the Monopoly Run headquarters at 9.30am so it was a very early start.  Our train was
cancelled so it was quickly back to the cars and luckily a quiet drive into Manchester.

At 10am we were allowed to open our packs and find out what our tasks were for the day.  The
Manchester Monopoly board covers a very wide area and includes landmarks such as Media City, both football stadiums and Manchester Airport.

As leader in charge I might have given the strategy some thought in advance ;-).  We discussed the pros and cons of heading all the way out to the Airport and quickly decided that it wasn’t worth losing all that time for the points available (a bonus 3) so our first stop was Media City!  Whilst at St Peters Sq waiting for the tram we ticked off our first task of fitting all six scouts in a telephone box!

At Media City we had to do yoga in the Blue Peter Garden, pose like soldiers outside the Imperial War Museum and grab a photo at The Lowry Theatre.

Our next plan of action was to find the stadiums so we took the tram to Old Trafford (cricket and football grounds) then back on the tram to Manchester City and a short walk up to the velodrome.

After the velodrome we took the tram back into town headed for Piccadilly Station.  This was the boys opportunity to eat their packed lunch as we certainly didn’t want to use up any precious walking time!  They were beginning to flag by this point but in true (bossy) leadership spirit we (yelled at) motivated them to keep going!

Once back into town we managed to check off a high number of tasks in quick succession!  These included – Piccadilly Concourse, Canal Street (creating our own flag), Palace Theatre (doing an Irish Dance), The Bridgwater Hall (Barbirolli Statue), The Opera House (singing a song), The Peoples History Museum (Bird sculpture), The Crystal Maze, The Museum of Science & Industry, The john Rylands Library, The Town Hall, The Arndale Food Court (picture on escalator), The Apple Store (with an apple) and our last stop Exchange Square (tram stop sign). 

Whilst carrying out the above we also managed to complete a couple of extra tasks including getting a photo with a Paramedic and a Police Officer.  Sadly there were no Fire Fighters wandering around the City Centre.

We were back at HQ by our deadline of 3pm feeling exhausted but extremely satisfied with what we’d achieved.  We cracked open the Haribo and Chocolate in celebration!  Our team were winners in my
eyes regardless of the outcome but guess what!  We actually won!  190 scouts and 33 teams and our (very young team of 10 and 11 year old) came first!

Well done 40th Bolton ‘Moorland Maniacs’!

Rebecca

Vicar's Viewpoint

Vicar’s Viewpoint

It hardly seems 12 months since I wrote my last Christmas magazine article and you may remember I was talking about how the Israelites needed to learn that God wasn’t just in the temple but in everyday lives and situations too. Over the last year we have begun to see that God isn’t only here in the church building but has been working powerfully through our church members through a number of outreach events we are involved in and around the community. Our Church Lounge Café for instance is welcoming people on Fridays. Run by church volunteers serving excellent coffee, hot snacks and home-made cakes we see customers from the local community. Some arrive with carers, some on their own, dogs bring their walkers, those collecting children from school arrive and other passing trade bobs in – all get a warm welcome and time for a chat. We have surprised ourselves, I think, by how successful it is. God is in those conversations and situations. Why not call in – Fridays 8.30am-3.30pm. All welcome.

Messy Church at The Elderdale Centre meets monthly for family activities, craft, games, food, worship and fun. It is what it says, church where a mess can be made, but church not in a church building. Once again God has been turning up and helping parents and children together to meet with him. Little Fishes Toddler Group has only been running for a few weeks and yes, it is in church, but not as we know it! It is transformed into an amazing adventure playground with a baby corner, crafts, small world play, jigsaw and book corner, slides, tunnels and tents – everything small people size. They gather at the end for a Bible story, songs and a prayer. Already we are building good relationships with parents and carers and God is very much in the equation.

Soon to follow is the Breightmet Pantry which will be a mobile food bank once a week initially set-up by Urban Outreach, but run by volunteers from churches in the area – and we are heading it up! Once again relationships and trust will be built and as all the volunteers will be Christians I am sure God will be working to draw many closer to him.

Christmas is coming and we have a full range of services and events throughout Advent and many of them are in the church building. Once again we will celebrate the arrival of the Christ-child in the stable in Bethlehem, over 2000 years ago. It will be a time of celebration, joy and delight and our church will look absolutely magnificent as it always does. It will be interesting to see how many new faces turn up to see what church is all about over the Christmas season. However, I do believe that many will have already met Jesus in the many volunteers who are now helping in the areas I’ve mentioned and in many other areas too. As we celebrate Christmas this year, let’s make sure that we not only spare a thought for those less fortunate than ourselves, but we actively find ways to be involved in actually helping them, either by giving or in service. May the Lord grant you a peaceful Christmas.

God bless Wendy

Church Collective Go Bowling!

Over the half term holiday our new youth leader, Connor, took a group of young people to Hollywood Bowl at Middlebrook. They enjoyed two games of bowling and they got fed, what more could they ask for!

King's Club (KING's CLUB!!) 2019

Well another year, another great Kings Club!  Our theme this year was Backpackers; we looked at the story of Jesus coming into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, his anointing  with perfume by a woman, Judas’ betrayal, and Jesus’ death and resurrection.  It sounds like a tall order, but with the help of the Scripture Union book, video, and helpful information, the message came alive for all of us.

Each day started at registration with a team challenge. Monday - cut out paper hands and write on them what they like to do, so that we could get to know the children. Tuesday - banners showing what their best day or best day out had been, we think we had everything from ‘playing with friends’ to ‘going on holiday’.  Wednesday - pennants showing their favourite food which, surprisingly, turned out to be pizza, McDonald, and Burger King!  Friday - thank you post cards.  My favourite day was Thursday when they did ‘What would you put in your backpack?’  Well we had clothes of all kinds, hairbrush, toothbrush (but no toothpaste and no soap or towels for washing!) A tent, sleeping bag, compass, map, chocolate, cake and sweets - not bad to start with, but not sure about the PS4, mini fridge/freezer and DVD player!

The teams were named after places in the UK - we had Edinburgh Castle, Angel of the North, London Eye, and Blackpool Tower, so it was no surprise when the team from Blackpool put carrots in their backpack for the donkeys, but we were a bit concerned about the parachute!

We did,however, play with a parachute in the afternoon (no, we were not jumping off the roof) but we did have fun playing ‘cat and mouse’ and ‘sharks’ with it, along with other activities in the afternoon - craft, music, football, hockey, and prayers/parachute.  We had 2 guests who came for an afternoon -  Gina doing First Aid and a group giving us a Martial Arts demo, which the kids loved.

When the groups got together in the hall in the mornings the sessions started with the ‘Silly Daily Challenge’; silly socks, silly gloves, team colour, and silly masks, with points awarded for the best one, followed by our video and talk about the story so far.  The video took us to Paris, Sweden, then Italy, Switzerland and back home to London. Our drama introduced us to a group of people taking part in a reality TV  bus tour game show, with everyone wanting to win the prize of a world tour. There was Alex, Jamie and Bertie who were all good friends, and the Shipperbottoms, who were a grumpy couple who seemed to complain about everything and everyone (well Mrs S did all the time), Then there was Carl the Tour Guide, oh and Nigel who we never saw - he was the bus driver and always seemed to be being told off by Carl for something or other, and as with all ‘good’ TV shows there was a twist as they had to vote off members of the tour group, but who?   Would the 3 friends vote the same or could Mrs S talk one of them into voting her way and vote one of their friends off? We would have to see!   Well, as the trip went on and the secret votes were counted, it did not really matter as Nigel the bus driver (who we never saw) had fixed the game and somehow had won, leaving the whole group puzzled.

Each day ended with the group who had been doing music giving us all a small show, the club quiz - with questions from the video and talk,  and the Club game.  This year the Club game was based on the game ‘Battleship’ where each team had to find places, forms of transport (cars, bus etc) and eco energy cards.  All through the week the teams collected points which were changed into miles and we set a challenge to all the teams to see how far they could get from Bolton.  On Monday we got to Doncaster, Tuesday to France, Wednesday to Germany, Thursday to Italy, and by Friday we ended up in the Mediterranean sea off the south coast of Malta.

On Friday, after all the points were gathered and counted, the over-all winning team was Red Team (Edinburgh).   Yellow Team(London Eye) won the Battleship game, and every team member was given a certificate and a baseball cap in their team colour. We rounded off the day by singing one of their favourite songs “God’s not Dead” and the week’s Backpackers song.

So, thanks to all who volunteered in any way, and the Kids for making it a great week.

Gail

Children & Young People Update

The Education Department of the Diocese of Manchester have recently received a £1 million grant for BOLTON for a project called Children Changing Places which will engage children, their families and schools in the Bolton area to create new discipleship pathways for children.

The project will have a particular impact when children reach the key points of moving into primary education or from primary to secondary education. It will focus on building strong links between the home, church and school to create discipleship pathways from toddler group to secondary school and beyond.

The Children Changing Places project will start in the early years, helping existing toddler groups to become more intentionally Christian and creating 10 new toddler groups across three deaneries. It will encourage and establish new worshipping communities such as Messy Church and Messy Tots.

Work will also develop to create discipleship pathways within primary schools, perhaps looking at how church could take place in school, or how children can be encouraged on their faith journeys through ethos groups and worship groups.

In September 2019, three Chaplaincy Assistants will begin their work alongside the Chaplains in three CE high schools in the Bishop Fraser Multi Academy Trust. The Project will provide ‘safe landing’ and further discipleship opportunities for those children in our Bolton CE primary schools as they transition to CE high schools. This will develop and nurture their faith as they continue along their Christian discipleship pathway.

Our Church School is Bolton St Catherine’s Academy (BSCA) and it is one of the schools in the Bishop Fraser Trust, the others are Canon Slade and St James Farnworth.  This means we at CCH are very fortunate as we fall into categories of the project in a number of areas. 

Firstly, a new toddler group called “Little Fishes” will open its doors in church on Wednesday 30th October at 1.30pm.  Little Fishes will be intentionally Christian and a new team is coming together headed up by Jenny Plant ably assisted by Rosie Lund, Lilian Punchaby, Caroline Loftus and Val Dunning who are even now attending training courses and making decisions about how it will work, what we will need etc etc etc.  We have been working closely with Steph Openshaw, the Children Changing Places Early Years Worker and are hoping to receive a small grant to help fund it.  More volunteers would be very helpful even if you can’t come every week.  Speak to Rosie if interested.

Secondly, Nicola Witter Children Changing Places Project, Deanery Children & Family Worker goes regularly into St Catherine’s primary school to work with Yr 5&6 children and attended the BSCA Leavers Assembly in church on 16th July and was very impressed with it.  She is hoping to attend Awesome, our after school club on Wednesdays at BSCA and see what we are up to and hopefully offer encouragement and advice to Rev’d Adrienne Morgan and her team.

Thirdly, a Chaplaincy Assistant has been appointed to work alongside the Chaplains at BSCA and part of their job includes a placement at a local church for 7 hours a week.  Guess what?  WE are the local church and I am delighted to announce that Connor Harmsworth, who was introduced to the church last Sunday (28th August) will be with us from September for 2 years.  He will work initially with the current leaders of CC (our youth group) to inspire, enthuse and give confidence as they work with our young people.  Connor is looking at new material that can be used which will engage with CC members and that will be introduced soon as is feasible.  More details will follow as Connor’s ministry unfolds amongst us.  He will be at The Moving On Service at 10.30am on 8th September when 5 children will be Moving On to CC from FISH.  Afterwards there is a BBQ for everyone to do come along and meet him.

This is all very exciting for us as a church and I hope and pray you will all get behind the amazing things that are happening here at Christ’s Church, Harwood.

God bless

Wendy

Rev’d Canon Wendy Oliver, Vicar

Thank You Lilian!

This week Lilian Punchaby stepped down from leading the Toddler Group which is something she’s done for 20 years!

So many families have enjoyed the toddler group over the years and a lot of those babies are now adults! We wanted to do a little something to show our appreciation for all Lilian’s hard work!

In the Autumn we’ll be starting a brand you Toddler Group and whilst Lilian would still like to be involved we need someone to take overall responsibility for it.  If you might be interested please do get in touch!

Rebecca

Summer Fair

We pulled it off again! Another successful Summer Fair with £1901.82 raised for much needed reserves.

It never ceases to amaze me how our community pulls together to put on these events. We have a core team at Christ’s Church to coordinate events from a strategic point of view but you might (or might not) be surprised to hear that only one member of that team is under 60! So we are always extremely grateful for willing volunteers to help with the physical stuff and there’s plenty of that!

For the volunteers the final preparations began on Thursday morning when a small team sorted through all the generous donations we’d received. The banners were also hung and we needed a couple of able bodied people with a good head for heights to do that!

On Friday the really physical work started. Nothing is ever straight forward - all our gazebos, cafe equipment and other bits and bobs are stored in the lounge loft. The lounge is our only building besides the church and it’s used for many things. On Saturday mornings there’s a slimming world meeting which meant no access to the room before 10.30am. This meant that everything we needed from the loft had to be taken down and over into church on Friday (after the community cafe closed). Then at 8am on Saturday morning we all met to start moving things out onto the field.

Some of our gazebos are really old and I have to say hats off to the gentlemen erecting the cafe kitchen because there were no instructions and a LOT off poles, but long after I gave up they were still persevering and they did get it together!

We always worry that we don’t have enough people to pull it off but lots of willing volunteers arrived and by 12pm the field was buzzing with activity and paying customers!

The 3 hours went by in a blur, the cafe never stopped with people queuing for tables and there was a constant flow of people browsing the stalls. We’d made an emergancy request for extra soft toys the night before and people arrived with bag fulls!

The Guides did a roaring trade on the wet sponge throwing stall and the hair braiding stand and Teddy on the Toilet were another couple of new stalls bringing a little diversity!

At 3pm it was all hands on deck as we cleared down tables and dismantled gazebos which all had to go back into the lounge loft. By 4.30pm it was all done and I think that’s a record!

Without our community pulling together for these events (and that’s visitors as well as organisers) they wouldn’t be the success that they are and we are extremely grateful to every single person who participated from sending donations to those buying something from a stall.

Our next event is a Chocolate Tasting Evening - watch this space for further details!

Alternative Prayer Course

Earlier this year I was chatting to Gail about a new discovery I had made – Bible Journaling.  We had a long conversation about prayer and how we both struggle with more traditional formats.  For me, Bible Journaling was a way for me to spend time in conversation with God.  A time when I can shut out everything else that’s going on and focus just on His Word.  I’m a creative person and the best meditation for me is keeping my hands busy so this new discovery was a revelation! Gail shared with me her experience of colouring and how this focused her mind in prayer in much the same way.

“ Do you think if we ran a workshop people would come?” I said. “Let’s make it a course!” said Gail, “Alternative Ways to Pray”.  And so the Alternative Prayer Course was born.

With a little help from the Diocese social media guru, Eve Powers, word quickly spread and we had 22 people sign up for the course from 6 different churches!

The course ran each Monday through June and over the month we all learned something new.  I think it’s fair to say that every person who signed up for the course did so with Faith as they had no idea what to expect.  We knew that not everybody would love every session as we all pray differently and after all that was the point of the course. But what we did find is that everybody came with a willingness to learn and try something new and everybody left with at least one new approach to prayer that they were comfortable to try at home.

We thank God for bringing us all together in fellowship and opening our minds to alternative ways to pray.

For those who missed the course, here’s a summary of what we covered:

Bible Journaling

A Bible journal is a hybrid diary where you keep both notes on your study of the Bible and a record of things that happen in your everyday life. Over time, as you analyse and study the Bible, you can apply what you've learned to your life experiences, which may make it easier to overcome difficult situations.

Specific Bible’s are available for use with journaling – usually with wide margins, but you can journal in any Bible.  Some people are happy to write/draw/paint over the text – others prefer to stick to the margins or use separate paper to fasten inside.  It’s entirely down to personal choice.

Bible journalers are documenting in words and pictures the messages they hear from God, testimonies in their lives, and creative worship of the Lord they love. Approaches to Bible journaling are as varied as artists themselves. Full-page illustrations and simple backgrounds, scrapbooking supplies and simple art supplies — the combinations and possibilities are endless! Some pages focus on a verse in the margins, or add a simple stick-figure doodle; other pages can be complex paintings or drawings representing ideas studied in verses on the page. There is no right or wrong — Bible journaling is all about the Bible journaler deepening their relationship with God.

Colour

Colour surrounds us all every second of our lives. Advertisers use colour to sell their product, artists use colour to provoke an emotion, so why can’t we use colour to help us pray?

Today we can obtain lots of different adult colouring books targeted at wellbeing, or download clipart pictures from the internet. We started by looking at the Celtic knots. Just looking at the complex pattern can leave us confused, just like life, but following one of the paths in the knot and colouring it in can turn the confusion into a wonderful pattern of our lives.  Each colour represents a different part of our lives, all interwoven with one of the paths in the knot representing God who works though all our lives. As we colour it helps us focus our pray on that part of our  lives, but not forgetting to thank God for all he does and just listen to his voice as we colour.

If the knot is large enough you might have space to write your thoughts, prayers or even part of a bible passage to help you focus.  But again try to use different colours. Don’t think too much about which colour you use let your emotion pick it! Does your choice of colour change as you work through and hand over to God your thought and prayers?

Clay

There are no less than 34 mentions of clay/pottery in the bible! It’s a great metaphor for the shaping of our lives and how we can always start over afresh.

Working with clay can be therapeutic.  It keeps our hands busy as we channel our thoughts and prayers.  In our session we made prayer pots.  We prayed for various people in our lives with every piece of clay, not forgetting ourselves as the base.  The result was a complete pot that had God’s love embedded in every single layer that could continue to be used as a vessel to place our future prayers as a physical handing over to God.

Copies of the Instructions sheets followed during the session can be emailed on request.

Words in Psalms

Words are a powerful thing! They can encourage or destroy someone, heal or hurt, be said with love and understanding or anger and hate. Just changing a word in a sentence can change its direction from a collective to a personal meaning, so as we worked through a passage, prayer or song, we look at how we can change a word here or there to make it our own to help us pray and listen to Gods word.

God bless

Rebecca Webster    

Rev Adrienne Morgan's Priesting

On Saturday 22nd June our very own Adrienne Morgan was Priested at Manchester Cathedral. Today (23rd June) she presided for the first time at Holy Communion! At the end of the service we presented Adrienne with a few gifts and shared a lunch together.

Adrienne will at some point be sharing her own words about her journey but for now we would like to share a few photographs.

Blog Takeover - Helen Hargreaves on The Lounge Cafe One Year On

On June 15th 2018 the Lounge Cafe opened its doors for the first time, new baristas waiting in trepidation. The idea of making cappuccinos, mochas, espressos, americanos and hot chocolates together with using the frothing facility on the machines was all very daunting. As always the intrepid team got on with it and the cafe was born.

It was only week three when we had a visit from environmental health who passed our premises with the highest hygiene rating of 5.

We have opened every Friday since that very first week apart from Good Friday. Our team currently consists of 13 volunteers working on a rota in four hour shifts, morning or afternoon. Poor Martin is the person responsible for coordinating this mammoth task. We are all now wearing our new bespoke aprons which arrived in May. Fancy joining us? New volunteers are always welcome. It really is very enjoyable.

 Volunteering gives us all the chance to meet and speak to people we don`t usually have time to get to know in Church. We have also got to know each other better and made some new friends. We have had quite a few visitors who have thanked us for giving them time and for providing a listening ear. Some of our elderly visitors are accompanied by carers who appreciate a calm and helpful atmosphere. Our visitors include Church members, passers by, mums taking and collecting children from school, dog walkers and people working on laptops (making use of our free wi-fi). Some of these have become very regular customers. 

Doreen and Roy Pearson have supported us from day one. This is their Friday morning treat and we know their order before they arrive. They even came to the cafe on  the morning they had a kitchen fire. Maybe they should have invited the firemen. Gail is another of our regular customers. She enjoys meeting people, catching up, working on her laptop and having breakfast. She will also take bookings for baptisms if you let her know. 

Our cakes are a facebook favourite, they often receive compliments as does our coffee which really is very nice. A team of 9 volunteers make cakes on a rota and provide three different cakes each week. Lemon drizzle and chocolate are firm favourites.  Other cakes include chocolate brownie, caramel carrot cake, coffee and walnut, victoria sandwich , humming bird cake, chocolate orange and chocolate caramel. We provide a selection of fresh fruit, toast, cereal, tea cakes, potato cakes and crumpets. Gluten free products are also available.

The MacMillan coffee morning was exceptionally busy. It went really well and all profits went to the charity. We raised £530, thank you to everyone who supported us.

Our outreach day before Christmas was successful. We bussed some people in from local homes and provided free turkey sandwiches. This was really appreciated and was a very busy day.

It has not all been plain sailing and we have sometimes felt the urge to throw the coffee machines through the door! Occasionally we have been VERY busy but our customers appreciate that we are amateurs and volunteers. 

One year on and we are all much more confident.. We have got to know quite a number of people in our community and are looking forward to our second year in business, wondering what it will bring.

If you haven`t tried our cafe yet come and join us. You will receive a very warm welcome. The Lounge Cafe is not primarily about profit (though this does help the Church), it is more about fellowship and outreach.  

Blog Takeover - Rev Julia Gordon updates us on Messy Church

Messy Church

So, you may have heard that we have started up Messy Church at The Elderdale Community Centre in Yewdale Gardens, which is a form of church for families to worship and learn together and welcomes existing church-goers as well as newbies of all ages from 0 – 99 (if you’re 100, you are welcome too!)  It includes craft activities, all based around a bible theme, which involves conversation and building relationships, worship, teaching and singing, then we all finish off by sharing a meal together.

We’ve held two sessions so far and it’s been great fun.  The people at Withins Action Group (WAG) gave up one of their slots once a month on Monday afternoon at the centre so we could hold it there and have been so supportive and encouraging, it had to be the Holy Spirit working His magic!

Our first session was a great success – not in numbers, but with the way everyone engaged in the craft, stories and of course sharing food.  We had around 25 attending, including leaders, and the ratio of leader to guest was a real blessing.  After all, we were finding our feet with it all and I think God knew just how many we could cope with!  In fact, not only were we blessed with the number of guests who turned up but also the number of leaders who volunteered to be part of this amazing ministry.  Praise the Lord!  Our second session practically doubled in numbers and the Easter themed activities were brilliant with great feedback from the ‘congregation’.  We are currently planning our third session (end of June) and we can feel the anticipation from those who came to the last ones – they’ve got the flyer firmly placed on their fridge!

I thank God for his amazing faithfulness and encouragement and can’t wait to see where He takes us with Messy Church!

God bless,

Julia

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New Website

Welcome to our new look website!  We’ve tried to add as much information as we can to tell you about all the things we do here at Christ’s Church and how you can get involved.  Each page also gives you the details of the relevant person to contact if you’d like further information.

Please do have a look around and give us your feedback!  Don’t forget we are active on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram too and would love to hear from you if you are part of any of our groups and have a story or a photograph to share.

I’ll also be keeping in touch with you via my ‘Vicar’s Blog’ so make sure you check back regularly to see what I’ve been up to!

Wendy 

Ministry Team Christmas Meal

Tonight the ministry team had their Christmas meal at Baci in Harwood! We’re all so busy in December it had to wait until January! We did however have to make it home in the snow which made it feel very Christmassy indeed.