This Christmas Frodsham Churches Together are encouraging everyone to put a star in their window this Christmas as a sign of hope and light in the darkness. You can make your own star in whatever way you wish. The Frodsham Churches Together website has a poster that you can download and colour in to put alongside your star. The idea is that people, especially children, should be encouraged to look out for stars in windows, just as we did with rainbows earlier in the year.

Hosted by Channel 4 News' Jon Snow, Action for Children’s Starry Night will bring an evening of Christmas carols, sparkling entertainment and festive cheer to homes across the UK (and beyond!) on Tuesday 8 December 2020.

Every child’s Christmas should be full of excitement, warmth and laughter. But for many children, this year will be very different.

Thousands of children and young people face Christmas without a hot meal, a present or a safe place to sleep. The pandemic has had a devastating impact on their lives.

You could change this.

​Join us on Tuesday 8 December for an evening of exclusive entertainment, classic carols sung by The Epiphoni Consort, and appearances from some very special guests including Angellica Bell, Leona Lewis and Call the Midwife's Jenny Agutter OBE, and help us reach the thousands of children and young people who are facing Christmas without a hot meal, a present or a safe place to sleep.

Tickets are £10 per household. Please consider making a donation when purchasing your ticket to make an even bigger difference to vulnerable children’s lives.

Extraordinary Gifts from All We Can
Christmas is a special time of year to gather together with families and loved ones and, as Christians, to celebrate Jesus, the most extraordinary gift of all. Although this year will be different, you can still spread joy and hope at this special time of year through giving your loved ones All We Can’s Extraordinary Gifts, which will in turn bring hope and joy, as well as helping to change lives in some of the world’s poorest communities. With every Extraordinary Gift from All We Can, you’ll receive a card to pass onto your loved one, showing them the difference that their gift could make. This year, make sure your Christmas is extraordinary by helping a family in need.

Action for Children Secret Santa
Many churches would have supported Action for Children either during the year or as a special Christmas appeal, as we think about how we might buy, give or send gifts to those we love in a different way, please consider supporting by prayer and/or financial donations Action for Children's Secret Santa appeal. 

Before coronavirus hit more than 4 million children in the UK were locked in poverty. That’s the equivalent of nine children in every school class of 30. Families are growing ever more desperate and parents who’ve never needed help are now struggling. More families are having to choose between paying their bills or feeding their children. And with Christmas just around the corner, they’re terrified about how they’re going to cope.

Last year, people like you helped us reach 368,648 children, young people and families in the UK. Thousands of wonderful supporters made a life-changing difference in so many ways. Their generosity meant our frontline key workers could help struggling families to pay for the essentials, like food, warm clothes and a safe place to sleep. They helped us to protect children living in the shadow of domestic abuse and supported those with caring responsibilities. They also supported young people with their mental health and provided short breaks for disabled children.

Life has become a desperate struggle for so many UK children and families. We’ve seen how their lives have been turned upside down but we’ve also seen the life-changing difference you can make.

#GodIsWithUs
The Methodist Church's 2020 Christmas Campaign. Check out the campaign details and find lots of useful resources and ideas.

Christmas Star
Create a big star for your window (along lines of the NHS rainbow and the poppy for Remembrance Day), include a Bible verse of hope. Could be a paper star, twig star, crocheted star - the possibilities are enormous.

​Our ‘sock tree’ collection of socks, underpants, hats, gloves and scarves has always been a talking-point in our church foyer at Christmas.

We would like to collect the same items again this year, for Chester Aid to the Homeless (CATH), Trinity Safe Spaces (asylum seekers in Runcorn) and Warrington Salvation Army. We’re not sure at the moment how we will organise this – it will depend on Covid restrictions going forward. But we wanted to let people know now that this will definitely go ahead. More details to follow.

The cross is now on display outside Church adorned with hand-stitched poppies made by members of our congregation as we remember those we loved who have fallen in conflicts of any kind. This comes as a particular challenge this year as so many have been lost and yet we are not able to meet together to mark this important day.

As part of our preparations for Christmas this year, the North Cheshire Circuit would like musicians and singers from around the Circuit to collaborate together for some of this seasons music. Whilst we know that many churches will be preparing materials for their own use this Christmas, we hope to be able to offer some pieces of carol music for use both in Circuit services and also in local Zoom and YouTube services too.

If you are willing to be part of this project, please contact Rev'd David Bintliff (david.bintliff (@) methodist.org.uk) by the 15th November. We are looking for singers of all capacity and hope to be able to weave together not only a 'cloud choir' but musicians from around our Circuit too. If you are interested but are concerned about the technical requirements to record yourself, again, please do contact David.

A huge thank you to everyone who gave so generously to our Harvest Thanksgiving Appeal. We raised the magnificent total of £1390.00, which will be shared between Runcorn Food Bank and CATH (Chester Aid to the Homeless). At a time when we are all finding things difficult, it’s so good to be able to help those who are in an even more vulnerable position.

Dear Friends, Some of us have been delighted that we have been able to meet together for worship in these last weeks both on Sunday mornings and Wednesday afternoons. The longed for moment came when we were able to “go up to the house of the Lord” to that setting where many of us have experienced some of the most profound moments of our lives.

On the other hand, we remembered those who were not able to come and just how difficult that must have felt for you. All this makes the news of last weekend all the more disheartening. As a result, we are sadly not able to meeting for collective worship at church until at least the 2nd December. This is not a local decision, but is the law of the land.

In the last week I have spoken to a couple of people whose businesses and livelihoods are threatened. The increase in testing since the spring means that we hear of cases much nearer to us. Our own loss of fellowship is both important and symbolic of what is happening elsewhere. In the meantime, we will continue with our weekly services online.

They can be found each week at 10am on YouTube.

For many of us, November feels harder than April. . All over our society the news is causing upset and anger. I would ask that we all continue to be aware of how we’re feeling and reacting as well as those around us. Keep in touch; give me a call. Let’s encourage each other with those stories of God’s promise as we watch out for each other. In our service last week I asked us to reflect that God in Jesus has already won the victory over all things that would harm us, even death itself. As we travel through these dark days, let us hold each other in that same love and grace in which we ourselves are held.

With love,
Andrew

Rev'd. Andrew M. Emison
Methodist Minister, Frodsham & Norley, North Cheshire Circuit.