Peter Sandercock, Circuit and Church Administrator, is ordering copies of the new Handbook called Crossing the Chasm. If any member of the congregation would like to order a copy, the cost will be £3.15 each (assuming we order ten or more!). If you would like to order a copy, please speak to Ken Blasbery, Senior Steward, by the end of July or contact Peter in the Church office (enquiries@fromdshammethodist.org or (01928) 735312). Large print versions are available at no additional cost. In the autumn, Wellspring Christian Trust is offering a six-week course on Bereavement. This is an opportunity to have a better understanding of loss and grief in ourselves and others. Each session lasts 2 hours (with a break), and includes a D.V.D. presentation, talk and discussion.
The course will be held in Main Street Community Church and runs from Tuesday 18th September at 10.30 am and also Wednesday 19th September at 7.30 pm. For more information, or to book a place, please telephone Aelison Wilson on 01928 731235. Susie Treeton is pictured third from right. What a happy afternoon we enjoyed! Residents of Chapel Fields Care Home for Older People, their family members, friends and staff joined together for a service of welcome to Susie Treeton and to mark her commissioning as M.H.A. Chaplain to Chapel Fields. The service was led by Rev’d. Pat Christopher and the Chaplaincy Adviser for the West of England gave a short address. I think we will all remember his visual aid – a very small salt spoon. The purpose of a spoon is to stir, so here we had a mini – stir (minister - oh dear!!) which is what Susie has been called to be. She is obviously very much at home at Chapel Fields and already known and loved by the residents. The service included prayers, familiar hymns and Bible readings reminding us that in serving others we are serving Christ. We ended on a rousing note singing the hymn ‘God is our strength and our refuge’ to the tune ‘The Dam Busters March’ after which we were all ready for a welcome cup of tea! As part of the commissioning we said together: Susie we welcome you! May the Lord make you a blessing amongst us and us a blessing to you, as we work together for Christ. I’m sure we can all say ‘Amen’ to that. Sylvia Langley Presbyters from the local Methodist Church circuit, of which Frodsham Methodist Church is part, have begun holding monthly services of Holy Communion in the Care Home. Many many thanks to all the Christian Aid collectors who gave their time to collect door to door this year. Many of the collectors collect year after year and Sylvia Langley and I would like to express our thanks for your hard work. We are very pleased to report an increase on last year, with this year’s total collected being £1,475.95. Vicky Williams The latest edition of our Magazine is available by following this link. As ever, if you have any queries, please contact the Editor, Marg Jacks, by e-mail: magazine@frodshammethodist.org. The BBC will be recording Songs of Praise at Longton Central Hall, Stoke-on-Trent in June. If you wish to join the combined choir, there are two rehearsals on Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 June from 7:30 to 9:30pm. If you wish to take part as a member of the congregation, you are not required to attend these rehearsals. Actual recordings will take place on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 June from 2:15 to 5:45pm each day. Admission will be by free ticket only. An application form can be downloaded from the District Website under News & Events. Alternatively, e-mail songsofpraise@bbc.co.uk or telephone 0161 335 8429. The ticket application deadline is Tuesday 29 May. The programmes will be broadcast on 14 October 2012 and 13 January 2013. ‘in the image’ is an exhibition of pieces from the Methodist Art Collection, to be held at the Wesley Church Centre, St John Street, Chester, from 22nd September to 27th October. This renowned collection includes works by Graham Sutherland, Elizabeth Frink and Edward Burra – people I’ve spoken to who’ve seen it say how brilliant it is. The event is aiming to be more than just an art exhibition. There are already links with local schools and a programme of school visits is planned, with relevant material available for teachers. There is an exciting programme of workshops, including an art appreciation course and other events involving creative writing, music and drama as well as visual art. Wesley is looking for volunteers to help with a wide range of tasks, including transport, painting boards, etc., in readiness for setting up the exhibition; stewarding; helping with school visits. There are two briefing sessions for prospective volunteers, on Thursday 5th July at 2pm or Thursday 12th July at 7.30pm. By September we will be in the same Circuit as Wesley, the new Chester and Delamere Forest Circuit. It would be good to give as much support as possible to our new friends. There is more information on their website or in the flyer here, and there will be more details nearer the time. Liz Holmes Frodsham Methodist Church organists Andrew Ellams and Harry Leather are two of the six organists that play items on the Binns pipe organ in St. Laurence Parish Church, Frodsham. Recorded by Ian Jesse, the principal guitarist in the 0930 Live! band, this eclectic selection has something for (nearly!) everyone. The cost is £10 and available from Harry Leather. All proceeds are going to the St. Laurence building appeal.
The other organists on the CD are are John Bromley, Tom Cameron, Ken Fayle, and David Leslie. On the evening of Palm Sunday, Rev'd. Pat Christopher led a party of members from Frodsham, Tarvin and Kingsley The Hurst Methodist Churches to walk the Stations of the Cross at the Pantasaph Friary, near Holywell in North Wales. The eighteen members (pictured below) walked up the zig zag path, stopping for Prayer and Meditation at each of the fourteen Stations of the Cross that have been placed on the hillside there. This proved to be a moving experience in the lovely, if somewhat cool, evening sunlight and reminded us of the awful journey Christ made up the hill carrying his own heavy cross for our salvation. For us there were no noisy jeering crowds, just a sense of peace and quietness as we trudged up the slope to the Crucifix at the summit and tried in vain to imagine the suffering and pain. The Traidcraft stall in the Church Hall will be selling Fair Trade Easter eggs this week - the 'Real Easter Egg', which includes a little booklet with the Easter story (£3.99), and a Denis the Menace egg with a Dubble bar, which includes a donation to Comic Relief (£4). There will also be Easter cards on sale. This year, Christian Aid Week focuses on the story of remarkable change taking place in a community in rural Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone is one of the hungriest countries in the world. But, helped by Christian Aid, partner the Methodist Church of Sierra Leone (MCSL), some people there have found the tools to move beyond hunger and speak out for the changes they want to see. Every May thousands of amazing volunteers go into their community to collect door to door. In 2011 door-to-door collections raised more than two-thirds of Christian Aid week’s fantastic £12.5m total. This money has helped to transform lives across the world, empowering poor communities to help themselves out of poverty. Thank you to those collectors within our church who made this happen and to those of you who donate so generously. As the saying goes, many hands make light work. If you would like to volunteer to collect for Christian Aid it would be very much appreciated, not least by myself, but also by the people who benefit from the phenomenal work of Christian aid. Many thanks, Vicky Jones Manor House Primary School, Frodsham, have been working in partnership with Living Star School in Accra, Ghana for the last 5 years and during that time have held a teacher exchange three times. This year we have been busy fundraising to bring over 10 children to spend a week with our families. While here, the children will be exploring 'faith values' as part of a faith dialogue. Whilst the teacher's flights are covered by grants from the British Council the costs for children has to be raised by Manor House. The school has been fundraising since September. We feel incredibly fortunate to be able to support Living Star School in this project as the children who will be visiting will never have left the country and we are in a position to help some of the children’s ambitions come to fruition. The children who come on exchange will be attending 0930 Live! on 15th July. If you are able to make a financial donation please do so through the retiring collection on Sunday 25th March or by post to the School. On behalf of Manor House I would like to take the opportunity to thank Andrea and Pippa for their fortnightly visit to lead our collective worship. It is always an exciting fun-filled assembly and a fantastic window for outreach from the Church. Naomi Anstice Teacher Manor House Primary School As many of you will know The Methodist Church recently published a new hymn book called "Singing the Faith". It includes a balance of classic and contemporary hymns. The Church Council has agreed to buy a number of copies for use in Church and some people have expressed an interest in having their own copy. If you would like to buy a personal copy I will be placing an order on 26th March. Please let me know if you would like a copy by e-mailing secretary@frodshammethodist.org. Words only - £9 : Music Edition - £30. There is more information on the Methodist Church website. Ros Caldwell Church Council Secretary Methodist Homes for the Aged (MHA) is a charity providing care homes, housing and support services for older people. We are looking for a chaplain (a lay person or an ordained minister) who will take the lead on pastoral care, and the spiritual and worship aspects of life within our Care Home at Chapel Fields, Frodsham, which provides nursing and dementia care. As a key member of the staff team, you will also be responsible for building good working relationships with local faith communities.
For an application pack and an informal discussion, please contact 01332 221831 or email spirituality@mha.org.uk. Closing date: 19th March 2012. To find out more visit www.mha.org.uk. The Methodist Church is a sponsor of More Than Gold, which was set up as a one-stop-shop to help churches make the most of the Olympic and Paralympic Games through programmes of outreach, hospitality and service. There are UK-wide training days and a free 48 page booklet which is full of resources and ideas available from the Traidcraft website or by calling 0845 330 8900. For more information visit The Methodist Church website. Traidcraft A very big ‘Thank You’ to everyone who supported the Traidcraft stall and catalogue sales during the Autumn. In all we had sales of £1,200 – an excellent result which will have gone a good way towards making other people’s Christmas a happy one. Fair Trade Fortnight These two weeks are held nationally, to enable us to focus on the Fair Trade movement and how we can support it. This year it is from 27th February to 11th March. Watch out for special promotions in shops and supermarkets. The Fairtrade Foundation is challenging everyone to ‘Take a Step for Fair Trade’ in 2012. It could be just a simple step, like swapping your tea or coffee to Fairtrade. Or it could be a bigger step, like asking everyone in your office, or the club or society to which you belong, to do so too. Follow this link for more information. What step will you take this year to further promote Fair Trade? Elizabeth Holmes Dear Friends,
Greetings and a happy new year! Some of you may already know lots about Methodist Women in Britain, to others it may be new so a brief history: in July last year, “Methodist Women in Britain” was launched at the Methodist Conference – a new women’s movement incorporating what was Women’s Network, along with the British Unit of the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women (!). I was commissioned as the first president of MWiB and so we have now been up and running for just over six months. To spread the word about the movement, we have organised a series of six roadshows around the country and are coming to Wesley Methodist Church, Chester on Saturday 18th February (2:30pm – 4:30pm). The afternoon will include worship, a re-affirmation of the launch of the movement which will be led by chair of the district, Rev'd. Peter Barber, a presentation by Deacon Kerry Smith about Human Trafficking and the Olympic Games, Dr. Jill Barber telling some stories of Primitive Methodist women, Rev'd. Ruth Gee (chair of the Darlington District of the Methodist Church) being interviewed about being a woman leader in the church today, drama from Peter Baker and more besides... There will also be a number of stalls, including the MWiB photo exhibition, and light refreshments will be served at the end. Add to all this the delights of some time in historic and beautiful Chester and it becomes a day out not to be missed! Do get in touch with me if you have any questions or suggestions, or with Sandra Wilson from Nantwich who is overseeing the local arrangements ( sandrajwilson@yahoo.com ). Every blessing, with love, Jill Baker President, Methodist Women in Britain
We are all impacted by Depression at some point in our lives….
Are you supporting a friend or relative who is depressed? Are you struggling with depression in your own life? Or do you want to get a better understanding of depression? Wellspring Christian Trust is once again holding a 4 session course at Main Street Community Church which looks at Depression. Each session will include material from a DVD followed by group discussion – an opportunity to hear from others and share your own thoughts (if you wish). You can come along….. Either on Tuesdays 31st Jan, 7th, 14th, 21st Feb from 10.30am to 12.30 Or Wednesdays 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd Feb from 7.30 – 9.30pm The Tuesday & Wednesday sessions will be interchangeable each week so you could attend one week on a different day if necessary. Everyone is welcome; you don’t need to book and there is no charge for the course. If you want to know more, please contact Elizabeth Holmes on jandeholmes@btinternet.com Did you visit the Christmas Tree Festival at Frodsham Methodist Church last year? If not, you missed a real treat! It all started in a quite magical way, as the snow began to fall. You crunched over the frozen surface into the church in the darkness of early evening, to find the space filled with beautifully decorated trees, their scent filling the air and their fairy lights twinkling to light your way into this winter wonderland. Then there was the warmth of hospitality, good food and friends to meet, activities for the children and so much more. If you didn’t go last year, don’t miss out in 2011! This year half the proceeds of the Festival are going to the international charity ‘Emmaus’, which is our chosen Church charity for 2012. This charity, started in France by the Abbé Pierre in 1949, exists to provide a home in a community for people who have been made homeless. There are currently 21 Communities in the UK, and Terry Waite is the national President. Each Community aims to be self-sufficient as far as possible, by taking in donated gifts of good quality furniture and household goods, renovating them and selling them on in the Community shop. Thus people learn a trade, or other skills such as working in the shop or doing admin work. Money is also raised by such things as Community allotments. As the Preston Community states, their mission is “to maintain and develop a safe and stable community that provides hope, opportunity and personal growth for people in need, to enable each individual to play their part in today’s world with confidence in their own ability to fulfil their potential.” As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, who himself became homeless, what better way could there be to help others? So come along to the Christmas Tree Festival, help others, and enjoy yourself in a very special way. To learn more about Emmaus, visit their website. Liz Holmes |
News & NoticesTo receive a copy of the weekly Church News & Notices electronically, contact us here.
It is normally distributed by e-mail on a Thursday and is available in Church each Sunday and throughout the week.
|