On 13th June 2009 quite a number of us went to Shiregreen URC, Sheffield for the Ordination and Induction of Claire who spent some of her final year at the Church Centre and the URC in particular. It was a lovely day and we were made most welcome. Following the service we picnicked outside in the sunshine: A fitting welcome for Claire to her first pastorate.
Bible Studies
Meetings will normally be held during the third week of the month. The last series was looking at The Sermon on the Mount.
Elders’ Meetings
The Minister and the Elders meet on one evening each month to review and plan the ongoing life of the Church.
Church Meetings
The congregation holds three quarterly meetings and an Annual General Meeting, each year, for social and business purposes and to share responsibility for the life of the congregation.
The 2009 AGM was held on Sunday 8th March 2009 following Morning Service at 1.30pm.
There was a Quarterly meeting on 11th June 2009 at which the Minister, Revd.Leonora Jagessar, introduced “Vision 2020” a U.R.C. booklet seeking congregation’s views about mission.
The meeting also saw the D.V.D. made by Claire Gouldthorpe, Student Minister, that related to her Multicultural Church presentation.
The congregation had collected £225.38p during Christian Aid collection week.
Marian Ascough gave information about the work of Traidcraft in Africa, India, and Asia highlighting several countries.
The meeting ended after sharing light refreshments.
The next Quarterly meeting will be held on 17th September 2009 at 7.30pm..
Forthcoming events:
Forthcoming events:
29th Sept. Revd. Roy Lowes, Synod Moderator, will be the preacher at our joint
Harvest Thanksgiving Service. This is also 'Back to Church Sunday'
Social Activities
We had a lovely fine evening on 9th July 2009 for our usual Bring & Buy and Coffee Evening at the home of David and Anne Laugharne. We enjoyed the fellowship and a walk in the garden. The B&B made £60.50 which has been sent to the Leprosy Mission.
A sponsored walk by Bery Steane produced a further donation of £100 which has also been sent to the Leprosy Mission.
On 16th October 2009 we will be holding a special Supper Club to celebrate 10 years of Leonora’s Ministry with us.
UNITED REFORMED CHURCH
CHRISTIAN WOMEN'S FELLOWSHIP CONVENTION 2008
Wow, how quickly time comes round to the end of February and here we are again at the Swanwick Convention with the theme for the weekend, "The Living Word."
Saturday morning saw us exploring the theme, "The Word Today" in the capable hands of the Revd. Gay Pye. The Bible shows us who God is and how He deals with the world and it's people; what our needs are, who we are and how to live and respond to the life around us.
After coffee we divided into groups of our choice for discussion on, The Bible and Me, The Bible and Family, The Bible and the Community, The Bible and the World or The Bible and the Future.
Saturday afternoon is always free to join a planned activity - or to "do your own thing". After dinner we enjoyed our usual concert ably conducted by Sue Cheshire and Joy Rice, our two comediennes, interspersed with dances by Anne Laugharne.
On Sunday morning, after breakfast, we had a very interesting Bible Study led by Revd. Marion Thomas entitled "The Word for Me", concerning Jesus and the Samaritan Woman at the Well. Towards the end we formed groups and each of us took one of the characters from the story and imagined how we would feel in those unusual circumstances; ie: The Samaritan Woman, one of the Disciples or one of the villagers. We then discussed our feelings with the rest of the group.
As ever, the highlight of the weekend was the Communion Service led by the Revd. Ann Sheldon in which we again followed the theme of The Woman at the Well, with music and drama practised in some of the Saturday afternoon activity groups.
After lunch we said our farewells to friends we don't see very often, and made our departures for home after a very rewarding and thought provoking weekend.
Beryl Haskins
Local Groups
The congregation is active in the life of the local Balsall Heath and District Churches Together.
The Balsall Heath and District Churches Together Lent course is held in the Church Centre.
Palm Sunday we met together with St.Paul’s Parish Church and the Moseley Road Methodist Church congregations to celebrate a Joint Eucharist.
Traidcraft
The Congregation supports the Traidcraft movement and together with St.Paul’s congregation provides the opportunity to purchase Fairtrade goods through a stall held at regular intervals and after morning service.
TRAIDCRAFT
A NEW LOOK!
This circular Logo will gradually appear on all food items. It represents the hand of fellowship and continuing partnership between Traidcraft and their producers.
Traidcraft chooses to work with small-scale producers, helping them to trade their way out of poverty and build-up sustainable businesses.
The Traidcraft brand "quarantees real Fair Trade amongst an increasing number of "fairly fairtraded products" (magazine March 2007)
We are grateful to all of you who support our stalls.
Thank you.
Traidcraft chooses to work with small-
We are grateful to all of you who support our stalls.
Thank you.
Enid, Maggie & Marian.
