It has been while since we have been able to email our weekly update, and many of you have told me that you have missed this update on church news and events. Some extensive problems with delivering email arose, I think because some of you have marked these messages as ‘spam’, or perhaps your email servers have decided they are ‘spam’?
If you receive our weekly emails, please unsubscribe if you don’t want further messages.
To unsubscribe, please reply to my weekly email with the simple message ‘unsubscribe’ and you will be removed from our contacts list.
On the other hand, if you find this message in the ‘spam’ box of your emails (which seems to happen to all sorts of repeat emails from time to time), please mark it as ‘not spam’! Now on with the news …
With every blessing,
Tim
Services for 26th May: Trinity Sunday
8am: Holy Communion
10am: Parish Communion Service - Called by God
Church Explorers gather in the meeting room before the service
Services & Events for Next Week
Wednesday 29th May at 10am: Mid-week Service
With coffee and a chat afterwards
Sunday 2nd June
8am: Holy Communion
10am: Family Service: Situation Ethics
With the Junior Choir
We welcome children of all ages to our Family services
1pm: Parish Lunch for June (please sign up on the list at the back of the church by Tuesday at the latest)
Choral Evensong Sunday June 9th, 6.30pm
We have some beautiful music in preparation that is completely new to the choir for this special occasion. This will also be a poignant service for our choir and church, as the new music has been purchased through the bequest of a much-missed choir member, Keith Robertshaw, who died in February.
Responses: Peter Nardone
Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis: Joanna Forbes-L'Estrange
Anthem: The Call of Wisdom: Will Todd
Lower Kingswood church choir and other singers will join with our choir to lead this special service of evensong. It is open to any singers to join the choir with the minimum of a rehearsal on Sunday 9th from 5pm. Given the amount of new music, It would also help if you could come to the Friday choir rehearsal on 7th June from 7.30pm.
Please spread the word to your friends about this special service. A glass of wine or juice will be served afterwards.
Confirmation Service: 23rd June, 5pm, at The Wisdom of God Church, Lower Kingswood
Do come to this service to support our three candidates who are preparing for confirmation, and to meet the Bishop of Croydon, Bishop Rosemary who will be leading the service.
Appointment of Churchwarden and New Members of the Parochial Church Council
At the church Annual Meeting on 28th April, the following appointments were made:
Churchwarden: Antony Hawker
PCC members: Laura Freeman and Lis Tongue.
The Church Standing Committee (which can make urgent decisions between PCC meetings): Revd Timothy Astin, Antony Hawker (Churchwarden), Lesley Gollop (Parish Secretary), Richard Gollop (Treasurer), Richard Shipman (Deputy Churchwarden).
We continue to have a vacancy for the second Churchwarden position, which is significant. Churches are meant to appoint two Churchwardens to share the responsibility for the church buildings and advising the Vicar on behalf of all of you, the people of this church and parish.
Priorities for the Church: New Working Groups
The church open meeting in March identified priorities for developing the mission and ministry of the church. There was a clear ‘top five’:
Improved publicity and communications beyond the church
Offer a Christian Basics course
Advertising both ‘who does what’ and ‘what goes on’ within the church
Explore new patterns of Bible Study/Prayer/Fellowship groups
Start a teenager/youth group
At the recent Church Council meeting it was decided to set up three working groups to cover these five things:
Publicity, advertising and external communication
Study groups, a Christian basics course, and new patterns of prayer and worship
Children and youth, especially to look at starting a teenagers group
Each group will sift ideas for improvement, identify actions and who will make them happen. Each group now has a core of two to four PCC members.
We invite anyone in the church with a heart for any of these areas to step forward to join a group. Please talk to Antony Hawker, Lesley Gollop or the Vicar Tim Astin to find out more.
Report from the Church Council Meeting of May 14th
The PCC received updates on the large number of projects and activities going on including:
New sanctuary curtains;
New stained glass window;
Church repairs;
Hall toilet project;
Hall stage lighting;
22 Station Approach;
Churchyard benches;
Safeguarding arrangements; and
Church finances update.
Look out for news of these ongoing projects over coming weeks.
"No Mow" May
If the churchyard grass looks a bit shaggy, be reassured that this is deliberate. For several years now we have let the grass grow through the Spring to encourage wildflowers and the insects they support. There is a noticeable increase in flowers this year.
There is plenty of other gardening and pruning to do in the churchyard, so volunteers are always welcome! The yew hedge is now ready for a trim.
Thank you to Wendy Foster and Ann Robinson for their continuing care of the flower bed under the west window, and for the Mount family for spring weeding of the Garden of Remembrance.
For our Prayers
We pray for Will and Joan Pepper as Will is given care for the final stages of his life.
We pray for couples who are preparing for weddings in our church in June and July.
Calendar
Don't forget to check the Church Calendar on our website for all our upcoming events!