Newsletter JUNE 2020

Serving Jesus Encouraging Discipleship

“He is the Father of us All” Romans 4 v16

Dear Friends,

Is the light at the end of the tunnel beginning to flicker again? As the

government begins to cautiously remove the lockdown restrictions we

must begin to prepare for a new normal.

After the war, rationing remained in place until 1954, so some restrictions

as a result of Coronavirus may remain in place for some time.

However, it gives us an opportunity to look

at ourselves and as church and the way we

do things.

If we think back to the first Pentecost (Acts

2 v 1-21) we read of people in the crowd

hearing Peter in their own language, do we

hear God in our way, through Zoom, Email, TV or the Radio? Do we

need massive buildings in order to worship the God who walks beside

the poor, the homeless, the hungry?

Has the church building just become a place to meet friends which we

could just as easily do in a Café?

If we do feel the need to worship together, do we need at least 5 or 6

separate buildings in a community the size of Louth; St James, St Mary’s,

Holy Trinity, Salvation Army Citadel, Eastgate Union and of course our

own beloved Nichol Hill. Is God trying to teach us again the true meaning

of being his disciple? To love the Lord Your God with all you heart, soul

and mind and your neighbour as yourself.

My friend Rev Andrew Roberts wrote in his book Holy Habits “The call to

Christian discipleship is a call to adventure”. The nurturing role of the ten

holy habits of discipleship as seen in Acts 2 is then explored. The ten

habits are: biblical teaching, fellowship,

breaking of bread, prayer, giving, service,

eating together, gladness and generosity,

worship and making more disciples.

As we come out of lockdown let us not rush back to the old

way of doing things but look at the new opportunities God

has given us to serve him in new ways, with renewed passion

and enthusiasm.

Can we find ways to incorporate the technology we have become used

to into our regular church activities and meetings, while still involving

those that don’t wish to use such things?

God Bless, Mark

God’s vision for our church

You will recall that we met at the end of February to spend a day with Nigel

Pimlott, trying to discern God’s vision for our church, in order to make sure

that our plans for the future would align with God’s plans. Nigel helped us to

think about what was important to us, things we’ve done in the past and what

we might do in the future. We focused on the purpose of the church: what is it

for, why do we exist? Our first challenge following the meeting was to try to

combine everything we’d done into a simple sentence to answer those

questions.

March didn’t turn out quite as expected, but a small group has met together

to progress the work and meet with Nigel again. As is the way with these

things, formulating a sharp and pithy phrase

to express the reason for our existence is

proving tricky, but we are working along the

lines of Reaching out and Bringing Hope:

fundamental to what we do is the desire to

see the lives of others touched and

transformed by God.

Once confirmed, this vision statement will be our touchstone for our plans for

the church, whether we are talking about our activities, our groups, our

buildings or our worship. Once we’ve met (virtually) with Nigel we will be

looking for ways to share the vision and turn it into practical reality.

Chris Rolph

Prayers for June

June begins the day after Pentecost – possibly the most

exciting day of the church’s year. 2000 years ago, after

the first Pentecost, this is what happened:

“All who believed were together and had all things in

common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute

the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much

time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their

food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the

goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their

number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:44-47)

It may be hard to translate this into our modern-day circumstances, but let’s

pray that God’s Spirit continues to work through his church, albeit in a

different way, enabling us to worship and serve him with glad and generous

hearts.

God’s Spirit is approaching: through time, across continents, soaring over

creation.

God’s Spirit is speaking: whispering and comforting, roaring and challenging.

God’s Spirit surrounds us: beyond touch, warmly embracing.

God’s Spirit transforms us: making our horizons wider, our faith stronger, our

hopes possible.

Spirit of the living God move among us all,

for you transform us into the people you invite us to be,

for you transform the world into the place you dream it to be.

Make us one in love, humble, caring, selfless, sharing.

Blow among us, Spirit of God,

fill us with your courage and care.

Hurricane and Breath,

take us on a journey of love!

My thoughts on Lockdown

“I am a life-long introvert. Because of that, most elements of the

lockdown have not had such a hard effect on me. My favourite

occupation at any time is reading, so I am able to indulge that to such

an extent that I am catching up on the books I own but have not yet

read, and those I want to re-read (although there will definitely not be

enough time for all of those).

But the lockdown has caused me some problems. Some of you know

that I do not believe in washing the pots until there are no more clean

mugs in the cupboard. But over these last weeks I have found that the

mugs sitting on the side of the sink are pleading to be washed! I have

now succumbed to doing the washing-up at least once a day. I even

get the vacuum cleaner out more often!

In the past I have been told that I am too independent. One family

regularly took me to task for not asking them for help when I obviously

needed it. So, having to rely on someone else to do my shopping…

… !! (many thanks to that person, not least because my shopping lists

demonstrate that people from different parts of England speak

different languages).

Other matters which have caused me some heartache: too much time

for gardening (I am still not ready for that); only seeing my daughters

on video phone-calls; no live cricket on the TV or radio.

To everyone out there but not allowed out — remember, “you may be

apart, but you are not alone”: to all those who have been able to be at

work — keep it up: and to all those who are doing volunteering work

— THANK YOU”.

God bless you all.

David Fidler

Belated Birthday wishes to 2 of our Friends.

David Fidler who was 80 at the end of April 2020

and Ray Baker who was 60 during the middle of

May 2020. I hope they both made the most of

their special days.

Marjorie Borman celebrates her 80th birthday on

13th June 2020. So Happy Birthday Marjorie from us all.

Church Family Worker

We are delighted that Mark Harrison has been appointed as our Church Family worker, beginning work on 1st May 2020. Those that know Mark will be aware of his energy, ideas, and enthusiasm for the Gospel, and we’re looking forward to seeing this worked out in the life of the church. We defined the role of the Church Family Worker as one which would support church events in order to build relationships with fringe members and occasional visitors, signposting them to relevant activities and groups in order to draw them in and encourage progression from:

Attending to Belonging and Contributing to the church.

It’s exciting to have Mark supporting this work, but important to realise

that he’s there to support our work, not to do it all for us! I’m sure

you’ll join with me in congratulating Mark and praying for God’s

blessing on what he does.

Chris Rolph

Mark Harrison is offering to deliver the following items to anyone you know

who may appreciate them:

Food parcels/hot meals from the Salvation Army

Mindfulness Books which contain puzzles and pictures to colour, always

with a scripture verse and message and Jigsaws.

Please contact Mark directly on mjofmanby@aol.co.uk

This short act of worship has been prepared for you to use as you are unable to attend church. If you are well enough why not spend a few moments with God, knowing that other people are sharing this act of worship with you.

Opening Prayer

As you come to worship you might like to picture a road that you know really well. Is it straight or twisted? Is it smooth or uneven? Is it busy or quiet? Who else uses it? Who have you walked