by Rev David Proud
Body
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The Vicar Writes... by Rev David Proud |
Body |
On the morning of the first Pentecost, the followers of Jesus faced an uncertain future. The events of a few weeks before had seen the trial, death and resurrection appearances of Jesus followed by his ascension into heaven. The disciples’ world had been turned upside down. Now gathered under instructions, they waited for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit. The first few chapters of the book of Acts record the dramatic impact of the Holy Spirit on that small band of disciples. From cowering in a locked room, they now spoke publicly and boldly in the city and thousands were convinced through that testimony. Many were added daily to the church as more people were convinced of the claims of Jesus Christ. The believers were on a roll with the stunning prospect of quickly becoming an important religious sect in Jerusalem. Yet, within a short space of time the same group of believers was scattered and in hiding amongst the towns and cities of Asia Minor. Believers were hunted down, imprisoned by people such as Saul and many murdered like Stephen. God in his infinite wisdom had different plans for the followers of Jesus Christ. The Jerusalem sect through persecution laid the seeds of a world faith. Two thousand years of Christian witness has seen the church ebb and flow in terms of numbers and influence, and take on different guises to meet fresh challenges. Despite attempts by individuals and oppressive regimes to consign Christianity to history, it still lives on witnessing to the saving power of Jesus Christ. That is what gives me hope when I read about the expected demise of the church in this country. History teaches us that the church is God’s church not ours, and the Holy Spirit continues to energise and direct God’s people in ways that our Christian forbears could never have imagined.God is always stirring His church to meet the needs of a changing world. This stirring is both exciting and uncomfortable. As a church family we are experiencing a testing time for us as God stirs our church and the nation’s church. The context in which we seek to be the church is rapidly changing from that which we are familiar with. The values on which culture and society is now based have become separated from its Christian roots. It is hard to maintain our Christian values and our expressions of church against the constant pressure of the world. We may not be of the world but we are daily still in it and all the pressures on our time and resources are the same for us as non-Christians. What do we hold on to and what are we prepared to let go of?
The rapidly changing nature of British society is causing many in the church in this country to examine whether the model of church that has functioned for hundreds of years, is the only way of reaching our neighbours with the Gospel. At Christ Church, we are in the midst of asking the same questions about the most appropriate models of church. Indeed we have two such models operating alongside each other. Nearly all of us have grown up with the model that sees Sunday as the main expression of church. Other meetings such as K groups add to and build on the main expression of worship, teaching and fellowship that is the Sunday service. Much of the human and physical resources go into the running of Sunday services. Evangelism is programmed to move people from being outside or on the edge of the church, to being regular Sunday worshippers and joining in the activities that are based around the Sunday worship. As a model it has biblical roots, has been very successful in building the church and still has much to commend it. However, there is another model of church that has good biblical roots but offers something different. The cell model of church has some similarities but also some major differences. The key meeting and therefore priority is not the large service but the small cell. The cell learns to relate to each other and the wider community through agreed values. (If you want to know more, ask our young people what the values are in their cell groups.) The main teaching, worship and fellowship input is in the small group where relationships are built and fostered and faith is formed through personal accountability to the rest of the group. The gathering of all the cells together still has a purpose but it is more to do with larger and less frequent celebrations building on the cell work. The cell lives out its witness in the community and growth is measured not so much by attendance on Sundays, rather by people (friends, contacts) joining the cell and working towards changes in the communities they live in. It is a much more fluid church where there are lots of groups or expressions of church meeting throughout the week in differing contexts. It is a model in many ways closer to the church as depicted in the book of Acts because the context then and now has similarities. 1st Century Israel was a pre-Christian multi-faith, mission context and now in 21st Century Britain, we are largely in a post-Christian spiritual pick-and-mix, mission context.
I have put the two models in very simplistic terms but the point is that we are operating two distinctive models and the rub comes particularly on Sundays where the models have different purposes. I am not suggesting we abandon one model for another, but that we do recognise that the uncertainty we are experiencing at Christ Church is being experienced up and down the country. Our K group studies are encouraging you to be asking the right questions about what kind of church are we called to be and what are the characteristics of that church so that we can better understand the different models of church.
As a PCC we have prayerfully sought the path that God is calling us to take through the changed landscape we face. At our recent PCC day, led by the Holy Spirit, we sensed that God was calling us to be prepared to change to meet the new demands of a changing world. Do we continue with a model of being church that we are familiar with or explore different models? Are there compromises that we should make to enable different models to work side by side? It has already been a painful process as we have wrestled with the understandable concerns of the congregation as to whether the steps we have taken are the right ones. I have no doubt we have made mistakes and that there are important lessons to learn from this journey. Please continue to show grace towards the PCC, the staff and myself, and pray for wisdom and discernment for us. Out of our successful PCC day away, we also drew up core values that we believe form the basis of our future direction and will by God’s grace enable us to move forward with faith and confidence. Keeping to the values is a work in progress and we would welcome any additional input you may wish to give to help us get it right, but we believe that these values will help us chart the unfamiliar territory that we face as Christians here in Christ Church in Britain in the 21st Century.
Our Core Values:
We may not all fully understand or embrace today’s cultural trends but God, even after 150 years, continues to call Christ Church to engage with His mission to the world he created and loves.
David
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We love playing football it is as simple as that! |
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I’m not superstitious, but each week begins in the same way. I send an email out to the addresses in the CCFC category. It contains the match report, details of the next game and a request for players to declare their availability. On Thursday, the squad is posted out for the forthcoming fixture, usually with an apology to those that I have left out. On Saturday morning, the players assemble at 9.30am at Presdales if we are at home and at the church car park earlier if away. In the changing room the usual banter ensues over a wide ranging set of issues including, Spurs, NHS funding, individual player performances and who should have the size 38” shorts – it is usually Wansell! Owen’s rigorous pre match warm up follows and then Henners names the team, issues instructions and advises on strategy. A prayer of commitment is next before the battle begins. What happens next varies.In fact, this season, what happens next is usually a Christ Church victory. With only 6 defeats in 24 games (4 of them coming in the cups) it has been a pretty successful season. The highlights for me have been some terrific performances and some emphatic victories – the 6-1 defeat of Bovingdon in the County Cup in September really set our season up and so we were disappointed to eventually exit the competition in round 3 losing on penalties to Harpenden Town. We looked set to go all the way in the National Christian Trophy after brushing aside Adeyfield and Cheltenham 4-0 and 7-1 respectively. However, a freak 1-0 defeat at home to Windsor put paid to our dreams despite having had at least 17 chances and hitting the woodwork 4 times. In the League, we were dominant, dropping only 8 points from a possible 42. From a footballing perspective, I can quite honestly say that I have enjoyed this season more than any other in my life.
However, football is a team game and team spirit has been the secret to our success over the last two years. This season we used 25 players in total but 18 on a regular basis. And there have been some star performances. Jon Tiffen has captained the side well and is well respected by the players for his attitude and his footballing ability (but definitely not his hair style). Fraser Higgs has provided some attacking flair in midfield and once again picked up an award for top goalscorer (and goal of the season). Rob Boulton and Neil Greaves have bestowed wisdom in a young and lively team.
Over the last few years, the Church football league has got tougher and the standard this year is undoubtedly the best that it has ever been – that’s why winning it has been especially nice. But the Christ Church Football Team is arguably about the players and we have built up an excellent team spirit over the past couple of seasons. There is a real sense of community and comradeship. It’s a cliché, but the players are there for each other and they are keen to support and not let each other down. We have really grown as a group of men but it has become more than that including now wives, partners and children too – a real family affair.
We all love playing football, it is a simple as that but what really connects us and makes us strong is the fact that we are a Christian football team and a Church football team. We remind ourselves before each game to play in a way that is honourable to God and to ourselves – and I really believe that we do, and I think that God honours that too.
Can you be a part of our team? If you are a good footballer, come and play for us. If not, come and support us or pray for us or follow our progress. Christ Church football is a great way of celebrating all that God has given us.
Ian Henry
| Children’s Church |
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I think that children’s church is a great idea!This is because it’s an easy way for children to learn about God & because there are lots of fun things to do. Sometimes we make things, we learn things, we go places like Activity World, Rye Meads bird sanctuary, Priory park for an ice cream & lots more.
We get to meet up with friends, other people that aren’t our age & we can make new friends.
We also have lots of little groups for the different ages. My group is called “Cheesecake for Jesus”.
In my group there are: Libby, Phoebe, Emma, Becky, Felicity, Lucy, Hannah, Jessica & I. We do all sorts of things in this group. Spot the difference, colouring, we have made paper flowers and we look up passages from the bible and talk about them.
Also we meet downstairs in the hall all together. Here we do lots of different things. We sing songs with the band, some people act, we pray & some adults act out a drama, these plays are stories out of the bible. There are craft activities, games, sports outside and Rosie does a quiet activity. You can choose which one you want to do. The activities are different each time but there is always something you will like.
Some weeks we have “brunch” and eat things. We have had breakfast, pancakes and muffins and drinks. We usually do this in the school hall where there is lots of space.
Other times we go into the school hall and play games or someone comes to visit. The animal man came and brought lots of unusual animals for us to see or hold. I liked the chinchilla best of all.
I enjoy going to Children’s church. Thank you for it and I am looking forward to lots more exciting weeks full of fun, God and Friends.
Bethany (age 9)
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Christ Church School Keeping them out or Keeping them in? |
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You may have noticed that we are installing a new fence around the school. It has been done with some mixed feelings because the last thing we want to do is segregate the school from the community and particularly the Church. The new fence is a result of advice received as part of a security audit and as someone said to me ‘if you consult you have to listen’. The primary objective is to keep the children safe and to be able to control access to the school grounds but it is also hoped that it will go someway towards reducing the vandalism we have suffered in the form of broken windows along Bowling Road. I do hope that the gates will not present a real barrier to anyone who wants to visit our school.By the time you read this our year 6 pupils will have completed their Statutory Assessment Tests (SATS). These tests attempt to assess the absolute level of attainment reached by each child as well as the progress (Value Added or VA), that it has made since they were previously tested in year 2. We believe that the VA measurement is perhaps the most important since it attempts to gauge whether a child is achieving it’s maximum potential irrespective of how this measures up against any arbitrary standard. Obviously testing in itself does not help a pupil to achieve, which is the reason why each child’s progress is continually monitored as it progresses through the school so that support and encouragement can be provided as and when it is required. We are not a ‘SATS driven’ school but the very nature of a test means that judgements will be made on the basis of the outcome. I would therefore ask you to hold the staff and pupils in your prayers over the next few weeks.
As you may be aware The Government in its ‘ten year strategy for childcare’ has set out a key role for schools in ensuring that children experience high quality childcare. The specific element of the strategy that relates to primary schools concerns the provision by 2010 of affordable childcare at or through the school from 8.00am to 6.00pm all year round. To make direct provision of such a service would obviously be a heavy burden on the school and we are therefore looking at working with an independent third party provider. Subject to there being sufficient demand from parents we may be offering, starting in September, breakfast and after-school clubs. The issue of holiday clubs providing care outside school term time has yet to be addressed.
As far as the Nursery is concerned the Government has promised that all three and four year olds will receive 15 hours of free integrated early learning and care for 38 weeks per year (increasing from the current 12.5 hours). Parents will have the flexibility to use the free entitlement over three days and to purchase additional hours. These arrangements particularly the flexibility and the purchasing of additional hours could present a logistical nightmare – yet more challenges for our already busy staff.
Finally some fun things! Year 6 are off to Kingswood activity centre 18th to 23rd May, please pray for a good and safe time for all (especially the Staff!). Emma reports on the Girls Football Tournament “..... it meant a penalty shoot out. They scored ,we scored, they scored, we scored, they scored, we scored!! At 3:3 ‘Sudden Death!!!. We took our penalty and scored – they took theirs, hit the bar and missed. We were through to the Final!” - Eat your heart out John Motson (afraid we lost the final 1:0).
As you read this the summer holidays will not be far off. Please hold the school in your prayers as we embark on all the summer activities and give thanks for the staff and their continued commitment to the education and wellbeing of the children.
Bob Owen
| "Let us pray" in Christ Church School |
Faith |
Following a generous response, the books were duly purchased, inscribed and presented by Bob Owen, the Chair of Governors at Assembly to a representative of each class.
Thank you very much. Let us pray that they will be put to good use!
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Let them eat (honey) cake Bob’s Browsings by Bobbie Proud |
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I have a new role. (Ta-daa!) I am the Keeper of the K-group Chocolates. This carries with it great responsibilities, such as: not snaffling chocs between K-groups; remembering to bring them to each K-group meeting; and keeping the vicar’s mitts off them. These are not ordinary chocolates. They are Belgian chocolates. (A word of advice to all: make sure your K-group members know they are expected to bring back munchies when they go on trips. Make especially sure that they know what is expected when they are going to Belgium. In fact, leave a few travel brochures around for this venue. Book them a holiday if necessary.)People like sweet things. I have noticed this, having been particularly surprised recently by rather a lot of sweet-toothed men (and I thought it was only women who were chocoholics) raving over desserts. First it was the washers-up at the Alpha Supper, where there were two sweet desserts on offer: a white chocolate and orange parfait accompanied by clementines in caramel and a honey tuile (thin biscuit, if you like); and individual ginger pavlovas with rhubarb topping. I have never before seen leftovers attacked with such alacrity as soon as the shutters were closed for the talk. It was like watching a starving student faced with an “all you can eat” buffet. Most astonishing was seeing the gentleman who NEVER eats sweets between meals snacking happily on the tuiles and letting me feed him a spoonful of the clementines - yes, it was my fault he got caramel dripped on his trousers (sorry, Margaret).
The theme continued with Peter at Monday’s staff lunch, eating up a few more leftovers of the parfait and nearly expiring with pleasure; Richard telling me about a white chocolate and croissant butter pudding he was taking to his K-group pudding party (just a healthy little number, that...) and Martin recalling the profiteroles he ate in York, filled with chocolate mousse and covered in a dark and white chocolate sauce (presumably enough chocolate to be going on with.)
What is going on with you, men? I am highly confused. I thought the way to a man’s heart was MEAT. And now you’re all into puddings, and they’re not even puddings of the “steamed syrup sponge” variety.
But actually, I think it’s Biblical. It looks to me like God has made us with a taste for sweet things. I suppose the Old Testament equivalent of chocolate would have been the sweetest thing around – honey. And maybe, on the side, some dried fruit. So take a new look at what the Israelites get told – they’re going to be taken to a land of milk and honey. “Hurrah!” shout the honeyholics. They get given manna on the way which tastes like wafers made with – you guessed it – honey! More big hurrahs, especially from the by now desperate sweet-toothed contingent slogging their way through the desert. Then, when the Ark of the Covenant gets brought back to Jerusalem, King David gives all the people cakes of dates and raisins. Now that’s a Good King. Imagine how pleased we’d all be if the Queen gave us a Divine bar (it would have to be, wouldn’t it, as she wouldn’t have any truck with nasty child slave labour chocolate) on her Jubilee. We’d all think that was pretty darn good.
And there are constant references to the word God gives, which is as sweet as honey. Ezekiel and John even tasted a honey-flavoured scroll. How cool is that? And I haven’t even started on the Song of Songs yet...
You see, I think God loves to treat his children and put a smile on their faces. And we are recipients of His grace time and time again, maybe not with sweet food always but the sweetness of His presence and goodness to us. We don’t eat sweet puddings the whole time (which is probably why they’re such a treat) – but we can always know the tenderness of God’s heart towards us. Enjoy.
“But you would be fed with the finest of wheat; with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.” Psalm 81:16
| Community outreach worker's update |
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When I sat with David trying to work out what we could call me I said it had to have community and outreach in the title so that people would understand what I do, and that is how I came to be a C.O.W.The reality is that I spend nearly all of my time with people who you would not consider to be part of our Church because they do not come to Church on Sundays. This also means that most of what I do is unseen and that there is no easy way to share what is happening with all of you, so I am going to try using the magazine to let you know some of the ways in which God is working in Christ Church and it’s wider community. For this edition of the magazine I felt it would be good to focus on the International Cafe as I know many of you would like more information about this.
The International Cafe
From a prayerful session with Noelia (Our Latin/Link placement student last year) and careful observance of Ware High Street and Toddler sessions over the past two years it became obvious that there was a growing ethnic population in Ware. It was really hard to see some of the mums looking so forlorn in our Toddler sessions, where most of the time they were unable to communicate with anyone due to their lack of English. So the idea of and the reason for the International Cafe came to be.
The Cafe has been running since September, although in a small way as we were hoping for Noelia to come back from Argentina and make this her project. However that was not to be, but despite that the cafe continues to grow. Thanks to the team of All Nation students who are very committed to this project we are now in a position to offer English conversation, friendship, tea, cake, fun and games to eight different nationalities:-
Chinese, Korean, Japanese, German, Dutch, Finnish, Sri Lankan and Baleric Islands, and that is without actively advertising the Cafe. The word is travelling around Ware and we expect to be even busier in the near future. Thanks to the friendship of KaEul and Jong (All Nations students who worship at Christ Church) some of our friends from the cafe have been to Church (although what they make of it I am not sure).
This is a true blessing for our Church and a great opportunity for us to show God’s love ‘to all nations’ without having to leave Ware. I ask you to sincerely pray for the Cafe’s needs :-
Yours in Christ
Alison
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Celebrate Your Marriage June 21st 2008, 3:00pm in Christ Church |
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One of the events to celebrate Christ Church’s 150th anniversary will be the Renewal of Marriage Vows on 21st June at 3pm. This will be an opportunity for you to renew your marriage vows in a unique and personal ceremony, followed by a Champagne Reception, Wedding Cake and String Quartet.A Photographer will be available to take your photograph.
Many husbands and wives choose a Renewal of Marriage Vows for special anniversaries such as Silver, Ruby or Gold. You may have married abroad and choose this occasion to celebrate with family and friends who were unable to travel to your wedding.
The Renewal of Marriage Vows will take place at Christ Church on Saturday 21st June at 3pm. If you would like more information please telephone 01920 462 355 or email june21st@btinternet.com
To reserve your place please complete a booking form - available from the back of church or online at www.christchurchware.co.uk
The event is not limited to couples in Ware – husbands and wives of any age and married for any length of time, will receive a warm welcome at the ceremony. To help us organise this special event please reserve your place by 7th June.
Christ Church Marriage Team
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The London Men’s Convention Saturday 11th April 2009 |
Faith |
I’m not normally a conference man but this was just a fantastic day out! Here are the facts:
Ian Henry
| In the final stretch... |
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Easter is over and as I look ahead mountains loom.....several essays to write for final assessment, a week of exams, final reports, farewells to Ridley and Ware, moving house, ordination and my first day at work as a person entitled to wear a white piece of plastic round my neck! These past two years at college have been immensely rewarding and equally challenging. Probably the hardest time of my life so far, it has also been the time I’ve grown and changed most (at least I hope so!). I’m grateful for all I’ve learned and the people I’ve met at Ridley but now I can’t wait to get out there and try my wings!Some of you will know I have a first post in Bestwood, Nottingham. It’s a large urban housing estate on the north of the city with six churches. I’ll be working in one of the six which meets in a small and elegant building (in demand for weddings!) in the better-off part of the estate, and in a homely little red brick church in an ex-mining village. The sites are a mile apart from each other separated by the Duke of St Albans’ Country Park (the Duke had a poor sense of geography, I think, as his estate is nearer Sherwood than Verulamium), and I look forward to walking and cycling through it.
The people I’ve met are warm-hearted and down-to-earth. My new boss is called Peter, and he’s married (his wife is Ruth) with three primary-aged children. I’m sure I have a lot to learn from him and he is very excited about having a work colleague and someone to train up, which bodes well for me. The job is three days a week as a curate doing church-related stuff – leading worship, taking funerals, doing pastoral visits and so on.
Three days a week I’m allowed off the leash to go out into the community and try to build relationships with people who may not yet even imagine there could be a God who loves them. Specifically, I’m employed as a ‘Pioneer Minister’ to work with children, families and schools, but although this sounds very glamorous it’s probably very similar to the kind of work Christ Church is already involved in through the Time Out Café, Toddlers, Holiday Club and LiveWare:LoveWare.
I have a four-bedroom house to live in, modern and well-appointed (at least I’m told so – I haven’t seen it yet). The estate isn’t far from the M1, so do come and stay. I’ve had the luxury of school holidays ever since I was born, and now I’ll be having grown-up ones (just six weeks a year), and very few weekends, so I’ll be relying on friends and family to come and visit. You can come on the way to somewhere else...the Prouds are already booked in, in July!
I get ordained in the beautiful old market town of Southwell (I hadn’t even heard of it till last October). It has a Minster and a workhouse. I think I’m getting ordained in the Minster. The ceremony will be at 11am on Sunday 29th June. I have to wear cassock and surplice, and will look exceedingly angelic for a brief period of time. Please pray for me in the first couple of months, that I don’t make too many mistakes. I want to help to make God known to the people of Bestwood, not put them off!
I’d like to take this opportunity to say how much it has been a privilege to be part of Christ Church over the past 15 (yes, 15!) years and to get to know many of you. Your fellowship has helped to make me who I am (you can judge for yourselves if that’s a good thing!). Thanks for all your love, support and tolerance during that time. I will be back, of course, for you are my family and I can’t do without you......I’ll be preaching as part of the 2008 celebrations in October if I don’t see you before.
With my love and prayers in Christ Jesus,
Tina
| “God of Justice” by Tim Hughes |
Faith |
Tim writes:
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“We had no real idea what to expect, but instantly we loved it. The warmth of the people, the beauty of the settting and the buzz of the activity all around us got under our skin. It was, though, a bittersweet experience. Through the smiles, singing and dancing was death, disease, sorrow, injustice, poverty and extreme hunger. One moment we were laughing, the next we were at a total loss for words. When I read the Bible one thing seems abundantly clear: God is passionate about poor people. Jesus made it so clear. “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,” he said, “because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor” (Luke 4:18). In Amos 5, God’s heart burns with anger as he rebukes a people who offer up songs of worship and other choice offerings, but trample and deprive poor people for their own selfish gain. We can’t escape the truth - God’s heart breaks for the last, the least and the lost. This is at the heart of what Tearfund does and, if we want to glorify God in all that we do, then issues of justice and poor people need to be at the core of who we are as worshippers. Let’s be a people who remember poor communities, who sing about God’s heart for the widow and orphan, who look to God to fill us up and sends us out to be good news to marginalised people. It’s not easy to look at the reality of life for many people on this planet and compare it to the relative luxury we live in. How we respond to this challenge is part of our worship.” |
Here are the words of the song Tim wrote in response to God’s challenge:
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God of Justice, Saviour to all, Came to rescue the weak and the poor. Chose to serve and not be served. Jesus, You have called us. Freely we’ve received, now freely we will give.
We must go,
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To act justly every day, Loving mercy in every way. Walking humbly before You, God. You have shown us what You require. Freely we received, now freely we will give.
Fill us up and send us out,
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Samantha
(Tim Hughes is Director of Worship for the Anglican Holy Trinity Brompton Church, central London, and a nationally-known worship leader across many other denominations.
Says Tim: “God’s heart breaks for the poor, the needy and the broken. If we want to offer up worship, our hearts must break too...The Bible is clear, worship and justice cannot be separated.”)
| Fairtrade |
Body |
Menu
Fairtrade Orange Juice (Traidcraft from large Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s) |
About 100 people turned up to savour a Fairtrade (healthy) breakfast to celebrate both Fairtrade Fortnight and Mothering Sunday on Sunday March 2nd. A big thankyou to those who funded the purchase of the aprons (cotton ones needed to meet Health and Safety requirements for the Church centre kitchen) and to those dads and young people (and others) who showed up to cook and welcome, serve and wash-up.The menu embraced both Fairtrade and local produce and was greeted with enthusiasm by young and older alike!
Thankyou too to Ali Macaulay for providing a Fairtrade craft stall at the back of church, where we also sold Traidcraft items from our usual stall and Fairtrade Easter eggs, roses, bananas and the new Fairtrade cookbook and raised much needed funds to pay for the printing costs of our new Fairtrade Town brochure.
| 3rd Ware Scout Group needs your help/memories |
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You may recall an article a while back about “Scouting and Christ Church?” and if so you may also remember that 3rd Ware Scout Group originated at Christ Church.In 2011 3rd Ware will celebrate their centenary and the planning has already begun!
Part of this is filling in the gaps in our history. Sarah Laverick has undertaken this vast task and is collating, collecting and researching our group history. How can you help her?
Well, we are looking for photographs, letters, documents, personal stories, memories and scouting items from any era of the group’s history, whether it is from 1911, 1950 or even more recent times.
What would be especially good would be if we could find the old Scout & Senior Scout flag!
If you or anyone that you know of was part of 3rd Ware in any capacity and for any length of time, would you please consider contacting Sarah if you think you/they have anything that would enhance her research?
Many thanks and if you want to know more about our group in the present day please look at www.3rdwarescouts.org.uk which has recent news, events and photographs.
| That’s The Way To Do It!!! |
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Working in monochrome and learning about tonal values is one of the important first steps for all new students taking up watercolour painting.“Watercolours are renowned as the most difficult art medium because there is no such thing as white paint in pure watercolour, just the white of the paper, so we have to learn to paint from light to dark and leave the light of the paper shine through.“ says watercolour specialist, Fiona Pruden.
Pictured below with some of the students from her new beginners class, Fiona explains how to paint ‘wet-in-wet’ to create the glassy reflections on water of a cottage in the snowscene below, using just a combination of tones of grey mixed from ultramarine blue and burnt umber.
Classes for beginners run on monday mornings in Welwyn, Tuesday afternoons at the new premises of artscape in Harpenden, and Wednesday mornings in the Arts Centre at Ware. Classes for improvers and more advanced painters are also available.
For more details of times, prices and the subjects you will learn about, please contact Fiona Pruden, on 01438 840977 or 07956 537140 or fiona.pruden@btopenworld.com.
| A Year at Christ Church |
Body |
“A Year at Christ Church” is a feature-length record of the whole Church family: from feast-days to football and Christmas to car-washing, from the sparkle of the New Year’s eve ball to the solemnity of a 9:15 service and including all of the visiting preachers in our anniversary year, this DVD will make an ideal Christmas present. Pre-order to be one of the first to receive a copy!
Price £12.99* (tbc, excl P&P). Enquiries to Sam Woodward.
(*Part of the proceeds from all DVD sales will go towards the ministry fund. Also, a Blu-Ray High Definition version may be available on request. tbc)
| Teddies for Tragedies |
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So if you enjoy a bit of knitting, have some double knitting wool, some time and want to do something positive for children why not knit a Teddy or two. There are many organisations wanting Teddies from time to time so a stock pile is quite useful!
If you are interested, visit www.teddiesfortragedies.org.uk to find further information, a pattern and lots of pictures of Teddies. Or if you are not on the internet and are interested see Diana who can supply a pattern.
| Bookstall News |
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During the Flower and Arts Festival there will be extra books, more children’s books and bibles and a plentiful supply of cards. We can supply orders for books with in a week, if urgent, and normally in two weeks.
*If you think you have any outstanding debts we would be very grateful if you would check and pay.*
Diana and Mary
| Holiday Club 2008 needs you! |
Bridge |
Those of you who know me well will know I enjoy chatting, drinking coffee and eating cake. So when the opportunity arose to help out at holiday club last summer I jumped at the chance to help in the cafe. It was a super opportunity to use all of my above talents, especially the chatting. I did not spend all my time in deep, lengthy evangelistic conversations (not one of my gifts) but I did enjoy, and had the privilege, to listen to people and share why we at Christ Church love to do all this and give our time free of charge (they were amazed!) I enjoyed my time greatly - Pam
One of my roles was being Maggie’s partner-in-crime, helping with the Turquoise group. The “I’m a Christmas Pudding, Get Me Out of Here” was a real highlight, but on a more serious note, I really enjoyed being part of something really special, giving the chance to teach children all about Jesus, some of who might not have heard about Jesus at all, or knew very little. It was this that I found most rewarding – Tom
Last year I was the leader of the Green Planet. I really enjoyed Space Race and playing games on the CC School field was one of my favourite parts. They even let me have a whistle (and blow it). It was really nice to be part of the team and I really felt that I was doing something positive and productive for God. I was also really pleased at how receptive the children were to the message I was privileged to be able to share – Rob
The Holiday Club café gives me an opportunity to serve the parents of the children attending. A listening ear to those who want to talk, a chance to show God’s love to children and parents in the relaxed surroundings of the café – Sara
I was first attracted to the idea of working with children and being part of something big. Oh, and having fun in the sun. Last year I was a Group leader. What stood out for me was how much the children seemed to enjoy it but at the same time learn something about Jesus – Cesc
At Space Race I played the Riot Control Officer with a special interest in Singing. I enjoyed myself as I got an opportunity to get to know some of the other team members a little better. It was also heart warming when the kids in your tent start looking out for you when they arrive – Paul
I enjoy helping at Holiday Club because I love being with, and relating to young children. I think loving and welcoming children into our church is a great way of reaching out to the community, and showing that we care about them. Holiday Club is a great place to be, mainly because it is so well organised and everything is well prepared. This helps the children to feel safe and happy. On a personal level I feel supported and encouraged at Holiday Club and I am looking forward to it again this year – Maggie
The dates of Holiday Club this year are 28th July – 2nd August. If you would like more information, then please talk to Madeleine, Louise, Dot, Erin or Jonny, or e-mail the church office on office@ccware.org
| Listening to the Spirit of Truth |
Faith |
I tend to like instruction manuals because they tell me exactly what I should be doing and what I shouldn’t. There’s some security in knowing how things should be isn’t there? I remembered in my old job getting quietly frustrated with clients asking me how to do something with the software I had installed for them, when they hadn’t even bothered reading the nice instruction manual I had spent a month day in day out writing to answer all their irritating questions. If only people would follow the guidelines already set out!!
In chapter 14 of John’s Gospel, Jesus promises to send the Holy Spirit to guide the disciples and us. He describes him as the Spirit of Truth. The Holy Spirit is essentially the person of God who is his instruction manual written on our hearts (Jer 31:33). How amazing is that? God literally comes within us and changes who we are and how we think so that we become at one with his truth.
The problem I find with my life though is that sometimes the things I think are “truth” aren’t actually that at all. Within our church communities we make assumptions about the right way to do things which we treat like holy writ, but in fact are nothing less than cultural habits. For example, we know that the Scriptures exhort us to “sing spiritual songs”, but it gives us no instruction as to how to do that. So do we not use musical instruments because the Bible doesn’t mention them (as some Christian groups do), or do we only use the kinds of music we like and pour disdain on those we don’t? These days you try and get rid of an organ from a church and the local village (who 365 days a year don’t even come close to opening a copy of Hymns Ancient and Crumbly) rises in uproar at the thought of removing such an important part of a church. Two hundred years ago the same people would have derided the insane idea of having such a monstrosity in a church in the first place.
Of course that’s one example and we could find many others, both in church practice and doctrine. For example, we’re exhorted in the New Testament to meet on the Lord’s Day, but equally we learn that the early church met EVERY day in their homes to break bread. So when we look at a church higher up the candle that practices daily communion and we don’t, are we the ones getting it wrong? And what form should a Sunday meeting take? The Bible isn’t clear at all! Most of how we do Sundays these days stems from monastic practices of the Middle Ages.
Why don’t we like to challenge our truths about how things should and shouldn’t be? Well, it’s because for most of us stepping out of the comfort of “this is how it’s done” is scary. It is the unknown – a huge space of nothing when what we have here already is nice and comfortable.
This is something we need to be willing to engage with – our fear of the unknown. At the same time though, we need to remember that when we are hearing correctly from the Spirit he always takes us to a good place. Jesus tells us not to be troubled in John 14:27 – he has left his peace with us.
That’s the one thing we need when we are dealing with something that takes us outside our comfort zones – peace. It’s certainly what the Ould household needs at the moment, especially half way through the night when you’ve done everything the Haynes manual says to do and the baby is still crying, and it’s what Christ Church needs as well. Even in the two and a half years or so that I’ve been here, Christ Church has seen a number of radical changes – youth cells, changes to worship patterns (especially in the second service), a huge increase in community outreach. All these things are exciting but they are also challenging. Is it right to have such an emphasis on building relationships with those in the community? Is the best use of our Sunday morning washing the cars of our neighbours and friends? Are the breakfasts on the first Sunday of the month “church” or just an excuse for a nice bacon sarnie?
We are in a process of rethinking what it means to be “church” and as we finish off the latest series of studies in K-Groups, many of the issues raised will be challenging. But remember as we do this, as small groups and as a large group, the church, that the Spirit is guiding us in truth while challenging our cultural assumptions.
Let’s watch our reactions – when we like something and want to move ahead with it is it because the Spirit is guiding us or just because we feel safe doing the activity? When we don’t like something that’s happening, is the reason we think that it shouldn’t be done because the Scriptures explicitly tell us not to, or because it takes us outside of our comfort zone?
We are at an amazing time in the life of the Church in this country. A Christian nation has given way to a post-Christian country. In some parts of the country the church is literally dying out, in others it is thriving. Why is that? Here is Ware we want to hold onto the one faith once for all entrusted to the Apostles and to us, a truth, an orthodoxy that doesn’t change despite the world around us changing. At the same time though we need to engage with a world for whom the old ways of doing things, the instruction manuals of the past are no longer used or even acknowledged. To do that we need to encourage each other to let go of our fears and worries, our foibles and hang-ups, and take an honest look at what “the truth” about doing church on Sundays and throughout the week might actually be. Let’s listen to the Spirit and what he is saying, and respond appropriately.
Peter Ould
