Pastoral News: 01 February 09

Marvin Chilton underwent an operation last Saturday to fit an external artificial heart valve, and he remains very ill in Harefield Hospital. We continue to pray for him and his family at this time, remembering especially his parents Michael and Joy.

Nominations to the Leadership

The closing date for nominations to the leadership is Sunday 15th February. Extra forms for nominations are available at the Steward’s table. Members please give this matter your prayerful consideration.

Bridgebuilder Quiz 2009

On Saturday 7th February at the Netherfield Chapel, Broadlands, Netherfield, the annual Bridgebuilder quiz takes place at 7.00pm for 7.30pm start. Entry is £5 per person (pay on the door) which includes a Jacket Potato and fillings Supper.

John Bunyan Day Trip, Saturday 25th April

Churches Together in Newport Pagnell has arranged a day trip to Elstow and Bedford focusing on the life of John Bunyan, the author of one of the English language’s greatest books, ‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’, and see sights about his life. It’s an ideal trip to bring any non-Christian friends along.

A John Bunyan guide will lead our tour firstly around the village of Elstow where Bunyan was born. We will see the site of his birthplace, the green and Moot Hall, and the Abbey Church with its windows, christening bowl etc. Then we will proceed to Bedford to the Bunyan Meeting Church and Museum which will be our base for the rest of the visit and where we will enjoy our lunch and a presentation about Bunyan’s life. We will see the present day church with its well known windows and where Bunyan was the first minister, and the official John Bunyan Museum. Then we will go on a walking tour of key Bunyan sites in the town centre which includes the famous statue of Bunyan. We hope to be back in Newport Pagnell by around 5.00pm.

The cost of £13 per person (children £11) includes coach travel from Newport Pagnell, a salad lunch, the services of an official John Bunyan guide and admission costs. It is refundable if necessary. For further information or to reserve your place, please see the Information Sheet with Reply Slip that are available from church or downloadable from the home page of www.ctnp.org.uk. Please include the cost with your reply slip and return them to Chris or Marian Whitaker as soon as possible to reserve your place (recommended no later than the end of February).

Amicus Quiz Night

Our Amicus Youth Group is holding a quiz night on Friday 13th February starting at 7.30pm, here at Lovat Hall. We hope as many people as possible can come along. It will be fun and include a jacket potato meal.

The tickets are priced at £3 for children (under 16) and £7 for adults. Pay on the night. All proceeds of the evening will go towards purchasing a new drum kit for the Amicus Music Group as well as for use in the Church.

To book your place on an excellent quiz night buy your tickets after today’s service at the back of the hall from Andy or Sam. Buy now to avoid disappointment!

Churches Together Lent House Groups

CTNP are again running the inter-church Lent House Groups. These will start in the week commencing Monday 2nd March and will run for 5 weeks, finishing before Holy Week. We will try and hold groups at times to suit participants but this might not prove to be possible in every case, especially for daytime groups.

If you would like to take part in the House Groups please complete one of the forms that are available at today's service and return it to our church’s representatives, Chris or Marian Whitaker, by Sunday 15th February at the latest. The group leaders will then contact you to confirm the day, time and place of your group. Please note that there will be a very modest charge of £4 for the book for each participant. If you would like to have an early look at the book to be used, Chris or Marian Whitaker will endeavour to have a copy available on Sundays after worship, for you to peruse.

Easter Prom Praise

Easter Prom Praise is a unique blend of live music, word and worship combining the spirit of Songs of Praise and the world-famous Last Night of the Proms. Royal Albert Hall London, Saturday 4th April 2009 at 7.30pm. Seat prices and booking forms obtainable from the corridor table. See who you recognise in the choir!

MATRIX

Don’t forget that today is the final day to get your Matriz items to Rod & Chris.

Service Details 01/02/08

Our minister Paul Rosier will lead worship and speak on Psalm 116/12-14 “Up for the cup”. The service will also include communion and the welcome of new church members.

In the afternoon at 4.00pm we have our monthly Food4Thought meeting. A time for friendship, singing and praise for the retired of the town. This month John & Linda Cooper are the hosts.

Service Details 08/02/08

On Sunday 8th February at 10.30am Bev Wright leads our worship. Paul Rosier will be speaking on “Honouring God In Our Worship”.

News form Alan & Anne Penn

Dear all at NPBC

A belated Happy New Year. Thank you for telling us about the way Christmas was celebrated at NPBC. We pray that all those who heard the message over the Christmas period will remember the true meaning of Christmas and want to know more of Jesus and the message of hope. We tell everyone we meet of the way God has worked through you and the people in your fellowship. We are so thankful that we could meet you all when we were in the UK. Newport Pagnell is not just a motorway service area now.

We did get up to 16 hours a day of power cuts at the beginning of January but it went down to 96 hours a week from last Thursday as one of the lines from India was repaired after it had been damaged in the floods. This still means that on Thursday and Friday evenings we have no mains power from 4.00pm to midnight and on 4 other nights there is no power from 4.00pm to 8.00pm or 8.00pm to midnight. On Mondays we have power all evening! We have got used to it now and as long as our inverter works we are happy with one room lit. Last year we could not use the internet or see to read properly.

Our new families have all settled well and are ready to start work. A retired couple from Sweden arrived last week. Alan and I are their link family. Two more couples arrive next week along with 2 more children. As new people arrive others are preparing to leave. Our friend from across the lane goes back to the States at the end of next month, she has already finished working at UMN and another neighbour and Jennie our Executive Director leave in May. We have become very close to these people, we were with them on Saturday night for a bring and share meal and a game of dominoes.

Alan is working harder than ever, as funding is getting more difficult to find UMN is looking to see in which areas savings can be made. We try to ensure all our programmes can go ahead so we will need to tighten up on spending on administration and travel. Our cluster teams in the rural areas are finding the power cuts difficult as they have no generators or inverters so some days they can only use computers to write reports and plans for 2 or so hours. As they share PCs and do not have laptop computers this can be frustrating.

The weather here has turned unseasonably warm and there have been no winter rains so far. Our new flat is great. We have not needed to buy a heater, just put on an extra sweater in the evening. Of course the lack of rain will mean less water as most of Kathmandu's supply is pumped from the ground and the farmers need rain for their crops. The river is very low, full of rubbish and beginning to get smelly. There is also a strike and blockade by the people who live near the landfill site where most of Kathmandu's rubbish is buried so there are rotting piles of garbage lying in the streets.

Most people just accept that this is the way it is in Nepal. They have got so used to strikes and shortages that it is just a way of life. I was reading last week that 27% of Nepal's income comes from remittances from Nepalis working abroad. A lot of the rest must be from foreign aid. UMN is working in advocacy and enterprise development to help people to improve their lives.

The UMN Board has short listed 2 candidates to come to Nepal for interviews for the post of Executive Director, The interviews are being held in the first week of March. Please pray for the candidates and the selection panel and that this time an appointment will be made.

God bless Anne & Alan

CHURCH DIARY

SUNDAY 1 February
10 – 10.15am Prayer Time in the Chapel.
10.30am Service of Worship led by Paul Rosier.
4.00pm Food4Thought hosted by John & Linda Cooper
7.30 – 9:30pm yPod at the home of Steve and Natasha Wood.

MONDAY 2 February
6.15pm Boys’ Brigade Anchor Boys & Junior Sections. See Roger.
7.45pm Amicus – Contact Sam Downton or Mark Nicholls
7.45pm HomeGroup Jeremiah 32

TUESDAY 3 February
8.45am Team Prayer Meeting in the chapel.
9.45am HomeGroup meeting at Wendy and Andrew’s.
10.00am Parent & Toddler Group (24 Months+). See Yvonne Wilkinson
1.30 – 3.00pm Parent & Baby Group in the Tickford Room Contact Sue Garnham
1.30 – 3.00pm Parent & Toddler Group (12-24 months) contact Janet Rosier.
2.00pm Bible Study Group in the chapel continuing the series from Mark's gospel “The Coming King”. All are welcome.
7.45pm HomeGroup
8.00pm Admin & Comms meeting

WEDNESDAY 4 February
11.00am Bethany Lunch Club for Senior Citizens. Contact Peter Faulkner on for bookings and Elsie Smith on for transport.
8.00pm HomeGroup contact Allan and Chris Webb.

THURSDAY 5 February
6.15pm Girls’ Brigade Explorers For all sections see Sue Garnham
6.45pm Girls’ Brigade Junior Section
7.45pm Pastoral Assistants Prayer Meeting at.
7.45pm Boys’ Brigade Company Section Contact David Wright
8.00pm Girls’ Brigade Senior and Brigader Section

FRIDAY 6 February
9.45 – 11:30am MOPS Group. See Wendy Turner or Elaine Hope

SATURDAY 7 February
8.00am Prayer Breakfast for Deacons and Elders in the chapel.

SUNDAY 8 February
10 – 10.15am Prayer Time in the Chapel.
10.30am Service of Worship led by Bev Wright & Paul Rosier.
7.30 – 9:30pm yPod at the home of Steve and Natasha Wood.