Pastoral News: 22 March 09

Marvin Chilton underwent further surgery on Saturday, but he seems to be making some progress this week, for which we give thanks. We continue to uphold him and all his family in our prayers.

We remember those who are unwell at present, praying especially for Peggy Oliver, a member of our Food4Thought. We also remember the family of Ernest Morley, a regular for a long time at Food4Thought, as Ernest has died.

We are aware of several members of our church family for whom work has become precarious: those who have been made redundant, those who are experiencing uncertainty, and a large number of people who have recently been for interviews for jobs. We pray God's guidance to you all.

Please Pray for Easter Cracked

Please remember our teams who are presenting Easter Cracked this week. Easter Cracked is a fast-moving interactive presentation for year 6 children (aged 10 and 11). We shall be doing this on:

Monday 23rd March am Tickford Park School
pm Cedars School

Wednesday 25th March pm Willen School

Thursday 26th March am Giffard Park School

Monday 30th March am Portfields School
pm Green Park School

Tuesday 31st March pm Olney School

Thank you for all the Cadbury's Creme Eggs!! To date you have donated 314 and we are very grateful- thank you for your generosity.

Please no ball games after worship!

Parents, please can we ask you to remind your children that ball games are not to be played after worship on a Sunday especially in the Portfield’s room; as damage to the ceiling has occurred. We also request that children do not play on the stage for safety reasons. Thank you for your cooperation.

How Easy is SongPro?

SongPro is the software we use on a Sunday morning to assist with the service of worship we all enjoy. It’s easy to set up the service beforehand and straightforward to use on the day. It does not however, do it by itself. The small team currently managing this task could do with some hands on support.

Rod Sparkes will be running a ‘Get to know SongPro’ event for any/all who might be interested in seeing how the software works. Being interested and coming to watch and take part would not commit you to joining the team – though it would be nice if some did.

If you have any interest in how the service is visually presented each Sunday, then please, do have a word with Rod. A date, time and place will be arranged once there is a list of interested people – any age whether in school or schooled in life would be welcome.

Bridgebuilder

During last Sunday morning’s service we were able to hear about the work that The Milton Keynes Bridgebuilder Trust is carrying out in the schools of this area. As a Church we support this work financially by giving an amount equal to the average weekly offering. We budgeted for this to be £1,410 and we are making this payment in quarterly instalments. Any increase in this average will be reflected in an additional payment at the end of the year.

The Church was also invited to make any additional gifts towards the work as they felt appropriate. This invitation resulted in extra gifts totalling £1,091. This includes tax recoverable through the Gift Aid Scheme. We are only able to include in this total gifts which were marked for Bridgebuilder. If you made an extra gift through last week’s offering but didn’t realise the need to identify it for Bridgebuilder then have a word with me and I can make sure that it gets included in a revised total. Also it is not too late to make a gift but we do hope to send a cheque to Bridgebuilder by the end of this month. Richard Beesley (Treasurer)

Good News

The proceeds of the Church Pancake Party this year amounted to £210.33 and a cheque for this amount will be forwarded to Willen Hospice.

Service Details 22/03/09

Our worship for Mothering Sunday is a Brigade's Parade Service led by our minister Paul Rosier, and features our Amicus worship band. Our Boys' Brigade Company will also be dedicating their new colours.

Service Details 29/03/09

Next Sunday 29th March Bev Wright and Paul Rosier lead our worship. The service will also include communion.

CHURCH DIARY

SUNDAY 22 March
10 – 10.15am Prayer Time in the Chapel.
10.30am Worship for Mothering Sunday led by Paul Rosier.
7.30 – 9:30pm yPod at the home of Steve and Natasha Wood.

MONDAY 23 March
6.15pm Boys’ Brigade Anchor Boys & Junior Sections. See Roger.
7.45pm Amicus – Contact Sam Downton or Mark Nicholls
7.45pm Lent HomeGroup at Bancroft

TUESDAY 24 March
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 Lent Bible Study Group in the chapel.

WEDNESDAY 25 March
11.00am Bethany Lunch Club for Senior Citizens. Contact Peter Faulkner for bookings and Elsie Smith for transport.
8.00pm HomeGroup at Newport Pagnell.

THURSDAY 26 March
6.15pm Girls’ Brigade Explorers For all sections see Sue Garnham (79)
6.45pm Girls’ Brigade Junior Section
7.45pm Boys’ Brigade Company Section Contact David Wright
8.00pm Girls’ Brigade Senior and Brigader Section

SUNDAY 29 March
10 – 10.15am Prayer Time in the Chapel.
10.30am Service of Worship & Communion led by Bev Wright & Paul Rosier.
7.30 – 9:30pm yPod at the home of Steve and Natasha Wood.