The Messenger
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The Messenger Parish Magazine of St Michael and All Angels, Middlewich with St John the Evangelist, Byley June 2014 50p Service plan for June 2014 1st June– 7th of Easter 8.00 am Middlewich Communion 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 11.00 am Middlewich All Age Worship + Baptism 11.00 am Byley Adult Baptism 6.30 pm Middlewich No Evening Service 8th June– Pentecost 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 11.00 am Middlewich Morning Praise 11.00 am Byley Rose Fete Service 2.30 pm Middlewich Baptism 6.30 pm Middlewich Evensong 15th June– Trinity 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 10.30 am Middlewich Service at Festival Stage 11.00 am Byley Morning Praise 6.30 pm Middlewich Evening Communion 22nd June– 1st after Trinity 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 11.00 am Middlewich Morning Praise 11.00 am Byley Communion 2.30 pm Middlewich Baptism 6.30 pm Middlewich Church @ 28 Healing Service each Tuesday at 9.30 am Communion Service each Thursday at 9.30 am 2 29th June– 2nd after Trinity 9.15 am Middlewich Communion 11.00 am Middlewich Morning Praise 11.00 am Byley Morning Praise 6.30 pm Middlewich– MCC Churches Together Service St Michael’s Church Office 28 Hightown, Middlewich, CW10 9AN 01606 738005 Office hours 10am-2pm Monday-Friday Office Manager : Beth Deakin [email protected] For further contact details please see p20 … A snippet from Vi………………………… ‘My parents taught me religion- You’d better pray that will come out of the carpet!’ The cost of heating and lighting St Michael's for a whole year is nearly £6,650: Heating alone costs about £38 per day. So please turn the lights off and shut the door after you! 3 Letter from the Rector Dear Friends, I heard this story a few years ago and although I certainly don’t wish to endorse the gambling culture I think it makes a very pertinent point about prayer; A young Christian man prayed day after day that God would enable him to win the lottery. Week by week nothing happened. The young man’s prayer became more fervent and frantic until the Lord could bear the agony not longer. That night as the man knelt and prayed God spoke; ‘Alright, alright, I hear you’ God said, ‘but please meet me halfway and at least go and buy a lottery ticket this time!’ Many people complain that God doesn’t answer prayer. There are many issues linked with this but I think if we’re honest the fundamental problem is this – did you actually ask God? The man in the story above will never win the lottery unless he first buys a ticket. Similarly if we never actually bother to pray how can God answer our prayer. There is of course a fundamental difference between the lottery and prayer. Even when you buy a lottery ticket your chances of winning are virtually nil! When you pray however, we are told that God will answer. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer (Isaiah 58:9) says Isaiah to the Jewish exiles in Babylon. Jesus himself encouraged the disciples to pray with these words; Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be opened to you. (Luke 11:9). A few weeks ago a group from the staff team attended a two day conference at Foxhill Retreat Centre, called ‘Lead Academy Chester’. It is the start of a two year programme of events & training. One outcome from our time together was a challenge to encourage more mission focused prayer within our church family. With this in mind we will be introducing a new prayer initiative during the next few weeks. Whilst prayer is already part of people’s lives, we felt that the establishment of a new mission focused initiative would give a much needed boost to our spiritual life. 4 Why? Because when we pray in a co-ordinated way things will happen. Jesus said to his disciples: I tell you that if two of you agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them (Matthew 18:19-20). I’ll leave you for now with some words of George Carey which I believe are true: Prayer is the heartbeat of faith. Nothing is ever done or accomplished without prayer. No great Christian work ever begins or ends without prayer, or is successful without prayer. Prayer is the beginning, the middle and the end of any Christian venture. Yours in Christ Simon Drew Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat A trip has been arranged to the production of this musical at the Regent Theatre, Hanley on Thursday 18th September 2014. The cost is £28.00 including coach travel (this will leave Tesco’s at 1pm) A portion of the cost will be donated to Save the Family. If you are interested, please put your name on them list on the table by the church door, or contact Janet Chishholm on 01606 836263 5 FUNCTIONS AT NUMBER 28 All the rooms at Number 28, which is opposite St Michael’s Church, are available for rent when not being used by the Church. The rooms seat between 8 and 60 people, are well appointed and would suit private functions or business meetings. A full commercial standard kitchen is also available. Go to the Number 28 Website www.at28.org/roomhire to see details, or phone the office on 01606 738005. Flowers for Easter A special thanks to Mrs Sylvia Bailey for her donation for Easter flowers in memory of George Bailey and Andrew and Elsie Wise. Also apologies to Mrs Bailey for this entry being chopped from the printed copy of the previous issue. Unless the Lord Builds the house, its Builders labour in Vain. (Psalm 127:1) So don’t forget to Pray! 6 Parish Weekend Away Following the success of our weekend at Cloverley Hall in October 2012 we have booked another parish weekend in October 2014, at Cloverley Hall (nr Whitchurch, Shropshire). Cloverley Hall is a Christian conference & retreat centre and we have booked the house for our sole use over the weekend of 3rd – 5th October 2014. This weekend will provide an opportunity to spend time together with periods of Christian fellowship and teaching, and also some fun and relaxation. There will be groups and activities for both adults and children. Our speaker this time will be Bishop John Hayden, who has a wealth of experience as a church leader, both in England and also in Africa. Those of us who went last year had a really great time and I would really like us all to be able to share in this next weekend away together. Visit www.cloverleyhall.org for more information. At this stage costs for 2014 have not been finalised but an indicative cost for the weekend, which will include full board from Friday evening meal to Sunday lunch inclusive is: Adults: £100.00 & Children: 0-4 years £10.00; 5-9 years £40.00; 10-12 years £70.00; 13-17 years £90.00 Additional supplements may apply for ensuite rooms and single occupancy rooms. Please do come along and join us. To book a place we require a deposit of £10 per person (including all children). Booking forms available via the church office. 7 CONGO LINK Our charity for April-June 2014 During this second quarter of 2014 St Michael’s Church is supporting the work of the Chester Diocesan link with Aru & Boga Dioceses in the Congo. This is know as the ANC Link. A specific area of work we are supporting is the sponsoring of two student health workers (through IPASC which works in partnership with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine). STUDENT DETAILS: (As supplied by IPASC) Name: Mrs AKOMOKO MAKIDHU Marie Age: 44 years old Course: Diploma course in Community Midwife Start Date: September 2012 Class: 2nd year in Community Midwife Home Village: Todro (Faradje, in the Haut - Uélé region). Family background: 5th daughter in a family with 10 children, AKOMOKO is living at TODRO Village with her old mother and her young sister among a very poor community whose essential activity is farming. By the way, that community has a low knowledge of how to improve its own heath. Score in college in the first term: 75.25 %. Plan for future: AKOMOKO hopes after her studies, to initiate to the best of her ability, health awareness and education to involve the population in understanding that health is first about personal hygiene and cleaning up the environment and following this, especially the youngest and mothers by small initiatives for taking care of them, their pregnancies, babies and children. Report for March 2014: Marie is one of the best students studying community midwifery at ITPASC Diploma course level. The student comes from a region (where there is a high rate of children and mothers’ death and a very low rate of girls sent to school) in an area called TODRO. She hopes to go back and raise awareness in order to change people’s behaviour on reproductive health issues as the majority of mothers have low interest to give birth in the maternity hospital and many of mothers gave birth to babies on an almost 8 annual basis. Moreover, she is interested to raise parents’ awareness to send young girls to school. Her interest in field practical assessment is identifying mothers with low knowledge about reproductive health issues.