Have a Safe, Peaceful and Blessed Christmas from OUR CHAIRMAN I Looked in My Diary Recently; It Seemed to Be Full of Empty Pages and Entries That Had Been Crossed Out
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NewsCEne The Christian Endeavour English Union Magazine Winter 2020/21 ENGLAND Have a safe, peaceful and blessed Christmas FROM OUR CHAIRMAN I looked in my diary recently; it seemed to be full of empty pages and entries that had been crossed out. If someone from “Outer Space” opened it, they would think that I lived in a very odd world; but my diary simply down” I realised how much more time reflects the disruption that we’ve all I had; time for quiet reflection with our experienced in recent months. Lord and more time to explore His will Until last Spring, I don’t think that for us. any of us could imagine Churches, in this I do pray that, you too, may have country, being closed by Government been able to use this opportunity, order. so that, among the sadness of the Freedom to Worship is a present situation, you may also have fundamental part of our culture; and experienced b lessing. recent events, have been a sharp When this edition of NewsCEne reminder, of how much we must treasure reaches you, we will be looking forward that freedom. to Christmas. While our Churches were closed, we We will be preparing to celebrate could, of course worship with streamed the greatest blessing of all; the Glory services and on radio etc; we weren’t, of Almighty God coming into the world entirely cut off, but there has been a as a baby, to reveal God to us and to be great sense of loss. our Saviour. We have missed the loving, Amid all the heartache that this supportive fellowship of our chosen year has brought, may you have a truly Christian Community, and so much of our Blessed Christmas. service has been put on hold, which has Marjorie been another sadness. At times, we may have felt very disconnected from what we hold dear. The wonderful truth is, of course, that the Holy Spirit NEVER goes into PLEASE NOTE “lock down” nor does the Spirit do The decision to de-register from the “social distancing” and stay 6 feet away Charity Commission means that the from us. Throughout every experience Charity number, which appears on the that we have encountered in recent back of the CEEU leaflet, and the Junior months, the Holy Spirit has been there Handbook, is NO longer VALID. with us and, without a mask, has If you have a few copies at home, breathed on us Divine strength and will you please DELETE that number peace. before you circulate the literature. In the early weeks of total “lock Marjorie 2 AN UPDATE Our Greatest Need If our greatest need had been Our much delayed Annual General information, God would have sent us an Meeting was finally held on Saturday educator; 26th September 2020 but, like so many organisations, we were obliged to meet If our greatest need had been electronically. technology, God would have sent us a Meeting via Zoom did allow some scientist; Members, from a distance, to join us and it If our greatest need had been was lovely to share time with them, and to money, God would have sent us an see them. economist; Sadly, some of our faithful “attendees” If our greatest need had been couldn’t join us via Zoom and we missed pleasure, God would have sent us an them. entertainer; We were all very grateful to Judy Godfrey for, not only setting up the electronic link, but our greatest need was but also for teaching us how to join the forgiveness, so God sent us a Saviour. Meeting on our own particular computer, tablet or phone. Judy needed a lot of patience!! FROM THE EDITOR Holding our AGM electronically did not come As you will appreciate, there has naturally to many of us, but it was necessary, not been a great deal happening in our so that we could fulfill our legal requirement. Christian Endeavour groups over the There was a good attendance. past months of ‘lockdown’ and so we I am grateful that so many postal votes hope you enjoy this current edition of were sent in, so that the decisions which Newscene as a way of keeping in touch were taken could, genuinely, reflect the with everyone. wishes of our Membership. We have news of what’s happening There were no new nominations for Membership of the Executive Committee and in the English Union; thoughts to all previous Members and Officers were re- guide our prayers; some quizzes and elected. Christmas themed stories together The proposal to de-register as a Charity with a number of articles celebrating with the Charity Commission was passed the lives of people involved in Christian almost unanimously. Endeavour over the years. I hope we Please be assured that de-registering won’t look on them as ‘obituaries’ but as will NOT, in any way, affect the day to day an insight into lives that were lived well running of CEEU, and our position re Gift Aid, REMAINS unchanged. and fully in the Lord’s service. Most of us gave a sigh of relief that Don’t forget to let me have any items we’d managed to join the Meeting in the first for our Spring edition. Closing date for place, but then we overran the 40 minutes articles is on page 8. that Zoom allows “for free” and so we had a Hope you enjoy reading this current short break. edition of Newscene and are blessed When we’d all “rejoined”, and the and encouraged by its contents. official business complete, there was still a May you have a very happy little time for chat and fellowship after the Christmas and New Year. God bless. closing prayer. Marjorie Stuart Keenan, editor 3 they lived in West Derby and had Roy Cumberlidge 2 children. In 1966 they moved to The Liverpool Echo on Friday 24th Ormskirk. He and Elizabeth continued May 1963 stated that for nearly 3 to attend Stuart Road Baptist Church in years, three young men on Merseyside Walton for a few years before becoming had been spending every hour of their members of Emmanuel Methodist/ spare time preparing for a Convention URC in Ormskirk where Roy was a local in Liverpool the following month, Preacher and organist. a five-day meeting that will bring Roy’s involvement in Christian together more than 700 delegates from Endeavour continued unabated which all over Britain and Ireland. led him into Christian Endeavour To plan for this event a small Holiday Homes, eventually joining committee was put together of three the Committee and becoming young men who devoted their spare Correspondent in the mid to late 1970s time to smoothing out the snags. They in the running of St Rhadagunds, were the secretary Ken Rankin, treasurer situated at Ventnor on the Isle of Roy Cumberlidge and chairman Douglas Wight. He often said the only thing Jones. The treasurer Roy Cumberlidge to give him sleepless nights was had to raise at least £1000 to cover the staffing and he involved a friend, Carol costs of staging the convention. Henderson, to assist with the staffing However, let’s start at the problems. St Rhadagunds provided beginning, the May blitz 1941, when wonderful holiday jobs for many of the the Cumberlidge family were bombed young people that attended Emmanuel out of their house. Little did they know and brought them into the Christian at that time that the Rankin family Endeavour fellowship! was also bombed out and the Kirkdale In the early 1980s he moved on Baptist Tabernacle was destroyed. The to become correspondent at The Cumberlidge family were members Pleasaunce, situated on the North of Carisbrooke Baptist Church and it Norfolk coast, only two miles south-east was a number of years later that the of Cromer. The Pleasaunce is a Grade II membership of the two churches merged listed mansion designed by Sir Edwin and the friendship between Roy and Ken Lutyens for Lord and Lady Battersea started and was in place for well over 70 between 1888 and 1902. It was one of years. the flagship CE homes. It was here that Roy completed a degree in he had many tussles with the Lutyens Chemistry, and did two years National Society who would not allow him to Service, before entering teaching introduce en-suite facilities to many via a Technical College in Liverpool. of the bedrooms. He was appointed He continued to teach at North East minute secretary of the Committee Technical college where he became and later became chairman of the Vice Principal until he took early company in the early 90s and headed retirement in 1986 aged 57 courtesy of up the company through the merger Mr Derek Hatton! of Lancashire and Cheshire CE Holiday Roy married Elizabeth, Margaret Homes with those in Yorkshire and Rankin’s life-long friend, in 1956 and remained chairman until he retired in 4 mid 2000’s. Someone once commented to me that Next Time It Will Roy was well known for his one liners to entertain the committee. Be Different In later years he, enjoyed time with The first time Jesus came his family, with his daughter Ruth’s He came veiled in the form of a child. grown up family in Sheffield and son A star marked His arrival. Peter’s in Bristol, along with his many Wise men brought Him gifts. friends. There was no room for Him. He remained a very active member Only a few attended His arrival. of Emmanuel and continued to preach until well into his 80s, everyone knowing The next time Jesus comes that the church, Christian Endeavour and He will be recognized by all.