Grapevine March 2006 - Special Mission and Mara Edition

Our life as a church centres on Jesus Christ. It is through Him that God’s work is accomplished. He is the head of the church, and the church is fueled by the energy of the Holy Spirit. So any vision for the growth of the church begins with maintaining that close connection with the source of our life together, in worship and prayer.

Praying on one’s own, praying together, interceding for the needs of the world, saying grace before meals, meditating on God’s word, practising the presence of God while we work; there are so many ways of keeping in touch with God, remaining in the vine. Equally, there are many ways of worshipping God, with varieties of music and liturgy. As we worship our Creator God, we are called to be creative and to explore new ways of worship whilst enjoying the fruit of previous generations. As a church we have always aimed to embrace the rich range of worship and to provide for every need, and we will explore how we can develop this later on. Staying close to God enables us to discern His will for our lives and the life of His church. We seek constantly His wisdom and guidance. And over the years God has been faithful to us as we have taken some big steps of faith in renewing the spiritual life and the physical fabric of the church.

So as we go on discerning God’s will, where might He be leading us all next?

I believe that our focus should simply be on God and people, and so I want to outline some ways in which we can continue to grow in our Worship and Mission. If we begin with our Mission Statement, that with God’s grace and the power of the Holy Spirit we carry on the Mission of Jesus Christ that:

        the lost are found
        the found grow and
        the lonely are enfolded

we will see that the focus is on people, the lost, the found, the lonely. We share God’s heart for people. God has enabled us to renew the fabric of the parish, to create buildings that are warm, welcoming and useful throughout the week. Now we need to fill them more frequently, and to use them also as a base from which to reach out and connect with people outside the church.

•Invitation - First and foremost, this is A Year of Invitation. People will rarely come in unless they are invited. It is up to each one of us to make the most of every opportunity to invite people to the many services, events and activities which go on throughout the year. Let’s think ahead and pray about whom we can invite to what.
•Communication & Distribution - We have a new monthly Grapevine which focusses on different aspects of the life of the church. It is well-designed and enjoyable to read. Let’s use it as a way of communicating with people to let them know what the church can offer. If each of us distributes it to neighbours and friends it can get the message of God’s grace and our welcome across to more people.
•Outreach to the Community - Through the recently formed Portobello Community Forum, we now have an opportunity to connect better with this part of our parish. Chaired by Sally Martin and supported by several church members we have the opportunity for ecumenical work and witness in the estate. We will be holding several events including Good Friday Workshops and Soul Portobello in the summer.

In the meantime, our outreach through The Spring, The Parish Office and the Youth & Children’s work and many other ministries continue to bless many people.

Invitation, Communication, Outreach are three key areas in which we all have a part to play, so that “the lost are found and the lonely enfolded.”

These aspects of our Mission need to be founded on faith, the faith of God’s people. And so it’s important that we keep on growing in our faith. There are four ways “the found can grow”; through belonging and serving, worshipping and praying.

Belonging to a group is the best way of growing and maturing as Christians. If you do belong then persevere in going regularly. If you don’t then do consider joining a group where your faith can be nurtured and where you can grow in confidence. I believe that for our church to sustain its growth we need to be not a church with small groups but a church of small groups, in which everyone belongs to a group that prays, learns, cares, encourages and witnesses together to the life of Christ. After all, Jesus believed in small groups when He chose the disciples and trained them up to do His work.

Serving is another key area of growth, where we encourage everyone to exercise their spiritual gifts, as many do already. It’s good to acknowledge the vital part our volunteers play, as we have done with our Spring Volunteers’ Tea and Commissioning Service, our SHYP Volunteers Supper Party, and our Leadership Training evening. We aim to go on encouraging and motivating everyone to participate in some kind of serving ministry.

Worship has to be central to our life as a church and that is why we invest so many resources in a great variety of services. Over the last ten years, we have built variety within unity; and we aim to continue that in a different way, by focussing our resources on two main morning services at St. Helen’s and one at St. Paul’s. With our present structure we have reached a plateau and can grow no further. In fact, some 10am services are already almost full. It also becomes very difficult to welcome newcomers and invite people to church when the services fluctuate each week between the more formal and informal styles. One of the best ways of growing is to plant a new congregation or to follow the biological model of growth, where a growing cell divides into two. The plan, discussed and approved by the P.C.C., is to have a 9.15am quieter, more formal, and traditional service and at 10.45am a more informal service. The pattern would be as follows:

	St. Helen’s		St. Paul’s
Sundays	9.15am	10.45am	11am
1st	Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer)	Family Praise	Holy Communion (Common Worship)
2nd	Holy Communion (Common Worship with Choir)	Morning Praise	Morning Praise
3rd	Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer)	Morning Praise	Holy Communion (Common Worship)
4th	Morning Prayer (with Choir)	Holy Communion	Morning Praise
5th	Joint Parish Celebration

For our Evening Services we would focus our resources on Festival Choral Evensongs and bi-annual Memorial Services. We believe that by crystallising our worship and focussing our resources on these complementary services, we will create a new opportunity for growth. Obviously there are some adjustments and sacrifices to be made, but I believe God will honour whatever we do to grow our church and enhance our worship provision. The plan is to launch this new pattern on 4 June appropriately the day of Pentecost. The new pattern and timing would also tie in with our aim for this Year of Invitation in two further ways. By September the renewed Parish Office and entrance area will create a warm and welcoming feel to the church. And in September we will be having our Back to Church Sunday, to encourage back into appropriate worship services those who may have drifted away from God and His Church. Finally I want to end where I began, or rather to end where God begins: with prayer. “Apart from me” Jesus says “you can do nothing.” And “If a person remains in me and I in him, they will bear much fruit.” Let’s commit ourselves to pray this Vision for Growth into reality so that we continue to be a vibrant, growing, creative and caring church that meets the needs of people around us.

Conclusion
This is an exciting year of opportunity as we build on the foundations that have been laid down. We can enjoy:

Looking Out    In A Year of Invitation,
            with new ways of Communicating with people
            and New Opportunities of Outreach

We can build up our faith in personal and corporate ways through

Looking In Belonging to a group
Serving faithfully

Looking Up through worshipping regularly and praying persistently

Our Mission is clear; that with Jesus,

            the lost are found
            the found grow and
            the lonely are enfolded

Let’s recommit ourselves to our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ, all equally loved and gifted, as we join together in his great mission “to seek and to save the lost.”

Yours in Jesus’ great Mission & Commission,

Mission Matters

Catherine Lee teaching in Taiwan.

The Mission and Mara Group is a formal sub-committee of the Sandal Magna PCC, we currently have 8 members and meet every few months to pray for missionary work and to plan parish events. The purpose of the group is to increase, within the parish, awareness of and support for missionary work, with specific focus on our linked missionaries, our linked parish of Bunda in Mara, Tanzania and organisations in receipt of money from the tithe. Every year the parish tithes 10% of its income and this is distributed as follows; Church Missionary Society 25% (which supports Catherine Lee), South American Missionary Society 25% (which supports Mags Southern), the Church Army 15%, the Bible Society 15%, the Cross Project 10% and Bunda 5% - leaving 5% to be allocated annually to a suitable project nominated by anyone from the Parish. This year the Mothers’ Union Literacy and Development Project has been chosen. You can read more about these societies and projects in the following pages of the Grapevine.

If you would like to know more and would be interested in joining the group please call Felicité Dodd on 01924 253755, previous experience absolutely NOT essential.

Mara

On July l0th 1988 the dioceses of Wakefield and Mara were officially twinned, and the parish of Sandal Magna was linked with Bunda, a busy market town halfway along a tarmac road between Musoma (the capital of Mara) and Mwanza. The main church is St Peter’s with the Pastor’s House next door; there are two sister churches – Migingani and Nyasumo. The Pastor John Awino is ably assisted by several evangelists including Felister Bwire who visited us in 2001. Helen Hoskins from CMS is based in Bunda and we are fortunate to be able to communicate directly with her and get up to date news. We have supported church building work in the past and the regular giving from the parish tithe enables the church to focus on evangelism, training, Mothers Union, the Sunday School which meets under the mango trees, a thriving Girls Brigade group, a new Boys Brigade Group and sewing projects. A few members of the congregation have visited Bunda, most recently Terry who came back with plenty of tales and photos. There are opportunities to join Diocesan trips out to Mara in Feb and August 2007 (call Peta Moffat on 01274 494838 for more information).

Visit the following websites www.wakefield.anglican.org or www.anglican.or.tz/mara.htm

Last July Helen, Felister and three other ladies from Tanzania travelled to the Girls Brigade conference in Zambia, Felister writes:

“I thank God for the way he enabled us and looked after us in our safari. The journey was very long and we travelled for 10 days altogether (5 days each way), and we passed through many regions such as Kenya, Arusha, Moshi, Tanga, Dar es Salaam, Iringa and Mbeya and then we entered Zambia.
There were 79 delegates at the meeting from 9 African countries - Tanzania (we were 5 delegates), Kenya, Zimbabwe, Malawi, South Africa, Nigeria, Congo, Swaziland and Zambia. The meeting opened on July 3rd with a big procession which was led by an army brass band from Zambia, girls from Zambia Girls Brigade. The International president of the Girls Brigade (from Singapore) opened the meeting. Each country held their national flag. The theme of the Conference was "Together in Fellowship". We need to be together in fellowship in all we do in our Girls Brigade groups, and also in our families, to trust God so that we may bear fruit to last so our fellowship can be strong. Also the Lord Jesus wants us to have unity - Jn 17:20-30, Phil 2:1-2 and Jer 3:14-17. I was greatly blessed by the talk at the opening.
The teaching sessions were very good and built us up spiritually. We
had the following topics -
1. Mentoring - to train leaders to follow us. This topic touched me
greatly, and helped me to realise that in my leadership I need to
prepare leaders who will be able to take my place after me so that God's
ministry can continue without breaking down, but go on generation after
generation.
2. Craft - Tie and dye, - I was very blessed to learn a skill to help
GB Tanzania to die materials in the design they choose. This could be a
project for GB Tanzania. Please pray for us that we will be able to get
it going.
3. Conflict Resolution - God doesn’t like us to be lost, and when we are
lost he is ready to look for us. Isa 53:6, 1 pet 2:29, Eph 2:8. We as
leaders of GB need to be ready to look for others so that they can
follow Christ. Jn 10:16. We need to help the lost sheep and look after
them and to care for them.
4. Project Development - This lesson helped me to know the way to start
projects to help our progress
5. HIV/AIDS - this lesson is very important in the community. And the
problem is in all the world. This lesson helped me to understand the
factors which contribute to the spread of HIV - economic, legal,
political, religion and traditions.
6. Trauma healing. - We learnt what it is that causes trauma for
example AIDS, accidents, war, earthquakes, violence, rape and poverty.
We also learnt ways to help people with trauma such as spiritual
lessons, teaching, to recognise the problem, to listen and to pray and
to teach in our churches.
We are very thankful to God for the great profit we got for GB Tanzania through all these lessons and they will help us take great strides in our ministry. The accommodation and food were excellent. We had nice rooms and we ate very good food with much variety. On 3/8 at 2 pm we went to visit the Victoria Falls until 5 pm. We saw the wonders of God's creation the way the water thundered down without stopping all the years, and there is always a rainbow. We saw God's greatness and were greatly blessed. This has given me a great boost in my GB ministry and even in the church from my safari to Zambia and the lessons were a great help to teach me much for the girls and officers of GB Tanzania. Now we are preparing for Commissioning of officers and girls in different Companies. We are starting with Bunda parish on 18/9. And we will have an Officers Training for new officers from new Companies in Tanzania from 26 to 30 Sept. And we are also visiting all the GB Companies in the coming months.”

The Cross Project

Mission Statement "The Cross Project works in schools presenting Christianity in a lively and relevant way, promoting Christian understanding and enabling young people to develop a living faith with which to face the challenges of today."

Formed in 1992 the Project now works with 30 schools across Wakefield from its base at the Belle Isle Christian Centre.

Prayer Point That despite the emphasis on the curriculum and exams, there will still be time to focus on the Easter message.

Website www.crossproject.co.uk

The South American Mission Society

The South American Mission Society (SAMS) is a mission agency that seeks to link churches in the UK with churches in South America, Spain and Portugal. Most countries in South America are involved in SAMS, including Paraguay where our link missionary Mags Southern is based.

The role of SAMS is changing from that of a traditional sending agency to becoming part of multiway, international mission.

SAMS' emphasis is on Christ centred biblically based evangelism, aiming to bring people into an eternal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Missionaries are often involved in working with those whose lives are broken by economic, social or political pressures, for example the school in which Mags works has strong links with the Chaco - a deprived area of Paraguay. SAMS also organises various ministry and study programmes focussing on leadership training and youth work. This is a key priority as 50% of South Americans are aged under 24.

SAMS is a voluntary agency that depends on giving. Of its 1.46 million pound budget 60%comes from link parishes like ours and the remainder is donated by individuals.

Website www.samsgb.org

Mags Southern
our SAMS link missionary in Paraguay

Mags works with the SAMS as the deputy head of the Junior section at St Andrews College in the capital Asuncion. The school has recently celebrated 40 years since the doors first opened and today has almost 400 pupils, lovely buildings and a large staff, not to mention an annexe school for the children from the shanty area. In addition to her work with the young ones Mags also takes groups of older children out to the Chaco where the children help with construction projects for the Indian communities. The school is also involved with EJE (Youth Encounter) courses and marriage courses, both of which have been richly blessed.

Out in Paraguay the new school year has just started, Mags writes;

‘We've just finished our first full week in school. It's been hard work getting up early again especially as it's pitch black at 05:45!! The week started boiling hot - 39º but then it rained for two days with big storms and the temp dropped to 25º. When we went out yesterday everyone had long sleeves on like winter had arrived. It was quite amusing to see and thinking that it would be boiling for England!! It was a long week in school - the timetable is finally up and running after several changes because the Spanish teacher got an unresistable offer the week we started back. The kids have settled back quite well really considering they've run wild for 9 weeks by the lake!! My 9th Grade that were so awful last year have been all right so far.

Gloria is starting teaching again this year (Gloria survived the devastating fire at the supermarket last year). She is looking very good. Her lungs are like new!! The Drs are amazed. Other people who were less badly injured as she was haven't recovered so well. She says it's proof of God's hand on her and the prayers of people all over the World.’

Mags sends over regular news which always includes anecdotes about Chinnie, Munchie, Spot and Millie the pets. Please pray for

•the safety of the staff and all the children,
•continued blessing on the outreach work to the annex and the Chaco and through the courses.

Mothers Union

The overwhelming response to the question ‘What can the MU do to help people break the crippling cycle of poverty around the world?’ was "Help us with literacy and then we can deal with the other things ourselves". This is how the Mothers' Union Literacy and Development Programme began in 2000. The programme was piloted in Burundi, Malawi and Sudan and was designed to use a holistic approach to do more than just make people literate. The programme uses participatory methods that help learners (both men and women) to acquire literacy and numeracy skills whilst discussing and planning action on issues and challenges that they face daily. In this way, the whole community becomes engaged in identifying problems and challenges; sharing local knowledge and expertise; planning local action and resolution of conflicts; participating in local HIV/AIDS awareness initiatives and the setting up of income generating projects.
The Mothers' Union Literacy and Development Programme is enabling communities to work together with confidence and newfound skills. Allowing dreams to turn into reality for thousands of learners in their villages, displacement camps and towns in Burundi, Malawi and Sudan. Long years of disadvantage and marginalisation are beginning to change, lifting people out of poverty and shame toward a brighter future. This year the PPC has agreed to support the project from the tithe – find out more at; www.themothersunion.org

The Bible Society

‘Making the Bible Heard’ is the simple and far-reaching aim of the Bible Society. They have been doing this in a host of different ways in diverse cultures across the world since 1804. Many of you will know the story of Mary Jones, a Welsh girl who had saved her pennies for six years to buy a Bible from Thomas Charles. In 1800, at the age of 16, she walked the 25 miles across the mountains to Bala. Her deep hunger for the word of God was an inspiration to those who founded the Bible Society, including William Wilberforce and John Newton (the hymn-writer).

Another Bible Society slogan is that they are ‘passionate about the Bible’ and a global alliance of over 130 regional Bible Societies is creatively helping people to connect with the Good News. They do this through just about everything you can think of: translating the Bible; publishing not only Scriptures in a huge number of languages, but a range of resources from study guides to children’s books; using billboards, text messages, CDs, films, oral storytelling, drama and so on.

Where there is a need, they’ll be there: giving Bibles to asylum seekers, or to those suffering from natural disasters; providing special simple Scripture portions for countries with low literacy rates; giving Scriptural perspectives to Parliament on contemporary issues; producing resources to raise awareness of the Bible in our schools; working with churches and Christian groups in innovative mission activities.

You might like to visit www.biblesociety.org.uk or to join the local action group. Ask Peter Moulding or a member of the Mission and Mara Group for details. Above all, remember the Bible Society in your prayers.

Church Army

Church Army is a society of evangelists within the Anglican Church which works to enable people to come to a living faith in Jesus Christ. It has been at the heart of evangelism within the established church since 1882. Church Army evangelists share the Christian Faith through words and actions and equip others to do the same, making a difference at the cutting edge of evangelism by continuing to take the gospel into the community, reaching people where they are in their everyday lives and helping to pioneer new and relevant communities of faith throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland. Please pray for the evangelists in training as they seek God’s guidance for their first jobs.

Visit www.churcharmy.org.uk It’s an inspiration

Who are you? - Graham Hopton

Graham is a regular helper in the Oasis Café at the Spring and the Parish Office.

Your Age	23
Where were you born?	Wakefield
Occupation?	Unemployed
Are you single etc.?	Girlfriend
Children?	Surrogate daughter (girlfriends child)
Pets?	1 dog and 2 cats
Where do you live?	Mountbatten Estate
What role/activity are you involved in at church?	The Spring, Housegroup and Parish Office
Do you believe in God?	Yes, with all my heart
Religion?	Christian
Where do you go on holiday?	Dorset
What newspaper do you read?	Daily Express
Favourite books?	Adrian Mole, Chronicles of Narnia
Favourite music?	Wheatus
Favourite TV programmes?	CSI (original series, Miami & New York)
Favourite films?	I Robot, The Day After Tomorrow
Favourite Personality?	Kevin Blackwell
Most liked food & drink?	Vindaloo & Lager
What do you like most about church?