grapevine

June 2007

 

The Parish of Sandal Magna

St. Helen’s, Sandal
St. Paul’s, Walton

 

 

 

Above:  Emmanuel cycling to York to raise money for Careforce.

Below: Workshops with Sandal Endowed School on the theme of slavery and freedom.

Evangelism is a vital part of the life of every Christian.   Just as the body cannot function without salt, so the Christian Church depends on everyone contributing their granule of salt to the bloodstream, in their unique and God-given way.  In order to help us make that contribution, we have developed a clear pattern of events each year, beginning with our Alpha Course in the autumn, continuing with evangelistic Christmas services, followed by a discipleship Lent Course, and culminating with a summer Welcome Lunch, for all who have begun to come to church during the previous year.

            

10    Sermon teaching on Telling our Stories at all three morning services     followed by a picnic at Cannon Hall Farm and 3pm Open-Air service     with Archbishop John Sentamu

17    Preaching on the Church in Revelation Chapters 2-3

24    Sermon teaching on the Grander Vision as the culmination of our Just     Walk Across the Room Course on pointing people to faith, followed by a     Welcome Lunch in the Emmaus Rooms for newcomers to
    the Church

Part of our evangelistic witness is embodied in our 20 outreach projects, Better Together in the Community, which can be seen displayed in the Emmaus Rooms.

It is also evident in our Soul Portobello Festival in August, for which there is a Prayer Meeting at 7.45pm on 27 June in the Rainbow Cafe.   Do be praying for these events, and contributing in whatever way you can.

A reporter from Newsweek magazine once asked Bob Kuechenber, formerly of the Miami Dolphins, what motivated him to go to college. Kuechenber replied, “Well, my father and uncle were human cannonballs in carnivals.   When I was about to graduate from High School, my dad said I could do two things with my life;  go to college or be a cannonball.   Not too long after that my uncle was performing at a circus when he was fired out of the cannon, he missed the net and hit the ferris wheel.   I decided to go to college.”

Another story is told of a man who received a ‘second notice’ from IRS stating that his tax payment was overdue, and unless it was immediately forthcoming, the IRS would be forced to take legal action.   The very next day the man appeared at the IRS office the moment it opened with the overdue payment in hand.   As he handed it to the clerk he said, “I would have paid sooner, but I never received your ‘first notice’.”   The clerk replied, “Hell, the truth is, we ran out of the ‘first notice’ forms.   Besides we discovered that ‘second notice’ forms are much more effective.”

The above two stories show that the right kind of motivation can indeed be a very effective thing.   Our emphasis this summer on personal evangelism.   I decided to share these two motivational stories because the purpose is to motivate you - and you know, many of us need motivating.   I say this because I’ve heard at times gentle rumblings that indicate that many of us have doubts about this concept of personal evangelism.   Some have asked ‘why do this?’   ‘Why spend so much time learning to share our faith?’   If that describes how you feel then keep with me because I have three answers to that question - answers that I think are very motivating!   So why become a contagious Christian?

Secondly, we must become contagious Christians because lost people need to hear the gospel.   Lost people face an approaching death without hope.   As Paul says in Ephesians 2, they are ‘dead in their trespasses and sins’.   We need to remember this and realise that if we don’t do something, they will die without Jesus and spend eternity separated from God, so they desperately need what we have.   They don’t just need what we have to help them deal with death - they need to hear the good news of the gospel to help them deal with life!   Without Jesus they are often lonely - empty.   The sad thing is Christians tend to forget this fact - especially if we put our faith in Jesus as children,  or if several years have passed since our conversion.

I remember a gentleman telling his wife that women forget the pain of labour.   They forget how much it hurts to have a baby and then he said that was a good thing because if women didn’t forget, the human race would be extinct!   I don’t know if women forget the pain or not, but I do believe that as time goes by we forget the pain we experienced before we met our Saviour.   We forget how bad it feels to go through life without Jesus.   We forget the lonely experience, we forget the fear of death, we forget what it’s like to feel truly lost in life.   So, we need God to remind us - because surely that memory would motivate us to be like Paul and share our faith ‘by all possible means so that some might be saved.’

Thirdly and finally, we must become contagious Christians because of our love for God.   If you love someone, you care about the things they care about.   For some reason the thing that God cares about most in this universe is people - sinful human beings like you and me.   Do you remember what John 3:16 says about the motivation behind God sending His only Son into the world?   Why did God send Jesus to die in our place?   He ‘...so loved the world’.   One way we can know about God is by looking at His creation.   As Hybels points out in his book, we see this aspect of His nature - we can literally see His compassion, His great love for all people is programmed into creation itself.   I say this because scientists have discovered a principle of design built in the universe that they refer to as Anthropic principle.   Basically it says that when we look at the world around us, it would seem that the universe was somehow designed to support and nourish human life.   For example they say:

The lesson we can draw from this Anthropic principle is this:  someone must have gone through a lot of effort to make things just right, so that people could be here to enjoy life.
In short, modern science points to the fact that people matter to our Creator.

And as I said, if we love God we will obey this command - we’ll do everything we can to become contagious Christians because if you love someone, you care about the things they care about and the things that God cares most about is people.   In Luke 15 Jesus told three parables in a row.  He told of the lost coin, the lost sheep, and the lost son.   Our Lord shared this medley of stories to illustrate this fact that lost people have infinite value to Him.   He cares about our humanity.   He stands with His arms open, inviting all people into a relationship with Him.   This means when we don’t obey this command - when we turn our backs on people around us who obviously need to hear the gospel, we are in essence are turning our backs on God who loves all people so much that He sent His only son to earth to do what?...  to seek, and to save that which was lost.   God has given us the task of communicating this wonderful truth to the people around us who are not Christians and if we truly love God, that’s exactly what we will do.

God bless you all as we strive in His grace to do His will.

For everyones practical help and especially for your prayers during my recovery of my knee operation.

To all the saints in the parish of Sandal Magna, from your sister and              co-worker in Christ, Wendy.  Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

At the time of writing I am now exactly one week away from finishing my time at the College of the Resurrection and despite the fact that I still have to hand in 6,000 words before then, I am relatively cheerful!  The two years here in Mirfield have flown by.  It has been an intense journey that is difficult to describe in just a few words.  The process of training for ordination is one that is described as formation where the hope is that through study, prayer and life together we grow to be more like Christ – something that is part and parcel of the Christian life for all of us.  I’m not sure what the end result is in me, I certainly feel like I have been mashed and moulded sufficiently enough to be a different shape to when I started this process, but I’m not convinced I look any holier than I did at the start!  The monastic rhythm of daily prayer that life revolves around here, where we recite the Psalms and listen to the Word of God together has been a source of strength and inspiration as well as a challenge.  A real highlight has been experiencing Easter in this context.  Gathering before dawn outside the church around a fire, having been in silence for three days, and following the single flame of the newly lit Easter candle into the darkness of the church before ringing bells to declare that Christ is Risen was quite an experience.  There are many things that I will take with me from my time at college but I am looking forward to getting back to parish life, especially having the opportunity to worship in a slightly more exuberant fashion once again!  

With love from Wendy, Del, Ailsa, Joshua and Benjamin.

The recent changes to the bands of personal taxation are good news for a number of private individuals, but they are not good news for a large number of charity organisations.   Regrettably, for organisations such as the church which relies on the amounts reclaimed from the Inland Revenue in respect of Gift Aided giving, it is a high proportion of their income.

The changes come into force in April 2008 and it will reduce the amount received by our parish by approximately £2000 (a reduction of almost 10% in the amount reclaimed from Inland Revenue).

Because of this, it is vital that wherever possible we claim back the tax already paid by each individual as income or capital gains tax from the revenue on all our parishioners give to the church.

We can only do this if we hold a Declaration form from the person giving and we can ‘track’ the giving to that person.   This means loose cash given on the collection plate cannot be claimed for, because we do not know who has given it.

Cheques, standing order instructions and envelope giving is claimed wherever we hold a ‘Gift Aid’ Declaration and the individual has paid tax up to the amount of the claim.

A large number of parishioners already ‘gift aid’ their giving and I hope anyone who pays tax and has not already done so will consider ‘gift aiding’ their future giving.   It is not necessary to commit to a set sum each year, give the same amount each time or give to a regular pattern.   Provided we are able to identify your giving and hold your Declaration, we can claim the tax element back.

We are looking forward for ways of making this easy for parishioners who may not attend church every week and currently giving by way of the collection plate.   We have a supply of envelopes with a declaration on them on the door, but a better idea would be to have a supply of envelopes at home and use one each time you give.

I sincerely hope you will consider this suggestion as it is so very important.   We take every opportunity to increase the church’s income, income which enables us to do so much good work in the parish.

Should you wish to move your regular giving by Standing Order payment from your bank account directly into the church’s account, the details of the church’s banker is given below -

            National Westminster Bank plc
            Westgate Wakefield
            Sort Code        55-70-23
            Account No        01541803

Please ask your bank to include your name on the details they send to Nat. West with your payments.   This will enable us to identify your payments for ‘Gift Aid’ purposes.

Thank you to everyone who has given and collected envelopes for Christian Aid week.  There is still some money to come in but we already have a higher total than last year.  The coffee morning with the Methodist church in Walton raised £260.  The total amount including street collections and envelopes from both churches is £1,321.  We will publish a final figure next month.

The office will close at 11.30am on June 12th/13th & 14th.  Otherwise normal opening is Tuesday to Thursday, 9am to 1pm, or by appointment.

 

The Archbishop of York The Most Revd. Dr. John Sentamu will be guest preacher on Sunday 10 June at 3pm at an Open Air Service at Cannon Hall Farm, Cawthorne, Barnsley.

The service is part of the All the Saints Festival - a one day event of celebration, blessing, praise and thanksgiving - hosted by the Diocese of  Wakefield.

A fantastic day of celebration for Christians and guests from all over the north!

A concert, arranged by the Walton Branch of the RNLI in aid of The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, has been arranged in Walton Village Hall on Saturday 23 June at 7pm.  Sharlston Male Voice Choir are the guest singers, and there will be a raffle and refreshments.   Tickets are £4 and if you require any further information please contact James Wood, Concert Secretary on 1924 893424.

Inspired by the recent Lent Course, our house group decided to hold a Beetle Drive & Family Quiz as our outreach project.  This will be at the Barnabas Rooms on Saturday 14th July at 7pm. Admission is £3 which includes light refreshments. Strawberries & Cream will also be on sale. Please support us in what is sure to be a fun evening suitable for all ages. All proceeds will be donated to the CROSS Project.

Andrea North – 251646, Jean Austin – 251584, Viv Buckley – 256966
Pam Taylor, Sue Davies or Susan Lee – 255071.

 

This is a somewhat delayed report due to the arrival of Rose (our daughter), during the week of putting the Parish Review together in April. 2006 saw us move three times, as the plans developed for the new Parish Office.  After moving to the Edward room, it became obvious this was a much improved space for us to work in. So the plans for simply replacing the existing office were scrapped, and new ones drawn up.  Much of the year was taken up with work on the book keeping system.  Louise Wale and others worked very hard on the backlog and we set up many new systems building on the hard work of Charlie Wale (Retired Treasurer).  JollifeCork accountants took on the job once it was set up in the office.  The office co-ordinates the paper work and the book keeping is now robust enough for us to be able to produce clearer reports for the PCC of our financial situation.

 

 

The highlights of 2006 have been..

Many thanks to everyone for their prayers and support throughout the year, especially to the Churchwardens and PCC.

        Bob & Carol

June 3	9.15am	Holy Communion	St. Helen’s
	10.45am	Family Praise + Baptism	St. Helen’s
	11am	Holy Communion	St. Paul’s
	7pm	Youth Bible Study	St.Helen’s
4	6pm	Beaver Group	St. Paul’s
5	9.30am	Toddle-In (Toddler Group)	St. Helen’s
6	11.30am	Holy Communion	St. Helen’s
	7pm	Bellringing Practice	St. Helen’s
	7.30pm	Walk Across The Room Course	St. Paul’s
7	9.15am	Boogie Woogie Tots	St. Paul’s
9	4pm	PCC & Staff Away Day	St. Paul’s
10	9.15am	Holy Communion	St. Helen’s
	10.45am	Morning Praise	St. Helen’s
	11am	Morning Praise	St. Paul’s
	12.30	Picnic followed by open air service from 3pm	Cannon Hall Farm
	6pm	Evening Prayer	St. Paul’s
	7pm	Youth Church	St. Helen’s
11		Walton MU Day Trip
	6pm	Beaver Group	St. Paul’s
	7.30pm	Women’s Fellowship	St. Helen’s
12	9.30am	Toddle-In - (toddler group)	St. Helen’s
	3.45pm	Children’s Church	St. Paul’s
13	11.30pm	Holy Communion	St. Helen’s
	7pm	Bellringing Practice	St. Helen’s
14	9.15am	Boogie Woogie Tots	St. Paul’s
17	9.15am	Holy Communion	St. Helen’s
	10.45am	Morning Praise + Dedication	St. Helen’s
	11am	Holy Communion	St. Paul’s
	7pm	Youth Bible Study	St. Helen’s
18	6pm	Beaver Group	St. Paul’s
	7.30pm	Sandal MU	St. Helen’s
19	9.30am	Toddle-In (toddler group)	St. Helen’s
	3.45pm	Children’s Church	St. Paul’s
20	11.30am	Holy Communion	St. Helen’s
	7pm	Bellringing Practice	St. Helen’s
	7.30pm	Walk Across The Room Course	St. Paul’s
21	9.15am	Boogie Woogie Tots	St. Paul’s
24	9.15am	Morning Prayer	St. Helen’s
	10.45am	Holy Communion	St. Helen’s
	11am	Morning Praise	St. Paul’s
	12.30	Welcome Lunch	St. Helen’s
	7pm	Youth Church	St. Helen’s
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