Rachel Hickson Christmas Letter

Many of you will remember the great ministry we received from Rachel Hickson in February 2012.   We recently received Christmas Greetings from her and these are below.

A Very Rough Guide to Christmas in Walton

Click here to download the PDF version of this Guide

CTiF Newsletter Advent 2012

Town Pastors receive prestigious SAVO award

On Wednesday 10th October, Suffolk Town Pastors received the Charity of the Year Award from the Suffolk Association of Voluntary Organisations (SAVO).   Representatvies from most other the local TP groups were represented.  Felixstowe Town Pastors were represented by Phillippa Kichenside (Co-ordinator and Town Pastor), Barbara Lamberton (Base Prayer Team) and Mark Reid (Chairman).

It's amazing that Town Pastors have been recognised in this way by the wider community in Suffolk.   This ministry continuing to make quite an impact in the county's towns - most major ones now having a TP team.

Philippa is seated on the right, Barbara is in the middle row wearing light blue, and Mark is third from the left on the back row.  All Suffolk representatives at the presentation are pictured below.

 

Boost: "Let's talk about sex" event

Romance Academy are coming to Felixstowe for an evening as part of their 'Let's Talk About Sex!' Tour next month.

This evening event is designed specifically for youth workers, mums, dads, carers and church leaders, and will cover all the hot topics along with advice on how to chat to teens (and future teens) about sex and sexual health. Romance Academy are a great charity tackling the issues of sexuality from a Christian perspective.

It would be great to see some teams from local churches come along- this is a big issue for young people at the moment, and the better resourced we are in this area, the better we will be at guiding young people in the right direction.

Tuesday 18th September, St John's Orwell Road, 7-30pm.

Speaker: Rachel Gardner from Romance Academy and BBC2's No sex please, we're teenagers.

If you were able to forward this to any interested parents of teens or future teens, that would be much appreciated.  Please contact Josh at Boost if you need further details.

New Cafe Church Project

This is a new ecumenical venture in Felixstowe which has been in the planning for a few months now.

Venue: Costa, Hamilton Road Felixstowe.

When: Start Date Thursday Sept 13^th 7.30pm

Then Once a month on 2^nd Thursday

Aim: to reach out to those who don’t/won’t come to church especially lost generation (30-50yrs old group) although all are welcome

How: Through meeting people where they are, discussing everyday issues in an informal relaxed atmosphere, using some aids such as newspaper cuttings, poems, (nothing too heavy)

Being willing to admit don’t know answers, proving Christians are just normal people who make mistakes, enjoy everyday things.

Future: Maybe become weekly?

Alpha or something similar?

Where ever God leads!

So if you feel you would be able to help just come along, if you know some one who you think it will help tell them or even invite them to come with you, or if you have questions them come and ask them yourself.   If you can’t do anything else please pray for this venture as it is only through the will of God we can succeed, so your prayers are importan.

Felixstowe Listening Service Newsletter

Felixstowe Listening Service have recently issued a Newsletter.   It's a bit to long to be reproduced on the blog so here's a link to it.

Felixstowe Listening Service Newsletter July 2012

This is a pdf file and requires a suitable reader for it.

Walton Parish Nursing Official Launch

 

Walton Parish Nursing Update

  Showing God’s love and care for individuals within the Walton community

www.waltonpn.org.uk

contactus@waltonpn.org.uk

Dear Friends, We thought it might be good to update you on the progress of Walton Parish Nursing, as the ministry has been developing quite rapidly over the last few months…..

Parish Nursing Ministries UK is part of a worldwide ministry of health and wholeness that operates from churches by providing a trained Christian nurse to work within the community. It works alongside the NHS and health care professionals . There are now about 90 Parish Nurses in the UK.

It began in the Walton area of Felixstowe about 7 years ago at Maidstone Road Baptist Church. Since September 2011 they have entered into partnership with Seaton Road Methodist Church & since April 2012 with St Mary’s Anglican Church.

There is to be a formal launch of Walton Parish Nursing to acknowledge the new partnership of Baptists, Methodists & Anglicans on Sunday 14th October 2012 at 3pm held at SRMC.

This will be a short service followed by tea & cakes. An invitation is extended to all who have been involved in this ministry. Please put the date in your diary and join us if you can.


Our new Parish Nurse,  Lorna Bellamy, was appointed 1st November 2011.

The Parish Nurse addresses the needs of the Walton area (defined by the North Ward), the 3 church communities and referrals from Felixstowe Hospital. We now have 12 volunteers who work alongside Lorna. The work includes leg care, chair-based exercises, respite care, drop-in health check-ups, bereavement support, referrals from GPs & other health professionals, healthy lifestyle advocacy.

Links have been made with Hope Trust, Oaks Children’s Centre, playgroups, toddler groups, the local schools & GP surgeries.

Testimonies from appreciative “clients” can be viewed on our website.

Funding is ongoing. We have been fortunate to have received several grants and we are grateful for financial support from the 3 churches, individual members of the congregations and the community.

When funds allow we hope to employ a second Parish Nurse to work alongside Lorna. We shall be advertising this post shortly; please consider it prayerfully and let anyone know who might be interested.

We thank everyone who has made this exciting ministry possible; to the Trustees, Management Team, volunteers and especially to Lorna, our Parish Nurse, for the gifts and skills she brings to this work.

We thank you for all the support you have given, & continue to give, to Walton Parish Nursing; for your prayers, words of encouragement, financial giving and fundraising.

Please continue to pray for us as we work as Christians beyond the walls of our churches in the community of Walton.

God is good!

July 2012

Suffolk Nightstop

June Cole has been involved with Nightstop for nearly a year. It is a project to help homeless young people fine a safe place to stay overnight, usually on a one-night basis whilst more permanent accommodation is arranged for them.

Tonight many young people in our community may have left home because of a family breakdown, abusive or violent relationships and be facing a night of uncertainty on the streets or the sofa of a reluctant friend.

What is Nightstop?

The first Nightstop took place in 1987 in Leeds; organised by local Christian churches who recognised the growing problem of homeless young people. When we say homeless we do not just mean the people sleeping rough, but also the unrecognised ‘sofa surfers’ sleeping on friends floors or sofas not knowing where or if they have a place to stay each night.

The project was launched to provide safe emergency accommodation for young people in approved family homes. This gives the young person time to find and finance appropriate and permanent housing.

Suffolk Nightstop is run by St Edmunds and Waveney YMCA and are looking for help in the Felixstowe Area.

What help is needed?

To provide 1 –10 nights emergency accommodation. You can be from any family make up, all we ask is that you have a spare room, the ability to listen and an understanding of the problems young people face.

Nightstop hosts are the most integral part of the project, without which we could not operate. Training is provided together with meetings and on going support.

If you feel you could help by providing accommodation, or becoming a volunteer driver to ferry young people to accommodation, please contact Bridie Carson.

Tel: 01473 252456
Email: bridie.carson@ymcasuffolk.org.uk

The Baptist Assembly 2012

A Report on the Assembly given at the July Church Meeting by Rev Ron Rivers

The subject of the Assembly was Beyond 400 which was to highlight the 400th anniversary of Baptist Churches in Britain and to look beyond into the future.  Our delegate to the Assembly was the Rev Ron Rivers.  It was held on 4th-6th May 2012 in London.

Ron stayed with hosts Rev. Robert Allaway and his wife Sylvia in Wood Green, N. London and travelled to Westminster by Tube.

Friday 3pm was welcome to the Assembly, but a lot of people had not arrived in time for this.

The evening opening celebration was led by Jonathan Edwards (BU) and David Kerrigan (BMS). The address was given by Chris Duffett on “The Big Hearted God” on whole-hearted commitment to the Lord’s service.

Saturday am - there were 13 day conferences to choose from and Ron attended “Dissenting Descendants”. The afternoon session was the Whitley Lecture by Ian Randall (religious liberty in continental Europe) Ron has a book available if anyone wishes to see it.

Saturday evening commenced with ministerial recognition (six were from the Eastern region) - 12 women and 55 men in all. Then Tony Campolo spoke about wholehearted commitment in his own inimitable way. There was also a youth event taking place elsewhere.

Sunday morning the annual business meeting of BMS World Mission and the Baptist Union of Great Britain took place followed by morning worship where they were joined by the Methodist Central Hall congregation. Jane Day gave the sermon entitled “Living in the Beyond”.

Sunday afternoon was the special part of the Assembly when they had an opportunity to talk together about the future of our life together within the Baptist Union.

Ron left after this and went to evening service with his hosts. He felt it was a good assembly and a great experience to be part of such a large number (more than 2000 Baptists).

Summary of Futures conversation so far:

The Futures Process was initiated by the Baptist Union Council at its meeting in November 2011 in response to an increasingly likely and significant budget deficit. While it was something that could not be ignored, this was seen as an opportunity to reflect seriously on what our key priorities should be in the decades ahead. Baptist Christians in the UK have been responsible and generous in their giving to the work of God’s kingdom beyond their local church, and it is vital to be equally responsible in the way that those resources are used. It is important to re-state what has been true from the outset; while this process was initiated by a financial reality, it has never been financially driven.

The Council at which this process began identified 12 key priorities which are summarised:

Effective formation and support of accredited ministers.

Equipping and supporting non-ministerial church leaders and officers.

Fostering effective and supportive relationships between churches and a sense of identity beyond the local.

Providing accessible support to churches in situations of crisis and difficulty.

Inspiring local churches for their engagement in mission.

Enabling pioneer and strategic mission initiatives.

Provision of legal and technical expertise in key areas of church life.

Development of mission resources for the local church.

The provision of a wider voice, for instance a “national or regional Baptist perspective”.

Encouraging ecumenical relationships and mission engagement

Pastoral and professional support in times of difficulty or crisis.

Arrangement of grants to local churches for mission and ministry.

Before thinking about structures and strategies, it was felt important to define and encapsulate the 8 key values and organisational principles that had emerged. These were considered by the Baptist Union Council in March 2012 and agreed in principle. These are offered to the wider Baptist community as the basis against which to measure and evaluate the emerging plans and proposals, as in the leaflet “Working Together, Seeking the Future”.

Capacity for on-going reform

Flexibility and responsive to change

Financially sustainable

A changed organisational culture

Identifiable, accountable leadership

Clearly defined centre of strategy

Local decision making wherever possible

Recognising and giving due regard to what already exists.