Sunday 28 June 2015

Welcome Gillian


Today in Leicester Cathedral Gillian Gamble was ordained Deacon by the Bishop. Gillian is joining the parish as a curate and will begin her ordained ministry with us.
Next Sunday, 5th July, Gillian will be preaching at St Paul's and the service will be followed by a Bring and Share lunch to welcome Gillian and give her an opportunity to meet us all.

St Peter's Flower Festival


This weekend St Peter's have put on a Flower Festival to mark their patronal festival. Groups from the local community were invited to provide an arrangement of flowers.
St Paul's was proud to support St Peter's and here is a photo of our display.

Monday 22 June 2015

Farewell, Adieu, God Go with You

 We were blessed as a church when, five years ago, we were joined by the George family, as Mariam came to Leicester to train as a Terminal Care Doctor. All four have entered into every part of our church life – Mariam even preached at our day of Pentecost service. Their enthusiasm, and that of their children, has been infectious. Their presence has also taught us more about the life of the church in South India, where they came from.

At our service on Sunday, the parents were briefly interviewed about their future in Salford. The children received gifts from their groups and we prayed for the whole family as it resettles.

After the service, they treated the congregation to samosas and cakes.

We will miss you. May God bless you richly.

Leave It to the Children

At our all age service, 10 days ago, on 14 June, our Supertroopers took charge. These are the children of 5-10 years. Apart from the talk, which was given by Angie Bailey, one of their leaders, almost all the other activities were led by the youngsters: Bible readings, prayers, taking up of the offering and handing out leaflets beforehand. Some of them also took part in our music group to lead the service.

They did really well. We look forward to them taking part again. Well done!

Friday 19 June 2015

No Planet B!

With the recent release of Pope Francis’ Encyclical on the environment it’s good to reflect on last Wednesday’s ‘For the love of…’ lobby of Parliament.
Thousands of people, including groups from Leicester West and Harborough constituencies, and our own Reader, Colin Chettle  gathered in London to lobby Parliament and MPs to act on climate change and to limit its impact on the world’s poorest communities.

The Bishop of Salisbury, The Right Rev. Nicholas Holtam, spoke eloquently and movingly of the effect of mankind’s actions on our planet and reminded us that, ’This is not just our individual concern. It is our Christian concern together as the Church. It is the concern of people of all faiths. It is our human concern in solidarity with all people. The world is our home’.  He went on to call for action by world leaders in Paris and at the UN Climate Change summit at the end of the year for further commitment ‘towards fair, ambitious, accountable and binding climate change agreements, nationally and internationally.’

Incidentally, Bishop Holtam seemed very pleased with the mode of transport used to ferry him between the two ecumenical services running at the start of the lobby - a bicycle rickshaw!
These rickshaws were much in evidence on Lambeth Bridge as MPs were ferried from Westminster to the lobby lines on the bridge and the south embankment. Sadly, not all MPs could attend but, for those who didn’t, there were ‘green cards’ to sign to leave them in no doubt that their constituents are serious about addressing climate change.

The afternoon finished with a rally on Millbank hosted by the alternative comedian and writer, Arthur Smith. The rally included live music, videos, interviews and an inspiring final address urging us to continue pressing for action on climate change.

One placard at the rally summed up the whole point of the lobby in this message, ‘There is no planet B.

The cosmologist, Carl Sagan, described our planet as, ‘The blue dot - a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.’ What action can we take, however small, to save this most beautiful and fragile of planets?

Thursday 18 June 2015

Spring Harvest


It is time to plan Spring Harvest again. We took a group of 28 this year. Next year we would like to take 50 of us from St Peter's and St Paul's.  A fabulous time of Worship, Bible Teaching and holiday fun is had by all! Next years theme is Game Changers looking at the life of Moses. There are fantastic groups for children of all ages. For a promotional video click here.

Date: 28 March- 1 April 2016

At Butlins in Skegness


Booking starts June 24th 2015

Wednesday 17 June 2015

Charity of the month – Africa Inland Mission

The charity, among those we support, that we remember this month is the Africa Inland Mission (AIM). Founded in 1895,  AIM is an evangelical, interdenominational organisation with the goal of seeing ‘Christ-centred churches among all African peoples.’

Serving across Africa, and ministering to Africans living in Europe, it works in partnership with the African church to reach Africa’s unreached peoples with the Good News of Jesus Christ.

It is a particular joy to have one of their partners, Dr Keith Weddell, as a member of our church. Keith’s UK home is close by, but even though past normal retirement age, he spends most of his time in Uganda leading a very active Eye Surgery team. This has restored sight to thousands of people with cataracts and other eye conditions.

The team is now based at the medical school of Mbarara, but also visits neighbouring countries.

Keith, it’s a privilege to be linked with you in this work. May God bless it abundantly.

AIM Website

Sunday 14 June 2015

Welcome to Bishop John Holbrook

Bishop Tim, the Bishop of Leicester, has announced the appointment of Bishop John Holbrook, to become the Interim Bishop of Leicester, following his own retirement, and taking effect from September. He is currently the Bishop of Brixworth, a Suffragan Bishop in the diocese of Peterborough.
Bishop John, who is 53, originally came from Bristol and gained an MA from Oxford, before studying theology at Ridley Hall, Cambridge. He was ordained deacon in 1986. He served in several parishes before becoming Rector of Wimborne Minster in 2002. He was consecrated as Bishop of Brixworth in 2011. He is married with two grown-up children.

We very much welcome Bishop John to Leicester and hope that in due time we may be able to welcome him to Oadby. We pray that his time here may be a very happy one.

FUN@4

FUN@4

Using real bay trees
Eating wonderful food
Playing Rolling games 
and making money bags

This is how our children and their friends learned about Zacchaeus and his meeting with Jesus. FUN@4 continues to provide a good filling to a Sunday afternoon. Parents and children joined in to make a very special time.

Thursday 4 June 2015

Farewell Ken

A crowd of about 80 people met together in St Paul’s Church today for the funeral service of Ken Griffin. They represented his family, the local congregation and the Aigburth community – the residential home in which he had lived for the last nine years.

The service commemorated his life, as father, sportsman, musician and schoolteacher – ultimately headmaster of Hallaton school. And since he had come to faith in Jesus Christ in 1990, he had been a diligent member of this church, fulfilling numerous roles, until his death on 20 May. Following his admission to Aigburth, he had also become a vital part of the Christian life and pastoral care there.(Many remembered him talking about this at a CTO service a year ago).

The service included hymns and songs of different styles, all of which he loved, as well as tributes and prayers. But above all, it spoke of his certainty of the home reserved for him in heaven – where he will receive the welcome of the God he loved.

Ken, we shall miss your welcome and your smile. but you are in a far better place.

Wednesday 3 June 2015

Shaped by God

The Diocesan Vision 'Shaped by God' has been running for 10 years and was revisited and renewed by Diocesan Synod at the end of last year.
At our AGM this year a presentation was given to the whole parish and special copies of 'In Shape' magazine were made available.
This message was shared again at St Paul's a few weeks ago when I was preaching on the parable of the mustard seed from Mark 4.30-31.
The 3 areas of growth are represented by the image from this parable.
Growth in depth of discipleship shown by the roots of the tree.
Growth in the number of disciples shown by the leaves on the tree.
Growth in loving service of the world shown by the birds of the air making their nest in tree.

To discover more about Shaped by God visit the website here.