Season of Invitation

Season of Invitation have just released some training videos by Michael Harvey using some of the material from his training sessions. They are well worth a look and fit in well with our recent sermons on the theme of invitation as we get ready to invite people along through the autumn term. You can view them here. The 'What stops us from inviting' video is a good reminder and we are planning to use the 'Acorn' idea early in September.

Home Groups Benefit from Fine Weather!

St Pauls has eight Home Groups and two thirds of the congregation are members of one of them. These meet midweek for Bible study and prayer and pastoral support for the members. Many of them take a short break over the summer.

The one pictured here celebrated the break with a Barbecue before it broke up. It was a happy time for all present and the wonderful weather we are having at present contributed to its success.

We will be meeting up again in September.

Helping Hands

The charity which St Paul’s supports and which we feature this month is "Helping Hands."  The charity offers a free, individual, face to face, and confidential service to help people deal with financial problems, debts, employment, or housing. 

In particular, they assist and advise about Welfare Benefit applications, with form filling and letter writing. They provide help with utility bills, consumer issues and family law.

In their publicity to potential clients they say: ” We have recently developed an outreach service so we can represent you at Welfare Benefit appeals and Tribunals. We can also go to the homes of housebound people to help them to fill out Welfare Benefit applications and deal with debts etc. We offer a ‘one stop shop’ service, so we can, for instance, provide a full package of care and assistance to the victims of domestic abuse including housing, financial and legal help.

We are encouraging anyone with debt problems to seek our help at an early stage.  Please, don’t let your debts mount up, and find that your interest payments are getting out of control. Just seek our help.”

We pray for their work and for the team which offers consultation at the Trinity Methodist Church in Oadby.

What Stops You?

Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the answer to the problems of life for the individual but also for society. So why are we so wary of sharing this good news with other people? In his sermon yesterday, Steve Bailey recorded the problems observed by the congregation on a flipchart. He also spoke of a book that he has been reading recently: “Unlocking the Growth” by Michael Harvey. He commended this book to the congregation and let us know that some of these “blockages,” which are chapter headings in the book, would be the topics for the sermons on coming Sundays.

I Was Blind…

Keith Waddell, who works with the Africa Inland Mission in Uganda was with us on Sunday as this year’s visit to the UK comes to an end. Over nearly 25 years, Keith has been responsible for building up an eye service in Uganda that not only reaches out to large numbers in the rural areas, whose eye problems would otherwise go untreated, but he has also been able to teach a new generation of Ugandan surgeons the skills they will need to carry on the work. In consequence, he holds the honorary post of Professor in the Mbarara Medical School. He also leads teams into neighbouring countries which lack an equivalent group of ophthalmic specialists.

In our Sunday morning service, Keith was interviewed about his work, during which a series of slides, taken by one of our congregation who visited Keith last year, was shown.

The Church of Uganda is soon to celebrate Keith’s 50 years of Mission service with a service of thanksgiving. We are thrilled that we have been able to support Keith in this invaluable work which testifies so strongly to the love of Christ.

New Life!

Saturday saw the opening of the new Cathedral Gardens by the Bishop and the Mayor of Leicester during an afternoon of celebration called “Garden of Life.” It is hoped that these new gardens will be an opportunity for people of Leicester to step aside in the hubbub of the city’s life and find peace.

The Cathedral next door witnesses to the New Life that is offered by Christ.

It was therefore appropriate that, after many joyful activities, the day concluded with an outdoor service of baptism by immersion. Bishop Tim heard the candidates’ professions of their Faith and then plunged them under the water. As they left the pool, Bishop Christopher confirmed them, praying that the Holy Spirit would indwell their lives.

My Next Buy

My Next Buy is a campaign run by Tearfund Rhythms Community. Its aim is to see traffic free clothing available to buy on the High Street. They want clothing manufactures to sign up and pledge to be Transparent, Contracted and Audited for the garments they sell to us. As the Modern Slavery Bill makes its way through parliament do you know where the clothes you are wearing now were made, in what conditions and if the people were treated fairly? If you want to learn more or sign the petition then click here