Fully Alive? .....being apprentices of Jesus

Every year, the diocese of Leicester helps to resource local churches, such as St Paul's, by putting on a "Bishops Lay Congress." This took place today. The belief underlying the Congress was that while "Church" was often unpopular, people were still drawn to the character of Jesus.

If that is so, it's important that individual Christians should demonstrate Christ to the world around. It raised questions such as what is it to actually follow Jesus? What are the disciplines, the practices and the habits of heart and mind that Jesus calls us to in following him? How is it we are to be truly his disciples and so become more fully alive?

The first keynote speaker was Mark Russell, the CEO of the Church Army. This Northern Irishman with a winsome personality stimulated us, challenged us, and offered us suggestions of how we could be more like Jesus.

In the second address, the Bishop of Leicester, Tim Stevens, pursued this subject in a thoughtful, but quieter way.

The day was completed with opening and closing worship, workshops and a question and answer session.

We went away challenged to be the body of Christ in our locality, in our case Oadby.

He did it!

Mark Batchelor (alias Marathon Man) has completed the marathon mentioned in the blog on 4 October. He reports:

“It went well, despite the rain! I ran all 26.2 miles in 3 hours and 39 minutes. The provisional results placed me 138th which, being my first marathon, is a personal best! Thanks, in no small part, to the overwhelming generosity of St. Paul's over £400 has been raised for the Joe Humphrey Memorial Trust. Many thanks to all who have contributed and shown your support, it has been very much appreciated.”

Flying for Life

This month, the Christian organisation that we are supporting and focusing on is the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

At the end of World War II, God Amazingly put this same thought simultaneously into the minds of Christian airmen in the UK, USA, Australia, and South Africa: “Aircraft have been so powerful in spreading death and destruction during the war. Why can’t they be used to bring life and hope in peace time?” “‘Let’s seek to use small planes to bring help to needy people in the inaccessible areas of out world.”  They didn’t know each other at first. Connecting later, each group took the common name of Mission Aviation Fellowship.

That has grown from small beginnings to a dynamic Christian organisation operating more than 130 single or twin engine light aircraft in around 25 countries in the developing world. Flying across hostile environments, MAF reaches the world’s most isolated people. It partners with over 1,000 organisations to bring physical and spiritual care to those who need it most.

One of our own members, Keith Waddell, who is an eye surgeon in Uganda has frequently used MAF planes to transport his Eye Teams into remote areas, such as Southern Sudan and areas made inaccessible by road by rebels such as the Lord’s Resistance Army.

 

Link to the MAF UK website
 

Harvest

Today we held our Harvest Celebrations at St Paul's.
As well as singing the traditional harvest hymns of 'Come ye thankful people come' and 'We plough the fields and scatter' we also sang 'Cauliflowers fluffy'. Many of our young people know this song from Harvest assemblies at school. You can listen to it being sung here.

Although a much loved song, it makes no reference to the provider of the Harvest, no mention is made of God.
Doug and Aileen wrote an extra verse and final chorus which we sung at St Paul's this morning. It goes....

Give thanks to the Father, for every good thing,
Now and forever His praises we'll sing
Lord, we love you every day,
Altogether we want to say:

The apples are ripe, and the plums are red,
Thank you, Lord, for our daily bread. Yeah!

Not only was this a great ending to the song but is also tied in beautifully with our Bible reading from John 6.25-35 in which Jesus calls himself the bread of life.

All the Harvest gifts given this morning went to the work of the Welcome Project, providing for Asylum seekers in Leicester. The fresh produce was sold and funds give to Tearfund.

Coffeepot Harvest Lunch

On Thursday 10^th October the members and friends of Coffeepot came together to give thanks for the harvest. We sang and prayed and then sat down to a three- course lunch. After soup sandwiches and sweet we met with Wendy Martin from Send a Cow , an organisation which helps families in Uganda and Burundi to get a start in farming  and develop agriculture.  Coffeepot has been raising money for SAC over the year. Wendy gave us an update of the organisation’s work, and on our behalf Jenny presented her with a cheque for £550. The coffeepot team had organised  one of their fantastic raffles, thanks to them for some lovely prizes. Our thanks to all the people involved in making the harvest Lunch a great success.

Marathon Man

Mark Batchelor, a member of St Paul's writes....

On the 13^th October at 9.15am I will be starting out on all 26.2 miles of the Leicester Marathon. This represents for me a great personal challenge and the culmination of months of training. Although I will run as fast as I can I doubt I’ll be back in time for church that week, nevertheless I would like to make a plea for sponsorship! The Joe Humphries Memorial Trust is a charity established after the sudden death of Joe, a 14 year old from Leicestershire. The trust promotes awareness of sudden death in young people (SADS)and teaches people how to react in these situations as well as inspiring young people to fulfil their potential. It is a charity that I work with as part of my role as a schoolteacher at Bushloe High School.

If you feel able to contribute a convenient way to do this is by using the following web link:

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/markbatchelor

Principal Services October to December

Dear Friends,

New Service Programme

during hese next few months we continue with our sermon series which focuses on our Frontline, the places where we spend most of our time outside of church. We are thinking about how we can bring a positive Christian presence into each of these place. Hopefully our 'This Time Tomorrow' slots are raising our awareness of the many different places that we serve God and encouraging us in all we do. I am looking forward to hearing stories of how God is working in all these places.

As our Frontline journey concludes so Advent journey begins, culminating with our Christmas celebrations. Our Carol Service this year will be on the 15th December
 May I wish you all a blessed and peaceful Christmas.

Yours In Christ,

Steve,
Revd Steve Bailey

Archbishop Speaks out on Peshawar.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has spoken out about the killing of 83 worshippers at All Saints Church, Peshawar, Pakistan. Despite earlier silence (see blog. 25 September) his comments were picked up by the news broadcasters.

He called those killed, Martyrs, as they had died worshipping Christ. His comments can be read here.

 

Listen to the whole Radio 4 “World at One” interview with Justin Welby on violence against Christians here.

TEAR Fund

Saint Pauls uses 10 % of what we are given to support charitable causes in the UK and abroad. We have decided, each month, to publicise and to concentrate our prayers on, a different cause.

The organisation we are featuring this month is Tear Fund. This is a Christian Relief and Development organisation that works by supporting the actions of churches who are local to where the need is.

Tear fund describes its brief as follows:

“We're Christians passionate about ending poverty. We go to where the need is greatest, working through local churches to unlock people's potential and helping them to discover that the answer to poverty is within themselves. When disasters strike, we respond quickly. We won't stop until poverty stops. What drives us is a belief that the local church is a powerful force for transformation in communities living in every kind of poverty. Inspired by the example and teaching of Jesus, we recognise that people have deeply interconnected material and spiritual needs, and we seek to meet those needs by working through our local church partners.“

At St. Paul’s we support Tear Fund to make a difference in the world, on our behalf, being Jesus’ eyes, hands and feet, just as he asked us to.

 

Link to Tear Fund

Massacre at Peshawar

We have all watched shocked at the massacre of the shoppers at the mall in Nairobi, Kenya. On Sunday, 22 September, just one day later, 83 people, a similar number, were killed in All Saints Church, Peshawar, in Pakistan. As someone who tries to keep abreast of the news, I was surprised that this did not reach any of the headlines that I saw.

This is only the last of many sufferings of the church in Pakistan. We need to keep it in our prayers and pray for the injured and those who have lost relatives. Above all, we need to pray that the Pakistani authorities may be prepared to take responsibility for the security and welfare of their Christian co-citizens.

What a privilege it is to be able to go to church, in Oadby, at Saint Pauls, safely on Sunday.

For details