Manor Harvest Assemblies

This week Lou, our Youth Worker, and I are going into the local High School do take Harvest Assemblies. We have focused on the story of Cain & Abel, the sons of Adam & Eve, (see Genesis chapter 3).
At Harvest we offer our first and our best to God as a thank you for all he has provided for us. In the story Abel's offered some of his best but Cain gave less thought to what he brought to God. The spirit of comparison gets between them and leads to tragedy.
We have been encouraging the young people that they are all unique, special, made in the image of God and not to compare themselves to other. We have quoted Albert Einstein who said, 'Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.'
Ephesians 2.10 'For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advanced for us to do.'

Scotland decides

After the No vote result we continue to pray for Scotland, that the country would unite behind its decision and that there would be healing and reconciliation between the different groups.

See this statement from the Scottish Evangelical Alliance here.

Great British Bake Off

Martha Collison, at 17 is the youngest ever contestant on the Great British Bake Off. She is also a committed Christian who very open about her faith describing it as one of the main things that defines her as a person.

What a great example of someone who is open and willing to be known for who they are. Martha recognises that her faith is such Good News and that it is good news worth sharing.

'I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation.' Romans 1.16

See an interview with Martha here.

Scottish Referendum

In light of the forthcoming Scottish Referendum on the 18th September we held a Prayer Meeting on the evening of 14th September to pray for the Nation.

We prayed for Christians in politics and for the people of Scotland that they would make an informed decision as they vote. The Queen encouraged the Scottish people to 'think hard' as they vote and so we prayed for wisdom for all who will be voting on the 18th.

Thank you to Beryl for leading the evening and calling us all to pray for this important event.

Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship

On Saturday 13th September the Leicester Diocesan Evangelical Fellowship re-launched at its first meeting for a number of years.

The Evangelical Fellowship was welcomed by the Bishop, who spoke briefly on Colossians 3.12-17.

The morning was then led by Rodney Green, author of the book 90,000 hours, former Chief Executive of Leicester City Council and Trustee of Arocha International.

For more information about the DEF and to sign up to their mailing list click here.

Welcome Pryanka!

A new face around St Paul’s is that of Pryanka Ferreira. Pryanka has come as an “intern” to be involved in all aspects of our church’s life as she explores God’s purpose for her life in the future.

Priyanka was born in Daman in western India and left Goa to come to Highfields in Leicester with her family, when she was seven. She had drifted from her Christian roots until she came to faith in Christ while a Geography Student at the University of Stafford.

At present, Pryanka is going through the process of finding out “who is what” and “who does what” in our church as she tries to find out where she can be of most help.

Pryanka, we look forward to working with you, in Christ’s cause, in the future.

The invisible guest!

Several clergy from Leicester Diocese’s link diocese of Trichy–Tanjore in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, were invited to Leicester to take part in a Church Growth Conference. One of them, the Revd. Augusty Gnana Gandhi has been saying in this parish for the last week. He is the pastor of the Church of South India parish of Immanuel, Vellakoil. Vellakoil is a town of 40,000 people.

We had hoped to be able to show Augusty some of the sights of England this weekend and also to introduce him to the congregation of St Paul’s on Sunday, so that we might know more of the work of the Christian Church in South India and the challenges that he faces.

Sadly, he was laid low with a high temperature by an English virus and was confined to bed. We are sorry for what he and we missed. But we wish him a speedy recovery, a worthwhile remaining time in England, and a safe journey home.

Farewell Bonnie!

The Revd Bonnie Evans-Hills has been with us for four years as Curate of the Parish of Oadby. Although mainly based at St Peter’s, she has been a welcome friend when she has visited us for services at St Paul’s, most frequently for the Thursday Morning Communion. Now she’s moving on to become Interfaith Adviser to the Diocese of St Alban’s.

Today, she has been leading services at St Peter’s and at lunchtime we met together for a “Bring and Share Lunch” in St Peter’s Churchyard to say farewell. There was more food than anyone could eat.

Bonnie, your warm smile and friendship will be much missed. We wish you God’s every blessing in this next step of your calling.

Pauline Invasion of Hallaton!

The beautiful, picturesque, quiet, sleepy, South-east Leicestershire village of Hallaton was invaded by 30 members of St Paul’s yesterday, seeking answers to the dubious clues of their treasure hunt (“how many Almshouses are there in Hallaton?” There was much enjoyment and laughter as people made their way around the village.

Most people found some sort of answer to the majority of questions. (The winners were announced in church this morning.)

However well one did with the questions, there was no doubting the quality of both the food and fellowship in the meal that followed at the Fox Inn.

Many thanks are due to Paul Webster for all the time that he and Teri put into organising the event – even if, at timesp one was tempted to throttle Paul for the opaqueness of some of the questions!

Goodbye (for now) Rebecca!

Having completed her university studies, one of our young people, Rebecca Tincello, is departing for a six-month spell in Africa. Rebecca and three others will form a team that will work with the Mozambique Baptist Convention in their youth work, including Bible studies and running workshops on leadership, discipleship and teamwork etc. They may also be involved in sports activities, youth evangelism and social action.

They’ll be working with the local pre-school programme which provides a low-cost basic Christian-based education for pre-school children from poor communities. The team will also be involved in the daily life of the Kedesh Santuario orphanage, which is where they will be living. This will include supporting the education of the boys living there, farming and gardening and running sports and craft activities.

The climate will not be easy as it will be the warm wet season when temperatures will be 25°C to 40°C and, as the humidity will be high, it will be very sticky.

We wish Rebecca God's every blessing and look forward to getting news of work with a very different Christian community.