Spirituality Sunday

At this mornings service we focused on the different practises people use to sustain them in their relationship with God. I interviewed 5 members of the congregation who spoke about silent retreat, spiritual direction, bible reading, prayer partners and journaling. Each one shared how this allowed them to encounter God and we were privileged to hear some powerful and moving testimonies.
Thank you to those who took part. May we all be encouraged and inspired to spend time with God.
'Draw near to God and he will draw near to you.' James 4.8

Seeking Allah Finding Jesus book discussion

On Wednesday evening 14 of us squeezed into the vicarage living room to discuss our thoughts on this book which we had all read over the summer. We found Nabeel's story fascinating and were encouraged by the way the Christian faith had stood up to such academic investigation. We learnt a lot about the Muslim faith as Nabeel shared his upbringing. We were struck by the importance of dreams and that it was through dreams that God brought Nabeel to faith in Jesus. We were reminded of the value of both an intellectual understanding but also an experience of God. We give thanks to God that by His Spirit He is still at work in the world drawing people to himself.

'Grilled' by the Youth

On Sunday morning I was invited to join our fantastic youth group Tribe. Not only was there Bacon Cobs, Cup Cakes and Hot Chocolate to enjoy but lots of questions to answer!
No question was off limits and the young people asked some great, searching questions covering all sorts of topics about life, faith and living the Christian life.
You can read more on their blog https://stpaulsyouthoadby.wordpress.com/
Thanks to Lou, our excellent Youth Worker and the lovely young people for such a great morning!

Try Praying

20 million adults in the UK pray.
13 million pray at least once a month and 9 million every day.
One in three people believes God will answer their prayers.

On Sunday we gave everyone a copy of the Try Praying booklet and encouraged them to use it for the next 7 days and see what happens.

To find out more, order your own booklet or download the app visit http://www.trypraying.org/

Back to Church Sunday

This Sunday is Back to Church Sunday and we have been encouraging people to invite family, friends, neighbours, colleagues or anyone really to join us this Sunday.

Our service is at 10am and we extend a warm welcome to everyone to come and join us, you are most welcome.

Whatever your background and life story, we believe that you are precious to God and we look forward to getting to know you better.

Come and join us, we look forward to seeing you!



Film Night

Now the darker nights have returned St Paul's is able to continue its film nights.
Our next one is this Saturday, 26th September at 7.30pm.
On show will be 'What we did on our holiday' a PG film described as a heart warming, uplifting comedy for all the family.
Tickets are £4 on the door and a drink and some nibbles are included too!
Do come along and join us.

Harvest Assemblies

This week Lou and I are in Manor High School leading Harvest assemblies.
We are talking about our generous God, all the good things He has given to us and how we can share them with others to help make the world a better place.
We have used a couple of You Tube clips to highlight sharing.
The first clip is from Action Against Hunger and is called The Sharing Experiment. Watch to see what happens when 2 children are left alone with 1 sandwich and see what we can learn from them.
The second clip is called 'Would you give your jacket to Johannes?' and shows a social experiment with a cold boy sitting at a bus stop and records peoples reactions.
This Harvest time how can you share from the abundance you have to bless others, help those in need and do good to our neighbours?

Shaped by God

Archbishop Justin Welby has written exclusively a 100 word reflection for the Diocese, reflecting on the diocesan vision Shaped by God.
To read it click here.
You can also sign up to receive further reflections from a variety of writers every fortnight.

More amazing craft

Here are some pictures of our wonderful Supertroopers children and their leader who always comes up with some amazing craft activities using his woodwork skills. Today's model told the story of 2 Kings 5 where Naaman is healed of leprosy after washing 7 times in the river Jordan. The children retold the story well and made the point that it is good to obey the commands of God rather than question them. Well done everyone!

Welcome Joel !

We are delighted to hear that Steve and Angie's new baby, Joel Andrew arrived at 10:55am on Sunday 3rd April, weighing in at 7lb 2oz.

Steve, you will be licensed as team vicar at St Paul's on 29 June sent us this photo and thanked us for our prayers.

We are really looking forward to the whole family joining us