Ben Jackman interviews Bishop Martyn

Recently, Ben Jackman of Radio Leicester had a prolonged interview with Bishop Martyn Snow, who has now been in Leicester for three months. It was an interesting in-depth interview revealing the bishop's opinions on all sorts of things – including his choice of music.

If you would like to hear his opinions on all sorts of different aspects of life, both spiritual and secular, do listen here.

The interview with Bishop Snow starts nearly 4 minutes into Ben Jackman's show and lasts about 50 minutes. It is available until 10 September.

Church

On Sunday our service embodied this verse above from Romans 12.15.
Erica & Nelson shared testimony and gave thanks to God after Nelson walked away from a serious car crash 2 weeks ago with only a few scars. It was a privilege to witness them do this in a traditional African way with some great singing and rolling on the floor symbolising laying their whole life down to God as a thank offering.
This was followed by Emmanuel sharing the sad news of a mini bus crash at his church in Nigeria which had killed 8 people on their way to a wedding. We stood with Emmanuel and prayed for that church fellowship as they come to terms with this shocking news.
Later in the service Rupa shared her own reflections on Colin's sermon and they way it had spoken to her.
These stories strengthen our shared fellowship, remind us of God at work in our lives and show that we all have something to contribute as we gather to worship.
You would be very welcome to join us.

Celebrate with food – BBQ

As a final celebration of the holiday club, the church’s car park was cleared and a barbecue set up after Sunday's morning service. All the congregation and all those who are taking part in the holiday club – leaders helpers and children and their parents – were invited.

Thank you to all those who organised the practicalities of the barbecue. A delicious smell wafted past all those who were present, and the sausages (traditional and veggie), burgers and kebabs were delicious. As also were the salads that had been brought and the deserts, too. So thank you to all those who provided food in abundance.

It was a very happy and enjoyable time and a fitting climax to the Champions Challenge holiday club.

All Age Service – Champions Challenge

At the All Age Service on Sunday, the champions challenge theme of the holiday club was continued. Steve, Lou, Gillian and Angie, who had taken part in the holiday club all the different parts of the service. The children who had been part of the holiday club were invited, and those who were present took part in various ways.

Near the end of the service, the congregation was shown a video of all the activities that had been occurring during the week. At the end, the congregation broke out with appreciative clapping. It was good that those who had put in so much effort were shown to be appreciated.

Champions’ Challenge

The Christian faith is often compared to a race. The theme of our welcome board in the vestibule of the church this week reflected both that, and the topic of the holiday club and the week of the Rio Olympics. At the holiday club we welcomed 40 children for three days of activity and Bible teaching.

Holiday Club

This week at our Holiday club: Champions Challenge we had so much fun learning more about God and exploring what it means to be the best we can be and part of Jesus’ team. We enjoyed celebrating sports alongside the Olympics with games, songs, dramas, stories, creative activities, baking, samba drumming, Circus skills, a Rio vibe and lots of fun getting to know each other.

Thank you to all who came, to our lovely and dedicated team and most of all to God for all that He is and all He has done, that we have so much to celebrate!

We have a special holiday club service tomorrow to share all that we'd done and to celebrate these awesome children and finished it off with our own closing ceremony of a BIG BBQ!

Another Family Welcomed

Last Sunday we were delighted to welcome another family as Jeremy and Joshua Adams came for baptism. Over the last few months the family have been committed members of the congregation and we have enjoyed their fellowship. Sadly (for us) they are moving north.
 
We wish the whole family well in their new surroundings and pray particularly for the boys that they may grow in the faith to which they have committed themselves.

Follow 2016

2016 is the 150 anniversary of the use of Readers in the Church of England. These are lay men and women who assist the ordained clergy with leading services, preaching and other pastoral activities, sometimes including funerals.

St Pauls currently has two Readers, Colin Chettle and Hugh James, and in the recent past also benefited from John Lee and Steve Carter.

As part of the 150^th anniversary celebrations a National Day Conference called “Follow 2016” was held at Leicester’s De Montfort Hall on Saturday 16 July. There were major events in the main auditorium including talks by the Biblical Scholar Paula Gooder speaking about the meaning of discipleship, Mark Russell of the Church Army, speaking about sharing one’s faith and Mark Greene of the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity talking about how one’s faith influences one’s work.

 

Modern Christian worship was led by Pete James.

 In the Victoria suite a number of Christians were interviewed about their faith, while in the Garden Suite there were a number of talks about Messy Church. There were also displays of literature, books and Christian activities, while in the marquee in the garden was a magician and outside were bouncy castles for both adults and children.

A lot of hard work had obviously gone into the organisation, and those who attended had the outworking of their faith challenged. It was a very worthwhile 150^th year commemoration.

 

Principal Services - July - September

Our vicar writes:

Dear Friends,
In these three months we will be working through our latest sermon series based on the 10 Commandments. In these timeless values we find joy and hope for living our lives today.
For our All Together services we continue to focus on Men & Women of faith, different characters from the Bible that inspire us. In August we look forward to hearing about all that took place during our Holiday Club.

In September we welcome the Mayor of Oadby & Wigston, along with his guests, for his civic service. A date for your diaries, on Sunday 30th October Bishop Martyn will be joining us for a special evening service where he will be confirming some of our young people. If you would like to be confirmed please speak to Steve Bailey, Gillian Gamble or Lou McGoldrick about this.

But these three months start with a celebration as we welcoming Gillian's ministry as a priest among us, giving thanks for God's calling upon her life.

May we know God's hand upon each one of us as we follow Him together.

God Bless

Steve
Steve Bailey (vicar)
Link to programme

Daniel – We Welcome You!

It was a delight for our church when two of our members, Nelson and Erica Nelson-Adomako brought their young son Daniel for baptism this morning. Baptism is the sign of entry into the church family. The baptism included signing Daniel with the sign of the cross, and pouring water on his head. It was also a welcome into the church – as we all responded, during the service: “we welcome you into the fellowship of faith; we are children of the same heavenly Father; we welcome you.” The service was conducted by our vicar, Steve Bailey.

The talk, which was given by our youth worker, Lou McGoldrick, was based on the story of Gideon. He was chosen by God to lead the children of Israel. He was fearful of the supremely difficult task he had been given, but God provided for his needs, as he will for Daniel, too, as he grows up and faces life’s difficulties, if he calls on him.

After the service we all enjoyed refreshments donated by Daniel’s family and the church family. Thank you so much to all who helped organise this.

During the service Steve addressed the congregation and said: “People of God will you welcome Daniel and uphold him in his new life in Christ?” And we replied: “with the help of God, we will.” Now the challenge for us is to continue to uphold him in prayer.