A Very Warm Welcome!

It is common for many churches to offer their visitors “a very warm welcome.” It couldn’t have been more literally true today as people came for the Midweek Communion Service and “Coffee Pot” afterwards. By 11 a.m. the shade temperature in the Church Car Park had already reached 33° C. We hear it is expected to go far higher.

At our service, this reminds us that today is the day when we remember St James, who was called by Jesus, with his brother John to leave their fishing boats and follow him. When their mother asked Jesus to give her sons the top position the side of him, when he returned in glory, he gently explained that that was not his to give. Like his master like his master, James did finish up being executed for his faith.

May we be as prepared to make sacrifices for our faith as was St James.

Yesterday, Today and Forever

Yesterday, the parish of St Paul's Oadby held its first Parochial Church Council. On the agenda was:
Apologies for Absence, followed by Bible Study and Prayer led by Steve Bailey. After this we approved the minutes of the last DCC as an accurate record of our last meeting, as also the last joint PCC and the Extraordinary Parochial Church meeting.

We then elected the Officers for the PCC, (the Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Electoral Roll Officer). It was agreed that the PCC would meet every other month, with LATs (Leadership Action Teams) in the month between. Five people were appointed to form a standing committee, which would prepare the PCC agenda and deal with urgent business.

Steve and Lou updated us on the plans for  Intercultural Worshipping Communities.

It was then explained how the plans for the enlarged benefice (the 2 Oadby churches, Great Glen, Burton Overy and Carlton Curlieu) were progressing and there was a report from the working group registering the parish of St Paul Oadby as a charity.

A discussion followed on the "Cockpit Crew." And we received reports from 2 LAT groups. We had also received reports from CTO, Deanery Synod and Diocesan Synod, but there was not time to debate them.

The next PCC meeting will be on Tuesday 3 September 2019.

Over our heads, on the wall at one end of the Barnabas Centre was the slogan that reminded us that, whatever the changes, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Principal Services – July – September

Dear Friends,

The 1^st July marked a significant change for the churches in Oadby as St Paul’s became its own parish, joining with St Peter’s and also the churches in Great Glen, Burton Overy & Carlton Curlieu to form a new Benefice of Oadby, Great Glen. At this time of pastoral reorganisation we are also preparing to say farewell to Liz who has been a Team Vicar based at St Peter’s, we will do this at a joint service on the 29^th September. Do pray for all the churches in the team at this time of restructuring and for all of us as we get used to a new way of working.

We continue with our summer sermon series through July and August focussing on Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It is good to share this series with St Peter’s and to hear from a variety of preachers.

Special services in these months include the Mayor’s Civic service on the 28^th July, our Holiday Club celebration on the 11^th August and a visiting speaker from Christian Solidarity Worldwide on the 1^st September. A week later on the 8^th September I shall be doing the Great North Run, a half marathon, to raise money for CSW.

Every blessing,

Steve

See the service card

For the Record

 On the last Sunday of June, just before the new organisation took place, at the end of the service the congregation followed Steve round to the noticeboard in the front of the church.

There, David Foulds took this photograph – an interesting record to look back to in the future.

We’re Legit

As part of the reorganisation into a larger benefice, the parish of Oadby has been divided into ourselves (St Pauls Oadby) and St Peter’s Oadby. This happened on 1 July. But for this last week there has been no Parochial Church Council (PCC) to officially govern the church.

Therefore, after this morning’s service the congregation stayed behind to hold an Extraordinary Parochial Church Meeting. This elected the 2 existing church wardens – Paul Webster and Anita Chettle, and 9 elected members of the PCC. Together with the Rector, 3 Readers, a Diocesan Synod member and 3 Deanery Synod members who are all ex-officio members of the PCC, this will give a PCC of nearly 20 people.

St Paul’s now becomes a charity in its own right and will have to be registered with the Charity Commission. The members of the PCC will be its trustees.

The church will be informed as the process continues.

Honoured!

We have just been delighted to discover that, back in April, one of our members, Emmanuel Oladipo had been granted one of the Lambeth awards by Archbishop Justin Welby. Emmanuel’s citation was as follows:

“Mr Emmanuel Oladipo, The Alphege Award for Evangelism and Witness for his exceptional contribution to the Scripture Union in Africa and worldwide”

Emmanuel was formerly the Director of Scripture Union International. Since his retirement he has continued to travel internationally to encourage the appropriate exposition of Scripture.

Alphege (or Ælfheah) 953-1012AD was Bishop of Winchester and later Archbishop of Canterbury. He was captured by the Vikings but refused to be ransomed, and so was killed.

It’s an honour to have Emmanuel with us.

Holiday at Home

The first “holidaymakers” have just been arriving at St Paul’s. This is “Holiday at Home” – three days of holiday activity, designed particularly for those not able to get away in the summer. Just at the moment we are being the blessed with ideal holiday weather.

Our thanks go to Paul and Teri Webster for organising holiday at home this year.

Pride of the Borough.

St Paul told the early churches to pray for the authorities, while Jesus told his disciples to love their neighbour as themselves. It therefore gives us great joy to support Oadby and Wigston Borough's  "Pride of the Borough" project.

After church yesterday, members of the congregation picked up litter pickers and collecting bags and went out into the surrounding streets, verges and grassy areas, to pick up litter.

Here are some pictures of it taking place.

Privilege Priority and Purpose and the Gospel

The preacher at St Paul’s morning service today was Liz Wilson, the vicar of St Peter’s, who has recently been appointed to the parish of St Anne’s, St Pauls and St Augustine’s in the city of Leicester. We wished her well.

In the 2^nd of a series on St Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians (end of chapter 1), Liz pointed to Paul’s sense of privilege, priority and purpose – a sense of privilege in being allowed to help spread the gospel, his sense of priority in spreading the good news of Christ, and his purpose; that whatever was done to him, including his imprisonment, was being used by God to spread his good news.

It was a challenge to us to see life in the same way. We shall miss Liz as she moves on.

Ute Short

Yesterday we said farewell to Ute who loved her garden and flowers. She planned and arranged most of her service herself and was keen for family and friends to enjoy time together with nice food to celebrate her life.