Is anyone interested in the event described below?

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This is an invitation to anyone interested in community engagement – St Matthews Church, Wigmore have arranged for Sir Stephen Bubb (a son of Wigmore) to share in an informal setting about his working life in local & national government, and his faith.

The Medway Foodbank will have a display stand there.

There will be a presence at the hall this morning in case anyone with a Foodbank voucher requires assistance or emergency lunch is required. Please ring the bell at the left hand side of the door.

click on the image to enlarge

click on the image to enlarge

This week our Foodbank ‘Drop-in’ centre opened for the first time and we received our first ‘client’. There was real need in this family and we pray that God will help all involved to resolve the difficulties speedily.

Helen Gallagher, Foodbank Co-ordinator, has also been having a busy time. Here is a quote from the Foodbank’s Facebook page:

Sunday was a busy day for us! Across Medway many churches came together with joint services, marking the culmination of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. In Twydall the churches gathered at Holy Trinity to worship and hear about the Foodbank. It was a joy to share & pray with them. In north Gillingham, at St Augustine’s, the Bishop of Rochester, James Langstaff spoke about the importance of churches working together to bless and benefit the communities around them. The Foodbank was again highlighted and our DVD shown. In Strood the churches gathered at All Saints, Frindsbury to celebrate together and hear about the work of the Foodbank. We are so grateful for the practical support and encouragement of more and more Medway churches as we develop the Foodbank and take it forward together. Thank you, one and all!

The Salvation Army would be pleased to hear from any suitable persons wishing to volunteer for work with the Foodbank. Anyone interested should contact us. Our ‘Drop-in’ centre is open on Mondays and Fridays between 10.30am and 1.30pm and is situated in Church Street.

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Serbian friends Nevana and Sasha will be visiting us next Sunday (29th). They are recipients of the Shoebox Appeal organised by Blythswood Care to which our Ladies Fellowship contributes each year.

Last year’s contribution

The ladies are organising a tea at 4.30pm on Sunday which will be attended by Nevana and Sasha who will be staying for our evening meeting and speaking about the effects of the appeal in Serbia. This promises to be an excellent evening so join us if you can at Church Street. Here’s how to find us.

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A new group formed from mums who recently attended our Parenting Course. All are welcome so why not contact us. For more information click on the images below to enlarge.

Here’s where we are:

The following letter has been received from Helen Gallagher, co-ordinator of the new Medway Foodbank regarding our Christmas Carol Concerts.

Helen

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Join us if you can for the Prayer and Praise gathering next Wednesday evening (18 January – 7.45pm start). This is in support of the new Medway Foodbank which has now opened in Strood (Strood Community Project – High Street) and will be opening in our Church Street premises on Monday 23 January.

Members of all Medway churches are welcome and we anticipate a good evening together in which we will focus on prayer for this new venture as it gets off the ground.

Here’s how to find us:

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This week we conclude echoing the prayers requested in a local religious publication for Christian children who suffer around the world.

Please pray for those who are:

HAVING TO KEEP THEIR FAITH SECRET from their friends (especially in Iran)

BULLIED AND RIDICULED by pupils and teachers

DENIED AN EDUCATION by the authorities because of their faith

OUT OF SCHOOL because their remaing parent cannot afford the school fees

Thank you for praying with us. It is clear that Christian children around the world have a great deal to contend with.

This week we will continue to echo the prayers requested in a local religious publication for Christian children who suffer around the world.

Please pray for those who are:

UNABLE TO GO OUT for fear of being kidnapped (particularly in Columbia and Iraq)

SCARED of being attacked in the villages (especially in Northern Nigeria)

NOT ABLE to meet freely with other children or go to summer camp to learn about Jesus

OSRACISED by their community and/or wider family

This week we echo the prayers requested in a local religious publication for Christian children who suffer around the world.

Please pray for those who are:

REFUGEES fleeing systematic persecution (particularly in Somalia)

DESTITUTE and having to scavenge on the city dumps (particularly in India and Indonesia)

HAVING TO WORK instead of attending school in order to supplement the family income

MISSING A LOVED PARENT who is in prison for their faith, often a great distance away

For the remainder of the week we will echo the prayers requested in a local religious publication for Christian children who suffer around the world.

Please pray for those who are:

GRIEVING for a murdered parent, family member or friend (especially in Iraq)

ORPHANED because their parents have been murdered by extremists

INJURED in attacks both physically and psychologically

ABUSED by employers (particularly in Pakistan)

This is the week when we all sit down to write our thank you letters. Or perhaps we use the phone, or the email (or perhaps we even forget). Actually we’ve already received a number of ‘thank yous’ from families who received Christmas parcels. It’s nice to know that needs have been met and contacts have been made.

Amy wrote ‘Thank you for my Christmas Parcel’ and sent her  love.

Michelle Beattie (Community Nursery Nurse) wrote ‘Thank you so much for bringing the lovely gifts for some of our families. Julie and myself will be delivering them to ………………… (deliberately left blank) this week. They will be greatly received and will help towards a better Christmas. God bless you all. (again sent with love)

At least 4 phone calls have been received expressing gratitude, sometimes quite emotionally.

Philip and Maggie  wrote enclosing a substantial donation to help with the purchase of gifts (our turn to say thank you).

We are always moved to see the great need that exists in so many family situations and this somehow seems more poingant at Christmas. We pray that God will continue to help us meet need whenever and wherever we can.

The Christmas carolling season is nearly at an end. Just a couple of days to go and that will see the back of it for another year.

At a John Lewis store

There are many reasons why The Salvation Army conducts very active carolling programmes. Often there is a financial motive especially when churches run community outreach services. The picture above shows some of our Songsters singing in the John Lewis store at the Bluewater shopping centre (at the invitation of the store we must add). We are grateful to the store because, through it’s own generosity and that of it’s customers,£1300 was raised which will enable us to develop our premises to provide even greater services to our local community. Other fund raising carolling efforts have been made, particularly by the Band,  which will also add to the funds available for these services.

Often our various music group will visit elderly residents accommodation or hospitals, including the local hospice, to bring a taste of Christmas to those within, including the staff. Sometimes it is possible to raise funds for other deserving charities such as the new Medway Foodbank, which we have supported this year or to assist other groups in celebrations of their own, such as the NHS with the carol service in the cathedral. Macmillan Cancer Support also received the proceeds of the annual concert the Band gave with the Rainham Ladies Choir.

But, whatever the practical purposes behind the carolling programme, good as they may be, carolling is an important way of getting the Christmas message to many hundreds, indeed thousands, of people who just don’t seem to know what it’s all about. Opportunities for personal contact abound and are accepted gratefully. These can be a great blessing to many who just happen along when the Band is playing in the High Street or other places where people gather in substantial numbers.

So we give thanks to the public for the generosity shown even in times of financial hardship but more than all we give tahnks to God for the opportunity to witness to our faith and the Christian message which this world needs so badly.

Have a very happy Christmas and do remember what it represents.