contact information: in partnership july & august · 20 june 2014 thomas william ryman and...

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Contact Information:

The Partnership office is open on Monday through Friday, mornings or afternoons. Please call to find out when it is open. The office number is 01793 874221. The office e-mail is: [email protected]

For items for the next edition of Partnership News covering September, please send them to the office no later than 16 August.

The address for correspondence is: The Partnership Office, Holy Trinity Church, Shaw Village Centre, SWINDON, SN5 5PY.

The editor’s e-mail address is: [email protected] The Partnership web site is http://www.wswinlyd.org.uk

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JJuullyy && AAuugguusstt

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Why?

Colloquially this is one of the most frequent (and most irritating?) questions asked by children of their parents. But as we grow older - and hopefully more mature - in both years and faith is it a question we begin to overlook? Think when was the last time you asked yourself why you believe? We can go through life comfortable that we have come to an understanding of what we believe but then forget to remind ourselves of why we believe it! Edmund Burke wrote that "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." But if we are not sure of what we believe and why we believe then it’s difficult for us to actively and effectively pass on our faith and thereby spread the Gospel as we have been commanded - To also quote my favourite line of 80’s Christian Rock music ‘if what I know is right, it’s wrong if I don’t tell somebody else’ At Westlea we have recently been specifically challenged as to why we practice Communion in the manner we do. This is not the appropriate place to state my position on the subject or indeed for Westlea Church to seek to impose our practice on three other churches. However, having been asked the question, as well as our needing to formulate a better response than ‘because that’s how we have always done it’, we have begun a wider discussion as to why our worship at Westlea takes the form it does and some of the points do, I believe, warrant further consideration by all of us. For those of us who have been at the same church for a while, it can be easy to assume that everyone else shares our approach to worship and understands this approach. However, this isn’t actually likely to be the case – especially in an ecumenical partnership where we are trying to respect and benefit from a variety of traditions. There is also the fact that people come to and move on from churches over time. At Westlea, we are particularly blessed to have a membership made up of people from many traditions (some of them our parent bodies!) or no tradition. We have folk from this country and from around the world all sharing worship and fellowship together. With such variety we are unlikely to all agree on everything all of the time but it is important that we discuss and accept a way of being the body of Christ within each of our four congregations. We all have our own unique reasons for our beliefs and our understanding of how they should be applied to our lives, indeed the fact

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FROM THE REGISTERS

___________________________________________________________________________________

Baptism

01 June 2014 Ava Rose Bevan

22 June 2014 Jasmine Elaine Oakey

22 June 2014 Scarlett Mary Rosser

22 June 2014 Frankie George Rosser

22 June 2014 Joshua Robert Morton

22 June 2014 Eloise Rose Breeden

22 June 2014 Amelia-Rose Carmel Dawson

Wedding

01 June 2014 Antony William Grimes and Angharad Eileen Ruston

07 June 2014 Paul Stephen Foggoa and Rosemary Jane Heath

14 June 2014 Michael David Bizley and Kayleigh Louise Graham

20 June 2014 Thomas William Ryman and Samantha Jane Andrews

21 June 2014 Mark Philcox and Vanessa Gillian Startin-Field

Congratulations on your Confirmation 18 June 2014 to

Angharad Grimes

Andy Bissex

Nick Pegg

Jonathan Heal

Nick Robinson

Thank you to Revd John Wiltshire

for his ministry across the partnership during his time here as Circuit Superintendent

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CONGRATULATIONS

Imogen Kershaw

For graduating in Youth &

Community Work with

Practical Theology at the

University of Gloucester

with CYM on 14 June 2014

We would also like to congratulate those who have completed their university degrees this summer.

Claire Dukes Film Studies at Kingston Upon Thames University

Dan Green Mathematics at the University of Reading

Alana Kershaw Psychology at the University of East London

Leo Mak Computer Science at Imperial College London

Connie Roach Ancient History and History at the University of Reading

Zoe Vernon Sound Technology at the University of Glamorgan

Rebecca Johnson MA in Travel Services

Laura Kenyon MA in Journalism

We wish them well with their future plans Sue Green

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that Christ came to allow each of us a personal faith is one of the wonderful features of Christianity. The fellowship at Westlea has been challenged to go back to basics and ensure that everyone understands why we do things as we do or possibly even do things differently as a result. With the recent changes in the Partnership I believe a better understanding of our grounding will help each of us as we seek to spread the Word and will also help us to respond when we may be asked difficult questions. So, if you are like me not as young as you were, I invite you as individuals and churches to go back to your childhood and ask why? Andy Vernon **: After the Fire ‘One Rule for You’ _________________________________________________________

How best to help your child do well at school

Do you want to deliver your child to school in the morning in the best

possible frame of mind to learn? Then tell your child that you love

him/her every day, and stop shouting/swearing at them when they annoy

you. Instead, listen to them, praise them for their achievements, and do

all that you can to make your home a calm, healthy and safe place for

your child to grow up. It is not rocket science: calm, happy children do

better at school than stressed, unhappy ones.

This guidance comes from the National Association of Head Teachers

and the charity Family Action. It also advises ensuring a healthy diet for

your child, ensuring they learn proper personal hygiene, taking them out

as a ‘family’, and also making sure they get enough vigorous exercise

each day.

The NAHT represents nearly 30,000 schools in England, Wales and

Northern Ireland.

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Regular activities

2nd Sunday each month

Messy Church 13 July

4-5:30pm @ Shaw

Every Monday

After School Youth Group Contact Claire Camm 07981951381

3:45 – 6:00pm @ Holy Trinity Shaw

Every Tuesday

Bell Ringing 7-9pm St Mary’s Bell Tower

Remix Youth Group

Contact Claire Camm 07981951381 6:30 – 8:45pm @ Holy Trinity Shaw

4th Tuesday each month

Lunch Bunch 22 July

Noon @Toothill

2nd Wednesday of each month

Mothers Union 09 July

2pm @ St Mary’s Stable Room

Every Thursday

Toothill Tinies 10-11:30am @ Toothill

Friday Fortnightly

Gen 2 Gen Contact Claire Camm 07981951381

04 July


18 July


1st Saturday of each month

Men’s’ breakfast 05 July

8:00am @ Toothill

__________________________________________________________________

Twitter

Jesus was on Twitter. Mind you he only had the 12 followers.

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Margaret Exton

Last November I was suddenly taken ill resulting in a stay at the Great Western Hospital and then the Intermediate Care Centre. After several days on the ward I started to come to my senses and very slowly, I began to realise that I was not by myself, someone had been with me all the time from when I collapsed at home to being admitted several days previously. Who had been with me I did not know but the feeling persisted very strongly until slowly but slowly, I realised that Jesus had been there with me all the time.

As I lay quietly in my bed the words of a hymn kept coming to me ‘Here I am Lord, is it I Lord? I have heard you calling in the night I will go Lord if you lead me I will hold your people in my heart.

Well, although I didn’t realise it, the lord had been calling me in the night, leading me to my recovery from illness so that I am able, with his continued help, to resume my activities in Toothill church. I would like you all to join with me to sing the hymn that is now so important to me.

I the Lord of Sea and Sky.

Margaret Exton ________________________________________________________________________________

PRAYERS

Please pray for:-

Protection for civilians in Iraq and for those working to bring about a peaceful solution. Messy Church and our Schools work especially remembering the work of Gayle Bryon, Sue Vernon and Eddie Koppoe and their teams, in the Schools they visit. Partnership Council Emerge Project

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A summer day out in Bath – Wednesday 13th August. Spend the morning exploring the beautiful city, then join a group of friends to talk about a fascinating novel – The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce – at Bath Central URC at 2pm. End the day over tea and cake in one of Bath’s amazing cafes. Booking is not necessary, but it would be good to know who is coming. Come on your own or as a group. Why not pass the book around the church and come as the start of a local reading group?

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Archbishop of Canterbury Visit Saturday 13 September 2014 The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will spend the weekend of

12 to 14 September 2014 in the Diocese of Bristol, highlighting and

engaging in local mission.

On Saturday 13 September, Archbishop Justin will be in Swindon, joining

church leaders from across the denominations at a prayer breakfast. He

will be launching the Heritage Weekend at 9.45am and the Wiltshire

Historic Churches, Ride and Stride at 10.00am in the Partnership at St

Mary’s and Lydiard Park. All welcome and maybe you would like to Ride

and Stride. See opposite page for more details on Ride and Stride.

The main feature of the morning will be addressing and meeting a

gathering of clergy and ministers from the whole diocese at St Joseph’s

College.

In the afternoon, he will travel through North Wiltshire, following in St

Aldhelm’s footsteps by baptising new Christians in the river beneath

Malmesbury Abbey and enjoying a baptism celebration with hog roast

and fun for all the family. He will end the day with visits in South

Gloucestershire. • On Sunday 14 September, the Archbishop will preach

at a service of the Eucharist at Bristol Cathedral followed by an event

focusing on reconciliation in the city.

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step for Nick and I hope that you will all pray for him as he moves on with his life. It is envisaged that all the groups will be continuing next year with the exception of Gen2Gen. This was originally set up for young people to get together with the older generation and it worked very well for three years. The numbers of youth attending has dwindled over the last year and now there are no young people attending. Hopefully those who still come will continue to meet as a social group. Finally, I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to all the Churches in our Partnership who continue to support the project through prayers, donations, other resources and voluntary help. We see God at work in the young people week by week. I believe that it is a real privilege to be a part of this ministry in our community not just for those of us directly involved but for the whole partnership under whose banner we are working under. Claire Camm _________________________________________________________

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Emerge Youth Project Update

Another year has flown by and as most of you probably know, we have to say “Farewell” to Imogen Kershaw, who has been our Placement Student over the last three years whilst she’s been studying for a degree in Youth & Community Work with Practical Theology. Imogen has been involved with all the youth sessions which the Emerge project runs (school Lunch Club, After School Club, Evening youth group, Gen2Gen, Special Needs groups and other activities) plus she has been a monthly volunteer youth worker at Westlea and St Mary’s in their Sunday morning youth sessions. At the presentation at Partnership Service at Toothill recently, Angela Mak paid tribute to Imogen saying that she “carries the young people in her heart”. I think that describes beautifully the way in which Imogen has worked alongside all the young people in her different roles, with real empathy and giving dignity and value to often troubled young people. We will all miss her greatly and I personally will miss her friendship, humour and reliability. She has supported me through some difficult patches with family and health issues this year and I am very grateful for having such a faithful and mature young woman to work alongside over the last three years. I wish her every success in her future career as a Youth Worker and know that she will flourish, with God’s help. So what happens next? We have been having a bit of a review of the project with help from Partnership Council, and have decided that from September we will share a volunteer gap student with Swindon Youth For Christ, at their invitation. We will also build on the existing resources we have in our young Trainee youth leaders who have “risen up through the ranks”. We currently have four, three in their early twenties and the other is 17 years old – all shaping up to be extremely good leaders with different gifts. Two of these, Nick and Jon were recently baptised and confirmed in the partnership. Nick has a real heart for making youth work his career and has shown himself very gifted in this, working in all the different groups of the emerge project. He will be supported by the project next year to further his skills by undertaking the “Engage Youth work certificate course”, through the Centre for Youth Ministry, a national body. He will be supported by Swindon Youth for Christ, as well as myself as Line Manager. His placement will be with us at the emerge project. This is a very exciting

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Ride and Stride

Ride and Stride is an annual national sponsored event, organised

locally by County Historic Churches Trusts. Wiltshire Ride + Stride (or

its predecessor the Great Cycle Ride) has been going since 1984 and

has raised well over £1 million for the county’s churches. 50% of the

money raised goes to the participant’s chosen church and the other half

to the County Historic Churches Trust.

It takes place on the second Saturday in September between

10.00 a.m. and 6.00p.m.

Participants may be cyclists, walkers, horse-riders or drivers of mobility

scooters.

All denominations are welcome.

Visit as many churches as you like, planning your own route.

Seek sponsorship from friends, relations and colleagues, so much per

church visited or a lump sum.

What to do to join in

Parish Co-ordinator for those wanting to Ride and Stride is Wendy

Deverell 01793 877111. Sponsorship forms are now available.

We really need participants!!!

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First World War Centenary

A Pastor Casualty of The Great War – by Ed Poole My grandfather served in the Holly Mount Congregational Church (now URC) at Malvern in Worcestershire. Revd Edward Master Poole had trained at Wesley College in Bristol, and was invited there to his first pastorate in 1911, aged 25. Sources say he took on his new responsibility with enthusiasm, and quickly became highly respected and held in great affection. He married in 1915, and his son was born in 1916 – my father.

At the outbreak of the War, he had tried several times to enlist for ordinary military service, but always failed the medical. Friends who knew him well said ‘as a young man he was not comfortable in the peace and quiet of church work at home, whilst other young men were giving their all in defence of hearth and home.’ So when the opportunity came for ministers to work in the YMCA huts at the Front, he quickly offered himself, with full support from the Church. He spent four months in 1917 in a small area of Belgium not occupied by the Germans. There, as was said later at his memorial service, ‘he toiled laboriously from the beginning to the end of his term of service. On his return (to Malvern) he was most enthusiastic about the work the YMCA was doing to alleviate the horrors of war.’

The YMCA huts were a regular feature of life at the Front, offering soldiers a base for rest, relaxation and ‘comforts’, with chaplains and pastors working from there. But even when back in Malvern my grandfather felt ‘a man’s work at that time was among the men at the front.’ So again he offered himself for service abroad. This time he resigned his Pastorate, leaving Malvern at the end of September 1918 and returning to France in early October. His role then was as Civilian Chaplain to YMCA at Le Treport in Seine-Maritime. Le Treport was an important wartime medical centre, with many military hospitals in hotels and requisitioned buildings at the coastal port. Around 10,000 beds included some under canvas. He gave pastoral support, ministering to the injured and dying in the hospitals, with surviving soldiers being shipped back across the Channel to England.

Accounts from the time say he went wherever he saw a need. And it was as he attended German soldiers that he caught the influenza (Spanish Flu) then raging among the troops and across Northern Europe. So after less than 3 weeks into his second tour of duty Edward

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Bishop Lee swaps robes for lycra

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Poole went into hospital and died there aged 31 on 31 October, 12 days before the Armistice ended the War. My grandmother brought up her young son in Malvern and continued to serve the Church until her death in the 70’s. I remember her like Anna, the daughter of Phanuel (Luke 2.36), widowed at an early age. I wish I had known my grandfather – everything about his short life says he was a remarkable and godly man.

Following on from this touchingly personal piece of history, overleaf is this month’s article showing the role played by The Church Army, of which Revd Capt. Clive Deverell is part.

This is as originally printed so therefore redacted, which hopefully will also help you understand the reality of the situation at that time. The print is slightly smaller due to documents issued at the time.

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Messy Church - celebrates 10th anniversary

Messy Church is ten years old. What began in

April 2004, in Cowplain near Portsmouth, as one

congregation, has since been joined by 2342

others worldwide.

This fresh expression of church life builds upon

Christ-centred elements of welcome, creativity, sharing food and

celebration. Most Messy Churches meet monthly, at a time that suits

the community. They seek to share Christ with families for whom

traditional or inherited forms of church life feel alien to their

experiences.

Key moments from ten years of Messy Church include: being featured

on BBC's 'Songs of Praise'; St Paul's Cathedral in London hosting a

Messy Church celebration; Spring Harvest becoming a popular place

to dip into Messy Church seminars; Messy Nativity sheep trails

popping up in shopping centres around the country each Christmas;

and attention from the national press (‘Messy Church crafts colourful

alternative Sundays'—The Times)

Lucy Moore, the founder, says: ‘As I look at the shouting, laughing,

praying, awestruck, grateful, life-giving, weeping, eating, loving Messy

multitudes gathered in churches around the world, it feels incredibly

humbling'. Messy Church is a core ministry of Bible Reading

Fellowship.

_____________________________________________________________________

God Helps Me

By Juliet David, Mike Byrne, Candle Books, £4.99

Help very young children explore their world and discover God's love

for them with these first words with God. This colourful and sturdy

padded board book teaches children the importance of knowing that

God helps them. Illustrated with bright cheerful pictures of everyday

scenes that children can relate to and one simple sentence per page.

Other titles in the series: Please, Thank you, Sorry, God Knows Me,

God Loves Me

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Swindon Commercial Chaplaincy

Swindon Commercial Chaplaincy, a

Community Interest Company (CIC), is a

brand new venture, springing from the work

that has been done providing chaplaincy in

Swindon over the last ten years. What do we

do? We provide a free chaplaincy service to

people who go to work. Our volunteer

chaplains visit and befriend staff from the Co-op in Old Town to

Thamesdown Transport, and anything in between. We try to identify,

understand and share in the issues that are affecting those in the

workplace. We endeavour to meet every one with friendship, with the

love of God.

We also run The Front Room Job Club. It is more than just a job club

where people come seeking work or to improve their CVs, it is a place

of safety. It is a place where they can be themselves and speak of

issues that are troubling them without fear of rejection. A place where

people, we hope, feel valued just as our Lord values all. It is open to

any one irrespective of their faith or no faith at all. The Front Room

meets every Tuesday between noon and 2pm at St Augustine's Church

in Rodbourne. If you are unemployed, you are welcome to come along.

The chaplaincy service is entirely free and we rely on donations for

funding. There is now an opportunity to become a ‘Friend of SCC’, not

only by giving a donation but by being a prayer partner. If you would

like to learn more, if you could consider becoming a chaplain or a

‘Friend’, or if you feel you could donate in any other way, please get in

touch.

Email: Revd Canon Angela Overton-Benge at [email protected] or telephone on 01793 618986

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Church Services in the Partnership

St Mary’s Lydiard Tregoze

Date Time Form

06 July 10:00am Morning Service

13 July 10:00am Holy Communion

20 July 10:00am Family Service followed by Baptism


27 July 5:00pm Partnership Prayer and Praise @ St Mary’s

03 August 10:00am Morning Service

10 August 10:00am Holy Communion

10 August 3:00pm Rotary Service

17 August 10:00am Family Service

24 August 10:00am Communion followed by Baptism

31 August 10:30am Partnership Service @ HTS

31 August 4:00pm Partnership Prayer and Praise @ St Mary’s

Holy Trinity Shaw

Date Time Form

06 July 10:30am Holy Communion & God.com/SS


13 July 4:00pm Messy Church

20 July 10:30am All Age Service




10 August No Messy Church in August

17 August 10:30am Songs of Praise



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Toothill

Date Time Form





03 August 10:30am All Age Service





Westlea

Date Time Form


13 July 10:00am Family service


27 July 10:00am Swap


10 August 10:00am Family service


24 August 10:00am Swap


Partnership Prayer and Praise 4:00pm St Mary’s Lydiard Tregoze

27 July 2014 “Wearing the Badge” 31 August 2014 “Tell the Story”

4.00pm Prayer Activity in the Park, pick up Activity from the Stable Room

next to Church. Tea and coffee etc available till 4.45pm

contact information: in partnership july & august · 20 june 2014 thomas william ryman and...

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