St Clement’s Church Manchester’s

Sunday school for primary-aged

children is recording record

attendance.

Up to 100 four to 11-year-olds are

turning up on Sunday mornings,

compared to less than 15 in 2012.

Gospel Kids exists to help parents

teach their children about Jesus so

the kids are taught the same thing as

their mums and dads are taught in the

main service. The team engage the

children with singing, drama and

activities.

Lizzie Watkins, who volunteers in

Gospel Kids on Sunday mornings,

said:

“How many churches are praying for

the very problem that we have?

That we have so many children that

want to hear the Gospel.

“For me as a parent, what I wanted

was my children to go to a church

and for them not to do a bit of craft

and be entertained during the sermon

but to actually hear gospel truth and

to be impacted with the gospel and

what I can tell you, from both sides,

is that that is totally happening – I

can’t tell you how amazing that is.”

The Gospel Kids team is mainly

made up of volunteers but the

preparation is done by our current

curate, Tom Hollingsbee.

Tom finishes his curacy at the end of

December this year. The plan is for

him to stay on at church for a while

to continue to oversee the children’s

work. We are hoping to raise money

at our gift day on Sunday 9th June to

enable him to do this. If you would

like to support the work then please

fill in a pledge form at the welcome

desk and submit it to the church

office or you can give through the

gift day envelopes in church.

Note about Gospel Kids:

In order to comply with safeguarding

procedures, please could parents/

carers ensure that all children are

signed in and have a sticker before

they leave for Gospel Kids.

Thank you for your cooperation.

THE CLEMENTIMES

GOSPEL KIDS RECORDS RECORD ATTENDANCE

HENRY

AND

BETH’S

BABY

GIRL,

POPPY,

ARRIVED!

JASON

AND

SARAH

GOT

MARRIED!

CHURCH

FAMILY

NEWS:

Issue 13 – Summer 2019

Isaac Jump hosted a litter pick for the

area surrounding church on Saturday

11th May, between 11 and 12

o’clock.

Isaac told The Clementimes:

“It was very successful, and we

cleaned up most of the litter in the

church gardens and the roads and

fields close to it. We took 10 bin bags of rubbish to

the tip that morning!

“We were pleased to welcome Sarah

Loveridge, who chose to spend her

Birthday picking up litter!

“Thanks so much to everyone for

giving up your afternoon to help

keep the Church grounds litter-free.”

Keep your eyes on our Community

Life sheets to be informed about any

similar activities in the future.

Daniel Mullaney is joining St

Clement’s staff team this summer.

Daniel’s moving to Openshaw from

Oxford, with his wife, Anna, and two

children, Liza (9) and Alexey (3).

During Daniel’s time at St Clement’s

he will be living in the old St

George’s Rectory in Abbey Hey.

The plan is for Daniel to focus on

international ministry and ministry in

the Abbey Hey area.

He will be moving to East

Manchester at the end of June and

will be ordained at Manchester

Cathedral on Sunday 30th June.

Please pray for Daniel and his family

as they move to East Manchester.

You can learn more about Daniel in

our three word interview.

Name:

Daniel Robert John Mullaney

(four words straightaway…)

Birthday:

26th of July

How would you describe

yourself?

Sinner, redeemed by Jesus

What towns/ cities have you

lived in?

Kenilworth, Novosibirsk, Oxford

What are your favourite things

to do?

Listen to music, hill-walk, travel

What are your favourite foods?

Honey, Ryazhenka, Christmas

Pudding

What have you worked as in the

past?

Missionary, Analyst, Student

How would you describe God?

Loving, Holy, Faithful

What are your favourite bible

verses?

John 6:68, John 12:14, Revelation

22:17

How would you describe your

journey as a Christian?

Surprising, Challenging, Joyful

What are you looking forward

to about joining St Clement’s? Growing, Community, Learning

THREE WORD INTERVIEW

ISAAC JUMP HOSTS LITTER PICK TO HELP

CLEAN UP COMMUNITY AROUND CHURCH

NEW CURATE, DANIEL, JOINS ST CLEMENT’S

NEW EVENING SERVICE

SERIES LAUNCHED

As Christians, we get our view of God,

ourselves and salvation from the Bible

but we all come to the Bible with our

own set of glasses on, with our own

ideas and with our own cultural

assumptions. So, how can we know

that we’re interpreting the Bible the

right way?

One of the best things to do is to look

at how Christians in the past have

interpreted the Bible. On Sunday

evenings, at St Clement’s, we’re

beginning a series looking at the

Heidelberg Catechism. It is a series of

questions and answers (that’s what a

catechism is) written in 1563 and it

was written to educate children in the

Christian faith, to guide preachers in

what to preach on and to unify

Christians around the truths of the

Bible. Looking at what Christians in

the past have believed can help us to

see our own cultural assumptions and

they can help us interpret the bible in

the right way.

Would you join us on Sunday

evenings as we look at the Heidelberg

Catechism and the Christian faith

together.

Paul Jump

GET REAL ABOUT DISAPPOINTING GOD Ever had the dreaded sense that

you’ve really let someone down? It’s

horrible right? It fills you with fear, it

drains the life out of you and if you

feel it regularly, it can be really, really

debilitating.

One of the most damaging results of

this sort of fear, however it comes

about, is that it can seriously affect

your relationship with God. He’s

powerful right? He hates wrong

doesn’t he? So why would you want to

engage with him? Won’t he make you

feel worse than you already are? Why

would you want to be more of a

disappointment?

I’m not saying I know your experience

at all, but over the years this has

plagued me somewhat so here’s some

steps I take myself through when this

sense clouds over me. I hope they help

you to know freedom and joy God

wants for you, rather than fear and

dread.

Step 1: Get real about your sin. Of

course you fall short. Why are you

surprised by that? You sin. Did you

think you were good enough for him?

Get real.

Step 2: Get real about who loves who

here. You are not why God loves you.

God is why he loves you. He freely

chose to love you despite your sin.

That’s cool but get real about it.

Step 3: Get real about your adoption.

He chose to love you, he decided to do

everything to make you his child.

Jesus died for all the ways you have

and will let God down. Get real about

the depths of his total love for you.

Step 4. Get real about the direction

God moves now. You still sin. But

God doesn’t move away from you in

this mess. He moves towards you. He

has even given you his Spirit to live

in you. He wants to change you.

Step 5: Get real about what change

feels like. God’s Spirit isn’t a cuddly

bear. Sometimes he’ll make you feel

the wrong of the sin you do. This can

feel similar to the guilt-dread you felt

before. But it’s different now. He

holds nothing against you. He isn’t

condemning, he is sculpting. You’re

his child and he’s making you more

beautiful, into who he wants you to be.

So hold on tight to these truths and, I

promise, knowing God will truly

transform you forever.

Tom Hollingsbee

Your Question:

What is the unforgivable sin and how do I

know if I’ve committed it?

Jumpy’s Answer:

In Mark 3 28-29 Jesus talks about the

unforgivable sin.

Jesus had been casting out demons. By

doing that he was demonstrating God’s

power to save people. The religious leaders

saw that but attribute his power to Satan.

Jesus says in response you are on the verge

of committing the unforgivable sin.

According to Jesus the unforgivable sin is:

1. To see clearly the power of God in the

work of Christ.

2. To know in your heart that it is true and

good.

3. To wilfully reject the truth (lie in your

soul)

4. To hate it/ attribute it to Satan

One example of a person in the Bible who

committed the unforgiveable sin is Esau.

The story is told in Genesis 25-27 but is

explained in Hebrews 12. He had the

blessings of God and the promise of

salvation but he sold them for a bowl of

stew. Later he tried to get the blessing back

he couldn’t because he couldn’t repent.

The reason the unforgivable sin is

unforgivable is because if you commit it

you cannot repent. Jesus says anyone who

repents can be forgiven. But blaspheming

against the Holy Spirit puts you beyond

repentance and therefore beyond

forgiveness. It is impossible for you to be

forgiven.

If you are worried that you have

committed the unforgiveable sin then you

probably haven’t because the

unforgiveable sin requires such a hardness

of heart and lack of repentance that if you

think you’ve committed it and worry about

it then it shows that your heart is still

tender towards God.

The reason God warns us of the

unforgiveable sin is because he wants us to

repent. God is a forgiving God and will

forgive all sins that we repent of however

big or small they are. If you do that you

will not commit the unforgiveable sin.

YOUR QUESTIONS

Friday 19th July 2019

Eden bus visit

The Message and Eden’s bus is

coming to Openshaw for the

evening.

The mobile youth centre helps

keep young people off the

streets and teaches them about

the good news of Jesus.

Saturday 13th July 2019

Tim and Joanna’s Wedding

Tim and Joanna request the

company of St Clement’s

Church family to celebrate with

them on their wedding day. The

service will be held at Holy

Trinity Platt, Manchester at

1.30pm.

ASK

JUMPY

WORDSMITH

MINISTRY ASSOCIATE, HENRY RELEASES BRAND NEW ALBUM

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

Sunday 21st July 2019

Adult Baptisms

If you are interested in being

baptised, please contact Paul

Jump.

Friday 7th – Sunday 9th

February 2020

Church Weekend Away

Our annual Church Weekend

Away will be at the Quinta

Christian Centre.

More information will be

available later in the year. If you’d

like to join us, please keep your

eyes on our Community Life

sheets.

born again - The Bible uses the phrase

‘born again’ (John 3:3) to

express the change that the

Holy Spirit does in a

person’s life.

We cannot do this

ourselves it is the work of

God alone.

For a person to be born

again the Holy Spirit must

convince them of their

sin, enlighten their minds

in the knowledge of Jesus

Christ and renew their

wills so that they are

persuaded and enabled to

embrace Jesus Christ.

They can now be

described as a new

person.

Grace and Peace by

Brothers, Henry and

Barnaby Alexander is

out now and you can

download it/ listen to it

on the website. Grace

and Peace was inspired

by the New Testament

book of Ephesians and

features seven songs to

‘point people to the

GRACE Christ has so

richly lavished on us

and the PEACE He has

made between God and

His people’.