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2nd Sep: Timothy 9th Sep: Obadiah Tuesday at Ten Coffee, tea, chat and play for all ages in the Church Hall on Tuesdays at Christians Together: Monday 6 September Stirling Christians Together meets at St Mark’s Church, Raploch, on Monday 6 September. There will be a potluck supper at ‘Better Vestries’: Tuesday 7 September The next Area Council meeting at Suicide Prevention Week Service: As part of Suicide Prevention Week, the Spiritual Care Team at NHS Forth Valley are offering a service of remembrance for those bereaved by suicide on Tuesday 7 September at 7.30 pm - 8.00 pm in the Spiritual Care Centre at Forth Valley Royal Hospital. Doors Open Days: Magazine Questionnaire The Magazine Team are busy analysing the responses to the Questionnaire and considering ways to improve the magazine. ANNUAL CONGREGATIONAL MEETING: The Annual Congregational Meeting is on Wednesday 22 September at Harvest Festival: Sunday 26 September We will celebrate Harvest Festival with an All Age service and special collection of goods and money for Start Up. We hope to have a soup and sandwich lunch afterwards. LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT MONTH: Concert in aid of the Leprosy A date for your diary – to be held in Holy Trinity. Clowning Day – 2 October The Casting the Net Children and Young People’s Officer has organised a ‘Clowning Day’ at St Saviour’s Service of Healing and Blessing: A joint service with St Saviour’s at Holy Trinity at Casting the Net The Holy Trinity Casting the Net Action Group has been formed. This is the group that will help to steer the process along – it’s not the group that will decide all the outcomes! The group members are: Rachel Campbell, Kate Durie, Steve Hatton, Helen Kemp, Ann Lees, Genevieve Pont and Alistair Shaw. Please pray for them as they take up this task. They will be meeting with the Casting the Net facilitators soon – Revd. Valerie Walker and Carole Latimer. Meanwhile, we can continue to ponder the Nine Marks of Mission. ‘Sharing our faith by confident and sensitive evangelism’ is one that often scares people rigid! But in fact it can be quite a simple and natural thing. Think about how easy it is to share the ‘good news’ of a family event, or a holiday, or a book we’ve read or film we’ve seen. Can we have the same enthusiasm and vividness when we speak about why we go to church or how we have come to believe in God? Of course, we start a few steps back from that. We get in touch with people by getting interested in them, and their lives and hopes and fears. So making friends and offering a cup of tea or a meal is really important. Then there is our own life: do other people see in us a life that is attractive and meaningful, one which reveals God’s love by the things that we do? And if they were to ask what makes us ‘tick’, would we be ready to answer? Have you thought about your journey of faith and how you came to believe? Or why you think Christ is worth following? We do not need to be theologians, but we do need to have some words for those who are seeking God or challenging faith. (look up 1 Peter 3:15) The most important thing is to pray – for ourselves and for those people around us who might be longing for someone to point them in the direction of God. Harvest Festival is a good time to bring someone to church – it’s on Sunday September 26 at Here is a prayer asking God to use us to build the Kingdom: Generous God, your love is seeking every human soul,you long to be known, fulfilling every human life,you knock and wait at the door of every human heart. May the people I know be found by you, fulfilled by you, and may they open wide the door and invite you in. Amen (from a ReSource prayer card) Things we need and things people have given
It really does make a difference to our budget if we can use regular giving and income for the other work of the church, so thanks very much to all. GARDENSHARE Do you have an unused corner in your garden that you would be happy to share with someone who would love to grow some fruit and vegetables but has no garden of their own? Or perhaps you are keen to grow some of your own food but have no land. Gardenshare Stirling is a new scheme that aims to match budding gardeners with people who have a garden that they cannot manage themselves, perhaps due to lack of time or ill-health. The benefits to garden owners include having a keen gardener keeping the weeds under control, seeing things growing in the garden again, meeting new people and sharing some of the delicious produce. There are now so many people who want to grow fruit and vegetables that it is a major problem finding enough land for them all. There are often long waiting lists for allotments and many modern homes have very small gardens or no garden at all. Schemes such as this are now running successfully in other parts of the There is also a website that has information about the scheme: http://gardensharestirling.wordpress.com Street Pastors Over £207 was collected for Street Pastors during Lent – which will almost pay for the training of a new Street Pastor. If you think you might be called to this work, they are recruiting now for the autumn training. It would involve serving for one evening/night a month. There is a poster in the vestibule about it, or speak to the Rector. Notices by e-mail The Sunday School leaders receive the Sunday notices by email, as they would otherwise miss them. If you also would like to receive them in this way, please follow this link and we will add you to the list.
The Traidcraft stall, run by Brian, Carol and Robbie Renwick, offers a wide range of fairtrade groceries and gifts. It is in the Church Hall after the All-age Eucharist on the third Sunday of each month. Start Up The demand for donations has risen steeply as more starter packs are being issued to homeless people. The latest requests are for:
The Salvation Army has also asked us to provide, via Start Up, a regular supply of toiletries for the people they help on a daily basis. The items they need are:
Note: The ratio of need for toiletries is roughly double the number for men as for women. For latest Start Up news, please follow this link. For background information on Start Up and on homelessness in Stirling, please follow this link. We're grateful for any donations you can make. Explore the diocesan website at www.standrews.anglican.org . It has lots of up-to-date news and photographs. Imkerhof Children's Home and School now has a live website at Green Group We are undertaking a ‘green audit’ of Holy Trinity, with a view to exploring our stewardship of Creation. It might lead to becoming an ‘Eco-Congregation’ to raise our awareness of environmental issues and find ways to respond.
Friday 03 September 2010 |
