“I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” Rev 3:20
Dear All
I hope you have had a good week. This Sunday we welcome Rev Mark Ambrose to take our service which will also include Communion.
Congratulations
Our congratulations to Fran and Simon and of course Freya on the birth of Aurora Hope. We pray that they will know God’s blessings as they grow together as a family.
As has become our usual custom, we have a baby box in the church porch for gifts to be placed for Aurora. The box will be available for the next three weeks. Fran and Simon have shared that they do have most things for baby Aurora and therefore with that in mind have said “we would really like to encourage people to donate a baby item to the food bank. If there are those who would still prefer to gift us something, reusable nappy inserts would be a good choice or water wipes which are best for new-born skin.”
Call to prayer
We are calling the church to prayer on Monday evening from 7.45 – 8.45pm on Zoom. We specifically want to pray for the preparations and the meeting with the Moderator and Tiptree URC (see below). The Zoom details have been sent out and will be sent out again on Monday as a reminder. Please do try and join if you can – it is ok to come to the meeting and pray in silence!
Meeting with the Moderator
The Elders (Liz, Dave and Marie) will be meeting with the Moderator, David Sebley and the eldership at Tiptree URC to begin the processes of exploring how we may be able to form a partnership together. This meeting takes place at Tiptree URC on 21st February. Please do pray for this meeting – for wisdom and guidance from the Lord and the work which lies ahead.
Pastoral
Andrea writes: “In the past the fellowship have offered meals, cakes, ironing etc. for people who have had surgery, new babies or have been bereaved. We would like to start this again. Please could you contact me if you would like to be on a list of people I could ask to make an occasional meal etc. when the need arrives. Bless you all. Thank you Andrea”
RightNow Media
A few years ago we signed up as a church to the RightNow media resource. This is an on-line library of videos of bible studies and devotionals for individuals and groups. There are videos for children, youth and adults.
The church pays for the resource and anyone who is part of the fellowship can have a log on to enable them to use the resource for their own personal devotional and bible studies.
If you do not have a log on and would like to explore this resource please send an e-mail to admin@plumeavenuechurch.org.uk and I will send you a link to become part of the Plume Avenue group.
Warm Welcome Hub
We still have some postcards which need delivering to some of the local roads to advertise the Warm Welcome Hub. There are so many folk struggling financially at the momen
t and not putting their heating on. One of the main ways they will become aware of the Warm Hub we are providing on Mondays is through the distribution of these postcards.
Please do take a pile and deliver these if you are able. There are also some spares – please do take these and give them to friends and neighbours and anyone you feel would appreciate coming.
Sunday 19th February Lunch
We would like to invite everyone to stop for lunch after the service on 19th February. This will be a jacket potato lunch followed by dessert. Please sign up in the foyer if you would like to come and indicate if are able to provide a fruit crumble/pie and/or help on the day. There will be no charge for the lunch but there will be a basket and the sum-up machine available for donations. Please try and sign up this weekend if you can to help with the ordering of the food.
Lent 2023
This Lent we will be following the Purpose Driven Life book and we will be preaching on the themes from Purpose Driven Life. David Sebley will be starting the preaching series on 26th February. The book has been revised and we will obtain a copy for each household and will ask for donations to cover the costs – this is likely to be around £6.
Testimonies
It was really wonderful to hear Ade’s testimony last week. Ade came to church not expecting to come to the front but was obedient to God’s prompting to do so. Last year, we had the wonderful joy of hearing many people’s testimonies of how God had been working in their lives and how he has been answering prayer. If you have a story to share, please do let me know so that we can include your testimony one Sunday morning. Equally if you feel God prompting you during a service, come and speak to me then. It is so encouraging and uplifting to hear how God is working in people’s lives.
This week
There will be prayer meetings on Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 9.30am and the Zoom details will be e-mailed early in the week. Although this is not a normal homegroup week, the bible study homegroup will be meeting on Tuesday evening on Zoom to continue the Lectio course. This is proving to be incredibly encouraging and helpful as a resource. If you would like to join this group as we look at the Lectio course, please do let me know so that I can send you the notes before the session. Last session was incredibly helpful and a real blessing, please do join us this week if you can.
With love and blessings.
