“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. Our Café Church Service on Sunday morning follows the theme of “Encountering God”. Do come with expectancy to hear from God!
Sunday 19th February Lunch
Our service on Sunday will be followed with lunch. If you have signed up, please do remember to bring your crumble/pie if you offered to make one. We will need plenty of help setting up and clearing away – there are over 70 people signed up for lunch! There will be no charge for the lunch but there will be a basket and the sum-up machine available for donations. Alternatively you could pay directly into the church bank account with reference “Lunch”.
Meeting with the Moderator
Please do pray for the preparations for, and the meeting with the Moderator and Tiptree URC on 21st February. Liz, Dave and Marie will be attending the meeting with Rev David Sebley.
Church Meeting
On Sunday 26th February, Rev David Sebley is taking our service. We will be holding a short church meeting after the service to update everyone following the meeting on 21st February with the Moderator and Tiptree URC. Everyone is welcome to stay for the church meeting whether you are a church member or not and whatever age you are (children and young people will be very welcome). If we have to put anything to a vote, only church members will be able to vote.
Men’s Chat and Chill
Peter writes: “This month’s Men’s Chat and Chill will be a breakfast at the Harvester on Monday February 27th at 9.30 am. Please feel free to invite a friend along and let Adrian or myself know if you are coming so we can book enough seats.
Looking forward to seeing you there and to talk about a monthly home group, led by Matthew and Adrian, starting on March 13th, 1.30 pm at Plume Avenue.”
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 books are available this weekend, one per family. We are encouraged to read a chapter a day as we look at “The Purpose Driven Life – What on earth am I here for?”. A big question which we will explore together during Lent 2023.
The costs of the books are £6.05 each. There is a note inside each book explaining how you can pay or may a contribution towards your book.
Baby Box
Just a reminder that, as is our usual custom, we have a baby box in the church porch for gifts to be placed for Aurora. 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.”
Expression
Joe writes: “We are really excited to say that Expression will be returning once a month on a Tuesday night. The first of these will be on 21st February at 7:30pm, led by myself and Hannah Burrows (part of the older youth group.), with contributions from other youth members. Hannah and I are keen for as many people to come along as possible, so we warmly welcome to come and join us. The theme for the first session will be ‘The Gospel in Disney: Beauty and the Beast’, and inviting us to explore where the beasts in our lives are being transformed by the beauty of the Gospel. One of the young people will be helping us to reflect by singing one of the beautiful songs from the movie. There will also be worship.
You are welcome to just turn up, but it would also be helpful to have an idea of numbers beforehand, so if you are in a position to confirm your attendance, please do so. This will help us with refreshments.”
Warm Welcome Hub
Thank you to everyone who has helped deliver the leaflets. Please do remember this project in your prayers and if you would like to be involved with helping on the rota or providing a cake, speak to Sue Watt.
Safeguarding
Matthew Lewis and Maz Rattray are our safeguarding officers now. We thank them for taking on these roles and we also thank Stuart Carey for all he has done over the years in this role. If you have any concerns or issues regarding safeguarding, please do contact Matthew or Maz. They can be contacted at safeguarding@plumeavenuechurch.org.uk
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.
With love and blessings.