Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28
Dear All
This Sunday we welcome Amanda from IJM (International Justice Mission) to tell us about the continuing work of IJM and to preach.
Advent and Christmas
Yes we are rapidly approaching that time of year! On 1st December at 7pm we will be tidying up and decorating the church for the Advent and Christmas seasons. There will be mince pies, sausage rolls and mulled (non-alcoholic) wine for all those who help! Please do come and join in the fun.
Christmas lunch/afternoon tea
We would like to serve a Christmas lunch or afternoon tea for those who are around during the day on Tuesday 12 December. To do this we need volunteers to help prepare and serve this. If you can help please either respond to this email or let Andrea know by this Sunday. We will then be able to assess what we can do that day.
Junior Church Christmas Crafts Morning
This will be on 17th December.
Church Meeting
The next church meeting will be on 27th November and the Moderator will be coming to speak to us. We will also be discussing the future of the youth worker role beyond July 2024.
Prayer requests from the Youth Work and Drop-in
Joe writes: Today, I want to encourage everyone to give thanks for the transformational work we have seen God do with our youth ministry.
Coming out of lockdown we were very much starting a rebuild project, and maybe regularly working with 5-10 young people. Based on the registers for this term, we have so far engaged meaningfully with over 30 young people across our youth offering.
As well as this, we have seen a young person who has grown up in the youth group come into membership. There is so much to celebrate, but also so much to come. So let’s celebrate, and pray for God’s endurance as we continue to run the race, and press into God’s plans for us.
Nativity Trail
We are having a Nativity Trail for the local neighbourhood again this year on 3rd December starting at Prettygate Baptist Church and finishing here at Plume Avenue. The trail is planned to be shorter than before with more activities available here at the church. Think Christmas Venue and you will be on the right lines of what we hope to offer. We therefore need a Welcome team, refreshments providers, craft team and someone to help make the trail posts. If you can help please sign up in the foyer. We also need people to help prepare the goody bags. If you need any more information please come and speak to me. At the moment we only have a handful of folk to help welcome and provide refreshments for our visitors. It would be really great to have some more to be able to provide a really warm welcome.
Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes
Thank you to everyone who packed shoeboxes this year. Over 70 boxes were collected. Our thanks to Pam Soames for all she did to make this happen again this year. We pray the boxes will be a real blessing to their recipients.
Rings
Two rings were found in the church last week. If these are yours please do let us know with a description of what they look like.
Church Locking up/Emergency Exits
Dave writes: For all those who unlock and lock up every Sunday and other times, Thank you!.
The rear door to the youth room (back left as you go into the large hall) has had the lock changed to a ‘thumb screw’ barrel so that a key is not required to unlock from inside (better for a fire escape!). There is a key in the key safe if it is ever needed and I have one on my key bunch.
Please remember to check that all fire escapes are secure/locked when closing up after any event.
Thanks for all you do.
Safeguarding Course
Safeguarding training is on Saturday 2nd December at 10:30am and it is expected to last about 3 hours. If you cannot make this date, there are on line zoom courses which can be booked on the URC website (it would be very helpful though if everyone was able to attend the training session together on the 2nd). If you work with children, young people or vulnerable adults you will need to do the training as it is URC specific, regardless of what other training you have done. There is a sign-up sheet in the foyer for the training session – please add your name if you are coming.
There is a link to the online learning that everyone will need to do before the day.
https://www.urclearninghub.org.uk/course/view.php?id=24 This link has also be sent out by e-mail.
Men’s Group
Peter and Adrian write “Here are the dates for our Homegroup and Chat and Chill up until Christmas.
Chat and Chill – 27th November and 18th December
Homegroup – 11th December
All meetings will be at Plume Avenue from 13.30 – 15.00 ish, unless advised otherwise for trips out. Please feel free to come along to any of the dates. Looking forward to getting together again. Peter and Adrian” Also, just a reminder of the CVM Men’s evening on Saturday 25th November.
Dates for your diary:
Saturday 9th December – Ladies’ Retreat Day at Assington Hall – sign up in the foyer.
14th -16th June 2024 New Wine weekend at the Vauxhall Christian Trust Campsite, Gt Wenham.
This week
There will be prayer meetings on Wednesday and Saturday mornings at 9.30 am. Zoom details will be e-mailed early in the week.
With love and blessings.
