“I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12
Dear All,
Hope you have had a good week.
Sunday 22nd January
This Sunday is a Family Café church service. We will be looking at the festival of Candlemas.
Jo and Steve are celebrating their first wedding anniversary on Sunday and will be providing cake for us to celebrate with them. Our congratulations to them!
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.
Warm Welcome Hub
We have some postcards which need delivering to some of the local roads to advertise the Warm Welcome Hub. 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.
Lent 2023
This Lent we will be following the Purpose Driven Life book. 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.
Men’s Chat and Chill
Peter writes: “Our first meeting of 2023 will be on Monday January 30th. We have been invited by Mathew Lewis to visit his railway shed to see his layout. As parking can be a bit difficult we can meet at the church at 1.00 and car share to his, if you need to leave early then it maybe best to take your own. The normal cakes and refreshments will be provided, We are thinking of having a breakfast once a quarter and also doing some local walks to keep us mobile. If you have any other ideas or interests that you would like to share with the group then please talk to Adrian or myself.
Looking forward to seeing you on the 30th. Peter”
Testimonies
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. It is so encouraging and uplifting to hear how God is working in people’s lives.
Colchester Foodbank
David writes “Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the Colchester Foodbank through the Church. In 2022 we were able to deliver 2,239 kgs (2.2 tonnes!) of provisions to support this superb charity which has, unfortunately, become ever more important in recent months. The volunteers at the Foodbank are always so grateful for our support.
We continue to be open from 10-11 am on a Saturday morning to collect contributions for the Foodbank, or they can be left in the green tray to the left of the front door of the Church at any time. They will be delivered to the Foodbank on the following Monday or Tuesday.
The latest list of specific requests is as follows:
• Crisps
• Treats
• Pasta sauce
• Tomatoes
• Tinned meat
• Toiletries (men/women)
• Cleaning products
• Tinned fruit
• Ketchup/ brown sauce
• Puddings
David
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.
