south western synod - urcsouthwest.org.uk · general assembly and mission ouncil update: the united...
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South Western Synod E-news: 15th July Next edition: 29th July Cornwall Devon Somerset Bristol Swindon Wiltshire
General Assembly and Mission Council update:
The United Reformed Church held a live-streamed version of its General Assembly – the URC’s main decision-
making body – on YouTube on Saturday 11th July
The Revd John Proctor, outgoing United Reformed Church General Secretary, welcomed viewers to what was the first
online act of General Assembly worship in the URC’s history. To find out more click here
The United Reformed Church held a unique
digital version of Mission Council, the executive
body of General Assembly, on 10th July.
This came after the URC was forced, in May, to
cancel its biennial meeting of General Assembly
due to the threat of coronavirus and subsequent
health and safety issues.
Read more here:
The next E-news will be published on 29th July Please send your articles to: [email protected]
PLEASE remember to keep the Synod Office updated when there are changes at your church by contacting: [email protected]
Whilst the Synod Office is closed all Synod Office staff and Synod Pastoral Advisers can be contacted at their usual email address - see the Synod website or the Synod Year Book for information.
Around the Synod At Derriford URC in Plymouth, one of our serving Elders, Sue Vickery, goes
regularly to Buckfast Abbey for a week’s silent retreat which involves interactive
Bible Study following the ideas of St. Ignatius.
With this in mind, at the beginning of lockdown she wrote a meditation for Palm
Sunday based on the triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Our Minister, Mark, sent
this out with his weekly newsletter. Sue then offered to produce one for
Pentecost based on Acts 2. To make it easier for people to join in, she managed
to record it for people to listen to and Mark also copied it onto CD for those who
didn’t have the technology to listen online.
As well as going through the experience of being in the Upper Room, there were some quite challenging bits
about what the Spirit was calling you to do now, whether the flame, the fire, or the passion had died since you
were first called and filled.
In the middle of listening to this, for editorial purposes, Sue quite clearly heard God telling her that we as a
Church needed to go and feed people. Many of you will know that Derriford has a great reputation for catering
and hospitality so at least it wasn’t a call to do something outside our comfort zone although we truly believe the
Lord would have provided the means if it had been!
After some discussion about safety and procedure, the Eldership decided to go ahead with this. With a great deal
of help from Plymouth City Council Environmental Health Office and our deacons, we put together and had
approved, a risk assessment, obtained PPE and decided to do a trial run on Friday 12th June by taking hot meals
out to 8 of our more elderly and vulnerable people who regularly attend our monthly lunch club. Several
members of the Church agreed to come and ‘distance deliver’ the hot food.
This was a great success so we extended it to others outside the fellowship and after information was posted on a
Plymouth Food Sharing Website, we increased our weekly output to include lunches for 6 people in sheltered
housing and more evening meals. Because of this, local Councillors were approached and they agreed to give the
Church some funding. We have also had generous donations from the Fellowship.
We are now feeding 14 people with lunch on Tuesday and 21 with evening meal on Fridays and hope to maintain
doing this as long as shielding and sheltering continue and there is a need.
So, please hold our ‘Derriford Dine Out’ in your prayers and pray for all who receive from us that they will get so
much more than food from this initiative. Mark has sent out a letter to each person to share the Love of Jesus
with them and offer to pray for any needs they may have.
We have had some lovely positive comments from our recipients already, not just appreciating the food but
enjoying their distanced visitor. One very special moment was when a 33 year old lady with cerebral palsy burst
into tears on her doorstep on receipt of the first hot meal she had enjoyed in weeks as a result of a glitch in her
usual care system. We will support her as long as needed.
At the beginning of lockdown, many of us were overwhelmed by fear, afraid to go out and many people are still
finding life very difficult, but these words from 1 John Ch. 4 v 16b -18 bring great comfort and guidance during
this time:-
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so
that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: in this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But
perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in
love.”
RESOURCES
Resourcing Our Elders - part 4 of this regular series from the Synod Ministries Committee: Elders and Mission “Mission of the local church lies at the heart of the role of eldership. Local churches are, by nature, missionary bodies that exist not for the benefit of the members but for the communities and people within them wherever they are.” Elders and their churches need to ask themselves “Are we ready to be missionary in all we do?” This may sound strange given that churches are engaged in God's mission, but in reality more time needs to be spent in prayer and reflection before beginning something new. Everyone in the church including the children and young people should be equal partners in the life of the church, including mission. A child's idea for mission is equally important. From the outset it may be helpful to consider the following: 1. Know yourself 2. Know your community 3. Know what it is that God is asking you to be part of. It may help to read, discuss and reflect on the first miracle in John's gospel, turning water into wine, and see what parallels there are in the present time. John 2: 1-11. Have you been in a situation where you saw a new initiative as pointless or even foolish? What was your reaction and how did you respond? Don't be too quick to dismiss a strange/quirky/weird idea for mission, it may be what you are actually being called to do. The pandemic has changed all our lives, including the church. In this new situation how can you and your churches: - Engage more fully in mission with the people in the locality? - In what areas is God calling your church's mission to be - near and far? - Are you prepared for mission? - Are you open to God's calling? - Is this a time for more prayer and reflection as a person and as a church?
Tinhay Retreats, in Devon, was due to host a Synod Taster event in June for those who had never experienced a retreat. Sadly this has been postponed until next year, as have all our retreats until 2021. However, we are able to receive campers in tents, caravans, motorhomes in our small hideaway campsite. So if you need a little break in a quiet corner of Devon to recharge after your lockdown confinement, please do get in touch.
Further details at www.tinhayretreats.com Rob and Suzy Weston will be delighted to welcome you!
Further details by phone 01566 784990, by email: [email protected] or by post: Down Farm Cottage, Lifton, Devon PL16 0EL
Children & Youth Michelle Howard, Church Development Worker, writes: With churches beginning to think about plans for reopening in some shape or form over the coming months, I wanted to ensure that you are all aware that I am here and happy to help when it comes to considering the risk assessments that you need to complete before offering services to your local communities. Please contact me in the usual way and I can either have a preliminary chat with you over the phone or attend your virtual elders’ meetings if this would be helpful.
Please see the advert for this week’s Trialogue for youngsters:
Also, there is a full range of summer resources available online at ROOTS Worship and learning: through lockdown and beyond: https://www.rootsontheweb.com/
***************************** We have been asked to recruit some young people to contribute to a survey which is being put together by The Youthscape Centre for Research and Tear Fund. The aim of the survey is to really engage with young people and get their views on how they have been affected by living through this pandemic as young Christians. It is open to all 14 to 19-year-olds and they are really interested in gaining their thoughts about what the world will look like post-pandemic, together with the climate and how the church can support them to shape the future. For every person who completes a survey, there is a chance to be entered into a prize draw to win £100 worth of High Street vouchers. It will only take 10 minutes to complete and is an ideal opportunity to really influence church leaders about what the important issues are for our youngsters.
Your Voice Your Future - SURVEY
Children’s and Youth Work Committee and URC Youth invite you to:
Let’s celebrate: children and young people in the URC Wednesday 15th July 7-8pm
Come and share in an uplifting hour focusing on all that has been happening with 0 - 25s, thanking God and praying for the next steps.
This is a General Assembly online fringe event open to everyone – please secure your free place by booking: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lets-celebrate-children-and-young-people-in-the-urc-tickets-111150552294?aff=erelpanelorg
RESOURCES Welcome from the Editor Like many other organisations, GEAR are having to work and communicate differently in these post-Covid-19 days. It is not possible at the moment for us to distribute our Summer In GEAR magazine in printed form, and so we have taken the decision to send this email instead. In the body of this email you will see the introduction to several articles that we hope will encourage and strengthen you in your faith. Clicking on the 'read more' links will enable you to download a copy of each article. They're in a format that should be easy to print, and to distribute further should you wish. Paul reflects on Hebrews 12. "Like many, in recent weeks, I have balanced producing weekly mailings to folk in our church family whilst also pro-ducing a weekly service online. It still feels a little odd speaking to a camera rather than a congregation...." Read the full article here... <https://gear.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad&id=e875c2f9e7&e=0dde426a74> <https://mcusercontent.com/2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad/images/7452893d-390b-4901-ae8d-5e2a754b7cfe.jpg> Pray4URC We have had really encouraging feedback from the six week prayer initiative that has just concluded. Our weekly guests included the new and retiring General Secretaries and Moderators of General Assembly and we also had evenings focusing on Children and Young People and on Mission. We continue to see prayer as a vital part of church life and it has been good to model this and encourage others. Brian Harley, chair of GEAR Read some of the feedback here... <https://gear.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad&id=a00d668e06&e=0dde426a74> <https://mcusercontent.com/2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad/images/c7ec57ae-296a-4b87-bf89-478009dabb33.png>
Zooming Marvelous Ruth Sermon reflects on the positive impact that developing online worship resources has had for those living with disability. "Do you love or hate Zoom online services? Do you tolerate them because there’s no alternative just now?..." Read the full article here... <https://gear.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad&id=cf59c1eff4&e=0dde426a74> <https://mcusercontent.com/2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad/images/46a4f1f2-79c6-4d18-8678-480992e42375.png>
Updates from Andrew & Sally Willett "Sadly due to the lockdown GEAR’s Evangelism and Renewal Advocates, Rev Sally and Andrew Willett have had..." Read the full article here... <https://gear.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad&id=bdca2620a5&e=0dde426a74> <https://mcusercontent.com/2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad/images/f4561e92-28e8-4450-8b5e-91a2b15f4f6b.jpg>
"What will be our future?" Rev Ray and Nick Stanyon were inspired to write a hymn as we search for what God is asking of us in the future. The hymn is available for churches and individuals to use… Checkout the hymn and information here... <https://gear.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad&id=ee79ac28df&e=0dde426a74> <https://mcusercontent.com/2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad/images/b6a0aecf-6a81-4c48-9843-89ad933f4d19.jpg>
continued over………….
The Government has set out its plan to return life to as near normal as we can, for as many people as we can, as
. This page sets out Read
Continued: John the Baptist: A biography Paul Robinson reviews Charles Croll's new book, "John the Baptist: A Biography" "I remember that the churches where I was on placement during my ministerial training, followed the lectionary pattern for readings. I was amazed how often passages about John the Baptist came round..." Read the full article here... <https://gear.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad&id=9f431fb1cf&e=0dde426a74> <https://mcusercontent.com/2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad/images/d1baf4e1-4ddc-4f43-b373-1f53fd9c77a7.jpg>
Miracle of healing in bereavement Elizabeth Pilbro shares a personal testimony of knowing God's healing and comfort in bereavement. Read her testimony here... <https://gear.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad&id=99d5bb3405&e=0dde426a74> <https://mcusercontent.com/2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad/images/96c898a1-6e5e-4bf7-86af-bdf8354aeb9b.png>
Romans 1:11 Trust Jon Sermon, Chair of the Romans 1:11 Trust shares an update on their work and ministry in recent months. Read the full article here... <https://gear.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2f0f3dc9a988ed172e04150ad&id=6b8118d6b0&e=0dde426a74>
Contact us... Editor of In GEAR, Paul Robinson
✉️ [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
ADVICE TO CHURCHES ABOUT CORONAVIRUS
The United Reformed Church (URC) is offering advice and resources from a variety of sources about the
coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Stay at home/Stay alert. Protect the NHS. Save lives. God is with us.
The UK Government has published guidance for the safe use of places of worship from 4 July. We are currently
reviewing this guidance. It has also published guidance for small marriages and civil partnerships.
For full list of resources click here:
ASSISTANT TREASURER, South Western Synod - voluntary role
Do you have financial or investment experience?
We are looking for a volunteer to assist Dick Gray, the Synod Treasurer. The role will involve helping to manage the funds and investments that we hold as Trustee for our churches and attending Finance Committee and Trust Officers’ meetings at the Synod Office. You may also be asked to assist with calculating and recording M&M contributions from local churches.
Reasonable costs and expenses will be reimbursed and if necessary a computer and printer will be provided.
A role description will be formalised depending on your skills, aptitude and availability, however you will need to be IT literate and have relevant experience in finance and/or investments.
Please contact the Moderator to discuss the role: [email protected] , or send a letter or email to the Synod Office [email protected] explaining your interest and enclose a summary of your experience.