Christchurch Festival Choir

Remember 'The Choir' on the television, Gareth Malone and the Military Wives choir (they were number 1 at Christmas) – if you do and you always wanted to sing in a choir then read on !!

We have entered into the Hastings Music Festival in March and therefore need a choir to sing in the class! If you would like to join with us for this one off event then the details are below:

First rehearsal – Thursday 2 February 7.30 pm in the Church

Future rehearsals are likely to be on Thursday evenings at 6.30 pm before Christchurch Singers have their rehearsals. Everyone is welcome, experience is not vital and no auditions will be necessary!!

The date of the Hastings Festival class is Friday March 9th at White Rock Theatre Hastings in the evening so you will need to be free on this evening.

This will be a fun thing to be part of so please do come along to find out more on 2 Feb. If you would like more information please see Wendy Gorham or Chris Cox. Let's show what we can do!!

Thank You from Toybox.

An extract from a letter received by Pam Malpass from TOYBOX:

'Thank you for supporting Toybox during 2011 – your help has made a huge difference to the lives of street children in Latin America. This last year we have helped 11,000 children in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Bolivia and Peru. Thank you for making this possible. 2011 highlights include:

- The launch of the Red Alert network in Nicaragua. A network of 17 organisations and 12 churches is now working with Toybox to help the street children in the country’s capital.

- The Red Alert team in Bolivia has pushed forward the expansion of a Law on Children’s Rights, so that the law now provides better protection for street children across Bolivia.

- The El Castillo homes, which offer residential care for 42 children in Guatemala, have moved onto a brand new and more spacious site, called 'Hierbabuena'. The beautiful new site includes rooms for carpentry and bakery workshops, a library, a special educational needs classroom and a working vegetable garden.'

Introducing Ministerial Development Review

As disciples we all want to offer our best to God. As part of a community of disciples we all want to encourage and support one another in becoming the best we can be for God.

That is why this year your minister will be taking part in a new process of Ministerial Development Review. It will probably happen without most of you knowing when it is happening, but it’s important that you should be aware of the ways in which the church tries to support your minister and what you can do to offer support as well. This is what Martyn Atkins, the General Secretary of the Methodist church has written:

Ministerial Development Review has its roots in the Church’s responsibility to support its ministers, and in the Conference’s specific desire to provide a structured means for ministers to reflect on and review their ministry.

A key feature of Ministerial Development Review is the annual review meeting – a significant event which provides an important opportunity for ministers to share their reflections, insights and hopes with others who have a responsibility for their well-being and for their growth in ministry (one other minister and a lay person). But whilst the organisation and facilitation of the review meeting is a key task, Ministerial Development Review is about much more than this. At its core, it is not an annual event but an on-going process of collaborative reflection and learning, of reshaping ministry in the light of experience and feedback, of sharing and addressing blockages to progress and growth, and of celebrating successes and affirming gifts and graces.

It is my hope that Ministerial Development Review will strengthen the Christian ministry in which we share, and help us all as we focus on our prayerful and active intention to be a discipleship movement shaped for mission.

You can all help by regularly praying for the ministers in your circuit and their families. To realise that you are being prayed for by someone, sometimes without asking, can be very affirming. You may be asked to give some feedback about some area of your minister’s work. You will have been asked because your minister and those helping them in the review value your insights. If you are asked it’s an opportunity for you to encourage your minister to be the best they can be for God.

If you want to know more about Ministerial Development Review you can find out from the Methodist website and typing 'ministerial development review' into the search box.

John Hellyer - District Chair

2011 – The Year of the Bible

We should not forget all the special events and activities that we held last year to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the publication of the Authorised Version of the Bible. Thanks to all who helped in any way – it was good to read on the board about the favourite verse(s) loved by many at the church. Particular thanks to our Ministers (Stephen and then Ian), our Stewards and Wendy and the members of the Worship group, who have arranged various events. Many people have daily reading notes to link with the Bible – if you do not have such a helpful resource Pam Malpass would be delighted to help you.

Hopefully the Bible will continue to maintain its rightful place as central to our worship and our living,

Barry Turnwell

Churches Together In Bexhill

As I write this article we are starting out on the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity – an occasion when we can meet and worship with our Christian colleagues of different denominations. It will be a rewarding time, I feel, and particularly the united service at St Mary Magdalene’s RC Church (with the preacher being the Anglican Bishop of Lewes). That would not have happened 40 years ago!!

Now to the future, and the CTIB have many plans and one is the support for the Bexhill Street Pastors project that is moving forward. Also there will be changes to the Good Friday Walk of Witness (6th April). We intend to start at the De La Warr Pavilion and end at the Town Hall Square where a cross will be erected and left until Easter Day. There will then follow a united service at Sackville Road Methodist Church.

We are also looking at the summer open air hymn singing – where and at what time should we meet? Do let me know your views! It is an important outreach of the churches in Bexhill. You will see in the weekly diary that we are asked to pray particularly for a nominated church each time – please do note these details and pray for them.

On Saturday February 11th at 8.30am we will be hosting the 'Prayer, Praise and Walking' gathering in 'Centenary House' and do try to come along to this ecumenical group.

Barry Turnwell, Hon. Treasurer CTIB

News From Ninfield

By the time you read this we shall be at the beginning of another month. To many people, February is a month of dark and gloom, with the festivities of Christmas and the toimism of the New Year long forgotten and the prospect of Spring still a long way away. In medieval times, it was known as “the hunger gap” because the contents of the larder were becoming sparse and it would be months before country folk could expect to be eating fresh vegetables or fresh meat. And yet February has also traditionally been a time of optimism, for the first green shoots are beginning to appear, snowdrops and crocuses are emerging to brighten the dullest landscape and the days are growing perceptively longer.

May we at Ninfield look forward, not backward, to what God has to say to us. 'Always let Him lead you, and He will clear the road for you to follow' CEV. Proverbs 3:6.

We had a good attendance at our Carol Service in December led by Topsy and Derek. They are back in Greece but we shall see them again at the beginning of March. We have enjoyed two Guild meetings in January. Reverend Peter Timms gave a very interesting talk on “The Myra Story”. On the 18th, we had to choose our favourite Bible verses or passages, led by Margaret. You are all welcome to this time of fellowship.

Flower Power

We are most grateful to those who supply, arrange and distribute the flowers that we enjoy in church every Sunday. There is a rota in the Vestibule and it would be appreciated if more people would feel able to supply flowers on a particular Sunday to grace our Communion area. If you are unsure what is required do speak to Joyce Pass or Carol Johnson who will be delighted to help. It would be wonderful to see all the weeks taken! Thank you!

Stewards’ Scribblings,

Although somewhat belated, may we wish you all a very Happy New Year. We trust that you have enjoyed the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany periods and that you are now all set for a good and healthy 2012.

December is always a very hectic but exciting time and that is exactly how we found it this year at Christchurch, with the different times and types of services and of course, a new Minister to lead them, but we are sure you will agree, Ian has coped magnificently and it has been great to have him lead our worship.

During our December sermons, mention was made regarding the giving and receiving of gifts, and we were reminded the greatest gift of all, was God's gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. As an adult, we would have no argument with this but as a child, as well as the wonder of the Christmas story, much of the excitement of Christmas is wondering just what one might receive from Father Christmas. As adults though, with families of our own, it is not the receiving, but the giving, which brings the excitement, and this thought set our minds twirling as to just how much giving has gone on at Christchurch.

During the month of December, through various activities and services, we have supported the following charities or needy groups, namely JMA, Kabubbu, Surviving Christmas, The Street Pastors of Bexhill, Young B.L.O.D.S., Action for Children, and the Methodist Relief and Development Fund, Most of this support was in the form of finance, and almost £1,100 has been raised and distributed, and of course at our Gift Day service we received food, clothing, toiletries, toys etc. which we passed to the Hastings charity for distribution to the needy folk of Bexhill and Hastings.

As well as the £1,100 mentioned above (which does not include monies collected from our normal service offertory amounts), anonymous Christmas donations to church funds were also received, and in some cases these were Gift Aided which increases the donated amount – if you wish to know more about this scheme for your weekly donations or any amounts given to the church at any time, please have a word with Barry or Ernie.

Of course, all our services involve a lot of people giving their time and talents for our congregation to enjoy – not to mention of course all the time the Ministers and Local Preachers give to leading our worship. We feel we are so blessed at Christchurch to have such a generous church family, who give not only financially, but also their time, talents, advice, help, friendship, and encouragement so willingly, as is depicted by the decoration of the church, with the three nativity scenes, all different, but telling the same story, the candles, the Remembrance banner, the beautiful Christmas tree, and of course, as always, the beautiful floral arrangements.

May we at this stage say a big 'thank you' from the Stewards for all the above giving and for the help and kind words of encouragement we have received from you throughout the year and especially during the Christmas period – it has been greatly appreciated. We now look forward to spring and of course our Anniversary celebrations and Easter, but until then we send you all our best wishes.

Sandy, on behalf of The Steward Team

Centenary House News

The Circuit Church and Community Centre (adjacent to our church) has been a busy little place of late! The Euro partner Student Groups have used the premises regularly for nine weeks and this has proved most successful for all concerned. We have just had some damp treatment to walls downstairs and these are at present drying out. We will then decorate and put back the various things that had to be removed - radiators, rails, toilet etc.! and we should then be all smart for the winter season.

A new outside rail has been fitted (thank you Geoff) and the centre is regularly cleaned (thank you Mandy) the garden looked after (thank you Terry) and is the site of the Circuit Office (Administrator Helen Mitchell) and the various groups that meet regularly. Do please publicise the facilities and I will be pleased to show anyone around and I deal with the bookings. To church groups it is free and to other users we charge £8 per room per hour (considered to be very reasonable).

Sadly although we have a management Committee we lack a treasurer and we were hoping that an offer of help would come from a member of another church in our circuit but to date nothing has been heard. We still need help and we are grateful to Peter Watson (chairman of the committee) who is holding the fort.

If you are interested in hiring rooms at Centenary House, please see our Room Hire page for details.

Barry Turnwell

2011 Carnival Photos!

Below are a selection of photos showing our winning carnival float from 2011!

Christchurch Singers Need New Members

Did you know that the Christchurch Singers would like some new members?

Here are some reasons you might give for not joining:

1. I can't sing in tune. - Bet you can, you just think you can't.
2. I can't reach the high notes. - Some of us mime (but don't tell the conductor!)
3. I haven't got a particularly good voice. - You won't be singing a solo!
4. I can't read music. - So? Neither can some of us!
5. I don't know anybody in the choir. - You soon will.
6. I'm too old or too young. - Rubbish
7. I don't go to Christchurch. - Just under half the choir come from other churches or none
8. I haven't got any more excuses. - Then come along on a Thursday night at 7.15 pm!

A Bit About Christchurch Junior Church...

What do we do? We learn about our Christian faith through:

Arts and crafts *** Stories *** Music *** Games *** Drama *** Bible reading *** Friendship and fun

When and Where?

Children from the age of 3 years and upwards are invited to attend. There are currently three groups: Primary, Junior and Senior. These groups run on Sundays from 10.30am to approx 11.30am.

All of the Junior Church groups are run by CRB checked Church Volunteers.

The children begin by joining the congregation in the church and then come out and use the rooms adjoining the church and in Centenary House. Once a month there is a Family Service in which Junior Church members participate, details of which can be found in the monthly Newsletter.

For more details please do contact us and we will be delighted to see you.

Christchurch Timbrels

Just a bit about the tambourine. It isn't every ones chosen instrument, and it isn't the easiest to play, but an instrument it is. We at Christ Church have chosen to use it in God's service.In the darker evenings we like to use our tambourines with lights on. (Very effective!)

We are often asked to play away from Christchurch. These occasions have been received with enthusiasm and return visits have always been requested. We have enjoyed these times very much and they make our practices together worthwhile, but even if we didn't have these times, our practices are happy and good fun.

This practice time is for those who feel the need to move on and be a little more ambitious. For those who would like extra practice time, this is extended on Thursday to begin at 5.30pm . The extra practice period is also open for those at Christ Church who would like to come along and try their hand at a new and challenging experience.

Please ask for more information (Tambourines are supplied) or please come and join us at 5.30pm on Thursdays to see if you are made for the tambourine experience.

Info For Teens from Network

As part of the new Methodist Children website, an exciting, new, free weekly texting service Mctxt4u was launched in October for the 9-13s and over fifteen hundred texts have been sent out including prayers, jokes, news and bible text challenges.

If you know of a young person who would enjoy this new way of keeping in touch let them know about this wonderful new development by Methodist children.

To join simply text to 07786205203 to receive weekly texts. Free promotional wallet cards are available from mph, tel. 01733 325002. Why not hand them out to your groups or pass them onto other groups in your area?

For all the latest information go to:
Mctxt4u

Can you help Christchurch?

Christchurch needs more stewards. The job isn't difficult or as time consuming as you might think. What do stewards do?

• help to care for the Church family
• prepare the Church for services
• look after the Minister
• read the notices
• count the collection
• attend a few, infrequent meetings

If you would like to know more, please have a word with one of the stewards or speak to Stephen, the Minister.