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'Outlook' Newsletter for May 2007

It is great to be back at St Barnabas following my three months study leave. Thank you for allowing me the privilege. I would like to record a special thanks to Nick for taking the reigns during that time. Many of you have commented on how well and competently Nick led the Church while I was away.

New PCC members were elected at the Annual Parish Meeting in April. This particular PCC will have some very major decisions to make during the course of the next year. We will have to decide which way to go with the proposed re-ordering. Do we go ahead, and if so what will the details of that look like? The Queens Road house will fall vacant in a few weeks time when Sheila and Keith set up home just outside Middlesbrough. What are we to do with the house?

There are personnel changes afoot too. As from the end of March Sheila has relinquished her responsibilities as Pastoral Assistant, a role she has fulfilled wonderfully for almost four years now. We are very grateful to Sheila for the unstinting way she has served the church and used her clear pastoral gifts in the Lord’s service. Sheila will continue as Director of Music for the time being but has indicated she would like to retire from that post some time next year. As has already been announced Diane Wood is stepping down as choir mistress at the beginning of the choir’s summer break. We are deeply grateful to Diane for her years of service in this capacity. We are hugely privileged at St Barnabas to enjoy such a high standard and such a wide range of music at our services, thanks in no small part in recent years to Diane. In the normal course of events Nick’s training curacy at St Barnabas will come to an end some time next year. Plans need to be put in place for that, not least for how the excellent work amongst 18-30 year olds is to be developed.

In September we will be introducing cell church for those who wish to be involved in this new way of doing home groups. They will be called, ‘Life Groups’ and will meet weekly in homes. Each evening will be structured around four W’s: Welcome, Worship, Word and Witness. The intention is that we should be able to enjoy the level of fellowship the Home Groups provide whilst at the same time being better geared to welcome and accommodate new people. If the scheme works as it should and Life Groups multiply every two years or so there will also be opportunity for us to get to know well a wider range of people in the church fellowship. Those who wish to stay in Home Groups as they are will be able to do so. There will be more information available nearer the time but in the meantime the summer sermon series, ‘Life worthy of our calling’ is based around the values which underlie cell church. These values are: Christ and the centre; Every member ministry; Learning and growing; Loving one another; and Seeking to multiply. I realise these are already the values we hold dear at St Barnabas, but the Life Groups will, I believe, prove an effective vehicle for living those values.

I have a very clear sense that we are being charged with the awesome responsibility of preparing the church for the future. As I said at the APM we have been given a wonderful legacy at St Barnabas, a legacy which has been built up by the love, sacrifice and commitment of many. We can choose selfishly to live off that legacy, or to build on it for the future. We will not be able to build on it in our own strength, nor should we rush for easy answers and quick fixes. Prayer and listening will be the keys to getting it right. If we do that, and humbly open ourselves to God’s will, the Holy Spirit will move in our midst to make his will clear to us.

There will be a PCC Vision Day on Saturday 12^th May. Please pray for the PCC on that day. If we build on the foundation of our values and our vision is clear then many of the other decisions we have to make should fall more easily into place.

We are being called to this adventure together. Inevitably when big decisions have to be made there will be different voices calling and various opinions aired. That will be a vital part of the process, but in the end we should be seeking a common mind, the mind of Christ our Lord. Please be patient during this process and above all let everything be done in love that God may be glorified in and through us and the ministry of St Barnabas Church remain fruitful and vibrant for generations to come.

‘Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.’ Ephesians 4:2-6

With love in Christ

Erik

Wednesday 9th May Home groups meet

Tuesday 15th May Mission interest group meets in the narthex, 7.30 p.m.

Thursday 17th May Ascension Day, Holy Communion, 6.30 p.m. in church

Wednesday 23rd May Home groups meet

Friday 25th May Lydia group meets, 2 p.m. in the Supper Room

Sunday 27th May Pentecost

Wednesday 30th May Monthly church prayer meeting, 8 p.m. in the narthex

Wednesday 6th June Home groups meet

Sunday 10th June 10.15 a.m. Confirmation

Sunday 17th June 10.15 a.m. Family Parade Service

Wednesday 20th June Home groups meet

Wednesday 27th June Monthly church prayer meeting, 8 p.m. in the narthex

Friday 29th June Lydia group meets, 2 p.m. in the Supper Room

Wednesday 4th July Home groups meet

Funerals

20th April Mavis Pacey

Offerings

Offerings in May £15,247

Restricted (for specific purposes) £789

Erik welcomed the new members of the PCC. He outlined a number of big issues that the PCC have to tackle. The PCC agreed to put a day aside on Saturday 12th May to consider these.

The various sub-committees of the PCC, buildings, finance and mission, were elected. Bob Parkin gave the report on work done on the buildings in the last month.

As you may have seen in the Gazette, the congregation of the Middlesbrough Seventh Day Adventist Church are meeting in our church hall on a Saturday.

There are over 14 million Seventh-day Adventists worldwide. The name of the church is based on two of its beliefs: ‘Seventh-day’, because they worship on a Saturday and ‘Advent’, because they look forward to the advent, the second coming, of Jesus. While we may differ from them in some things we believe and the way we do things, we have a lot in common. They believe like us in God as Trinity, that Jesus, God’s Son, died on the cross for our sins and was raised from the dead, that God speaks to us through the Bible and that Jesus can make a difference in our lives.

On a practical note, could any St Barnabas groups wanting to use the hall on a Saturday give Barbara Edwards as much notice as possible, so that we can do our best to accommodate everyone. Thank you.

Alejandro and Doris Mesco send their greetings from Cabanaconde where they are working towards completion of a new building where they will reside and use for hospitality and outreach to the remote Andean villages in the surrounding area. Above is a picture of the house and they next hope to install electricity and sewerage. Alejandro has been visiting some of the villages and the first to come out to meet him were the children. They also met other travellers and were able to converse and talk to them about Christ.

His companion which helps him with the loads is the donkey as there are no road, only paths which can be dangerous and very narrow. There are also people who cannot walk and get to the village and so stay in their places until the Lord takes them to Himself.

Alejandro and Doris remember St. Barnabas in their prayers and pray that God will help us in our moments of need.

My trip to Delhi went well. I went as part of a Transform team. Transform is a ministry of Tearfund. They organize trips that go all over the world. The trips can last anything from two weeks to four months. It’s a fairly long involved process to get on one of these teams and you have to attend an orientation weekend and be interviewed. However, it is well worth all the effort and I thoroughly recommend anyone to go on one of these trips. There is no age barrier (luckily). You simply need to be a committed Christian with a taste for adventure (and I got plenty of that).

Our trip lasted two weeks and we were guests of the Asha charity. This charity is working in about 48 slums in Delhi – mainly involved in health and development issues. There is a strong Christian ethos and there is a weekly prayer meeting in most (if not all) of the slums to which anyone is welcome to come. Our group attended two prayer meetings. One was in the slum where we were working and one was in another slum. There were about 20 or so women in each prayer meeting. They sang songs, danced, shared testimonies about how God had answered their prayers, and prayed in small groups. The Bible was read. So the Gospel is definitely being proclaimed. The challenge is to take this initiative further and encourage the people to join churches.

Our group worked in a slum called Ana Nagar. There are about 7000 people living in this slum. It wasn’t quite as desperate as I had been expecting though it was easy to tell that you were in a slum. People lived in tiny houses but these varied quite a lot. Some had televisions. We were decorating the community centre. In practice this meant painting wall murals.

Education is one of the big issues for these people. Relatively few people were literate. Only one person spoke English (apart from the Asha employee). So they tend to be at an immediate disadvantage in society. However, the women are learning to stand up for themselves. We gathered that the children were more likely to stay in education – though there is some pressure to get out onto the streets and start earning money.

This is a terrific project. Asha is doing a lot of good work.. People are hearing the Good News. The money we send is being well spent. I commend this project to you. Thank you very much for supporting Tearfund.

The Kirbys

Both the Sanctuary Project and The Chocolate Box Project continue to develop.

It is hoped that the drop-in will be opened by the end of May and it is envisaged, at least initially, that it will take place at Christ Church. The volunteers are a diverse group, some from Christ Church where we are based, some from the local community here in Pitsmoor and others from wider parts of the city. Each one comes with unique gifts and skills which will be a great strength as we seek to befriend women from different backgrounds who are involved in street prostitution.

It is still difficult to know whether the women we are aiming to befriend will come and access the drop-in a) because the Church is a good distance from the Red Light District although in walking distance and b) simply because of the chaotic nature of the lives of the women, the expectation for them to access anything is minimal. We are hoping to give out cards with the details of the drop-in when we accompany St Thomas’ Church on outreach. Vanessa is also thinking of doing some intensive outreach with the volunteers every night for a couple of weeks when the drop-in open’s with the primary aim of giving out the cards and advertising the service. The drop-in will be a safe space for the women to come to, a place for them to chat and have a drink and something to eat and receive prayer. The vision is that in time a ‘spiritual space’ will be developed within the drop-in were the women can explore spirituality.

-For Vanessa as she coordinates the team, as she organises on going training for the volunteers and as she networks with many agencies around the city who also work with the women

- Pray for safety for Vanessa and the team of volunteers as they meet the women both in the drop-in and when they are out on the streets involved in outreach

- Pray for relationships to be built up with the women we meet and that they would quickly learn to trust us

- Pray for discernment for each member of the team as we relate to the women whose lives are very chaotic and complicated by drug and /or alcohol addictions

- Pray for the drop-in that the women would instantly feel safe there, that there would be a relaxed and friendly atmosphere and that God’s peace would be very evident

The past few months have been quite amazing. A small community came together to occupy some empty council flats which were to be knocked down. The nationalities were varied - Iranian, Congolese, English, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Iraqi, Spanish and Scottish - 9 men and one woman in all. They all shared a communal living area, bathroom and kitchen. Although this was a desperate situation where people had taken shelter, and in some cases people had no other option but the street, everyone got on so well. The mental and social health of the men improved no end. Sadly the council have taken action to gain possession of the flats so everyone has had to move on. Most have gone into temporary accommodation on a week by week basis. It looks as if one man may be out on the street. We hope new accommodation will be available soon.

We have kept contact with the men. In the meantime we have been donated a caravan! So I have been busy linking with a New Age traveller site nearby so we can plonk it there and get the community to look out for the destitute men who hopefully will be arriving soon.

- New accommodation to become available

- Some movement by local government structures to accept that there is a problem of destitution on our streets.

- Suitable person for the caravan

- Friendships and contact with the men will be kept up

- Gods guidance for the next step of the project

We thank you for your continued support for our ministry here in Pitsmoor. We are grateful and give thanks that so many people partner with us, which enables us to reach out with God’s gift of hope and happiness.

May you experience the gift of Easter in all its fullness

With much love

Jeff and Vanessa Kirby