Foxton & Gartree Community Choir

Magnify Youth Event

You and the young people you work with are warmly invited to attend MAGNIFY on Saturday 19th March. This year Magnify will aim to present the good news about Jesus through drama dance and music, sound, light, screen and word. All this will be done by our young people aged between 10 and 22! 

We hope it will be an enjoyable and challenging evening wherever you are on your journey of faith. All young people from age 10 upwards are welcome to come, and the people who need to transport them, if they are coming a long way.

Admission is completely free and refreshments will be free too!

Whether you have young people who desperately need to hear about the love of Jesus, or young people who need some encouragement to keep going and keep growing in their Christian faith...this is the event for you.

More details are available on the downloadable poster..see the link below.

It would be great to see you there. If you intend to bring some young people, it would be helpful to have a rough idea of how many before the event if possible.

God Bless

Ali Goodman

St Luke's youth worker

Download a PDF poster HERE

Making Sense of Scripture

A Course during Lent at St Wilfrid’s.

Lent is a good time to take up a new challenge; so here’s an invitation!

Reading the Bible is not always easy for us.  We need to remember that it’s made up of different types of literature.  Poetry is quite different to prose, and each needs to be read in different ways.  We might find that we can make some sense of the Gospels, yet we’re bewildered by Proverbs or the Prophets.

This course gives practical guidelines on how to read these different types of books which we find in the Bible.  The first hour of each session will involve teaching and discussion, led by Bill Goodman.  Then the second hour will be about putting it into practice, probably in pairs or in a group.  You could do this with other members of your Home Group, if you choose to come along together.  Each evening is self-contained, so missing one or two is not a problem. 

We’ll meet on Wednesday evenings, in St Wilfrid’s Church Hall in Kibworth.  We’ll begin each evening at 7.30pm (7.15 if you’d like coffee), and finish at 9.30pm.  Here’s the plan:

March 16^th       Lost in Translations:             Which Bible Shall I Read?

    Caring Conversations:          How to Read the New Testament Letters

March 23^rd     Striking Stories:                     How to Read Biblical Narratives

March 30^th      Four Stories of One Story:    How to Read the Gospels

April 6^th          Praying Poetry:                     How to Read the Psalms (and Wisdom)

April 13^th           Proclaiming and Predicting:  How to Read the Prophets (and Law)

April 20^th        Revealing Mysteries:             How to Read the Apocalyptic Books

Whether you know the Bible well, or hardly at all, you should find something worthwhile here.  Do come along – all welcome!

Bill Goodman

From attending to Belonging to Contributing: as simple as ABC?

Over the past year over 1,300 people, who weren’t previously members of any church, joined the worshipping communities that make up the Church of England in Leicester and Leicestershire. This is great news, but it also presents a challenge.

Many of those that are new haven’t grown up with the Christian story, language, symbols or being part of any church, in any way. Added to which the experience of many is that often church communities, with their strong sense of fellowship, can be difficult places to join in their own right. How then might we help those who are new to church to become fully a part of our worshipping communities, able to contribute their gifts and grow deeper as disciples of Jesus?

We are delighted to welcome Bob Jackson to help us think further about this. Bob is the best selling author of Hope for the Church and The Road to Growth, co-author of major new welcome course, Everybody Welcome, experienced parish priest, and former Archdeacon of Walsall & Growth Officer for the Diocese of Lichfield. Whether you are a church leader, member of a church council, Churchwarden, Sidesperson, part of a welcome team, Mission Partnership Convenor, Mission Action Group member, Area Dean, archdeacon mission committee member or just interested in the topic, you are most welcome to join Bob for this special one-off gathering organised under the banner of Shaped by God: the diocesan vision for mission.

As the topic is so important, the session will run twice. Once in a slightly extended format in the morning and once in the evening on the same day:
Wednesday 13th October 2010

Extended morning session
Time: 9:30am-1:00pm (with coffee and pastries from 9:15am)
Location: St Paul’s Church, Hamble Road, Oadby, Leicester
Free parking in St. Paul’s car park

Repeated evening session
Time: 7:30-9:30pm (with coffee and pastries from 7:15pm)
Location: Emmanuel Church, Forest Road, Loughborough
Free parking in Emmanuel’s two car parks

Both sessions are free to attend, but, with demand expected to be high and limited places, book soon to avoid disappointment!).
Bookings to Carol (carol.gibbons@leccofe.org or 0116 248 7411).
For more information contact Mission Enabler, Barry Hill, barry.hill@leccofe.org or 0116 248 7435.

Special Resourcing Gatherings 2010

for Mission Partnership Action Groups, Convenors, Area Deans,
Archdeaconry Mission Committees and anyone else who would like to come!

Evening for lay members of Mission Action Groups (PMAGs)
Wednesday 23rd June, 7:45pm – 9:30pm, St. Paul’s, Oadby
A new addition to this years timetable, a gathering for just lay members of Partnership Mission Action Groups. Based on an idea from Watermead Mission Partnership, which worked really well, it’s an opportunity to share, discuss and pray together. There is no cost for the evening, but booking at least a week before hand is essential.

Bookings to Carol (carol.gibbons@leccofe.org or 0116 248 7411).

Morning or Evening with Bob Jackson for all
Wednesday 13th October, EITHER 9:30am-1pm, St. Paul’s, Oadby
OR 7:30pm-9:30pm, the same day, at Emmanuel, Loughborough
Best selling author of Hope for the Church and The Road to Growth, co-author of major new welcome course, Everybody Welcome, experienced parish priest, and former Archdeacon of Walsall/Growth Officer for the Diocese of Lichfield, Bob Jackson is one of this countries most respected experts on church growth and welcome. With a wealth of anecdotal experience and statistical evidence, he brings a fresh, and at times challenging, take on church growth. During the longer morning session and repeated in slightly shorter form the same night, Bob looks at what it means to be a welcoming church, set in the wider context of the changing times we live in. Everyone is welcome to this important session together.
There is no cost for the morning, but booking at least a week before hand is essential (although places are limited and demand expected to be high so book soon to avoid disappointment!).
Bookings to Carol (carol.gibbons@leccofe.org or 0116 248 7411).

Next Event:

Away Day - 'Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done'

Saturday 19th September 2009

10.00am – 4.00pm

Gartree House, Illston on the Hill

Led by Revd. Ludger Fremmer, of St Wilfrid's, Kibworth.

A time to get together and get to know each other as well as some input and a time for reflection. Organised by the Mission Partnership Convenor, The Rev'd Helen Bence.

For further information please contact Liz Smith on 0116 241 4270 or email admin@thurnbychurch.com

Stoughton Hosts Mission Partnership Joint Choral Evensong

Around 100 people representing many of our Mission Partnership Churches gathered together on Sunday 9th May at St Mary and All Saints Church Stoughton for Choral Evensong. The 22 strong choir was led by Janet Arthur from Smeeton Westerby and the organist was Arthur Whitfield from Great Glen. The music was chosen to mark the 250th anniversary of Handel's death and included the Alleluia Chorus, which sounded magnificent in the superb accoustic of the church.

After the service, the north aisle provided a spacious place to serve refreshments and for the congregation to enjoy each other's company.

Over the summer, there will be two joint evensong services, at Hungarton on 21st June and at Carlton Curlieu on 19th July.Then, in November we will be holding a joint Songs of Praise service, celebrating the mission activity taking place in churches within the partnership at St Luke's Thurnby at 6.30 pm on Sunday 15th November.

Lambeth Conference Open Meeting with the Bishop

The Rt Revd Tim Stevens, Bishop of Leicester will address an OPEN MEETING about this important event on WEDNESDAY, 17th SEPTEMBER 2008 at 7.30 pm at ST WILFRID’S CHURCH, KIBWORTH.
Members of the Gartree Deanery Synods extend a warm welcome to anyone who would like to attend.
EVERYONE WELCOME

Resources from our Quiet Day

Details of our first Quiet Day including information from Alison Morgan about what was focussed on, quotes and questions is available as a pdf here.

A summary of "Unlocking the Door – Evangelism in the Real World" by Ruth Adams and Jan Harney is available here.

For further information about Alison and resources available please visit Resource.

An Evening for PCC / DCC Members with ReSource

Advance notice so that you can get the date in your church and personal diaries.

As a partnership, we want to be enablers of the work PCCs and DCCs are doing to further mission in their parishes. To this end we have arranged an evening of essential training for mission for all PCC and DCC members in the 16 partnership churches from 7.30-9.30 on Thursday 2nd October at St Peter's Centre Oadby. The evening will be led by Alison Morgan and Martin Cavender of ReSource. It is hoped that every PCC and DCC in the Mission Partnership will arrange to come together to begin the work of putting mission at the forefront of our agendas. Those of you who have already benefitted from Alison's input will know the evening will be "good value." I can tell you from personal experience that Martin's input will be equally helpful.