St John the Baptist Church Hungarton

St John the Baptist Church Hungarton St John the Baptist Church Hungarton St John the Baptist Church, Hungarton will be holding its Patronal Festival to celebrate the Feast of St John the Baptist on Sunday 28th June at 3.30 pm. The service will be led by Rev'd Paula Hollingsworth and the choir will be the school choir of Houghton on the Hill Church of England School

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.

Kibworth & Fleckney Praise

Pentecost marks a significant step in the development of the Christian faith. As everybody met together, the Spirit came and rested upon them.
Prophecies were fulfilled on that day, and many people came to follow Jesus.
Peter encouraged people to repent and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. This was the promise made to all.
On Sunday 31 May we will be celebrating Pentecost as we all meet together to relive the promise.
This is an event for everybody - the promise is for you, your children and those still far off.
4pm, Sunday 31 May at St Wilfrid's Church, Kibworth. There will be a family picnic afterwards.
Organised jointly by St Wilfrid's Church, Kibworth; Kibworth Methodist Church and New Life Church – Fleckney.

Leicestershire Rural Partnership Rural Conference – 19th June

On Friday 19th June 2009 at Hothorpe Hall, nr Theddingworth, Leicestershire, LE17 6QX
The event will run from 9.30 a.m. until 3:00pm with lunch provided.

This year the keynote speaker will be Dr. Stuart Burgess, Rural Advocate and Chairman of the Commission for Rural Communities (CRC).

Taking the CRC’s lead this year’s Conference will be framed around Planning for Sustainable Communities.

More details are available on the RCC Newsletter online at here

Conference on Rural Evangelism

Conference on Rural Evangelism – Wednesday 3^rd June, Selly Oak

at the International Mission Centre
.

Evangelism in rural areas is not an easy task, though both history and contemporary experience prove that, with a little careful understanding, appropriate and effective ways of sharing the gospel can be found. A day conference on June 3^rd at Selly Oak, Birmingham will be exploring what works and why. It has been organised by the Rural Evangelism Network. This is an open event but it is important to book in advance.

The Network is a national and ecumenical forum of practitioners, teachers and others drawn from the Churches and specialist mission organisations. In addition to exploring general principles there will be focus groups on various segments of the rural population such as farmers, men, and children. Other focus groups will explore fresh expressions of church in rural areas and even church planting. The programme runs from 10.00 to 4.00 and costs £25 (including lunch). There is a limited amount of overnight accommodation available on the 2^nd June for an extra £20. The venue is the International Mission Centre in Weoley Park Road, Selly Oak. Further enquiries can be made to the Rev’d Barry Osborne at 4, Clarence Street, Market Harborough, on 01858-414 930 or email ren@ruralmissions.org.uk

Or visit website: http://www.ruralmissions.org.uk

Leicestershire Funding Toolkit – funding for local Community / Village Groups

Are you a local community group still in need of funding?
Why not re-visit, or have a look on the Leicestershire Funding Toolkit website where you can find advice and information on funding for voluntary and community groups in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. Advice includes preparing for funding applications, developing your budget, defining your project outcomes, writing an application and what to do next. You can also search the database for over 4,000 potentially available funds, to find links to local documents and evidence to build up your grant application and find contact details of funding advisors who can help.
For all this and more please visit: http://www.fundingtoolkit.org/

From: Suzanne Kinder; Leicestershire County Council
Email: skinder@leics.gov.uk
(The toolkit is a one-stop website which provides FREE funding information and advice to Leicestershire’s voluntary and community organisations. It has been developed to help improve the ability of voluntary and community sector organisations to successfully bid for funding).

Multimedia Operators Course

Opportunity to attend a Multimedia Operators Course for churches

Saturday 25^th April
.

This is just to let you know that The Family Friendly Churches Trust is running a Multimedia Operators Course in your area on April 25th starting at 10:30. The day is at St Pauls, Bordesley Green in Birmingham. This is a day designed for those who will be operating projection equipment in churches week by week. The cost for the day is just £30.

The day will take the following form:

10:30am Introduction to PowerPoint covering Text, Images, Backgrounds and Transitions – also loading words of hymns quickly and use of video and music. A guide to effective preparation and “on the day” operation.
12:45 p.m. Lunch
1:30pm How to use PowerPoint in twin-screen format with Presentation Manager and loading hymns “on demand”; followed by an exploration of hymn projection software.

4:45/5:00 p.m. Finish

We can provide laptops (sometimes one per 2 people) or you can bring your own (please check the spec. first).

You can find out more about the day and book a place at www.familyfriendlychurches.org.uk/Operspec.htm

Please feel free to forward this onto others who might find this course helpful.

From: Rev’d Dr Mike Bossingham - General Manager, The Family Friendly Churches Trust,

Mike@Bossingham.com

Bishop's Lay Congress 2009

At Samworth Enterprise Academy
09.15am - 3.30pm

“Reasons to be cheerful”: Sharing faith in everyday life

Spend a day with the Bishop of Leicester reflecting on how it is that we can both enjoy and share our faith more fully in everyday life.

With guest-speaker, Stephen Cotterell, Bishop of Reading. Bishop Stephen has worked in parishes in London and Chichester, as Pastor of Peterborough Cathedral, as Missioner in the Wakefield diocese and as part of “Springboard”, the Archbishop’s evangelism team. He has written widely about evangelism, spirituality and discipleship.

Among Bishop Stephen’s recent books are: From the Abundance of the Heart: catholic evangelism for all Christians (DLT 2006); Do Nothing to Change your Life; discovering what happens when you stop (CHP 2007); Hit the Ground Kneeling; seeing leadership differently (CHP 2008) and a book of Lent and Holy Week meditations The Things He Carried (SPCK 2008). He is married to Rebecca and they have three boys.

Please put the date in your diary - further information will be available in the summer.

Mike Harrison - Director of Mission and Ministry; Leicester Diocese

email: Mike.Harrison@LecCofE.org Email: Claire.Stapleton@LecCofE.org

Tel 0116 248-7428 / 0116 248-7417

Back To Church Sunday

BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY - 27th September 2009
The time of year has come again to start thinking and planning for 'Back to Church Sunday' 2009. Back to Church Sunday is about each member of your congregation inviting someone to come to church. To get this process rolling there are two things I need you to do:
· First of all send an email now registering your church: carol.gibbons@LeCCofE.org
· Then you will need to complete an order form for your resources. The order form will be sent to you presently but if you want to take a look at the resources available visit: www.backtochurch.co.uk
There is also a 'top tips' section on the Back to Church Sunday website that may prove useful.