Dear Friends
The sun is shining with that intensity you often only experience when the skies are clear and there is no wind. The snow drops are continuing to bloom and the daffodils are starting to peep out. Do you ever have that deep breath moment when it is as if God was whispering those immortal words from Psalm 46.10? ‘Be still and know that I am God!’
What is happening at church?
As a church we are moving into that season of our annual church meeting (APCM). This year we are asking you to sign up again to be on the parish electoral roll (more of that later). At St John’s we are starting to do some serious building work and at St Paul’s we are trying out chairs rather than pews and putting in a new AV system ahead of the launch of Alpha after Easter. This also continues to be a year of prayer as we pray for a new vision for our diocese.
Building work at St John’s
Many of you know that a small group of us have been working with fundraisers to bid for serious grants in order to make repairs to our spire, roof and walls. We hope this will lead to the return of the school, the use of the cellar again and some much-needed decoration throughout and over the longer term a more eco-friendly heating system. The first tranche of money has arrived in the form of a legacy but do join us in praying for our next bid for funds from Benefact Trust.
Annual Church Meeting
I would love to encourage more of you to join the annual meeting and would also love it if some of the newer folk would consider becoming a church warden or assistant church warden (ask me for a role description).
This year I am planning to share a review of the year during the service, so there will be more time for questions later. The meeting will take after the service at St Johns on 18th May.
Every few years the Church of England request that we renew our electoral roll of those people who live in the parish and regularly attend the church. If you still want to be on our electoral roll Kath Jones will be sending out forms that can be filled in either as a paper copy or electronically by email.
Reaching in & Alpha
You probably remember me saying in January that the Ministry team feel that we need to put more emphasis on the ‘reaching in’ part of our Vision this year. (Reach up, Reach in and Reach out). Many people feel comfortable in church, but they feel less comfortable in understanding their faith enough to share it with others. That is where Alpha comes in. Although Alpha is seen as a course for those exploring faith, it has also been used by churches as a sort of ‘spiritual MOT’ for those who have been around church but perhaps would like a refresher, maybe even want to ‘experience’ God more. I often talk about the Holy Spirit as the power to live out the Christian faith. Alpha puts more emphasis on this area of our faith and many in the church have wonderful testimonies of how it has transformed their Christian life. My hope is that we will offer a rolling programme of Alphas each year.
If you want to know more, click here https://youtu.be/fViYK_Xb3Wg?si=_L8YVXVoqO0ktsy_ or ask someone to take you along. We will meet over 10 weeks on a Sunday evening starting at 5pm for a delicious home-cooked meal, some short videos and then some discussion. Alpha puts a big emphasis on fun, food, friendship aswell as faith and there is no cost. And we love to hear your questions! We start at St Paul’s on Sunday 27th April at 5pm. While Alpha is aimed at adults there will be activities for children too. And we even have some of our youth taking part.
My hope is that many of you will join Alpha as team, as hosts, as guests. For this reason all Connect Groups will be suspended while Alpha is on. We want this to be something we do together to grow our church as people experience faith for the first time, experience community, healing, the gifts of the Spirit and develop a deeper relationship with God. Is God tapping you on the shoulder? Please do join us!
We are a praying church
And finally, don’t forget to join us for Bishop Philip’s Lent course (happening in various locations across the parish) which will be preparing us to celebrate Easter. There will be the Maundy Thursday meal, the walk up the Coppice and the reflective service on Good Friday. We will have communion services and Easter egg hunts in both churches on Easter Sunday.
At the end of May and during Alpha we will be joining with other churches across Accrington as part of a prayer movement called ‘Thy Kingdom Come’. We will be praying for our friends and neighbours to come to know Jesus for ten days from Ascension Day to Pentecost. Many of the churches in Accrington will be organising different prayer activities over each of the 10 days (Thursday May 29th to Sunday June 8th). Details to follow.
As I finish, I want to give a shout out to all who make this Parish of JohnPaul a spiritual home through guides, knit and natter, services, toddler groups, pastoral care and Connect groups. It is exciting to see what God has in store for us!
May God bless you!
Amanda and the Ministry team at JohnPaul