Author Archives: Amanda Marshall

Moving towards Christmas

Dear JohnPaul Family Moving towards Christmas It has been a while since I have written as I seem to have been dealing with quite a few difficult issues in the life of the church. These have taken up an excessive amount of time and I am sorry that I might not have been as visible recently.  If you ever need to catch up with me, do email or text me as I love to meet up for a brew! Remembrance Day Last weekend we remembered those who fought and died for us in war and conflict.  I was asked to…
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Autumn Update

Dear Friends Summer seems to have gone so fast, in fact, I am not even sure it even arrived! Rich and I returned at the end of August from 10 days of torrential rain in Keswick.  We were working with 14 young people all wanting to become young Christian leaders.  Rich helped them to understand their personality and I helped them to lead services.  We both cooked up a storm each day and we were so blessed to spend time with such amazing young folk. The first week of school was quiet as my schools geared up to being back…
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Rest, recover and restoration

Dear JohnPaul Church Family!   As many of you go on holiday, Rich and I are preparing to help lead a Christian camp for young leaders in Keswick called Base Camp.  We are the cooks and Rich is providing some leadership training and I am doing some preaching and teaching.  We love seeing young people come to faith for the first time and others grow in their faith. One young man had been coming to our charity’s Kart Camp for years, but only decided to follow Jesus at Base camp last year. His family are not believers, so it was…
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Joyful June

Dear JohnPaul Parish family Joyful June It was so glorious to have those few weeks of sun!  I dived into my wardrobe and found my summer outfits, I even put some self-tanning lotion on my legs!  And then the rain started to fall again!  Hey ho!  I enjoyed it while it lasted. My big focus in May was preparing for our bid to the Community Ownership fund – part of the government’s levelling up funds.  Sadly, this has now all gone on hold as we move towards a general election in July.  As I reflect on the election and our…
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Marvellous May

Dear JohnPaul Parish Family Aslan is on the move! My youngest arrived for a week at Easter and stayed for a month!  He was writing his final year dissertation, but he was also doing what he does best; talking about current affairs, cooking amazing food, sleeping long hours, introducing us to some amazing Netflix and Amazon prime TV series and reading the Chronicles of Narnia with me.  Not quite like when he was 10, since we were often on different books, but we shared some awesome moments; ‘Further up and further in’. I have a sense that ‘Aslan is on…
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Has Spring Sprung?

Dear JohnPaul Parish We hold our APCM (Annual Parochial Church Meeting) on Sunday 12th May this year (12-1pm). I would love to see some of our newer faces there this year.  We have already got three new members of the PCC – all from amongst our new families, which is just fab!  However, I want to invite more of you to join us as we review the last year and look to the future. Findings from our Vision Day in February For those of you who like the details, see below for the full notes from our Vision Day at…
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