New Year, New Opportunities: Ready to Serve?
If you’ve been part of church for a while and want to know how you can serve others in church, we need to talk! You might want to welcome people as they arrive, play in the worship band, work with children, read the Bible in services, be involved in the tech side of things, lead a small group, help to clean the church or prepare tea and coffee after services. You might want to be part of the Info Point team. You might have skills and gifts we had no idea about. This is your moment!
Specifically, we need more people willing to work with our children in Junior Church – leading groups, helping out and working one to one with children who need extra support.
Please contact Neil, Ian or Morag for a chat together.
Easy Worship and Streaming Rota – volunteers needed.
We are looking to train up some more volunteers to help serve on Sunday mornings, to ease the burden on our current volunteers. Both tasks are relatively straightforward, and we can show you how to do them. Please see Ian if you are able to help.
Church Band Jam
Do you sing or play a musical instrument, but are not currently serving on the church band rota?
Every now and again we organise a jam at church, for those who are keen to grow in confidence and practice with others in a supportive environment. If you are interested in getting involved, let speak to Ian.
New Year, New Groups
You might be ready to join with others in a small group from January onwards. Here are some opportunities to meet every other week.
Tuesday evening: in-person groups led by Jumi & Emmanuel; and a new one at The Vine led by Ian
Thursday: in-person groups led by Julian; Charlie & Kate; Judith
And online groups led by Neil and Ian
If you want to make this one of your new year’s fresh starts, please talk to Neil.
Alpha
Tuesday 10 January • 7.30pm-9pm • The Vine Community Hub
A chance to discuss the big questions of life and faith in a relaxed, non-judgemental environment over 12 weekly sessions. Who might you invite? Speak to Andrea Catherwood, Ben Cain or Ian Peacock if you are interested or have any questions.
Have you been baptised?
Jesus was baptised as an adult and commanded his followers to baptise all who wanted to follow him. If you have made a commitment to the Lordship of Jesus but haven’t yet been baptised, we would love to get you dunked! Speak to Neil or Ian for more details.
Big Dates for 2023
The Hog Roast is Back
Saturday 24 June 2023 • 6-9pm
Before Covid’s disruption the Hog Roast was becoming a regular event in our diaries. Well, it’s back. Keep the date! Tickets will be on sale in due course – at the moment just keep the date free.
The Big Day Out
Saturday 23 September
It’s not a weekend away – it’s just some of the best bits – all together on one day. We have found a fantastic site – it’s Barnstondale, Storeton Lane, Barnston, Wirral CH6 1BX. There will be an activity programme for children and young people, things for people to do together in the afternoon, and the prospect of an Elim’s Got Talent show in the evening, finished with a fire pit (and probably Beatles’ songs!)
You will get a feel for the place here.
Many more details in due course, but for now… start filling in the new calendars when they arrive.
Sermon Series
January-February: Churches that Change the World: The Book of Philemon
Tucked into the New Testament’s letters exploring the divinity of Jesus and the purposes of God in history is a one-page epistle. Easily overlooked it feels a little like a postcard. Or maybe nowadays it would be perfect TikTok length.
In some ways it is a specific situation that probably happened in lots of households throughout the Roman empire. A slave has gone AWOL and his owner is a man short. He doesn’t want to write off the financial loss, he needs him back. And he needs to punish him publicly so that no one thinks of doing something similar and so that his neighbours don’t think he’s a soft touch.
But there’s a problem. They are both Christians. And the apostle knows them and their church. Church can come into its own on days like these. The Gospel reshapes our relationships and in so doing presents a very different picture of what community can look like to the rest of the world.
We will spend 5 weeks reading this short letter, mining it to see how God can shape us to be a certain type of church community together.
Giving
Thanks to everyone who gives regular to the church. Lots of you give by Standing Orders and that is the most helpful way because it means our budgets are likely to be much more accurate.
If you prefer to give by BACS transfer, then our details are:
Name: EFGA Salford Elim
Sort: 60-05-16
Acc: 18523811
If you Gift Aid, add your name/initials as Reference
Or via the GIVT app
If you pay tax and haven’t signed (or returned) a Gift Aid form, we would be grateful if you could. It increases the value of your gift by 20% at no extra cost to you.
New Year Commitments
January is a good month to start new habits. Apparently it takes around 40 days for a habit that you do every day to become second nature. So by mid-February we will be sorted!
What does it take to grow spiritual roots? Well it’s all the obvious things really.
- Build friendships that will keep you following Jesus. Meet up with someone from time to time. Ask one another about what is happening in life, listen well, ask good questions, laugh. If you don’t have these sorts of relationships yet, look around you when you are in church. Who would you like to get to know better? Take the initiative – you might not know them well, but if you meet for a walk or a drink, you’ll know them a bit better. And if someone asks you – be flattered! You look interesting!
- Keep turning up. If we make gathering together on a Sunday, we give ourselves the best chance of hearing something that God might be wanting to get your attention about. And we all get the chance to encourage one another.
The housegroups that meet every other week give you chance to speak about faith and share what you sense God is doing around you. You also get the chance to listen to others and cheer them on. They happen on Tuesdays and Thursdays in person and online. Talk to us about joining one. - Keep praying. Offer the day to God. Lay it out before him – what will happen, what could happen, what you fear will happen. Begin the day by saying: ‘Here I am, this is your day, and I am yours.’ Stay there until you sense his presence again.
And pray for others. I think one of the gifts we offer one another is the promise to pray for one another and then tell them when we have. - Commit to reading the Bible. Do it in ways that help you. In a year you can read the whole Bible through using this app: It takes about 25 mins per day. And if you miss a day, don’t worry, just go on with the next. You can get all the details here: https://bibleinoneyear.org
If you prefer to learn by watching as well as reading, this might help: https://bibleproject.com/reading-plans/
If you want help to read and pray then this app is really helpful: https://www.24-7prayer.com/resource/lectio-365/
However you do it, do it. And if you need help to start – ask.
Songs We Sang In 2022
Someone recently asked Ian to create a playlist featuring songs we sang at church in 2022 to help them learn the ones they didn’t know that well and to re-listen to those they particularly enjoyed. So, here they are – 102 songs between January and December! https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTNOPEiZMUgPh3Tb_jbjnJLHmLP-w9nFg
Ian’s always looking out for new songs so if you have any you feel might be good additions to our repertoire for 2023, do let him know. He’s looking for songs that are theologically sound, easy for a congregation to sing and not impossible for our band to play, in a variety of styles!
In particular, songs that are more focussed on God rather than our individual response to God, songs that connect with everyday life (i.e. home, work, as part of a whole life of worship), songs that have some lyrical depth rather than singing cliches, random scriptures or overly repetitive refrains.
He can’t promise to include every song suggested, but he will certainly give them a listen.
