This is our monthly newsletter that highlights some of the things we want you to know about. All the regular events are on our calendar.
Alpha
An opportunity to explore the basics of the Christian faith and discuss the big questions of life. It’s 12 Tuesday nights, 7.30-9pm at The Vine Community Hub. It starts on the 26th of April, but it’s not too late to come along if you missed the first couple of sessions. Who might you bring along?
May’s All-Family Event: A Trip to the Beach
Saturday 7 May • 2pm-4pm • Lytham St Anne’s
Meet at North Beach Car Park (Postcode FY8 2PP, £2.30 for 2-4 hours parking) at 2pm. Have a walk down the North Promenade/beach with others, take a walk along the Pier and bring a flask of tea to sit and have a brew on the beach.
Bring any balls, frisbees, that kind of thing if you fancy it. Feel free to invite friends, other family, etc. 🙂
Prayer and Prophecy for our Area
Thursday 5 May
On Thursday at 7.30pm, it’s our monthly prayer and prophecy evening. We will meet at The Vine and then (weather permitting!) go and prayer walk the area round the Vine and the church. If you’ve never done that before, don’t worry too much. It doesn’t involve tambourines!
You’re invited…
Thursday 5 May • 2pm-3.30pm
Join us for an afternoon of Songs from the Shows with Heather and Beatles Favourites with Ian.
Tickets are available in church after the service, or in the Vine during the week.
£3 minimum donation, which includes a buffet.
Vision Sunday
Sunday 8 May
This is the rearranged Vision Sunday that we postponed from March. It’s a chance to reflect on what we are doing – but much more importantly why we are doing it all! Please make an effort to be at this Sunday morning.
Housegroups
Meeting on Thursday 12 and 26 May. If you are not part of a group but would like to be, then please chat to Neil.
New Preaching Series
From 22 May we will be starting a new preaching series – looking in detail at Matthew 5-7, the part of the gospel known as the Sermon on the Mount. Some people think Jesus was just unrealistic, or that he knew we would fail and so would seek salvation, or that we would have to join a commune in the hills away from everyone for it to be practised.
But what if he actually meant that this was how to live? What would that look like for us in 2022?
Breakfast Together
Saturday 21 May • 10am-12pm
This a chance for women in the church to get together in a relaxed setting to chat, pray and support one another. It’s at The Vine. And you would be welcomed. See Kate Blundell or sign up at The Info Point on Sunday mornings.
Prayer and Gathered Mission
Since we moved to St. James’ and relocated The Vine, we have become more aware of the benefit of having a clearly defined geographical focus for our gathered mission and prayer. Not only does this help us target a specific locality but it also means we don’t ‘compete’ with other local churches who have their own missional focus. The Anglicans have been doing this for years with clearly defined Parishes – perhaps it’s time we took more inspiration from them! We have spoken to our friends at St. James’ who are keen to partner together as much as possible for the sake of the gospel in this area.
One way we can do this is through ‘adopting’ a street, park or school in our area, getting to know it and commit to praying and caring for it (you may already do this). We would love to see every street in our area covered so you can sign up at the information point in church and registering your commitment on neighbourhoodprayer.net. Don’t worry if the street you want is already taken by someone else, it’s ok to double up!
- If you can prayer walk it on a regular basis, that would be great. This might be when you walk your dog, on your way to and from work or on your way to take your kids to and from school. For resources to help you pray visit: neighbourhoodprayer.net/resources
- Smile and say hello to the people you pass and show love through acts of kindness wherever possible.
- Take notice of what you see, be alert to what God might say to you.
- Help distribute leaflets when necessary and pray as you deliver to each house.
Seek the peace and prosperity of the city… Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.
Jeremiah 29:7
Our Community Counselling Service is expanding
We are delighted that Neil Neilsen, a colleague of Judith’s, will be joining her in offering more counselling opportunities for people. If you would benefit from space to talk through the issues that you are dealing with, or if you know people who would benefit, please contact Judith directly or through their dedicated page.
Cleaning Team at The Vine
If you could spare an hour or two a month to help clean The Vine, please let Ian know.
Paid Opportunity
Citywall are looking to pay someone to invigilate some L1 and L2 exams very occasionally. The exams take place in the Vine and would be about 2 hours max. It would involve a little bit of training and reading a few policies, and then you just sit there on the day. A member of Citywall staff will always be around. It’s likely to always be either a Tuesday or a Wednesday morning from 10am.
If you are interested in doing this or know anyone who would be, please contact Ian.
Looking Ahead
Joint Pentecost Sunday Service
Sunday 5 June • 10.30am
On this day we will have a Joint Pentecost Service with St James that will begin at 10.30am! Afterwards we will have a Picnic together in Buile Hill Park. So bring your preferred options for a picnic lunch along with blankets or chairs to sit on, balls to throw or kick, frisbees to spin etc. It’ll be fantastic.
Salford Week of Prayer
Thursday 23 June – Thursday 30 June
It’s been a few years since churches in Salford got together to worship and pray for our city and so we are helping organise a week of prayer to coincide with Festival Manchester’s outreach week.
There will be an opening prayer and worship service at St. James’ on Thursday the 23rd of June, 7.30-9pm with contributions from various local churches and a closing service at Elmwood on Thursday the 30th. We want to encourage you to come along and be part of what should be an uplifting and powerful display of unity and desire to seek the Lord’s blessing and glory for the sake of Salford.
There will be a downloadable prayer guide you can use that week which will include some of the local priorities of Salford’s Mayor, Paul Dennett, prayer points from Festival Manchester and a 24-7 sign up for hourly prayer slots where you can commit to praying a bit more than usual from wherever you happen to be that week.
Let’s get involved and see what God does!
For more information, email salfordweekofprayer@hotmail.com
Don’t walk life alone
Let someone pray with you after a service,
Join a small group,
Talk to folks over coffee
And if there are things that you need to chat through or be prayed with on an individual basis, please contact Neil.
People you can trust
One of the leaders in the UK church that we have grown to trust is Pete Greig. Some of you know him from the daily reading app: Lectio 365 (available on Apple and Android). His posts on Facebook and Instagram are always spot on – helpful, insightful and honest. You can check him out here where his blog, some of the sermons, books etc are available.
(This might develop into a series! It’s important to know the people that God has given to his church to help us all.)
