Wrap up and join in: Crib Service goes Alfresco
PLEASE NOTE: ALFRESCO CAROLS WILL BE AT ST MARY’S ONLY, NOT ON YOUTUBE.
Alfresco Carols replaces our Crib Service.
211121 Sunday Service on 21st November 2021
Sunday Service, live from St Mary’s Church, starting at 10.30am (and available to stream afterwards).
Please download the service sheet in advance (attached below), which contains all the words for the service.
Lent Appeal Update: The Bibles in Ncham have been delivered
(Ladies holding their new Bibles in a Baptist church)
Our mission partner Samuel Kpagheri (Wycliffe Bible Translators) in Togo has sent us this update:
“The ladies who received the Bibles were very happy. They promised to read their Bibles and to get to know more God. Here is the testimony of one of the ladies who received her Bible: “I really want to thank God for this wonderful gift, a new Bible in my mother tongue. Tell those who sent money to buy Bibles that God will bless them abundantly. I used to see people holding their Bibles in the church and anytime the Sunday school teacher asks for those who came to church with their Bibles, I was always ashamed. But today, I can gladly stand up with my Bible.” The pastors and priests of different churches visited were also grateful for the gift.
We will also start literacy programmes in two villages with the remaining money. We will provide them primers and two teachers for each village.
On behalf of these different churches and ladies, I wish to thank you very much for your huge gift that had allowed 75 women to possess a Bible in their mother tongue. May the Lord abundantly bless you.”
Our new service pattern at St Mary’s
NEW: 9am Service at St Mary’s
From Sunday, 17 October:
- Weekly service with Holy Communion.
- A quiet and shorter service – about 45-50 minutes.
- Sometimes we will sing a hymn at the end.
- No need to sign up for this service.
- Please continue to wear a mask.
AS BEFORE: 10.30am Service at St Mary’s
- Weekly service, with Holy Communion on the second and fourth Sunday
- On Sundays without Holy Communion, we sometimes welcome children for baptism or a thanksgiving for a child.
- We continue to keep people safe by maintaining social distance. Therefore we continue to ask you to sign up in advance at https://www.denhamparish.church/events/
- We will do our best to accommodate those who turn up without signing up. Please help us to manage numbers by signing up in advance.
- This is an all-age service, especially suitable for families with children. On most Sundays there will be a Sunday Club as part of the service.
- Please continue to wear masks.
- Refreshments after the service
- We continue to stream this service live on YouTube with live chat. The service will be available afterwards for streaming.
An Update on our Lent Appeal: Bibles in Ncham
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Our mission partner Samuel Kpagheri (Wycliffe Bible Translators) has now purchased 96 Bibles in the local Ncham language and they are being distributed to villages in Togo over the next weeks.
Samuel writes: “May the Lord abundantly bless you for all that you have been doing for
me, my family, my ministry and for my community.”
Thank you to everyone who has been partnering with him in enabling local people to read the Bible in their heart language.
Alongside translation into local languages run literacy programmes, which have been transformative in educating people and giving them better life opportunities.
Your harvest gifts – thank you!
Thank you to everyone who contributed to our harvest gifts last Sunday! Here is Nnamdi Maduka delivering your food gifts to Hillingdon Foodbank in New Denham.
You have given £200 to our mission partner SHOC/Trinity supporting homeless people in our area.
We have also received a total of £250 in vouchers for supermarkets, which will support local people and families through direct gifts and through Give & Share.
Harvest Gifts for 3 October
HARVEST GIFTS for Sunday 3rd Oct
Please bring your gifts to our Harvest Thanksgiving Service on 3 October at St Mary’s (10.30am)
Alternatively you can drop off your gift at our church office in the week.
Supermarket vouchers are a great alternative to food gifts and can bless people in need. We will deliver them to people in our parish and through our Give & Share team.
Our service offering will support Trinity/SHOC – one of our mission partners, who support homeless people in our area. You will also be able to make a donation by credit card / contactless on the day.
If you bring food gifts, please consider bringing some of the following, which we will donate to Hillingdon Foodbank in New Denham:
- Tin Potatoes
- Tin Spagetti
- Tin Fruits
- Pasta
- Jam
- Sugar in small packs
- Long life Milk
- Rice pudding or Custard in tin or small packs
- Apple or Orange Juice
- Toilet Roll
‘Help us be heard’: The plight of Afghan Christians driven increasingly underground
The Christian church in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly hidden, according to the charity, Release International.
It says Christians are now fleeing the cities for more remote areas in a bid to remain unseen by the Taliban regime.
There are believed to be fewer than 10,000 Christians still in the country after the Taliban regime took control last month.
BBC Report: Young more likely to pray than over-55s
Young people in the UK are twice as likely as older people to pray regularly, a new survey has found.
Some 51% of 18 to 34-year-olds polled by Savanta ComRes said they pray at least once a month, compared with 24% of those aged 55 and over.
It also found 49% of the younger age group attend a place of worship every month, compared with 16% of over-55s.
The associate director of Savanta said the numbers could reflect the move to online worship during the pandemic.
Chris Hopkins added that there were “a few theories” as to why young people made up such a large proportion of the religious landscape.
“Firstly, as the demography of the UK changes, minority faiths do tend to have a larger proportion of practising young people, and therefore as the population of these groups increases within the UK, so will the prayer habits of the population at large,” he said.
He explained it was important to “factor in the impact the pandemic has had on the ability to engage with one’s faith” with virtual prayers and services being held online.
“It is possible that the pandemic opened up more avenues to prayer to young people, and this is reflected in the findings,” he said.
