The best start in life....

As part of our goal to feature articles from FCG member churches and groups, I am pleased to share a link and letter from the Baptist Union of Wales magazine, which is called The Messenger. 

Over the last couple of years, the Baptist Union of Wales have been supporting a project to improve maternal healthcare in Ghana as part of their Christian Aid work. Their churches have raised over £70,000 to support this work. Amazing effort! 

Please join us as we pray for the work of Christian Aid, for the generous donation given to their work in Ghana for maternal healthcare, so that babies have the best start in life and their mothers are supported to maintain their health and well-being... May God continue to uphold the work of CA in Ghana and elsewhere and encourage churches to be valiant witnesses to all of us who are in need. Amen 

What are the plans in your church for Christian Aid Week?- 13th - 19th May 2018.  

You can download inspiring ideas, suggestions and prayer resources HERE. 

You can read the full letter of thanks from the Ghana Christian Aid Country Manager HERE. 

Every school in the UK a prayed-for school! Is yours?

Every school in the UK a prayed-for school!

That's the vision of Pray for Schools: to mobilise Christians to support their school communities through prayer. You can do this through starting a group to pray regularly for your local school; having schools prayer as a focus for your church or praying as an individual for a school near you. The Free Churches Group are partners with Pray for Schools. 

Why not join thousands of others praying in our churches, homes and communities during Pray for Schools Fortnight?! This year, between 10th and 24th May, Pray for Schools are joining with Thy Kingdom Come and the theme is: "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ…" from Colossians 4:2-3. You can download free resources HERE. 

You can register free HERE. Registration is free, and you will receive a newsletter 3 times a year of encouraging stories and ideas to help you as you pray.

Here is an extract from the resources which you can pray and share now:

Loving Father, we pray for our school with all the successes, challenges, celebrations and disappointments that fill each week. We long for the light and love of Christ’s kingdom to come for each member of this community as Your Spirit works among them. May our school thrive because of Your gracious blessings. Amen.

Church and school say, "I do!"

The United Reformed Church in Rugby was delighted to welcome the two reception classes of Bawnmore Community Infant School, Rugby, who came to take part in a day of wedding workshops as part of the Warwickshire Agreed Syllabus for Religious Education (RE). And what fun they all had! 

Gill Kingston from the URC church says, "It was lovely to see so many of them getting into the spirit of the occasion, wearing their best clothes, in some cases their own wedding outfits. At the end of the day, parents were invited to watch the ceremony, conducted by the minister, Rev. Robert Maloney, and the church was full. The Headteacher commented that although they can do similar things on school premises it makes a huge difference to the children to do it in a church. A very successful day!"

* Has this opportunity sparked your enthusiasm?

* How might your church link up with a local school? 

Thank to Gill Kingston, who serves on the Free Church Education Committee, for this wonderful good news story! The United Reformed Church are a member denomination in the Free Churches Group. 

During the course of the day each child did four workshops: Wedding invitations; cake decorating; buttonhole flowers; a marriage ceremony (role play).  Here are a couple of photos from the wedding workshop day. You can also see what the children thought of the day HERE. 

With this ring, I thee wed.. 

The wedding party 

A Call to Prayer & Action

It was a real honour for Rev. Dr. Hugh Osgood, the Free Churches Moderator, to give the closing prayer at the first march for 'A Call to Prayer & Action' on Sunday 22nd April 2018.

Hugh joined some 1,000 people on this march as they walked and prayed from Tottenham to Wood Green.

Following the spate of violence and killings across UK’s capital, church leaders are calling on all Christians and citizens of London to dedicate the coming weeks to a period of concerted prayer for peace on our streets and an end to violence and violent deaths.

The Free Churches Group fully support this cause and join the call for the church to come together as we symbolically conduct prayer walks over 4 Sunday afternoons in multiple locations in the most susceptible communities that represent the North, East, West and South of the city. The mission is to prayerfully take back our streets and our youth.

DATES:

SUNDAY 22ND APRIL 2018
First prayer walk in Haringey
From Tottenham Town Hall (Seven Sisters Tube Station) to Wood Green/Turnpike Lane (Piccadilly Line).
Arrive at 3.30pm, start 4pm, finish at 5pm

SUNDAY 29TH APRIL 2018
First prayer walk in Croydon
From outside Marks & Spencer’s North End Croydon to The Queens Garden by Croydon Council.
Arrive at 3.30pm, start 4pm, finish at 5pm

SUNDAY 6TH MAY 2018
Third prayer walk Locations will be announced in the coming week.
Arrive at 3.30pm, start 4pm, finish at 5pm

SUNDAY 6TH MAY 2018
Fourth prayer walk Locations will be announced in the coming week.
Arrive at 3.30pm, start 4pm, finish at 5pm

More information can be found here: https://thepeacealliance.org.uk

Chaplaincy in FE - A Neglected Opportunity?

As you may already know, over the last few years, the Free Churches Group have been actively seeking ways in which to engage our churches and wider communities in the life and mission of further education providers. The Free Churches Further Education Working Group, chaired by Dr John Wise, have recently published CHAPLAINCY for the Free Churches and Further Education. The paper, by Dr John Wise and Professor Graham Handscomb, provides a thought provoking and inspiring call to action for our churches.... This has been affirmed by the FCG Board and Directors in March 2018 and we are pleased to be able to share it HERE. 

* Have you thought through and prayed about how members of your congregations might be called to work in FE chaplaincy?

* Have you explored the gifts and vocations of your members and leaders in light of the skills needed for FE Chaplaincy?

To find out more about this vital and inspiring work, contact Sara Iles, FCG Education Assistant: sara.iles@freechurches.org.uk or you could check out the Chaplaincy Central link HERE for some general information on how to get started. Keep us posted with your progress and good news stories! 

The key messages of this FCG FE Chaplaincy report are: “Surely the Lord is in this place- and I knew it not” (Genesis 28 :16, NIV). God with us - There is no part of the created order from which God is absent. There is no part of life from which God withholds his concern and his blessing. If therefore God is present wherever people gather to work and serve, there the church needs also to be, seeking to identify where God is alive and active and speaking in ways that encourage those who engage in that area. This is as much true of the further education (FE) college as it is of the hospital, the prison, the armed services, schools, the university or the workplace. It is simply artificial to make distinctions in this context between the church congregation and the many other local contexts in which people come together and interact.

• Further Education fulfils a vital role in the local community, providing an environment where young people and adults from every ethnic, faith and social group come together to gain education, vocational training and personal transformation.
• FE and Free Church congregations have a shared commitment to serve their local communities. They share the common values of social justice, a concern for the disadvantaged and offering a second chance and support to those in need.
• Free Church Chaplains make an important contribution to the spiritual moral, and cultural development of students and staff in further education. They provide pastoral and confidential support, and promote the value of equality, diversity and difference within the college community.
• Engaging with further education is a golden opportunity for congregations to take the church to where the people are in the local community.