NEWS
Further reflections and resources for life and in death to support your ministry
Revd Meg Burton, Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy for the Free Churches, has been writing, gathering in, compiling and sharing a range of supportive and informative communications with Healthcare Chaplains. Although these are primarily aimed at those working in healthcare chaplaincy, many others may find the content encouraging and helpful in their life and ministry.
There will be regular updates to these resources.
You can find out more and explore these reflections and materials HERE.
Meg provides the leadership on Healthcare Chaplaincy work at a national level for the Free Churches as well as in a multi-faith context.
(photo courtesy of Kerri Shaver at Unsplash)
Coffee and Cake - school and college chaplains get together each Friday @ 4pm
The pattern of meetings and our ability to get together in person has changed much over the last few weeks. - so we are pleased to share that the Centre for Chaplaincy in Education are be hosting a ‘Coffee and Cake’ chaplains’ chat each Friday at 4pm.
Friday Coffee 'n' Cake (bring your own!) for Chaplains in Schools and Colleges 15th May 2020
Every Friday for the foreseeable future, Maggie Everett, the Centre’s Lead Development Officer, will be hosting a ‘coffee and cake’ hour on Zoom, for all chaplains in schools and colleges. Come and join in with others, (sorry you will need to bring your own coffee and cake!) and have a chat about what’s happening with you, your community/ies and the wider world. Invitation:
Topic: Coffee and Cake
Meeting ID: 829 0639 4114
Password: 780537
Sarah Lane Cawte, our Free Church Education Officer, has been working closely with this group and other partners over recent months and there are some exciting developments in the field of chaplaincy in education which you can read about here.
(photo courtesy of Annie Spratt at Unsplash)
Open the Book...
The Free Church Education Committee, as part of its wider work with networks, are part of the Pray for Schools steering group. In this group, we work alongside many agencies who are interested and passionate about supporting Christian education. One of those agencies is Open the Book.
You may well have come across the work of Open the Book in the past. In recent times, the way they have been able to work has changed, due to the pandemic and wider copyright issues, it means that unfortunately all training sessions have been cancelled and the Open the Book Storytellers do not have permission to use The Lion Storyteller Bible on media platforms. But they have come up with a solution that can support us!
Bob Hartman (the acclaimed Christian writer and storyteller) has recorded some of the Open the Book stories for us which we have made into complete assemblies and will be sharing on our Facebook page, one each Monday until the end of the Summer Term. If your school remains open for key worker children you might like to send them these stories.
You can see the films and download their latest resources HERE.
(photo courtesy of Samantha Sophia at Unsplash)
Dying Matters Awareness Week 11th to 17th May - leaflets available here
The Dying Matters Awareness Week runs all this week, through until 17th of May.
The theme is -
"Talking about dying and death is the last taboo. People who are dying can feel very isolated,” reports Revd Meg Burton, the Secretary for Healthcare Chaplaincy for Free Churches. Meg goes on to say that…” Often, when people do want to talk, their relatives don't, because they find it too hard to accept that their loved one is dying. This Awareness Week is looking at dying from the dying person's perspective and will give ideas for people to help encourage conversations."
Dying Matters is led by Hospice UK and aims to raise awareness of dying, death and bereavement. They have produced a range of leaflets on this year’s theme - Dying to be Heard - you can review and download these using links below.
No.1 - Things to do before you die
Print ready version to take to a professional printers here
No.2 - Supporting bereavement
Print ready version to take to a professional printers here
No.3 - Let's talk about dying
Print ready version to take to a professional printers here
No.4 - Talking about dying with people affected by dementia
Print ready version to take to a professional printers here
No.5 - Talking about dying with children
Print ready version to take to a professional printers here
Dying to be heard leaflet
Print ready version to take to a professional printers here
(photo by Sara Iles, FCG Media Support Officer)
Ready for the new “normal”
The United Reformed Church has published a discussion paper for Church leaders to consider as they consider what they need to do once we begin the process of emerging from the current Coronavirus-related restrictions.
“Ready for the new “normal”:
A discussion paper for a pandemic recovery and resumption plan” is divided into three sections:
A Road Map for Reflection: where we are, how we travel forward
Resuming Activities in Shared Physical Space: questions to help with planning
Taking stock, reviewing principles, doing things differently.
Church leaders may find the document helpful in considering new opportunities post lockdown and how to address the challenges facing them. As the writers conclude: “The world has changed. It cannot go back to how it was, and in many, many ways, neither should it seek so to do”.