NEWS
Free Church Choirs "St Albans Cathedral Festival 2023", 14th Oct 2023
"Once again we are calling for interested singers (or choirs) to join us in this inspiring occasion.
Choir books have been available since the end of January. These can be purchased by contacting our treasurer Adrian Prisk, 15, Parklands, Great Linford, MK14 5DZ
Tel. 01908 605815 or email; aprisk@doctors.org.uk
Many denominations will take part in this inspirational occasion. We anticipate over 200 singers in the choir. The organist will be Rufus Frowde.
Local rehearsals will be organised next summer. They will be led by our Music director, Peter J. Williams.
The anthem list includes;
Sing to the great creator’s praise Brian Hoare
Cantique de Jean Racine Gabriel Faure
Jesus Lives! H.J. Gauntlett arr. Bernard Oram
God is living, God is here! J.S. Bach
Jesus, you are changing me Marilyn Baker & Mark Edwards
There is hope Stuart Townend & Mark Edwards
Grant us your peace Valerie Ruddle
When will thou save the people Eric Thiman
A Celtic Blessing Martin Setchell
More information can be found on our website; www.freechurchchoirs.org.uk
The Festival information poster is available to download here.
The order form for choir books is here or you can contact Adrian Prisk at aprisk@doctors.org.uk for more details.
CCJ Explainer on ‘Christian Seders’ launched on 29 March 2023
Pesach (Passover) and Holy Week are two highly significant festivals for Jews and Christians, respectively, and which overlap next week. At the Council of Christians and Jews, we often encounter Christians who wish to know more about Pesach and its connection to the Easter story (especially in relation to the Last Supper). To help provide some context, we have developed this brief ‘explainer’. As well as highlighting some of the background to Pesach and the Seder meal, we want to explain why we think holding ‘Christian Seders’ is not a good idea for churches.
The brief resource, launched today, can be found here.
It’s also pinned to our Twitter:
and can found on our FB page:
https://www.facebook.com/TheCCJUK/
For more information, email CCJ Senior Programme Manager James Roberts on James.Roberts@ccj.org.uk.
The Coronation of King Charles III
Image from the Church of England website
The Coronation will be a historic moment in the life of our nation. If your church is planning to celebrate, a wide range of resources have been prepared by the following denominations, which you may find helpful.
Please follow the links below.
Free Thy Kingdom Come resources - limited amount only
Pre-order resources for 2023 - now open!
This year we are giving away almost ¼ million free resources. Including 50K copies each of both the Novena & Prayer Journal and 100K free bookmarks - all you have to do is pay for P&P.
To order your resources, click the link below.
For more information, please visit HERE..
Thy Kingdom Come (TKC) is a global ecumenical prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray from Ascension to Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus.
For more information please see the Thy Kingdom Come website.
***2023 resources available for pre-order.***
NB: Stocks due to be ready around 30th March 2023.
Climb when ready…
This is the call all rock climbers wait for, and recognise as the signal to say “everything is as safe as it’s going to be for you to start climbing”.
The decision to set off climbing is now based on a mixture of faith in your ability to meet the challenges ahead, and confidence in your preparations. When I see someone leave prison, as a chaplain I face the same mixture of faith and fear. Instead of “climb when ready”, my parting shot is usually “I never want to see you again in my life!”
I can remember those feelings of faith when I was involved in pastoral ministry too. Having finished my sermon prep, made sure the worship team were briefed, that the welcome team were all sorted, the children’s workers had arrived, final prayers said (usually whilst in the loo!), and … ready. But always with a little fear, and always waiting for that little extra thing God might want to do on any given morning. For me, readiness needs to combine both preparation and faith. Only when I see these two combined can I bear the mixed feelings of the present.
As ministers in chaplaincy, church, pioneering or community settings our preparations are essential. But I have come to realise that we are only really ready when we combine this with faith in the one who will be with us on the next steps of the journey. We can look back and know that God has been at work in us to this point, but it is even more important that today we also realise that he will be with us as we journey forward. Today I need to know that God will help me face my anxieties with faith, trusting that he will speak clearly about the path which he will lead me on.
Having every little thing tied down is really not readiness. I am quite convinced that only when we combine our preparedness with faith are we truly ready. Only when we are in an attitude of listening to Jesus say “try fishing on the other side of the boat” (para John 21) are we really ready.
My prayer today is that daily we will face the opportunities and challenges that will surely come along. Prepared, perhaps a little fearful, but ready.
We have made things as safe as they can be, to get off the ground we need to be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil 1:6)
Climb when ready! The journey for today awaits 😊
Revd Bob Wilson
Secretary for the Free Church Prison Chaplaincy
This article was originally written for Eastern Baptist Association.