Nourishing Roots - with Rev. Miranda Threlfal-Holmes, 12/03/24, 10:00-16:00

Join us for a day of reflection and spiritual renewal with the Free Churches Group, led by Rev. Miranda Threlfal-Holmes

Date: 12th March 2024, 10:00-16:00

Venue: The Quaker Meeting House, 22 School Lane Liverpool L1 3BT

Price: £20.00

Join us in Liverpool for a day of reflection and spiritual renewal with the Free Churches Group, led by Rev Miranda Threlfal-Holmes, held at the Liverpool Quaker Meeting House.

Nourishing Roots days are organised for Chaplains in Healthcare, Prisons, Education, and beyond to allow us time to reflect, recharge, and reinspire for our work and ministry.

Miranda is the Archdeacon of Liverpool and Team Rector of the St Luke in the City. She has experience in Higher Education chaplaincy and has published a number of books on chaplaincy, prayer, Christian history, and reading the Bible.

The day will include a buffet lunch.

Please contact Thandar (thandar.tun@freechurches.org.uk) for the discount code if are a chaplain from the FCG denominations. Visit here for the denomination list.

Photo by Brigitte Tohm on Unsplash

Prisons Week 2023 – Look Up!

Prisons Week is a week in October where people all over England and Wales join together in prayer for everyone affected by imprisonment. That includes prison staff, probation staff, prisoners, prisoners’ families. It includes victims of crime and communities affected by crime. It includes magistrates and politicians. There are so many of us who know someone who either lives in, works in or has been damaged by someone in prison that it probably means that we are being prayed for too! We encourage prayer for all of these people, but we also want to encourage all affected by imprisonment to pray too.

Since the 1970s, for one very special week Christians have put aside theological differences to both raise awareness and generate prayer. Since 2011 the FCG have been supporting actively this work and so are delighted to have been involved in developing materials for this year on the theme “Look Up”. The following resources can be obtained from the Prisons Week web site

-          The Prisons Week 2023 film; “Look up Child” featuring music by Lauren Daigle)

-          The Prisons Week “explainer” animation; “Why?”. This will help those new to Prisons Week or wondering why it is important to think especially about those affected by imprisonment in our prayers

-          The Prisons Week prayer poster can be used to pray during the Prisons Week and consistently use the prayers on the prayer poster throughout the year.

o   English Version

o   Welsh Version

It can be so easy to be confused, distracted, conflicted, feel alone, angry or even abandoned when we face the unique stresses of working or living in a secure environment. Psalm 19v1 encourages us to see the glory of God in the heavens. But to do this we need to look up! Looking up is a choice, and often a hard one to make. But this is at the heart of our prayers. This year our prayers have all been written by the people we are praying for and with.

In Prisons Week we would love every Christian in the country to spend some time in prayer. Will you join us at some point in a busy week to pray for others like yourself … or maybe those not like you, but who are also affected by imprisonment. Will you pray in Prisons Week that we might all look up, and together see the glory of God revealed in the most unlikely of settings! Why not start by praying the Prison Week prayer quietly as you read this now!

“Lord, you offer freedom to all people.

We pray for those in prison.

Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist.

Support with your love prisoners and their families and friends,

prison staff and all who care.

Heal those who have been wounded by the activities

of others, especially the victims of crime.

Help us to forgive one another.

To act justly, love mercy and walk humbly together with Christ

in His strength and in His Spirit, now and every day”

Amen.

Prisons Week is supported / sponsored by

Prisons Week 2023, Look Up! (8th - 14th October)

Look up!

This year we invite you to remember that the heavens declare the glory of God, and to look up.

Please share the film with your family, friends and church, and, with the leaflet available to download below, join us each day as we pray for all those affected by crime and imprisonment.

Visit HERE for more information and to download the prayer leaflets. 

FCG Chaplaincy Hub Offer for all Chaplains - Nourishing Roots with Paul Rochester

Join us for a day of reflection and spiritual renewal with the Free Churches Group, led by Bp. Paul Rochester, held in the beautiful and peaceful surrounds of the Royal Foundation of St Katherine, London on Tuesday 10th October 2023 from 10 am to 4 pm.

Paul is the General Secretary of the Free Churches Group and an ordained minister in the Church of God of Prophecy where his is a Senior Pastor for a Church in South London and has regional oversight for eight churches. Paul wrote his MA Dissertation on silence and Pentecostalism.

The day will include refreshments on arrival, mid-morning, and mid-afternoon as well as a hot buffet lunch.

Registration will be from 9.30am onward for a 10.00am start.

The cost for the day will be £20 for FCG chaplains, with a small number of places available for non-FCG chaplains from September.

Register your place here.

For more information, please contact Mark Newitt at mark.newitt@freechurches.org.uk

Visit here for more events.

Photo courtesy by Royal Foundation of St Katherine.

Free Churches Group, Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day

Moral Injury, Staff Support and Looking After Ourselves

Free Churches Group, Health and Social Care Chaplains Study Day

27 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HH

Tuesday June 20th 10:30 to 15:30

Cost: £15 for chaplains whose denomination is a member of the Free Churches Group

 £25 for all other chaplains

Please register your place HERE.

09:45 doors open

10:30 to 11:15 Session one – Introduction to Moral Injury [Katie]

11:25 to 1210 Session two – Supporting Health and Social care staff to Navigate their way Through MI. [Diana]

12:10 to 13:05 Lunch (provided)

13:10 to 13:50 Session three – How we set up staff support work at G&ST [Tracy]

13:55 to 14:40 Session four – Sharing Good Practice [input from the panel and attendees]

15:00 to 15:30 Session five –Self-care and Creative Reflection [Bob]

15:30 cake and conversation for those who want to stay for a little bit extra

The focus of the day will very much be about lived experience rather than academic discussion. A well as the examples that the presenters will share we want to draw on the knowledge of those attending so please do think about examples of good practice from your context that you’d be happy to share in session four. If you have questions you’d like to ask both the presenter and those attending you can email them in advance to Mark at mark.newitt@freechurches.org.uk

A CPD certificate for 4 hours will be available at the end of the day.

Presenter Biographies

Tracy Morgan is originally from New Zealand. She trained as a health care chaplain in 2018 and works at Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. First working in Paediatrics and acute adults, Tracy joined the dedicated staff support chaplaincy team that was formed in response to the Covid 19 pandemic in November 2021.

Diana Steadman worked in education and guidance before training in pastoral ministry at Spurgeon’s College. She is currently serving as Staff Wellbeing Chaplain at Kingston Hospital NHS Trust where from 2017 she has been establishing the role working alongside a Physiotherapist, Clinical Psychologist and Mind-Body Practitioner as part of an in-house Staff Wellbeing Team. Diana is now responsible for creatively supporting and advocating for the pastoral needs of staff within Unplanned Care, harnessing the tools of reflective practice, pastoral supervision, coaching and other development activities, and by reporting into divisional progress and Trust-wide steering group meetings.

Katie Watson is Head of Chaplaincy at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. She has served there for 15 years. Prior to this she was a Military Police Officer in the British Army with operational experience in Bosnia and Croatia during the early 90s and Northern Ireland during the conflict. She runs ultra distance trails and does so that cake can be a major factor in her diet.

Bob Whorton is retired from Healthcare Chaplaincy but continues to work as a reflective supervisor. His interests are in creativity, writing, embodiment and the use of the imagination.

Note: If you are a Free Church Healthcare Chaplain, please contact Thandar at thandar.tun@freechurches.org.uk for a discounted price. The member denominations list is available to view here.

Photo by Dim Hou on Unsplash