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Newsletter - 15 May 2020

Writer's picture: Alison PadgettAlison Padgett

I hope you have had a good week - please find below some of the things that have happened this week or that you might want to be involved in over the next 7 days:-

Please join us again this Sunday at 10am (or at a time convenient for you) in our Emmanuel Family Facebook group for our “local” service and a time together in worship. This will be like the last few weeks, post after post in real time to follow a full service that takes around an hour. You can join us live or enjoy it later in the day – the choice is yours. We’ll be singing, praying, reflecting and listen to the message from Marian Olsen. Why not join us? Any problems finding the group please email us and we will be happy to help.


And this week, why not join us straight after the service for our coffee catch up over zoom? A great way for all us of to catch up face to face and chat and say hi! Details below.

Emmanuel Church Zoom Coffee Catch-Up this Sunday - 17 May at 11.15am (until 12pm)

To join the Zoom Meeting please click on the link below

Meeting ID: 853 4213 3173

Password: 822343

And why not consider donating a ‘coffee’ to Christian Aid to end Christian Aid week. As a Church community we support Christian Aid week each year. And this may be a great way for us to add a little extra to the donation pot…

Please find attached:-

  • A short order of service for the coming week – “Vine at Home 17 May 2020”

  • Prayer for the week ahead - “Emmanuel Corona Prayers week 9”

  • A reflective colouring sheets “Colouring sheet Holy Spirit John 14” to compliment the Sunday reading this week

  • A Children’s activity sheet “Children’s sheet” which also picks up the theme of this Sunday’s reading

  • Sewing in the Lockdown by Joan Booth

  • "· “OPP Advert May 2020” – see point 2 under Good News

Request for help:-

Welcome is a very important ministry in any church and encompasses everything that we do. If it is done well people feel valued and accepted and are more likely to return and talk about their experience in a positive light. When we had our big ‘Conversation’ last year, many people had great ideas about how our welcome could be improved at Emmanuel. The Leadership Team would like to put some thought in now before we return from lockdown. There is work we can start doing now: designing a welcome pack; updating contact forms; setting up systems for following up people; looking at how we adopt streets and welcome people who have just moved into the area; being intentional in our links to all the people who use our building. We are looking for people to be part of this task group to help with all of this. If you are passionate about welcome, have ideas and a willingness to contribute, please phone Joan Booth on 07845 698662 or email: joaniebeth1957@gmail.com

Other news:-

The Barnsley Circuit has sent out a prayer journal to every member across the Circuit for Thy Kingdom Come – the ecumenical, global prayer movement inviting all Christians to pray between Ascension and Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus. The time of prayer runs from this coming Thursday (21 May) through to Pentecost Sunday (31 May) and the booklet has readings, devotions and ideas to guide your thinking and praying. We hope if you have not received your booklet already you will do before Thursday – if you haven’t got one please contact Cameron.

Daily Hope - a free phone line of hymns, reflections and prayers. Have you seen the media coverage of the New free phone number as a simple way to bring worship and prayer and prayer into people’s homes. Over 6000 people called this number in the first 48 hours! This idea came from within the Diocese of Guildford, from the Connections group based at Holy Trinity Claygate in Surrey and the Christian Charity Faith in Later Life. Telephone: 0800 804 8044 (it’s free from landlines, but please check with your provider before using a mobile phone).

Donations of food for the Foodbank can still be made at Tesco’s in Wilthorpe, but we would prefer only shopping from that store to be placed in the trolley there. The trolley is quite small and soon gets filled up, which means a lot of extra work for those moving food to the Foodbank. If you have bought items for the Foodbank from other stores can we suggest that you preferably drop those items not at Tesco’s, but at Emmanuel Church. The large storage box is at the back of church (where the vestry door opens up onto the back garden – by the traffic cones!) and we are getting plenty of great donations in both places – thank you for your support.

There have been some great good news stories! If you have any to share please let me know for the newsletter next week (or post them on our Facebook page)

  • More people who made generous offers of help to those in need within our congregation and food packages have been sent and received to two families who have been extremely grateful. Here is one testimony:

“We are humbled continually by the acts of kind gesture and the love displayed so practically from families within Emmanuel to us. All these gifts are received with gratitude. It is a real blessing and inspiration for us.”

  • The North West Church has been successful in getting national funding from the UK Methodist Church to employ a young person (18-23) to do some work on Social Isolation with the elderly. If you know any young person who might value experience in this field whilst being paid, please forward them the advert attached. This might suit someone hoping to do a gap year; gain experience before entering the caring professions or has already done a course say in social care or health care. Emmanuel is part of the North West Church and so part of the work will be at Emmanuel as well as at some of the other chapels in our area. The young person appointed will form part of a team. Another successful bid has meant we shall also be advertising for a paid post for someone with more experience funded by the North Area Council within the next couple of weeks.

  • More people are getting involved in helping to lead our worship online by recording items prior to the service – if you would like to get involved please email Claire Woodward on Booth_claire@yahoo.co.uk

  • Some fellowship groups / housegroups are meeting up socially for coffee on Zoom.

  • As Christian Aid week comes to an end if you haven’t already please go to the Christian Aid website and consider making a donation to this vital international charity – https://www.christianaid.org.uk/

  • We are planning a Church quiz!

  • New people have signed up to regularly giving at Emmanuel.

  • Leadership Team have met again this week on Zoom.

What have the young people been up to this week?

Kirstie and her team met on Zoom again this week - at YF they discussed what it means to live out our faith. They spoke about how saints who had gone before us had lived their faith through their actions and looked at the story of Daniel who stood firm to his faith. On Thursday the youth Reboot Zoom was a quiz and battle between the leaders and the young people. Lots of fun, laughter and jokes was had by all, and the youth won the competition.

Have you checked out the other young people Facebook pages?

  • Dawn W posted a lovely post on the Toddler Group at Emmanuel Facebook page about being kind and we are all in this situation together – check it out !

  • The Emmanuel Youth page had some great activities – What did you draw for your favourite summer day out? How high was your Penny Tower? Did you find all the items on the Unicorn Treasure Hunt?

Dates for your diary:-

  • The next Zoom prayer meeting will be on Thursday 4 June at 7.15pm (the 1st Thursday of the month). If you are interested in joining in the prayer meeting, let Cameron know, either by e-mailing him on thestirks@tiscali.co.uk, leaving a message via the FB Emmanuel family page, or leaving a message on his answer phone.

As an end to this week’s newsletter, is the Reflection for Today from Doris on the Emmanuel Family Facebook earlier in the week:-

Sometimes we've got to look back, to see how far we have come and also to appreciate the strength, hope and resilience that brought us this far. Sometimes we need to pause, take a breath and remain calm, only so can we see light at the end of the tunnel. Let's count all the joy and see the blessings in every situation we face.

Amidst our failures, we can also re-count our successes. Have you wondered how swiftly this pandemic has affected our way of doing things, changed our world and everything? Has this change been all negative or can we think of some positive aspects of it too? Has it been a blessing in disguise in a way? Or perhaps tag it as a necessary evil? What is your story to share? What is your song to sing today? What are the lessons learnt in this difficult time? By sharing our lessons learnt, we could encourage each other to build strength to carry on and become more hopeful. All is Not Lost ...God's love will always find us! Christ in us, the hope of Glory - let us pause, take a breath again and reflect on the words in the prayer.

Many thanks & God bless

The Leadership Team







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