Good News - the Deanery Newsletter

CAFÉ CHURCH COMES TO WILLITON St Peter’s church Williton has recently started a new fresh expressions - Café Church. Café church is a less formal, relaxed church atmosphere, where people come together to take part in activities, to learn about Jesus, to talk and to sing. There is also always lots of food and good conversation. We have a different theme each month. Our first two gatherings focused on community and relationship. We hope to invite the parents and children of our church pre-school Little Saints and our monthly Campfire church. As Revd Mark says ‘we wanted to put on a gathering where those new to church, those seeking something a bit different and also our regular congregation could meet and worship together in a relaxed space, with hospitality and a chance to chat. We were not sure who would come, but as it turned out we were running out of chairs! We have had two café churches so far and it has proved to be the most well-attended service in the month. It is so great to see people from different parts of the community coming together.’ Praise and Worship Service St Peter’s Church, Combwich On the Second Sunday of the Month @ 6.00pm EVERYONE IS WELCOME THINKING ABOUT LENT As the congregation of Aisholt thought about why we eat pancakes before Lent starts, Brendan, the Churchwarden, helped with a visual aid! Quantock Good News! Spring 2024 Stories of faith in action from around Quantock Deanery STEVE ATKINSON, aged 69, a lay worship leader at St Mary’s Church, Cannington cycles hundreds of miles for fun! He started cycling in York as a child and in those days nearly everyone up there had a bike. Over the last decade he’s taken up cycling for fun and fitness. For his next Charity bike ride, starting on 1st June he is cycling from John O’Groats to Margate, about 900 miles. Donations are invited towards air ambulances whose crews bring the Emergency Department to patients who have suffered a life threatening or life changing trauma or medical emergency; providing advanced critical care to save lives. Before that, on 18th May, he’s joining other cyclists to traverse the area covered by the A MESSAGE FROM CHRIS COPP HEART FOR INDIA: Thank you for the service yesterday and the opportunity to speak about Heart For India again. I thought it was a lovely service and everybody was very interested and friendly. Indeed thank you for the whole year, for proposing HFI in the first place, for helping us get the boxes etc produced and for encouraging cream teas and curry evenings and church visits. The finance will enable not one, but three bore wells to be built. Deva will be thrilled and encouraged. Above all we are grateful for the prayer which makes such a difference in releasing God's power for good against evil. Very best wishes, Chris Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, that is Coast to Coast from Watchet to West Bay. On average an air ambulance can reach someone in urgent need within 15 minutes. Any one of us can become a patient at any time. Air ambulance charities are collectively dispatched to over 100 lifesaving missions each day across the country, each mission is funded almost entirely by the generosity of local communities. Steve says “I am really excited about this next Charity Cycle Ride. Not only will I be doing what I enjoy most, but I will be helping those in most need of medical attention, thus saving lives.” OPEN THE BOOK at the Diocesan Schools Conference. SAMPFORD BRETT CHURCH Member of the church community met to make posies before Mothering Sunday. Over coffee and chat, we made lovely posies which were handed out at our service and to many friends and neighbours. NEWS FROM QUANTOCK FOOD BANK The Mobile Pantry project took up much of our time during 2023, when not busy with the demands of the Foodbank and Pantry Pilot. After a magnificent financial response from the whole of the Quantock Deanery and its Communities, we took delivery of the new electric vehicle complete with four solar panels on the roof to power the lights, fridge and other equipment. It was a very chilly St Andrew’s Day in Watchet, with not a soul about, but the smiles on our faces were warm. The Foodbank acknowledges the Anglican Church’s third and fifth ‘Marks of Mission’ - ‘To respond to human need by loving service and to strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth’. As we go about this service, we will not be producing any harmful greenhouse gases and, when empty, the vehicle will return with donations collected from parishes saving more pollution delivering to us. We will play our part in shrinking the Diocese of Bath and Wells’ carbon footprint to net zero by 2030. CELEBRATION SERVICE WITH BISHOP MICHAEL AT STOGUMBER. A full church celebrated the Licensing of Rev Jan Church as Associate Priest and Margaret Tatham as Assistant Lay Dean. The Bishop delivered a moving address on the importance of unity and collaboration. A joint choir led the singing as well as leading the procession. Tea and cake and lively chat provided a fitting ending to a lovely service. WORLD DAY OF PRAYER 2024 “I BEG YOU, BEAR WITH ONE ANOTHER IN LOVE.” On the first Friday of March each year a wave of prayer goes around the world on the World Day of Prayer, formerly known as the Womens’ World Day of Prayer. It all started in the nineteenth century in the USA and Canada and since then has spread to many countries. Now it is a worldwide ecumenical movement of informed prayer and powerful action. Each year a different country prepares the service. One learns some of the challenges and concerns of the Christian women in that country. This year, based on a verse in Ephesians chapter 4, the service was compiled by Palestinian Christian women under the theme “I beg you, bear with one another in love.” Although the service was written two years ago it was very relevant and poignant in the light of the situation in Gaza and Israel today. Our Quantock service was held in the afternoon of Friday, 1st March at St. Etheldreda’s Church, West Quantoxhead. Twenty-one people attended, four watched the service live on the internet and there were 150 “views” later. The service was appreciated. Special artwork had been prepared for the service depicting a tree with branches and leaves. The trunk, branches and leaves represented three different generations of Palestinian women and their stories and experiences were told in the service. The offering from the service of £138 has been forwarded to the World Day of Prayer head office in Tunbridge Wells, from where grants are allocated to chosen charities and causes, details of which can be seen online or in the service booklet. In 2025 the WDP service will be one prepared by the Christian women of the Cook Islands. Copies of the service order have been requested. If you have not been to one of these services please do consider joining us on the first Friday in March, 2025. This year’s service can still be watched online. I can provide a link on request. I have been Secretary to the QUAN 3701 group for twenty years now. I encourage someone, perhaps younger, to consider joining us with a view to taking over as Secretary. It is an important Christian witness for us to continue to ensure that the WDP service is available in our area. Pam Campbell FORTRESS UPDATE At the end of February I spent two weeks in Kampala with Josephine. I visited the Fortress and went to see the land that the Deanery Mission Project helped to buy. It’s on a small hill with a good permanent water supply at the bottom. The land is very fertile with banana & some trees already in situ. There was a good crop of maize this year. There are exciting plans in place for the future . I have photos and will be sending out invites to a Ugandan evening with full update very soon. Hilary. SAVE THE DATE! — ‘From Passiontide to Pentecost’, a service during which the Deanery singers will sing music from the Messiah along with other music on Sunday 19th May at 6:30pm in St Andrew’s Church, Stogursey. All welcome.