The parish newsletter will be updated each month in print form, and available at service each Sunday. We always contact church members with extra important information.
October 2019
This Month
October brings our AGM as we celebrate the life of our congregation and look forward to the future. This month will also bring exciting new beginnings with new ministry opportunities. Thanks for supporting our Sept Myanmar fundraiser, that money will be a blessing to the young people of Chin State.
• Sunday October 6th, 10am We will have a combined service hosted by the Baptist church and their new pastor Steven Goulstone, 284 The Parade, at our usual worship time.
• Saturday Oct 12th, remember to vote in our local body elections.
• Sunday Oct 13th, 10am. On Oct 9th IBPC turns 121. To mark this day we will have a re-imagined ‘Kirking the Tartan’ service. This is a Scottish Presbyterian tradition where people bring their clan tartan to church one service a year, to honour their heritage and have their tartan blessed. Most of us are not Scottish and don’t have a tartan, instead, please bring a family taonga to this service. These will be shared and blessed. If you know of a piper who might want to join us, see Nathan!
• Sunday Oct 20th, 11:30am. After the service on this Sunday we will hold our AGM. We will start over lunch in the lounge, then quickly tidy up, put on a dvd for the kids, and move back to the church for the rest of the meeting. Please come, bring food to share, read and pray over the reports. There is much that God has done among us, many exciting new signs of growth that are to come, but also some points of fragility. Included in the reports is a discussion paper about some changes our congregation may need to make in relation to finances. Reports are out. If you prefer paper please take a copy, but they will also be emailed out.
• Monday Oct 21st our new youth worker begins. For two years we have a had a vision to help resource our youth group volunteers and to extend the work being done in the Council flats in Berhampore, by employing a part-time youth worker. We have finally received a grant to make this possible, which has divinely coincided with a young man from Glasgow feeling called to join us in our mission. His name is Ross MacDonald, more details about the role are in the AGM reports and he will be introduced at that meeting. Please welcome him, and please look out for other part-time work he could do. Ross has a maths degree and is interested in tutoring.
• Sunday Oct 27th, 11:45am. Are you new to IBPC? Are you interested in hearing about what we do? Have you been here for a wile and would you like to become a member of the congregation? Once or twice a year we run a two session Orientation Course over lunch after a service. In these sessions we explore each other’s history and background, as well as the history and background of IBPC; we also introduce some key ministry leaders, explain our vision, and describe the different ministries we run, how they work, and how they fit together. Session 1 will be Oct 27th, session 2 Nov 3rd. If you would like to join us please see Nathan.
• Thursday Oct 31st, 6:30pm til late. Halloween falls in October, and we intend to copy our successful initiative from last year. The Nordmeyer Garden will be decorated with fairy lights and candles as a ‘garden of remembrance.’ There will be a table on the street with stones and shells, and young trick or treaters will be invited to pause, remember someone they have lost recently, decorate a shell in their memory, take it through to the garden, and maybe pause and offer a prayer. See Mel if you can help.
Looking Ahead
Our next Garage Sale will be Saturday Nov 9th.
The Home of Compassion is holding a Taize weekend with a Brother from Taize in France, Nov 15-16.
We are collecting bread tags to provide wheelchairs for South Africans who can’t afford them. Any questions, see Kezia Bennett.