From the Associate Vicar

Pentecost

This week we celebrate Pentecost – that moment when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church. Jesus had Ascended into heaven and he had told his disciples to wait until the Holy Spirit fell. As it did, God spoke in languages that all understood.

All cultural and religious boundaries were broken and everyone was united to God. This marked the start of the great expansion of the church. In the power of the Spirit, people were healed, empowered and filled with the love of God.

The world was changed by that moment and so can we be changed. This Pentecost, let’s remember our need for the Holy Spirit in our lives and the transformation that comes from saying that simple, ancient and profound prayer – ‘Come Holy Spirit!’

Roland

From the Mission Support Group

'‘I have done what was mine to do, may Christ now teach you what you are to do’

St Francis of Assisi said ‘I have done what was mine to do, may Christ now teach you what you are to do’ That sums up our desire for Mission Sunday. We may all be called to mission but perhaps we are not so sure what that means for each of us. We are organising the mission Sunday services to help us address that challenge. We wanted to explore the five marks of mission that define our mission strategy. We’ll do that by finding out more about each of the five marks of mission and exploring how some of our mission partners have responded. To that end we have lined up what we hope will be some engaging and stimulating presenters at our five stations, one for each of the five marks of mission which are:

1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.

2. To teach, baptise and nurture new believers.

3. To respond to human need by loving service.

4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society.

5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

We can all get involved in our unique mission call by learning, praying, giving and above all engaging, but we cannot do everything, hence ‘what is mine to do?’. Our prayer is that our time this Sunday will, for all of us in our different ways, be inspiring and helpful to enable us to refine our understanding and engage more fully in our own call and service. That might mean connecting with one of our partners more directly or simply being refreshed to follow your own sense of call.

With love Simon Musgrave (on behalf of the Mission Support Group

From the Wardens

In almost every walk of life, there are patterns & rhythms - starting points & finishing points. The same is most definitely true in church life where we have a whole series of patterns both theologically & practically each with their own significance.

Once a year in our church as in all other parish churches we hold our Annual Parochial Church Meeting and just in case you’ve not picked up on the recent notices, this year’s meeting is in church on Wednesday May 24th at 7.30pm

At that meeting we see church administrative starting points & endings. We will see a changeover of church wardens & we will vote new members onto the PCC as well as hear updates on the church’s financial position.

But perhaps most importantly it’s where together as a church family we will hear from Mark our vicar as he looks ahead & encourages & challenges us all to consider where we might play our part within the church family, as together we seek to reach out into our community to share the love of Jesus over this next year.

Please come & join us on May 24th. Your church & the community need you!

Alison, Richard & Sue.

From the Vicar

“Open to the Spirit” might well be the theme for a quiet day or a description of someone’s spirituality. Certainly, openness to the things of God is something that is a character virtue and an attribute to aspire too as individuals. What if there was a company of people for whom this all resonated as individuals and they all worked together for a common cause under the leading of that same Spirit?

Perhaps I am reflecting too early on a well-worn Pentecostal theme – unity in the Spirit, but this is one of the important values underneath our annual gathering entitled “Behold I set before you an open door….” (Wednesday May 24th 7:30 our APCM).

You will have heard much already and now I repeat my invitation to join us. There are some really exciting open doors for us to walk through together that will be presented, and then summarised on the following Sunday’s if you happen to be away. For many of our paid staff this will be their first annual meeting and for many of us this will be one of the first specific asks for sign up coming from the front(!).

Every community of faith needs to start somewhere and my hope and prayer, is that a united sense of responding will give us all heart that the Lord might even seek to give us more of Himself and His blessings by laying before us greater challenges for faith and obedience. Join us in prayer please for an openness to the Spirit of God and a willingness for God’s people to unite in obedience and loving unity on the evening and in the months ahead.

Yours in Christ’s service,

The Revd Canon Mark Brown

From the Treasurer

My maternal grandfather was a Chartered Accountant and inspired me to become one too! He was Treasurer for his church for 20 years. Roger Manterfield our Giving Treasurer has served in that role, and previously as our Treasurer, in total for over 20 years. I give thanks to God and have huge admiration for their commitment in serving with these responsibilities for such a long time. 

I've been the  Treasurer for All Saints for 3 years so far. Virtually every week  brings a new request or challenge but I feel it is a real privilege to be asked to offer my time, skills and experience to support and advise the PCC in the stewardship of our finances. The statutory accounts for 2022 are complete and audited and await PCC's approval on 9 May. I look forward to providing a summary of the church's finances in my presentation at the APCM on 24 May, helped by some colourful slides! They include comparing 2022 with our finances for the previous 3 years as we journeyed through the Covid pandemic and also look to the future.  

Thank you to everyone who contributes to the life of All Saints financially.  With over 80% of regular income coming from the church family every £ gifted makes a difference to what we can do as we seek to meet Jesus through the Open Door.

Julia Newton

From the Operations Manager

Hello all,

I am grateful for another opportunity to update you all on the progress being made with a number of estates projects we have underway in and around the church.

Since my last message, we have had approval from the DAC to complete the repair and replacement of new lighting in church, this work is due to start imminently and will improve the lumens on some of the gloomier areas in the building.

The plaque on the side of the tower remains under review as we await input from our architect and stonemason. Tests continue on the internal water damaged plaster. A series of poultices are being applied to see which is the most effective at drawing out the contaminates, the outcome of these trials should hopefully be a definitive product and method that we can use to clean the stonework.

I want to take this opportunity to thank the members of the Operations Team, and those volunteers we work closely with, for all of their help, support and diligence in preparing for the Easter services and activities, I am grateful to work with each and every one of them. 

As always, if you have any questions about any of the above, or anything to do with the building or operations of All Saints, please don’t hesitate to contact me via the office.

Many thanks,

Stephanie Osman

From the Youth Minister

I am writing this from the midst of House Party 2023!

We have taken 39 young people away to Edale for 5 days to study the Lord's prayer and grow deeper in our discipleship to Jesus through exploring some spiritual disciplines. We have also done a bunch of workshops looking at prominent issues in today's culture as well as joining together in lots of sung worship.

There have of course been many games and activities throughout the week as well!

Please be praying that House Party 2023 will have a substantial and long-lasting impact on our young people and that it leads many of them into new faith, deepened faith or confirmation. I do also want to thank everyone who has supported this year's House Party, the helpers, kitchen team, bakers and prayer warriors!

Cam Catto

From the Vicar

Happy Easter!!!

Alleluia Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed Alleluia!

I trust you have a great Easter with family and friends. The importance of rest, public holidays and cherishing people and places that are important to you can never be stressed too much. Neither too, can the realities of the Christian faith. The resurrection of Christ effects everyone and everything, it is not just a private set of opinions that govern a particular set of people that happen to form in club like ways around a church building. The Christian faith that is celebrated at Easter time is timeless truth, a public truth and an all-encompassing truth. The defeat of death means not just that the end of the road is fixed, but that all journeys along all roads of life are transformed with divine life. Only in that sense can Easter be said to be happy. We celebrate the life that Christ has for us each day not just at the end of our days.

One of the saddest things that was said to me recently in a Christian meeting was by someone who had travelled and interviewed a number of people working in churches. They discerned that most people had felt they had wasted their time! Such a depressing outlook on life might be the result of a long, tiring slog or little or no rewards or returns, but it also evidences a facing and a living of the realities of the Christian faith. If Christ has been raised, and we work with him and for him, then nothing can ever be in vain or a waste of time. We don’t just have light at the end of the tunnel we have a light to lighten our paths.

Christ is Risen is not just a hymn, chorus, song or creed - it is a fact which should and can permutate every aspect of life. You can tell when it is present and sadly when not! May we be those who are able to say Happy Easter because this is our experience. Christ is Risen and He is Risen for you!


Yours in Him,
The Revd Canon Mark Brown