Witness Statements

Hi Church Cadets,

It was great to meet last month and to have a look at our church from parishes to Provinces, from curates to Archbishops! Here's some more gubbins to keep you occupied;

Questions

The early believers put together their basic building blocks of faith into a form we use regularly in church. It's usually said by everyone right after the sermon. What is the form called?

There are three main versions of this form. One named after the city in which it was agreed, one named after a group of 12 people, and one named after a saint. Can you give me the three names? ( there is a fourth, less well known, named after a Council which met to discuss it, you could find out what that one is if you like)

Definitions

Here's one of the forms, have a read of it and then try and research the definitions


I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again;
he ascended into heaven,
he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
Amen.

God is described in three ways in these forms; what three persons are used to illustrate Him?

What does 'Catholic' mean?

What does 'communion' mean?

What does 'resurrection' mean?

I know it's the summer holidays, so a special thank you for your efforts, see you soon. If you are going away on holiday I hope you have a great time.

Church Cadets 'The Prime Suspect'

Hi everyone, sorry we've had trouble with the blog, it's sorted now;

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, this week is to find out some things about the person who started the whole 'church' thing off..........J.C. (Jesus Christ) you'll find the Bible a good resource for this.....

You can Email me your findings at my personal address jerry@bikerdudes.co.uk

Booked !

Four people wrote the story of Jesus life, who were they? and what do we call their books?

Jesus was referred to in many ways in the book (son of man etc.) have a look through one of the stories and give me five, five names for Jesus that is!

Jesus taught using stories that had a hidden meaning, what were they called? how many were there in the gospel of Mark?

The Beatitudes are Jesus most famous teaching in what Chapter of Matthew will you find them?

What does John 3, 16 say?

Spotted!

Have a look at some pictures of Jesus on the internet, cut and paste me your favourites and tell me why it's your fave.

Three major events happened in Jesus life, his birth, his death and his resurrection. We know theses things happened because there were witnesses. Name witnesses who were there for his birth, death and resurrection.

Prayer;

Try and find a quiet place at some time each day and say this prayer, it is Jesus special prayer, you may know it but many people have forgotten it, here it is;

Our Father,
Who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name
Thy kingdom come, thy will be done,
In earth as it is in heaven,
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us,
Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
For thine is the Kingdom the power and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen.

Dunham Massey Parish Ministry Team

It's great to be able to tell you that we are growing our ministry team here at St Margaret's and St Mark's. We welcome two new faces at the front of church to help in ministry through worship;

Mr Geoff Reyner;

Geoff has been a regular at our church for some time now. Most famously as Father Christmas at our Fair! but also as a gifted Sunday School leader up at St Margaret's and a member of our Readers Rota. Geoff will be assisting in the services at St Margaret's on some Sundays. It's good to welcome him into a new role at St Margaret's and we look forward to recieving his ministry amongst us. Geoff's wife Sandra and children Charlotte and Max are well known to us all in our community at church.

Mr Colin Pownall;

Colin is presently on the Anglican Chaplaincy Team at HMP Stafford. He is a local Methodist lay preacher in the Warrington area and Chaplain to the CMA (Christian Motorcyclist's Association). Colin has felt a calling to a christian vocation in the church of England and will be exploring the possibilty of Ordination. His ministry will take place in both churches in worship and in pastoral situations where necessary. We welcome him into our fellowship and look forward to working with him here. Colin is married to Anita

I am NOT making myself redundant!! Geoff and Colin will be working alongside me as the incumbent of these two parishes.

Church Cadets

I've been wondering as to the best way of handling the traditional 'confirmation class' for young people for some time. I've come up with 'Church Cadets'. It's a confirmation course based around three meetings as a group in church and five activities taken part in through the internet.

The programme is as follows

CHURCH CADETS

Mission Matrix

June 15th Mission Briefing 'the super cs' (St Margaret's at 1230)

June 22nd Prime Suspect (Activity on www.dunhamchurch.com/churchcadets)

June 29th Witness Statement (internet)

July 6th Communication Centre (internet)

July 13th Chain of Command ( St Margaret's at 1230)

July 20th Instruction Manual (internet)

August 1st Mission Partners (internet)

September 14th O Group (internet)

Children in year 5/6 and above are ideally suited for the classes.

Please speak with me if you wish to support your child in Confirmation.

The meetings in church will be 45 minutes in length.

Scaffolding Dustsheets Hardhats and Cement

Both of our churches are receiving some TLC presently.
St Mark's building project began on 7th March. We are installing new drains, new access paths, stonework repairs, disabled loo and roof repairs. The architects and builders are doing all they can to make this as 'pain free' an experience as possible. Please be patient the contract period is a short one.
St Margaret's is to be home to some scaffolding for a month beginning on the 12th March. The work will take place in the tower crossing where checking and stabilisation of masonry will take place.
The repairs in both churches are important in our duty of care to the fabric and to those who come along. The changes will also result in buildings more effectively ordered for ministry to our parishes.

Low Voter Turn Out

It's the day after the local government elections and I'm reading about 'share of vote' and 'voter percentage turn out'.

Politicians have, in the past, been so concerned about low turn outs that postal voting has been introduced and debates take place over the possibility of making voting compulsory.

It's important that those who are empowered to elect their representatives do so we are told. Democracy is only democracy if everyone participates.

It's the same in church. We recently had our Annual Parochial Church Meetings at which church officers are elected. Churchwarden's, Parochial Church Councillors and Deanery Synod Representatives. At St Mark's we had about 10 people and about 20 at St Margaret's. A very low voter turnout. The combined electoral rolls of both parishes tells me there are 230 people eligible to vote.

The meetings are well publiscised. How do we up attendance? Any ideas?

The APCM is the primary opportunity for members of the church community to elect, to hear reports and to assess the PCC's management of the parish's finance.

I'd appreciate your ideas on a solution to the Dunham Church's low voter turn out.