Creative Voices

In August, Sarah Broome, who grew up in Sheffield, is one of three MA Community Artist students from Goldsmiths College, London who will be going in August to Nairobi, Kenya to work with the Salvation Army Regional Facilitation Team on a project called Creative Voices. The UK team will work alongside local facilitators using a variety of   drama workshops and other art forms to accompany the Community Counselling work of the Regional Facilitation Team, which works with communities overwhelmed by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. In this setting, Community Counselling is described as when whole communities come together to discuss issues of shared concern and then design responses to those concerns together. The UK team believe that drama and the arts are an excellent way to identify and explore concerns and  they hope to learn from  the local facilitators and communities as well as share their own skills and experience. The UK team will work mainly with children and young people and Sarah will be filming their activities.

The UK team - Andy, Douglas and Sarah - have been raising funds for the project for the last 6 months. The project is completely self-funded so as not to place an additional financial burden on the communities hosting the team.

They are also trying to find a range of materials to use in their work. For example, they are taking a parachute!  This is not only for games-it will become a canvas for each group of children to paint on and then brought back to form part of an exhibition of the project's work.

The team will be coming to Sheffield when they get back and will pleased to talk about their work to any groups who are interested.

If you  want to know more about Creative Voices, or even make a donation, you can contact Sarah on:
sarah.broome@yahoo.co.uk or telephone 0793 231 3815

Preaching through John's gospel

The themes for June will be as follows:

June  3rd Jesus and Nicodemus John 3: 1 – 21
June 10th  Jesus and John the Baptist                 John 3: 22 –4: 3
June 17th  Jesus and the Samaritan Woman     John 4: 4 – 42
June 24th  The Son’s Authority               John 4: 43 – 5 : 47
July 1st     Jesus performs more miracles                   John 6: 1 – 40

The service on June 17th will be conducted by a group of elders as I will be present at Anne Dale’s assessment service that morning at Dore & Totley.

Can I draw your attention to the service on June 24th which is on the theme of the Son’s Authority. It will be based on the entire reading but only the verses 19 to 30 of chapter 5 will actually be read during the service. You are therefore encouraged to read the entire passage at home in advance of the service.

I have had very encouraging feedback about this style of worship planning and I hope you are all learning much more about John’s gospel through this process.

Bob

Final epistle from Madascar

Hi everyone.

We return to the UK on Monday so this will be the final letter from Madagascar.

We spent a nice time on Ile Sainte Marie with the church centre out there. The centre is on an even smaller island off the southern tip of Ste Marie. You land at the island's airport, walk across the end of the runway and hop onto a canoe which takes you across to the island. No cars and white beaches all the way round. It was idyllic.

I preached on each of the Sundays there and we also helped in the work of the centre. In return we were given massive portions of delicious food. Plenty of fresh fish and coconut sauce.

The last couple of weeks have been about saying our goodbyes. I preached for the last time at Bevalala this Sunday. After the service Kerry and I stood at the back of the church and said goodbye to everyone. We must have kissed 100 people or more. Thankfully it was communion so those who had not taken membership classes had all left, otherwise we may still be there.

It was also the last Monday night service for street people in Tana. I preached again and Kerry got some video so I can show my tutors I've done something this year. It was very nice.

All that's left is to say goodbye to the friends we've made over the year and somehow pack. The weight limit out of Madagascar is massive so we should be ok.

Your prayers for our return will be welcome as always.

 Thanks you to all of you who have kept in contact. Thanks for all the prayers and the kind words and we hope to see you soon (i.e. sometime between now and Christmas).

(Catch up with my Malagasy adventures at 360.yahoo.com/philbaiden)

Take care, God bless and Veloma,

Phil

Simple Summer Snax

If we are to replicate the success of our mission to the people of the city centre who pass our premises in August from last year, we only need a few people to soften their hearts to the idea.

There are only a few days for which volunteers are needed to avoid cancelling the idea altogether on those days, so please think again about just giving up one 4 hour stretch during August.  The uplift you will get will more than offset the loss of a period when you thought you would have a rest.  Your church finances need that 4 hours from you.

Please see Albert to sign the rota - please.  Full training is available for just smiling, serving a drink, operating the electrical equipment and having a sleep in the chair at home afterwards.

What does it mean to be a City of Sanctuary?

Following the recent announcement of Sheffield becoming the first City of Sanctuary, we now want to work out a shared set of practical goals for Sheffield’s engagement with asylum-seeker and refugees. We will be asking for the views of all our supporters and aim to hold a World Café consultation event in October, leading to a plan that we can all share responsibility for working towards.

Asylum Blogs

Our website now has a section called Asylum Blogs, written by Sheffield based asylum-seekers and refugees. Please have a look and encourage them by leaving your comments on their articles. You can also comment on any news articles on the site by clicking on Comments at the foot of any article. It would really help to have the views of our supporters on the website, as our critics are already quite well represented.

Volunteer Advocates Needed

ASSIST is looking for volunteer befrienders/advocates who can accompany
asylum-seekers to appointments and offer moral support in meetings with solicitors and officials. If you could offer some time for this very important role please contact Paul Snell at: phsnell@onetel.com

City of Sanctuary on Facebook

There is now a City of Sanctuary group on Facebook at:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=3D2414298833

If you are a Facebook user, please invite your friends.

Towards a City of Sanctuary in Leicester

We are working with a group in Leicester which is keen to develop their own City of Sanctuary initiative there. They are planning a meeting in October for local groups to explore the idea. There has also been interest from Leeds, Coventry and London.

Craig Barnett - City of Sanctuary
www.cityofsanctuary.com

Celebrating 50 years of friendship

The foreword to Revd John Reardon's book 'Together met, together bound', which has been published by the URC to mark the celebrations, begins:

'In the immediate aftermath of the second world war, beginning with the sending of food parcels and exchange visits of young people, a relationship began between [Shelley Road] Congregational Church in Worthing and the Protestant Church in Wolfstein. That pioneering contact ... grew into one involving the Congregational Union and the Church of the Palatinate, culminating in 1956 ... in mutual acceptance of pulpit and table fellowship'.

The recognition of ministers and the welcoming of members of both churches to each other's communion services was celebrated on Sunday 28 April 1957 at a special service in the Memorial Church of the Protestation in Speyer.

The foreword continues 'This was far from a paper agreement [and] has flourished in rich and diverse ways...'. More than 13 local congregations now have individual links with German churches. In 1981 the women of the Yorkshire Province (now Synod) formed a link with the women of the Palatinate churches and have held biennial meetings alternately in Yorkshire and Germany ever since: they were joined by the women of the churches of the Anhalt District on the unification of Germany and by the Scottish women in 2000 when the Congregational Church in Scotland joined the URC.

This year the United Reformed Church and the Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz are celebrating the 50th anniversary of the agreement with a series of events in Britain and Germany. The celebrations began with a weekend of meetings and discussions from 1 to 4 June in Speyer and will end with a conference in October at Hinsley Hall in Leeds which will include a service in York Minster.

The Palatinate church produced several publications for the weekend including a special edition of their magazine 'Informationen', which looks back on some memorable occasions, and a booklet, which gives a detailed account of the structure of the URC and concludes with articles on the achievements of the partnership and a look into the future.

The culmination of the anniversary weekend was the service held in Speyer's Memorial Church on Trinity Sunday, 3 June. Rosie and I were privileged to be at
this very moving and impressive act of worship which was conducted by representatives of the two churches - orders of worship were available in English or German. There were two sermons, one by Revd Stephen Orchard and one by Kirchenpresident Eberhard Cherdron, and the service culminated in a communion service at which you could choose to drink from individual cups of wine or from the common cup. There was a feast of music with hymns and songs, most of them known to both English and German congregations, and sung responses (Kyrie, Gloria, and Agnus Dei); the prelude, Bach's Fantasia in G major, was played by the church organist; the church choir sang two English pieces, Tallis's 'If you love me' and Rutter's 'The Lord bless you and keep you'; and the postlude was parts of Handel's 'Music for the Royal Fireworks' played by the Palatinate Brass Band.

After the service we went to a champagne reception at an exhibition celebrating the 50 years of partnership; of particular interest to us was the excellent display on the women's conferences which had been prepared by Pfarrerin Barbara Kohlstruck, leader of the Palatinate women's work. After a light lunch at a Protestant convent nearby, we returned for three brief presentations on the past, present, and future of the partnership; these were followed by the presentation to Kirchenpresident Cherdron of a copy of John Reardon's book and a specially commissioned piece of calligraphy.

We returned to the church in the afternoon for a lecture(in German)'Protestantism in Europe'; we were given an English summary which shows that it dealt with the need for reconciliation to resolve the tensions caused by our religious, national, and racial inheritance in Europe.

A thoroughly exhausting and inspiring day, meeting people from English churches that were twinned with churches in the Palatinate and seeing many familiar faces from the women's conferences, from Yorkshire, and, closer to home, Elizabeth Nash and Fleur Houston with their Sheffield connection.

Derek Hawksworth

Making a difference

It’s a Thursday in late March and Southwark Cathedral in the Spring sun has every seat taken. But this congregation is unusual. It is full of young people; and a fine ensemble of young musicians is making music that fills the church. Others are in animated conversation, but soundlessly because they are signing. The congregation settles and worship begins. There is drama, choral music, a signing choir of disabled deaf young people, a profoundly simple sermon from the Archbishop of Canterbury and prayers from the Moderator of Southern Synod, Lord Carey and the chaplain of Caterham School.

This extraordinary event was a celebration of the 250th anniversary of the birth of a Congregational minister. Two very different institutions, the Royal School for Deaf Children in Margate and Caterham School, were celebrating John Townsend their founder. The Royal School has been a lodestar in the development of education for deaf people and now finds itself working with disabled deaf people. The quality of that care was readily apparent as staff enabled the young people to participate fully in the service. Caterham is a leading independent school.

They are what history, particularly state intervention in education, has made them. Their founder, nearly 200 years ago, was minister of Jamaica Row Chapel in Bermondsey, east London. His congregation included Mr and Mrs Creasy, whose son, James, was deaf. Because they were wealthy, James was taught privately,  by a famed deaf educator. The plight of poor deaf children troubled Mrs Creasy, so she raised it with her minister. Townsend set about researching the problem, discovered its considerable scope, and then began energetically networking across the evangelical world, enlisting the support of MPs like William Wilberforce and bankers like Henry Thornton. Within five months the Bermondsey Asylum for the Support and Education of Deaf and Dumb Children of the Poor opened its doors in 1792, with six pupils. It was to thrive, and in1807 gained royal patronage.

By 1811 Townsend was a figure in London Congregationalism, having added Orange Street Chapel near Leicester Square to his ministry in Bermondsey. Although his stipend allowed him to live in comfort and charitable benevolence, he was painfully aware of the plight of his lower paid colleagues, and dreamt of a school for their children (there was no state provision). In October that year the first Congregational school began in Newington, at a rate of 25 guineas per child with ‘washing, pens and ink included’. It moved to Lewisham in 1814, and to Caterham in 1883. Meanwhile Townsend preached, presided at the sacraments, raised funds, and played a part in founding what became the London Missionary Society in 1795 and the British and Foreign Bible Society in 1804.

Within a generation it was easy to mock such philanthropy, because goodness often walks hand in hand with hypocrisy, as Dickens and others showed. That is to miss that Townsend was a man called by God, living under the discipline of the gospel, who made the world a better place. He did that by responding to needs. Thanks to his legacy, thousands of deaf people have received proper education, and thousands of pupils have benefited from the Christian ethos that remains central to Caterham’s vision. And it is before LMS/CWM and the Bible Society are taken in to account. He was not unusual – this is a story that could be replicated across our three nations.

Fast forward to the church of 2007…..

Ours is a different world from the one John Townsend knew, not least because the state has responsibility for much which in his day was either done by philanthropists or left undone.

Each year the Congregational and General Insurance Company funds community awards,  which support innovative, cutting-edge work in local churches. This year the finalists included an experimental café church in Colchester reaching 200 people on Sunday afternoons, a drop-in centre for young people at New Mills, and an ecumenical youth church in Tadley, run largely by young people themselves. And they are the tip of a huge ice-berg. God’s people continue to make a difference.

But, we live in a culture that is obsessed by what is quantifiable. Fortunately, God has never shared that outlook. In God’s economy, mustard seeds have enormous potential and mountains move, widows’ mites finance revolution, while five loaves and two fish feed a great crowd. John Townsend’s concern grew two schools that have ridden the waves of change for nearly 200 years. God’s  way of working is alive and well in New Mills, Colchester, Tadley and many other places when needs are perceived, an offering of service is made and Jesus is set free in word and deed. Let us keep church statistics and finance in their place so that we can give priority to creating windows for the kingdom.”

(Catch the Vision – from Assembly Reports 2007)

 The following article is also taken from the Report. I think it puts into perspective the problems of flooding that people have experienced here in England and Wales! Ed.

Our Mission

Commitment for Life works for justice, for hope and for the future.  We work through Christian Aid and the World Development Movement. The story of Amina Begum illustrates why we make a connection between our faith and lifestyle. The bible is full of stories that show us how to treat our neighbour in response to God’s love for us. As we are reminded in Galatians 5: 14, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’

Amina’s family have been forced to move three times already as slowly, inexorably the River Padma (Ganges) has pushed them back. And each time they move they lose more than just their house – they lose security, money and hope for the future.

Amina remembers the forced moves all too well. “Since we first lost our land to the river, we never had enough food or clothes for us,” she says. It is because of CCDB’s (Christian Commission for Development in Bangladesh) work and the family’s determination that they are getting back on their feet again.

“I got a CCDB loan to buy two goats,” Amina says. “They have had two kids. We’ll probably sell the goats and invest the money. Before I joined CCDB, I had no money to save. Now I will have something to fall back on.”

But nothing is certain for Amina and she fears for the future. “This place is only about 1.5km from the river bank so one day it will be taken too. Nobody can predict when it will happen, so we are saving some money so that we can buy land somewhere else. The trouble is we can’t go too far because the land further away costs so much money.”

CCDB continues to work to help those affected by climate change in Bangladesh – those who have done next to nothing to contribute to the problem but are paying an unfairly high price as their homes and livelihoods are destroyed.
                                                            Christian Aid/Amanda Farrant

Summer Concert

The Escafeld Chorale has asked that I express sincere thanks to everyone at church who supported the choir on 14th July. I add my own thanks especially to all who helped ‘back stage’ to contribute to the very successful evening.

Geoffrey Wood

Jigsaw Festival

St Annes-on-Sea URC is holding a five-day Jigsaw Festival from 21st to 25th August and friends are invited from other churches to come and enjoy this festival with them. There are over 200 completed jigsaws on display for us to enjoy and buy, if we so wish. There will also be books, videos, French polished furniture, greetings cards, bookmarks, notelets, jams, marmalades, chutneys, jewellery and hand made craft goods on sale as part of the event.

The entrance charge is £2 for adults, children free, and admission includes one free drink.

There will be a minibus trip on Thursday 23rd August to St Annes-on-Sea in Lancashire for those who wish to visit the Jigsaw Festival at St Annes URC or who just wish to have a day out by the seaside. The minibus will leave Central at 10am and will be back sometime in the early evening. The cost will be £10 per head for the minibus. If you are interested please add your name to the list on the notice board.

Autumn Alpha Courses

We are planning to have an Alpha Course in the autumn which will take place on Sunday evenings, from October 7th onwards. It is hoped to attract some students from Sheffield Hallam University but it is not exclusively for students. If you wish to join this course please contact Bob, Elaine or Hilary. We have invitation cards available for you to give out to family and friends so please take them and use them.

Bob

Student Minister on his major placement

Philip Baiden, who is training for ministry within the URC at Northern College, will be undertaking his final year placement with us commencing September. During his time with us he will become involved in all aspects of the life of Central and in all aspects of ministry and I am sure you will both welcome him and give him your support and encouragement. He will be leading a number of services as well as taking part in others and he will also participate in elders and church meetings when convenient. He is hoping to join us on September 2nd and he will then start to become actively involved shortly after that date. While he is on placement at Central he will have a small Support Group to help him and his wife as they both prepare for the time when he will take charge of his own church(es).

This period of time I believe will be beneficial both to Philip and to Central and I am looking forward to how we might offer the opportunities he needs to gain in confidence as a minister.

Bob

Amnesty International

As I was putting the final touches to In Focus I found the following e-mail on my computer. I think it speaks for itself, don’t you? Ed.

Iran: Kurdish cousins face execution for being at enmity with God

Sheffield man appeals for his brother to be spared hanging

Amnesty International has today called for death sentences against two Kurdish cousins in Iran to be commuted as it issued an urgent action appeal on their behalf.

The men, Adnan Hassanpour, a journalist, and Hiwa Butimar, a Kurdish rights activist and environmentalist, both from Iran’s Kordestan province, were sentenced to death last month on charges of espionage and for being at enmity with god (Moharebah).

The men were told on 17 July that they had been sentenced to death and yesterday Iran’s judicial authorities confirmed for the first time that death sentences had been imposed. The sentences are subject to an appeal and must then be confirmed by Iran’s Supreme Court.

The original charges, relating to possession of Kurdish flags, videos and photographs of a family trip to Iraqi Kurdistan, reportedly saw the men appearing before a Revolutionary Court in June, a tribunal that falls below international fair trial standards. The Iranian penal code contains a number of vaguely worded national security provisions that outlaw activities relating to journalism and freedom of expression. These provisions conflict with international human rights law.

Amnesty International UK Director Kate Allen said: Journalism and cultural and environmental activism are lawful activities that should be protected by the Iranian authorities, not persecuted and punished.

We sincerely hope that the Iranian authorities will listen to our concerns about this case and commute these death sentences. After a shameful spate of executions in Iran this year, it’s now vital that Iran takes a step back from judicial killing and imposes a halt on all further executions.

The brother of one of the men, Hadi Butimar, who lives in Sheffield, said: I’m absolutely shocked that my brother Hiwa has been sentenced to death and I’m doing my utmost to prevent his execution. The entire family is desperately hoping that the sentence will get overturned on appeal. Our main hope is that the international campaign can save him.

At least 143 people have already been executed in Iran so far this year, an execution rate in excess of even that in 2006, when a minimum of 177 people were executed making the country the second highest user of the death penalty in the world.

Executions have been carried out for a range of offences, including a case earlier this month when a man was stoned to death for adultery. The woman in the same case remains under a death by stoning sentence.

In a separate case, a teenager recently came within hours of being hanged before the execution was postponed following an international outcry and moves to pay blood money to the victims relatives.

The urgent action appeal on behalf of Adnan Hassanpour
and Hiwa Butimar can be found at www.amnesty.org.uk/cases

A campaign for Adnan Hassanpour and Hiwa Butimar has also been set up by supporters of the men in the UK: www.adnanhiwa.blogspot.com

Climate Change…… to WATER

During this last month you may have noticed that the message on the display boards at the top of the stairs drew attention to aspects of ‘Climate Change.

Christian Aid this year has a key theme that of ‘Climate Change’ and we hope you found the various posters informative.

At the end of June we all became aware (some far more than others) of the severe flooding in Sheffield and other parts of South Yorkshire. The waters have mainly left the streets and houses as I write but it will be a long time before many people are able to settle into their homes again. Later in July large parts of the Midlands were hit by floods. We hope and pray that all the agencies will ensure that sufficient help and finance will be forthcoming over the many months ahead.

Christian Aid’ however’ is concerned directly with the devastating effect of flooding in some of the poorest places in the world – the posters told the stories from Bangladesh, El Salvador and Senegal.

One of the key problems of these far off countries is the availability of clean water. Even without the climate change and destruction of villages by flood  water vast numbers of people in the developing countries have no access to clean (safe) drinking water. Areas in Gloucestershire have been without clean water and water was brought in by tanker. Even then there were stories of people driving many miles to find clean water. In the developing countries people may have to walk many miles every day to find water.

During this last week the display at the top of the stairs has been changed to ‘Water’ and we move on to think about our Harvest theme.

The charity ‘Samaritan’s Purse’ is promoting an awareness this year to draw attention to the plight of so many people in the developing countries through the campaign ‘Turn on the Tap’. This will be the theme for our own Harvest Thanksgiving in October and during the coming weeks the displays will focus on the ‘water theme’ so do keep and eye out for the various posters and information.

We have bottles for you to collect loose change for the campaign – or ask for a label if you use your own bottle or jar. You can bring these bottles (plus pennies etc!) to church at any time and hand it in to a member of the Forward Planning Group. At the end of September we shall have envelopes in which you might make your Harvest offering. We ask that instead of buying produce you offer the money – and if possible be a little more generous. The envelopes will be offered during the Harvest Thanksgiving Service on 14th October.

Do help us to Turn on the Tap for safe, accessible water in the developing countries.

Forward Planning Group

A little note

A little note to say how much we appreciate all the prayers, visits, messages and love etc that are being sent our way during Philip's illness.  Our church family has a very big heart!
Thank you all and God bless

“The Rise, Fall and Regeneration of Sheffield’s Economy”

This is a bus tour which gives an insight into where Sheffield has come from, by showing the sights of Sheffield present, and by visiting the sites of regeneration in its different forms. 

It will be led by Bob Warwicker, South Yorkshire Workplace Chaplain, on Thursday 30th August, leaving Central at 10am and arriving back no later than 3pm. It will be advertised to other churches and already some interest has been shown so if you want to go please add your name to the list on the notice board. There will be small charge to cover the cost of hiring the minibus.

The Medical Miracle of the Therapeutic Custards

Once upon a time in the land of Just Serving, just before closing time, Boss Woman was talking to a Mrs Customer, to whom she also chats in Sainsbury's.  Mrs Customer was saying how much her neighbour had enjoyed the custards she had been taking to her whilst she was ill.  Mrs Neighbour was having treatment for cancer.  Mrs Kind Customer was going to take another custard home to give to Mrs Neighbour.  It was about 10 minutes before closing time and we had a few custards left, well two anyway.
In an act of utmost kindness to Mr Mini Busdriver, a tall, bespectacled chap who comes to Central and has a weakness for custards, but was trying to be strict about not stretching his belt any further, Boss Woman said to Mrs Kind Customer “Please take these last two custards to your neighbour, and say that we at Central wish her well as she goes through her treatment for this awful problem”.  Best not to say whom the tall, bespectacled chap is as we don’t want to embarrass him.
Mrs Kind Customer reported back two weeks later to say how much Mrs Grateful Neighbour had enjoyed the custards, and appreciated the thought behind the gesture. Nobody is sure whether the tall chap enjoyed being deprived of the custards on the Wednesday though, so please don’t tell him.  So we sent Mrs Grateful Neighbour another one to try to maintain the ‘treatment’.  Don’t tell Mrs Catering Convenor though, or Mr Worried Treasurer, as we are supposed to sell them, not give them away.  But who cares.
News came through a couple of weeks later that Mrs Grateful Neighbour had completed her treatment and was now in Remission.  A lot of people go there after they have been to Weston Park it seems.  Unfortunately, a lot don’t either.   I think they finish up going to Hour Maiker.  So Boss Woman sent her another one!  Just two weeks later, a little white envelope was given to Boss Woman.  Inside was a note of gratitude and a £10 note asking Boss Woman to give it to a charity of her choice.  So she gave it to Christian Aid, whoever he is.  Mrs Kind Customer now buys a custard for Mrs Grateful Neighbour every time Boss Woman is in charge.
You can say all you like about the National Elf Service, but has anyone done any research into the benefits of custards to all who suffer?  Or was it perhaps some other mightier power at work?

Mr Will Yer Goafer Please