Links

President and Vice-President of the Methodist Conference - their latest Reflections

A Pastoral Message on facing Changing the Church - YouTube link
courtesy of our District Chair, Rev Rachel Parkinson

Methodist Church centrally provided resources - to help nourish your spiritual life on a daily and weekly basis

A Green Recovery - a call from Methodist Faith Leaders 

Justice for all - take a look at the Church's perspective on Justice in the light of recent events across the world…

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(Links updated Saturday 16th October)

Please click on any of the links below, to go to...

  • Circuit News Items, including

    The Spring Newsletter pdf, from Claire Biggs, our Children And Families Worker

  • Vale of Stour Virtual Church Services ~~updated~~

  • New Links to Worship Resources and Reflections ~~updated~~

  • New Links to Health, Guidance, and Support Resources

    and

  • Links to earlier Circuit News Items

  • Links to earlier Worship Resources and Reflections

  • Links to Methodist advice, guidance, and ideas for mission and worship

  • Links to Family, Children and Youth worship resources

  • Links to General Support and Help while the Coronavirus situation persists

  • Links to UK Government, NHS and Health And Safety Executive links and advice

  • Links to Self Care and Mental Health Support

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We trust and pray that these links may prove helpful, beneficial and a source of comfort for you in this uncertain time.

Please be aware that some of these links will take you to external sites, and although they have been checked, the Vale of Stour Circuit is not responsible for their contents.

CIRCUIT NEWS

Superintendent Minister's VoSCircuit Letter Pentecost 2021 pdf, courtesy of Rev Alan Combes

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Please see the Spring Newsletter pdf, from Claire Biggs, our Children And Families Worker

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Vale of Stour Circuit Services and Prayer Meetings On-Line
~~updated~~

As we continue our journey in lockdown, the Biblical Scholar Tom Wright says:
The followers of Jesus are called to be people of prayer at the place where the world is in pain.
May we take up the baton of prayer for the world, the church and ourselves...

We are now able to provide a dedicated Vale of Stour on-line centre for activities such as services and prayer meetings.
See the Virtual Church tab for more information and technical details !

LIVE STREAM - please read carefully… thank you.

Dear Sisters and Brothers 

The uncertainties of Covid continue to cause difficulties within our local churches in terms of what is the best course of action irrespective of what the world or other churches are doing.  Once again I ask us all to be both graceful and careful in acknowledging that we are not only protecting ourselves but also those around us.   And I also thank all those who steward and guide folk entering our buildings and services.

We move forward seeking to put all that we do before God in prayer and trusting that the Holy Spirit goes before us.

Circuit Notices

Family Star Gazing with Martyn Filsak

All are welcome to this special opportunity to explore the amazing nature of the Universe.  Saturday 16th October at 7.30pm at Kingswinford Methodist Church.  Please book via the Circuit Contact page, selecting a Category of Children and Families Worker.

Providence Methodist Church Monday Fellowship is restarting

Monday morning Fellowship has re-started !  All dates are from 10:30am.

8 November - Led by Martyn Filsak – Bring and buy Toiletries
22 November - Led by Jill Guest – Bring and buy Cakes/biscuits
6 December - Led by members – Christmas Celebrations
Please join us – all are very welcome
Contact: Judith Morris – 01384 561020

United Church Lye

The United Church Lye welcomes all to a special service on Nov 7th where they will be supporting the shoe box appeal (Samaritan’s Purse).   Lye is a collection hub for boxes and other churches are welcome to contribute.

Circuit Ramblers - good for body mind and spirit...

You are invited to join us once a month for a walk of approx. 1 hour
SATURDAYS
13th November 10am - Himley Hall
11th December 10am - Kinver Community Centre
8th January 10am - Collis Street Car Park, Stourbridge
Suggested donation of £1 per person for the Paul Ackrill Fund = Helping young people fighting cancer.

Walk / Charity details from Jacqueline Hill 01384 375126 Or Margaret Stevens 01384 622080 mobile 07986 566134 

Please note if a walk is cancelled or a start point changed, every endeavour will be made to let people know, but someone will go to the original venue in case anyone turns up.

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Online services

Our weekly online service (see links below) will available on Sunday mornings and will be either be a pre-recorded service based on the full text for that week or a live-streamed service from one of the churches around the circuit.  This service will stay on VOSWorship for the rest of the following week as normal.

For anyone unable to attend church or access online services we attach a full text version of a service for you to use at home.

Every Blessing :

Rev Alan Combes and the team

ONLINE Service

Sunday 17th October - led by Rev Peter Clarke, live-streamed from Kinver.

The service will be recorded and is available for those who wish to watch when more convenient.

Order of Service
For anyone unable to attend or watch the service in person, a full Order of Service is here.

Coffee and a Chat

Coffeeroom1 will be open from 7pm each Sunday evening - you can click on the link above the service on VOSWorship or use this link: https://church.valeofstour.org.uk/coffeeroom1
Remember that if you are on a phone or tablet you will need the Jitsi App to make this work - if you have problems please get in touch with any of the Staff team who will be able to point you in the direction of someone who can help you.

HOW To Find the Live Stream

For nearly all of you - especially those on computers / laptops, you just need to do what you normally do and in your web browser (eg Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Edge, Safari etc) go to: 

https://www.valeofstour.org.uk/virtual-church/live/vosworship

You will be redirected to the live stream which will begin around 5 minutes before the scheduled time, with an informal welcome and notices.

BOTH Live stream services AND the most recent Recorded service can always be found here:
https://church.valeofstour.org.uk/vosworship  
OR
https://www.valeofstour.org.uk/virtual-church/live/vosworship
 
AND all previous live-streamed and recorded services can be found on the Circuit Website Virtual Player: 
https://www.valeofstour.org.uk/virtual-church/player

IF you find yourself inside VoSWorship there will be a steward on duty there to help you find your way to the live stream.
Clicking the link above should get you there.

Thank you for sharing this journey and bearing with us along the way.  And thanks to all those working in the background.

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday as we continue to pray for our communities, the church and ourselves.

God bless

Rev Alan and the Team
 

NEW LINKS

Ministers' and Preachers' Reflections, Sermons, and Orders of Service
~~updated~~

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Health, Guidance, and Support Resources
 

Young Minds website, featuring

Self-Isolation Conversation Starter pdf
Young Minds Matter pdf

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NSPCC website - advice for you and your family with coping emotionally

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Looking After Your Feelings And Body pdf from Public Health England

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NHS site - tackling Working From Home

NHS site - looking after children and young people during COVID-19

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Poster for a Black Country Welfare 24-7 Support Line, showing links to

Sandwell Healthy Minds - 0303 033 9903
Wolverhampton Healthy Minds - 0800 923 0222
Black Country 24-7 Mental Health Support Line - 0345 6460827
and
Improving Access to Psychological Therapies :
- Dudley IAPT - 0800 953 0404
- Walsall IAPT - 0800 953 0995

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New Online Resources from Christianity.org.uk

Run by the Christian Enquiry Agency and part of Churches Together In England.
Visitors to the site can read a number of well written articles or watch short video that may answer their questions.
It’s worth a browse and visitors can then ask questions, request a free copy of Luke’s Gospel, or find a church from the site.  All this is available to your church website for free.

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The Joint Public Issues Team

The Joint Public Issues Team is found here -

www.jointpublicissues.org.uk

- and is a great source of contemporary, relevant Christian commentary on the world today.

They are analysis group that looks at all kinds of political and justice issues from a Christian perspective and produce reports, videos and study materials : part funded by the Methodist Church and including Methodist staff

Stay Alert…to Justice

Take a look at the Church's perspective on Justice in the light of recent events across the world…

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Links for helping families dealing with children who are grieving :

https://parentingforfaith.org/post/death-grief-and-coronavirus link

Supporting_bereaved_children_through_difficult_times pdf

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Click here for MH Self-Isolation Survival Guide pdf

An excellent home-schooling resource
for those of you with older children/teens to help them through isolation.

Provided by Forward Thinking Birmingham NHS Women and Childrens' Trust

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URC On Line Resources During the Crisis including Daily Devotions

The United Reformed Church (URC) is offering regularly updated advice and resources from a variety of sources about the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Please follow government advice: stay at home, protect the NHS, and save lives. God is with us and being worshipped in creative ways around the denomination as churches are closed. 

The URC has produced a list of its churches providing digital services, available here

The URC Daily Devotions team is also offering a Sunday service in both written and audio formats, featuring a range of voices from around the denomination. Since 22 March, more than 1,000 people have signed up to bring the total number of Daily Devotions subscribers to a whopping 3,988. Sign up to the Daily Devotions here.
 

While the Coronavirus situation persists, this page will contain useful links to :

We trust and pray that these links may prove helpful, beneficial and a source of comfort for you in this uncertain time.

Please be aware that these links will take you to external sites, and although they have been checked, the Vale of Stour Circuit is not responsible for their contents.