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…

----------

(Links updated Friday 5th August)

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

------

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

----

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

----

Vale of Stour Circuit Services and Prayer Meetings On-Line

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 !
 

Virtual Church Services

Dear Sisters and Brothers 

Last weekend saw England Woman’s Football win the 2022 UEFA Women’s Championship - a feat never done before.  In 2009, they reached the final but no major championship has been won by any senior football team since 1966.  While watching the celebrations and hearing these statistics, I felt the Lord say ‘If Sarina Weigman can take a team of players and change them into winners through trust, belief and faith, how much more, can I change things in the Vale of Stour through trust, belief and faith in the Holy Spirit working through the people who claim to love me.  It’s time for things to change, it’s time for a fresh outpouring of my Spirit, it’s time to see things in the heavenly and call them forth.  It’s time to rise up and be the people I have called you to be BUT you need to let go of the past, you need to let go of what is stopping you working together, and you need to release your buildings’.

Beloved, I believe the Vale of Stour is on a precipice and we’ll either fall and crumble or we’ll come together and thrive.  I recognise no change is easy, but life is always changing.  It’s time for us also to change and become relevant once again.  So, in this season of change with presbyters going and returning, let us not just heap more and more on to them, other staff members and our church stewards but let’s seek God’s way for uniting and bringing Heaven on Earth.

---===---

Below you will find a link forwarded to us by Rev Josephine from the World Methodist Evangelism community, who are asking for donations to support Ukraine. 

https://worldmethodist.org/donate/ukraine

You could also choose to support Ukraine via the British Methodist Relief and Development Fund called All We Can 

www.allwecan.org.uk/donate/ukraine

May the grace and peace of God continue to support and strengthen you.  

Rev Helen and the Circuit Team

---===---

Circuit News

You are cordially invited to share tea/coffee and cake with Jacqueline Hill at Lye Methodist Church on Saturday 6th August. She is raising funds for the Motor Neurone Disease Association. See attached poster.
 

Please see the attached poster about Holiday Clubs and special events coming up in the Summer Holidays. Please note Special Spirits Stay and Play is for families with children who have additional needs.
 

MIDWEEK WORSHIP will be held at Wollaston Methodist Church on Wednesday 10th August, the 2nd Wednesday of each month, at 2.30pm – and led by one of our Ciruit Worship team. The worship will be followed by a full tea. So if you often have difficulties attending a Sunday Service (due to work, family commitments etc) or just want to attend another act of worship, then come and join the folks from Wollaston, Gig Mill and New Road. ALL ARE WELCOME. A poster is here. Please tell your friends!
 

Worship Leader and Local Preacher taster sessions

Are you interested in developing your faith and sharing with others? Do you feel called to offer more to your church services? The circuit is offering some taster sessions for those interested in registering for the Worship leader course and Local Preacher course. An opportunity to meet and ask questions, explore the options and talk to some of our local preachers. There are 2 planned sessions over the summer, in August, with a view to starting courses from September. Please print the attached flyer to display in your churches.
 

The Circuit Office will be closed this week due to Elaine being on annual leave. Any urgent enquiries please contact Rev Helen Croft 01384 413692 or 07712332075. Any emails will be responded to on her return on the 8th August.

---===---

VOS Virtual Platform - Please Make Use of the Circuit Online Meeting Space - It's free, funded by the circuit...

Alongside VoSWorship, the Circuit Platform has been undergoing an update thanks to the CTC team and I encourage churches to use this FREE resource - funded by the circuit for online gatherings such as Bible Study, Prayer, Games Nights etc.  It's a fantastic and easy to use environment and there are many folk already trained across the circuit who can open a room for you to host your event / meeting.
 

God bless you all and may you know the sustaining presence of God in your lives.

Rev Alan Combes

---===---

Online services

Our weekly online services (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

We are no longer providing a weekly pre-recorded circuit service.  However, we recommend any of the following for those of you still unable to get to church :
 

ONLINE Service Live-streamed from Kinver.

This will be the first video (on the left) under UPLOADS > PLAY ALL at the following site :
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZnnIcxNLSP5VXyOGBeuxMA

The most recent online services are the other videos found on the same page.

The dates of all the Kinver services are shown beneath each video thumbnail.
 

Wesley's Chapel’s YouTube channel has a livestreamed service at 11am on Sundays and Morning Prayer services the rest of the week at 10am.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUAUqhmhevz5sqhh72LIMxA
Again, this will be the first video (on the left) under HOME > Past live streams, and the most recent online services are the other videos found on the same page.

The dates of all the Wesley services are shown beneath each video thumbnail.
 

All previously archived live-streamed and recorded services can be found on the Circuit Website Virtual Player: 
https://www.valeofstour.org.uk/virtual-church/player
 

Order of Services
For anyone unable to attend or watch any services in person, this week's full Order of Service is here.

Coffee and a Chat

If you are interested in online coffee on a Sunday, please talk to any of the circuit staff and let us know what time would work for you and we can look at a time that would suit the majority of people.

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~~

For earlier Worship Resources and Reflections, see the archive page here.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Health, Guidance, and Support Resources
 

Young Minds website, featuring

Self-Isolation Conversation Starter pdf
Young Minds Matter pdf

-----

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

-----

Looking After Your Feelings And Body pdf from Public Health England

-----

NHS site - tackling Working From Home

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

-----

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

-----

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.

-----

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…

-----

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

-----

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

-----

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.