Links

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

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 15th May)

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 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.

Rev Rachel Parkinson, our District Chair, reflects on Psalm 23 - YouTube link

A Sunday Reflection from our District Chair - Rev Rachel Parkinson - YouTube link

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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

It’s Ascension - the day we once again recognise and rejoice in the divinity of Jesus alongside his humanity and a signpost towards the tremendous events of Pentecost.  So please find attached a Pentecost letter to the circuit from me.  I hope you are blessed by it.

Meanwhile...
Rev Josephine’s Testimony Service - Saturday 22 May at 6pm in VoSWorship
We are excited to announce that the district has asked the Vale of Stour to be the on-line host of the annual district testimony service for ministers soon to be ordained.  So our very own Rev Josephine will feature in a service led by the Rev Rachel Parkinson - our district chair - that will be live-streamed from United Lye using our very own CTC team and Vale of Stour Platform.

So please support Rev Josephine by bookmarking this date and time.  You just need to follow the normal link to VoSWorship:
https://church.valeofstour.org.uk/vosworship 

The Preaching Plan
This was issued last week.  It was not easy to create and all churches have Local Arrangements, but we will continue to provide weekly full text services that stewards / worship leaders can use when no preacher is planned.  We give thanks to God for sustaining us and we pray that all churches may reopen safely.  

Pentecost - Leaving Lockdown - DVD Project – all gone!!
With incredible hard work from everyone involved our Ascension and Pentecost services plus other materials were recorded and created as a DVD.  150 were ordered and already 144 have been requested and delivered out to folk across the circuit.  Online access to these materials can be found here:
https://www.valeofstour.org.uk/pentecost-vision-leaving-lockdown
Also note that the Services and Resources from this DVD will be posted up on the Circuit Website – on the Player.

Thy Kingdom Come
Next Thursday is Ascension Day (May 13th). Every year between Ascension and Pentecost we are encouraged to join the global ecumenical call to prayer - Thy Kingdom Come. We pray for people we know, that they might know that Jesus loves them. There is an accompanying leaflet here to guide your prayers.

May 23rd – there will be an online morning pre-recorded Pentecost service on VOSWorship at 10:30.  This will be the last morning online service on VOSWorship for the time being.  There will continue to be evening services every Sunday at 6:30pm on VOSWorship and these services will remain available until the following Sunday evening.

Rev Josephine is encouraging us in our Circuit Day to Day fellowship
She is following the Methodist principle of encouraging small group discipleship where we can invite friends.
Please contact her if you are interested in registering for the following:

  • Alpha Online Tuesdays at 7pm

  • Thursday Zoom Discussion Group at 8:30pm (for all, but especially parents of younger children)

  • Alpha Fridays at 1:30pm

Email via the category Rev Josephine Soon on the Email Contact Form

Rev Josephine says:
Together we pray for a common desire to grow stronger in our faith
What can I give and offer?
Who can I invite? 
Who do you think needs to know God in Jesus today? 
Please pray for them and invite them to Alpha (1-2 people).

Below are the details of our online services this coming weekend.  We do hope to see you afterwards for coffee and a chat using the links at the top of the service screen.

God bless you all

Rev Alan Combes and the team

ONLINE Services

for Thursday 13th May

- at 5:00pm - Ascension Day service led by Rev Helen Croft

for Sunday 16th May

- at 10:30am - led by Rev Rev Andrew Roberts

- at 6:30pm - led by Mr Martin Rider

for Sunday 23rd May

- at 10:30am - an online morning pre-recorded Pentecost service on VOSWorship.
This will be the last morning online service on VOSWorship for the time being.  There will continue to be evening services every Sunday at 6.30pm on VOSWorship and these services will remain available until the following Sunday evening.

The services will be recorded and almost immediately available for those who wish to watch when more convenient.

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

Coffee and a Chat

On the live stream page you will see links to Coffee Rooms at the top.  These will be open / staffed after the livestreamed worship.

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, 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

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.