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News
(latest news at top) |
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April |
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Swaziland Ceilidh
The Dinner & Ceilidh held on 14th March in St.Mary's church hall
raised £1350 for the Jacaranda project. Ann and Hadrian would like to
thank everyone for their help and very generous support. |
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February |
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Jacaranda - Christmas
2007 Newsletter
The Jacaranda Christmas 2007
newsletter is available to download in PDF format here:
Jacaranda
- Christmas 2007 Newsletter... |
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Lent Appeal
This year the Bishop has chosen a project in Namibia which includes
a school, a home for Aids orphans and a kindergarten. |
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January |
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Lent Groups
This year the Lent Groups will consist of studies in John's Gospel.
They will begin on Wednesday 13th February at 7.30pm in the Rectory.
Please sign up if you intend to come. If you cannot manage a Wednesday
evening but are interested in joining a Lent Group, could you sign up at
the back of church indicating which evening, morning or afternoon you
would prefer. |
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Buffet Dinner & Ceilidh
There will be a fundraising buffet dinner and ceilidh on Friday 14th
March in St Mary's Church Hall, 7.30pm - midnight. All proceeds will go
to the Jacaranda Project in Swaziland. |
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2007 |
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August |
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Fete - Thank You!
Thank you to everyone who
helped make the Fete such a great success. When all monies are received
we shall have raised approximately £2400, of which 50% will go to church
funds, 25% to Cystic Fibrosis Research and 25% to F.R.O.M. - Famine
Relief of Orphans in Malawi (Scotland). |
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June |
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Fete
The Fete this year will be held
on 25th August 2007. Could those willing to help on stalls please sign
the list at the back of church.
The charities being supported this year are a project in Malawi for
children and Cystic Fibrosis. |
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March |
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The Young Church Eco
Lent Appeal
During March and April the Young Church will be collecting unwanted
spectacles. These will be sent to Vision Aid Overseas, a charity
dedicated to helping poor people in the developing world who have
problems with their eyesight. A box will be left at the back of church
for this purpose. |
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January |
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Homelessness Sunday
Homelessness Sunday was marked
again this year at St Mary's with a lively but moving all-age service.
£306 was raised for Start-Up - Many thanks to all who contributed.
Click here for the full report... |
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2006 |
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September |
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Harvest Festival
Please bring flowers and arrangements in reds/oranges and yellows
(no pinks) to decorate the church.
Goods will be welcomed as follows: Fruit/vegetables/flowers for the
elderly and sick; dry goods /tins for Start-up; money in Christian Aid
envelopes for their harvest appeal. |
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August |
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Fete
The total raised so far is £1,092.88 - Well done everyone. |
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July |
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Time Travellers
Active learning and worship for children aged 3 to 11 in St.Mary's
hall at 10.30am on Sundays 25th June to 27th August - A joint venture
between St.Blane's and St.Mary's. A crèche is also provided for ages 0
to 3. |
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May |
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The Stone Has Rolled
Away
On 13th May St.Mary's Theatre
Group performed the rock musical "The Stone Has Rolled Away".
Click here for the full report... |
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April |
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Sea Sunday
On 30th April we celebrated Sea
Sunday - The Rev. Robin Underhill (chaplain to The Mission to Seafarers)
preached, and standard bearers from naval organizations paraded at the
start and end of the service. Pupils from Queen Victoria School also
performed a hornpipe in the church hall. The retiring collection raised
£125 for the Mission to Seafarers.
Click here to see more photos... |
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Lent Appeal
The Lent Appeal for the Jacaranda project in
Swaziland raised £370 - Well done everyone. |
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Dinner at St.Blanes
House
On Friday 16th June there will
be a walk round the garden (weather permitting) at St. Blanes House,
followed by a two-course supper with wine, from 7pm – 10pm.
A limited edition of cards will be on sale showing interesting and
unusual views of St. Mary's. There will also be a small plant stall.
Tickets will be limited owing to space restrictions, so if you would
like to come, please ring Guy or Maud at 823310.
The cost is £15 per head, with the proceeds going towards the repair of
the church drains. |
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March |
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Ministry of Prayer
There are always two people on
duty after the 10.30am service to pray with those who would like prayer
for any situation. |
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Prayer Tree
There is at the back of church
a Prayer Tree with luggage labels on to which prayers may be written and
hung on the tree. |
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February |
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Homelessness Sunday
A total of £317.52 was raised, to be shared with Start-Up and the
Homelessness Sunday Partnership. |
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January |
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Prayers for Healing
It is proposed that after the services on a Sunday there will be two
people on duty to pray with anyone needing prayer, for physical healing
or any issue that is concerning them. The prayer can be for themselves,
someone known to them or for a more general situation. |
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2005 |
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August |
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Fête
The fête raised around £1,110 -
Well done everyone. 50% of the proceeds will go towards our own church,
25% will go to our chosen local charity Kidney Kids Scotland, a medical
charity who help to fund children with renal illness, and 25% will go to
our chosen overseas charity, CHIKS, an Indian orphanage in Kerala State
that also took in children who lost their parents after the Tsunami. |
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Meditation Walk
The Meditation Walk has been inaugurated (though it is still a work
in progress). There are laminated copies and leaflets at the back of
church for anyone who would like to sample it. It needs to be undertaken
in silence and at your own pace. |
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June |
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Radio Rainbow
During the mornings of the last week of the summer holiday, 8th to
12th August, Radio Rainbow, a holiday club for primary-age children will
be held in the Cathedral Halls. Application forms are available in
church, the library and in the schools. We are currently looking for
volunteers to provide filled rolls for the team’s lunch. Please let me
know if you are willing to help with this. We also need young helpers
(aged 12+) to join the team. Forms are available in church. During the
evenings of the same week an event called Frequency will be held for P 7
and High School pupils. It’s an informal café-style evening with games,
quizzes, speakers, songs, food and a lot of fun! Forms will be available
in church very soon. |
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Summer Club
St Mary’s is joining with St Blane’s again this year to run a Summer
Sunday Club for primary-age children. This year the children will be
travelling through time to meet various characters from the Old
Testament including Ruth, Joseph, Jonah, Gideon, Moses and Daniel. Two
members, one from each congregation, will lead the club weekly
assisted by some of the young people. St Mary’s children will meet
every week in our church hall at 10.30 a.m. Every other week they will
be taken to St Blane’s hall and returned at 11.30. When the club is held
at St Mary’s the children will come into the service as usual to receive
communion or to be blessed. There will be creche as usual throughout the
summer. |
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April |
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Lent Appeal
£219.02 was raised for the Aberlour Lent Appeal. Thank you to all
who contributed. |
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2004 |
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August |
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Fête
The fête raised £1,210.22 - a comparable figure with the last few
years. Well done everyone. |
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Radio Rainbow -
Thank you!
Radio Rainbow, the Dunblane Churches Holiday Club for Primary School
Children, was a huge success again this year, thanks to the support and
prayers of all the congregations of Dunblane. More than 70 children aged
between five and eleven attended the club every morning during the last
week of the school holiday and enjoyed an exciting combination of fun
and learning.
Every day the children were visited by Mr Matthew (aka Rev. Colin
McIntosh) who entertained them with stories of the last week of Jesus’
life. Then they came together in groups for activities based on the
story for the day and on one of the five senses. The younger children
made shakers, miniature gardens, place mats, decorated perfume bottles,
coloured visors and flick books, while the older children produced a
series of sensory collages illustrating each day’s story. Twenty of the
older children visited Houston House Hotel near Edinburgh for a swim and
a meal on the Thursday afternoon courtesy of Dunblane Free Church, and
on the Sunday evening over 100 parents joined us for a celebration
service.
The children were taught and cared for by a team of about 40 enthusiastic
and dedicated adults and teenagers drawn from all the churches. A
reflection of the popularity of the holiday club is the fact that many
of the children who moved on to the High School last year returned to
Radio Rainbow as helpers. The team was led and the week organised by
Pastor Duncan Strathdee of Dunblane Christian Fellowship and Nerys Brown
of St Mary’s, who also run Scripture Union groups at Dunblane Primary
throughout the year.
The series of evening events for High School pupils entitled ‘Frequency’
was also a resounding success. About 20 young people enjoyed the café
atmosphere and enthusiastically joined in quizzes, games, discussion and
songs encouraging them to live the Christian life. This new venture was
led by Liz and Alex Mitchell of St Blane’s and Lesley Smith of Dunblane
Christian Fellowship, who also runs a Scripture Union group at Dunblane
High School. The food, which included ice-cream floats, pancakes, banana
splits and a meringue mountain, eaten while watching videos of
roller-coaster rides, was especially popular! |
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Collection for Sudan
emergency
£111.65 was collected from the retiring collection for the Darfur
refugees. Many thanks to all who contributed. |
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July |
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St.Mary's Annual Fête
2004
Thank you to all who attended the planning meeting on 13th June and
to all those who have offered to help at this event.
This year the beneficiaries will be 25% to Maggie's Cancer Care,
Edinburgh, a fairly new enterprise offering support services for
cancer patients, 25% to Mary's Meals, an SIR charity
providing meals to the school children of Liberia, (£5 feeds 1 child for
a year), and 50% for our own church fund. |
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June |
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Car Wash
The car wash undertaken by the older Sunday school children during
May raised
£65.00 for Christian Aid.
Click here to see more photos... |
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Radio Rainbow, 9th-13th
August
Application forms are available at the back of church. Please pray
for the children and the team members. A special prayer service led by
Janice will be held in the chapel of Scottish Churches House at 7.30
p.m. on Sunday, August 1st. All welcome. Volunteers are needed to
register the children (9.45 - 10.15 a.m. and/or 11.45 - 12.15) and to
run a book-stall (11.45 - 12.15) during the week. Please contact Nerys
if you can help. |
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Summer Sunday Club
As from 27th June, activities will be arranged for children during
the 10.30am service, in conjunction with St Blane’s. One week it will be
in St Mary’s hall and the next week in St Blane’s. - Volunteers are
needed starting from next Sunday. Please contact Heather. Children will
be escorted to St Blane’s. The crèche will run as usual. |
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May |
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Christian Aid Week
(9th-15th May)
Service at St
Blane’s, Sunday 9th, at 6.30pm
Restaurant and Shop in Cathedral Hall, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, 10am-2pm. Helpers, offers of soups or puddings, greatly
welcomed.
Car Wash - The older Sunday school children under adult
supervision, are volunteering to wash cars (£2.50 a car) after the
10.30am services during May, to raise money for Christian Aid. |
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March |
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Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat
St.Mary's Theatre Group's performance of this musical took place in
St.Mary's Church Hall on 27th March, and was thoroughly enjoyed by
everyone. The collection at the door raised over £350 for Braendam
Family House. A second performance will take place on Saturday 15th May,
again with all proceeds going to Braendam Family House. |
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February |
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Lent Appeal
This year the Lent appeal for our Diocese is to be split between
Bishop Sebastian Bacares’ new girls’ boarding school, in the Diocese of
Manacoland, Zimbabwe, and St Serf’s home in Newport. A bowl will be left
at the back of church each Sunday throughout Lent for your offerings. |
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Homelessness Sunday
£126.90 was collected for homeless charities on Homelessness Sunday.
Thank you to all who contributed. |
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2003 |
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December |
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The Ecumenical Carol
Singing raised £330.00 for CHAS. Well done for raising so much in
such ghastly weather. |
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November |
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Joseph and the Amazing
Technicolor Dreamcoat
Rehearsals for the musical are enthusiastically attended by 25 young
people on Saturdays at 2pm. Parts have now been allocated and stage
production is underway. There will be no rehearsals during December, but
these will recommence in January when the adult choir will be needed.
Pippa has compiled a list of props and if anyone could supply any of the
following items we would be very grateful: Beach deckchair, cowboy hats,
toy abacus, large cushions, toy handcuffs, chef's hat, French berets,
straw hats, ostentatious gold chain, gold cup or goblet. Please contact
Kate or Pippa if you can help. |
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October |
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New Hymn Books
New Hymn Books have been purchased following a substantial donation
towards this and the offer of a 35% discount if we purchased before the
end of September. After wide discussion inside and beyond the
congregation Common Praise was chosen. This book contains most of the
traditional ‘favourites’. We will continue to use our copyright licence
and Hymn Quest to print other hymns in the pewleaflet, so there is no
restriction on our choice. |
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September |
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St.Mary's Summer Fete
Thank you to everyone who helped organize this event or contributed
in any way. Altogether we made £1414.90 and as a result have
written cheques for £354 respectively for Jacaranda House and Scripture
Union, with the remainder going into our church funds. |
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Jacaranda - Swaziland
Instead of a sermon at St Mary’s 10.30am service on Sunday 14th
September, Sister Dorothy Stella OHP from the project we support in
Swaziland will address us. She will give us up-to-date news of the girls
in their care, and tell us of the new house they bought last year in
order that they can have the whole Jacaranda family living in the same
street. This is a chance to hear first hand about the work we are
supporting. After the service, come up to the Hall for finger bites and
a glass of wine, and a chance to meet and talk to Dorothy Stella. |
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Radio Rainbow
Radio Rainbow, the Dunblane Churches Holiday Club for Primary School
Children, was a huge success again this year thanks to the support and
prayers of all the congregations of Dunblane. Almost 70 children aged
between five and eleven attended the club every morning during the last
week of the school holiday and enjoyed an exciting combination of fun
and learning. Every day the children were visited by Dr. Luke (Rev.
Colin McIntosh) who entertained them with stories from the Book of Acts.
Then they came together in groups for activities based on the story for
the day and the theme for the week which was the words of Jesus, ‘I will
be with you always’. They particularly liked the idea that God is like
the wind which was reflected in the craft activities and enjoyed making
wind chimes, fans, sailing boats, anemometers, windmills and a huge
model of a hot air balloon.
Thirty of the older children visited Houston House Hotel near Edinburgh
for a swim and a meal on the Thursday afternoon courtesy of two of the
Dunblane churches, and on the Sunday evening over 100 parents joined us
for a celebration service.
The children were taught and cared for by a team of about 40
enthusiastic and dedicated adults and teenagers drawn from all the
churches. A reflection of the popularity of the holiday club is the
fact that almost all the children who moved on to the High School last
year returned to Radio Rainbow as helpers. The team was led and the
week organised by Pastor Duncan Strathdee of Dunblane Christian
Fellowship and Nerys Brown of St Mary’s, who also run Scripture Union
groups at Dunblane Primary throughout the year. |
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August |
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
It is hoped to put on a production of this for Spring of next year.
There are lots of children who are keen to do it but a small adult choir
and helpers will also be needed. Rehearsals are planned to start on
Saturday 6th September at 2pm in the church hall.
Click here for more details... |
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May |
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Family Ceilidh raises
£328 for the Swaziland Project
The family ceilidh in St.Mary's Church Hall on 10th May was a great
success and raised a further £328 for the Swaziland Project. Thank you
to everyone involved in organizing, catering, and playing music for this
event. |
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April |
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Swaziland Project:
Siyabonga - Thank-you!
"Thank you so much for your wonderful effort on behalf of Jacaranda,
it must have been some ceilidh, I wish I could have been there! I know
the sisters will be thrilled with your gift. I heard recently that they
have been asked to take 4 girls, all with AIDS and all under 3 years;
quite a challenge. It is a work dear to my heart.
All good wishes, Heather Francis OHP" |
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March |
Dinner & Ceilidh
raises £925 for the Swaziland Project
The dinner & ceilidh on 15th March was a great success, raising
£925 for St.Mary's Swaziland Project. Thank you to everyone who
organized and contributed to this event. |
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2002 |
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August |
St.Mary's Church Fete
The Fête made a total
of £1,334.62. Well done, one and all!
The proceeds will be shared between the Bone Marrow Transplant
Unit of Glasgow Infirmary, the Swaziland Project and St Mary’s.
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April |
St Mary’s Church Library
The proposal to create (or re-create) a Library for St Mary’s
Church was revived recently when Lilias Graham moved from Dunblane,
and offered her books to St Mary’s. Lilias, who is very well-read,
had collected a large number of books and pamphlets on religious
topics since the early 1940s.
Lilias’s books, comprising 69 hard-backs, 90 paperbacks, and
numerous pamphlets form the nucleus of the library. They are kept
in the bookcases (further generous gifts) in the committee room of
the church hall.
In addition to these, mainly older books, members of the
congregation have offered to lend their own more recent books. I
have compiled lists of all the books available, and shall be happy
to give copies to anyone interested.
As an experiment, we intend to have a library day after the 10.30
service on the second Sunday of every month, when a selection of
books will be on display. |
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2001 |
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July |
Mission 21
St.Mary's has been accepted as a congregation suitable to start
this programme in the autumn. Rev Canon Roger Devonshire from
Pitlochry will be coming to speak to us about it on one of the
Sundays in September. He is a member of the Diocesan Mission
team.
It is a fifteen session course, so does require a fair amount of
commitment on the part of those participating, though it is done
over about a nine months period.
The Vestry have agreed, in principle, to our going ahead,
providing the congregation are happy with the idea, following
Roger's presentation.
The course is designed to help the congregation review their
life in the light of their ongoing mission. It asks searching
questions of how and why we do things in the way we do them,
always with an eye to attracting others, building up those here
in their Christian faith and generally reviewing our underlying
attitudes and future hopes.
Its success depends on the enthusiasm of participants,
congregation, vestry, rector and ministry team to engage with
the material and review our work and witness.
If anyone would like to have a preview of the material to be
used see the Rector or Mary Birch who both act as Facilitators
for the course in other congregations. We have not yet been
allocated a Facilitator but it will most certainly not be either
the Rector or Mary. |
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April |
Swaziland Update
The Millennium donation has now been made to Sister Dorothy
Stella for the Jacaranda and Skill Centres Projects, and we have
a letter of thanks from Sister Helen Francis at Whitby. As yet
we have no word as to whether they have taken possession of the
new house, but as soon as we have further information there will
be a further update. |
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January |
Swaziland Update
Following the agreement at the AGM to support Sisters
Dorothy Stella and Carole in their work in both Jacaranda and
the new girls' home and also with the skills' centre, click
here to read an update. |
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