by Pete Wildman | May 19, 2017 | Circuit News
St. George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem
About twenty years ago I found myself at a communion service at St. George’s cathedral in Jerusalem on Easter Sunday.
The communion table was in a large open space in the centre of the cathedral but with no provision for the communicants to kneel to take the bread and wine. Consequently the congregation of sixty plus men, women and children stood in a circle round the table.
The Presbyter moved round the circle giving bread to the communicants, followed by two ladies with chalices giving the opportunity to drink the wine.
As the Presbyter came to me, we made eye contact. In that brief moment, when our eyes met, I saw the Lord; a moment that will stay with me for ever. It was not a weepy, emotional experience but totally unexpected and spiritual.
I know He was killed on the Friday, of that there is no doubt whatsoever. What I can say is that I know He is alive. I have seen Him, in Jerusalem on the Sunday.
Robin Carlisle, Bromborough Methodist Church
by Pete Wildman | May 9, 2017 | Circuit News
In 1999 Neston Methodist Church & Community Centre opened following a redevelopment of the premises. The building has been a real benefit to the community: it houses the Age UK Neston Office, the Neston Community Cyber Centre, and provides a hall and community rooms for local activities. These include The Tea Pot (providing refreshments and outings for over-60s), a number of Keep Fit and exercise/dance classes, Hip ‘n’ Harmony rehearsals, and a Foodbank Collection Point. We are also the host church for Ellesmere Port Christian Fellowship.
More than that, it has also given us an opportunity to develop a range of service and outreach opportunities in Neston. In all of our activities, as one of churches within the Wirral Methodist Circuit, Neston strives to commit to the 3 Missional Priorities – working amongst the deprived, providing outreach to children & families, and serving God through discipleship and pastoral care. Here are just some of the ways in which we are expressing that commitment.
A warm welcome awaits you at The Welcome Café from our Volunteer staff, serving home baked cakes, pies, and freshly made sandwiches, toast, and baked potatoes with a variety of fillings. Coffee, hot chocolate and Fairtrade tea are also served.
We aim to provide a warm, welcoming space where everyone can meet and make friends, or just have a quiet moment.
As part of our outreach, we have a “Pastoring” team drawn from the local churches, including Rev Marcus Torchon (Neston Methodist Church), Mark Thomas (Little Neston Methodist Church), and Len Sloan (NMC) who will call upon customers desiring pastoral care & prayer opportunities.
The Café also promotes goods and information as part of our Church’s commitment to Fairtrade, as well as issuing our own Food Vouchers (redeemed in the Café) as a way of helping local people in need. Wi fi is available to customers thanks to the Neston Community Cyber Centre.
From time to time special events are held, such as the Queen’s Birthday Tea, Neston Ladies Day Afternoon Tea, Fairtrade Fortnight, to provide events that can be accessed locally. If you are passing by in Neston on a Friday morning, then why not call in?
Church Mice
An exciting new venture opened in March 2015 for Babies & Toddlers and their Carers. We have several regular family groups and a number of occasional visitors. The session starts with church based musical and craft activities and a short Bible story followed by Tea & Toast and playtime in the Tea Pot Room.
It remains a mystery as to how the knitted mice escape from their basket every Wednesday night, but rumour has it that they practise their musical instruments and singing!
Several church members take turns to lead a session or help with setting up and clearing away. New families and carers and Church Mice helpers are very welcome, 9.45 am – 11.30 am on Thursdays during School term times.
Friday Shoppers’ Fellowship Service
We all need spiritual nourishment. Sometimes we can’t get to church on Sunday or we need to find a listening ear.
Why not visit Neston’s Historic Market held each Friday and enjoy a spiritual pick-me-up at 10.30 am in the Neston Methodist Chapel: half-an-hour of fellowship, as friends from various churches in the area come together for a relaxed time of sharing, praying and worship. Then into the Welcome Café for refreshments and more sharing and chatting.
It’s a recipe for a good Friday morning!
by Pete Wildman | Dec 7, 2016 | Circuit News
Please note that this is an archived news item from 2016. The Port Grocery are continuing their excellent work from new premises, and are no longer based at Trinity Ellesmere Port.
Many people today are living in what has been termed “food poverty”, while at the same time we are seeing mounting concern about food waste. The Port Grocery, a Community Food Club based at Trinity, seeks to address these two problems. The Port Grocery is open for anyone in the community to join. There are no eligibility criteria: anyone can benefit from the high quality, low cost food it provides. It was agreed from an early stage that the project did not want to create a “stigma” for people using the grocery; so it is not a means tested programme, but open to all regardless of their income. The regular income from people who can help subsidise those in need also helps give the project financial stability.
In practical terms, people pay £4 a week and receive around £16 – 20 worth of food, which includes a range of frozen/ fresh meat, dried and canned food, plus fresh fruit and vegetables, along with other items.
Every Wednesday lunch time Trinity hosts the “Wednesday Welcome”, when free tea/ coffee and cakes are available. This project has been running for a number of months and regularly sees around 200 people coming through the doors. People are given a welcome together with the food, and are able to chat with others around tables. Many agencies in Ellesmere Port now use the sessions to meet others and encourage individuals who are in need of social contact.
A local Health and Wellbeing co-ordinator working with the NHS recently emailed and said: “Trinity coffee and cake mornings have really helped support many of my patients who are welcomed into the cafe every week. Some of my patients only manage to get out to these mornings and this is their only social connection – sometimes their only connection to the outside world at all. It has been integral to the recovery of some of my patients, and has been a great encouragement. Having the option of a free coffee and cake slice gives some a lovely treat and others, at times, the only bit of food they may eat that day. A fantastic way for everyone to come together with no ‘criteria’, which is rare: there is no end game in sight or pressure on people other than to come together in the community, which is magical.”
Come and visit us and see for yourself what is going on at Trinity. At the very least you’ll get a free coffee and cake!
– Nigel Mountford, Mission Development Officer
by Pete Wildman | Nov 29, 2016 | Circuit News
On Saturday November 19th, 2016, Woodchurch Methodist hosted a visit from Rev. Tim Nicholls and 15 members of six different churches in Wythenshawe, Greater Manchester. The visit had been suggested by Rev. Rod Hill, a former Evangelism Enabler in the Liverpool Methodist District.
The Churches represented were Lawton Moor, Brownley Green, Northenden, Baguley Hall, St. Andrew’s and the Dandelion Project (a URC Project). The aim of the visit was to learn and receive encouragement and inspiration from Woodchurch, a community church on a housing estate, which was in danger of closing some years ago.
The visit began with a welcome from church worker David Smith and was then followed by a Soup and Batch Lunch, a cuppa and the mandatory choice of cakes! After lunch, there was a time of sharing news, questions, ideas and vision for the future from various members of the Leadership Team at Woodchurch and also from Rev. Tim Nicholls.
There was also an opportunity to see the 770 gift-filled shoeboxes ahead of the Shoebox Dedication Service the following day and their subsequent journey to children in Latvia, one of the Baltic States bordering Russia.
A short time of worship followed where we sang ‘Beauty for Brokenness’ and ‘Christ be our Light’. Wendy White shared a blessing, before we said our farewells to our delightful new-found friends. The Woodchurch members happily accepted an invitation from Tim to make a visit to Wythenshawe in the New Year. It was a wonderful afternoon and a real privilege and joy for Woodchurch to be invited to host this visit.
David Smith, Church and Centre Co-ordinator
by Pete Wildman | Oct 25, 2016 | Circuit News
A huge thank-you again to all our donors for all your ongoing support and continued generous donations throughout the summer. Your kindness has meant that, during the summer we have been able to continue to meet the demand we have faced from our 14 distribution centres across Wirral, which give out the food you have kindly donated. The strict voucher system which we operate means that each client receives enough food to last them and their families for 3 days. A core feature of our system is the “three day vouchers guideline,” which allows those referral organisations who hold our vouchers to issue up to three vouchers to an individual or family within a 6 month period. In most cases this gets clients through the unexpected difficulty which has left them without any money for food. If, however, the client’s crisis has not been resolved we will work with the referral organisation to agree how best we can support them. In some cases where our clients have much more fundamental problems such as serious debt or are homeless, our centres are encouraged to signpost them to the other agencies who will be able help them further.
We have been looking at a breakdown of the figures for the donations which we receive, and these show that approximately 65% of all the food given to our foodbank comes from the churches, businesses, and other organisations who regularly bring their donated food and other goods to our warehouse. Wirral Foodbank is one of the largest in the North West, so this is a tremendous achievement, and we are proud to be supported by you all.
We decided to prepare some material for local schools at Harvest Festival, in case the children were interested to know what the Foodbank does. This was very well received, with many schools saying that they found the material both interesting and helpful. It has prompted visits to the warehouse from several schools to see first-hand what we do. If you are interested in the material we produced about how the Foodbank works, it can be found on our website wirral.foodbank.org.uk under “Give Help” – Harvest 2016.
Thank you all for the Harvest donations which have already started coming in to the warehouse from churches and also from schools. This will help us to match the increase in clients coming to us for help which always happens in the autumn, as temperatures begin to fall. We are pleased to be able to say that stocks of essential items are good at the moment, and so we are prepared. The amount of food needed by the centres will remain high during the winter.
Finally, unfortunately we had no success with any Liverpool food manufacturers agreeing to donate food to us, but a local milk supplier continues to give the Foodbank very generous support.
So far this year we have fed and supported 8,944 people. Without your continuing generosity we could not operate.
Hopefully with the support of all of our kind donors, we will be able to get through the coming winter.
Thank you all again!
Wirral Foodbank Volunteers and Trustees
