by Pete Wildman | Jul 4, 2018 | Circuit News
The relationship between Irby Methodist Church and Irby Luncheon Club goes back over more than 10 years, when The Luncheon Club first started to use the church hall.
Irby Luncheon Club was set up 35 years ago to provide a meeting place and a 3-course hot lunch once a week for anyone in need. It provides a social time for the elderly who have mobility problems, for newcomers to the area who have moved to be near their children and grandchildren and for the bereaved and widowed. As a result, many friendships have been formed. The club provides days out for the less mobile and short holidays for the more able.
It provides a stepping stone for people who want to volunteer before returning to work, whether they be mums when their children have gone to school or those who have been away from work with long term illness. Some Church members are also volunteer helpers at Luncheon Club
The Club has had links with the local schools, both primary and secondary and has much support from the Methodist Church where it meets. In turn, the club supports the Church and runs a cake stall at the Christmas Fair. Many members and helpers support functions that are arranged. The Club is very appreciative of the great support and excellent facilities provided by the Church
As the Club approaches its 36th year its aim is to encourage younger people to volunteer. Only 3 of the original helpers are left, one of whom is in her 80’s and well qualified to be a recipient herself!
Judy Tyson, Luncheon Club Volunteer
by Pete Wildman | Jul 4, 2018 | Circuit News
At Greasby we run a very popular Toddlers’ group on a Monday morning, with 20-25 adults and up to about 40 children aged 0-4 attending regularly.
We have a wide variety of toys for the children including ride-on toys, a slide, dolls and pushchairs, bricks and Lego, jigsaws, playdough, a kitchen and a garage with lots of small cars. We also have a selection of books supplied by Irby library, a new selection every term.
During the morning the children have a drink of juice or water and a biscuit and the adults have a cup of tea or coffee with a biscuit. The morning finishes with Rachel or Sue leading us in the singing of action songs, some new but always including plenty of old favourites. The children love this part of the morning and join in enthusiastically!
At Christmas we had a very successful Christmas Party. Rachel led us in a Nativity service in the Church. The children were all involved in this and it was much appreciated by the parents and carers. This was followed by party food and a sing-a-long. As the children left they were given a booklet telling the story of Jesus’ birth.
Our thanks are due to our team of about 15 willing volunteers who help to set out the hall, make the coffee or work with the children and adults in the hall – it is due to their hard work and dedication that this group is so popular and really appreciated and valued by those who come.
Jean Chamberlain
by Pete Wildman | Jul 4, 2018 | Circuit News
OASIS is a lunch club run by a team of volunteers at Greasby Methodist Church. We meet fortnightly on a Wednesday serving home made soup with a roll, sandwiches, fruit, cake and a cup of tea. During the meal a Christian message is given by one of our team – Rev. Ken Owen, our local Anglican vicar, our own ministry team, Rev. Kim Goh and Judith Stelfox, and other invited speakers. During the 6 weeks of Lent we met each week and followed the “I am” sayings of Jesus. We had 50 people attend each week and were able to send £400 to Christian Aid.
Throughout the year we have an average of 30 people attending and it is a wonderful time of sharing food, fellowship and a Christian message with our church members, our Anglican friends and the wider community.
by Pete Wildman | Jul 4, 2018 | Circuit News
Exciting times at Greasby! Here are just some of the ways we are working with families in our community.
Hope Journey
Hope Journey is now enjoyed by all three schools in the local community – Brookdale Primary School, Greasby Infants School and Greasby Junior School – a programme which has built up over six years.
- Epiphany – Journey with the Kings (Year 1)
- Meet The Characters (Year 2)
- Cre-8 (Year 4)
- Cross Factor (Year 5)
- Remembering (Year 6)
This year we are also presenting Explore for Year 3 and Sharing Parables for F2, so that the children can attend Greasby Methodist Church once a year for a different Hope Journey. At the end of this academic year nearly every child in the Greasby community will have visited us, as well as the staff and many parents who accompany the children. Children are presented with a gift bag which may include a story book, gift (a pencil or bracelet), prayer cards, colouring leaflets, a welcome to GMC, an invitation to Messy Church, a Say One for Me request card – as well as a sweet treat! We hope our gospel messages are shared with families at home. This year we will have welcomed 529 children and 79 adults into church. The evaluation feedback is amazing – they just want more!
Messy Church
Messy Church has been offered every third Saturday (except August) since September 2014. We follow a traditional format – a welcome with refreshments, a time of activities (food, craft, games) learning about the theme, followed by family worship and a meal together to talk about what we have been learning. Whilst attendance averages over 70, it was a joy to welcome 90+ for a Messy Christmas. This year we combined Messy Christmas with a Christingle, which was very much appreciated by all. Our feedback forms (placed on dinner tables) ask two questions – Today was good because… and ‘Even better if…. Through this we have learnt that families want Messy Church every week. What a challenge! But the Lord continues to provide and meet our every need and we continue to thank Him for this wonderful opportunity to share the gospel with families in Greasby.
Ecumenical Assembly Team (EAT)
Greasby Methodist Church works in partnership with St John’s Anglican church as EAT, presenting assemblies at each of our three local schools on alternative weeks. Following The Greatest Story Ever Told, the children hear an introduction, the story taught through drama, a Christian message, a lively action song and a closing prayer. In addition, children, staff and parents from the three schools attend Christmas services at St Johns’. The Junior School visit the Methodist Church for an Easter Celebration in Lent each year – 380 attended this year! All Year 6 children are presented with a copy of the Scripture Union ‘It’s Your Move’, signed and jointly funded by the churches. Church members attend Harvest celebrations and also support the schools in other ways – listening to readers , and as members of the Governing Body. What a joy and a privilege that the schools allow us to share the gospel so regularly with all members of the school community.
Sue Elliott
by Pete Wildman | Jul 4, 2018 | Circuit News
Wow! What a project and what an impact we had on our communities!
We had heard from other areas of the country who had delivered angels in the past, but, truth be told, we were not prepared for the level of response that we received.
About 35 people came together at the Angel Dedication Service on 6th December to bless the Angels as they went out to be a blessing to others. Eleven churches, and some ecumenical partners, took angels, with some being kept to share in the areas around the Circuit Centre. After dark on 11th December they were placed in the local communities – bus stops and train stations, shops and doctor surgeries, on school railings and in many other places.
So that we could get a sense of people’s responses to finding the angels, we asked people to forward items from Social Media or other sources. They were first distributed on the Monday evening and the responses started around 8.30pm. Many were about how the angels had made people smile on a dull morning.
Some, though, were very meaningful. One lady wrote about how her son had been taken to be with the angels earlier in the year and this angel that the lady had found helped her to know he is safe. Another said that her husband had died a few days before; she was feeling alone and the angel had reminded her that she wasn’t.
The beauty of the angels is that many were taken to be put on Christmas trees; at the beginning of January they will have been packed away in a box and hidden away, but in December 2018, they will come out again and just maybe people will see an angel and remember that it was a gift of shared love at Christmas from their local church.
Last year we managed 1665 and would love to surpass that number this year. So please get your knitting needles out and start knitting. Angels have already started to appear in the Children and Schools Work office and we would love to have many more to join them. If your church is interested in being involved with distributing angels in Advent 2018, please get in touch with the team and let us keep sharing the Good News of Christmas in as many ways as we can.
Thank for all those who participated and we look forward throngs of angels arriving with us and going out to others as a sign of God’s love to them.
Emma, Nic, Nick and Rachel, Children and Schools team
