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Mid Derbyshire Methodist Circuit

Circuit Magazine & Preaching Plan March 19 – May 2019

www.mid-derbyshire-methodist.org.uk

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Darley Hillside Choir enjoyed a busy Christmas period with 7 "performances" at various venues including Matlock Moor, Tansley and Darley Dale Method-ist churches as well as Darley Evergreens, All Saints C of E, and the Convent care home. As always our efforts were well re-ceived and we were pleased to be able to share the Christmas message with so many. Our next venture will be a per-formance of Roger Jones' "Pharaoh to Freedom" at Darley Dale M.C. on the evening of Palm Sunday and we would welcome additional voices from the circuit. We meet in the hall at DDMC on Wednesday evenings from 6.30pm to 8.15pm and have a great time together as well as some serious rehearsing. If any-one is interested in joining us please contact me at jansmith1944@talktalk.net or give me a ring on 01162394815. As usual we will be leading the service on Good Friday evening at DDMC.

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West Hallam Church

Over the Christmas period our Church celebrated with a Christ-mas Tree festival. With our own Church groups plus organisations who hire the hall, everyone came together beforehand to decorate a tree and share in refreshments. With many tree lights and deco-rations it was a super sparkling attraction!

Before and After!! Its not very often we thank those who greet us with a lovely welcome at the door before the service on a Sunday morning, but it is a privi-lege to see such friendly faces and share in that special greet-

ing. Similarly at the end of the service, we see the queue form-ing for tea, coffee and biscuits at the drinks hatch, and those who serve offer a chat and a smile. We give a big thank you to all who welcome and serve.

Now into 2019. A warm wel-come is extended to come and pay us a visit - here are some dates for your diary:

Story Café How we have en-joyed these evenings. There is friendly welcoming atmosphere with an entertaining programme by our guest artists which in-cludes their 'Story' – we bill it as the ‘story of their faith jour-ney’. Why not come along, bring your friends, and share in this most enjoyable evening. Light refreshments are available during the evening. Below are the next bookings.

Friday the 12th April at 7.30pm - Karen Chambers and friends

Friday the 17th May at 7.30pm – Owd Shadduz

The Elderly Brothers in con-cert. By public demand on Fri-day the 22nd March at 7.00pm we have. The Elderly Brothers to entertain us. There will be a light supper included and a charge will be made to cover the cost of the evening. For details on booking this very popular event telephone Chris on 0115 9307730.

Mid-Week Fellowship once again has planned an excellent programme for 2019. Wednes-day the 20th March at 2.00pm we have a guest speaker. Ra-chel Reid is the Community Safety Officer who is going to share about fire prevention. On Wednesday the 10th April we are dining out at the Wing Wah Chi-nese Restaurant in Burton-upon-Trent and Wednesday the 8th May enjoying afternoon tea at Anne and Malcolm's. Should you require a programme please

contract Joyce on 0115 9309406 or Malcolm on 0115 9328007.

Tea and Toast. If you are in the area and passing by why not pop in. We meet the 3rd Tuesday of each month from 10.00am to 11.30am. This is a time to enjoy that cuppa with toast or toasted teacake and share conversation with others. A very relaxed and happy at-mosphere.

First Wednesday Worship. Should you want that time of quiet, a time to reflect or un-wind, visit us on the first Wednesday of the month. We begin at 7.30pm with worship and then move into a time of quiet, spending time to medi-tate, read the Bible without in-terruption or pray. Coffee/ tea is available throughout the evening.

Craft Workshop. Advance no-tice. Sheila and Joyce are hold-ing a Craft Workshop with a fo-cus on different techniques on Saturday the 15th June 10.00am to 12.30pm. There will be a charge of £6 All craft items will be provided, and also included will be a light lunch to be served at the end of the session. Please telephone Sheila on 0115 9308878 or Joyce on 0115 9309406 if you would like to come.

Blessings, Joyce Frost

People & Churches

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From the Supers’

Desk

A few years ago, I was at Spring Harvest when Vicky Beeching was leading the worship on the main stage. At that time, I bought her CD Eternity Invades and I still find it helpful in ena-bling me both to worship God and to reflect on God’s continu-ing work in my life.

In an article published in national newspapers in August 2014, Vicky “came out” as being gay. At the beginning of January, knowing that the Methodist Church is currently revisiting its understanding of marriage and relationships, I thought that it might be helpful to read Vicky’s book Undivided, so I ordered a copy and read it through. Meth-odism is known for reflecting theologically through scripture, tradition, experience and reason, all of which Vicky weaves in as she shares her story. In telling her story, Vicky also shares something of the experiences that other people have shared with her, all of which has helped me with my own theological re-flections about marriage and re-lationships.

Having read Vicky’s book, I feel that I have a greater under-standing of some of the struggles that Christians who are grappling with their sexuality have faced. As the Methodist Church contin-ues the process of revisiting its understanding of marriage and relationships, I feel that we would all benefit from opportuni-ties to reflect on the personal perspectives of people such as Vicky who have been reflecting on scripture, tradition, experi-ence and reason in their own sit-uations. If you could recom-mend some other books or re-sources that might help with this, do please let me know and it may be that these could be shared within the Circuit in a fur-ther article.

I feel that I need to hear many more people’s perspectives as part of the Methodist Church’s process. My hope, as we revisit our understanding of marriage and relationships, is that we will be able to engage in our reflec-tions and conversations in ways that will be creative, affirming and non-judgmental; we have been loved by God and loved by

Jesus, so let us love one anoth-er. My hope, too, is that what-ever our theological perspec-tive, we will be able to welcome all people and to encourage them both in their journeys of faith and in the use of their God-given gifts.

Best wishes,

Rev. Dr. Robert Foster.

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News from St An-

drews Langley Mill

What a lot of goings-on there

have been at Langley Mill since

the last circuit magazine.

Our new Minister Rev’d John and

his wife Anna have settled in and

are now ‘part if the furniture’ An-

na has joined the Worship group

and had a starring Christmas Eve

in front of a packed church of

over 250 leading a Christmas

version of Baby Shark !!

We sadly lost David Goulding

just before Christmas, who many

of you would have known. David

had done many roles in church,

including steward, verger, wor-

ship leader and prayer ministry

member as well as playing the

worship group. David will be sad-

ly missed by many folk and we

continue to pray for his wife Di-

ane and the wider family.

Diane has particularly asked for

her thanks to all who came to

the funeral to be recorded—the

whole family were very apprecia-

tive of the support

Great news was announced on

Sunday 27th January, in that

after over 4 years, we finally

have a new Vicar coming.

Rev’d Peter Hallsworth and his

wife Cathy are joining St An-

drews from the York Diocese.

They are no strangers to the

church, having married at St

Andrews. Peter is joining part

time as a Pioneer Minister, and

his role to concentrate on pio-

neering work for the church to

be involved with in outreach to

the local community. This will

compliment the work that John

is doing and we look forward to

the early May when he will be

licenced. (May 7th TBC)

The monthly HSE services

continue on the first Sunday of

each month at 7.30pm. An ex-

tended period of praise and

worship is then followed by the

message for the evening and

then prayer ministry is availa-

ble. You are welcome to come

along and experience the Holy

Spirit and see your life changed.

We ran the first CAP course be-

fore Christmas. Christians

Against Poverty is a national

charity that helps folk who are

in debt. This course, which is

one of several programmes run

by CAP, gives some sound ad-

vice about budgeting and trying

to show people how not to get

into debt in the first place by

making the right lifestyle deci-

sions.

The course is run in conjunction

with the CAPS group in Ilkeston

and West Hallam and we are

grateful for them for their work

and advice. The first course at

the end of last year saw 9 folk

attend, 6 of whom were ‘non

church’ people and we continue

to have contact with them. The

second course started in mid

January and this is being seen

as a great way of reaching out

to our community in a practical

way, but also sharing that Je-

sus loves them and cares for

their finances and life style as

well

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'Stay and Play' tod-dler group named 'The ARK' at Ripley

After some months of discus-sions, planning and purchasing with a date in place, the time arrived to get the show on the road as the saying goes.

The date was the Thursday morning of the 10th of Janu-ary...2019

After moving tables and chairs, putting out various equipment and toys , craft and messy play, the room was ready to ex-plore...

In the kitchen Janet with her apron on was ready for snack time with a variety of healthy snacks to choose from, and not forgetting drinks for parents and carers.

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Safety and awareness posters in place and after committing the morning to God in prayer we where all set up and ready to welcome the little ones..

And through the door they came all twenty eight of them, with parents of course..

The format of the morning was free play from 10am until 11am, then snacks and to finish the session we had music time.

The theme of morning was No-ah's Ark linking with the groups name 'The ARK'.

There was Noah's Ark craft, a table top Noah's Ark play activity with the two by two animals.

For the two songs' we had a boat (kindly made by Martin)with ani-mal puppets in for children to choose and explore whilst the song 'The animals went in two by two' was played.

Then out came the parachute and balloons. The little faces of the children lit up with excite-ment.

I explained that the colours on the parachute and balloons rep-resented Gods Rainbow and as the children lifted the balloons in the air. some of the parents sang along with the song 'I can sing a rainbow'. We finished with our 'ARK' prayer and said goodbye.

It really was a great morning and seemed to be enjoyed by all who attended and helped.

Priority first is to give God the Glory for his awesome guidance and grace in all that surrounds this new venture.

Thanks to Joan, Roy, Martin, David and Janet for their help and support throughout the morning and of-course for their hard work in making the day so successful.

Also a huge thank you to the Church for the generous dona-tion of money for the setting up costs.

Thank you also to the group from the Exercise Class for their kind donation of £100:00 which toys have been purchased.

As a Church please continue up-hold the group in prayer. God Bless.

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Ripley news

The Ripley Methodist Church is

celebrating 9 years since we

built our new church- can you

believe it! Where have these

years gone. After a lot of dis-

cussions and thoughts as to

how we could celebrate this oc-

casion this year, we asked An-

drew Whysall and Paul Strange

to come along and talk to the

Stewards about the Aldersgate

Renewal Ministry we had heard

so much about, as they were

involved in this. And so, it was

decided that we would invite

them to lead our Anniversary

weekend celebrations. A team

of 12, led by Rev David Win-

stanley, arrived at the church

on the Friday afternoon to pre-

pare for the weekend on ‘Life in

the Spirit’, with an introduction

to the theme, and Spirit of wor-

ship.

We didn’t really know what to

expect, what would happen, or

how we would react, but as a

church looking forward to the

future, we welcomed them to

Ripley.

Saturday was a ‘full on day’ of

Spirit led talks, music, and look-

ing at different ways of Praying,

and admittedly, some of these

were very different to what we

are ‘used to’- even strange –

but we were openminded and

encouraged to take part. We

served lunch and an evening

meal to 50 folks on the Satur-

day. It wasn’t an easy day for

some of us, but we listened and

took part where we felt we

could. Some were moved Spirit-

ually, and others emotionally

and physically. We were defi-

nitely challenged!!

Sunday concluded the weekend

with morning worship which was

led by our own Worship Band,

leading all the worship songs,

and the Aldersgate Team the

rest of the service. Lunch was

served to the Team before they

left for home.

Our churches are in desperate

need of renewal, and it’s

through God’s grace that this

will happen. As a Church, and

not just Ripley, but all churches

in our Circuit, and as a body of

Christ, we should ‘pray togeth-

er, encourage one another and

be as one heart and soul, with

Jesus himself in the centre’. Is

this what really happens in our

churches? Are we really ground-

ed in Jesus to live our lives in

the power of His Holy Spirit?

Are we encouragers, doers, lis-

teners or goers? Are we really

living our lives as the ‘Fruits of

His Spirit’ (Galatians ch 5 v22-

23) – in love, joy, peace, pa-

tience, kindness, goodness,

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faithfulness, gentleness and self-

control? I think we are trying to!!

Then. If we are, we can become

what God has called us to be.

Only time will tell if God is really

moving in our churches.

Chris Wright (Church Secretary)

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If any of our churches are inter-

ested in experiencing a weekend

of teaching and prayer centred

on and about the Holy Spirit,

why not contact Paul Strange or

Andrew Whysall and they would

be very pleased to come along

and talk to you. The suggestion

is that you go through your Min-

ister.

The churches who have had an Aldersgate weekend are certainly all moving in the right direction and seeing God at work in their church. One of the key things is being open to what God ay do and allowing him to do whatever He wants—exciting, eye opening and moving. As one person from Langley Mill put it ‘my life was changed by meeting the Holy Spirit and I will never be the same again—more Lord’ Rev’d Kate writes….. Al-dersgate Renewal Ministries! This was booked into the diary before my arrival into the circuit and I knew very little about the organisation when I arrived. It’s headed up by an old college friend Rev David Winstanley and supported by several people across the circuit and I have made it my mission and purpose to find out more about the work of the team by listening to others experiences and attending the follow on workshops at both Tansley and Matlock. I’d also at-tended the Holy Spirit evening worship at Langley Mill which takes place on a Sunday evening once a month at 7.30pm (highly recommend that folks) so I felt I’d done my home work and I was now ready. All I can say is it was the most amazing weekend! To have the opportunity to be alongside the church, firstly for a whole week-end uninterrupted was a gift, where I was being ministered to for a change.

I got chance to have amazing conversations with folk, we ac-tually talked to each other properly, told each other posi-tive things about each other that we never get time or forget to say. We worshipped togeth-er, and learnt new things about the holy spirt but I think most importantly about ourselves and our relationship with a God. For me, it reminded me of the power of prayer, of relationship, it has renewed me, revived me, set me on fire. I’d like to en-courage any church considering inviting Aldersgate not to hesi-tate. Ripley were a little hesi-tant I think, it’s done nothing but brought us closer together and helped set a fire within us again, through love and prayer and fellowship, based all on Wesley’s teaching and own ex-perience. _________________________

Congratulations We are pleased to announce that Kath Brydon from Marehay, has now reached the standard required to be recognised as a Local Preacher. There will be details announced in the churches about the service of recognition for Kath, but we wanted you all to know the good news. Kath's involvement in training as a Local Preacher won’t end there though, as she has now done the training to be a Tutor to others in training

This space is left blank—why not send the editor details next time about what is hap-pening in your church??

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COPYRIGHT – FREE? Actually, no – regardless of what you might find on the internet. Every piece of writing is actually the intellectual property of someone – be it the writer, their estate/executor or publisher. Where writers are happy to have their work spread abroad they will say so, on- and off-line – but they still expect – indeed de-serve – to be credited.

Why do I say this? Because, sad-ly, when it comes to infringing copyright, church and communi-ty publications are the worst cul-prits. Sometimes an editor in his/her innocence might assume that an uncredited poem is the work of a member who doesn’t want their name to it (a big mis-take) while in fact they have lift-ed somethingM out of a book or their favourite memory, assum-ing ‘It’s OK, it won’t hurt.’ But it isn’t and chances are the small print on the reverse of the title page will tell you so.

Some, of course, will place con-ditions, and these must be ad-hered to. For instance, the Trus-tees for Methodist Church Pur-poses will allow an individual church newsletter the reprinting of up to ten items from the an-nual Prayer Handbook, but not the wholesale quantity printing of every one in the book or for any more permanent publication without permission. Equally, I’m happy for anyone to use my verse/prayers as one-offs, but my publisher would not be happy to find them in multiples else-where. I’m happy to give ‘performance rights’ - but I’ll never forget the clerical enthusi-ast who’d met one of his favour-ite poets with the information that he used his verses regularly in his evening services – and the wealthy poet sent the struggling vicar a bill for performance

rights!

In every case, the author’s name should be appended and if permission had to be sought, you must say so.

Too much trouble? It needn’t be. I often had need to quote from Hymns and Psalms and would ring up the publisher who was so pleased that he’d actual-ly been asked that he said yes every time!

However, when I wanted to quote just one line of T. S. Eliot in one of my books, Faber & Fa-ber only gave permission on the condition that the complete quotation of two lines was used. That was no problem at all.

Now all this raises a question in my mind – have we no original writers/thinkers in our congre-gations or community groups who should be encouraged to shine their light and put their name to it? In the majority of cases these publications are the Lord’s work so why are you (I emphasise that, dear reader!) not using your God-given gifts

in His service?

Oh, you think you couldn’t pos-sibly do that with all the minis-ters and preachers and even the odd published writer in the church! But why not? Didn’t every one of those people – and all the ones you’re happy to quote – begin in just the same place as you are now?

To use an analogy, amateur buskers and street dancers aren’t afraid to put themselves in front of whoever will listen or watch them – in the perhaps vague hope that one day they’ll be ‘discovered’ and their talents recognised and taken to a more useful and fulfilling level. So why shouldn’t everyone who lifts a pen to paper or puts fin-gers to keyboard think the same way?

It’s a toe-in-the-water exercise, but if you don’t try it out you’ll never know how much God might use your gift, especially if you’re willing to put your name to it! We don’t live in the days when people such as the Bronte sisters had to hide their identi-ties. We do live in an age when the real writers deserve the credit and their copyright should be respected.

Patricia Batstone 2019

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Church Repairs and VAT

There has recently been some clarification regarding the situa-tion withy regards to VAT And church repairs or building work. If you need more information, please go to the following web-site for more details https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN01051#fullreport

As a general rule it seem that only listed buildings can claim the benefit of the Grant Scheme but it is worth checking out.

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Building Work

We are currently trying to get a list of contractors that are used within the Circuit for emergency building repairs as well as on th bigger projects. If you haven't already, please send the details of who you use to Ian McNaught who is compiling a list. This will hopefully help all our churches.

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Holy Week Services 2019

Maundy Thursday

18th

April

Good Friday

19th

April

Belper

10.00.am Service

Codnor 10.30.am Service

led by the Stewards

Cross o’ th’ Hands Service at 7.30.pm

Darley Dale 7.00.pm Ecumenical service at

St. Helen’s Church: Holy Communion with foot washing

7.00.pm Reflective Service with Darley Hillside Choir

Heage 8.00.am Service followed by breakfast

Holloway 7.30.pm United Service led by Revd Colin Smith

11.00.am United Service at Christ Church led by

Revd Mark Crowther-Alwyn

Horsley Woodhouse 11.00.am Service led by

Mrs Margaret Barker

Ilkeston at Nottingham Road

10.00.am Walk of Witness in Ilkeston

(starts at Ilkeston Baptist Church)

Ilkeston at

St. Andrew’s

10.00.am Walk of Witness in Ilkeston (starts at Ilkeston Baptist Church)

Marehay 6.00.pm Service led by

Mrs Kath Brydon

Ripley 10.30.am Service led by Rev Kate McClelland, fol-

lowed by coffee and hot cross buns

St. Andrew’s, Langley Mill

7.30.pm Supper in church 7.30 Good Friday Worship in Church

Tansley 7.00.pm Service

UCAS,

Stanley Common

7.30.pm Service of Holy Communion

with foot washing

10.00.am Walk of Witness in Ilkeston (starts at Ilkes-ton Baptist Church)

Wellspring,

Wirksworth 7.30.pm Communion Service 9.45.am Ecumenical Walk of Witness

West Hallam 7.30.pm at UCAS 10.00.am Walk of Witness in Ilkeston (starts at Ilkes-

ton Baptist Church)

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Prayer points for each week

Everyday—Please pray for your

minister—that they would be

encouraged. Ask Jesus to bless

them and use them to further

His work. May His kingdom

come and His will be done

Monday

Pray for those in work and those

looking for work. Pray especially

for those who are trying to make

decisions re their future careers,

such as our youngsters in school or

University. Pray for any who are

considering working for the church

in some way. Pray for the local em-

ployers to you—that they would

not only be profitable, but be good

places to work and that they are a

blessing to the local communities.

Tuesday

Pray for the house groups that

meet in your church. If you don't

have one, pray that one would

start soon. Pray that these small

groups would be a great meeting

place for folk to come and ‘be at

home’ and be an extension of the

church family. Ask the Lord if there

is some new work that He want

you to be involved with in the

church/area and to confirm this to

you. Ask if there is some existing

work that needs to stop to allow

new life to grow

Wednesday

Prayers for our local hospitals

and medical services. Thank the

Lord for all the care provided

and the love shown and pray for

any you know who are ill and

undergoing treatment at the

moment. Pray for any who are

nearing the end of their life,

that they will be at peace.

Pray for the locals schools and

especially the Christian teachers

who are trying to bring Jesus

into children's lives. Pray for

opportunities for them to be

open with their faith with the

children and other staff mem-

bers.

Prayers for the families you

have contact with—especially

for those struggling with family

issues and ask God to bless

them in the daily lives.

Thursday

Prayers for our Ministers, Local

Preachers and Worship Leaders

as they are preparing for wor-

ship on Sunday. Ask that the

Lord will encourage them and

bless them in their work.

Pray for all the folk who enable

the many activities in the

church to take place—especially

pray for those who work behind

the scenes doing the key jobs.

Pray for the folk who live near

your church—for ways of reach-

ing out to them

Friday

Pray for other churches in your

area of other denominations

and ask God to bless them in

their work. Don’t see them as

competition, but as members of

the same family working in their

ways and rejoice that we are

not all the same.

Pray for our local and national

governments as they do their

work. Pray for difficult decisions

that they have to make.

Saturday

Pray for times of rest—for those

enjoying sport and family time

together. For the joys of being

out in the countryside and en-

joying Gods world. Pray for

those who work in shops in our

local communities.

Sunday

Pray for God to be at your act of

worship—for without Him, we

are a social club !

Pray—Listen—Hear—Act

This space is left so you may

add your prayers or notes on

how prayers are answered

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And I looked up at Jesus and I said to him

‘How much do you love me?’

Thus much he said,

and he open his arms and died

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DIARY DATES

February

28th 7.30pm Leaders of Worship

& Preachers meeting at Mansfield

Rd Heanor

28th—Plan Deadline for preach-

ing date for next plan June to

August 2019

March

14th—Circuit meeting at Heage

Methodist Church

April

30th District Synod at Derby Riv-

erside Church

May

1st Circuit leaders of worship and

preachers meeting

7th Licensing of Rev’d P Hall-

sworth as Pioneer Minister at St

Andrews Langley Mill (date tbc)

June

10th Circuit Meeting

September

4th Circuit leaders of worship

and preachers meeting

12th Circuit meeting

_________________________

Circuit Website

Please send your posters, notic-es, adverts etc. for the website to :-

p.parkin@ntlworld.com

_________________________

Please dispose of your old plans by shredding them as they contain im-portant information and telephone numbers.

Mid Derbyshire Methodist Circuit

Charity No—1139498

Methodist Circuit no—22/14

____________________________

Editor: Andrew Whysall

© Jan 2019 Mid Derbyshire

Methodist Circuit

_________________________

Next Plan………….

Copy date for next issue is

mid April 2019 please

All items to Andrew Whysall

By email please

Tel: 01773 768736

07973 759885

Email: AJW99@btinternet.com

Space for notes…..

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01159 307860

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