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Welcome to Pews News 26th September 
Harvest Festival
www.stmarygoldington.com


Hands - Face - Space
Stay safe and think of others.
 

Safe After Church Fellowship

My thanks to Sue, Dorothy and helpers for providing and serving drinks and cake in the church hall last Sunday.  If you can help one Sunday please let them know.
To keep us safe they are wearing masks and gloves while serving.
WE ASK YOU to keep them and each other safe.
1  Please use a hand sanitiser as you enter the hall.
2 Please wear your face mask until you have collected your refreshments.
3  Please use the outdoor space if the weather is suitable.
4  Please maintain physical distance from each other in the hall.
5  Please remove masks for eating and drinking.
We will keep doors and windows open and ensure the hall is safe to use so that we can all feel safe and enjoy fellowship together. Thankyou.
Life in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is tough. With a history of civil war, widespread poverty and a cycle of conflict and displacement, communities struggle every day. Also, more than 70 per cent of the DRC population use unsafe drinking water and so daily encounter the devastatingly high risk of cholera, a preventable disease. The Bishop of St Albans’ Harvest Appeal 2021, Water is Life, will bring clean water to many more communities in the DRC, bringing with it transformation to daily lives and hope for the future.
Please use envelopes distributed or put your donation in an envelope marked Harvest and place in the offertory plate in church.
 

Everybody Welcome


IS NOT A TRAINING COURSE FOR THE SIDESPERSONS

It is for the whole church - including you.

Everybody is invited to come to a series of 4 meetings to explore what a welcoming church looks like.
The provisional results from session one are at the end of this email.  below is the information for Session Two-

NOTE CHANGE OF DATE
to 16th October 2pm Start

2pm for 2:15pm start.

Previous attendance not required-
use links below for next session Materials
 
EVERYBODY WELCOME session TWO pre-reading MATERIAL

Everybody Welcome

We will cover four topics in the four sessions.
1  Discover - making the church more visible
2  The premises - making them more inviting
3  Welcoming - God and his welcoming people
4   Belonging - to the church community
The sessions lasting 1.5 hours will be on Saturday afternoons in and around our church.
Drinks served from 2pm for 2:15 start
We need as many people as possible from the different strands of our church to come and help shape the future of St. Mary's 
 

Our thanks to Sally and all who helped to decorate St. Mary's with Harvest Flowers and Decorations


Our thanks to Dorothy and Sue and all who helped with our Harvest Lunch
 
Our thanks to Chris and all who have supported the Children's Society through their collecting Boxes

If you would like to support this way please see Chris Chapman 01234 342724

PARKING


With more people coming to church we need to start thinking about parking.  Please share a lift if you feel able to. We have some disabled parking spaces in the carpark,  if you use these we ask that you display your 'BLUE TICKET' while doing so.  There is some extra parking space ona  Sunday up towards the VICARAGE.  Although not for general hall use, it is possible to park down one side of the access road to the vicarage as I shouldn't need to use my car while the service is on! but please leave access for cars.

Diary

No Morning Prayer in church this week

September
26th 9:30am Harvest Festival
26th 12noon Baptism-Eltie
26th 4pm  Harvest Picnic
29th 10am BCP Communion Service
29th 1:30pm Bowls 
29th 7:30pm Bell Ringing
1st October 1:30pm Knit and natter

9th October 2 for 2:15pm Everybody Welcome Course in church.


November 13th Autumn Fete

Everybody Welcome Course - All needed
2pm for 2:15pm in Church
October 9th  
October 23rd 
November 6th 

St Mary's Cuppa and Chat 

Wednesday 29th September 11am 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/6299226586?pwd=NFlZUWFtQzlZTU9ITGpjSU5CWFdNZz09
Meeting ID: 629 922 6586
Passcode: vQbQ1M

Everybody Welcome Session 1

1-Making the Church more visible                            
  Ave  
Are you in touch with non-churchgoers? 2.8 3 = Good
Are the people you know mainly sympathetic to church rather than antagonistic? 2.0 2 = OK
Are at least some of your contacts local, not too far away to realistically invite? 2.6 1 = could be better
How easy would you personally find it to invite someone to come to church? 1.4 0 = poor
If your minister asked all regular church attenders to invite someone to ‘Back to Church Sunday' do you think most people would do so? 1.0  
Does your church have a variety of services and events to invite non-churchgoers to? 2.0  
Total 11.8 12+ = good
           
2 - Our Church Programme               
1    Does your church have a programme that is open and attractive to the whole community? 1.6 3 = Good
2    If you have a hall, do non-churchgoers use it? 2.5 2 = OK
3    Do people in need turn to your church for help? 1.3 1 = could be better
4   Do congregation members go out of their way to befriend hall-users and other contacts? 1.0 0 = poor
5    Are fund-raising events in your church mainly about meeting people rather than taking their money? 1.4  
6   Does your programme keep making new contacts? 1.5  
7    Is your programme small enough to be done well? 1.9  
8    Is it easy for people to progress from attending an event in the hall or church to attending services? 1.2  
9    Could your church turn an existing event into 'church' for those who come? 1.6  
10 Is there a culture of inviting contacts to church services and nurture courses? 1.2  
     
Total 15.00  20+ = Good
 
3 - Special Services                         
1    Is there a range of Christmas services that attract non-churchgoers? 2.5 3 = Good
2   Do you have other regular or one-off special services throughout the year? 2.7 2 = OK
3   Do congregation members make good contact with those who come for baptisms, weddings and funerals? 1.0 1 = could be better
4   Do lots of congregation members attend the special services? 2.0 0 = poor
5   Are attractive invitations to your normal services given out at the special services? 1.0  
6   Are individuals who attend special services followed up and befriended? 1.0  
7   Do you take part in 'Back to Church Sunday' and do your congregation members actually bring people? 1.2  
     
Total 11.24 14+ = Good
 
4 - Premises and Publicity                            
               
Can your church be found on the web? 2.7 3 = Good
Do you have an informative web site, regularly updated? 2.1 2 = OK
Is it easy to find out your service times without going to look at the notice board? 2.1 1 = could be better
Does the notice board look attractive and contemporary? 1.9 0 = poor
5   Is your notice board up to date and informative? 2.2  
6    Does the church widely distribute a magazine or equivalent around the area? 1.4  
7    Does the church widely circulate attractive invitations to Christmas services? 1.5  
8   Does the church ever have positive coverage in the local media? 0.4  
9    Does the church make personal testimonies available, e.g. on a DVD? 0.0  
10 Does the church have any sort of 'newcomers' pack' to give to people who may try you out? 1.2  
     
AVERAGE SCORE 15.42  20+ good
 
Donate to St. Mary's Church, Goldington
Help support the work and outreach of your Church

Prayers and Help

If you have a prayer request or need help please let one of us know.
Our phone numbers and email addresses are:
Revd Simon:  01234 351920,   the.revd.simon@gmail.com
Revd Jennie:  01234 266952,   jennie.cappleman@yahoo.co.uk 
Revd Marcus: 07498 843908   thecurate.stmarys@gmail.com
Church wardens
Cathy Sanderson  01234 346889   cathy.sanderson@hotmail.co.uk
Colin Last              01234356261   last555@btinternet.com
St. Mary's Web Page St. Mary's Web Page
St Marys Goldington FACEBOOK St Marys Goldington FACEBOOK
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