West Street News

The election of officers and representatives resulted in three vacancies: Chair, Vice Chair and Representative to the Churches of Dorking Housing Association. The first two vacancies are to be brought to the Dorking Ministers’ Fellowship, but if you would be willing to fill the third post, please let me know.

A new pastor, Paul Gough, has been appointed to Crossways Community Baptist Church and will take up his post on 6 th March.

The Dorking Ranmore W.I, which meets on the third Wednesday afternoon of each month, has recently changed its venue to the Follett Hall. Starting at 2.30 p.m. and lasting for 90 minutes or so, we have a varied programme of speakers. On 17 th March, Claire Fletcher will be showing us how she prepares and uses decorative ribbons and on 21 st April, Elsie Russell will be delving into the past with Lillie Langtry. Elsie sounds quite a quiz buff because she has appeared on 'Beat the Eggheads' and 'Weakest Link'.

We also have occasional outings. In June last year, a group of members (plus one husband) enjoyed a two-hour boat trip at Godalming and we had a supper at the Rialto Restaurant in August. Our meetings are open to all ladies and non-members are welcome to join us.

WI members and non-members can enjoy learning new skills at our college in Oxfordshire. In the past year, two of our members have done courses on smocking and made Christmas decorations in willow.

BIBLE READING FELLOWSHIP E-NEWS FEBRUARY 2010

Last minute ideas for Lent

Pressure points 2010

Five studies on living positively in a time of pressure and living generously in an age of selfishness. These studies are suitable either for Lent, or for the period between Easter and Pentecost.

Many people are feeling the impact of the current downturn. How do we respond ourselves and support others through this challenging time? Based on material adapted from Foundations21 you can do this in a variety of settings - work, church or home. It could be used in pairs, triplets or groups, or on your own. It includes: Bible study and suggested discussion questions and activities

To use this as an individual, or if you are a group leader, you need to be registered as a Foundations21 user. To register, start by going to www.foundations21.org.uk. If you are already a Foundations21 user, log in at www.foundations21.net and on the homepage you will find more information about Pressure Points and a link to a downloadable pdf.

The church funded classroom building is in use and is a wonderful addition to the school. The building houses two classrooms, each large enough to accommodate over 50 pupils. With its pointed brickwork, glazed windows and proper front door, the building stands out amongst the other four more basic classrooms. The government school inspector has been to visit and we have now seen a copy of his report. He has made several recommendations, including the installation of solar power. So we feel that our decision to make this our next project was a correct one.

Another of the inspector’s recommendation was to review the situation in respect of teachers. We had not realised that of the 15 teachers only five are qualified; five are assistants; and five are in training. There is a desperate need for more qualified staff. We are currently funding one teacher per year for the next three years. If another 30 supporters could be found who were willing to commit just £2.50 a month we could add another qualified teacher to the staff.

The plans for Jane and me to visit the school during the week beginning 15 th March are now in place. Unfortunately we have chosen to fly with British Airways so we are keeping our fingers crossed they are not on strike. If you have any questions you would like us to ask while we are there please do let us know. One of the aspects we will be exploring is the possibility of a group of young people from the church visiting the school next year.

It does not seem possible that in March we will be enjoying our sixth Messy Session and it’s so much FUN!

Each month we have a core of the willing helpers( we need at least 15 each session) - many of whom started out with us in September, we also have recruited new people to provide and help on ‘The Blobs’ each month, these folk are very welcome and much appreciated for their help.

Messy Christmas , and Creation have been our last two themes since our last report and it was fantastic when we saw what could be made with a little inspiration from card, pipe-cleaners, cotton-wool, icing, slime, vegetables, fruit, rubbish and balloons to mention only half of it!

It all turned into Kebabs, cards, landscapes, bugs, donkey droppings, decorations, cards, calendars, cocktails, worlds, collage, presents, people……the list was amazing.

Grace Roger & Hannah Taylor are helping organise the programme & sessions as part of their Duke of Edinburgh Award, also Al is great providing sound and visual effects for the short ‘Celebration’ held each month in the Church.

We have had 76 to 104 people registering since the start with over 200 different people having been involved over the last 6 months.

If you have not yet been to Messy Church please do come and join us just to take part, Eileen and her team provide us with a light supper and we meet so many new people and mainly WeMake a Mess.

We look forward to ‘A New Start’ & ‘A New Life - Easter’ in March & April - we would love to see some more New Faces ?

For those not familiar with Open Doors, we are a flourishing group who gather every Thursday morning in the main hall at the United Reformed Church to provide an opportunity to meet and make new friends. .

Open Doors is open to all whether you come to our church or not. The average attendance is 40 - 50 so you won’t be alone. However we can always accommodate more.

If you are in town on a Thursday why not drop in for coffee and/or lunch and say hello.

Sing to the Lord, all the world! Worship the Lord with joy; come before him with happy songs (Psalm 100)

I was asked whether I would write a short article in recognition of all that Peter Essex has done for the music life of our Church and I have to say that I don’t think that I'm the best placed person to do that, adding, I fear, merely quantity, rather than anything else, to our worship.

Many years ago, I had a holiday, giving salmon the (very) occasional scare and in those days (and possibly still), you don’t fish on the Sabbath in the Highlands. In fact, I'm not sure that anyone was encouraged to enjoy the Sabbath in any way.

So I asked the shepherd, who was the nearest human, as opposed to ovine, neighbour of the lodge in which we were staying, whether the Wee Free Church that was at the end of the road, welcomed visitors. ‘Aye’ he said ‘but I would not recommend it’.

‘We do not have an organ’ he told me ‘and the precentor cannot sing. Second, the service is three hours long, but you may bring sandwiches and third, the whole thing is in Gaelic’.. I drove the five miles to the comforting and familiar arms of the Kirk instead, where the singing was enthusiastic and the organ impressive.

I'm not sure how much we take for granted the musical talent that goes to make our worship a fit offering to our Father.

Now, I know that in comparison with many Church Members and adherents, I am merely a teenager (if that) and much of the history of West Street is a closed book to me, but over the years that Peter has been our musical director, I have watched and participated in a positive evolution (rather than revolution) in the way we worship.

A substantial force in that evolution has been the untiring effort that Peter has put into introducing us to new music that we have taken to our hearts, to an examination of what we sing, what it means and the history behind it.

When I first started worshipping at West Street, music was well down the list of priorities and although we tried hard, to be honest, it wasn’t wonderful.

For all of us, the transformation has, at times, been challenging. However challenge is part of our Christian journey, but throughout, Peter has given us guidance with gentle good humour.

Our Christmas and Easter services have touched many who may only join with us on rare occasions and who knows what effect they may have had on those souls. The content and coherence of these services can be laid largely at Peter’s door.

We shall miss him and all that he has quietly (and sometimes noisily) contributed Sunday by Sunday and at other times, when he didn’t need to, beyond all measure. Not only has he kept us on the straight and narrow insofar as the music copyrights and licences are concerned, but he has been a quizmaster supreme and I am personally grateful to him for the work that he put into looking after our guests from our twin town, Güglingen and demonstrating yet another hidden talent, that of speaking fluent German.

We all wish Peter and Meg a well deserved rest from us Dissenters. May the new challenges that face you be as rich in blessing as yours have been to us and I suppose I ought to wish your benighted Association Football team well, although, as a former Rugby Football player, not only is the whole thing a closed book to me, but also I can’t see what all the fuss is about!

*****

This year is the second year of the URC Vision4Life course, which aims to renew the spiritual life of the Church based on Bible, Prayer and Evangelism. This year is the Prayer Year.

As an introduction to the year the Tuesday Evening Study Group is running a series of four Bible studies on the theme of ‘Praying our Days’. The first two meetings have taken place. At the first we looked at ‘Praying Together’. There are many references in the Acts of the Apostles to the members of the early Church praying together. “They gathered frequently to pray as a group, together with the women and with Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brothers” (Acts1:14). “They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers” (Acts 2:42). They prayed before choosing Judas’ successor (Acts 1:21-26), before choosing and sending out Barnabas and Saul for missionary work (Acts 13:1-3) and before appointing church elders (Acts 14: 21-23). They also prayed for boldness to speak the good news of the Christian faith to the people they met (Acts 4:23-31). It is very likely that their prayers were about asking for the power of God’s Holy Spirit to guide them and to give them strength to carry out their mission. Their prayers were answered in that the early church grew to become the world-wide Church we know today.

The second meeting looked at ‘Praying Alone’. There are references in Luke’s gospel to Jesus praying alone throughout his ministry. He prayed following his baptism, “and the Holy Spirit came down upon him” (Luke 3:21-22). “He would go away to lonely places, where he prayed” (Luke 5:16). He prayed before choosing his disciples (Luke 6:12-13) and, on the Mount of Olives, towards the end of his life (Luke 22:39-46). As with the members of the early Church, it is likely that his prayers were concerned with the need for guidance and strength to carry out the mission, which God had given him.

Jesus said, “How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him (Luke 11:13). He described the Holy Spirit as ‘Counsellor’, which means ‘one called alongside to help’. We need that help in our individual lives and the life of our church. Our church needs the guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit to become the church God wants us to be. We should pray together about the church’s mission, just as the members of the early church did; and about the development of our buildings to serve that mission. Why not come along to ‘Prayer for the work of the Church’ at 10 a.m. in the Little Chapel on the last Sunday of each month?

The Tuesday Evening Study Group is taking a break during the Lent Studies organised by Churches Together in Dorking. The last two meetings on ‘Praying our Days’ will be on 13th and 27th April when we will be looking at ‘Challenging Prayer’ and ‘Exploring Prayer’. There will also be a series of morning services on the theme of prayer after Easter.

Leslie Mitchell