St John's News

Lent, Palm Sunday and Holy Week Recital by Robert Brockbank. 

 Please click on the image below to listen and enjoy Robert's Organ Recital.


 

Join us online LIVE on Sunday 

We will be streaming LIVE from the church again this Sunday at 10.30am.  You can go directly to the service by clicking this link to our YouTube Channel, or you can find our service from the website home page. 

Vacancy -Maintenance Person 

Do you have the skills we need?  Do you carry out your own DIY?  Our maintenance role has become vacant again as Paul who has been doing this role during most of Lockdown, moves to pastures new. Thank you for all you have done Paul to keep our buildings in good repair during this time.

To see the details for the role and application form please follow this link to our Job Vacancies page, which can also be found from the menu on the main page of the website.

Applications need to be received by 14th March 2021, interviews will be arranged within the two weeks after this date. 

Noelle Gore, Operations & Events Manager

PCC meeting to be held on 4th March 

Our next PCC meeting will be held next week - please pray for us as we review and make decisions for the future.  The main focus of this meeting is to ensure we are fully prepared for Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM) on March 21st.

We will be:

• Receiving and reviewing the Accounts and Annual report for the year ended December 2020. This is a combination of the official accounts and report on our activities over the year and less formal input from the wider church family teams on how we've adapted and continued to serve through the pandemic. It is a good time to look back on what has been achieved over the past year and to look forward to the plans for the year ahead.
• Discussing and confirming plans for Clive's Sabbatical after Easter. Clive will be taking three months study leave from April to June to reflect and refresh himself and prepare for his next phase of ministry. 
• Reviewing and approving the missionary giving budget and confirming the payments to be made in March / April. The World Mission Action Group (WMAG) manage the allocation of funds to organisations we support as a church family. 
• Receiving a brief update from Sue Simpson on the Electoral Roll - you need to be on this to take part in the APCM.
• Receiving an update from Clare Johnston will give a brief update on Holiday club and plans for the future. 

I will issue a quick summary after the meeting, but if you have any questions or want to make any input please get in touch with me directly or via the office by Wednesday mid-day at the latest.

There will be an opportunity to stand as a member of the PCC at the APCM, and we are still looking for a secretary to keep us on track !

Alan Nunn, Vice Chair of PCC

Space Academy Holiday Club Feedback

Space Academy Holiday Club took place during half term and was lots of fun!  There were over thirty children registered in advance and many more more who joined us over the week.  We had a great time finding out some of what it takes to be an astronaut, and how we can all join in the mission of following Jesus.  If you would like to catch up or watch again, the videos are still available on the Kids Central page and on YouTube.  A huge thank you to all those who were involved with putting Holiday Club together - you are all brilliant!
Clare Johnston

 

Verse for the week - Psalm 19 verse 1

Newsletter from the Pawsons

We have received David and Manuela’s latest newsletter.  They will soon be starting at language school. Their next major milestone for us will be an OMF centre visit later this year. These visits are a chance for them to visit different places where OMF work and see where they might end up after finishing language studies. 
David and Manuela’s newsletter can be found on our World Mission page under Newsletters. You will need your members login details to view the newsletter; if you have trouble logging in or have not requested members access please contact the office for assistance. 

Michael Lyons

Churches Together at Prayer 

We invite all Christians to join together and pray for just half an hour on the first evening of every month. We have a powerful God who loves his children to speak to him and when we are united in our prayers the possibilities are endless. In these challenging times we need to join together to intercede for the situations in our world, our country and our town; praying for the effects of the pandemic, the well-being of families and school children, the financial impact of local businesses and how we can share God’s love with our friends and neighbours. Please click the link to join with us this Monday at 7pm. It would be so good to see you there.
Join Zoom Meeting 
Meeting ID: 819 191 3344 
Passcode: 047188 

 

An Update from our Growing Younger Team

 
Our regular activities are continuing with both Little Gems and Wildfire on Zoom each week.  Wildfire have been thinking about the difference we can make in the world and God's heart for those most in need.  They have been working on a fundraising project this half term and have so far raised £150 for Woodbridge Food Bank and Suffolk Wildlife Trust!                                                                                                                                                                                         
Beth Allen one of our lovely young people has done a great job carrying on with the Bible study on Zoom for the youth. Beth says “ We generally get seven or eight people joining us regularly. Manuela also joins us once a month and we get to catch up with her.   We have just started a new series that runs through lent looking at who Jesus is to us and his relationship with the people around him. We generally read a passage (lots of Bible verse racing!), have a group discussion about the passage and then have a quiet time to reflect and then pray before we leave or chat."                                                                                                                                     

 

Prayer Diary for March

The Prayer Diary for March is ready for you to view on the Website, Click here to take you straight to the Prayer diary Resources page.  Thank you to Roy Eaton who faithfully prepares the diary for our use every month.

Lent Lunches 2021 

As you may know, St John’s has taken part in the churches’ Lent Lunches at the Salvation Army Hall for the past 38 years and this year these cannot take place. They were held to help raise funds for Christian Aid and for a few pounds people could share a simple lunch of soup and bread together.

This year one of our Lifegroups is holding a Zoom Lent Lunch together to eat their own soup and a roll while chatting and sharing some time with each other.
Why not use this idea for your Lifegroup or let us know what you may be doing for Lent.

If you would like to donate a few pounds to Christian Aid please click on this link Christian Aid which will take you to their website. It will help them in these difficult times when fundraising has practically dried up.



 

Tear Fund News

 This may give you some inspiration for a Lent gift. 
During Lent any gifts to Tearfund will be doubled by a generous group of supporters.
Your gift could provide the basic necessities for a displaced family who have nothing.
You can donate online at tearfund.org/vital or by ringing 02039063906.
For more info contact Sue Simpson/ Tearfund rep.

Sue Simpson

 

A Parish Magazine Team - could this be for you? 

 The Reaching Out Team are considering ways to engage with those in our parish, as many may have little visibility of St John's, besides knowing we do Sunday services.  As a Church we want to be able to bless our local community and encourage them to become involved in any of our activities if they wish to do so.  

With this in mind, we are considering putting a quarterly parish magazine together to be distributed to everyone in our parish.  This will not only let people know what is happening the following quarter at St John's, but it will also include interesting relevant articles and snippets of local information.

The aim is to set up a small team to take this further, looking into printing options, layout and design, content and distribution. Many areas, needing varied skills or just a willingness to get involved!

We are keen to gauge support from anyone interested in being involved in putting the parish magazine together and moving this idea forwards. If this is an area of service you might consider and something you feel passionate about, please contact me and we can discuss it further.  

Carol Saunders
Carol.j.naude@gmail.com 
01394 382417 or 07736 247903

 

A Little Pantry 

The Reaching Out team have been looking at ways to show God's love to our local community. One idea we are keen to move forward with is setting up a Little Pantry, most likely outside the Church Hall. This would be similar to those run at other Churches.

We will purchase a small shed that anyone from our Church family or local community could donate non-perishable food to. The purpose then being that anyone could come and help themselves to any food they need, no questions asked.  Many people are struggling to make ends meet at present and this is one way we can share our many blessings with those around us. 

Mike Simpson is heading this up and would like to hear from anyone who would like to be involved. A small team will be formed to keep an eye on the food supplies and any nearing the end of it's shelf life, or any excess products, will be donated to the Salvation Army.

If you feel this is something you would like to be involved with, please contact Mike on 07770 580902 or mikesimpo@hotmail.com.

Mike & the Reaching Out Team

Archbishops invitation to pause & pray 

The Archbishops of Canterbury and York have issued a call to the nation to pause and reflect to remember the more than 100,000 people across the UK who have died after contracting Covid-19 and all those who know and love them.

In an open letter, Archbishops Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell invite everyone across England – whether they have faith or not – to pause, reflect on the “enormity of this pandemic” and to pray. Click here to read the Archbishops letter.

Starting on 1 February we invite you to set aside time every evening to pray, particularly at 6.00pm each day. More than ever, this is a time when we need to love each other. Prayer is an expression of love and it is one thing we can all do.

St Edmundsbury Cathedral will include 'Prayers for the Nation' in its service of Evening Prayer, Monday to Friday, which starts at 5.30pm. The service will conclude with the tolling of a bell at 6.00pm.  To join this service online please visit their Facebook page. 

 

Zoom with us through the week

We now have a dedicated page where you can find all the opportunities to meet with others to pray or chat.  You can find the link directly from the home page of the website or under the Congregations menu list.  Click here to see where it is.

Zoom with Us

Bereavement Support Group 

 

Let's stay connected