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February/March 2012
Sunday 12 February, 10.30 am: Service led by Mr Mike Cade (one of our Local Preachers and a member at Ivybridge).
6.30 pm: Service led by Revd Alison Richardson (minister of Mount Gould and Cornerstone Churches).

Sunday 19 February, 10.30 am: Service led by Revd Doug Rix (includes Holy Communion).
6.30 pm: Service led by Mr Roy Smith (one of our Local Preachers and a member at Compton).

Sunday 26 February, 10.30 am: Service led by Mr Tony Kirk (one of our Local Preachers and a member at Crownhill).
6.30 pm: Service led by Mr Roy Smith (one of our Local Preachers and a member at Compton). Sunday 4 March, 10.30 am: Service led by Miss Judith Allen (one of our Local Preachers and a member at Crownhill).
6.30 pm: Service led by Miss Judith Allen (one of our Local Preachers and a member at Ridgeway).

Sunday 11 March, 10.30 am: Service led by Revd Doug Rix (Parade Service with Brownies and Rainbows, a lively 'all age' service open to all).
6.30 pm: Reflective act of Worship led by a local team using a form of worship similar to that used at Taizé. If you have never experienced a Taizé service or would like to share in one again, you are warmly invited to come along to join with us..

Sunday 18 March, 10.30 am: Service led by Revd Doug Rix (includes Holy Communion).
6.30 pm: Service led by Revd Doug Rix.

Sunday 25 March, 10.30 am: Service led by Mr Peter Goodfellow (one of our Local Preachers and a member at Crownhill).
6.30 pm: Service led by Revd Doug Rix.

OTHER EVENTS
Saturday 11 February, 10.00 am: Coffee Morning
Saturday 18 February: Brownies and Rainbows planting trees around the edge of the car park
Tuesday 21 February, 10.00 am: Church Council
Thursday 23 February, 10.30 am: 'Spectrum' meets at the home of Keith and Jeanette Angilly
Saturday 3 March, 7.00 pm: Quiz evening in the Church Hall, with light refreshments.

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Jan-Apr 2012 Prayer Diary
The circuit prayer diary for January to April 2012 is now available on the site. Please use the link below to download a copy.

DOWNLOAD: PDF File, 103 KB

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Jan-Apr 2012 Preaching Plan
The circuit preaching plan for January to April 2012 is now available on the site. Please use the link below to download a copy.

DOWNLOAD: PDF File, 35.2 KB

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A New Year Resolution
I wonder if God has been niggling away at you lately or perhaps God has been challenging you for some time. Is this the year that you let God take you on a journey?

Are you being called to ministry? By this I mean is God calling you to offer yourself to the Church to fulfil a ministry. It may be that you feel called to pastoral care, to working with children or young people. You may have a real desire to volunteer to minister in a hospital setting or to those caught-up in a spiral of debt - you may feel called to something but are not sure what.

For some it may be that you feel called to be a Worship Leader or a Local Preacher or it may be someone has said to you 'have you ever considered being....?' Friends or family often discern a gift within you and the Spirit prompts them to pose the idea with you. There may be some who are struggling with a call to ordained ministry, whether as a Deacon or as a Presbyter ( the one with the dog collar). If that is you, if it might be you, then do something about it!

So what to do? If you feel God is calling you, start a conversation with your minister or someone on your church leadership team. If you want you can talk to me (01752 551514) and we'll explore together what God is calling you to be.

Happy New Year!

Every blessing,
Revd Simon H Leigh.
Superintendent minister.

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Advent and Christmas Newsletter
An Advent and Christmas newsletter from Superintendent Minister Simon Leigh is now available on the site.

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PGP Conference with Philip Jensen
Annual Conference with Phillip Jensen: Monday 16 January 2012
We are pleased to tell you that Phillip Jensen, Dean of Sydney Cathedral has agreed to join us for this conference which is open to all. It will be take place from 10.00 am- 4.00 pm at Grace Community Church, Morval, Looe, Cornwall.

The subject will be; 'Messengers, Watchmen and Stewards' The cost is £12 for the day. To book please use slip on the flyer which is available for download here.

Please note that there is plenty of parking at Grace but no facilities for purchasing lunch. The conference fee will therefore include a pasty lunch and a cream tea. Please bring a pack lunch if this does not meet your dietary requirements. Tea and coffee will also be served during the day. Detailed instructions, a booking form are included on the attached flyer which you are asked to use for publicity purposes. We will send out a notice suitable for inclusion as a power point in church notices at a later date.

Finally, should you book early there is a reduction (to £10) in the conference fee for all those who book and pay before 1 December.

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Release International Christmas Pack
This Christmas please join us and be a link in the chain of witnesses with our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ around the world.

Take part in Release International's new Christmas Chain initiative, and demonstrate in a practical way that you and your church are prepared to stand with, pray for and remember those in our family whose Christmases will be very different to our own.

Their new Christmas Chain pack includes instructions for making special Christmas paper chains, which include the names of persecuted Christians needing our prayers. It also gives you stories to share of persecuted brothers and sisters, PowerPoint slides and information about how the income raised from the initiative will be used. The pack can be used during Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas), or as part of a Christmas service.

A printed pack is also available for a suggested donation of £5, which includes the coloured paper you need to make 72 paper chain links. This can be ordered by calling our Supporter Relations Team on 01689 823491 or by emailing. All funds raised by Christmas Chains will go towards projects supporting our persecuted brothers and sisters around the world.

Being a link in the Christmas chain will make a real difference to the lives of our persecuted family. Read more or download the pack here.

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Comings and Goings
The great August conga dance of ministers changing stations begins very soon in the Methodist Church. Up and down the country the remeoval men and women are doing their thing and our Circuit is no exception. We are saying farewell to the Revd Stephen Caddick after 7 years of ministry at Ivybridge. Stephen leaves England for Cornwall where he is to be Superintendent in the Wadebridge Circuit. We wish Stephen and his family well in their new appointment. The Circuit is very pleased to welcome the Revd Ralph Ward to the Ivybridge section. Ralph, as many will know, has a cutting edge ministry in music and in schools work, which will be appreciated in his churches and beyond. So too we welcome Adele Ward and hope the move from Dorset was a good one and that settling into a new situation will not be difficult.

The Revd Paul Rees is our new probationer minister with responsibility for Woodford and Elburton churches. This will keep him very busy. Amanda and the family accompany Paul and once again we wish them well in their first appointment. Paul has been at St. John's College, Durham during his ministerial training and is a former Cliff College student. He's also a mean baker! Amanda is a Local Preacher in training and you will no doubt be seeing her around the Circuit in due course.

As Paul arrives so Revd Tony Broad 'sits down' as the Methodist Church says so quaintly about retiring ministers. Tony has given so much of himself to the ministry he was called to and his time in the Elburton section was well received. So many people have said how much Tony has been appreciated. I am sure we all wish Tony a very long and happy retirement.

The Revd Colin Roberts has kindly agreed to take pastoral charge of Pomphlett Methodist Church for a year. The Circuit Stewards and the Superintendent are grateful to Colin for this, as are his congregation at Pomphlett. In the coming months a replacement for Colin will need to be found and the Circuit stewards and the Superintendent will be giving this continued careful attention.

The Superintendent minister, Revd Simon Leigh, will be taking pastoral charge at Oreston and Stoke churches, together with his continuing commitment at Colebrook. Stoke Church has been fortunate to have had the ministry of the Revd Mike Parsons for a period this year. Mike is a supernumary minister but just like the Revds David Youngs and Terry Higgins, offers so much support and experience to the Circuit.

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Brikama News
In January June and Peter Goodfellow took Crownhill Methodist Church's second gift to The Gambia and presented the cheque for £3000 to Nurse Linda at the Sunday morning service at Brikama Methodist Mission. In her thanks Linda said, "This will wipe away their tears". Crownhill has promised to support the Mission's medical work for five years. This year we did not visit a clinic but arrangements were made which resulted in our having dinner with Prof. Tumani Corah and his wife. The professor is chairman of the Methodist Medical Board. His day job, we discovered, is Director of the national Medical Research Council. He helped us with better arrangements for passing on the money and in assuring us of the great need they have for money to keep the five clinics open.

On our last day we met Bishop Peter, the Right Reverend Peter Stephens, the head of the Methodist Church in the Gambia. He expressed his great thanks to Crownhill too. He didn't say no to his coming to Crownhill one Sunday, but not this year. Finally, we were thrilled to receive on our last day, on behalf of the Church, a splendid gift from the Mission, as a Thank You for all our help – a carved wooden plaque we hope to hang in the church. Brikama town is the centre of the country's wood carving craft.

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Brikama Methodist Church Mission
Crownhill Methodist Church is twinned with Brikama Methodist Church Mission in The Gambia. It all began after two members on holiday in The Gambia in 2008 "found" the MIssion which they had not heard about in advance. A long talk with Linda Donglong, the Mission's SRN Nurse, led to Crownhill agreeing to help the medical work for five years. Linda is in charge of the work at five village clinics. The Mission also has a primary school, a dentistry (a rarity!), a long running agricultural project (which offers support throughout the country), and the church.

In November 2009 four members took out a gift of £2750 and presented it at Brikama Church on Sunday morning. Linda told them that "This will save lives!"

We have kept in close contact - three cheers for e-mails! - and on 21st January two members take out £3000 to further the good work. The first gift went on Medicines. There has been some discussion at the Mission that all or some of this year's money will go towards essential repair work to the largest clinic's water supply.

We saw that clinic on our previous visit - one bungalow building with a hall and a few small consulting rooms, with patients waiting quietly outside under an awning in a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. Another building, the former children's malnutrition unit, was derelict for lack of money to support it. There was an outside loo.

How fortunate we are to have the medical care which is at our disposal! We will continue to do all we can to help Brikama Medical Mission give much needed care to the villagers.

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A Message from Simon Leigh
Friends,

About 6 years ago my senior steward at my former church told me he wanted to start a film club in the church. He saw this as a means of evangelism, so that people would be invited to see classic films and that by building new relationships the good news of Jesus could be told.

I wasn't really very sure if this would be any use, but David was very enthusiastic and also very persuasive. I am glad to say I was wrong. It has been a real success and has opened the church to a wider audience, many of whom would never have entered a church at all. It just goes to show that the Holy Spirit can move in our churches, but we have to allow the Spirit the opportunity to move. Without too much difficulty I could have stifled the Spirit's work. Do we do the same in our churches, or will we take a risk?

The Ruskin Cinema at Carshalton Methodist Church, is hosting the BBC's Songs of Praise and is being broadcast on 21st November,2010. The programme is mostly about Arthur Rank and the Rank organisation, but the church cinema features highly.

So when someone comes to you with what could appear to be a daft idea for your church mission, just think about the possibilities.

Every blessing,

Revd Simon H. Leigh
Superintendent Minister

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Circuit Round-Up
A new "Circuit Round-Up" section, edited by John Clarke, is now available from the main menu on the left.