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Churches Together in
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| Churchdown and Innsworth is a community blessed with people, churches and services that care about each other. Churches Together comprise of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, the Methodist Church, St John the Evangelist, St Andrew and St Bartholomew. |
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CHURCHES TOGETHER IN CHURCHDOWN AND INNSWORTH By the time you read this, it is almost certain that children will be back at school, and young people preparing for, if not already back at, university or college. And many people will be back at work, or in their normal routines, after a summer holiday. So perhaps this is the ideal moment to consider participation in Back to Church Sunday on 26 September. Did you used to attend church years ago, perhaps as a child or teenager, or before life got so very, very busy? Or have you been just occasionally for a wedding, christening or funeral, and wondered about what the church is like at its ordinary services? The chances are that, if you haven’t been for a long time, you would be surprised at how friendly and informal church services can be nowadays, hopefully reflecting something of God’s immense love to humanity, while still never forgetting the reverence and respect we owe him. Our local churches would welcome you at any time, but on this Sunday will be making an especial effort to welcome newcomers, both those who used to be regular church members, and those who have little or no previous experience of church. For the Methodist Church and St John’s, 26 September is also Harvest Festival, one of those lovely, happy celebrations which must provide some of the best memories people have of church services, as well as a timely reminder of the needs of others affected by drought or flood, or many other reasons why they lack food and other necessities, whom we are in a position to help. The Methodist Church services that day are at 10.30am and 6.30pm, with a lunch following the morning service. St John’s will be holding a Family Service at 10am and a Harvest Songs of Praise at 6pm; everybody is very welcome. Harvest Festival is not celebrated on the same Sunday everywhere, and that at St Andrew’s will be held on Sunday 3 October, with services of Holy Communion at 9am, All Age Holy Communion at 10.30am, and Evensong at St Bartholomew’s at 6pm. St John’s will also be hosting Experience Harvest, similar to the recent Experience Easter and Experience Christmas events, where the theme will be explored in a series of ‘stations’ covering the different aspects of harvest – more perhaps than you would think! These will be in church during the week beginning Sunday 19 September, during which children from Parton Manor Junior School and Innsworth Junior School will be coming to view them and have everything explained more fully by members of the congregation. But Experience Harvest is for everyone who is interested, so please come into the church to look at them for yourself. The next Churches Together joint service will be held on Sunday 31 October at 6.30pm at the Methodist Church. The more familiar name of this day is of course Halloween, earlier called All Hallows’ (i.e. saints’) Eve, because it is the day before All Saints’ Day, when the Church remembers those Christians who are held up as examples, such as St Peter, St John and Jesus’s other faithful disciples, or later followers like St Paul or St Francis, not because they were perfect people (they were all flawed in their different ways) but because in the end they followed Jesus Christ with great devotion. The next day, 2 November, All Souls’ Day, recalls the many other people, including our own loved ones, who although they have not been set up as special examples for all, have been special to us and in their own way have served God and others. On Tuesday 2 November at 7pm, there will be a service for All Souls at St John’s; please come along and take this opportunity to remember and reflect upon your loved ones. Continuing the theme of remembering, this year’s Remembrance Sunday Parade and Service will take place on Sunday 14 November at St John’s, starting at 10.45am in order to be ready for the silence at 11am. Innsworth Services continue at 3pm on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month at the Community Hall, where a lunch club also meets at 1pm every Friday. Also on a Friday, a prayer group meets at 6.30pm and in the Autumn there will be a Christian Basics Course running in Innsworth. For more information about all of these, please contact Rev Debbie Forman, Pioneer Minister for Innsworth, on Gloucester 730935.
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