18 December 2005

We give the assurance of our thoughts and prayers to all who are unwell, awaiting or undergoing treatment, or anxious or grieving for the loss of loved ones.

Gift tags

Thanks to Clare, these are available on the Vestibule table - please support the Church by purchasing them.

Holiday news-sheets

News sheets will be published for 25th December & 1st January - so information (eg from rotas) will be helpful. (Eds)

Meetings this week

Support other Organisations

NCH

• It has long been our custom to support NCH during December in various ways and on different occasions. There are the following opportunities for contributing financial support this year:
  • Communion Offering today
  • under “The Tree” during All-age worship next week
  • 'Coffee money' after worship next Sunday
• Envelopes - including Gift Aid forms - are available and may be used on any / all of the above occasions and in the weekly offering plate.
• There will NOT be an NCH offering on Christmas Day, as usual, since this year December 25th is a Sunday.
• News for supporters is available on the Vestibule table, together with fliers for Christmas cards - order in advance for next year? Prayer cards are also available.
• Margaret can provide an NCH collecting box - see her.

Scottish Bible Society

• Our support through the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in December for work in Sudan. See library noticeboard for more details.
• Our attention is drawn this week to
  • translation of the first full Bible in Kpele in Guinea
  • political upheaval, drought and famine in Burkina Faso
  • publication of 'Your fears and problems' leaflet in Mali
  • warm reception of revised Sango Common Language New Testament in Central African Republic
  • new Kom New Testament, Massana and Tupuri Bibles in Cameroon

Arusha, Tanzania

“3 years ago I visited a number of projects in Arusha, Tanzania. These included a home for families of leprosy patients, a centre for street children, as well as a primary school at Longido close to the Kenyan Border, where a group of blind children are being integrated.

I was able to deliver some teaching resources and advise on how the school might be supported. Spare parts are sourced to the repair of Braille typewriters and cupboards built to keep them clear of dust and insects. Last year we sent out a large tactile globe for the school. Working with a training college for teachers of the blind, we have also supported a project to develop the recording of teaching resources on tape in Swahili.

Janet and I will be visiting Arusha in February next year and will be spending time at 2 schools, but particularly at the college providing training for local staff. Used magnifiers and test charts from our service in Fife are already being shipped out ready for our visit, and some teaching at the college is planned.

What I am seeking now are second hand tape recorders, particularly the small Walkman type. These will be used by blind children as the main means of accessing textbooks, as Braille is difficult and expensive to produce. For those of you who are upgrading to CD, MP3 and other fancy gadgets at Christmas, can you please consider letting us have any machines to take out.

Alan

Home-Start - a message

A letter has been sent to help clarify the work of this charitable organisation, as follows:

“We are often inundated with calls offering us furniture and household goods. In the course of these conversations from callers it has become apparent that they are often directed to Home-Start by personnel from a variety of churches from Dundee and surrounding areas.

Our organisation in fact offers emotional and practical support to families, as you will see from the enclosed leaflets.

We would appreciate it if you could filter this information to all levels of the church as many of the callers are disappointed that we cannot be of assistance.”

Prayer Points for this week

• Pray Without Ceasing focus: Darlington District;
• Connexional Tutors' Meeting, Monday - Tuesday;
• partners and projects in Angola (Christian Aid);
• illiteracy work with 600 women in slum areas of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso (Feed The Minds);
• The Leprosy Mission's patients - people affected by leprosy;
• Bible Society work in Sudan;
• we pray with and for the peoples of Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa, & Swaziland;
• we remember fellow Methodists in the Mansfield Circuit (Nottingham & Derby District), and our own life & work based in Dundee (Angus, Dundee & Perthshire Circuit).

• 11 December 2005
• 25 December 2005

© 2002—2003 Dundee Methodist Church.