01 April 2007

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.

Holy Week

• Broughty Ferry Churches Group will hold Services each evening at 7.30 pm (6.30 pm this evening) in St Mary's Episcopal Church, Queen Street. The addresses will be given by representatives of BFCG Member Churches (Jenny Easson on Thursday). See leaflets on Vestibule table for details. On Wednesday there will also be a Youth Event in Forthill Primary School at 7 pm. On Maundy Thursday the Eucharist will be in St Mary's and Mass, in Our Lady of Good Counsel.
• Dundee City Centre Churches worship on Maundy Thursday will be a Service of Holy Communion at 7.30 pm in our own church, in Marketgait.
• On Good Friday the Procession of Crosses will start from St Andrew's Catholic Cathedral, Nethergate - meet at 11.45 am to leave at 12 noon, proceeding to City Square.
• United Worship at 7.30 pm will be in Meadowside St Paul's.
• DundeeforChrist invite us to celebrate ResurrectionDay next Sunday at 7.30 pm in the Caird Hall - admission free - 'wee cards' on the Vestibule table.
• On Easter Sunday evening there will also be a Songs of Praise in Dundee Congregational Church at 6.30 pm, and Easter Praise in St Mary's, Broughty Ferry at 7.30 pm.

Easter Offerings

Envelopes for contributions to this annual Appeal are available today, for return in the collection plate on Easter Sunday and following weeks. The money is channelled via Methodist Women's Network into the Fund for World Mission, which helps to support

• Mission Partners working overseas
• The Mission in Britain programme
• Nationals in Mission appointments
• overseas students in ministry training
• grants to partner churches and special projects.

Our support is warmly invited.

Church Council

Rev Mary Patterson requests Council members to note that there will be an Extraordinary Council Meeting on Thursday 19th April at 7.30 pm with a single item agenda.

Meetings this week

Support other Organisations

Traidcraft

New catalogues are available on the Vestibule table. Orders may be placed with Margaret.

Scottish Bible Society

Our support through the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in April for work in China. See library area noticeboard.

Our prayerful attention is drawn this week to :

• 'World Alive', NBS participation in Spring Harvest at Skegness;
• completion of the Youth Bible in The Netherlands;
• completion of the new Icelandic Bible;
• completion of the Taiwanese Version after 20 years' work.

Feed The Minds

“Illiteracy is a forgotten emergency”

There are many times when most of us take for granted our ability to read: if we are unwell, we read the instructions on the bottle or packet of tablets ….
“Yet, 50% of all Sudanese women cannot read and write - potentially leading to unbearable consequences if they misunderstand the information on their child's prescription. Teaching women to read can often actually mean the difference between life and death.”
Feed The Minds (ecumenical literary agency of which the Methodist Church is a member) can touch the lives of over 1,000 learners in impoverished communities in the Sudan, through work with local organizations providing literacy to adults and children, many of whom have been displaced by Sudan's on-going civil conflict. In this desperately poor part of the country, only 12% of women are literate and a mere 6% of teachers have been formally trained. Training of literacy facilitators and provision of educational resources help address issues such as health and hygiene, HIV/AIDS and peace-building.

See noticeboard for associated poster.

Please also note the regular news-sheet “Prayer Point” from the FTM prayer-leaflet.

Contact details: Feed The Minds, 36 Causton Street, London, SW1P 4AU. Tel: 08451 21 21 02; www.feedtheminds.org.

Forthcoming events

Prayer Points for this week

• the Vice-President of Conference at the Easton Methodist Church, Portland, Centenary, next Sunday;
• Scottish Church Leaders' Meeting, tomorrow;
• work of the Scotland Methodist Relief & Extension Fund;
• Communion Stewards in the Circuit's congregations;
• preparations for Tay Bridge Crossing, 28th April (Christian Aid);
• The Leprosy Mission's work in India - Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh;
• application for Accreditation for degree-level study by Tangitebu Theological College, Kiribati (Feed The Minds);
• Bible Society work in China;
• we pray with and for the peoples of Brunei, Malaysia, and Singapore;
• we remember fellow Methodists in the Shaw and Royton Circuit (Manchester and Stockport District) and all in the Livingston Ecumenical Parish (Edinburgh & Forth Circuit).

• 25 March 2007
• 08 April 2007

© 2002—2007 Dundee Methodist Church.