23 December 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.

Advent and Christmas Worship

Our observing of Advent / Christmas this year includes

• the customary lighting of Advent candles, with accompanying Litany, during morning worship;
• cards from the Christmas Card Box sorted for collection today - please uplift / distribute;
• worship celebration on Christmas Day at 11 am, led by Mrs Jenny Easson; offering for NCH.

NCH

Envelopes in support of the work of Methodism's children's charity are now available; please return them in the offerings plate during the Christmas Season, which has been Dundee's traditional time for giving to NCH. See below as well.

Christmas Tags

Clare reminds us that gifts tags are on the Vestibule table: proceeds to Church funds.

Flower Rota

Elaine writes: I would like to thank everyone on the Flower Rotas for this past year. The Flower Rotas for 2008 are now available on the table upstairs. If your date is unsuitable, please contact me.

Weekly offering envelopes for 2008

New users - please let Cliff know if you would like envelopes. Old users - please let Cliff know if you do not wish to continue. If you can Gift Aid and have not signed a form, Cliff has forms.

Meetings this week

Support other Organisations

Scottish Bible Society

• Our support through the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in December for work in Azerbaijan. See library area noticeboard for more details.
• Our prayerful attention is drawn this week to:
• preparations for the removal (in February) of the Amity Press to new larger facilities on the outskirts of Nanjing (China);
• planning for “Deep Impact” youth leaders' training event next month;
• preparations for 2008 visits by BibleWorld Studios - some 10,000 people experienced this exciting resource in 2007.
• Updates on 2007 'calendar-a-month' countries:
  • China (April) : Amity Press's output over its 20-year existence has reached 41 million after the production of 2 million Bibles during the first 8 months of 2007; in September the (football) Women's World Cup held in China saw the production of 150,000 copies of Mark's Gospel, using modern English and China versions & including a testimony by Han Duan, the national team's leading striker.
  • Albania (June) : after 7 years' work the interconfessional New Testament has been published - this necessitated training translators from scratch because of the official ban on religion until 1990 and after 50 years of Communism : “the plan is now to tackle the Old Testament, which could take another 10 years - and yet more training!”
  • Azerbaijan (December) : describing a church service in Baku, a recent visitor realised that “Christianity here is still in its infancy”: most of the congregation are young, enthusiastic about their faith and passionate in their worship, with composition of hymns & songs linked to the newly-published Scriptures in Azeri, dynamic preaching, strong fellowship, and warm welcome for newcomers, plus “a desire to reach out with the message to people across the land.”

NCH

NCH has been the children's charity of the Methodist Church for over 135 years.

NCH's vision is of a world where all children and young people

• have a sense of belonging,
• are loved and valued,
• can fulfil their potential, shape their destiny, and experience the joy of life.

NCH Supporter Care Department - 08457 626579.

Prayer Points for this week

• The President and Vice-President of Conference, Chairs of District, the Co-ordinating Secretaries;
• Rev David Firth, Rev Mary Patterson and their families;
• Christmas celebrations by the Circuit's congregations;
• projects in the Nottingham & Derby District; those living with dementia, their families & carers (Methodist Homes Prayer Diary);
• work achieved since the Indian Ocean tsunami three years ago (Christian Aid);
• work of Kigali Anglican Theological College, Rwanda ('Feed The Minds');
• Bible Society work in Azerbaijan;
• people affected by leprosy (The Leprosy Mission);
• we pray with and for the peoples of Ghana and Nigeria;
• we remember fellow Methodists in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Circuit (Lincoln & Grimsby District), and in Central Hall, Edinburgh (Edinburgh & Forth Circuit).

• 16 December 2007
• 30 December 2007

© 2002—2007 Dundee Methodist Church.