Dundee Methodist Church

20 March 2016

Next Sunday
27 March 2016
Easter Sunday

11 am
Worship, including Holy Communion, conducted by the Rev Nick Baker
Communion Offering (on arrival) for Mission in Britain Fund
6 pm
Circuit Service Perth

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

Circuit Service

A Service including Holy Communion, will be held in Scott Street, Perth next Sunday at 6pm to mark Jenny Easson's 40 years as a Local Preacher and to say “thanks and goodbye” from the Circuit to John Butterfield.

Perth are to provide drinks before for those who are travelling a distance and wish to bring packed sandwiches; tea, coffee and biscuits will be served after the Service to facilitate a time of informal conversation.

All are welcome - if you would like or can offer help with transport, please contact Jenny Easson.

Holy Week and Easter

We have been invited to join ecumenical friends in a Good Friday Service in Dundee Congregational Church, Constitution Road at 6.30pm.

We are requested to bring fresh daffodils to decorate the church during worship next Sunday.

The United Methodist Church in Bulgaria

Most Methodists in Europe belong to the American “UMC” branch of the Methodist world family; The United Methodist Church in Bulgaria is a member of the Central and Southern Europe Conference.

Its origins date from the arrival of missionaries from the USA in 1857, after which congregations were established and the Bible translated into modern Bulgarian by Dr Albert Long.

The missionaries were hospitably received by the ruling Turkish (Ottoman) authorities, but thereafter there were periods when the church was fighting for its survival. During the Communist period, 1947 to 1989, the Methodist Church shared the plight of the other Christian communities in Bulgaria. Most of the church buildings were expropriated, some of the clergy were imprisoned, and for the common believers church membership became a stumbling block in their normal life and professional career.

After the collapse of Communism there were only only 3 of the original 16 congregations remained in existence with pastors mainly old and frail. However, relationships were developed with the UMC Conference of Central and Southern Europe under its supervising bishop.

The church has experienced growth and expansion (to some 30 congregations with 22 clergy), albeit UMC Bulgaria is still clearly a minority in a predominantly Orthodox country. It is also multi-cultural, including use of Turkish, Armenian, and Roma dialect languages.

UMC Bulgaria has active social projects - soup kitchens, literacy courses, day care centres for the young and the elderly, prison visiting - “it is impossible to be a credible Church without providing such services for the poor and minorities.”

Meetings this week

Date & timeVenueDetails
Monday 21st March 2016, 7.30pm Our Lady of Good Counsel, Westfield Road, Broughty Ferry Stations of the Cross
Wednesday 23rd March, 12 noon Our Lady of Good Counsel, Westfield Road, Broughty Ferry Short Service & shared lunch
Thursday 24th March, 7.30pm St Mary's (Queen Street) Communion and Stripping of the Altar
Thursday 24th March, 7.30pm New Kirk Hall, Broughty Ferry Supper & Communion
Friday 25th March, 9am onwards New Kirk, Broughty Ferry Hot Cross Bun distribution
Friday 25th March, 12.30pm Broughty Baptist Church Communion
Friday 25th March, 2.30pm St Mary's (Queen Street) Meditative Service
Friday 25th March, 6.30pm Dundee Congregational Church Ecumenical Good Friday Service
Saturday 26th March, 7pm Central Baptist Church “Music on an Easter's Evening”, in aid of the Salvation Army's work with victims of Human Trafficking - £5
Saturday 26th March, 7.30pm St Mary's (Queen Street) Service of Light
Sunday 27th March, 8am Barnhill Rock Garden Joint Service with Egg Rolling held by Barnhill St Margaret's and New Kirk, followed by breakfast in St Margaret's Hall.
Sunday 27th March, 9.30am St Luke's and Queen Street Garden Service and Easter Egg Hunt

Scottish Bible Society

Our support via the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in March for work in Paraguay.

Our prayerful attention this week is drawn to

  • Bible Society of Lithuania Living Pictures competition in schools;
  • Bible literacy programme run by the Bible Society of CÔte D'Ivoire for the Tagbana people;
  • production by the Bible Society of Costa Rica of resources for pastors, leaders and Sunday School Teachers.

Forthcoming events

Date & timeVenueDetails
Thursday, 31st March to Saturday 2nd April. Paisley Methodist Central Hall, 2 Gauze Street, Paisley PA1 1EP An Exhibition in Art: “Seeing the New Testament for what it is”, by Rev David Palmer (a former Minister in Paisley). The Exhibition will be open on Thursday 31st March (4pm to 6pm), Friday 1st April (10am to 6pm) and Saturday 2nd April (10am to 1pm).
There will also be an Informal Talk by the Rev David Palmer at 11am on the Saturday, entitled “New Testament: New Testimony to the Skills of the Writers and First Readers”.

Prayer Points for this week

  • the President of Conference on the Isle of Man;
  • preparations for the Scotland District Synod hosted by this Circuit next month;
  • the Circuit congregations' relationship with ecumenical partners;
  • residents, staff and supporters in the Northampton District (Methodist Homes);
  • communities struggling to recover from the impact of the Ebola virus in west Africa (Christian Aid);
  • Harpur Memorial Hospital, Menouf, Egypt (Embrace);
  • local partner organisations (The Leprosy Mission); the world-wide range of its work (MAF);
  • Bible Society work in Paraguay;
  • we pray with and for the peoples of China, including Hong Kong and Macau (WCC);
  • we remember fellow Methodists in the Banks and Hesketh Bank Circuit (Lancashire District) and in Kilsyth (Strathclyde Circuit).