16 July 2017

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.

Ministerial Cover in July

For Circuit matters please contact Keith Pearson in the first instance; for pastoral or wider issues, the Rev Dr David P Easton will be available.

Cleaning and chair stacking

Caragh will be taking holiday this month, so cover is needed for her cleaning and chair-removal duties. Please assist in moving the chairs, if you are able, after worship throughout July.

Methodist ClothesBank

Mondays 10am -12 noon (i/c Liz)

Thursdays 1pm - 3pm (i/c Sue)

Volunteers please contact Sue or Liz

More clothing is still needed; please have a good spring clean of your wardrobes. Anything is welcome. We will

• keep good adult clothing for the clothesbank;
• send good clothing for children and teenagers to “Togs from Tots to Teens”;
• recycle clothes that are not suitable for either; we can raise money in this way.

Please take a collecting bag from the table at the top of the stairs or ask a helper for one.

Do you have curtains to spare?

Starter Packs are desperately in need of curtains or material. If anyone has spare curtains that they don't need, these would be very much appreciated.

Manse Open Day

Our new circuit minister, Nik Wooller, is arriving in Blairgowrie on Tuesday 1st August. There will be an opportunity for all circuit members to see the Blairgowrie manse on Saturday 29th July from 11:00 to 14:00. If you can't manage at this time but would like to see the manse before it is occupied, please ring Sheila / Keith Pearson.

Safeguarding Training

Further training is now required for “all those who participated in the initial Safeguarding training 5 or more years ago”.

Sessions have been arranged as follows; all last from 2-4pm:

Please advise Marcia Mackenzie if you plan to attend one of these sessions. If you should be receiving this training, and none of these dates is suitable, please advise a Church Steward and/or contact Marcia Mackenzie; it is possible that an evening session can be arranged.

All are welcome - Safeguarding is the responsibility of each and every one of us.

Request for Prayers on 'Mission'

'Following on from the excellent District Prayer Diary that Jill Baker produced for us last year, I am hoping that we can have a similarly inspiring one this year. I invite you to submit prayers, meditations, stories and other reflections, particularly around 'mission'. This may be something that your church is involved with - at home or abroad - or it may be thoughts around the need for mission and our call to discipleship. I look forward to hearing back, either directly on smj4409@hotmail.co.uk or via Fiona at District Office, by the end of July. Many thanks. Sue Marshall-Jennings'

Methodist Prayer Handbook: 2017-18

Pam Bostock will send in a bulk order for this Handbook on behalf of all the Circuit's churches; please sign the list on the vestibule table if you wish to order a copy, or contact Jenny Easson. The cost for an ordinary print copy is £3.50 and for a large print copy £3.95 - the bulk order will be “post-free” and arrive in August.

District Newsletter- “In Touch”

Items for the next edition should be sent to Fiona Inglis at fiona@methodistchurch.plus.com by the end of August.

Meetings this week

Support other Organisations

Scottish Bible Society

Our support via the Bible-a-Month Partnership is invited in July for work in Argentina.

Our prayerful attention is drawn this week to

• Bible Society of Chad's support for trauma-healing programmes for church leaders;
• translation of the New Testament into Shiyeyi in Botswana - this recently developed language is used in literary and language classes with the Wayeyi people;
• Bible literacy classes in rural China;
• preparations for the SBS Appeal in support of work in Jordan.

Recent updates:

• in Cuba more than 85,000 Bibles have been distributed this year as part of the 'One Million Bibles' project;
• here in Scotland, the Bibleworld Books project has concluded a successful year-long project in Fife to help children develop literacy skills using Bible stories at church-based after-school clubs.

Forthcoming events

Prayer Points for this week

• the President of Conference's visit to Uganda for All We Can this week;
• all affected by changes to three Yorkshire Districts;
• Circuit preparations for the Rev Nik Wooller's arrival;
• residents, staff and supporters in the Southampton District (Methodist Homes);
• the Pontifical Mission Lebanon's new project in Dbayeh refugee camp in Beirut (Embrace ME);
• partner Asuda providing legal and psychological support for women in Iraq (Christian Aid);
• work in Uganda and Kenya (MAF);
• Bible Society work in Argentina;
• work in China, Korea and Laos (The Leprosy Mission);
• we pray with and for the peoples of Djibouti and Somalia (WCC);
• we remember fellow Methodists on the Isle of Man and all in Grahamston United Church, Falkirk (Central Scotland Circuit, soon to form part of the new Forth Valley Circuit).

• 9 July 2017
• 23 July 2017

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