26 March 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.

Lent Readings

This year our Circuit's churches are encouraged to use the booklet of daily reflections produced by “All We Can”. Themes from this booklet will be reflected during Sunday worship in Marketgait during Lent. Please ask a Steward if you wish a hard copy. Download a low resolution copy, or sign up for daily resources by email.

Lent Study Groups

Broughty Ferry Churches Group gives a warm invitation to

• Mondays to 3rd April: Study Group in St Mary's, Queen Street from 10.15am - c.11.45am;
• Wednesdays to 5th April: Study Group in St James' Church halls Fort Street (by Lifeboat shed) at 7.30pm.

Both the Monday and Wednesday groups will share experiences and explore questions raised by material published by CTBI, entitled 'Returning Home: Christian Faith in Encounter with Other Faiths'.

Meadowside St Pauls also have sent an invitation to their Lenten Group in the church halls on Tuesdays at 7.15pm, using 40Acts material.

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.

Meeting with other churches

Rev Nick Baker writes:

As part of ongoing conversations and developing relationships with the other churches in Dundee I recently met with Revds Alan McGougan and Andria Randall. Alan is the minister of the URC church and Andria the minister of the Congregational Church in Dundee.

We discussed a wide range of things including what is happening in the life of our churches, the ways in which we serve the city, and the way forward recognising the challenges we all face in terms of ministry, people, and buildings. As such we thought it would be a good idea for a couple of representatives and the ministers from each church to meet and reflect on this together, exploring options for working together.

I am writing because I want to keep you informed of these and invite you to share any thoughts if you wish. Jenny Easson and Sue Marshall-Jennings have agreed to attend the meeting on Wednesday 26th April with myself to represent Dundee Methodist Church. No decisions are being made, but rather an opportunity for us to meet and listen to one another seeking God's guidance.

If any of you do have any thoughts about this or the future direction of the church I should be grateful if you would communicate this to Sue, Jenny or myself prior to the meeting.

The General Church meeting at the beginning of June will give us the opportunity to discuss together what was shared at the meeting on April 26th but if you have any particular questions I will do my best to answer them.

Gifford Lectures Edinburgh 2017

This year's series of Gifford Lectures in Edinburgh “Religion unbound: Ideals and powers from Cicero to King”. will be given by Jeffrey Stout, Professor of Religion at Princeton University. Lectures take place at 5.30pm on Monday-Thursday evenings between Monday 1st and Thursday 11th May in the Business School Auditorium, 29 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh EH8 9JS.

The lectures are free but tickets required - see www.ed.ac.uk/gifford-lectures.

Methodist Women in Britain

The Rev Jenny Jackie Bellfield was to have been the speaker at the forthcoming Fellowship Day, but has been asked to represent UK Methodism at that time in the US. The Rev Sally Binyin, Methodist Minister connected with the Bread Church in Liverpool, will now speak at the Fellowship Day.

Copies of the latest MWiB district newsletter are now available on the vestibule table.

Meetings this week

Support other Organisations

Scottish Bible Society

Our support via the Bible-a-Month Partnership is invited in March for work in Kenya and in April for work in China.

Our prayerful attention is drawn this week to

• literacy project run by the Bible Society in South Sudan for the Shiluk-speaking people and use of the Bible in that language;
• provision of reduced-price Bibles and Scripture portions by the Bible Society in Cambodia for use in outreach;
• Bible Youth Advocates project of the Bible Society in Malawi;
• translation of the Bible into Birifor for over 250,000 people speaking that language in Burkina Faso.

Forthcoming events

Prayer Points for this week

• the Vice-President of Conference at the Lincolnshire Synod on Saturday;
• Methodist Council, Friday - a week on Monday;
• processes to elect new bishops in three of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church; the College of Bishops at this time of change in personnel;
• the Circuit's Preaching Plan-making team;
• work in the Channel Islands (Methodist Homes);
• Salaam Centre working alongside Zabaleen garbage collectors in Cairo (Embrace ME);
• Caring for Mother Earth project - the Church of Scotland Guild and CIPCA in Bolivia (Christian Aid);
• Bible Society work in Kenya and in China;
• people with leprosy and their families (The Leprosy Mission);
• UK-based staff and supporters (MAF);
• we pray with and for the peoples of the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia (WCC);
• we remember fellow Methodists in the Sleaford Circuit (Lincolnshire District) and in Woodlands, Glasgow (Strathclyde Circuit).

• 19 March 2017
• 2 April 2017

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