The new Methodist Year starts on 1st September, and is the time for the new Church Stewards team to take office. We express our prayerful and active support to the new Church Stewards for the forthcoming year, our thanks to those continuing or demitting office, and our appreciation to all office-holders in our church community.
Many British blends include tea from Assam, where people get poverty wages, are scared to speak up and have no way out. The big British brands know this but aren’t doing enough to challenge it.
Traidcraft’s campaign calls on the big UK tea brands to publish their list of suppliers from Assam.
“Twinings have become the second big UK tea brand to publish their list of suppliers from Assam – a key demand of our campaign. This follows on from Yorkshire Tea’s decision to publish their list in June. Together Twinings and Yorkshire make up nearly one-third of the UK tea market so these are significant steps forward.
More than seven thousand people have sent in ‘Who picked my tea?’ postcards and taken our online action targeting the big 6 UK tea brands. This has spurred the brands into action to publish their lists of Assam tea estates in full.
We now need to push the remaining four – PG Tips, Tetley, Typhoo, and Clipper – to do likewise so that British consumers and tea workers in Assam know where the big UK brands buy their tea from.”
All we Can, the Methodist Relief and Development agency invites us to pray for people seeking sanctuary, remembering especially Syrian refugees, Rohingya refugees and people displaced by a changing climate, including those in Malawi.
If you hope to go to this District event in Perth on Saturday 25thAugust from 10.30am to 3pm, lunch provided; please register soon so its viability can be decided.
The speaker will be Adrian Armstrong (Scottish Bible Society) and there will be a range of resources on display.
Contact Sue Marshall-Jennings:
Mobile: 07787 380823
email:smj4409@hotmail.co.uk
Two Circuit Sewing Bee meetings have now been arranged:
The aim of this community project is make quilts for children in the village where Julya lives. No special skills required! An opportunity to meet and chat with other sewers in the Circuit.
Please contact Jenny Easson if you wish to buy a copy; cost £3.50 ordinary print, £3.95 large print.
Jenny Easson will be asking about availability soon so she can compile rotas of duties (stewarding, counting, door welcome, coffee after worship) for Sundays in September – November inclusive.
The changes in the Church Stewards Teams will necessitate some re-allocations and we would welcome new people onto the rota, as counters, door stewards and coffee-makers. Please let Jenny know if you wish to contribute – even on an infrequent basis – every little helps!
The Plan for September-November has now been drawn up and is published. Please sign the list on the vestibule table or advise David Easson to receive a copy regularly, by email or hard copy, if you have not already done so.
The Circuit Sewing Bee announces its first gathering
Saturday 1 September, 10.30am – 3.30pm
in St John’s Methodist Church, Ponderlaw Street, Arbroath
Dear Friends
It was good to join with so many other Methodists from around the UK and the world at the Methodist Conference in Nottingham. Gathering with several hundred others to worship, sing, listen and confer was a real privilege and encouragement, if also at times somewhat challenging. It was a strong reminder that we are connected with a body much bigger than just our local churches, circuits or even District. Conversations about God at work in the world, what it means to be Methodist in our working out of our faith, how we relate with other churches and faiths are all shaped by Methodists from Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Norfolk, Yorkshire, London etc.
A bit like a Church Council there are plenty of differing views and yet we were all held together by a common faith, a mutual love and respect. A guided conversation was held in front of the conference between two people from very differing perspectives regarding marriage and relationships. The respect and love that shone through at this point was an example for all of us about how we engage with one another. I have reproduced the guidance here about how we hold together as a Christian community whilst living with contradictory ideas. Living as a community with contradictory ideas is nothing new as many of the letters in the New Testament testify but St Paul encouraged people to recall their primary identity as members of the body of Christ.
The body connects us in life and through death. This is good for us to remember as we mourn the death, and celebrate the life, of Heather – a local preacher in this Circuit and Methodist throughout her life. We give thanks for her ministry amongst us, her commitment to her Lord, her challenge to live in sympathy with the environment, and the reminder of infinite grace.
With love
Nick
A model statement on Living with Contradictory Convictions
We continue to believe that God has been revealed in Jesus Christ, accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour, and live in communion with God and in the power of the Holy Spirit.
We cherish our place within Christ’s Church recognising that it is Christ alone who chooses, calls and confirms us as members of His church, the body of Christ.
Whilst we may not all agree about everything, we recognise the importance of the truths which bind us together as well as the issues which currently divide us.
Therefore, we resolve: