23. March 2020
URGENT PASTORAL STATEMENT In the light of our current national situation and the latest Prime Ministerial broadcast, here below is our initial response. Further updates and guidance will follow as the situation develops tomorrow. Closing Church Buildings – UPDATE Concerning measures to slow the COVID- 19 virus, the time has come not only for us to suspend public worship, but for us to close our church buildings entirely, across the Church of England, Birmingham. In doing this, we are...
07. June 2018
This week is ‘Volunteers’ Week’, dedicated to those who volunteer in all sorts of way. In churches all over the world you will find an incredible army of volunteers, Our Parish is no exception. In order for any Christian community to be faithful we need a variety of people with different gifts to offer their time. This is what as a Church we call, the Body of Christ. In his letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 12), St. Paul said that the Body of Christ is built of people: people who can...
26. May 2018
Pentecost is a day to celebrate as it’s the birthday of the Christian Church, the day when the Holy Spirit came down from Heaven with a mighty wind carrying tongues of fire. The tongues rested on each one of the disciples and filled them with the Holy Spirit, giving them the skills, the power, the energy to communicate with all those they met and the wherewithal to go out and tell the news to the world to establish the Christian Church. This was the birth of the Church, a pretty amazing birth...
11. April 2018
Did you watch A Vicar’s Life back in January? It showed four very different vicars, serving their communities in very different ways. What was the same about them all though, was that they were serving more than one church in a rural setting; just as I am here. What was quite apparent to me during the series was how little time they filmed the vicars in their role of service leader. We saw a baptism, a wedding and a harvest service but we saw very little of the regular Sunday morning worship....
07. January 2018
We loved welcoming you to our Christmas services last year. Our Christmas Tree Festival was a sight to behold – 30 trees in Shustoke church, each one sponsored and decorated by local families or organisations. There were also amazing Christmas cakes from all around the world! We had three carol services; unfortunately Lea Marston’s service couldn’t go ahead because of the ice but the community choir joined us at Nether Whitacre instead which was a wonderful blessing. We celebrated after...
28. November 2017
I love Christmas. I’m sure many of you feel the same. There’s something about just stopping and being still all day, celebrating with those we love, watching the sort of tele we never would normally and eating far too much. There’s a problem though, the build up is often exhausting in today’s society. We need to attend countless work, club or family parties throughout December. We feel under pressure about the sort of presents we should buy, and for who. We have the financial worry as...
13. October 2017
As I write this I am looking out of my window at slowly falling leaves, hinting that autumn is on its way. Children are now returned to school and the summer seems like a memory. In the church calendar, the months of October and November are months of remembering. During October we gather to remember all those who we love but see no more at the ‘Service for the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed’. This service offers us a chance to remember and celebrate all that we shared, whilst...
30. September 2017
A few weekends ago, five of the parish team went on a conference called ‘Leading your Church into Growth’ or ‘LyCiG’ for short. The conference was aimed at parishes who hope to see growth in their churches and want to explore ways of enabling people to encounter God. Firstly, it’s important to say that growth is not just about the number of people in the congregation. Naturally, we would love to have more people with us each Sunday, and everyone is always welcome, but growth is more...