Circuit News
Circuit News
March 2023
Union Church Margate Report
At Union Church Margate, we are pursuing a new initiative to spread our faith in the local community, by opening our doors for a form of Cafe-style worship once a month.
We will be serving a cooked buffet-style breakfast. We will invite guest speakers and there will be a mixture of music. Advertising will play a big part in spreading the word, so a web site will be set up and we shall use social media and arrange local news coverage.
We have obtained a grant from the URC for the next three years and we’re hoping to start this new initiative at the end of June.
Please join us in praying for this new venture.
St. John’s, Whitstable – Church activities
Unfortunately we don’t have a Junior Church at the moment. We do however run a ‘Baby & Toddler’ group each Friday from 10am to 11.30am during term time which is becoming very popular with Mums, Fathers and even Granddads.
We have welcomed two new members into our congregation and enjoy seeing and worshiping with a newly married couple from Ashford when they are able to join us. Visitors on holiday in the area are always welcome.
HAVEN the CTiW project meet at St. John’s three days a week reaching out to the rough sleepers and the homeless in the area. They can shower, have their clothes washed and dried, get a fresh set of clothes, blankets etc. They enjoy a meal and chat and are offered advice if they want it. Representative’s from Canterbury City Council and Porchlight visit offering advice and will try where possible to find accommodation for them. Local traders are very generous in donating goods. A Fish & Chip restaurant gave out vouchers allowing who wanted it to have a Fish & Chip meal.
Our Church facilities are used during the week by various groups i.e. Whitstable Choral Society, Soul Choir, Pilates groups and a classical music group.
Our constant prayer is for St. John’s to flourish and grow.
Lorna Horn - Senior Steward
Ramsgate Good News;
I have been asked to start a bi-monthly Christian service at The Willows Care Centre in Margate; next service on Wednesday 29th March 14h00, which will be an Easter service.
Ruth Armstrong (Rev)
Good news from around the Circuit – River – Chit Chat
The Chit Chat community café at River continues to go from strength to strength, now serving full English breakfasts as well as some lovely light lunches and serving copious amounts of coffee and cake! It has become a very popular venue for people to come and sit quietly if they want to, to find a listening ear or someone just to chat to, or a great place to gather with friends. We allow dogs in the garden and are now popular with several dog walking groups! Linda Beverton heads up a team of 12 volunteers from the church and the community - all focussed on our core aim of supporting and serving our community. We have just celebrated our first birthday (March 7th) having served over 2000 customers in that time and taken payments of nearly £10,000. 10% of our takings are given to local groups, including our own church.
We have just held our review with Adrian Roux and Roy Hollands from the District – who were very enthusiastic about the project. They supported and guided us with ideas for some potential alterations to the church building and talked with us about how we may grow and develop in the future.
ECO CHURCH AT BROADSTAIRS
A Rocha UK (ARUK) is a Christian charity working for the protection and restoration of the natural world and committed to equipping Christians and churches in the UK to care for the environment. Responding to the biblical mandate to care for the earth, and demonstrating the Christian hope for God’s world, we are working with:
Churches through our Eco Church programme
Christian environmental leaders through our interdenominational convening work
Families and individuals through our Wild Christian scheme and community, supporting people to enjoy, nurture and defend nature in their own homes and communities
by campaigning Christian land managers through our Partners in Action network. This network includes our own two nature reserves"
Our free online survey and supporting resources are designed to equip your church to express your care for God’s world in your worship and teaching; in how you look after your buildings and land; in how you engage with your local community and in global campaigns, and in the personal lifestyles of your congregation. Our vision is for churches of all denominations to care for creation as an integral part of loving their neighbours and following God faithfully.
Locally
Broadstairs Methodist Church has the only silver award
There are only two bronze awards:
Holy Trinity Margate, and St Peters Church
There are 5 other silver awards near Canterbury all C of E churches.
The nearest silver Methodist is Epsom though I have learnt that Redhill were awarded level 3 under an earlier scheme (out of 5) they are considering reapplying.
As of the end of 2021 there were 4,400 churches registered as Eco Churches, and 1,660 awarded Eco Churches. This includes over 1,150 Bronze and over 350 Silver. As of last week, we now have 24 gold awarded churches too.
Where do we go from here?
We are looking at a further questionnaire, more recycling, investigating bamboo toilet paper and encouraging members to try it!
The Helter Skelter Nursery (who lease our downstairs Halls) are on board looking at growing things and teaching the children as is the Sunday School.
We would also like to consider complementing our solar panels with back up batteries and look at better insulation (where we can).
Please consider looking into becoming an Eco Church. Broadstairs Church is always happy to guide you in the right direction.
Perhaps we should think about becoming an Eco Circuit too!