Choices: Newsletter 22nd July

Wouldn’t life be easier if we didn’t have so much to choose from? I went shopping recently and found out there were 8 choices of apples! Whether it is the latest gadget or the cereal we have for breakfast, there are always options for us. Even if there were only one thing to choose, you still have the choice to take it or leave it. That is part of life, we have absolute control of what we do or don’t do and therefore, are responsible for our actions.

In our walk with Jesus, we also get spiritual options and choices and the responsibility lies with us. God never forces His will on us, He allows us the freedom to choose in all areas of our lives, not just on Sunday. Although we are all unique and we have our own way in bringing our faith into our daily lives, over the years I have been with St. Martin’s I have seen people grow in faith and I have seen others fade away. Why should this be?

Although nobody can give you the recipe for a successful Christian life, I have noticed events that point to a growing Christian. I have never met a growing Christian who does not regularly have there own quiet time with Jesus. As your stewardship secretary, it has been a real privilege to see people grow through being open to God through there giving. I have seen people grow through the development of their own ministry and using their talents and gifts (not always in church).

My own experience tells me that if I want to have a closer relationship with God, then amongst other things, I need to choose to spend some time with Him. If I only talked to Jackie (my wife) once a week on a Sunday morning, then our relationship would suffer and I am sure would stop sooner or later. For me, at the heart of my faith is my relationship with God and I have to make choices. Recently, work has taken up more and more of my time and it would be easy to justify not spending time praying and reading God’s word. However, there is always a voice saying to me that it is my choice and that what ever I choose, God will not love me any more or any less.

Yours in Christ

Martin

Mission on the 529: Newsletter 15 July

I spend many hours each week on buses (or waiting in hope!). First thing in the morning folk read the Metro, adjust their make up, ring their place of work to say they’ll be late and so on. Some even read their daily Bible passage or maybe, like me, use the time to pray. Very few chat to each other. Later in the day, however, the bus is full of older people and buggy-wielding young mums. The atmosphere changes completely. The buzz of conversation is all around and most people at least exchange a few words with their neighbour even if only to complain about the weather or the length of time they’ve waited for the bus.

As you know, I find it easy to talk to most people and I try to be a good listener as well. I have lost count of the times now when my neighbours on the bus pour out their worries and concerns. Many seem to have no-one independent to express their fears (usually) or hopes to, and some have no-one at all. It is an awesome responsibility to respond appropriately to these people. I try to make them feel valued and give them hope. More than once, the person has told me that they felt they could talk to me because I was wearing a cross. Food for thought there. Maybe we should all more easily recognised as Christians both by our actions and also some sort of “badge”. There is certainly a need in the busyness of the modern world for a listening ear. Not only can a bus journey be shared but also the journey of life and possibly even of faith.

Finally, Chris and I would like to thank you all for your prayers over the last few weeks. We have felt well supported.

Liz Dunthorne

Cross Talk Church Link: Newsletter 17th June 2007

Over the past few months Simon has been working to set up a prayer link with Holy Trinity Church, Batu Gajah, Perak, Malaysia. (On a map of Malaysia find Kuala Lumpur and look north about 200km). The idea of this link is to encourage our two churches to pray for one another.
Holy Trinity Church is very similar to ours in that it has around the same attendance and a congregation made up of the middle socio economic background. They also have similar challenges in that they are also trying to grow their congregation.

We feel very excited about this and have formed a little working group to service the link. The group members are: Simon, Diane Sainsbury, Margaret Carter, Jane Quinn, Jackie Brown, Christine and me.

It is our intention to provide you with as much information about the prayer link as we can and to provide photographs of Revd. Jesvinder Singh and his church and congregation. (Today we are hoping to take some photographs of our congregation to send to them so don’t be shy, join in the group photo!).

We’ve asked them to join us in praying for the success of last night’s film night in starting to build the bridges which will, hopefully, bring young people into our church.

We’ve also asked them to share in our thanksgiving for the 38 members of our cluster churches who were confirmed on Pentecost Sunday and especially for the seven from St. Martin’s.
In our turn we are using their prayer request in our weekly intercessions and at home groups and the Saturday morning prayers.

Some of the prayers will also be printed in the prayer diary.

To finish, I quote some of the words used by Revd. Jesvinder – “We are looking forward for this partnership to open the view of the Church to ministry and mission.” Let us all use our personal prayers to echo his wish.

God Bless
Christine and John

Gardens: Newsletter 10th June 2007

The French have named us a ‘Nation of Shopkeepers’ but I think it is more appropriate to call us a ‘Nation of Gardeners’. You only have to look around our own, our neighbours’ and friends’ gardens and to see the wonderful examples of God’s creation. So many differing flowers, trees and shrubs; from grand gardens, feasts of colour such as Chelsea, to pocket handkerchief sized plots; from a humble window box to a couple of pots on a step with a flower showing its’ beauty bravely.

Today (10th June) is the second day of our St. Martin’s Open Gardens Weekend, and I hope that we have been fortunate with the weather, and that many people have been enjoying looking around the gardens, which are open to view. I know that everyone concerned has been working hard to bring their gardens to the peak of perfection, so they will show at their best. Many others have worked hard also, offering plants for sale on the Plant Stall and those stalwart folk who offer the delights of the refreshments.

There are many references to gardens in the Bible and perhaps the most well know is Gethsemane where Jesus brought the disciples to pray with him before His final betrayal and arrest.(Matthew 26:36-44). Jesus’ body was placed in a tomb within a garden, (John19:41-42), and Mary seeking where Jesus’ body had been taken, (John20:14-18) mistook Jesus for the gardener.

There is a line from a short poem by Dorothy Frances Gurney which goes; ‘You’re closer to God’s heart in a garden than any place else on earth’, and I think that is very true. I went on a short course about prayer and praying in different ways, some while ago, and one aspect we were asked to try was to go out into the garden, in the quiet, and touch different plants and leaves and flowers, to run our fingers through the grass, and to put our hands on the bark of a tree trunk. In the stillness, with all these differing sensations of touch, you become acutely aware of God’s presence and his greatness surrounding you and prayer seems to fill the whole of you. I found this a wonderful experience and continue to try it from time to time.

Surely, when surrounded by God’s creation in a garden we cannot fail to know his presence with us, his greatness and his infinite love.

Every Blessing, Doreen.

The Way Forward

Congratulations to David, Shirley, Tracey, Chris, Roberto, Toby and Sue, who were confirmed last Sunday at Lichfield Cathedral. I hope that they all may be here today to celebrate communion for the first time at their own church of St. Martin’s. As Richard said in this newsletter last week, this is the first step on a journey of faith – it is almost inevitable that this journey will involve moments of difficulty, even of despair. All of us, no matter how long we have been Christians, have moments when we feel that somehow our faith has let us down and we cannot see the way forward. The best, indeed the only, advice that I can offer is to remember that Jesus is always there to help us and “if we ask Him for anything in His name, He will do it” (John 14:14). Bear in mind, however, that the timing and the extent to which our prayer is answered will be a matter for God’s judgement of our needs and not necessarily our own wishes.

As we progress in the church calendar into Pentecost, the season that celebrates the foundation of the Christian church, our own church council is, and has for some time been, considering the way forward for St. Martin’s to grow in terms of its congregation, its faith and its presence in the community. Some of our ideas will already have become apparent to you, the stall at Park Hall School Fete, for example. But the Council exists to represent the views of the whole church, so if you have any ideas or thoughts on the way forward for our church, then please tell a member of the church council, or Simon, so that we can take everybody’s views into account – then perhaps next year we will have even more candidates for confirmation.

God Bless Keith

Back to Church Sunday 30th September 2007

It has been estimated that up to three million people in Britain would go back to church if only they were invited. With this in mind, the Diocese of Manchester launched 'Back to Church Sunday' three years ago, and the scheme has proved so succesful that it has been adopted nationally. The evidence suggests that, on average, 12 people per church respond to the invitations to come on Back to Church Sunday, and many become permanent members (for a church the size of St Martin's that would mean increasing our average adult Sunday attendance by over 15%).

Back to Church Sunday will be taking place on 30 September 2007, and this year St Martin's will be participating in this scheme.

How does this involve you? The most effective way to attract people to church (maybe for the first time), is to offer to accompany them to church. I therefore want to issue you a challenge, over the next four months, I would like you to pray for three or four people who do not currently attend church, who you can invite to St Martin's on Sunday 30th September. At the end of June we will be distributing invitation cards for you to invite your friendsd to church.

This is a wonderful opportunity for us to really grow the church, and it is something we can all do. Please do pray about this scheme, and for the people you will invite.

Simon

The Journey of Life

Our Christian life is often referred to as a journey. This is not a bad analogy, as it begins at some point when we recognise Jesus as our Saviour and Lord; and ends when we arrive at our appointed place with Jesus in eternity. Whenever I hear the expression “Our Journey” it conjures up mental images of a crowded station platform and piles of luggage being loaded onto trains while crowds of people wait expectantly, heading for some exotic destination.

The difference with our journey of faith is that we have the Head Porter with us, Jesus. “Come to me all who labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest (Matt. 11: 28)”. Like most travellers we take with us unwanted baggage, perhaps physical or mental difficulties, or emotional scars. But unlike most travellers we do not have to struggle alone under the weight. Jesus will bear that load for us if we allow him.

Today some people from our church will take the first step of their journey of faith by being confirmed at Lichfield Cathedral. I hope that they will allow Jesus to share their burdens on their journey. We, as members of the same church family, can also play our part. We can pray let they have a safe journey without obstacles or hardships. Also we can keep watch and be ready to assist if they seem to struggle or tire.

For those being confirmed today may God bless you and bring you his peace.

Yours in Christ, Richard

Change

What is change? My world is continuously changing. Different people, different problems, different challenges, life is full of change. Sometimes good, job promotion, new baby, new mobile phone with all the gadgets on it; sometimes bad, redundancy, family illness, my computer’s stopped working But that’s life!

But is that all there is to life?

I’d like to change the world for the better, feed all the starving people, bring relief to all the oppressed, abolish poverty at a stroke. We have the technology surely we can do it!

But it doesn’t happen. Why not? Is it too big a job? I might as well give up now.

The world can be changed, not by expansive and extravagant gestures but by changes in individuals. By people’s attitudes to each other, people seeking to help each other rather than seeking to get one over on each other, by individuals looking to each others needs rather than being blinkered by there own desires, by loving one another. By loving one another as God has loved us.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3 v 16)

That seems massive, that someone like Jesus would allow himself to be killed to show how much God loves us and that even our worst behaviour and actions can be forgiven. I couldn’t do anything like that. But the bible tells us we don’t need to.

“.. a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow." (Mark 4 v 31 -32)

All big changes start from a small beginning.

Pray to God to show you what small change you could make in your life, one that could lead to a mustard tree, whether you see the outcome or not. But be careful, ‘you might not get the answer that you wanted to’!

St Martin's Prayer Link: Holy Trinity, Batu Gajah

The Revd Jesvinder Singh, Minister of Holy Trinity Church, Batu Gajah

In a very exiting development, St Martin's church is developing a prayer link with the congregation of Holy Trinity Church in Batu Gajah in the state of Perak in West Malaysia.

The purpose of this link is primarily for our two churches to support one another through prayer. Holy Trinity Church is based in the town of Batu Gajah which has a population of 34000 people situated 24km from the state capital of Ipoh. The name Batu Gajah, which literally means "stone elephant" in the Malay language, is presumably derived from 2 large stones boulders that resembled elephants found along the Kinta river. The town is famous for it's tim mining, and has a significant Chrinese population.

The history of Holy Trinity goes back to 1884 when chaplaincy work started in Batu Gajah mainly looking after the planters who were in and around the town. However, after 1910, Rev. H. C. Henham took the intiative to start ministry among Tamils, the ministers used to travel to Batu Gajah from Ipoh. The old wooden Church building remained up to 1990 when a new building was constructed. There is also a mission church called St Andrew's in the Kinta Valley.

Holy Trinity Church has a mainly Tamil congregation, the church itself is open evangelical with a sacramental focus. The congregation is drawn from a middle socio-economic background with more and more people being from professional sectors. The Church has grown through difficult times and now has grown to an average Sunday attendance of around 90-100 adults and with about 20 children for the Sunday School. Jesvinder, the Parish Priest, arrived at Holy Trinity in November 2004, and married his wife Caroline in May 2006. The challenge facing Holy Trinity is sharing the gospel and growing the congregation larger. The church has adopted the Diocesan Mission statement : Mission as Transformation (2006-2010) with a special focus for each year. The theme for year 2006 was Transformation of Individuals in Christ and for the year 2007 the theme would be Transformation of Families in Christ. The word transformation has been stressed into the hearts and minds of all members. The hope of the people of Holy Trinity is that their partnership with St Martin's will open up the view of the church to ministry and mission, which is my hope too.

Please hold Jesvinder and the people of Holy Trinity and St Andrew's in your prayers. For further information, including photos of Holy Trinity, please follow the link from our website (http://walsallstmartins.2day.ws/walsallstmartins/section/5PrayerLinkHolyTrinityChurchBatuGajahMalaysia/).

Simon

Baptism

On Sunday April 29th, under the bright spring sunshine, James, Edward and Matthew Hingley were baptised by full immersion during the main morning worship.

What is baptism? Baptism marks the beginning of a journey with God which continues for the rest of our lives. In baptism we celebrate what God has done for us in Christ, making serious promises and declaring our Christian faith. Baptism is the first step in the Christian journey. Here are some photos of this wonderful event.

St Martin's doesn't have a full size baptistry in the church, so for practical reasons the baptism took place outside.

Although the sun was shining, the water was cold! Here James prepares for his baptism.

Next came the turn of Edward

And finally the youngest of the three brothers, Matthew, is baptised.

Congratulations to James, Edward and Matthew, we pray that they will continue to grow in their Christian faith.

What has God done for us? Newsletter 29th April 2007

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."
John 3:16-17

Do we realize what God has done for us? Do we ever stop long enough in the hectic busyness of every day to think about the death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ? You know I don't think we do, at least, I don’t.

We cannot come anywhere near comprehending the sacrifice and total love God gave to us when He sent His Son into this world to live, to die, and to rise from the grave. He gave us His only Son so that we shall never die, that's right eternal life! How do we get this eternal life?

It's free, all we have to do is believe, It's called faith. We are no longer alone because He is here with us. Our hearts can be filled with the peace and love of Jesus Christ.

Don’t think for a minute that your life will always be rosy. We all have our problems, on a daily basis! Loving Christ won’t change that. But now I feel I can deal with problems, because I believe that God is there in the problems with us. We can always rely on Him, Trust Him to be there for us, to listen & help if we let Him into our hearts. You see God sent His Son into this world not to judge us but to save us. To me that is what Resurrection is all about. Its about joy, It's about faith; It's about God’s love for us.

Prayer:
O Risen Lord Jesus, when all is darkness
and we feel our weakness and helplessness,
give us the sense of Your presence,
Your love and Your strength.
Help us to have perfect trust in Your protecting love
and strengthening power, so that nothing may frighten or worry us,
for, living close to You, we shall see Your hand,
Your purpose, Your will through all things.
We ask this in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who lives and reigns with the Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
Amen

God Bless,
Jane

Earth Day: 22nd April 2007

“All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all”

Today, April 22nd, has been designated as Earth Day. The first Earth Day was held in 1970 in the USA. Over the past few years much has been said and written about the state of the earth from global warming and other atmospheric pollution to problems with the ozone layer.

For about a thousand years man has been increasing the pollutants in the atmosphere ( in the tenth century a queen of England complained of the smoke pollution in London) and this has been accelerated over the last two hundred years as man, in his pursuit of industrialisation, has caused an increase in the acid gases which were first described in 1848. (Don’t forget Queen Victoria had the blinds drawn on her train when it passed through the Black country so she didn’t have to see the filth and squalor!)

Now we are told that one of the gases which is needed for plants to produce food is the real villain of the piece. Carbon dioxide, the gas used by plants to make sugars, has been increasing quite rapidly and is now causing the earth’s temperature rise. Yet this gas has been present in the atmosphere since the earth began.

When God made the earth and all on it he made sure that everything was in balance, day and night, water and earth, plants and animals. The gases of the air were also in balance; man in his greed has upset His delicate balance.

Perhaps is it now time to remember that we are just temporary creatures on God’s earth and should look after it as He would want. Only then will we return to a world where all things are bright and beautiful again. Take time today to think about God’s wonderful creation and how we all can do our bit in preserving it for future generations.

God Bless
John

Easter Day

Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

On behalf of all at St Martin's we wish you a happy and joyful Easter, and pray that you may experience the love, hope, life and power of the resurrection in your life.

Silence: Newsletter for 15th April, 2007

Do you find difficulty with silence? When we pray we are encouraged to talk to God – tell Him of our worries and concerns – for ourselves, our families, friends and neighbours; situations that frighten or trouble us. This can become a shopping list of wants – the talking all on one side – ours. If we are able to leave a period of silence, we can be open to hearing God speak to us – helping us to make the right decision and take the right course of action.

I am afraid that all my life I have been, and still am – a ‘talker’ – none of my friends or family would dispute that; and one to whom being quiet or silent is quite foreign. Unsuccessfully I have tried to overcome or at least improve this skill of listening that I lack.

During my own prayer time at home and in church, I do listen hard in the hope that God will speak to me. What am I expecting? A voice from above? A flashing light? A momentous happening? So far - nothing like that – and perhaps I have been a little disappointed; but I will still try even harder to hear what God is trying to tell me or guide me as to what to do or be.

Scripture tells us ‘there is a’ time for silence and a time for speech’. I pray that God will show me when it is right for each of these. We must all thank God for the miracle of speech that enables us to communicate with each other – but we must also be as ready to listen as to talk.

Lord, teach us the silence of humility, the silence of wisdom, the silence of love, the silence of perfection, the silence that speaks without words, the silence of faith. May we be able to silence our hearts that we may hear the Holy Spirit of God within us.

Every Blessing, Doreen.