Dear Friends,
(a) What a pleasure to welcome back Kenny and Rose Lloyd (Jenna, Noah and Zac) back to St Thomas. Kenny was a pastor here a few years ago and Rose was our children’s worker – now they are link missionaries as they lead the “Word of Life” church in Port Elizabeth South Africa. I know you will make them very welcome. And happy birthday Kenny (2.12.18)
(b) Today we hope you will take a pack of Christmas flyers and plan a happy walk along the street (in our Parish) that is highlighted on your pack. We need you to distribute before December 15th so that people come to our Christmas services.
- Christmas Community Party 4pm Sunday Dec 16
- Christmas Carols 6pm Sunday Dec 16
- Christmas Eve for families 5pm Monday Dec 24
- Christmas Eve 11pm Monday Dec 24
- Christmas Day Communion 8am Tuesday Dec 25
- Christmas Day Family Service 10am Tuesday Dec 25
For many years you have delivered these invitations to letterboxes (even if they are marked “No Junk Mail”) on the assumption that the invitation and the free party and services are not junk.
(c) There is a (vital and yet small)paid job on offer at the St Thomas Pre School for about ten hours running the books for the school. If you would like to apply for the position, please let Reception or the Pre School know. It will begin late January 2019 – a great way to serve.
(d) You may have noticed the library on the right as you walk in the main doors of St Thomas. The books have been donated by members of St Thomas and there are some gems. Now the library has been cleared of rubbish and it has been arranged in helpful categories.
You can find reference books, commentaries (some), books on prayer, biographies, books of theology as well as bibles, bible study materials for groups and books for children. Here are some books worth borrowing and reading:
- The biography of John Newton, by Jonathan Aitken
- The biography of William Wilberforce by William Hogue
- The biography of John Stott (Vol 1) by T.Dudley Smith [an astonishing book of his early ministry in London]
- The biography of Martin Luther by Eric Metaxas
See too the books by Graeme Goldsworthy that are worth a year at Moore College and Bruce Milne’s classic “Know the Truth”. Then J.I.Packer has “Knowing God”, “Concise Theology” (a page per subject) and “Keep in step with the Spirit” (on the Holy Spirit). One classic for the person who likes deep insight and wisdom is “The letters of Samuel Rutherford” – a goldmine of information on the Christian life from the seventeenth century.
(e) Now we need your creative help for 60 seconds. Please let us know your ideas for:
Sermon topics for our invitation week next March 18-24. We need four topics or titles that we can gladly invite friends to hear.
Seminar topics for the same week that would be run between Monday and Saturday. What skills do you have that would help the community? Things like:
- improving your marriage
- raising children safely
- getting through grief
- balancing your budget
- coping with sadness [anger, resentment, hurt]
- getting ready for old age
- mastering technology [I will run this one]
- religion – toxic or terrific
You can see I made these up and you have many better ideas. Please give us your help!
Sermon topic ideas:
Seminar topic ideas:
Yours in partnership
Simon M