This evening’s BCP Evening Prayer
Safer recruitment
Lesley and Alan recently undertook some safeguarding training, and were reminded that the reason that the church sometimes does things differently is because most organisations can safeguard by exclusion – if they think that someone might be a risk they exclude them. The church is inclusive and welcomes all. However, the impact of this is that we need different procedures to other organisations.
The training was about Safer Recruitment, and one of the facts we were given was that other voluntary groups are getting better at this, and if the church doesn’t also do so we will become the most likely place for malevolent people to seek to infiltrate their way in.
All people helping with church activities which involve children or vulnerable adults should be “safely recruited”. We have a large number of people who have taken on roles over many years without this. It is within the PCCs authority to accept all those currently in role and implement this for those going forwards.
Safe recruitment says that for those roles which involve children or vulnerable adults:
A role description should be written;
The role should be advertised (not essential for volunteer roles);
An interview (which could be an informal chat for volunteer roles);
References should be taken;
There should be an ongoing oversight role;
A confidential declaration should be completed;
A review should determine whether a DBS is required.
If you would like to know more, please contact Alan.
Picture by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Sunday Worship – 9th August
Below are the services, and four sermons. First here are the notices:
Notices
Services in Church
Each Sunday there will be simple services in all three churches:
- 9:30am at St John’s
- 10:00am at St George’s
- 11:00am at St Mark’s
There will also be a midweek service each Wednesday at noon. Please bring a mask if you are able to use one. There will be no singing but there will be Communion (only the bread though). The Sunday online services will continue.
Giving
This church relies on donations to provide care and support to everyone in this community. Now more than ever, please consider giving generously to support our mission and ministry by clicking the button above. Thank you for your support.
Services
All-Age:
More Traditional:
Sermons
Alan’s Sermon:
Lesley’s Sermon
John Evans’ Sermon:
Bishop Andrew’s Sermon:
Surrey Online Pride Service
Welcome to our 2020 Online Pride Service in celebration of the LGBTI+ community and God’s love for us all.
Taizé – 2nd August
Tonight’s Taizé service:
The Irrepressible spirit alive in Church
This is you, Jesus. This is us. This is you and us together, the Body of Christ. You Jesus, here with us and in us, your church.
That is the sense I had today (Sunday, 2nd) back in the building for a service which was both different and yet irrepressibly the same, filled with the spirit of a group of people together turning to God, opening themselves up to God, and so letting God’s Holy Spirit in.
Jesus was recognised by his followers as the Christ, which means the anointed one, anointed with God’s Spirit. It flowed through him in his time on earth, spilling out of him and into others. That same Spirit meant that his death was not the end and it filled the early Christians; that same Holy Spirit hasn’t gone away. It/she/he, however you like to define the indefinable, means that we are not alone, that anything is possible.
We don’t understand everything, or even very much; we are in the dark a lot of the time; we grasp at and express our faith in different ways; we fall out; we are all shapes, sizes, personalities, backgrounds, traits, nationalities, skin shades, loves. We have strong feelings and opinions and aren’t always careful of each other. We don’t know what the future brings. But today, back in church I knew that we are the Body of Christ here on earth now, filled with that Spirit.
Jesus Christ, this is you, this is us. This is you and us together, the Body of Christ. You Jesus here with us and in us, your church.
Stella Wiseman
Pictured: Christ the Redeemer, picture by Mourad Saadi on Unsplash.
Sunday Worship – 2nd August
Below are the services, and four sermons. First here are the notices:
Notices
Services in Church
From 2nd August there will be simple Sunday services in all three churches:- 9:30am at St John’s
- 10:00am at St George’s
- 11:00am at St Mark’s
Giving
Please Give to our Ministry This church relies on donations to provide care and support to everyone in this community. Now more than ever, please consider giving generously to support our mission and ministry by clicking the button above. Thank you for your support.Services
All-Age:
More Traditional:
Sermons
Maxine’s Sermon:
Lesley’s Sermon
John Evan’s Friday Service Sermon
Bishop Jo’s Sermon:
A new and joyful way to read the Bible
Have you ever wanted to read more of the Bible but feel a little daunted? Do you want some fresh insights? Would you like Bible-reading to be…. wait for it…. fun and full of joy?
All of this is possible with the Bible Book Club which meets on Zoom every Wednesday at 7.30pm. Each week we read a book of the Bible – or shortened highlights if we don’t have time for the whole, long book, then talk about it, using questions posed by the Bible Society. The questions give us a vague structure but we often go off on interesting tangents – though I still can’t remember how we ended up talking about husky dog sledding.
We discuss a lot, we learn a lot and we laugh a lot. In fact, Wednesday evenings are now a highlight of my week and I have a pretty busy and interesting life.
Next Wednesday (5th), we will be talking about Proverbs. If you want to know more about the course, click here.
Please join us. Contact me (Stella) for details of the Zoom meeting.
Celebrate Pride and God’s Love
Join us to celebrate Pride on Saturday, August 8, here online from 10am.
August 8 should have been marked by a Surrey Pride march and celebrations on the street but these had to be cancelled because of Covid-19. However, we are celebrating the LGBTI+ community and God’s wonderful, inclusive love with an online service.
There will be music, art, photography, prayers, poetry, Bible readings and reflections from individuals including a former curate of St George’s whom some of you may remember – Rev’d Paul Holt – along with Sara Gillingham, a leading intersex campaigner and great friend of the parish; Jayne Ozanne who runs the Ozanne Foundation which works with religious organisations to eliminate discrimination based on sexuality or gender; and Dr Ash Brockwell, a transgender man and educator who has contributed both a poem and hymn to the service.
There is a moving reflection on growing up as a gay man from James Muller, a Farnham photographer whose work features regularly in Vogue Italia, and who has kindly contributed many of his beautiful photographs; there is art from local people, including paintings by members of Farnham Heath End School’s LGBT+ group, and stones painted with rainbow messages to indicate God’s love for everyone.
Stella Wiseman, who leads inclusion work in the parish, explains the thinking behind the service: “The church as a whole doesn’t have a great track record in welcoming people who do not fit into a heterosexual, cis-gender box, and indeed has caused great harm to many LGBTI+ people. This is something we need to repent of and make amends for. We have no right to limit God’s love and welcome like this and to damage and destroy people in the name of God is appalling.
“Thankfully, things are changing and many churches, such as those in this parish, are more welcoming and inclusive now. Some of us would have been walking under the Christians at Pride banner in Woking on August 8th but Covid-19 has put paid to that. So instead we are organizing this lovely, colourful service online and we are delighted that members of the local church are taking part along with friends from other churches. We are really grateful to them for giving up their time to share with us their experience of God’s love and welcome and grateful too for the art, photography and music.
“Pride in Surrey is taking a Pride-themed vehicle around the county that weekend too and will be live-streaming and the parish has just been asked to send a contribution to the online Pride. The Pride vehicle will be making its way to Farnham on Sunday 9th at 10am so watch out for that too. You can find out more on prideinsurrey.org/ontheroad.”
Everyone is invited to join the service online here on Saturday, August 8 , from 10am and on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/badshotleaandhale
Friday Service – 31st July
Today’s service led by John Innes:
The Parish of Badshot Lea and Hale 