April 2009 Church Review
Crinken has always been known as a church which is very open and welcoming to people who visit. In fact, it would be unusual for a visitor to our church not to comment on how warmly they were greeted by our great team of welcomers.
In more recent times, however we have understood that welcoming is not the only thing you have to do to help new people find their place in the church. It can take some time for new people to find their feet in a church. Building relationships and working out how things operate in a new place can take some time and be a somewhat lonely experience.
In the last while, we have had quite a number of new people join our church. This is a delight, and brings us great joy. Yet we have realised that we needed to do something to help these people establish themselves and feel included.
So at the end of March, on Sunday 29th, we are holding a ‘Connect Lunch’ after church. The idea is really quite straightforward. We have invited those who have recently joined the church to meet some Crinken folk over a simple meal. We also want to give them some information which they might find hard to access in any other way. I will speak briefly about our church, our mission, and some of the key ministries of the church like our small groups and pastoral care system. We will provide a creche and children’s programme because quite a few of our newcomers are young families. We also want to let them know about the youth and children’s work in Crinken, and give people an opportunity to ask any questions they may have.
The aim is to make these new folk feel welcome, and to provide them with information about the church that will help them get connected. We hope that the Connect Lunch will enable us to keep on being a welcoming church into the future.
Edward Vaughan
Engage
Crinken’s evening service Engage began a series on Isaiah at the end of last month entitled “Life Wars: a new hope” which will reach its climax on Easter Sunday when we see the foundation for this new hope clearly expressed as we look at Isaiah 53. If you like contemporary service, based on vibrant and modern music style and a commitment to Biblical preaching, then join us at Engage this Easter Sunday, 7pm and meet the Lord Jesus.
Generation
Crinken Generation, which is the name of our youth ministry here, launched its youth website last month. Check it out in the Youth section.
Crinken Kids
It has been a busy term with our EXTREME program, we finished March off with a visit from pro skateboarder Gerrad Evans and our ministry team workshops, which included candle making, cooking, gardening, glass works and lessons in Safety and CPR. We finish our term with a celebration activity on Thursday April 2, 6.30 – 8.00 all are welcome, it’s sure to be a great way to see what we have been learning about Jesus and his extreme statements.
Clubs will go back for Summer term Thursday April 23rd, and we will start a new unit, Living Legend, powerful friend!! yep it’s Jesus. It’s sure to be as high energy and action packed as last term.
On Sunday Mornings it’s all go, once booted out of church we sing, investigate the bible and have a laugh. This term we unleashed our new and VERY groovy kids band, the verdict is not yet in, but they have worked hard so well done to the Crinken Kids band.
Young@Heart
A heady mix of comedy, a high tea, chat, laughter and a genuine bone-fide usherette combined to make for an enjoyable afternoon on St. Valentines Day for the Young@Heart members. Hearty chuckles were heard emitting from the most reserved of souls as together we enjoyed the movie ‘Waking Ned’. The ‘High Tea’ was engineered as usual by Orla and Joyce (ably assisted by an efficient Jenny Scargill) who cannot but help produce a sumptuous feast seemingly at the drop of a hat.
More than a touch of nostalgia was evident in the form of usherette Joni Griffin who ‘reeled in the years’ for us by donning the appropriate outfit complete with a flashlight and the obligatory tray of goodies. An afternoon brimming with fun was had by all and we departed in hearty spirit looking forward to our get-together in March when we join for some hymn singing, a short thought and a light tea in the Church Hall. Our get-together in April (25th) consists of a trip to Mount Usher where thoughts of the recession will be banished in favour of what we enjoy at every Young@Heart gathering. Good humour, excellent food and that rarest of commodities in the modern world, fellowship.
Crinken InterNational
Crinken InterNational was realaunched on the 7th Feb with a Travelling Supper. The aim of the evening was to introduce new people to our mission partners abroad and for everyone to get a chance to visit our new home mission partner – “The Factory” YFC drop in centre in Bray. About 70 turned up for soup in a couple of houses. From there they were directed to the “The Factory” for a delicious main course. Everyone enjoyed wandering around the drop in centre, looking at the pool tables, computers, fuzeball, table tennis table and graffitti done by a local artist. Crinken are now partnering with YFC to run a teenage mums and tots group there and the hope is that drop in sessions, homework clubs, music evenings etc will begin there soon. Of course, the whole idea is to reach out to our community in a safe and comfortable place and show them, however we can, God’s love. Finally, people travelled down to the church hall for dessert. At the door, they were greeted by a life size papier mache Lorretta – our mission partner in Chad! Over coffee, they browsed stands from our mission partners: Church in Chains, Fields of Life, Karen & Christiaan in South Africa, Linda & Werner in Austria, Lorretta and YFC Bray, before taking part in a fun quiz to see how much we really know about those representing us abroad. The evening closed with a challenge to be involved in mission through prayer, partnership or even going – home or away. The following day, we had Suzie Evans and Lisa Fitzsimons from YFC share with us in our services about their work and challenging us to realise the extent of God’s glory and the implications of that in our daily lives. It was an inspiring weekend, enjoyed by all. Now the real work begins as we, as a church family, engage fully in mission and our mission partners.
Posted by Diane Lyons on 04/04 at 08:06 PM
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