Good News from the Community Centre team

2021-02-09T13:34:25+00:00

We are delighted to let you know that the community centre team have been successfully awarded three grants. The first two grants are to be spent on our afternoon teas programme which provides a vital means of socialisation for older people and particularly those suffering with dementia. They have come from the Wiltshire and Swindon Sports Partnership and Green Square.

The final grant has come from emergency covid funding issued by the National Lottery Community Fund on behalf of the Government. This money is specifically to be spent on the running costs of the community centre. This helps to safeguard the work of our community centre and team in the year ahead.

Chris Smith & Jenny Hatter

Good News from the Community Centre team2021-02-09T13:34:25+00:00

Positive news from Send a Cow

2021-01-20T13:49:59+00:00

Thank you for sticking with us and more importantly, families like Merima’s, throughout this challenging time. You are well and truly part of our global family, we couldn’t do it without you.

Emily Mullen

Supporter Relations – Send a Cow

Today is Blue Monday, supposedly the gloomiest day of the year. A day where we face a combination of post-Christmas blues, cold dark nights and awaiting the first payday of the new year. And as the World continues to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s no surprise we are all feeling a little blue. Send a Cow is one of Christ Church’s nominated charities. We were delighted to recieve this update from them with some positive news.

Meet Merima, pictured left. Merima lives in Kutaber District, Ethiopia with her husband and children. Along with 600 other women, Merima is part of the Developing Business Women Project, which supports family farmers like her to establish successful and sustainable agri-businesses.

Merima says

"Send a Cow has supported me with awareness and skills. I have received training on kitchen gardening, savings and credit and reproductive health. Of all the skills I have learned, I am really amazed by the bag garden. I have learned that we can produce food even if we don't have any land." - Merima
Positive news from Send a Cow2021-01-20T13:49:59+00:00

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

2021-02-09T13:34:41+00:00

The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in 2021 has been prepared by the Monastic Community of Grandchamp in Switzerland. The theme that was chosen, “Abide in my love and you shall bear much fruit”, is based on John 15:1-17 and expresses Grandchamp Community’s vocation to prayer, reconciliation and unity in the Church and the human family.

Find out more

Week of Prayer for Christian Unity2021-02-09T13:34:41+00:00

Our Parish Verse for 2021

2021-02-09T13:35:01+00:00

Each year, we choose a bible verse to focus on to provide us with hope and inspiration for the new year.

This year’s verse is from Peter

Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy he has given us a new birth
into a living hope through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead.

1 Peter 1 v 3

Download a printable version by clicking the button below

parish-verseDownload
Our Parish Verse for 20212021-02-09T13:35:01+00:00

A Letter from Simon

2021-02-16T18:55:07+00:00
Rev’d Simon Stevenette

Dear Friends

Thank you for your prayers for us today. The PCC Covid response working group had a very positive and honest meeting this morning full of the Holy Spirit.

As a result, the decision was taken that Christ Church would remain open for personal prayer each day.  With great reluctance the decision was also taken to close public worship at Christ Church and St Mary’s. This is with immediate effect from today onwards for the rest of January. This decision will be reviewed at our next working party meeting on Wednesday 27th January.

We will advertise these decisions as widely as possible from now onwards.  I will be present with Jim in Christ Church from 9.30am on Sunday to explain what is happening and apologise to any people who turn up expecting a service.

We are delighted that, as in previous lockdowns, our Sunday service will be recorded and will be available on our CC website from Sunday morning. We are especially aware of the importance of supporting the National Health service and our GWH in all they are doing on our behalf.

We are also very aware of those from our Christian community who will be saddened by this decision that we have taken because they will miss not receiving Holy Communion and will miss the comfort of being together in public worship especially if they are suffering from anxiety or mental health challenges. We hope people will know that they are welcome to come and pray through the day. We will continue to do all we can with your help to keep people safe through our church cleaning and risk procedures.

Please be aware of our friendship support and prayers. Do be in touch directly at any time, so our Keeping in touch pastoral scheme can do all they can to support you practically and spiritually. Also this coming Wednesday we begin the online 8 session Wellbeing Journey course which has been highly recommended. Do contact me for further details.

If you have any questions or concerns about this communication, please contact me directly by phone or email. Please join me in praying for God’s blessing and guidance for all who those who live and work in our Old Town Swindon parish including our Old Town Partnership,

                                            Thank you for all your support,

                                                                 Every blessing,

                                                                                     Simon

A Letter from Simon2021-02-16T18:55:07+00:00

International Holocaust Remembrance Day

2021-01-29T15:15:56+00:00

The day when the victims of genocides the world over are especially remembered, Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD) takes place on Wednesday 27 January, and it will again be marked in Swindon.

HMD 2021 marks 76 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1945 and 2021 is also the 76th anniversary of V-E Day, the end of the Second World War.

Due to Covid19 restrictions, there will be no live ceremony by the Cenotaph. At 12 noon on Wednesday 27th January there will be a short ceremony via Zoom online for Swindon.

Attendance is by invitation only. Anyone with sincere and authentic interest in marking this day is welcome to join the online ceremony. To receive an invitation, link, and password, please contact matt@lowershawfarm.co.uk

Further information, and a more national perspective, about Holocaust Memorial Day, can be found on the internet, at www.hmd.org.uk

International Holocaust Remembrance Day2021-01-29T15:15:56+00:00

Alone at Christmas

2021-02-09T13:35:39+00:00

Whilst nothing will replace the joy, Alone at Christmas has given the lonely and isolated people who have attended the event for the last 4 years, we still wanted to do something special during this pandemic to give those alone a bit of light and joy this Christmas.

Alone at Christmas with a difference this year!

120 hampers ready to go and hopefully bring a little light and joy to those alone this Christmas.Those who we would normally be able to open our doors to on Christmas day when they have no one to spend Christmas with. This year we are unable to provide the cooked dinner, crackers and Christmas carols we normally would but we couldn’t let this year pass without showing we still care about them.

These hampers have been provided through the generosity of many members and businesses in our local community, so thank you to everyone for their donations of time, food and money which have made this possible. They are complete with a roast dinner ready meal as well as other goodies!

Also a big thank you to our team of drivers who made the deliveries yesterday

Chris & Jenny

Community Centre Development Team

Alone at Christmas2021-02-09T13:35:39+00:00

Christmas at Christ Church

2021-02-09T13:35:49+00:00

The Church of England has provided many resources for the Christmas period. You can follow their Services online also.

This is what Christmas means to us

There are lots of ways to join us this Christmas season but sadly, not all of them in person. Our seating capacity for physical services is drastically restricted to keep everyone safe.

Our Services over the Christmas Holiday

27th December

Church online – a service from the Church of England.

31st December

Watch Eve Service 6.00pm

Holy communion led by Rev Canon Simon Stevenette and Kevin Penfold.

Our new Bible verse for 2021 1 Peter 1 verse 3

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
By his great mercy he has given us a new birth Into a living hope Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead

How to watch our Services

Go to our You Tube Channel and watch all our online services.

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel

View our Christmas Services page for all our Live Streams & recordings

Watch our Blue Christmas Service

Join our Christmas Day Service Live stream

 

https://player.vimeo.com/video/494112123 'Blessed by Swindon' from Thom Hobbs on Vimeo.

Christmas at Christ Church2021-02-09T13:35:49+00:00

Proposals for Old Rose Garden

2021-02-09T13:43:01+00:00

More than 1,300 members of our Community are remembered in our Rose Garden. Some are marked by plaques, others are not. When the garden was closed for further ashes burials in 2019, we opened a new Remembrance Garden to the South East of the Church. This is now in full use and provides a beautiful and peaceful place for visitors to remember their loved ones.

For some years now, it has become difficult to maintain the Rose Garden due to poor soil quality, old and diseased plants and self-seeded and relative-planted shrubs and flowers. This has led to the garden becoming unkept and neglected looking. Canon law forbids the disturbance of remains and thus major maintenance of the area has become an increasing problem.

(more…)

Proposals for Old Rose Garden2021-02-09T13:43:01+00:00

Christ Church is open

2020-12-14T20:45:01+00:00

The church building is open betwween 9-4pm and is avaiable for private prayer and reflection throughout the Christmas Period
We hope you find comfort and peace in this quiet place. Whatever or whoever is on your mind today, be still before God, who cares for you and those you love.

Enjoy the peace, the time and God’s loving presence with you there

if you can’t join us in person, our Christmas Services will be available on line

Christ Church is open2020-12-14T20:45:01+00:00

Eco Stable

2021-02-09T13:35:59+00:00

We are doing all we can, along with our wider Swindon community, to celebrate God’s amazing world through practical acts of care and kindness looking after its future recognising the enormous world-wide challenges caused by climate change and the Covid 19 pandemic.

This year, our good friend, Gervin Senior has created a full size replica stable outside the church. The wood comes from discarded fencing panels and local rubbish sites. We even have a star hanging above it and an eco-manger within it!

In Gervin’s words; ‘ Every problem is an opportunity, I am grateful to members of the Swindon community for helping with this project with practical gifts. I hope it gives everybody a lift this Christmas.

The words on the front are;
• From Bethlehem to Swindon with love
• Jesus gives us comfort and joy
• God is with us

We want to be clear- Christmas is not cancelled this year-we are just doing things differently. Our priority is keeping people safe and telling the Good News of Christmas that God has come to us in his son Jesus Christ in a lively contemporary way’.
‘We are enormously grateful to Gervin for masterminding this creative community stable. We hope and pray that people of all ages will engage with this stable’s simplicity and atmosphere and have unforgettable memories by and in our stable which is a gift to our Old Town Swindon parish.’

You are invited to bring:

  • A small single object: e.g. rope, stone, pine cone, branch and place it in the manger.
  • (It should not include words or identifiers, it’s a personal symbolic gift.)
  • A prayer or a longing. A desire for Christ to meet with you.

In this way we build an altar of personal hopes and dreams which will be a Covid safe, environment enhancing and not detracting from the installation itself.

Do come and sit awhile in the stable for your own meditation and prayer, you may want to come and listen to some carols on your phone

Our prayer for people leaving offerings is that they might know the reality of God’s presence with us through His incarnation and that their spirits might be renewed as they join their offering with others.

This week, leading up to Christmas day we are inviting families to dress up as Bethlehem characters and put their photos on our Christ Church Facebook page.

We recognise that many people are social distancing therefore our prayer is that every home may be Bethlehem and every heart a manger. The stable also reminds us of our Bible verse for the year and is part of our strategic plan to develop as an eco-congregation. You can read some of our eco ideas here.

Eco Stable2021-02-09T13:35:59+00:00
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