16th November 2025
By Justin Dyche in Sunday Service on 21 November 2025
Hello everyone,
This Sunday we have the last sermon in our Autumn series looking at Spiritual Warfare, and the children will begin thinking about the Nativity. The Romans Course continues on Wednesday, and the Christmas Fayre is next Saturday, 22nd November. More about all those below. There is also information about the Shoebox Collection, a reminder about our Prayer Triplet scheme and our Charity of the Week.
SUNDAY 16th NOVEMBER
10.30am HOLY COMMUNION at St Columba’s with the final sermon in our series looking at Spiritual Warfare. There will be ENERGIZE groups for children who will be starting rehearsals for the NATIVITY which will be on Sunday 21st December, so it would be great to see a good number of children joining in. The link to watch this service on YouTube is here:
https://youtube.com/live/5fNaSPLlm3g?feature=share
6pm PRAYER MEETING at St Columba’s.
ROMANS COURSE
The ROMANS COURSE continues on Wednesday morning at 10.30am and evening at 7.30pm, both groups meeting back in the church. In the meantime don’t forget the “homework”, to read Romans chapter 9-11.
CHRISTMAS FAYRE
Our Christmas Fayre is on Saturday 22nd November from 11am, that’s NEXT SATURDAY! Please can you:
– Put the date in your diary, plan to be there and invite friends and family to come along
– Sign up to help before (on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning), during and after the Fayre – the more the merrier.
– Make a donation for the Bottle Tombola or Book Stall or plan to bake a cake for the Cake Stall.
The Fayre is not only a means of raising money for the church but also, and perhaps more importantly, an opportunity for us to invite people who do not regularly come to church to meet with us. Some people come to the Fayre every year, but never to church, so please do support this special event.
SUNDAY 23rd NOVEMBER
9am HOLY COMMUNION at Rockingham
10.30am MORNING WORSHIP at St Columba’s. There will be ENERGIZE groups for children who will continue rehearsals for the NATIVITY, so it would be great to see a good number of children again.
6pm PRAYER MEETING at St Columba’s.
OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD – SHOEBOX APPEAL
Thank you to everyone who helped with the Shoebox Collection last week. It is not too late to bring your shoebox to church, and if you have not started yet the instructions are below, together with other ways you can get involved:
Pack a box – you can collect an empty box from church with a leaflet telling you what can and cannot go inside (see also the list below), then make sure you return it to church, by next Sunday 23rd November.
Bring an Item – if you can’t manage to pack a whole box just bring an item or two to church and they can be added to others to pack a whole box. Items must be at church by Sunday 16th November and can be small toys, school supplies, personal care items BUT NOT toothpaste, sweets, lotions & liquids; used or damaged items; war-related items (e.g. toy guns, model soldiers, military vehicles); seeds, gum, chocolate or food items; religious or political literature; medicines, aerosol cans, knives, sharp or fragile items.
Donate to pack a box online by going to: https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/shoebox-online
When you pack a box you will be asked to pay £5 towards the cost of sending it to the destination and in addition contribute to “The Greatest Gift” a teaching programme for children who receive shoeboxes, telling them about Jesus. If you would like to see these books there are samples on the Shoebox table at the back of church.
EASY FUNDRAISING
Sign up to support St Columba, Corby on the easyfundraising app today and we’ll get a £2 bonus! Using the easyfundraising app means you’ll raise free funds for us whenever you shop online this Black Friday and Christmas – at no extra cost to you. Simply go to:
https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/easyfundraising-app/?causeId=347499&utm_term=SE867
PRAYER TRIPLETS
We are encouraging everyone in the church family to join a PRAYER TRIPLET, that is a group of between 2 and 4 members, that meets, either in person or online, as frequently as the group decide, but who will be able to mutually support one another. When there is a need for increased support anyone can contact one of the Prayer Network Co-ordinators who will be able to mobilise prayer or practical help as necessary.
As a first step there is a sign up sheet in church, or you can simply email ianpullinger@btinternet.com, to indicate that you would like to join a PRAYER TRIPLET. If you know the people you would like to be with you can write in their names OR you can say you would like to be in a Triplet with others and ask to be linked up.
Praying together is a powerful way of supporting one another and the wider church, and we have certainly seen answers to prayer over the last year. If you don’t feel comfortable praying out loud you can still be in a triplet, sharing news for prayer and praying silently for the others.
CHARITY OF THE WEEK: thirtyone:eight OUR SAFEGUARDING CHARITY
Again this week we have a charity that is not one we support financially, but is one we make use of. thirtyone:eight are the organisation who provide safeguarding checks for everyone in the church who works with children or vulnerable adults and as this Sunday is Safeguarding Sunday we thought it would be a good idea to make them this week’s charity.
thirtyone:eight are a Christian organisation, inspired to ‘speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable’ as it says in Proverbs 31:8 from where they get their name.
They write: “Defending the rights of vulnerable people is integral to Christian faith and teaching. Sadly, the church hasn’t always done this well. But we have a chance to change that. We are already seeing many churches take the responsibility to safeguard those in their care seriously” including St Columba’s. “That’s why the theme of Safeguarding Sunday this year is – Action speaks louder! It’s time to move beyond just talking about creating safer places, and take action towards doing it!”
May God bless you all,
Ian
01536 400225
07903 644609