7th June 2026
By Justin Dyche in Sunday Service on 13 June 2026
Hello everyone,
I hope you are planning to join us for two very special services on Sunday. In the morning at St Columba’s we have a service of All Age Worship, thinking about Noah’s Ark, with an ark in church! Parents please note the details below of an extra rehearsal. This service will also include the baptism by immersion of Shaquille, Nathan and Denisa. This is a wonderful witness to people who are not sure about the Christian faith, especially young people, and so do have a think if there is anyone you could invite along.
Then in the afternoon we have a service at St Leonard’s, Rockingham, with the Bishop of Peterborough, which will not only be a celebration of our joint benefice, but also include Confirmation, for those baptised in the morning as well as Colette, Lorraine, Riaan and John Bradbeer. There will be Communion in this service and it will be followed by tea and cake in Rockingham Castle.
There are more dates below, with full details, of more events including the new Wednesday Course, Ladies Afternoon Tea on Friday and the Vicarage Tea Party on Sunday 14th.
SATURDAY 6th JUNE
10.30am – ALPHA in the Church.
4pm – REHEARSAL in the Church for Sunday’s All Age Worship. All children are welcome, especially those who were involved in the first practice on Sunday 24th June, but we will need more so don’t stay away!
SUNDAY 7th JUNE
10.30am – ALL AGE WORSHIP with BAPTISMS at St Columba’s Do come along and support those being baptised as well as the children who will be taking a lead in the first part of the service. If you are not able to be in church you can watch this service on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/yhLEhBGvsKU?feature=share
5pm CELEBRATION SERVICE, CONFIRMATION and COMMUNION with the Bishop of Peterborough at St Leonard’s, Rockingham.
This service is a double celebration, first the formal partnership between St Columba’s and St Leonard’s, known as a joint benefice, and second the faith of those being confirmed (see above) so do come along to support them. There will also be Communion and an opportunity to meet the Bishop over refreshments in the Castle.
To get to the church you need to take the entrance to the Castle just near the roundabout at the top of Rockingham Hill. The gate will be open and there will be a caretaker on duty showing you where to park – do say if you have mobility issues and you will be able to park closer, but there will still be a walk. If you would like to be present but don’t think you can manage the walk it will be possible to sit in Walkers House (the Castle Tea Room) during the service. Unfortunately, because the mobile signal is not good in the church, we won’t be able to live stream the service, but it will be filmed, and a link will be provided once this has been uploaded to YouTube.
WEDNESDAY 10th JUNE 10.30am and 7.30pm Our new Course continues, looking at Andrew Ollerton’s latest work “God’s Book: An Honest look at the Bible’s 7 toughest topics”. This week we will be looking at Creation & Science, followed by Exodus & Slavery, Conquest & Violence, Exile & Suffering, Gospels & Miracles, Letters & Sex, Revelation & Judgement – so plenty there to get us thinking. Everyone is invited to come along to share in fellowship, bible study and prayer, it won’t matter if you were not able to be there for the introduction last week.
FRIDAY 12th JUNE 3pm – LADIES AFTERNOON TEA
All ladies are welcome to the Afternoon Tea in the Church Hall, with hot drinks (and cold drinks if is hot!), sandwiches, cakes and good conversation.
SATURDAY 13th JUNE 10.30am – ALPHA in the Church.
SUNDAY 14th JUNE
10.30am – HOLY COMMUNION at St Columba’s with ENERGIZE groups for children. We welcome Tim & Carol Derbyshire to this service who will be updating us on the launch of a new charity in the UK, Hope Beyond Borders, to complement the work of Hope From Above in Australia.
3pm VICARAGE TEA PARTY everyone is invited to join us in the Vicarage Garden for our annual tea party, with plenty of tea & cake as well as garden games and lots of opportunity to chat. Tim & Carol will be there and at the end we will have our PRAYER MEETING in the garden, possibly before the usual time of 6pm.
CHARITY OF THE WEEK: Those being baptised and confirmed on Sunday
This week please pray for Shaquille, Nathan and Denisa who will be baptised on Sunday morning, and for them, as well as Colette, Lorraine, Riaan and John Bradbeer who will all be confirmed by the Bishop on Sunday afternoon at Rockingham. This is a significant step so please do remember them, not just on Sunday, but in the weeks ahead.
God bless you all,
Ian
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