5th July 2026
By Justin Dyche in Sunday Service on 10 July 2026
Hello everyone,
I hope you have all booked the date for our CHURCH FAMILY PICNIC at East Carlton Park, after church on Sunday 19th July. Everyone is invited to join us, even if you are not regularly in church as it will be a good opportunity to enjoy our picnics, have fun and play some games together. Everyone is also welcome to our World Cup themed All Age Worship this Sunday, which, surprisingly, has very little to do with football! Also on Sunday we have a service of Communion at 6pm, not a Prayer Meeting. Finally, this week’s charity is the Venezuela Earthquake Appeal and there is both a prayer and a link to donate to Tearfund in response to this disaster below.
More details for these and all our upcoming happenings can be found below:
SATURDAY 4th JULY 10.30am ALPHA
After the Away Day last Saturday the course continues with a normal Saturday morning session in church.
SUNDAY 5th JULY
10.30am – ALL AGE WORSHIP at St Columba’s with a World Cup theme, so why not come in your team shirts?! And don’t be put off if you are not a football fan, there will be plenty of prayer, praise, worship, and a reading in two halves, with a half time team talk and added time! If you can’t be in church (and I do encourage you to be there if you can) the service will be available on YouTube here: https://youtube.com/live/ydy3bxkOmvY?feature=share
6pm HOLY COMMUNION at St Columba’s. This a quieter service, but still with songs, reading, sermon and prayers as well as Communion.
TUESDAY 7th JULY – St Columba’s PCC in church at 7.30pm
WEDNESDAY 8th JULY 10.30am and 7.30pm Andrew Ollerton’s Course looking at “God’s Book: An Honest look at the Bible’s 7 toughest topics” continues. This week we will be looking at Gospels & Miracles, followed in the next couple of weeks by Letters & Sex and 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 have not been to the previous sessions.
FRIDAY 10th JULY 3pm – LADIES AFTERNOON TEA
All ladies are welcome to this monthly gathering in the Church Hall for good conversation, accompanied by tea, sandwiches and cakes. No need to book just come along.
SATURDAY 11th JULY 10.30am – ALPHA in the Church.
SUNDAY 12th JULY
10.30am – HOLY COMMUNION at St Columba’s with the next sermon on one of the Psalms and ENERGIZE groups for children and young people.
3pm – FAMILY SERVICE at St Leonard’s, Rockingham
6pm PRAYER MEETING at St Columba’s
SUNDAY 19th JULY
10.30am – HOLY COMMUNION at St Columba’s
followed by:
CHURCH FAMILY PICNIC at East Carlton Park
Please join us for this new activity with fun and games for ALL the church family. Pack up your picnic along with chairs and/or blanket and come along! There is a sign up sheet in church to let us know if you are joining us, and if you need or can offer a lift – or you can email ianpullinger@btinternet.com with that information.
CHARITY OF THE WEEK: Venezuela Earthquake Appeal
There are two ways in which you can respond to this crisis. First by joining in the prayer below and second by donating to Tearfund’s Emergency Appeal here: https://tearfund.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=cd19eb0b2a74af14054950f15&id=8833e94a29&e=a59eb6981f
Tearfund are a member of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) but I always think it is best to donate direct to them rather than through DEC so that our donations help the churches to respond.
Heavenly Father, we lift the people of Venezuela to you. We pray for the families who have lost loved ones and those still waiting anxiously for news, please be their comfort and their peace. We pray for healing of all those who were injured or traumatised by the earthquakes. We give thanks for all the first responders and rescue teams from around the world who worked tirelessly to save lives. We pray for your wisdom and guidance for the government of Venezuela, and generosity from nations and individuals around the world. And we ask your blessing on local churches and Tearfund’s staff and partners as they care for people who are suffering. Amen
And finally, also on the subject of prayer, please find here the latest Prayer Letter from Tim and Carol Derbyshire who were with us last month. If you look closely at the photos you will be able to see Miriam and I, with Tim and Carol, eating lunch at the bottom of a lighthouse on Lundy Island! (Editor’s note: Apologies for the box at the bottom of the second page being wonky. I had to squash the PDF to get it to load.)
God bless you all,
Ian
01536 400225
07903 644609