Hello everyone,

Miriam and I are on grandparent duties at the moment, looking after Alfie, and we hope to be joined in church on Sunday by Ruth, Will and Rosie. Alfie is currently having his afternoon nap! Please keep reading for details of all the events coming up over the next few weeks, including our Sunday services as well as our I Will Hear Clearly Then Appeal and Charity of the Week.

SUNDAY 23rd AUGUST
9am HOLY COMMUNION at St Leonard’s, Rockingham – everyone welcome.
10.30am MORNING WORSHIP at St Columba’s with a sermon looking at Psalm 116. There will be children’s activities at the back of church, but children will need to be supervised by parents. The service will be available to watch on YouTube here:
https://youtube.com/live/aktnXGA7nRg?feature=share

SUNDAY 30th AUGUST
10.30am All Age Communion at St Columba’s with a Back to School flavour. All children and young people are especially welcome as we seek to equip them for another year at school. Is there someone you could invite to this service?

WEDNESDAY 2nd SEPTEMBER
7.30pm PCC at St Columba’s.

FRIDAY 4th SEPTEMBER
6pm Get Closer the group for young people at Secondary School (in years 7 to 13) in St Columba’s Church Hall. If you know anyone in this age group who might like to be part of this group do invite them along for this very informal first meeting of the new school year. We usually meet every other week, but at the start of this term we are meeting this week and next, Friday 11th September.

SATURDAY 5th SEPTEMBER
10.30am Alpha returns after the summer break. There are two sessions of the course to be completed and a repeat of the Away Day – this is just a reminder, but all those involved will receive a separate message in the next week.

SUNDAY 6th SEPTEMBER
10.30am All Age Worship at St Columba’s with a Light theme.
6pm Holy Communion at St Columba’s.

I WILL HEAR CLEARLY THEN APPEAL
I am delighted to say that work has begun on installing new sound equipment at church. The immediate result is a much clearer sound, but I must warn people that there may well be some teething problems over the next couple of weeks as we adjust to the new system – please bear with us. Thank you so much to Kev Speirs who has designed the new system and is installing it, and to everyone who has contributed to the I WILL HEAR CLEARLY THEN appeal to enable everyone in church, including those watching online and the Worship Group, to hear clearly. It is not too late if you would like to donate, although we will be closing this appeal at the end of August so don’t delay, either by cash or cheque in the wooden box at the back of church, or on the Card Reader (please ask Justin or myself to switch to the appeal from General Funds) or direct to the bank account using the reference: HEARING APPEAL. If you can GIFT AID your donation, making it worth 25% more, please use the Gift Aid declaration by the wooden box, or simply email inapullinger@btinternet.com and we can arrange the paperwork. If the appeal raises more money than we need for the sound system we will use the extra towards the cost of replacing the church heating. THANK YOU.

QUIZ NIGHT
The next St Columba’s Quiz will be on Saturday 19th September at 7pm in the Church Hall. Please do book the date, invite your friends, especially those who might be able to help you answer quiz questions, and come along.

CHARITY OF THE WEEK: M&H with CMS
As you will know we are not able to share news about M&H online, but they do still need our prayers. Please remember them, their family and their work in prayer this week. Do take a copy of their most recent Prayer Letter from the back of church (if they have all gone ask me to copy some more) and spend some time this week praying for them.

God bless you all,

Ian

01536 400225
07903 644609