Barnes in Common

the magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
November/December 2006

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Church News

Baptist Church   |   Holy Trinity   |   Methodist Church
St Mary's   |   St Michael's   |   St Osmund's

Baptist Church

Many thanks to all who contributed towards the fellowship and food at out Harvest Social. Although we seek to present only a token display of provision and wares at our Harvest Services generosity and artistic skill resulted in one of the best presentations we've had for the last few years. As always, the produce is "auctioned off' at the close of our Harvest Social and the money - together with that from the Sunday offering - is sent off to support the Baptist Missionary Society's Harvest Appeal. This years appeal was made on behalf of the Karen people, many of whom live in refugee camps on the Thai/Myanmar border.

November brings us once again to our Church's Thanksgiving Service on 19th. It's an occasion when we are invited to bring a special financial gift to one of the services, A token of our thankful hearts for God's faithfulness through another year, and an opportunity to "invest' in the life of the Church. Most Baptist Churches, like ours, are financially dependent on the generosity of the fellowship. Without land or commercial investments, pension funds to dip into(!) or a denomination reserve to "bail us out' the life of the Church is sustained by the fellowship itself. So here's an opportunity for me to end as I began with a big "thank you' to all those who over the years have given so generously in so many different ways to keep this little boat afloat. "You too shall have your reward".

Graham Pulham

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Holy Trinity

Our All Age services have been well attended with a very positive feedback. The new Parish Communion service was also favourably received, and as we all become more familiar with the words and music as the weeks progress, we hope for enrichment in our worship together.

Our sound system in church has been upgraded and this will much improve our existing loop system for the hard of hearing and give greater overall clarity of sound. We have also had radio microphones installed, thus giving a better quality of sound throughout the church.

Harvest festival this year was a little different than on previous occasions - the congregation were invited to support three different Charities ranging from buy a "Tree for Life" in Rajasthan, school bag or uniform for Sudanese children or toiletries for terminally ill children in a local hospice. The church was beautifully decorated and thanks go to all who helped in the preparations. We followed the service with a Harvest lunch which included a varied menu reflecting the countries we supported.

Our newly formed "Team Youth Group" for 14/19 year olds now takes place in church on a fortnightly basis. The group provides an informal and relaxed atmosphere and aims to explore and develop faith and fun for young people in our three churches.
We now incorporating "Sub Groups" (open to all) into our PCC meetings with each group feeding back ideas to the PCC. At a recent meeting, particular focus was given to a much needed Stewardship Campaign and a possible introduction of a monthly themed coffee morning in Church.

Jean Boulton-Reynolds

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Methodist Church

We were delighted that so many people, including representatives of other local churches, attended our Centenary celebration at the end of September. Tom Stuckey, ex-President of the Methodist Conference, preached from Ephesians in his own inimitable style, striding around, Bible in hand. It was a challenging and forward-looking sermon.

By now we've had our first ‘First Sunday', and looking forward to the second on Sunday November 5th, when our guest will be Susan Kramer, our MP - to whom we extend our condolences on the recent death of her husband. In December, we're visited by Peter Bounds, a Methodist with huge experience at the top levels of local government. Members of other congregations in Barnes (and indeed anyone else who reads BiC!) are very welcome to join us for these sessions, which begin at 11.45 and end about 12.30pm: a simple lunch is available after that.

As usual, we hope to collect toys early in December for sending on to the Methodist Mission at Battersea, where they're gratefully received and passed on to children who may not otherwise have full ‘stockings' at Christmas.

Roger Hutchings

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St Mary's

St Mary's held a packed Harvest Supper on September 30th with over 120 people sitting down to a delicious meal. It followed the third in the new series of Choral Evensongs we are running with a newly-invigorated choir under our Director of Music and Organist, Cameron Burns. The next Evensong will be the Friends of St Mary's one on Sunday November 5th at 6pm when we will hear the High Master of St Paul's talk about the Gunpowder Plot. Our assistant priest, the Reverend Joseph Ayok-Loewenberg is moving on to take up a position in the new Southern Sudanese government as Director of Religious Affairs. For him, it is a profound and exciting challenge as he helps in the rebuilding of his homeland. For us, we wish him well, though we will still see a good amount of him as his family will continue to live in Barnes. St Mary's and the other Anglican churches are also teaming up with London Scottish Rugby Club (I am its chaplain) to offer a new club for boys and girls between the ages of 5 and 7. They will be taught rugby by the first XV captain and about faith by our own Sunday School leaders.

Ross Collins

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St Michael's Church

September ended on a glorious note with our new St Michael's and All Angels Community Centre being blessed by the Bishop of Richmond.

The choir sung a mass setting by Victoria and Bishop Richard celebrated the Mass and preached. This was followed by a party in the church We feel that a significant step has now been taken in the life of St Michael's. The official opening of the centre will be in the new year when we will be inviting all who have so generously supported the project.

The centre itself is a fabulously light and beautiful environment which can be used in so many ways. We hope that by Christmas it will be up and running.
We have also had a group from the congregation who are now engaged in working their way around the church with paint brush in hand removing the colour blue and replacing it with a calmer colour. By Christmas we may have redecorated the Apse around the High Altar and returned the original Latin script.

But as we all know the church is about people and in September we had the Funeral Mass of one of our long standing members, Arthur Ford. What was very special about his funeral held at St Michael's was the moment when members of the congregation were invited to come forward and speak about Arthur. As people fondly remembered him we were given an expression of what lies at the heart of church life, a real love, care and sensitivity towards one another which grows and deepens over the years.

Paul Holland

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St Osmund's Church

In the summer we welcomed Father Romano Ouma again from the parish of Christ the King in Amuru, in the diocese of Gulu in Northern Uganda. It is a district where families have suffered greatly from rebel activity and are living in makeshift camps. He returned home with a couple of second-hand laptops to use in conjunction with a generator to instruct his young flock. There is no electricity in Amuru, no mod cons.
On September 21st Archbishop Kevin McDonald came on his first visit to the parish since his appointment. At Mass he confirmed twenty-nine of our young parishioners, they had been preparing for the Sacrament since early summer. By the time this appears in print we shall have passed through October, a month associated with the missionary work of the church, and into November. This begins with the feast of All Saints, then the Commemoration of all the Faithful Departed, All Souls' Day. Our participation in the Communion of Saints is to the fore and we shall think about the Last Judgement when the Saviour will come in glory.

There is one lighter moment - our parish bazaar on Saturday, November 12th - we hope to see you there, doors open 12 noon.

Fiona Keen and Father Logan

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