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Barnes in Commonthe magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
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Church NewsBaptist Church | Holy
Trinity | Methodist Church Baptist Church
As another successful Barnes Fair recedes into memory we reflect on the fact that it didn't rain has made it one of the highlights of our monsoon-like summer. As well as raising funds for the church we were also offering free Christian literature, hopefully to produce a more precious form of investment. Seeds sown at the Fair may one day produce a harvest who knows where. Speaking of harvest the focus for this year's Baptist Missionary Society Appeal is the island of Nias (Indonesia) whose mainly Christian population live lives still tragically blighted following the tsunami of 2004 and the subsequent earthquakes of 2005. Offerings and donations will be taken-up at both our Harvest service on 23 September and the tea and social on the 24th. Our midweek course 'Christian Life and the Bible' proved
to be both helpfully informative, practical and entertaining. We plan
to follow it up with another in the series 'Christian Life
and Why It Makes Sense' in the autumn. Graham Pulham
Holy Trinity
We come back after our summer break renewed and refreshed and looking forward to an exciting Autumn in Holy Trinity. In September the Team Ministry Youth Group welcomes new members to its fortnightly Sunday evening sessions. On 23rd September our morning service will include four baptisms and promises to be a joyous celebration. On 29th September we are holding a fund raising evening of music and dance organised by our organist, James Cryer (formerly organ scholar at Westminster Abbey and St. John's College Cambridge) and Jennifer Jackson (Choreographer and former soloist with the Royal Ballet). Proceeds to Holy Trinity and MIND. Please contact our Parish Office for tickets. We celebrate Harvest at the beginning of October and during our Harvest Lunch we shall launch our Stewardship Campaign for Time, Talents and Financial Giving. We shall also be presenting our goals for the coming year as we seek to reach out to the people of North Barnes. At the end of October we will rejoice in the Licensing of our Reader in training, Denis Barrow and celebrate the harvest of our stewardship campaign. Our monthly Space To Be holistic evening continues on the first Tuesday and is proving to be worthwhile for many (including ourselves!). If you need time out in a busy world, come and explore Space To Be - we look forward to welcoming you. Jean Boulton-Reynolds
Methodist Church
As the Diary shows, the Methodists are beginning a busy autumn, with the return of First Sunday and a number of social events, as well as a re-started group for Bible Study. During the summer we've had successful evening and afternoon concerts, and the Wednesday Club have visited Eton and Windsor on their annual outing. There's a training course running for Worship Leaders. Our Coffee Shop on Saturday mornings continues to be popular. We've visited the 'cathedral of Methodism' - Wesley's Chapel in City Road, which includes John Wesley's house and a museum: other churches might like to consider a guided visit, which is fascinating, and free! We've also entertained some of Richmond's homeless to lunch, and fed and watered hundreds at Barnes Fair. By the time this edition of BiC is published, the Village Nursery will have a new lease on their part of the Methodist premises: this will give them more security to plan their future, and will benefit the church with a regular income. We're also in the process of renovating the flat within the building, which when completed will be an attractive home and another source of income. Since we're still paying for the huge redevelopment of our church, these new arrangements will, we hope, help our treasurers to sleep more easily. Roger Hutchings
St Mary's
Writing this at the end of July, I am deeply hoping you'll be reading this in a bit of warmth and without torrential rain, but maybe my hope will come to nothing. September will be a busy September as ever. We will celebrate our Patronal Festival on the 9th at 10am. Later on, on the 30th, we are having a special Choral Evensong to celebrate the 300th Birthday of Charles Wesley. We're delighted that Roger Hutchings will be preaching and we will be delighted to see many of you at 6pm for that service. That Sunday, we're also taking part in a national programme to encourage people to return to church. We're calling it 'Open Church Sunday' and we will be encouraging our regulars to bring guests with them to the various services. They might invite a neighbour who used to come to church but drifted away and might be amenable to a way back. Or it could be someone they know who has never gone to church but, for some reason (birth of a child or the death of a loved one, for example), is suddenly more interested in things spiritual. We look forward to making them feel welcome. Ross Collins
St Michael's Church
The summer has been a busy time at St Michael`s. We had the Team Children`s Festival Service followed by activities and lunch in the vicarage garden. For the act of worship which was a Eucharist, Lowell Herbert composed a special song "'The Wonderful Coat"'. If you are familiar with Lowell`s compositions you will know what magical delights they are. This was a very happy occasion and I would like to thank all the children who came along and had learned the song beforehand. The Summer Fare this year was also held in the garden and was well attended. We had our bottle stall at the Barnes Fair and finally the Vicar's Party. What was remarkable about all these outdoor events was that the rain held off, arriving just at the moment when some of the events were coming to a close. All these occasions involved a lot of work and I am always thankful for the tremendous team effort that enables everything to run so smoothly creating a really happy occasion. Paul Holland
St Osmund's Church
The Christian Meditation group that meets every Wednesday at 7 pm, following the teaching of John Main OSB, will resume after a summer break on September 5th. Anyone is welcome especially those who are new to meditation "'Be still and know that I am God"'. The month of July opened with eight children celebrating their First Holy Communion at the 10.30 mass. There was the usual round of enjoyable activity in early July - notably Barnes Fair and the parish barbecue. At school we were entertained by the Juniors' performance of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. The school gave thanks for the past academic year with mass at church two days before breaking up. It was a celebration, too, wishing success and Godspeed to the children and two teachers who have left us. We were pleased to see Father Romano, who came again from Uganda to hold the fort during August. Fiona Keen and Father Logan
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