Church News
News about recent happenings at Christchurch. This is organised as a blog, with the most recent news at the top.
Christmas is coming
Posted on 5th December 2020
We can’t hold services but we are still celebrating the season of Advent, when we look forward to the birth of Christ on Christmas Day.
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Back in the Worship Centre
Posted on 4th October 2020
This morning we were able to hold a service in the Worship Centre again for the first time. Comfortable seats instead of hard plastic chairs! During September we’ve been holding Sunday services in the hall while some water damage from a leak in the roof was dealt with. The roof has now been repaired, although some re-plastering is still needed inside. Numbers were up slightly at 34, plus a few children. With social distancing we can have about 40 downstairs, with another 10 – 15 in the gallery (a lot more than this actually, but the view of the dais is not very good in much of the gallery). We are looking forward to developing our activities in the era of Covid-19 restrictions.
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Sunday services resume
Posted on 2nd September 2020
After a successful trial run last Sunday, we will be holding a service every Sunday morning again (unless a local lockdown intervenes). The timetable for restarting other activities is still very uncertain but this is a welcome beginning. There is more information about services here.
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Welcome to our new minister
Posted on 2nd September 2020
Our new Methodist minister, Rev Debra Chidakwa Akue, joined us at the beginning of September. Having just returned from abroad she is having to self-isolate. Debra will preach at the Sunday morning service on 6th September by pre-recording a video. We are very much looking forward to being able to greet her properly in a couple of weeks (but a church lunch is not permitted unfortunately).
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Visit Rev John Rackley’s blog
Posted on 12th May 2020
Rev John Rackley, our associate Baptist minister, has re-started his own blog at windingquest.wordpress.com
This is how he introduces himself.
Life is a bridge.
Cross over it
but build no home on it.
Bruce Chatwin Songlines 1982
I grew up in a fishing community in Devon UK from generations of sea-farers going back over 200 years.
I have worked as a bus conductor, secondary school teacher, radio broadcaster and Baptist minister.
I have lived in Leicester, Cardiff, Great Missenden and now in South Leicestershire.
I have travelled in Scandanavia, Hungary, Italy, India, Bangladesh, Israel, Jordan and the West Bank.
I love autumn and the approach of darkening evenings.
[read the full Visit Rev John Rackley’s blog post]
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Worshiping at home
Posted on 22nd March 2020
Like everywhere else, there was no service at Christchurch this morning but the church was open for private prayer and about a dozen people came along. (Some may also have come to get supplies from the Traidcraft stall!) The Methodist Church is streaming services from Wesley’s Chapel in London, and I followed the service this morning at 11 am, which was led by Revd Jennifer Smith, the superintendent there. Before she was ordained Jenny was a lecturer at Leicester University and a member of Christchurch so she is well-known to the longer-standing members. It was a short service based on the liturgy from the Methodist Worship Book.
[read the full Worshiping at home post]
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Sing4Syria raised £630
Posted on 3rd February 2020
The Sing4Syria concert at Christchurch last Thursday raised £630. This was organised by the Leicester Uni branch of UNICEF on Campus with several local choirs taking part. The donations will fund Unicef’s work with children and displaced families in Syria. Many thanks to all who came to the concert and gave donations.
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New blog started
Posted on 6th December 2019
A new blog has been set up to give a platform for our ministers and worship leaders. To kick it off there are two sermons which I have been asked to post. Hopefully more will follow. The blog can be found under ‘News and events’.
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Harvest Festival
Posted on 3rd October 2019
We had an excellent Harvest Festival service last Sunday. Rev John Rackley, in his sermon, contrasted our outlook today with 30 or 40 years ago, when harvest festivals were a celebration of the abundance of food we enjoyed. Now, while remaining thankful for what we receive, we think more about floods, drought, climate change, and all the things which threaten people’s food supply. Closer to home the gifts of food brought to the harvest festival go to the Salvation Army food bank, to help those in our own locality who don’t have enough to eat. John urged us, as a church, to think about what we can do in the face of this climate emergency. At the local level we can set an example by our actions; at the national level the churches represent a large minority and can still have considerable influence.
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A Bumper Christian Aid Week
Posted on 13th June 2019
Members of Christchurch took part again this year in the annual Christian Aid house-to-house collection in the Knighton and Stoneygate areas of Leicester, raising £1391.82. This included one donation of £100! Collections in the church bumped the total to £1868.33. Well done all the intrepid collectors, and our thanks to Andrew Curry, who does all the organising. The weather was better this year than in 2018 too.
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