Church News

News about recent happenings at Christchurch. This is organised as a blog, with the most recent news at the top.

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]

Filed in church

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]

Filed in church

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.

Filed in activities

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’.

Go to the blog.

Filed in church

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.

Filed in church

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.

Filed in church

Art Sale raises over £500

Posted on 4th April 2019

Last Saturday the Art Group and friends held a sale at Christchurch to raise money for this year’s chosen charity, Leicester City of Sanctuary, when over £500 was raised.

Filed in activities

Crossing the Road

Posted on 1st December 2018

The various Christian denominations in the Clarendon Park – Stoneygate area of Leicester get together through the South Leicester Christian Partnership and we are beginning to establish links with the other faith communities in the area. Last week our minister (Rev Edson Dube) shared breakfast with Rev Leigh Greenwood from Stonegate Baptist Church, Imam Latif from the Baitul Ikram Mosque and Rev Derek MacLean from the Methodist Circuit.

Filed in church

Summer Saturday

Posted on 1st September 2018

The Summer Saturday art and crafts fair today was well supported and a great success. Despite being the first day of autumn (officially) it still seemed like summer. Members of the Wild Honey Tuesday group had been busy making knitted, crocheted and sewn goods for sale, also cakes, bread, jam, chutney and lunches. Other stalls had books, CDs and bric-a-brac. Marieko Terashi entertained with her piano recitals. The takings will go to support the work of the Wild Honey project.

Update: just heard that £550 was raised. Well done everyone!

Filed in activities

Toilet Twinning

Posted on 21st July 2018

The church’s chosen charity this year is Toilet Twinning (toilettwining.org). We take flush toilets in our homes for granted but 1 in 3 people around the world have no access to hygenic sanitation. This impacts their lives in many ways: frequent illness, children missing school, attacks on women. The Toilet Twinning charity invites us to twin our toilets with a newly built one somewhere else in the world, for £60.

Christchurch has 7 cubicles and we have now raised the £420 to twin them all, and have chosen 7 different places around the world. So when we have to go, the certificate on the wall reminds us how privileged we are in Britain.