Try Messy church—a new, exciting way of doing church, once a month after school on Fridays (4-6pm) for families.

See the Messy Church page for more details.

Help would be especially appreciated on the day or with advance food preparation during the week before.

Venue, silent or otherwise to be decided dependant on interest, we’re
thinking of October/November this year

From about 9.30 am we want as many helpers as possible to help digging, hauling, filling skips, making tea and generally mucking in (with the promise of plenty of muck). There will be jobs for all on the day so please put this in your diary. Bring old clothes! For further information (or if you can get discount on skip hire!) please contact Simon Pugh-Jones.

Do come and pray and be inspired by God.

For more info, contact Gwynneth Pugh-Jones

Drop in between 9:30 and 11:30
Join us for breakfast, coffee, newspapers, chat & family fun activities
Adults £1, children 50p

Don’t do church? Think again…

Try Messy church—a new, exciting way of doing church, once a month after school on Fridays (4-6pm) for families.

See the Messy Church page for more details.

Help would be especially appreciated on the day or with advance food preparation during the week before.

Do pray for them and make them and their families welcome. We will be commissioning them on the 5th September.

I am pleased to say that Rachel Clarke has agreed to be the new part-time youth Minister alongside her part time role in the Media Centre at Knowle West. She begins on 1st September. Do pray for her.
I am also delighted that Emma Ineson is more fully joining the staff team for two days a week plus Sundays. Her main responsibility will be for teaching and preaching. Emma is reducing her hours at Trinity College in order to make time for this role. Do pray for her as she makes this change.

Emma and I have just spent a wonderful week at Lee Abbey speaking on the book of James. James speaks not about how we become Christians but about how we live as Christians. At the end of the book he uses an image of a farmer waiting for the harvest. The seeds are planted and have sprouted but the farmer has to be patient and wait for the crop to ripen. Learning to be a disciple takes time and commitment. It is a lifelong process. Dallas Willard in his excellent book ‘Renovation of the Heart’ says this; “The difficulty of entering fully into the divine life is due to our failure to understand that the way in is the way of inner transformation, and our failure to take the small steps that quietly and certainly lead to it.” Being a disciple is hard because we try to change the external behaviour in large chunks rather than giving time to the Holy Spirit to change us bit by bit through the love and grace of God by surrendering our whole lives and hearts to God and allowing God to affect everything.

There is a tremendous amount happening in the coming months in the life of St Matthew’s which is great, I look forward to all that God will do. But in the long run it will just be activity unless we give time to God to transform our hearts as individuals and a community. Jesus’ words to his disciples were, ‘follow me’.

Mat