Dawit is a 24 year old Eritrean refugee and Christian. He arrived in Bristol two months ago and got refugee status very quickly after arriving here. He has no contact with his family members back home and is very lonely. Dawit is trying to find permanent housing and is anxious to find his feet and integrate. He likes table tennis, action movies and would like to visit some museums.

Could you spare an hour and a half once a fortnight to befriend someone like Dawit and improve life in Bristol for an isolated asylum seeker or refugee? Sam Sayer is looking for new volunteers who would like to befriend someone from another culture and show God’s love practically to those on the margins. Befriending will involve listening, helping with English and spending time enjoying Bristol together. Befriending training runs for four consecutive Thursday evenings starting on 23rd February. On-going support and supervision is also given.

For more details please contact Sam via the church office.

There will be a Church collection for the work of b.friend on Sunday 4th March

CHAIR WANTED! The management group for b.friend is currently looking for a Chair for our meetings which take place bi-monthly. If you would like to be an essential part of this exciting project please contact Sam.

Posted 31 Jan 2012 @ 18:25Share this on Facebook

We often speak of God’s immense love for us. Do we dwell on that and reflect on it? Perhaps this month we could try taking a moment or two to still ourselves and then imagine God’s face as he looks on us. Maybe we could also use Ephesians 3:14-19 to meditate on as we do that.

Posted 31 Jan 2012 @ 18:07Share this on Facebook

During 2012 we will be launching a mentoring network at St Matthew’s. It can sometimes be difficult to know how to ‘live for Jesus’ in our everyday lives. Mentoring is designed to help us move forward in our faith journey becoming better followers of Jesus. CPAS define mentoring as ‘a dynamic, intentional, voluntary relationship of trust in which one person (the mentor) enables another person (the mentee) to maximise the grace of God within their lives and develop their potential in the service of God’s kingdom purposes’. Essentially it would involve a mentor meeting with a mentee once every 4-6 weeks for an hour to talk, listen and pray. The expectation is that this helps the mentee move on in their relationship with God.

If you would like to know more, become a mentor or have a mentor to talk with and pray with, please could you contact Mat either directly or through the office.

Posted 5 Jan 2012 @ 18:00Share this on Facebook

A couple of people have told me that they are setting an alarm at 12 noon and 5pm and just spending a few minutes noticing God’s presence with them and listening for what he may have to say to them in the midst of their days. Why not have a go?

Posted 5 Jan 2012 @ 17:43Share this on Facebook

I have been offered and accepted the post of Associate Minister in the parish of Bishopston and St Andrews. I’ll be working across the three churches but based at St Bart’s (on St Andrew’s Park) where the graft from Christchurch, Clifton is arriving on January 8th. Myself, Mat and James Stevenson will be working out a handover timetable in January and my last Sunday at St Matthew’s will be January 22nd.

I’m very excited about this new post and pleased that I’m not going too far but also deeply sad to be leaving St Matthew’s. I’ll postpone any proper goodbyes and thank-yous ’till the appropriate time in January but wanted to take this opportunity to let you know the news and to thank those of you who I know have been praying for me during this time.

God Bless,

Vicky

Vicky has been at St Matthew’s since her appointment as part time Community Minister in 2007. This became a full time role in September 2008. She was employed to research our local community, identify what the needs are, make new connections and help us to develop a strategy for our mission and ministry in the parish. She has far exceeded expectations in this and done so much more.

Throughout her time Vicky has been a well loved and hugely influential member of the church, a respected leader on both leadership team, PCC and staff team. She has also become an integral member of the local community. She is a good pastor, gifted preacher, diligent and committed woman of prayer and a mature Christian who obviously loves the Lord. We will hugely miss her personally and professionally.

Vicky has completed the task that she came to do. Through her work we have much more information about the parish we serve, we are more involved in our parish especially Kingsdown Homegrown and Dove Street, through her amazing networking we are well known in the locality and involved in a number of partnerships, we have improved our communications and welcome and along with Cath Hubbuck we started Messy Church. In short through her work we are on the map in the locality and in a much better position to make strategic decisions about the future. I could go on but let’s save it for the goodbyes.

Vicky will be preaching her last sermon on Sunday morning 15th Jan. Her last Sunday with us will be the 22nd January. After the morning service on the 22nd there will be a ‘Bring and Share’ lunch to give our thanks and say goodbye. More details of this will follow.

Posted 22 Dec 2011 @ 22:56Share this on Facebook