St Peter’s Harvest Festival Service and Lunch – 13th October
Our Harvest Festival Service and Harvest Lunch will take place in St Peter’s Church on Sunday, 13th October. The service will be at the later time of 11 am and the lunch will be held straight afterwards. Everyone is welcome to come to either or both events. If you are able to offer any help with preparing and serving the lunch, please contact our churchwardens (see back page for details) or Alison Wood (01962 773603 / alisonwood12@yahoo.co.uk). We look forward to seeing you.
St Peter’s Church – Developing our Vision and Values
Now that St Peter’s has been open for 2 years, we are beginning to look at how we can grow as a church over the next few years. The first of a series of events to agree our Vision and Values will take place in St Peter’s on Wednesday, 28th August from 7 – 8 pm. Do come along if you can.
Further meetings are planned – see the church website (ropleybenefice.church) for more details. We are aiming to complete the consultation stage by the end of October and to agree the way forward at the PCC meeting in November.
If you would like to get involved with developing our Vision and Values, please speak to Reverend Amber or our churchwardens (Sarah Earthy and Sue Thomas). Their contact details are on the back page of BMRT.
Bronze Eco Church Award for St Peter’s
At St Peter’s we have started thinking about how we can be more environmentally aware as a church. To find out how we are doing at the moment, we applied to the Christian charity, A Rocha, for an assessment. We are very pleased to say that we have been awarded a Bronze for our current activities and actions.
The assessment looks at a wide range of things. On some we scored Gold or Silver – but on some we scored Bronze, so our overall score is Bronze. We now know which areas we need to improve on. For more details about the survey and the areas for further action, please visit our website (ropleybenefice.church).
Greville Dawson is taking the lead for us on this important area. If you would like to know more or get involved in our eco work, you can contact Greville on 01420 362607 or e-mail him at grevilledawson5@gmail.com.
St Peter’s Food Bank is open every day from 9 am to 5 pm
We have a small Food Bank in the North Porch (the modern one) which you are very welcome to use if you are in need. There is no pre-assessment or criteria for using it. We just ask that you take what you need for the day and maybe the following day and leave some items for others to choose from.
If you would like to donate items to the Food Bank, please can you provide tinned, packaged or dried goods (all within their use by date and undamaged, please). Foods that are quick to heat up or cook are the most liked items. Cleaning and personal hygiene products are also very welcome as these are often very costly.
Occasionally we get given fresh fruit and vegetables for the Food Bank. If you would like to know when fresh food has come in, please contact the churchwardens, Sue and Sarah. Their details are on the back page.
Café Church – 1st September and 6th October at 10 am in St Peter’s
Café Church is our most relaxed service, where adults and children of all ages are welcome to come and enjoy a mug of fresh coffee / tea / squash and biscuits and pastries before the service begins at 10 am.
Held on the first Sunday in the month, we keep things simple. We sit at round tables and talk – about the reading and the prayers, about what we’ve been doing this week, and what we intend to do in the coming week. The hymns include more modern ones, some with actions – but don’t be shy about doing them!
There are activities for the children to do and talk about, and they are welcome to move around if they want to.
You are all very welcome to come and try Café Church out.
Children’s Church at St Peter’s
On the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Sundays in the month, Children’s Church is held in the Coffee Room whilst the main service is held in the church. It’s aimed at children aged between 5 and 13 years. Children meet at the church at 9.55 am before going to the Coffee Room for a range of activities. For more information about Children’s Church, please speak to Reverend Amber or our churchwardens, Sarah Earthy and Sue Thomas.
Alison Wood