Ashbourne Methodist Church Magazine

God gives beauty to everything that grows in the fields, even though it is here today and thrown into a fire tomorrow.

He will surely do even more for you!

April 2005

From the Manse

Dear friends,
We are an Easter people. We live in the light of the resurrection. Out of the grey of Easter morning came a new dawn, a new glory, a new hope. Jesus is alive. He is with us, always.
The resurrection means that whatever dark times we go through there will come a time of light. Always there is hope for the future.
Paul talks about dying with Christ and rising with Him. We sometimes have to "die" to the things of the past, let them go, and realise they will never come back. And then turn to walk into the new future God has for us. Sometimes the past has been a burden, weighing us down. Now we can lay that burden down, step out of the tomb into the new freedom that God offers.
The darkness of the tomb is transformed into dazzling light, the glory of the risen Lord. When the women met Jesus that Easter morning, their sadness turned to joy, inexpressible joy. Jesus is alive. He is risen. He is risen indeed.
We are an Easter people. Our worship should reflect that. We sing songs with joy in our hearts. We worship a risen Lord. Praise should ever be on our lips.
We are an Easter people. Our attitudes should reflect that. It means we are forever optimistic, always hoping for the best. We pray expectantly. We face trials without fear. We look for the good that will come out of seeming disaster.
We are an Easter people. Our character should reflect that. We carry the inner peace of our ever present Lord. We radiate the light that is his glory. We sparkle with the joy of knowing him, alive in us.
We are an Easter people. Our conversation should reflect that. We bear witness to our Lord who has triumphed over death, who has conquered sin, who has defeated the evil one.
We are an Easter people. We die to the past and walk into the future without fear, knowing He is with us. This is true in our own lives, and it is true for us as a church.
We are now preparing for our Annual Church Meeting. The stewards have decided to change the date for this in order to encourage more of our church family to be there. It will now be held on Sunday 24th April. After the morning service there will be a faith lunch, followed by the Annual Church Meeting. We will show a film for the children so that parents with children can attend the meeting.
At the service on April 24th we will be confirming and receiving into membership, Chris Branch, Frances Beardmore and Kay Orme. Then will come our faith lunch together followed by the church meeting. So it will be a good church family day.
At our church meeting we appoint our church stewards and elect our representatives to the Church Council. Then we discuss areas of our church life, how to take things forward. Often the ideas that come up at this meeting shape the way we do things over the coming year. So do come. This is your chance to put in your ideas.

God Bless, Chris

Easter Offerings

The Easter offerings will be dedicated at a Circuit Service to be held at Brailsford on Sunday 24th April at 6.30pm. The service, which has been planned by Caroline Salmon, a past president of Women's Network, is on the theme of 'Creating a Just Community', and will be led by ladies from Ashbourne. The Rev Dr Keith Albans (Senior Chaplain, Methodist Homes) will be the speaker. Please come and join us for this service - all welcome!
Alma Swan
Brazil and the World Social Forum
Sue Richardson, the East Midlands area organiser for Christian Aid, will be giving an illustrated talk on Thursday 21st April at 7.30 pm in St Oswald's Church Hall. Sue recently visited Brazil to attend the "World Social Forum", a gathering of developing countries, and followed this with visits to some Christian Aid projects in Brazil. Her talk is entitled "Another World is Possible; Reflections from Brazil." Admission is free and light refreshments will be served.

Hermitage Ensemble

This group from St Petersburg will be giving a concert of Russian sacred music and folk songs in our Church at 8.00pm on Sunday 3rd April. Tickets are £5.00 each and the proceeds will be shared between the choir and the Ashbourne Patna Partnership.

NCH The Dalesmen Concert

Please don't forget that the ever popular Dalesmen Male Voice Choir will be giving a concert to support our charity on St George's Day, Saturday 23rd April at 7.30pm in the Church. Under the musical direction of David Scott-Savage, 40 members of their choir will be presenting a wonderful and varied programme. Classical and modern, Negro spirituals and hymns, some specially arranged, will provide one and a half hours' superb entertainment. Refreshments will be provided and are included in the cost. Admission, £5, is by programme available from members of NCH Support Group.
Don't miss out on a great evening, a celebration of music and St George's Day.
Support Group:- Doris Harrison, Betty & Mike Hadley, Val Howse, Sandra & Cliff Lewer, Marianne & Eric Matthews, Judith Starkie.

Women's Network

DISTRICT EVENING MEAL
District Network have organised an evening meal at Willersley Castle on Thursday 5th May commencing at 6.45pm. The speaker will be Mrs Jenny Hosking on "The Organ Replacement and Transplant Games". It is understood that she has had a liver transplant and has taken part in the games for transplant recipients. The cost of the meal is £10.50. If you would like to go, please contact Alma asap.
Alma Swan

Ashbourne Family News

We recently celebrated the dedication of Andrew and Rachel Barton's daughter Helena and we send our love and best wishes to all the family. We also rejoice in a granddaughter for John and Ruth Perkins, Faith Naomi.
We send our congratulations to Elizabeth Heap on her engagement to Harry Jackson, and we pray that they will be very happy together. We also send best wishes to Janice and Richard Baker as they leave Ashbourne on 6th April to make their home in Spain.
We pray for all those who are unwell or who have undergone operations recently. We think especially of Sue Ffoulkes and Jean Wathall and ask God's healing touch to be on them.
We have received the following message from Michael Prior:
"Dorothy and I wish to thank the many friends who sent cards, telephoned and above all prayed for us following my heart attack. Your loving care has been much appreciated and helped me back to normal living once more."
We pray for all those in Ashbourne and further afield who are mourning the sudden death of Shirley Hill. We give thanks for her life and pray that she may be at peace in the Lord. We also pray for the family and friends of Denis Last whose funeral service was held in our church on 11th March and ask God's blessings on them.

Prayers

We continue to ask for you to especially remember the following
things in your prayers this month:

27th Mar Those who are not able to be at Church today
28th Mar People visiting Ashbourne
29th Mar Young people enjoying the Easter break
30th Mar The fellowship of St Oswald's Church
31st Mar The campaign to Make Poverty History
1st Apr Those in our town who feel bullied or victimised
2nd Apr Mission work around the world
3rd Apr Preachers at churches in our area
4th Apr The young people of our church
5th Apr The work of The Leprosy Mission
6th Apr Members of housegroups
7th Apr Local Farmers
8th Apr All those who come to our church
9th Apr The Church of North India and especially Bishop Philip Marandhi
10th Apr The international campaign for Trade Justice
11th Apr Older people who struggle to cope
12th Apr The fellowship of Elim Pentecostal Church
13th Apr The fellowship of All Saints Church
14th Apr Missionaries throughout the world
15th Apr Those who work with young people in the town
16th Apr The work of Christian Aid
17th Apr The fellowship of St John's Church
18th Apr Those who live in extreme poverty on less than a dollar a day
19th Apr Politicians of all parties
20th Apr Fairtrade organisations
21st Apr Those in our community who need our loving support
22nd Apr The work of Oxfam
23rd Apr Those who look after our church buildings

Praise

This is a newly established event, every third Saturday in the month. It is a time of Praise and worship from 7 to 8.15pm which is for all ages. We are attracting about 25-30 people at the moment, but there is plenty of room for more. The emphasis is on praising God in the freedom of the Holy Spirit through singing, meditation, prayer, prophesy and music. So far, it has been a huge encouragement to those who have attended and it has enabled people to come into the presence of God in a slightly more informal setting than Sunday.
You are more than welcome to come and join us. Our next evening is Saturday 16th April at 7pm in the Century Hall. For further details please contact me.
Tim Dutton

Ashbourne Annual Church Meeting

This is an open meeting for all members of our church when we elect Church Stewards and representatives to the Church Council. An invitation letter, agenda and information on voting was included in the notice-sheet for 27th March, and some spare ones should be on the vestibule table. If you cannot find one, please ask me.
There is also an opportunity to raise questions from the reports of the various activities of our church. There will be a discussion on the Priorities within the Church and your views are both important and welcome. Please do come and share with us for this important meeting.
The meeting will be held on Sunday 24th April in the Century Hall. Immediately after the morning service we will share a faith lunch, after which will be the meeting. The meeting should be finished by 3pm at the latest. A film will be shown in the church for children, allowing parents to attend.
At the meeting, we will be electing Church Stewards and Church Council Representatives for the year beginning 1st September 2005. Nominations for Church Council members may be made on the poster on the vestibule notice board - nominations should be made by 18th April.
Carole Thorpe (Church Council Secretary)

Tissington Well Dressings (5th - 8th May)

The Ashbourne Churches Together One World Group will be having its usual stall at the Tissington Well Dressings. We shall be selling Traidcraft goods and home made cakes (of the tray bake variety). There will be lists up in church soon asking for help to staff the stall from Thursday 5th May to Sunday 8th May (two or three people are needed each morning and afternoon) and also for volunteers to make cakes for the stall. Many people are making cakes for Cornerstone and we have lost some of our regular bakers so please try and help us this year. If you are new to our area please ask us and we will explain what is needed. Cakes may be left with us or in Jean and Gerald Humphries' garage at 114 Park Ave.
John and Elizabeth Hurfurt

Donations

Each year, the church donates money to a range of charities. These include some charities that we have been supporting for many years, and which we support regularly, and also includes charities that we have supported on an ad-hoc basis. We have given a total of £10,130 this year, with £3,730 as "regular" donations and £6,400 as one-off donations.
The following charities received donations as part of a regular commitment: World Mission, Home Mission, Methodist Property Fund, Methodist Church Fund, Circuit Education and Youth Fund, Relief & Development Fund, L.P.M.A. (which supports Local Preachers), MHA (care and support for older people), NCH (homes and care for children and young people), Church Bursary (see next article for details).
The following charities were nominated by churchgoers and were given a one-off donation this year: Swan Bank Mission Burslem, Christian Care Foundation, ACT Patna Fund, Sierra Leone, Borrowash House, Foundation "Jesus de Nazareth", Medecins sans Frontieres, World Vision, Donna Louise Trust, Christian Blind Mission, Cayman Islands, Alzheimers Society, Mayfield and Ellastone First Responders, Aquabox, Hope and Homes for Children
For more details on the work of any of these charities, please contact John Hurfurt.
John Hurfurt

Church Bursary

The church recently established a Bursary to help people who wish to use some of their time in mission or supporting others. The bursary is open primarily, but not exclusively, to young people under 25 and primarily to those with a link to Ashbourne Methodist Church. It can be used for mission; activities consistent with the Christian Faith; activities providing a benefit to others; training where the skill acquired provides the ability to help with any of the above.
Anyone who is interested in applying, should contact Rev Chris Eddy and he can advice on what is required.

Christian Aid Week

Christian Aid Week this year runs from 15th - 21st May and we will again be joining in door-to-door envelope collections. Almost a quarter of Christian Aid's income comes from Christian Aid Week collections - and over 350,000 committed supporters like you! It's a week when all denominations in Ashbourne and throughout the country come together to do their small part. I will be asking for volunteers to help deliver envelopes and also to help collect them - so look out for more information and a sign-up sheet towards the end of April.
If you would like to know more about the work of Christian Aid, please feel free to ask me.
Catherine Green

Mission Matters

Phakamisa Educare mission speaker
Glenda Howieson from Phakamisa Educare will be sharing in our morning service on Sunday 17th April at 10.30 am.
EDUCARE - PHAKAMISA - THE STORY
The Phakamisa (Zulu for 'Lift up and make grow' and pronounced Pagameesa) Educare Project was born in the 1990's at the Methodist Church, Pinetown, Kwa Zulu Natal, into a time of struggle, offering support and free pre-school teacher training, initially to 5 women who were running their own Educare Centres for a total of 100 children. During the 6 years of provision from the Methodist Churches of Notts and Derbys this has risen to 220 women running centres for 14,000 children. These 'centres' range from groups being taught under trees and small roughly constructed rooms with cardboard boxes for storing improvised equipment, to larger premises with reasonable facilities.
HOW IT STARTED
After the "Miracle" of 1994 when the structure of government changed in South Africa, the work of building a New Nation began. The task of changing such a vast country when only 10% of the population paid income tax was staggering; but by looking at the picture around them, the people of Pinetown Methodist Church under Rev. Ray Light their minister saw the opportunity to make changes to the lives they could reach.
WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW
Phakamisa not only teaches good didactic skills in the workshops, but also addresses issues like health; hygiene; nutrition; living with people affected by HIV/Aids; and abuse of a physical, emotional and sexual nature. Specialist people give information to the teachers during the workshops. The parents of these children are ignorant of their children's rights and they are severely lacking in self-esteem and dignity. All the teachers are informed on how they can address these problems and guide the parents in achieving the help that can be made available. Since, on average, there are 10 people in a 'family unit' - this means that Phakamisa with 14,000 children reaches out to 140,000 lives!!! . Through the meeting of the needs of the very poor a new area of service was discovered with the setting up of 19 literacy classes alongside the Educare classes to give opportunity for adults to learn to read and write.
Powersource Mission Link
Vanessa Cook our Powersource mission link will be visiting Ashbourne Methodist - Sunday 29th May. She is a Methodist Mission Partner working in Germany, mainly with children and young people. She will be sharing in our morning service, in PowerSource and in a JMA lunchtime event. (JMA members and helpers please note this should be a good event). She will also be taking our evening service at 6.30pm.
Some words from Africa
The Revd Dr Mvume Dandala, General Secretary to the All Africa Conference of Churches was the keynote speaker at the Methodist Mission Adventure Conference in February and hearing his views on mission from an African perspective was enlightening. His main talk focused on 2 major problems in the mission approach today with links to the crises in Africa: The de-linking of the African village from the African city and the de-linking of social responsibility and spirituality.
He advised that the church in Africa is grateful for the old style missionaries. There is a high regard for the work done. They brought hope. Unfortunately the indigenous Christians became pastors not missionaries and he believes this has made the church less effective in dealing with the problems of Africa.
THE DE-LINKING OF THE AFRICAN VILLAGE FROM THE AFRICAN CITY
The dominant development model promotes urbanisation at the expense of the rural communities (where 70-80% of the population live). This reduces the production of crops and promotes cash crops. The church must understand mission to the world and what it means to be global neighbours. There should be social not liberal policies because moving from the village to the city is out of the frying pan and into the fire. At least with rural poverty there is some hope of production and survival through work on the land. International trade agreements are weighted in favour of the developed world and Mvume urges church mission departments internationally to analyse these agreements and be advocates for the poor. Churches in both the developing and developed world must appoint specialists to examine these international trends and analyse the arguments in order to deal with the problems at their source.
There is some truth in the fact that Non Governmental Organisations (NGO's) are replacing the church as the voice of the poor, especially as the church doesn't always agree amongst itself. The Partnership for African Development is bringing about good leadership and debate from Africans themselves. Political stability is vital for economic development and there are exciting strategies coming forward from the African union. The IMF is admitting that its adjustment programmes have worsened the economic situation in the developing world. As a consequence African political leaders have mismanaged even more. Churches have been drawn into divisive debates rather than looking at the way forward for democratic rights and human liberty. Mvume says that rampant capitalism is a false god that is spoiling the world. His advice is to make all you can, save what you need and give the rest away.
THE DE-LINKING OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY AND SPIRITUALITY
This has occurred over many years. It may explain why the Church is so dominated by administration rather than ministry. Ecumenically today we see the growth of Christian agencies serving on behalf of the churches but often with very thin links with the churches. Church growth is seen as very high in Africa but Mvume advises us to examine what kind of church is growing. Sadly some are cults or based on wrong teachings.
While HIV/AIDS is destroying the continent, the church can be a potent force. The church runs 32% of all health care services in Africa. Church hospitals provide 55% of all hospital beds. However the denominations do not work collaboratively so sometimes the efforts of the church are impoverished. Global funding for AIDS is only given to governments and does not get given to church organisations. Mvume advises Christians to come together on this issue of global funding and to continue to speak in advocacy for this. The churches are closest to the people and will use funds effectively.
Evangelism is essential. We need to work hard for sharing the gospel and rediscovering God with passion. Christians need the chance to touch people and be with them in their troubles and assure that God is with us even if we do not know all the answers. Africans have an iron will to better themselves. As Christians we must care, love and share by proclaiming the gospel and the gospel must be intelligently explained.
Ruth Mallard

Methodists for World Mission

There will be a weekend at Swanwick from 3rd - 5th June entitled "Tradition or Mission?" This weekend will give a window on the World church from the perspective of the Pacific. There will be a Fijian Welcoming Ceremony, a human map of the Pacific, Rev. Tom Stuckey (President Designate of the Methodist Church) will give the keynote address. Bishop Michael Doe will link all aspects of the weekend together on Sunday. It is a time for young and older to share together. Full details are on the mission notice board as you go through from church into Century Hall.

Gateway Bookings

The Gateway Centre has the following bookings upcoming:
15th - 17th April 53rd Coventry Scout Leaders
20th - 22nd April North Border Junior School, Doncaster
29th - 1st May 1st Wollaton Brownies

Ashbourne Partnership

The Ashbourne Partnership is a group of businesses and community organisations who meet with the aim of developing the town. Our church has been a member for some time, and Ian Marsh has now agreed to attend meetings on our behalf. He would be delighted to discuss the partnership with anyone, or if you have any ideas on the form that the church's involvement should take, please share these with Ian.

The Leprosy Mission

The Annual Meeting of the local branch of The Leprosy Mission will be held at Hulland Chapel on Thursday 5th May at 2.15pm. The speaker will be Mr John Ogilvy who will illustrate his talk with slides. There will also be a bring and buy stall. You are all invited to attend - all welcome!
Betsy Allsop

Traidcraft

"Dear friends,
Since we announced our "retirement" as Fair Traders many people have congratulated us on our 19 years association with Traidcraft and we would like to thank everyone for their kind remarks.
It was not an easy decision to take but we felt that the time was right, both in our personal lives and in the life of our churches and our town. There are now so many younger people supporting and working for Fair Trade particularly in Ashbourne Fair Trade Town Initiative.
But we wish to say that during our years as Fair Traders we have gained far more than we have ever given in commitment. Our lives have been immeasurably enriched by our experiences - we have met people we would otherwise never have met, visited places we did not know existed and above all shared fellowship and often worship with others who hold the same ideals as ourselves. For all this we are deeply grateful.
Although we will no longer be selling Traidcraft goods we will still be members of the One World Group and will work with them to increase understanding of issues affecting the developing countries.We are pleased that an ecumenical group of enthusiastic younger people has come together to take on the role of selling Traidcraft on behalf of Ashbourne Churches Together. As soon as arrangements are complete details will be published. We know the future of Traidcraft in Ashbourne is in good hands.
Thank you again to all our well-wishers"
Jean and Gerald Humphries

Dates for your Diary

APRIL
Sun 3rd 8pm Hermitage Ensemble Concert Church
10th - 16th Global Week of Action on Trade
Sat 16th 7pm 'Praise' Service Century Hall
Thu 21st 7.30pm Christian Aid Talk about Brazil St Oswald's Hall
Sun 23rd 7.30pm NCH - The Dalesmen Concert Church
Sun 24th 12noon Faith lunch and Annual Church Meeting Century Hall
Sun 24th 6.30pm Dedication of Easter Offerings Brailsford
MAY
5th - 8th Tissington Well Dressings
Thu 5th 2.15pm The Leprosy Mission Annual Meeting Hulland Chapel

If you would like to contribute an article for the magazine, I will be happy to publish it.
Items for the May Ashbourne Church magazine to me by 9pm on Wednesday 13th April
Place items in the "Newsletter" pigeon-hole at church.

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