22nd May 2022 – Easter 6 All Saints Church, Childwall
Read: Acts 16:1/14 – “Paul came to Derbe and then to Lystra, where a disciple named Timothy lived, whose mother was Jewish and a believer but whose father was a Greek. 2 The believers at Lystra and
Iconium spoke well of him. 3 Paul wanted to take him along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. 4 As they travelled from town to town, they delivered the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem for the people to obey. 5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.
6 Paul and his companions travelled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. 7 When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. 8 So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. 9 During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” 10 After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. ………..
12 From there we travelled to Philippi, a Roman colony ……… of Macedonia. And we stayed there several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
Reflect: Today’s passage tells us a lot about St Paul’s gifts and heart and ministry. From reading it we can see that Paul was:
A Pastor: We often refer to this part of Paul’s ministry as his ‘Second Missionary Journey’, but he had started out intending to visit and strengthen the faith of the Churches that he and Barnabas had ‘planted’ on their first Missionary journey, and to pass on guidance from the Apostles in Jerusalem.
A Preacher: Preaching the Gospel in new and unreached areas would seem to have been Paul’s dominant gift. He was always on the look-out for any opportunity to tell people about Jesus.
Pragmatic: Although Paul had argued against those who said that to become a follower of Jesus you must first be circumcised, Paul circumcises Timothy before taking him with him on his travels. Surely that is hypocritical, isn’t it? No, it is simply Paul recognising that an uncircumcised Timothy would have been a barrier to their ministry among the Jewish population of the towns and cities they would visit.
A Planner: Paul didn’t leave the preaching of the Gospel to chance. He thought strategically about where to focus his energy and effort.
However, whilst Paul was all of the above, perhaps his greatest gift was that he was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit [Paraclete]: Whilst Paul made his plans, he was prepared to abandon them in favour of what he believed to be the leading of the Holy Spirit. There was nothing wrong with Paul seeking to use his gifts as a Pastor, Preacher, Planner and Pragmatist, but it was vital that his gifting was subservient to the guidance of the Holy Spirit who, in today’s passage, led Paul to preach the Gospel, not in Asia Minor, but in Europe for the first time, leading to the conversion of an influential woman named Lydia.
Respond: What gifts do you have? How do you use them in service of God and His Gospel? Are we willing, individually and as a Church, to abandon our own plans/change direction at the prompting of the Holy Spirit? How could we be better at discerning the leading of the Holy Spirit?
Pray: Lord Jesus, your Holy Spirit indwells us; give us your peace to enable us to discern when something is of you, and when something is not. Father, help us to be obedient to your leading in our lives. Amen.
Bill Forster (Associate Minister at All Saints)
urch services
Sunday 22nd May – 9.15am – Holy Communion 11am – Baptism service 12.30pm – Baptism Service 6pm – Celtic Evening Prayer in the church hall (continuing study on Jonah)
Thursday 2nd June 10.45am – BCP Holy Communion
Thursday 26th May – Ascension Day
10.45am – BCP Holy Communion 7pm Ascension Day Holy Communion service
Sunday 29th May – please remember there is no Pebbles, Rock Club or Boulders today.
9.15am – Holy Communion 11am – Service of the Word
6pm – Evening Worship in the church hall
(Final study on Jonah)
Sunday 5th June – Pentecost Sunday – One Communion service at 10.30am in church followed by tea &
coffee and our Jubilee cake competition in the church hall from 11.30am.
Youth Confirmation Classes – this Monday 23rd May at 4.30pm at All Hallows Church Please pray for our 10 young people from All Saints who are attending confirmation class and are preparing to be confirmed this year on Monday 20th June at the Cathedral
Our Annual Parochial Church meeting took place on Monday 16th May 2022
Barbara Critchley was elected as one of our Church Wardens. We are thankful to God for Barbara, please pray for her and support her in all that she does. We still have a vacancy for our second Church Warden and for two Deputy Wardens. Please pray that God will guide the right people to fill these vacancies.
We welcome on to our PCC the following members of All Saints who will all serve for 3 years.
Julie Faden, Sue Harrison, Delia Owen, Kathy Poole, Frank Thyer and Alan Woods.
We also welcome Garry Critchley and Viv Kerr who will also serve for 3 years as Deanery Synod reps.
We thank God for these new members of PCC, please pray for them and support them in all that they do.
We are very thankful to God for Alison Kefford and Graham Deacon for their faithful service as Warden and Deputy Warden.
Boulders – All Saints Church are delighted to announce the return of ‘Boulders’ – our Rock Club provision for children in school years 6, 7 and 8 (ages 10-13).
Boulders takes place during the 11am Sunday services to enable our young people to experience an alternative to the church-based service, to meet and socialise with each other whilst learning about God and the teachings of Jesus in a different and age-appropriate way.
Children will enjoy hot or cold drinks, snacks and a variety of different learning sessions, including some based in the church hall, church hall garden the churchyard and spire. Each session will be inclusive, fun and designed to make our young people think about their faith, its application to their own lives and their place in the world. We also want our young people to lead some of the Boulders work and will challenge them to take up roles within the church that add to our sense of community and access for all.
Boulders will take place on Sunday 22nd May, 19th & 26th June and 3rd & 17th July. We encourage all families with children in years 6, 7 & 8 to encourage them to join us for a fun and engaging programme.
Morning Prayer – Monday and Friday at 8:00am – Common Worship Morning prayer service with words on screen. Optional Chat after the service. Meeting ID: 948 786 2454 Passcode: 4allsaints
Weekly prayer meeting – Thursday 6.30pm on Zoom. Why not join a group of us at All Saints that pray regularly. It lasts 40 minutes, you can pray, sit and listen or just contemplate. – Aidan Holmes
https://us04web.zoom.us/j/8802380315?pwd=cGxQTnQ0QVRjU1gyUnBrYnJMMzZldz09
Please note joining ID. Meeting ID: 880 238 0315
Passcode: yt76bq
Thank You!
Peter and Alison Kefford would like to express their appreciation to the church family for their prayerful support and concern expressed in so many ways over the past couple of months: the many messages and tokens of good will have been an inspiration and encouragement to the whole Kefford family and have, we are sure, contributed to Alison’s rapid recovery, which is, in turn, a witness to God’s grace.
One family member commented: “It must be the power of prayer – when what happened to you happened to my dad, he was dead in 2 minutes!”
Sue Holden is home from hospital. She thanks everyone for their support and prayers which have meant a
great deal to her
Vestry Hour – every Tuesday 7pm – 8pm.
To book a Baptism or a Wedding or speak to a member of the clergy, please come to Vestry Hour which is held in the church every Tuesday, no appointment is necessary. Please use the wooden door to the left of the tower. You do not need to knock, just come in, take a seat and you will be seen privately in turn.
Jubilee Party – Thursday 2nd June 2.30pm – 4.30pm
On Thursday 2nd June we are holding a Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration in the Church Hall for the older members of our congregation. If you haven’t received an invitation and think you should have done please accept our apologies! You will be very welcome to join us anyway.
In order to make this happen we need some help.
• If you could make a cake please contact Joan McClelland (0151 722 3737)
• If you could offer a lift to someone please contact Chris Watterson (0151 428 8406)
• If you would like to help on the day, welcoming, serving tea and cake, washing up etc. please
contact Helen Ford (0151 428 9153)
• General queries to Sue Watterson (0151 428 8406)
Hope From Above (HFA)
Some of you will remember Tim and Carol Derbyshire who are coming to All Saints in May as part of a speaking tour. They serve in HFA which is an Australian-based Christian organisation. It helps mission partners and ministries take the gospel to unreached and inaccessible people groups. This is done through aviation and technology. Tim and Carol spoke on Thursday and there is a final opportunity to hear them share about the ministry they are involved in on:
Saturday 21st May in the church hall at 7pm
For more information contact Chris and Sue Watterson Tel: 428 8406 Mob: 07707901279
Christian Aid week – 15th to 21st May 2022 – A collection will be held on Sunday 22nd May at all 3 services.
Christian Aid is fundraising to make a real difference to families like Jessica’s.
Jessica is a loving mum in Zimbabwe, she fears her family won’t eat tonight. When food is scarce, she can
only give her children one bowl of porridge a day. It breaks her heart to send them to bed hungry. For the
first time in a generation, global poverty is rising. Covid-19, conflict, and the climate crisis are pushing more
of our global neighbours into a struggle for survival. By supporting our fundraising with whatever you can
afford, Christian Aid partners could help Jessica learn how to sow drought tolerant crops, learn how to
grow food in dry seasons and build a storeroom to preserve food and bounce back from future droughts.
She’ll turn her dry, dusty land into a garden of hope. Please give today, and help this loving mum provide
food – and hope – for her family. Thank you!
You can give online on All Saints Childwall’s giving page. Please click on the link below.
VIEW YOUR FUNDRAISING PAGE
Bookworms is our Church reading group. We meet once every two months to discuss a book. The next meeting is Monday 6th June at 7.30pm in the function room of the Childwall Abbey pub. The book we are discussing is As I walked out one Midsummer Morning by Laurie Lee. The meetings last about an hour and a half and there is plenty of lively discussion. All Are welcome. Do come and join us if you are a reader.
The Boys’ Brigade is holding a car wash, bake sale
and raffle at the Church Hall on Saturday 21st
May, from 9am to 3pm, raising funds for all the
work they do with our children and young people.
Please do come along, pop in and support our
Boys’ Brigade group – you’d be very welcome!
Weekly Prayer requests – Please pray for all those who are unwell at this time particularly praying for Stan Cowley, Alison Kefford, Sue Holden, Shirley Rawlinson and Margaret Whitehead.
We also pray for the bereaved family and friends of Daniel Melling, Elsie Fisher and Gary McCoy.
Andrew Colmer – Vicar – Tel: 07305 842257 – vicar.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com Helen Deegan – Curate – Tel: 07984 933467 – curate.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com Bill Forster – Associate Minister – william.forster1@btinternet.com Adeyinka Olushonde – Ordinand – adeyinka.allsaintschildwall@gmail.com
