All Saints Church Childwall

12/12/2009

8:00 am to 9:00 am

Our last men’s breakfast for the year is to be held on SATURDAY 12th December in the church hall from 8.00am till around 9.00am. This month Jim Harrison is to be our speaker. In continuing our series of Jesus’ meetings with different men during his time on earth, Jim’s topic is his encounter with a blind man (Mark 8 vs 22-28). Please join us for some breakfast, followed by a time of sharing joys and concerns, prayers, then our talk and we finish off with a great hymn. It is a great way to start off the weekend. Please come along. You will be made very welcome. For any further information see Tim Moore, Bill Edwards or Peter Woodward or email mensbreakfast@allsaintschildwall.org.uk

The weekly prayers, listed in full below are also available as a pdf download. Please click on the link below:

2009-nov-29-please-pray

PRAISE GOD:

·  For the advent of Jesus Christ as Incarnate Saviour and Lord

·  For the promised advent of Jesus Christ as Returning Judge and King

·  For the opportunity to turn in repentance to Jesus Christ and be saved from the wrath to come

PLEASE PRAY FOR:

·  Scott and Jen Davies as they bring Isabel to baptism this morning, that they will know the blessing of God as a    family and that Isabel will come to know for herself the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord

·  The work of Scripture Union and Liverpool Youth for Christ, giving thanks for their innovative and Kingdom   oriented mission and ministry, and for Richard Witham and Chris Mason as they lead respectively these works in our area

·  Each of us, that we will use this season of Advent as a means by which soberly and seriously we reflect on the purpose of our Lord’s incarnation and the certainty of His return at the time of the Father’s choosing

·  Gary who will be in Cambridge on Monday and Tuesday for a meeting of the Ridley Hall Council

·  Childwall CE School as final preparations are made for the Christmas Fair on Saturday, praying for all the staff and pupils as they prepare for the Nativity Services over the next few weeks

·  The Guides as they prepare the Christingles for the Christingle Service next Sunday, and for all the                      preparations that are being made for the service itself

·  Everyone who will receive a copy of ‘Contact’ over this coming week, that the invitations to our Christmas services and activities will encourage many to come to worship and celebrate what God has done in Christ

·  The Government and people of Australia as they  consider many important issues concerning their sense of national identity, including acknowledgement of mistakes made in the past and also their future relationship with the UK and the Crown

·  The mission and ministry of the Salvation Army as they minister in Christ’s name to the hungry, homeless and hopeless, especially during the dark and cold days of  December

·  The sick and those undergoing medical procedures.

· All who grieve the loss of a loved one or remember the anniversary of a death at this time.

Collect for Advent Sunday

Almighty God,
as your kingdom dawns,
turn us from the darkness of sin to the
light of holiness,
that we may be ready to meet you
in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen

This edition of the contact magazine contains all of the details of our Christmas services and lots of interesting articles and an inspiring message from Gary.

The contact magazine is available in PDF format for you to read online or download. If you are unable to open this, please contact info@allsaintschildwall.org.uk and a copy can be put into the post for you. Alternatively, a copy will be available from the back of the church at any of our services.

december-january-2010-edition

Hi Folks

This is my first attempt at a general e-mail to keep you up to date with me and the Africa Mercy.  I hope you will find it of interest.

I joined the Ship on the 15th October in Cotonou Benin – West Africa – almost six weeks ago now.  One of my cases joined a couple of days later – but that is another story. This time I have ‘signed on’ as a second engineer.  There are also two other seconds at present, which is good as it eases the work load.  My main responsibilities cover engineering outside of the engineroom but we are working as a team and I spend a lot of my time ‘down below in the engines spaces’.  My initial commitment is until the end of February but there is a strong chance I may stay longer as some staff are due to take leave and I may need to cover.

The Ship is coming to an end of a ten month outreach here in Benin. It has been very successful  with literally thousands of people having had life changing operations.  There was a Presidential Dinner the other evening were all the crew were invited to the Palace for a celebration to mark the end of our time here.  I actually did not make it as I was Duty Engineer and needed to stay on board.  It was apparently a big success and there was food sent for those who were on duty.

We are now two weeks away from sailing and preparations are now under way to prepare the Ship for sea.  The last operations were carried out yesterday in the Hospital and the last patients will leave the Ship next weekend.  At the end of that time we will close down Hospital systems and begin to secure them for sea.  Our work in the engine rooms is still continuing and we have work on which will last until we sail.

In the midst of that we are also involved in the preparations of main engines and cooler systems for the sail.  Our air conditioning systems continue to be a challenge and a lot of time and effort is going into keeping the Ship cool.  This is always a challenge as we are coming to end of the wet season here and things are beginning to ‘warm up’ – from hot to ‘very hot’.

I have been ashore a few times here – once for a Chinese meal, African style, which was ‘interesting’. I was invited to a baptism service at a local church last Sunday with a group from the Ship.  The day started with a long drive into the country to a lake where the ceremony took place.  The Chief Executive of the Ship was asked to help – fortunately he had had the foresight to take a change of clothes, as he had to wade in and help with the ‘total immersion’ – not for the faint hearted.

This was followed by a service back at the Church building which was a covered area with chairs laid out. The choir of young people led the ‘really energetic’ worship with the help of the music section on drums.  The service was mostly in French but there was also some translation for me and others who’s French was not up to it.After the Service we were treated to savoury cakes and cold drinks. By that time most people had exhausted their own water bottles, so were very grateful for the drink.

At present there are over four hundred crew on board but that will deminish as a lot of  staff will leave after the Hospital is shut down.  Some of the ‘long term’ Hospital staff stay on to do other jobs for the sail and time in Tenerife.  Our sail there will take about ten days and we are due there just before Christmas.  We have already organised ‘sea watches’ and I am due to take the ’4 to 8′ engine room watch for the first part of the sail.  Our time in Tenerife will be taken up with maintenance and safety surveys and some project work.  We have a project team arriving after Christmas to help with the work but our time is always busy there.  It will be  nice to be in ‘Santa Cruz’ again and I will start ‘running’ again there also – some of the crew run here but I find it just too hot.

We had an Engineering Department photo take last week – which I have included.

best wishes

Dave

The Rotary Club of Liverpool Garston presents

a curtain raiser for Christmas,

a charity concert of seasonal music and thanks

to be held in church

on Monday 30th November at 7pm.

Tickets priced £5

Available from Joan Anderton 722 9823