Together No 20: March 2007

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1 THE CHURCH IN TUNBRIDGE WELLS Christians Together in Tunbridge Wells and Tunbridge Wells Fellowship of Evangelicals TOGETHER Website: Together No 20: March 2007 Dear Friends Welcome to this springtime edition of Together. As I write this, we have just heard that Tunbridge Wells has achieved Fair Trade Town status, which is tremendous news. Our thanks should go to those members of the Tunbridge Wells Churches Social Responsibility Group who have really driven this agenda forward most especially Mandy Flashman-Wells and Gloria Thorpe. Recently the leaders of the various Christian groupings across the town have been meeting together Christians Together in Tunbridge Wells, Tunbridge Wells Fellowship of Evangelicals, Tunbridge Wells Churches Social Responsibility Group, Youth Forum and others the idea being that, although each of these groupings may have their own emphases, we need to be listening to and learning from one another, and increasingly seeking to build the relationships out of which shared working comes. The success of the Fair Trade initiative is a reminder to us that, if we are not careful, we can be so inwardly focused on our desire to be Church, or on our internal struggles within the Churches, that we neglect the big issues in the world outside, who will see us as irrelevant and out of touch. Issues of international justice, for instance, impact everyone as do the environmental issues which are so much in the media at present. There is a real challenge to the Churches to engage with these issues, not neglecting the theological and structural challenges which we cannot and must not ignore, but keeping these in a right perspective in the face of challenges which face the whole of mankind. How can we, as Christ s ambassadors on earth, make sure that we are speaking prophetically into the big issues of our day? Meanwhile, with the season of Lent rapidly passing, may I take this opportunity to wish you all a peaceful and joyful Easter, as we celebrate again the awesome and wonderful truth that Christ is Risen! Yours in his service, Brian Senior He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. (Micah 6:8) 1

2 News, Notices & Events Easter Celebration. The Royal Tunbridge Wells Choral Society is singing in St. Mary's Church Goudhurst and Vale Royal Church Tunbridge Wells on Saturday March 24th at 3.30pm and 7.00pm respectively. The programme includes "The Crucifixion" by Stainer and "Procession of Palms" by Williamson. Classical works of worship in worshipful surroundings! Help Wanted. Christian Mum with health problems requires a personal assistant to help to keep the home running smoothly.. Are you capable, flexible, reliable and trustworthy? If so you may be just the lady I need. I require help with all domestic chores and a companion for social and shopping outings. The vacancy will suit a non-smoking female who holds a full driving license. CRB Check will be required. I can offer 8 per hour up to 9 hours per week. Job share will be considered. Interested? Please call Quoting Ref SPG/KR001 Closing Date: 27 March Table Tennis Top available We have a full sized table tennis top, with net and 4 bats which we don t need anymore. The table is in very good condition and is in two pieces for easy storage. It would obviously need a table to sit on when in use! Please let me know if you are interested. Ring Sue McNamee on Free Ink Cartridges! New Life Church has some Ink Cartridges for a Risograph copier available free to anyone who can use them. Please contact Tony Denyer on Burrswood Appointment Dr Gareth Tuckwell, Medical Director at Hospice in the Weald, has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer at Burrswood and will take up the appointment in the autumn. Gareth was previously Director at Burrswood from 1985 to 1999, and subsequently Regional Director for the Southeast with Macmillan Cancer Care. He is an elder of the Tunbridge Wells Christian Fellowship. 2

3 St. Johns Methodist Church, Vale Road, Southborough We are pleased to announce that internationally acclaimed Christian singer songwriter, Mike Rayson will be performing at the Church on the weekend of March 10 th /11 th. Mike grew up in Australia where he recorded the albums Brand New Day and Sometimes Human. The latter contained the national radio hit, Hey Joe. For the last year, he and his family have lived in the USA. Mike describes his musical style as being somewhere between John Denver and James Taylor but as well as this he is a first-rate and very humorous storyteller. Mike will be performing in concert on Saturday 10 th March at 7.30pm. Tickets are priced at 5 (Under 16s free) and are available on the door or from the contacts below. Mike is also hosting a men s breakfast at the church on Sunday 11 th March at 8.30am, leading the regular morning service at 10.30am and an afternoon seminar at 3pm for preachers and all interested in the leading of worship. Further details can be obtained from Steve Mann (01892) or Paul Carter at the Church Office (01892) Additionally. Mike is leading evening worship on March 11 th at Pembury Baptist Church, Romford Road, Pembury at 6.30pm. Further details can be obtained from their Church Office (01892) Tunbridge Wells Baptist Church We are delighted to have Adam Parkes on staff at TWBC where he is responsible for youth and worship. Sue, his wife, works with Fegans and together it has been a joy not only to see our young people grow in their faith, ministry and service, but also as they become rooted in Christ and committed at TWBC with a greater involvement with other young people across the town, through Kairos (We have 2 on the gap year programme), Youth Forum and joining the TW team going to help at New Wine. We are truly thankful to Chris Wickes and Richard Thomas at St Matthews for spear heading both Kairos and sending teams to help at New Wine. The Marriage Course (Based on Holy Trinity Brompton material and similar in style to Alpha) 30 married folk who have been married between 2 and 34yrs are completing the 7 week course on Tuesday evenings at TWBC. The course speakers/leaders are Duncan and Dilys Threshie who, after a candle lit meal, give some teaching interspersed with video interviews and exercises exclusively for the couples. There are no group discussions and no questions are asked, so as to allow privacy for the couples. It has been a joy to observe marriages being restored and strengthened as well over the last couple of years seeing some come to faith.. This Christian Course is run annually Jan March and we would very much like to offer it to other Christians, Churches and those who do not profess a faith in For more information contact sue.willington@twbc.org.uk. Equally if there are any churches that run the HTB Marriage Preparation course on a similar line we would be delighted to invite folk to your course. Spring Harvest. 70 folk from the church are going to Spring Harvest at Skegness. Stop the Traffic Youth Service. A special youth service with this as the theme will be held on 25 th March at 6.30 pm. All ages are welcome. 3

4 Prayer Lunches The next Prayer Lunch will be at Burrswood on Wednedsay May 16 th. It is hoped that all ministers and CTTW delegates will make this and the other Prayer Lunches a priority. We meet at 12noon and end by 2pm. The dates of subsequent Prayer Lunches are September 13 th at St James Church and November 5 th at Vale Royal. The next United Services will be: United Services Sunday May 27 th (Pentecost) at St John s Church at 7pm. The preacher will be John McLernon, UK Director of People International. Sunday November 18 th at St Luke s Church, when the preacher will be the Rev Steve Mann. Please encourage as many people as possible from your congregation to join us for these united acts of worship and fellowship. United Witness at Easter Saturday April 7 th 11am Once again we are planning to hold our Easter outreach in the town centre on Saturday 7 th April a.m. Last year was felt to be very successful with many positive comments from those who attended and so we are looking forward to meeting with people and reminding them about Easter and its relevance to them today. The format will be very similar to previous years with plenty of opportunity to hold conversation with passers by and offering them a free hot cross bun wrapped in a serviette that explains the meaning behind the bun or a leaflet that hopefully will cause them to consider what this greatest moment in human history is all about. We do need help on the day with various activities so if you feel that you can help then give Rev Brian Senior a call to see what needs doing on the day. The invitation is given to all Christians in Tunbridge Wells to come and join in this powerful witness to the town and show the church united celebrating what Christ has done for all. This year s theme is a very simple one The Power of Love and the leaflet speaks about the willing sacrifice of Christ so that everyone can experience life as God intended. The power of Christ s love for all mankind, a love that is more powerful than anything on earth. Do come and celebrate that love and lets pray that someone s life will experience that life changing power on that day. 4

5 HEALING MINISTRY TRAINING PROGRAMME All the sessions will be held at St Matthew s Church, High Brooms at 8.00pm TUESDAY April 24 th Prayer ministry in action Harry & Sandy Steven, Prayer Ministry leaders at Holy Trinity Church, Cheltenham THURSDAY 7 th June Following in Jesus Footstep Chris Wicks: vicar: St Matthew s Church THURSDAY 21 st June Listening to God Bob Groves: New Wine Ministries THURSDAY 5 th July Why are some people not healed? Brian Woodgate: Chaplain at Burrswood and member of T.W Christian Fellowship THURSDAY 19 th July Binding up the broken-hearted : Helen Steven: Ministry Team co-ordinator & on the Leadership team of St Matthew s Church THURSDAY 6 th September Finding Health in a Disordered Mind Martin Granger: Director Crossways Community & Lay reader at St Mark s Church THURSDAY 4 th October Healing the Dying Gareth Tuckwell, Clinical Director, Hospice in the Weald and elder at TW Christian Fellowship SATURDAY 27 th October Pastoral Prayer Ministry 9.00am 4.45pm Mary Pytches New Wine there will be a charge of 12 for this session to include the cost of a training booklet. Booking form available by request Most of the teaching on the Course will be based on the New Wine model and prayer ministry will be available at the end of all the sessions. Additional leaflets are available from St Matthew s Church Office High Brooms Road Tunbridge Wells TN4 9BW Tel: office@stmattschurch.org.uk 5

6 INFORMATION FROM THE FAIRTRADE TOWN CAMPAIGN GROUP MARCH 2007 OUR LOVE AFFAIR WITH CHOCOLATE! Chocolate is everywhere; newsagents, garages, supermarkets and vending machines. How much Fairtrade chocolate have you seen in any of these places? How many Fairtrade Milk Chocolate Easter Eggs are there for children? The average person spends approximately 1.33 on chocolate per week. Nestle s KitKat bar brings in 143 million a year. Mars Bars bring in 110 million a year. Cadbury s Dairy Milk brings in 93 million a year. However, the average cocoa farmer earns less in a year than a UK family spends on chocolate in a year. The biggest problem for cocoa farmers is that the market price fluctuates so much. In 1998, it was $1236 per tonne, by 2000 it had almost halved to $672 per tonne. This is why Fairtrade Chocolate is so important Fairtrade Chocolate Project Community Art Installation 27 Schools Join The Fairtrade Fortnight Event Tunbridge Wells Town Centre Friday 9 th March Monday 26 th March Calverley Precinct Hunt the Fairtrade Easter Egg Once again we are working with Julian Rowe who was the chief artist on the award winning Tunbridge Wells Gleaners project. This year the Fairtrade Fortnight event is based on the theme of Fairtrade Chocolate! The focus is on chocolate simply because it is a luxury item which we all enjoy without necessarily giving much thought to the desperate plight of those involved in its production. This year marks the 200 th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the UK, however there is a huge body of evidence that shows that it still exists within the chocolate industry today (visit to find out more). Many reports link children to cocoa production where they are forced to work as slaves or in intolerable conditions. The project will therefore have a serious side to it and the schools involved will be considering these issues. The Community Art Project, is due to be installed on Friday 9 th March (during Fairtrade Fortnight), and will remain in place until 26 th March after Freedom Sunday, the anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in the UK. We plan to dress the trees in Calverley Precinct, in Tunbridge Wells with hundreds of papier maché Easter eggs made by students from 27 local schools. Tree dressing is an ancient tradition in many parts of the British Isles, where objects (usually strips of coloured cloth) were hung on trees near to holy wells or other curative sites by those who felt that they had been 6

7 cured. Tree dressing as an art form has recently experienced a revival, we therefore intend to dress the trees in the town with our own homemade eggs. Not only is the Town the home of curative waters, but the general theme of healing fits well with the Fairtrade campaign. Join us and see if you can find the Fairtrade Easter Egg hidden among the hundreds of Easter Eggs created by students from 27 local schools. Visit the exhibition trailer next to the millennium clock to sample free Fairtrade goodies and learn more about the project. March 25 th 2007 is Freedom day Add your voice to the campaign for traffik free chocolate as we mark 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade in the UK. Gloria Thorpe, Jane Clarke, Mandy Flashman-Wells THE PEOPLE OF TUNBRIDGE WELLS CELEBRATE FAIRTRADE TOWN STATUS Join us on Saturday 10 th March at 1.00pm by the Millennium Clock as the Mayor receives the certificate for Fairtrade Town Status on behalf of the People of Tunbridge Wells CTTW Website Please check that the information for your church is correct and up to date! And please also remind members of your churches that the website is a valuable source of information and that Together can be seen and downloaded from it. 7

8 10 March Presentation of Fairtrade Status Certificate to Mayor by Millennium Clock 1.00pm 10 March Mike Raynor Concert (see page 3) St John s Methodist Church, Southborough 7.30pm 24 March Tunbridge Wells Choral Society Easter Celebration St Mary s Church, Goudhurst Tunbridge Wells Choral Society Easter Celebration Vale Royal Church, T.Wells 3.30pm 7.00pm 25 March Stop the Traffic Youth Service 6.30pm T.W.Baptist Church 7 April United Easter Witness in Precinct 11.00am 24 April Start of Healing Ministry Training Programme 8.00pm St Matthew s, High Brooms (Full details and programme on page 5) 16 May Prayer Lunch at Burrswood 12 noon 27 May United Pentecost Service St John s Church, Tunbridge Wells Preacher: John McLernon 7.00pm 13 Sept Prayer Lunch at St James 12 noon 5 Nov Prayer Lunch at Vale Royal including CTTW Annual General Meeting 12 noon 18 Nov United Service at St Luke s Church 7.00pm Preacher: Rev Steve Mann 8

9 All Saints, Langton Green Praise: for completion and use of our new hall. Pray: for complete healing for the vicar s wife, Sally Gentry. Debt Advice Centre Give thanks for the successful completion of the 5 th year of the Centre's ministry carried out on behalf of the town churches in the Name of Jesus Good Neighbour Project Praise: Thank God that the Project is running Pray: 1. For more volunteers; 2. For more referrals with the opportunity to share the Gospel; 3. For referrals with wheelchair access Holy Trinity with Christ Church Praise: For Autumn Alpha Course and the post Alpha courses Pray: 1. For Rev Howard Flint and the congregation; 2. The next Alpha course and post Alpha courses; 3. The development of home groups; 4. Kids for Christ (KFC) growth in Christ Church and for good leaders. New Life Church Praise: For the completion of the 3 rd and final phase of the Church Centre Rusthall United Reformed Church Praise: Give thanks for our new building and the growing relationship with the other churches in Rusthall Pray: That the church will flourish while the ministers are on sabbatical. The Salvation Army Praise: 1. For 2 new adult members; 2. The successful completion of a fundraising effort to raise money to build a well in Zambia Pray for the continuing Alpha courses Praise & Prayer Pray for more room for them! Also for greater involvement with the community. St Luke s Church Praise for adult confirmation group; and for a thriving youth group Pray for very old housebound members. St Mary s, Speldhurst with Ashurst and Groombridge Praise for Spring Harvest Pray: 1 for T.Wells Community Plan; 2. The situation in Zimbabwe. St Philip s Praise for encouraging growth in children s groups Pray: 1. Some key people are moving on and leaving big gaps; 2: for our new administrator. Tunbridge Wells Baptist Church Praise: 1. Marriage course going well; 2: A good Way of the Cross day; 3: Playschool full. Pray for Adam Parkes, Youth Pastor as he gets into his job; 2: Building project (ideas and needs now with architect) Tunbridge Wells Christian Fellowship Praise that everything coming together for the refurbishment of the Centre; Pray that work will proceed as planned. Our last Sunday at the centre will be 11 th March. Pray for our return in a few months. T.W. United Reformed Church Praise that internal reorganisation and redecoration is completed. Pray: 1 for the ministers sabbatical, and for relaxation and re-creation for them; 2: for spiritual growth in congregation, and for greater responsibility. St Augustine's Church Pray for young people who feel they are of no value, that they may know they are of value to God, and that they may be given recognition in society. St John s Church, T.Wells Praise for the growth, enthusiasm and example of our young people. Pray for Dads & Lads Day at Carroty Wood. St James Church Praise for the large number of young people in the church; Vale Royal Methodist Church Praise: 1. Thank God for the life of the church; 2: for the Tuesday lunchtime services Pray: 1: for the Circuit Pilgrimage in May; 2: for Steve s sabbatical West Kent YMCA Praise: 1. for BBC coverage of our work and the needs of young people; 2: new projects in Tonbridge and Edenbridge Pray: 1. For vulnerable young people who feel alienated, or who are trapped by depression, selfharm, drink, drugs and unemployment; 2: for protection of staff; 3: for land for new housing projects across West Kent.