Here is 'The Messenger' downloable for free: September Magazine.
-----
Dear brothers and sisters,
I (Fr Jordan) would like to spend a short time telling you about some of the great things that our parish has been doing over the past few months and to point towards some of the things that are to come. This will be focused, of course, on those events that our parish has led in All Saints’ Church, as this has been where I have spent the majority of my time in recent weeks. Yet it should be noted that these have often been events run by volunteers from across the both churches in the parish, particularly I would like to tell you about the parish holiday club and the parish youth group, which have both started in recent weeks. I write this editorial the day after our first parish holiday club has finished. What an amazing week it has been. As we have led the children through the theme ‘Knights of the King’, we have seen the children come to learn more about God through crafts, dramas, games and time with our community. In so doing, it has been clear that we have shown the children what it means to follow King Jesus through our words and actions. Many of the children who came to the club were already a part of our church community, but over half of those who came have had one of their first experiences of our parish through this club. Over the week it has been a joy to see the club grow and to see children develop their confidence in praising and learning about God. We’ve also seen a number of young leaders step up in caring for younger children over the week, as well as several adult helpers and parents who have said how much this event has helped them to see more hope in the future of our parish. We welcomed over 40 children and young people into our church across the week, and hopefully shall be running similar events in the years to come. It was also fantastic to welcome Bishop Philip at the closing celebration of the holiday club, along with a large number of families of the children who had attended during the week.
This is just one of many successful events that have taken place over the past few months. It has also been fantastic to see our Parish Youth Group grow and develop. We have been pleased to see around 15-20 young people come into church every week as we provide a safe place for them to be together, have food and be in a loving Christian environment. Many young people have begun to come to church multiple times every week through these services; it has been so wonderful to see them grow in their faith. Through all these things we are helping to show the love of Christ to our community.
It is quite clear that there is a lot that can be done with children and young people in our parish, yet we should also remember the wider life of our church. We continue to hold a large number of fundraising events, including coffee mornings and had a very successful beetle drive in All Saints’ church recently. We will shortly be having some great social occasions in the parish, including the parish BBQ at St George’s vicarage on Saturday the 31st August (don’t forget to sign up for food!). There will be a lot more changes coming up over the next few months, including All Saints’ Sunday morning service moving from 8am to 11am, yet through all of the changes we know that God has great plans for our parish. He will keep working to change hearts and minds, to bring people into His church in Chorley. The most important thing that we can all do is to remember to follow Christ our King – as many of the children have been learning this week at our holiday club – through prayer and faith in God. Brothers and sisters, may I encourage you to never stop praying for all that God is doing in this parish, praying is the most important thing you can do as we all continue in the journey of following Christ our King.
Blessings,
Fr Jordan