MAY CHURCH SERVICES
May 3rd9.00 am Holy Communion (BCP), St Andrew’s Kingham
10.45 am Morning Prayer, All Saints’ Churchill (Activities for children)
May 10th
9.00 am Holy Communion (BCP), All Saints’ Churchill
10.45 am Holy Communion, St Andrew's Kingham (Activities for children)
May 17th
9.00 am Holy Communion (BCP), St Andrew’s Kingham
10.45 am Holy Communion, All Saints’ Churchill (Activities for children)
May 24th Pentecost Sunday
9.00 am Holy Communion (BCP), All Saints' Churchill
10.45 am All Age Worship, St Andrew's Kingham (All of us worshipping together)
May 31st
10.45 am Benefice Service at St Mary's Chipping Norton
MAY PRAYER MEETINGS
JUNE CHURCH NEWS. Please send your contributions to
Belinda Armstrong at by the 15th May.
CHURCH NEWS
The Parish Churches of Kingham and Daylesford, and Churchill with Sarsden
MAY 2015Life Before Death by Rev David Salter
Probably the best-known claim of the Christian faith is that God gives life after death to everyone who believes and trusts in Jesus Christ. This is one of the marvellous truths that result from Jesus’ saving work on the first Easter weekend, dying to save us from our sins and rising to show that death is not the end. However, life after death is not the whole story and I’m very glad that Christian Aid has such a thought-provoking slogan, ‘We believe in life – before death.’
Christian Aid week runs from Sunday 10th to Saturday 16th May and we will be collecting money in Churchill and Kingham to help the poor in other parts of the world. If you’d like to join our team of collectors, please let me know. Otherwise, please be ready to give generously when we visit you. In case we don’t visit your home, you can also bring your donation to church on a Sunday morning or drop it in at the Vicarage.
Giving to Christian Aid is an excellent way of demonstrating the love of God for every person in a very practical way. Additionally, you might like to support the new CAP (Christians Against Poverty) debt centre, which is being launched in Chipping Norton on 10th May. Do contact me if you’d like to know more about that.
During May we are also celebrating the spiritual side of life before death. We will be baptising two girls, welcoming them into the church family, and on Sunday 24th we celebrate Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit. It is only through the Holy Spirit living in us, guiding and strengthening us, that we can know the best of all that God has prepared for each one of us.
In one of our readings in May is the best-known verse in the Bible - John 3.16, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ Too often we think that to receive eternal life we first have to die. But when does eternal start?
EASTER FLOWERS
A big Thank You to all the girls who came to decorate All Saint's Church so beautifully. The Communion on Easter Sunday was wondrously uplifted by the gorgeous arrangements. Thank you also to all those who decorated St Andrew's for Easter, it was lovely to see such a good turnout on Easter morning and to see the church looking so wonderful.
TGI Friday – Thank God It’s Friday
TGI Friday is an evening of fun, games, teaching & food! It is open to all in school years 3 - 6. So come along on Friday 8th May, 6.30pm - 7.30 pm at Churchill Village Hall. This month we're considering how God's loving welcome is extended to people of every nation. Please contact David or Sally for further details on 658852.
YOUTH ACTIVITIES
Boys’ Cell Group (for all boys of secondary school age), continues to meet on Wednesday evenings.
Zion (the girls’ group) meets on Sunday evenings. Please do call David Salter (642688) if you would like to know more about joining either group.
HOME GROUPS
The Thursday evening Home Group meets 15A, West Street, Kingham at 7.30 pm. This term we are studying "Paul's Letters in the context of his 3 journeys". We will meet on 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th May
The Tuesday morning fellowship group which meets at 2 Blacksmith Court, Kingham, home of Brenda & John Ingram will continue to meet for each Tuesday in May from 10.00 am to 12 noon.
LUNCH CLUBS
Kingham Lunch Club will meet on Thursday 21st May at 12 noon in Kingham Village Hall.
Churchill Luncheon Club - The April lunch saw the members feasting on Venison casserole with trimmings, followed by Lemon Meringue pie. Members were shown photos of South African birds with special sound effects !
The May luncheon will be on Tuesday May 26th at 12 noon, please phone Joyce Woods (tel: 658738)to cancel or to join as a member.
TUESDAY CIRCLE
The group for ladies of all ages meets on Tuesday 5th May at 2.30 pm in the Methodists Church, Churchill. Holy Communion will be led by the Rev Stephen Bywater.
MEN ONLY BREAKFAST (MOB)
MOB will meet again on Saturday 20th June 8.15 am (for an 8.30 am start) at the Mill House Hotel, Kingham. Further details will be in the Church News next month. Please book ahead. The cost is £8 plus tips and something to cover the speaker’s breakfast. Please book your places with Ian Henderson as usual (01608 678348 or ).
MAY MORNING
The May Morning celebrations have had to be cancelled this year but we hope to resume next year.
Thank You to Keith Gowing
At Churchill APCM in April we re-appointed John Armstrong and newly appointed Jon Uglow as churchwardens for the parish of Churchill with Sarsden. This marks the end of an era for me, as Keith Gowing has stepped down as churchwarden after 12 years in the post. He and John were wardens when I arrived and he’s been a marvellous help to me personally, as well as being wise, calm and efficient in every situation in the church. Keith remains PCC treasurer, a post which he has also held throughout his term as churchwarden, amazingly, for which I’m very grateful. On behalf of the church, as well as myself, a hearty thank you Keith.
We welcome Jon Uglow who now joins John Armstrong as churchwarden. Jon grew up in Cornwall but has known Churchill all his life as his maternal family home. A Christian from his teens, Jon now lives in the village with Lore, Reuben and Jolyon working in the area as a garden designer for Nicholsons.
He also set up and chairs the Rafiki Thabo Foundation – a charity enabling students to get an education in Africa, based now in Kingham.
Thank You to David Townsend
Last autumn David Townsend retired from digging the graves in Kingham churchyard. The date of our APCM (13th April) marked 51 years since he dug his first grave there. As well as this huge physical effort, (he always dug the graves by hand,) David maintains a marvellous memory of the families of Kingham, which has been enormously valuable to me. From Kingham & Daylesford PCC, and from me, thank you David.
Women's Event - Mary's Kitchen
If you’d like to help prepare meals to be frozen, ready to be given to people in need, please contact Nicola Riley () or St Mary’s church office (646302) for details of Mary’s Kitchen on Tuesday 12th May. It’s a lot of fun to cook together and a very practical way of demonstrating God’s love.
Men's Ministry
Men’s Breakfast – Saturday 16th May: 8.30-10am at St Mary’s Parish Rooms, Chipping Norton. Eat, have a talk, discuss it and pray together.
Men’s Film Night – Friday 22nd May: 7.30pm at the Bells’ house. Fish and Chips followed by a film. Please contact Jamie or David Bishop (below) to book.
To be added to the mailing list for men’s events please email David Bishop ()
METHODIST CHURCH - CHURCHILL
All our services in March will begin at 11 am as usual and are as follows:
On May 3rd our service of Holy Communion will be led by Rev. Stephen Bywater.
On May 10th the service will be led by Mr. David Lunn.
On May 17th Miss Mary Newman will be our preacher.
On May 24th the service will be led by Mr Martin Hannant.
On May 31st we will welcome Rev Malcolm Cook to preach.
We look forward to welcoming our excellent preachers and extend a welcome to anyone who would like to join us for these services
Craft Fellowship meets on Tuesday 12th May from 2.30 - 4.30 pm.
Bookswap Coffeeshop is open on Monday 25th May from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.