Burn Park Road, Sunderland, SR2 7JH http://burnparkmethodistchurch.weebly.com/

Dear Friends,

If you don’t mind I would like to tell you about something that happened a

few weeks ago.

I am sure that you don’t need me to tell you that fewer and fewer people are

attending church these days, however I am not convinced that this reflects the spiritual

state of people in our communities. It clearly says something about how most people

view the church, but that’s a different thing. I am firmly convinced that there is a

growing hunger amongst many people to talk about the “Big Questions” in life. Who

we are, where we are going, what is life really all about.

The gulf between organised religion and people’s spiritual aspirations was

brought home to me when I was asked to conduct the funeral of a beautiful, vibrant

young lady. It began with a message from the Funeral Directors “We have a family who

don’t want a religious service and we thought of you!” I am not sure what that said

about me, but that was beside the point.

As I sat with her loved ones, I soon found myself sharing in a conversation

about Angels and Heaven and what life really means. It soon became clear that what

they really wanted wasn’t a “Churchy” service from which they would feel

disconnected. What they were looking for was a sense of hope, and promise with which

they could connected. They wanted prayers, they wanted to sing, they wanted to hear

someone say that death was not a final ending – but in a way they could feel a part of.

It was an amazing and poignant service. One in which I certainly felt God’s

Spirit at work. In one of the conversations afterwards a man, who told me that he was

an atheist, had the grace to say to me “I need to rethink my position. This is not how I

pictured God of Christianity. You have made me think” Well, HE made ME think about

how we connect with people.

If we simply sit in church waiting for everyone to appear, well we will soon

be sitting all alone. Strange as it may sound, discussing the meaning of life in a pub, or

a café, or in the supermarket or offering words of hope on the saddest of days, is much

closer to what Jesus did than trying to get people into church.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not against the church, of course not. But for me

the true essence of faith is not in buildings or religious activities, but in making

connections with people who are searching. Being open and willing to listen to

someone’s story and hold it lovingly. It’s about being ready to be challenged and

changed as we see God at work in the lives of others. It’s about discovering God in the

depths of the world. In friendship, meals shared, acts of compassion, and even in the

saddest days of life. It’s about encountering a God who is so much bigger that anything

we can imagine, yet at the same time is as close to us as life itself.

In Christ,

Rosemary X

Reflect upon your present blessings,

of which every man has many:

not on your past misfortunes,

of which all men have some.

Charles Dickens

Autumn is the season that teaches us

that change can be beautiful. The trees are showing us

how lovely it is to let the dead things go.

19th September 2018

Hi everyone,

It’s true the old saying that time flies when you’re enjoying yourself. Our

holiday away was at the beginning of June and now it’s just a pleasant memory. Of course

we’ve all had lots of lovely weather everywhere and that’s helped to make lots of events

go off successfully, such as the Tall Ships and the Air Show. It was a glorious day when

the new Northern Spire Bridge opened for pedestrians and we were allowed to walk over

it. What a thrill to stand under the central arch, to look up and to know that it was a

historic day which we had been there to see. I met a few women who had attended Castle

View Secondary School at the same time I had. We were able to remember the teachers

names and what they looked like.

We walked across the bridge from the south side, past Sainsburys and up to

North Hylton Road where we took a bus to Southwick. Here we changed buses and went

to Highcliffe where my mother lives. We showed her the photos and told her that we had

walked over the new bridge. She was quiet and pleasant that day but was soon tired out

with our visit and was soon snoring her head off. So we said our goodbyes and left her in

peace.

She was wide awake when I visited her last Friday. I met my brother Peter,

wheeling Mam in her wheelchair towards the lift to go upstairs. The home had arranged a

rock and roll afternoon with a singer with his guitar. They had also invited Cherry Hewson

as a guest who was playing at the Empire Theatre. She has been in Coronation Street and

played the hotel manageress in the series Benidorm. We all had our photos taken with her.

I danced Mam round the floor in her wheelchair and she was singing along to the music.

That was a very happy afternoon. Today when we went to see her, she was in bed snorting

loudly, so we decided not to disturb her and came back home. I had a nap before singing

rehearsal with Park Productions. We have now been given music and words for all the

songs, now we just have to become familiar with them. These are for the concerts on 9th

and 10th November to commemorate the 100th Anniversary of the end of World War I. I

enjoyed singing tonight, time flew; Oops.

Before the concerts, there’s another date to remember, 5pm 29th September. It’s

a party for everyone, a faith tea (bring something to share), scarecrow making, games and

fun. Then the next day there will be Harvest Festival celebration worship led by Rosemary

Nash, with scarecrow display.

We have a meeting of the development committee this Saturday at the Manse

to talk about Christmas celebrations. Park Productions have a date for carol singing at the

3 homes. It’s 8th December, starting at Highcliffe Care Home, then onto Keelboat Lodge

and finishing at Dovecote Meadow.

My garden at home has taken a right bashing with the wind and gradually I am

cutting down the amount of plants. I don’t have the strength to keep up with it and all the

other things I am doing, but I’m not getting rid of it all yet.

Oh well, I’d better get back to making poppies for our concert.

Bye for now,

Lots of love,

Junexxxxx

You can discover more about a person in an

hour of play than in a year of conversation

Plato

November

None known

October 10th Kathleen Carter

20th John Carter

23rd Wendy Dillarstone

Can we celebrate your special day too? All you have to do is fill in the form and place them in the gold box at the back of the Church; spare forms to fill in are on the side of the box.

October

7th Elma & Melvyn Morgan

November 13th Olive Bevan

Page 7

Once upon a time there were two neighbours. One was a businessman and the other was a retired teacher. Both were fond of gardening, and by coincidence decided to plant the same plants in each of their respective gardens. When they did this, the retired teacher took some care of his plants,

but didn’t give them too much attention. The businessman, on the other hand, being extremely meticulous, gave a lot of attention to detail, and took very good care of the plants; feeding them regularly, and tending to their every need. Then, one evening, there was a storm with some heavy rain. On getting up the next morning, the

businessman and retired teacher went into their gardens to check on the plants and to see if any damage had been done with the heavy rain. The businessman was shocked to see that his well-tended plants had actually been quite badly damaged in the storm, whereas the retired teacher’s plants had fared much better and had suffered much less damage. This confused the businessman as he had spent much more time tending his plants, focussing more closely on their growth, and caring for them.

He approached the retired teacher, asking, “Why is it that my plants did not survive the storm, while yours did?”

The retired teacher, who had much wisdom, shared this with his neighbour. “Because you were giving such close attention and focus to your plants, they became extra-dependent on you. They needed you for their survival. Because I kept more of a distance, and allowed my plants to find their own nutrients, they developed their own strong roots and were able to survive the storm.”

The same is true for us; often we wonder why people are not giving us help, why they are not investing in us and why they are not supporting us the way we would like them to. What we must realise is that sometimes it is that distance which allows us to grow. It allows us to grow much deeper and much stronger than we would if they helped us through every detail. So next time you are feeling neglected, unsupported or unnourished by the people around you, that is your opportunity to invest in yourself; to grow deeper roots, to build your own confidence, to stand on your own two feet.

Or maybe we need to learn to let go, and allow someone else the space to grow on their own, rather than smothering them with too much help.

Page 8

Why are we Methodists? And a few thoughts from me!

A couple of months ago I asked members of Rosemary’s three churches to fill in

questionnaires about why we were Methodists. I received 17 replies. Looking at our

congregations you will not be surprised

to find that 13 of these were completed

by women and that 12 of the

respondents were over 70 with the

remaining 5 in the 50-70 age group.

What has happened to the younger

generations in our churches and why

are membership numbers falling so

rapidly? The statistics for mission

report to the 2017 Conference tells us

that the year on year decline in

numbers over the decade to 2016 is

3.5%. Up until the 1990’s the main

difficulty in keeping members was new members leaving or drifting away, now the main

loss comes from the death of committed members.

The first question that I asked about when people became Methodist showed that the

group was evenly divided between those who had been brought up as Methodist (family

tradition) and those who had joined the Church later as adults (mainly in their 30-40s).

Most of these who joined later said that they had come from another denomination or that

the church was closer and stayed committed to the Methodist Church.

Three people came into the church because someone significant to them was

Methodist.

Two thirds of our over 70 group came into the church as young children in the

Sunday school being brought by family members. These then progressed up through the

church becoming and staying committed members.

So why, if tradition is so important to so many of us in the Church do we not have

our own young people following us through the Church? Sadly, I know from experience

that young people move away after Sunday school and rarely return. My own two children

no longer attend church, one having been a member and the other leaving after Sunday

school. Today, there are so many other activities for young people to fit into life that

church has been squeezed out. This has resulted in a missing age group of about 20 -45 in

many congregations. Without this age group we are less likely have a source of young

children to come into Sunday school. Teaching the Christian message to children is now

more difficult than ever. Church holiday clubs and Churches going into schools with

incentives such as The Bible Society’s ‘Open the book’ are needed to spread the Word.

Page 9

Getting young people into church buildings for other activities such as Scouts are also an

important means of establishing the church in the community.

My other questions asked what we enjoyed about Methodist worship and how it

made a difference to us in our daily lives. The 1933 Methodist Hymn Book records that

“Charles Wesley wrote the first hymns of the Evangelical Revival of 1738 when he and

his brother John were ‘filled with the spirit’”. Ever since that time Methodists have never

ceased to sing so it was pleasing to find that hymn singing was one of the things that we

most enjoyed about Methodist worship.

Maybe I should have asked

what type of hymns we find the most

enjoyable. In our ‘Singing the faith’

hymn book we have a wide variety of

hymns for all occasions be it

traditional or more contemporary

allowing us to have different forms of

worship. Of those who answered the

question about variety of worship,

most stated that they preferred

traditional worship but were open to

other forms as well. Many churches around our circuit have different styles of worship on

a regular basis. Do we try them or is it easier to stay in the comfort of our own church?

Having different preachers to lead worship was an enjoyment for many of us

providing diversity in presentation of the Word in preaching and Bible reading. It was

mentioned that each preacher brought different views and gifts to worship. God speaks to

each of us in many different ways. We need to stay focused on the Word of God to

maintain our calling as Methodist people. When asked what does belonging to the

Methodist Church mean to our daily life, Bible reading, and prayer discipline did not score

particularly highly. The paper ‘Our Calling: the future call of the Methodist Church’

suggests that to develop a Methodist Way of Life we should as far as we are able ‘pray

daily, worship regularly and learn more of God and God’s world’. Do we need to develop

a more disciplined approach to study? Join a Bible study group?

Another point in Our Calling focuses on

practising friendship and care for others

and ourselves. This sense of belonging

to a family is very important to us all

and should be encouraged. The church

is somewhere where we are among

friends, people who are like us and

think like us. What we need is to bring

others into our family to share this sense

of belonging and know with us the love

of Christ. We feel close to God in our

fellowship, we must witness this love of

God in Jesus to those around us making

new disciples and helping each other to

Page 10

become better disciples. We need to link our membership of the Methodist Church to a

Methodist way of life so that we obtain a deeper commitment to Christ rather than feeling

our membership is solely about property upkeep and financial giving. The report Our

Calling gives us hope and a plan to carry on responding to the gospel of God’s love. We

need to carry this out so that others are able to enjoy what we have had as Methodists. Are

we ready?

Now that you have had a chance to see what makes

our churches, what do you think?

I would love to get some feedback on this

Now that you have had a chance to see the results,

what do you think?

I would love to get some feedback on this.

Many thanks to all of you who took part.

If you want to read Our Calling go to

https://www.methodist.org.uk/media/8876/conf-reaffirming-our-calling-discussion-paper-

2018.docx

A Page for all the family

New Testament

Bible Trivia Quiz 1. In what city was Jesus born?

2. How many books are in the New Testament?

3. What type of insect did John the Baptist eat in the desert?

4. Who were the first apostles called to follow Jesus?

5. How many people did Jesus feed with five loaves of bread and two fish?

6. After Jesus was arrested, which apostle disowned him three times?

7. Who recognized Jesus as the Messiah when he was presented at the Temple as a

baby?

10 SECOND SERMONS: When I was young, I used to admire intelligent

people; as I grow older, I admire kind people.

Abraham Joshua Heschel

What do you think?

Page 11

8. Who asked Pilate for Jesus’ body after the crucifixion?

9. Paul was shipwrecked on what island?

10. What is the shortest book in the New Testament?

11. Who is the author of the Book of Revelation?

12. Matthew was a _________.

13. To what city was Saul traveling when he encountered a great and blinding light?

14. Who was the first person to come upon the injured man in the parable of the Good

Samaritan?

15. Finish this verse. “In every battle you will need faith as your ______ to stop the

fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.”

16. Whose example does Paul say Christians should follow in Chapter 5 of Ephesians?

17. After Jesus fed the people with two fish and five loaves of bread, how many baskets

were left over?

18. What does Paul say may “abound more and more in knowledge and in all

judgment?”

19. What tribe is Paul from?

20. According to the Beatitudes who will be filled?

21. What does Simon Peter do for a living before he becomes an apostle?

22. In the Gospel of Mark, how does the Virgin Mary learn of her pregnancy?

23. Who is Stephen in Acts of the Apostles?

24. According to the Gospel of Matthew, who visits Jesus at his birth and where does

this meeting take place?

25. By what name is Paul of Tarsus known before he begins his missionary activity?

26. According to Paul’s formulation in 1 Corinthians, which is the greatest of the

imperishable qualities?

27. Who is the high priest of Jerusalem who put Jesus on trial?

28. In the Gospel According to John, which of the apostles doubts Jesus’s resurrection

until he sees Jesus with his own eyes?

29. According to the Gospel of Matthew, where does Jesus’s first public sermon take

place?

30. In the Gospel of John, for whom does Mary Magdalene mistake Jesus in his first

resurrection appearance?

31. How does Judas signal Jesus’s identity to the Roman officials?

32. Who murders John the Baptist?

33. When Christians observe Palm Sunday, what biblical narrative are they celebrating?

34. According to the Gospels, what is the unique literary genre Jesus employs to preach

his message?

35. Which Gospel is most concerned with the mystery and identity of the person of

Jesus?

36. Who baptizes Jesus?

37. Who takes Jesus’s body off the cross?

38. Who is the first apostle to deny Jesus?

39. Which Gospel is written by a doctor?

40. Who wrote most of the books in the New Testament?

(Answers on page 16)

Page 12

The Prayer as a revolutionary act George Orwell wrote that “In a time of universal deceit,

telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” Those words ring

truer today than when Orwell imagined a dystopian future as he

wrote 1984 in the last months of the second world war.

I think we could explore together what that might mean

today but I want to consider a different idea. I wonder if we

might say that ‘in a time of universal cynicism, prayer becomes a

revolutionary act?’

Christians have at times been criticized for praying for a

better world whilst doing little to bring about transformation. And sometimes we

have despaired of knowing what to do other than pray in the face of complex

systems that oppress the poor – systems of which know we are a part and which

we find it impossible to extricate ourselves.

Prayer seems like a last resort, all that is left to us, what else can we do? Like

the disciples on the lake in a storm, we wait until the water is threatening to sink

us before we turn to Christ in our fear and frustration.

Yet I want to argue that prayer is not such a small thing, it is not to be

approached lightly and it should be the first port of call, not the last thing we try

when all else has failed.

We might take inspiration from Susanna Wesley, mother of John and

Charles Wesley, the founders of Methodism. She knew that prayer was not a

trivial matter,

"Enable me, O God, to collect and compose my thoughts before an

immediate approach to Thee in prayer. May I be careful to have my mind in

order when I take upon myself the honour to speak to the sovereign Lord of the

universe."

Prayer is, of course, not just intercession and even intercession should not

be a list of demands from some sort of Father Christmas who will grant our wishes

if we behave well enough. To pray is to be intentionally present to God, as God is

always present to us. It is to be open to the prompting of God’s Spirit in our hearts

and minds, to be at one with the divine love at the heart of all creation – if that’s

not revolutionary, I don’t know what is!

Being in this meeting house {Quaker} we also remember that prayer need

not involve words – rather a stilling of oneself, a mutual communication between

creator and created; between beloved and lover; between the human and the

divine.

Page 13

Prayer is a revolutionary act because it is a declaration that we believe

change is possible. I remember all those years when we prayed for the end of

apartheid, for peace in Northern Ireland and for Nelson Mandela’s release. Who

can say how many opinions were changed because of public prayer, year after

year, reminding worshippers of the bigger context in which we practice our

faith? How much did prayer contribute to the success of those campaigns? It’s

not easy to measure but our prayers were part of the picture, a statement of

belief about the kind of world we want to live in and our faith that God can work

through us to make it possible.

Prayer is a revolutionary act because it

declares that we are not merely individuals

with our own views and needs but that we join

in with a world-wide body, connected to

each other and connected through God. I

remember being in Russia some years ago. On

the Sunday I went to a Methodist Church and

felt very at home – not just because the

notices were longer than the sermon! As I

walked in someone was playing the tune of

‘One more step along the world I go’ on an

out of tune piano and the flowers were in a

vase made from an old plastic soft drink bottle. In the midst of the mundane and

largely uninspiring, I found myself praying with people who spoke no English, as I

spoke no Russian; and in that space we were connected. God heard all our

prayers regardless of the words used. The following day I visited an Orthodox

church, entering the building just as the choir sang, Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus –

holy, holy, holy and suddenly I was in the temple with Isaiah and the glory of

God’s train filled the place and tears poured down my non-conformist cheeks as

I was transported into the divine presence. The liturgy in that place had

remained unchanged for hundreds of years and somehow managed to speak

to my modern heart and connected me not just with Christians of this century

but also with the people of God all the way back to the day the prophet

received his call in God’s temple.

Prayer is a revolutionary act because it is an act of empathy. When the

assumption of many world leaders and most of the media is that the spirit of the

age is ‘everyone for themselves and let the devil take the hindmost’ – empathy is

the opposite. It recognises the other, values the other’s needs and recognises

that God’s heart is not with those who exploit the poor and vulnerable but that it

is with those spoken of by Jesus in Luke 4. God longs to draw to our attention the

poor, the captive, the blind and the oppressed. To pray is the starting point of

proclaiming the year of the Lord’s favour – prayer leads to jubilee. Prayer can be

an act of solidarity, holding before God those who need support and in doing so

reminding ourselves of our own need for prayer.

When we pray we really do need to listen more than we speak. As it says in

the Epistle of James, be quick to listen and slow to speak – that is as meaningful

Page 14

in the context of prayer as it is in our human communications. When we listen to

God, when we come close to God’s heart, we cannot fail to hear God’s longing

for the wellbeing of the orphan, the widow, the refugee. If our hearts beat with

the passion of God, then prayer can only lead to action. When drawn into the

heart of God we cannot fail to join in with God’s agenda of radical grace and

transforming hope.

True prayer leads not to a sense of having done our bit but to a profound

longing to transform the world, restoring it to the good creation which is God’s

gift to the created.

Finally, I want to say that prayer is a revolutionary act because it is poetry.

As a poet and a liturgist, I might be seen as a bit biased about this! Prayer is

poetry in the face of a world where words are used as weapons or only have

value if they help you pass exams in an education system of narrow curricula

aimed at feeding more human material into a broken system. Poetry can be a

decanting of human experience, capturing that which is too big or complex for

us to understand or fully express, in a few words.

Prayer is a cry in the dark,

a child’s longing for home,

and a hollowed soul’s seeking of fulfilment.

Prayer is a two-fingered salute

to the hope-less cynicism of endless false promises

and a bunting-waving celebration of love in action.

Prayer is a sacred space,

found in the midst of the unholiest of battlegrounds

and in the desolation of loss.

Prayer is a memory

of long lost conversations with wise elders

and an exuberance of youthful anticipation.

Prayer is a shared longing,

a whispered dream

and an open conversation.

Prayer is a revolutionary act

It is hope in despair

And a grace-filled weaving of love’s intent.

May God bless us with the desire to pray, that we might better act, for the sake

of all. Amen.

Michaela Youngson

(President of the Methodist Conference)

September 2018 (Prayer Breakfast – Labour Party Conference)

Page 15

The Lord Who Passes By The world will shift around you till you’re shaken to the core the wind will move the mountains with a loud primeval roar thunderstorms surround you and the lightning rips the sky -

but listen for the whisper of the Lord who’s passing by.

The wildfire moves across you taking ev’rything you know the raging tides approach you - but there comes a quiet glow

and as the morning breaks the Lord will hear your helpless cry as you listen for the whisper that means He is passing by.

O Lord, You are Omnipotent, You know ev’ry grain of sand You hide me in a cleft of rock, You hold me in Your hand. And as the darkness fades, let me hear that faintest sigh, that smallest, gentle whisper of the Lord, who passes by.

by Pippa Wood © 2018

Page 16

Answers to the Biblical Quiz: H

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22

23

24

25

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27

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29

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31

32

33

34

35

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☻ ☻ ☻ ☻ ☻

So you think English is an easy language:

1. The bandage was wound around the wound.

2. The farm was used to produce produce.

3. The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4. We must polish the Polish furniture.

5. He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6. The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.

7. Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time

to present the present.

Page 17

8. A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9. When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10. I did not object to the object.

11. The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12. There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13. They were too close to the door to close it.

14. The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15. A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer.

16. To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17. The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18. Upon seeing the tear in the painting, I shed a tear.

19. I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20. How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

I used to be addicted to

the Hokey Cokey, but I

turned myself around.

And that's what it's all

about.

☺ ☺ ☺ My husband asked me

if I could please stop

singing 'Wonderwall'.

I said maybe …

I thought my wife was

joking when she said

she'd leave me if I

didn't stop singing 'I'm

A Believer'.

Then I saw her face …

Page 18

☺ ☺ ☺ Just ate a frozen apple. Hardcore.

I told my friend she drew her eyebrows too high.

She seemed surprised.

Preachers at Burn Park for October & November:

Important Dates to note around and about: Mon 1 Oct: 7:15 p.m.: Burn Park: Church Council Meeting

Sat 13 Oct: 3 p.m.: Cleadon Methodist Church: Sunderland Circuit MWiB

Bible Auction

Sat 13 Oct at 3 p.m. & Sun 14 Oct at 5:30 p.m.: South Hetton I.M. Christian

Endeavour Rally

Tue 16 – Fri 19 Oct: 7:15 p.m.: Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee: Murton Theatre

Group “Half a Sixpence”: tickets £10

Thu 18 Oct: 2 p.m.: John Carter’s house: Bible Study

Sat 20 Oct: 10 a.m. – 12 noon: Burn Park: monthly Coffee Morning

Sun 28 Oct: 6 p.m.: Whitburn Methodist Church: Circuit Service to say

farewell and Thank You to the Alpha Group

Thu 1 Nov: 4 – 5:15 p.m.: Wesley Study Centre, Durham: presentation by

Stuart Bell “Dispelling the Myths: Church and Faith in the Great War”

October 7th Mrs Suzy Wake

14th Mrs Joyce Howe

21st Local Arrangements

28th Mrs Maureen Simpson

November 4th Miss Joyce Hindmarch

11th Rev Rosemary Nash Sacrament

18th Mr Bob Howarth

25th Rev Michael Holland Church Anniversary

Page 19

Sat 3 Nov: Workshop 2:30 - 5:30 p.m.: Service 7 p.m.: Heaton Methodist

Church: District Music Society Event

Thu 6 Nov: 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.: Bethany City Church, Bede Tower: Action

Hosting Open Evening

Wed 7 Nov: 10 a.m.: Brunswick Methodist Church: Newcastle District MWiB

celebration

Thu 8 Nov: 7:30 p.m.: Stockton-on-Tees Baptist Church: “Left to their own

devices?” power up your parenting for the online generation

Fri 9 Nov at 7:15 p.m. & Sat 10 Nov at 3:30 p.m.: Park Productions “WWI

Memorial Centenary Concert”: Tickets £5 (£3 under 16s)

Thu 15 Nov: 2 p.m.: John Carter’s house: Bible Study

Sat 17 Nov: 10 a.m. – 12 noon: Burn Park: monthly Coffee Morning

Sun 18 Nov: 2 p.m. & 6:30 p.m.: Harraton Community Centre: “Down the

Tubes”: tickets £7

Tue 20 – Fri 23 Nov: 7:15 p.m.: Seaham Town Hall: Vane Tempest Theatre

Group: “A Christmas Carol”: tickets £8 in advance, £10 on door

Sat 24 Nov: 10:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.: Burn Park: “Nativity Scenes from Around

the World” display in church, with entertainment by pupils from Argyle

House School, Christmas Fayre in hall, refreshments to be served & visit

Santa in his grotto.

Sun 25 Nov: 6 p.m.: Castletown Methodist Church: Circuit Service of

Healing and Wholeness

Thu 29 Nov: 7:30 p.m.: Dunston Activity Centre: Stuart Townend & Band: The

Courage Tour: tickets £12

Wed 12 Dec: 7 p.m.: Burn Park: Carol Service for all groups using the

premises

Sat 22 Dec: from 6 p.m.: Park Productions Carol Singing evening

Advance Notice:

Sat 8 Jun: 10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.: Chester-le-Street Methodist Church: ECG &

Thy Kingdom Come Prayer event for all ages – workshops &

celebrations

Tue 2 – Fri 5 July 2019: Minsteracres Retreat Centre: MWiB Area 3 Event:

booking form & information on notice board

For more details about these and other events,

please see your weekly printed notices or Circuit Plan

.

If you have any notices to be published, or articles for the next magazine, please contact Suzy Wake

at Church, tel: 5226257, by e-mail on WaSus654@aol.com, or at 119, Tunstall Rd, by 9 p.m. Thursday.

Page 20

BURN PARK CHURCH MISSION STATEMENT

Burn Park Methodist Church exists to worship God,

and make the Love of Jesus known,

in our welcome, outreach, and care for all. Minister: Rev. Rosemary Nash: Tel: 0191 5652221

93, Dunelm, SR2 7QX: revnash@hotmail.com

Circuit Safeguarding Officer: Margaret Brown 0191 5285069

brown1792003@yahoo.co.uk

Regional Child Protection Officer: Carolyn Godfrey tel: 07534346374

email ne.methodist.safeguarding@gmail.com

Regular Events at this Church: Sunday

10.30 a.m. Morning Worship & Sunday Club

11.00 a.m. Mustard Seed Church led by Pastor Sunday Raji

1.00 p.m. – 3:00 pm Deeper Life Church Worship

6.00 p.m. Churches Together Drop-In for Homeless

people

Tuesday

11.00 a.m. – 1.30 p.m. Lunch Club

7.30 p.m. - 9.00 p.m. Park Productions

Wednesday

6.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m. Deeper Life Church Bible Study

Thursday

10 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. Coffee@Burn Park

1.00 p.m. - 3.45 p.m. Stroke Club

2.00 p.m. Bible Study (3rd week of month)

6.00 p.m. - 8.00 p.m. Beavers, Cubs, & Scouts

Friday

9.30 a.m. – 11.00 a.m. Toddlers Group

4.00 p.m. – 9.00 p.m. Ballet Classes

Saturday

10.00 a.m. – 12 noon Coffee Mornings (3rd week of month)

To book rooms for an event,

please contact Melvyn Morgan on Tel: 5251930.