Dear friends,
This comes with our very best wishes in these difficult days. Like for many of you, a lot has changed for us over the last few months. Arleen’s mother became very unwell at the end of November so Mark picked up Arleen’s English classes in Moldova as well as his own while she returned to Northern Ireland to support her mum. Mark was well looked after meanwhile, by the Cahul church family and teaching staff, with gifts of meals and goodies often coming his way.

Since January mum has been having chemotherapy for myeloma and thankfully there has been some improvement.  In February Arleen’s sister came to stay, which allowed Mark and Arleen a few days away at the beautiful Co Antrim coast and we had some wonderful walks along the beaches. Through this time, we have had many encouragements despite the pressures. A book ‘If it’s not too much trouble’ by Ann Benton helped to give insight into the issues surrounding the care of elderly family members and the value of serving in this way. Although we don’t have clarity on a longer-term plan it seems right for Arleen to remain in this role and review the situation in early summer.
The English classes seemed to be thriving and one class met Mark for a Sunday afternoon walk to explore secret Cahul. A network of underground tunnels used by the Turks is being excavated and they had a look at those, finishing off in a café for tea and cake. Relationships have deepened and we have become very fond of so many of these young people.

We, like everyone else have now been overtaken by events surrounding Covid 19. Mark felt it right to return to the UK when the schools closed and lessons stopped mid-March. He had one of the last few flights leaving Moldova and stayed in Wellingborough for a few days before taking one of the last few flights from England to NI. He’s now very good at packing quickly!

For the past four weeks we have been together in Antrim. Arleen continues to care for her mother and Mark has started to teach some online lessons with the students in Moldova. Zoom is wonderful and it has been a real privilege to maintain and develop contact with these young people, who are very appreciative of the support. Last weekend was Easter in Moldova and we were able to share a message of resurrection hope with the students and were so pleased to have some lovely responses.

We have much to thank the Lord for-

• for your prayers and friendship. We love to hear what is going on in your lives too.
• for mum’s improved pain control and the fantastic healthcare team who treat her.
• for the love demonstrated to us both in Moldova and the UK.
• for the Lord’s care and protection on our complicated travels, by coach, plane, train, boat…

Please continue to pray –

• that many students will hear and receive the good news of the Saviour
• that the church in Cahul will reach those in need and the summer youth camps will go ahead

• for the other teachers, especially the local ones who face many pressures at this time
• for wisdom, strength and peace as we consider what the Lord would have us do

With our very best wishes,  Mark and Arleen

Zoom

1. Leaders to set up zoom meeting.
2. Meeting link, Id, Date and time to only be shared in an email or closed groups
3. For children and youth, parents to be the point of contact
4. If zooming with under 18s, two leaders with DBS need to be present.
5. Any screenshots of the zoom call to be taken only with participants expressed permission. For under 18s this needs to be their parents permission.
6. Zoom chat with under 18s have to be addressed to everyone and monitored by the leaders.
7. When there is a disclosure of safeguarding risk follow existing parish safeguarding guidelines.

Facebook use

1. Facebook pages are a public platform.
2. Page admins to monitor content and to delete anything deemed unhelpful.
3. Church members to not engage in debate with unfriendly posts.
4. Adults to not accept any friend requests from those under 18.
5. Any messages conveyed over chat boxes to those under 18 need to be in a group with adults that have DBS.
6. Photos shared over Facebook for under 18 must have permission from parents.

Steve Benoy writes….
One of the things which we often miss out on around this time of year is fully remembering the events of what we call Holy Week.  Because we usually gather on a Sunday, unless we are intentional about it, we go from one service full of praises as we remember Jesus entering Jerusalem to the shouts of Hosanna, to another service the following Sunday  where it’s all Thine be the glory and Alleluia Christ is risen!

Even this forgets that on Palm Sunday, dark clouds of opposition to Jesus are growing gloomier by the minute, and the bright rays of resurrection the following week actually were utterly confusing to the first disciples.  And in between, there has been the utter emptiness and loss of Friday.

We talk about being a Christian as walking with Jesus.  Perhaps this year, our circumstances might allow us to walk with him, just a step further each day.  And perhaps our resurrection joy might grow from different, richer soil on Sunday.

From time to time we speak of Jesus as the man born to die.  At Christmas time we celebrate the birth of the Saviour, but even then it can be tempting to move quickly in our minds from the vulnerable baby and linger instead on the wounded man, the irony of the carpenter nailed to a piece of wood.

Can you imagine what it must have been like for Jesus to know his fate from the beginning?  We live in uncertain times.  We make plans all the time but now more than ever we see how temporary they are.  We’ve made plans, got our goals, nurture our ambitions & dreams, but then reality happens.

Jesus, the Word made flesh, knew his fate from the beginning. It is written, the Christ will suffer and rise,  He said.

He knew three years before when the devil had tempted him in the desert, offering a shortcut to glory, an alternative kingdom.  All this I will give you if you bow down and worship me.   He knew to the point where he warned his disciples what would take place during that first Easter week, not once but three times.    The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected and killed and three days later will rise.  He knew when he pleaded with his Heavenly Father, sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane take this cup of suffering away, yet not my will, but yours be done.

I’ve been reading John’s gospel through Lent, and one of the themes in John’s gospel is how the cross is described as a moment of glory.  Jesus repeatedly spoke of it as the time when he would be glorified, when he would draw all people to himself. For the glory of the cross was the moment when he would in ultimate exhaustion and pain declare: It is finished.
Today, we could simply look on from 2000 years distance and admire the courage and nobility of this suffering.  Or we could allow the power of Christ’s suffering to provide the perspective through which we view the world as it really is, not as we would think it should be.

In truth, God thinks the world should be different.  He made it to be so and one day will make all things new again. We know our world is a world of wonder and yet also of suffering.  Often we are insulated from this.  So it is rare for practically every country in the world to be threatened by exactly the same thing.

Suffering calls out of us the courage to say: this is what matters to me, this is who I am, this is what I dare to believe. And in suffering we also ask God to justify himself.  Where are you? What are you doing? Why can you not change this?

The fact is that Christ’s suffering means God is not only worth our attention in the good times.  He doesn’t scarper at the first hint of trouble.  He shares our longing for a different world, a new heaven and a new earth.  But he will share our journey through this world, whatever may come.

The God we believe in is a God who suffers but for whom suffering is not the end.  The God we believe in is a God who dies but who says death is not the end.  The God we believe in is with us in life as it is, and points the way to a life that will be.

The cries of Christ on the cross are also the cries in the deepest parts of the human heart.  There is the cry of suffering and struggle: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me.  There is the cry of hope and trust: It is finished.

We are truly followers of Jesus, we are truly taking up our cross and following him, when in the midst of struggle we trust, when in the heart of suffering we stir our hearts to hope, when we open our lives to receive God’s life  poured out as he dies on a cross.

PCC 29 January 2020

• Attending: Graham Earl, Maria Seaman, Alison Middleton, Helen Cracknell, Jeremy Bullock, Heidi Ellson, Chris Gledhill, David Downey, Carolyn Beck, Melvyn Pereira

• Apologies: Sue Suter, Elizabeth Holbrook

• Minutes of the previous meeting – proposed by CG, seconded by DD, passed by the meeting

• Sharing the faith – only one taker for the course offered by Melvyn so far, for those not in small groups. Seems to be going well in homegroups.

• Fairtrade – HC – are we, should we be buying Fairtrade? Tea has been donated, which makes it difficult in terms of checking its Fairtrade.
  • Query over who buys the coffee – Marion?
  • ACTION – Melvyn to check with Marion who buys the coffee
  • Decision – we would like to go fully Fairtrade – tea, coffee, sugar

• Supporting parents serving during service times
  • Conversations ongoing being led by Melvyn and Ali

• Ministry Leadership Team Report
  • No comments received

• Safeguarding training
  • This is on-going
  • HC – do we have a record of who has undertaken the training or not, and will we get a reminder?
  • MP – There is a tracking sheet and this is being used to follow up those who require training.
  • MP – Valerie has said she would like to stand down from the role of leading this. Alex has said she’s happy to continue to support.  MP is checking whether Alex would be happy to lead or not.  Either way, we will need to find someone else to be part of the safeguarding work.
  • MP – training for the basic level is now being done on-line. We are seeking to run a course for those in leadership positions.
  • MP – requirements of safeguarding officers – one of the safeguarding officers must attend a PCC meeting at least once a year; they should send a report to each PCC meeting; and, can request to attend any PCC meeting to address safeguarding matters if they want to but must give notice to Melvyn or the PCC Secretary.

• Leadership Away Day
  • Review of items we identified to be addressed
    • Timing of the service – decided we won’t do anything to change this
    • Church – what is the purpose of the Sunday service – feeding the faithful or for non-churched – agreed main purpose is to feed the faithful, and we should be aware there may be people unfamiliar with church
    • In our community – litter pick continues – etc.
    • Communicate better – we will make PCC minutes available – some hard copies in church – and post these on the website
      • NOTE – minutes will need to be checked to ensure data protection is upheld – e.g. any personal matters / concerns to be removed.
    • Pre-service prayer – this is being publicised and encouraged
    • Alpha course – we will not actively pursue this at the moment. One for the future.
    • Testimonies and story sharing – being encouraged and Melvyn is looking for those who are willing to share
    • Social events – continue these – Church weekend away being an example
    • New estate strategy – CG has identified contacts with the developers – these will be pursued
  • JB – proposed we publicise the items raised and actions taken to the church family in a short slot on a Sunday morning
    • MP – will update the document and send out to those who attended
    • Agreement that a slot at church would be a good idea

• Finance review
  • Accounts are closed for 2019
  • All except a few of those with direct debits have moved over to the new parish giving scheme
    • 33 households use the scheme which means just under 50% do not use a planned giving scheme
  • CG – this will be the subject of consideration for stewardship Sunday in terms of encouraging people to take part in planned giving
  • AM – we need to be aware that not everyone has a regular income, and therefore people may not be able to set up planned giving
  • CG – fundraising – £1,000 has been put into the budget – what do people think?
    • HC – cake sale on first Sunday of the month. We could focus the fund-raising on Missionary giving, so the cake sale supports missionary giving. That relieves the pressure on other areas of the budget.
  • MP – can we combine fund-raising with social events?
  • HE – to take the lead and review this with the social group
  • AM – the more specific we make the appeal – i.e. for a specific mission partner – the more likely people are to contribute
  • MP – propose cake sale on 23rd Feb for Mission Sunday, proceeds to go towards supporting our Mission Partners.
    • Needs to be publicised – poster to be done for Sunday

• Street Pastors
  • Gleneagles have a key role in this, Melvyn is a trustee, John Mulhall leads the group
  • Increase in Annual Subscription to £800 required from Ascension Trust
    • The Ascension Trust are asking Wellingborough Street Pastors to give £450 this year and £800 next year
    • Request sent to all churches to contribute £10/mth
  • MP – what do we want to do? Make Wellingborough Street Pastors one of our Mission Partners, which means we’d provide £35/mth?
  • HC – who are our Mission Partners?
    • ACTION – CG – to check the position re: our Moldova contributions
  • MP – said we want to give up to 10% of what we receive as a church
  • CG – Northants Police show in their regular updates where the money is spent – pie chart
  • ACTION – HC – do pie chart for stewardship Sunday to show the split of where the money goes
  • MOTION PASSED – meeting agreed to make Wellingborough Street Pastors mission partners – CG proposed, CB seconded, passed with one abstention

• Street Meals Rota
  • MS – Street Church – taking place in the Daylight Centre – would like churches to get involved in preparing the meals so those doing the outreach can concentrate on the participants. Proposal is a rota for churches to contribute.
    • MS – query – is PCC happy to have this raised in church?
    • Query – has it been raised at Deanery Synod?
    • ACTION – CB to send MS email to Deanery secretary

• Christmas Review
  • MS – Ignite – nativity service – on the 24th – needs to be re-thought

• • • AM – stressful, only 3rd of the children came

• HE – Christingle service…?
• AM – scratch nativity – create the nativity on the day?
• MS – Christingle / scratch nativity mix?
• AM – agree that we will review

• HE – Carol singing – use of buckets – think that the buckets were misinterpreted as being fund raising
  • CG – didn’t feel we had the control over the various elements we would have liked
  • MP – response on the door was good, didn’t feel there was any difficulty with the buckets, fewer people offered money this year than last
  • HC – agree with CG – need to control which doors we’re knocking on
  • HC – nice finishing up at the club – AM – club were very happy
  • AM – we should stay in the club once we’ve finished singing
  • HE – would like more carols during the advent services
  • CG – card should be internally designed
    • MP – we have run competitions previously but this begins to get difficult
    • MP – we could ask someone we think is good at this

• Hope into Action update
  • MP – 2nd tenant has been interviewed and is going to see the house
    • Looks like 2nd tenant might be confirmed by 31/01/20

• Building update
  • JB – raised the issue of the £53k in the building fund and what we’re doing with it
  • CG and MP will be going to see the developers on the Glenvale estate to see if they would be willing to support us
  • CG will talk to John Hardie, our architect, about what might be possible
  • JB asked that the question be – what needs doing – at a base level – and then how might we do this – i.e. volunteer time, developer contribution, and building fund money

• Any Other Business
  • HE – all age service – feels recently more like a children’s service – is it incorporating ‘all ages’ or is it concentrated on the children – e.g. other ages could do the reading?
    • AM – adults are leading the rest of the service
    • MP – challenge is to make sure the message reaches out to all people in the congregation
    • MS – another challenge is whether children could do more during the regular services – e.g. readings etc.
    • MP – will look at this on Sunday with fresh eyes to see if it is skewed too much toward children focus
  • MP – Annual Church Meeting – PCC – membership is 5 years, 1 year off and then someone can come back on. We don’t make members apply yearly.  Membership of PCC is 11 people at present.
    • Usually half are nominated – half are ex-officio. Currently, 6 are ex-officio and 5 are elected.  We have room for one more at this year’s APCM.
      • Ex-officio = Melvyn, Ali, Church Wardens, Deanery Synod reps (x2)
    • Vacancies: We have the following to fill as Sue is stepping down from her positions after several years of faithful service.
      • PCC secretary
      • Pastoral care leader
      • Admin assistant to Melvyn
      • Safeguarding officer
    • HC – proposal – conduct annual meeting on a Sunday, with lunch perhaps, so that people stay afterwards?
    • HE – need to find a different way to engage the congregation in the meeting

Who says you can’t have fun at a Home Group?

Home Group Curry Night

What better than a meet up with friends from our Home Group, and you can’t beat a good curry!

And earlier in the year……..

Celebrating Birthdays at our Home Group

A cake for Carolyn

Barbecue followed by cake and other treats.

Just what the doctor ordered and a great way to spend the afternoon following the Steps to Christ in the morning.

All in all a perfect day.

Dear all,

It is a quiet Sunday evening so it seems a good time to let you know how things are going here in Moldova. We have been here for four weeks now and getting to know the town of Cahul quite well. The weather has mostly been good since we arrived so we have been out as much as possible to explore and to enjoy becoming more familiar with everything.

We started teaching three weeks ago. It all seems to be going OK and we have met some lovely young people, all very respectful and mostly keen to learn. Ages range from about 13years to adults – including an accountant, teacher, car mechanic, council officer, bank worker and a full time Mum. We have been for lunch with several of the other teachers to get to know them better as well, two from the USA and some Moldovans who will help us with conversational Romanian. The English lessons are held in the building of the Baptist Church that we are linked with. Lessons are held after school hours, so from 2.30pm and can go on until about 8pm. Conversations in the class on different topics does give the opportunity to share our faith- please pray for this.

It’s great to meet folk at church on Sunday morning and they have been very welcoming. There are a few English speakers but communication is a bit limited still! One of the more advanced students from the English lessons translates for us and does brilliantly. As well as the church services Arleen is now part of a small ladies’ prayer group and has even been hospital visiting with the pastor’s wife. She and the pastor, Anatole, are a great encouragement and seem to have time and energy for many needs.
We are staying in a shared flat belonging to the church in the block shown here and it is about five minutes’ walk from the main shops and fifteen from the church where we are teaching. It is wonderful to be car free as, so far, we have all that we need within 15/20 minutes’ walk.

As well as a couple of new supermarkets and a range of shops there is a great market nearby; loads of fresh fruit and veg at the moment. The right time of year I suppose. We even made some plum jam this week as the plums are so plentiful and only about 25p per pound.

We are one block away from what seems to be the only real park in the town, but a great place to sit, people watch and eat an ice cream on a warm evening.

At the moment we are here on a ninety-day tourist stay but in the next month or so we will need to visit the capital, Chisinau, probably three times in order to get a visa for our stay here. This will involve a three-hour bus journey each way and possibly a stay overnight with visits to various offices. Please pray that this will go smoothly and that the various pieces of paperwork that we have been told that we need will be in order.

We hope things are going well and are always pleased to hear from friends

Thanks for your ongoing interest and God bless                Mark and Arleen

Evangelism – taking message of the love of God out to those who don’t have much or any experience or knowledge of Him.

Following our recent ‘Evangelism Consultation’ that took place on Tuesday 25th June 2019 we have decided that evangelism needs to be a high priority at Gleneagles Church and that we should take action to increase the ways in which we, as a Church, are reaching out to our community with God’s love.

We decided to begin to do occasional outreach events.  On 6^th July we worked alongside the Street Pastors using their gazebo as a prayer tent.  We gave out leaflets inviting people to ask for prayer.  The rain literally put a damper on things, however we prayed with three people and had several other significant chats with people.

On 17^th August we are planning to have a Prayer Activity tent at the Wellingborough Beach – see separate message.

We will be considering other such activities during the autumn, possibly based in our parish.

In the longer term, we will run the Diocesan evangelism training course, “Sharing your faith” early in 2020 and then Lent will have an evangelism emphasis for the whole church.

We will continue to meet to develop the programme and to review.

Rev Melvyn Pereira

5^th August 2019