February 2010

Minister’s letter

Saturday 2nd January 2010 is a date that will long live in my memory - the day when little Barrow were drawn away to the mighty Sunderland in the 3rd round of the FA Cup!
As soon as the draw was made, there was an air of excitement in the town. Ticket sales reached epic proportions, blue and white scarves and hats sold like the proverbial hot-cakes, and thousands and thousands looked forward to the big day. For a club with an average home attendance of around 1500, Barrow suddenly found themselves facing the prospect of taking over 7000 followers to the Stadium of Light, to cheer them on. Meanwhile, I lost count of the number of people who kept asking me which side I would be supporting, none of them realising that as a north-easterner football is a way of life, and you stick with the team you support no matter what comes along. You no more change your team than you would change your religion, it’s that important!
Driving across the snow-covered A66 towards Sunderland, passing cars and coaches packed with Barrow supporters, I began to realise how the ordinary people of Jesus’ time must have felt. Here, they had a local lad, with a small band of followers, suddenly finding huge crowds flocking to hear him speak. Thousands of them lined the roads, hailing him as the Messiah, the Chosen One, just as thousands of Barrow fans hailed their team, singing their own songs of praises. Then came the big let-down, Barrow never looked like becoming the giantkillers their fans dreamed of, whilst Jesus wasn’t the powerful leader the people craved for. Almost immediately, the crowds began to drift away. Following Barrow meant back to the humdrum of non-league football, whilst following Jesus looked like it was going to be hard work.
That’s when faith comes in. Following in the good times is fine, we can all do that, but when the good times fade away, it is those who still believe and still follow - they are the ones who have true faith, and who will be ultimately rewarded. Take it from someone who has followed Sunderland for over 40 years, I know what I’m talking about! Never lose your faith; it gets you through whatever life can throw at you.
Deacon Tom

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THANK YOU

Just want to say a big thank you to all of you who produced a shoebox or provided goods to go into a shoe box for the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Appeal 2009.
Every year Operation Christmas Child is made possible through the amazing support of people like yourselves and your support is very much appreciated. In 2008 Operation Christmas Child sent an amazing 1.2 million shoeboxes packed full of goodies to children in parts of Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe so hopefully in 2009 this number will have been matched or even increased.
Thank you for sharing in the power of a simple gift and reminding a child in need that God loves them and they have not been forgotten.
Many Thanks
Pam
Operation Christmas Child- devoted to spreading love, joy and smiles to children in parts of the world who really need them ……………………

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Youth Assembly Report

In November 2009, Rachel and Ellen, of Millom Methodist Church, went as Cumbria District Representatives to the annual Methodist Youth Assembly. They joined other 11-23 year olds in Durham for the weekend event and what follows is their report on the experience.
The Youth Assembly was at Ushaw College: a nice place, though it was a bit creepy having a statue of some saint with someone’s head under his arm in the dining room. You weren’t bored - there was always something to do - even at 2 o’clock in the morning. They only had rooms for 300, there were 50 more young people than that, so they put those aged 18 and over (including Rachel) in two hotels down the road. The hotels were posher, but not as much fun. The main lounge had X boxes, giant Jenga, magazines, Wii equipment, and there were graffiti boards in most rooms: some had questions on to answer, others were for comments on the topics we were discussing. There were sweets inviting us to take one and think about where the sugar came from. There was an amazing band: “Lifecolour” - 4 16/17 year olds. People were chatting about everything. Everyone was really friendly - at the beginning, one girl walked up to us, and asked if we wanted to join her group. She turned out to be Ellen’s room mate. We were both sharing double rooms. People came from all over the country. It would have been good to have had a big map to show people where everyone lived. People were asking us if we lived near Sellafield.
We got there about 7 on Friday. It started at 9 after we were offered sandwiches on arrival. There were tons of groups discussing things. On the Saturday there were 4 seminars - more fun than school workshops - with discussions and activities. One of the things we both did was youth violence: one of the starting games was putting a big rope down the centre of the room, and you were asked about a topic - starting with whether you preferred shoes or trainers, and ending up with serious questions such as “how much youth violence do you think there is” (you had to position yourself along the rope according to your opinions. We both did “Youth Violence” and “Equality and Diversity”. Ellen did “God and Me”, and “Self Esteem”. Rachel did “Me and my rights” (talking about voting ages, discrimination, drinking rules), and “Sexuality”. You could change seminars if you didn’t feel comfortable in the one you were in, but we were quite happy with the ones we chose. In “Know your rights” one of the girls was very anti-government - she was quite a formidable opponent. It was good to see people from different races there - there were quite a few people from Nigeria (now living in London), a couple of French people, a New Zealander, an Australian, and people from other African countries.
There was a fair bit of reading to do for some of the seminars. At 8 o’clock in the morning there were informal prayers for the people in the college (optional, but Ellen and her room-mate went anyway). You’d do things like writing prayers on paper aeroplanes and flying them, and writing regrets on bits of paper, scrunching them up, and throwing them in the other direction. The food was good. On the Saturday we got breakfast at half past eight, bacon butties at 11, and soup and sandwiches at half past 12. You had a big dinner - and we didn’t even have take our plates away to wash them up. The vegetarian options were good, too.
On the Sunday we had the main assembly for the voting process, and to tell our conference representatives what we wanted them to report from the assembly. After every seminar you would have “My Challenge” (something you wanted to do), a “Team Challenge” (something you felt your church or youth group ought to do), and a “Conference Challenge” (for the Youth President and other conference representatives to take to the Methodist Conference). The voting was very formal. The people wanting to be elected had posted messages on the Friday evening. One very nice Northern Scottish girl had the surname “Haggis”. We had to vote for the next Youth President. The new youth president is a nice guy - he’s quite funny, but serious at the same time.
The Assembly was good. It was run by the oldest young people, and people were able to express all sorts of views. We went straight from the Assembly to Sunday morning worship - it would have been nice to have a break. For worship people sat in a big rectangle with big screens for the words, and a huge stage. Because there were so many of us (some came from the community round about) people were sitting on bean bags, and on seats upstairs which were full. The band did all the music. Most of those leading worship were from the Newcastle area.
The next event is Breakout. We’d love to go again.
Rachel and Ellen

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CIRCUIT/PASTORATE COFFEE MORNING IN AID OF HAITI

We have all seen the devastation of Haiti and the effects of the earthquake on the people who live there. Although you may have given money already to the appeal, there will be the need to continue to support the rebuilding of lives in this country. Please support the circuit coffee morning, if you cannot attend maybe you can buy and sell some tickets.
CIRCUIT/PASTORATE COFFEE MORNING IN AID OF HAITI
Beacon Hill Methodist Church
Saturday 27th February 2010
10am -12 Midday
Bring & Buy Cake Stall
Tickets £1

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Women’s World Day Of Prayer

The Dalton and District Women’s World Day of Prayer service will be held on Friday, 5th March at 2:30 p.m. at Our Lady’s and St. Margaret’s R.C. Church, Dalton. The theme of the service is “Let everything that has breath praise God” and is prepared by Christian women of Cameroon. The leader is Mrs Beatrice Hodgson and the speaker is Father Glasswell.
Everyone is most welcome to attend.
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Now and Then

“Now and Then” is an exciting event for Year 4 children from local schools which took place at Dalton URC last March. Now it is going to happen at Ramsden Street URC over February 9th, 10th, and 11th 2010. The children ‘travel back in time to first century Palestine’ and learn something about life then as well as contrasting it with their own life. They experience Hebrew writing, making clay lamps, making and then playing with dreidels (a simple children’s game), making a mosaic design tile, and visiting ‘a synagogue’. Then they take part in a Jewish wedding, with refreshments, whilst the Bible story, the Wedding at Cana, is told. Throughout the event we try to bring out that Jesus was a Jew, tell some of the Bible stories about him, and lead into recognising him as the founder of Christianity.
As usual we are looking for adult helpers to help run the event. The Year 4 classes from the schools around Ramsden Street will come to either a morning or an afternoon session of approximately 2 hours (just one class at any session). We are hoping that helpers will enter into the spirit of the event and wear costumes as similar to those of the first century Palestine as possible - the planning team have a few items of clothing which can be borrowed.
If you can give a couple of hours to work and play with enthusiastic eight and nine year olds, the planning team would be delighted to hear from you! For further details, or to say you would like to take part, please contact: Rev Janet , Iva (Dalton URC), Jean (St. Matthew’s, Barrow), Rev Ann , Kate (Dalton Methodist), Hilary (Dalton Methodist), Sylvia (Wellspring, Dalton)
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Wildfire

Cumbria Mini Tour With Roger Jones - “Wildfire”,
We now have the dates for the Barrow performance: Friday, May 21st 2010. There will be a rehearsal the day before with Roger.
Sharon Collins is leading the Furness area choir, which will rehearse on Thursdays at Abbey Road Baptist Church from Thursday, February 4th 2010.
There will also be an opportunity to prepare the drama, on another evening. Please contact Margaret(826053) if you are interested in taking part in any way. All are welcome to join us.
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First Tuesday Ladies

From last year’s Network fellowship day came the idea of First Tuesday Ladies - an opportunity for ladies to meet together to share their faith, and grow in it. As the name suggests we usually meet on the first Tuesday of each month.
The next meeting on 9th Feb, will be held at 59 Croslands Park; we will be looking at Luke 11, Jesus’ teaching on prayer.
Future dates at 41 Riverside Gardens are 2nd March, 6th April, 4th May, 8th June and 6th July.
Anyone wanting further information please ring Janet on 833882.
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Team Elders Meetings 2010

Please note the dates for the URC team elders meetings for 2010:
Tuesday 23rd February @ Dalton;
Wednesday 21st July @ Urswick;
Tuesday 12th October @ Ramsden St, all at 7.15 pm.

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Training Opportunity In Leyland

Worship leading workshops: preparing for Lent and Easter: for anyone leading worship on Sundays, at Network meetings, fellowship meetings, with young people, with children, in schools, and many more people with many more contexts. Saturday 6th March 2010 9:30 - 1pm @ Leyland Methodist Church info from nlancsto@googlemail.com
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Into Life

Please note now the dates of the next set of Bible Study evenings under the “Into Life” heading. I will be offering “A Word from the Wise” (on Wisdom Literature) in 5 fortnightly sessions, starting with a meal, at Ramsden Street after Easter 2010 are as follows: Mondays 12/4, 26/4, 10/5, 24/5, and 7/6, from 5:30 to 7:00, with the study starting at 6:00.
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Green Tip

Look out for the publicity about this year’s Fairtrade Fortnight (February 22 to March 7th). Packs have gone to each minister for each of their churches, and there is also information online at www.thebigswap.org.uk. The challenge is “Join us in rallying the nation to swap their cuppa to Fairtrade”. “Fairtrade is already helping farmers, not only by providing more rewarding returns for their produce, but also helping them to develop a greater environmental awareness” (Renwick Rose, banana producer, Windward Islands)
Hazel

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Visit By Adrian And Bridget Plass

We have invited Adrian and Bridget Plass to come and give us an evening of “entertainment with a message” on Saturday, October 9th 2010. Although this is more than a year away, please note the date now as you will not want to miss this opportunity to hear these inspiring speakers.
Hazel

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Praise Group

Praise Group invite you to join us, we are looking for new members. We meet at Hartington Street Methodist Church at 7.30pm each week on Mondays, except during school holidays.
We sing a range of sacred and secular music, from musicals to spirituals, perform in a variety of venues and in the process have lots of fun, fellowship outreach & witness. You don’t have to have a brilliant voice and you can learn to understand the music– just be able to sing in tune and be willing to learn new songs. We look forward to seeing you.
During 2010 we may be joining with Methodist and URC singers from around the County to celebrate our links with South America. If you would like any more information, ask anyone who is in Praise Group already.
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"WANTED AT GATEWAY"

Well-behaved girls and boys aged 10 - 13 to join youth fellowship group.
Venue: Beacon Hill.
Time of meetings: following the evening service (7:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. in summer, 5:15 p.m. to 6:45 p.m. in winter).
Activities: Bible-based discussion, art and craft (which includes music, drama and making things to eat) and games.
Special interest: leading services of worship
For further information, please phone Lilian (825986).
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"Network News"

Network Dates And Events For 2010.
We hope you will support Network events as the money raised goes to fund mission work.
Coffee Mornings - March 20th, Trinity Church Centre, 9.45 to 11.15 a.m.
April 17th, Askam
May 11th, Broughton
July 29th, Beacon Hill
August 7th, Dalton URC Church
Sept 23rd, Roose.

Circuit Events -
Easter Offerings - Sunday 2nd May, 6pm at Beacon Hill.
Friday 10th September, 2pm at Askam. Network AGM
Ecumenical Rally - Tuesday 5th October at Trinity Church Centre.

District Dates - Wed 10th March, Spring Day - Wigton.
Thurs 29th April, Fellowship Day - Grange
Thurs 1st July, Summer Celebration - Kirkby Stephen
Wed 13th October, Autumn day - Brampton
Nov 1st - 3rd, Conference at Abbot Hall
More details on each of these will be provided at appropriate times in the Newslink.
Any further information please ring Janet 833882, Network Secretary.

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"Oberammergau Passion Play"

If you’ve never been to see the Oberammergau Passion Play, then now is the time to book. During June 2010, Rita and I will be hosting a Christian Guild Holiday in which the play forms the climax of a wonderful trip which also includes a number of lovely destinations in the Austrian Tyrol.
Having left the UK on June 18th and visited Salzburg, Innsbruck and Zell am See, among a number of other beautiful places, we’ll experience the 370 year old spectacle of the play on June 25th before returning to Cumbria to tell all our friends about it. Sadly, by that time they’ll have another ten years to wait before the play comes around again!
Christian Guild Holidays does offer an option to travel by air for a similar holiday, and if you’d like to join that group you’re welcome to contact Sarah Askew for more details on 01629 580550. We expect that holiday to be hosted by my West Country colleague Rev Jerry Cook of the Torbay Circuit. My group will be keeping a closer watch on their carbon footprints (!) and travelling by (private executive) coach. Just in case you don’t know much of the background to the play, the history is that in 1633 Bavaria was being swept by an epidemic of the plague. The disease had claimed more than eighty lives in Oberammergau alone. The local elders vowed that if the village were purged of the plague, they would ‘keep the Passion tragedy every ten years’. The epidemic stopped in its tracks, and - as good as their word - the villagers honoured their pledge by putting on the play for the first time. The 2010 cycle of performances will be the 41st, and will follow the gospel story from Palm Sunday’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem right through our Lord’s suffering and death, and on to the resurrection.
While there isn’t quite literally a cast of thousands, several hundred of the villagers appear on stage at one point or another, and by the time you include those who take care of the backstage work, some 2,200 are involved. It’s little wonder, given such a titanic commitment from the community, that the quality of every aspect of the play, from the music to the tableaux sees the 4,720 seater auditorium filled to capacity time after time throughout the season. Rita and I are just grateful to Christian Guild Holidays for making it possible for us to revel in the play and all that goes with it once again.
There are only a relatively few places left on the coach, so if you’d like to snap one of them up (the price for the ten day package, incidentally, is £1050), please do contact me for more details or Sarah at CGH Head Office as soon as you can. Looking forward to travelling with you!
Every blessing, Martin

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Community Outreach Group

Please try to ensure that your church is represented at the next meeting of the Community Outreach Group, which will be at Dalton URC at 6:45 for 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, February 2nd.
Agenda:
Welcome/Devotions/Apologies
Minutes of the last meeting (10-09-09) and Matters arising
Notice of any other business
Treasurer’s report
Review: Back to Church Sunday - 27/09/09
Advent Prayer calendar
Updates: Fairtrade/Churches with Fairtrade status (Fairtrade Fortnight)
Environmental Issues/Recycling (10:10 campaign)
Future events: Lent prayer calendar
“A Word from the Wise” - April - June 2010
Wildfire - May 2010
World Cup big screen - June 2010?
Joint coffee morning - 09-06-10
Cog slog - 27-06-10
Monday - Friday holiday October 2010 or alternative?
Adrian and Bridget Plass evening - 09/10/10
Outreach ideas from church reviews
Any other business (as notified at start of meeting)
Date/venue for next meetings

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Regular Sunday Services

You are welcome at any of these churches at the following times:
Askam (Duddon Road) 10:00 am
Beacon Hill (Holyoake Avenue, Barrow) 10:00 am
Broughton (Princes Street) 9:30 am
Dalton Methodist (Wellington Street) 10:30 am
Dalton URC (Market Street) 10:30 am
Hartington Street Barrow 10:30 am
Kirkby (Marshside) 10:30 am (on 1st, 2nd & 4th Sundays)
Millom (Queen Street) 10:45 am
Ramsden Street, Barrow 10:45 am
Roose (North Row, Barrow) 10:45 am
Trinity Church Centre (Warwick Street, Barrow) 10:30 am
Urswick (Tarn Close) 10:45 am (2nd, 4th & 5th Sundays)
Vickerstown (Warren Street) 10:45 am
For times of the evening services, special services and postcodes, please ask one of the church members, or look at the church's page this website.

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Regular coffee Mornings

Please note that coffee mornings are held every week as follows:

Broughton – Tuesdays from 10:30 till 11:30

Roose – Thursdays from 9:30 till 10:30

Millom – Fridays from 9:30 till 10:30

Ramsden Street – Fridays from 10.30 till 11:30

Askam – Saturdays  from 10:00 till 12:00 from Easter until Harvest Festival, so sorry you'll have to wait until next year now.