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Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021

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Abiding in Christ

Patsy Ottewell, BAFCC chair, introduces this week’s Week of Prayer

Monday 18th January – reflections:

Tap on the picture and then on a touchscreen you can use two fingers on the screen, moving them apart, to enlarge the image

Sunday’s Worship@home service on YouTube and on 105.9 BishopFM on Sunday 25th January will follow this year’s Week of Prayer for Christian Unity theme at the end of the Week of Prayer.

A Methodist Way of Life (MWoL)

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The calling of the Methodist Church…

is to respond to the gospel of God’s love in Christ and to live out its discipleship in worship and mission.

Here are some thoughts from the two groups that have been going since the summer:

Could you commit to meet regularly (every couple of weeks) with two or three others (by computer or socially distanced in person)?

Begin with a simple opening prayer
– then sharing of recent stories, and the God part in them (5 minutes each max) while others listen, encourage, and pray as led
– then have a conversation on MWoL questions – one each session e.g. What is the pattern of your prayer life? which could lead on to more questions such as – has this changed during lockdown? how much of this is dependent on being in church with others?
– then continue to encourage by asking: How can we support each other in our Way of Life commitments?
Finally end by saying together the MWoL commitment:

As far as we are able, with God’s help:

•Worship

  • We will pray daily.
  • We will worship with others regularly.
  • We will look and listen for God in Scripture, and the world.

•Learning and Caring

  • We will care for ourselves and those around us.
  • We will learn more about our faith.
  • We will practise hospitality and generosity.

•Service

  • We will help people in our communities and beyond.
  • We will care for creation and all God’s gifts.
  • We will challenge injustice.

•Evangelism

  • We will speak of the love of God.
  • We will live in a way that draws others to Jesus.
  • We will share our faith with others.

May we be a blessing within and beyond God’s Church, for the transformation of the world.

The Questions fall into the four headings of ‘Our Calling’

•Worship

  • What is the pattern of your prayer life?
  • How easy or hard do you find it to pray?
  • What has spoken to you recently in worship or in the Bible?
  • When, lately, have you felt close to God or distant from God?

•Learning and Caring

  • How have you practised generosity since we last met?
  • How have you shown hospitality to others recently?
  • How are you caring for yourself?
  • How and what are you learning now?

•Service

  • How are you seeking to serve others in your communities and beyond?
  • What has helped or hindered you in your service of others?
  • How are you caring for God’s creation?
  • How are you using God’s gifts (including your financial resources)?
  • What issues of injustice are you currently concerned about?
  • What are you doing in response?

•Evangelism

  • When was the last time you were able to talk about God?
  • What opportunities to share your faith have there been since we last met?
  • How have you responded to opportunities to share your faith?
  • Is there anyone you might invite to consider Christian faith?

A couple of groups have started in Bishop Auckland If you are interested in joining or starting one – get in touch.

Feel free to chat about it with Ev, Margaret, Cliff H or Cliff L or indeed Vanessa or myself, to discover further what we make from the experience…

God bless

John

Carols galore to put you in the mood!

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If you haven’t seen these three Carol Services/Concerts produced by different groups of the Methodist Church, then you are in for a treat!

The Big Church Sing Christmas Special was broadcast live on the Methodist Church’s YouTube channel on Sunday 29 November. Have you seen it yet? If you have access to the internet go to

OneSound is one of the UK’s leading Christian youth ensembles. Formed of singers and instrumentalists aged 16-26, OneSound leads worship for churches across the UK throughout the year through services aimed at the youth of the church. It was once known as the MAYC Orchestra and Singers, if that rings any bells for anyone. They created ‘A Contemporary Carol Service’ virtually through this year and it’s great to watch the young people of our Church sing together:

National Methodist Youth Brass Band Virtual Christmas Concert:
Here is their second virtual concert of the year, and it is our Christmas Concert! Never before have we performed our own full christmas concert, so here we go!

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