Page 10 - Moravian Messenger January 2019

Congregation News
154
Fairfield
On Sunday 14th October we welcomed Bishop Joachim Kreusel to conduct our morning Harvest Festival and Parade service and we look forward to welcoming him back again in the future. The tins/dried produce brought to the service was all passed on to the foodbank we support and the fresh food used to decorate church was sold after the service with the proceeds going to Moravian Leper work.
The following Friday, the 19th, we had a Jumble and Good As New Sale in the college which raised £585 for church funds and then an Autumnal Afternoon Tea on 10th November which saw a profit of £438.20 again for church funds.
We have been holding a weekly Fairfield Tots Time for a
good while now on Thursday afternoons and this, I am pleased to report, is thriving and everyone attending (not just the tots) reports to have a very enjoyable time of fellowship. We offer sincere thanks to Srs Sarah and Denise for all their work in organising and running these sessions. Also for our younger members and friends Sr Ann Larkin does a sterling job of managing Messy Church. She has been running these for a good while now, but the numbers seem to be on the increase as word spreads of what a lot of fun this is. At the last Messy Church on Saturday 24th November twelve children attended the two hour session. Keep up the good work Ann; us lesser mortals quake at the thought of two hours of 'messy anything' with twelve children!
Still working hard to retain interest as the children get older Sr Anne and Br Mel Wood are still running a youth club held on 2nd and 4th Fridays of the month in term time which is well attended but again requires patience and stamina, so again a big thank you to them for all their hard work.
On the weekend of 1st and 2nd December we held our
Cliftonville, Belfast
Our small congregation meets faithfully and in good heart each Sunday. We were happy to welcome Br Scott Peddie's return in May after a year of sick leave and since then he has been responsible for the services twice and sometimes three times each month; the lay preachers kindly continued to fill in the other services. Due to unexpected changes in ministry, on 18th November we met to give him a farewell gift, to thank him for his services to Cliftonville and to wish him well in his new sphere of service assisting in the work at University Road and Kilwarlin and a Pioneer ministry in Dublin that he will share with Br Livingstone Thompson. We hope he will enjoy this new challenge.
Br Jared Stephens has been called to Cliftonville and Ballinderry on a three year contract and we welcomed him on 25th November along with his wife Elaine. He preached on several occasions and has been helping with pastoral visiting for a few months. Elaine is from Northern Ireland and Jared is from Michigan, USA. We wish them joy as they too begin a new ministry.
Christmas
Tree Festival.
Let me tell
you from a
person with
no artistic
flair, the
church looked
awesome.
The work that
goes into this event is truly humbling and again a massive thank you to all those who work so hard (in some cases for many months before the event). This year we hosted a beautiful concert by the United Christian Singers on the Saturday evening entitled 'Immanuel A Christmas Blessing', which had an audience of somewhere between 60 to 70. The concert was free, and donations were for Willow Wood Hospice.
Sr Margery Sutcliffe
Bath Coronation
Avenue
It has been a very sad but also a happy week for Coronation Avenue members. Last Sunday we were really pleased to welcome Br Alan Holdsworth into our little congregation. It was good to officially welcome him as he had requested joining us a few months ago and we are always
happy to see him with us.
On Thursday morning
we were very
saddened to hear of
the death of our Br
John Lock who had
been in hospital for a
week. Most of our
congregation had
visited him in Bristol on the Monday and we had said our goodbyes at that time. Br Paul Holdsworth said a prayer at John's bedside. John had been fighting cancer and had been having dialysis for the last few years and we know he is at peace now. We will all miss him greatly.
Br Peddie and Sr Sonya Anastassi
During the year, quite extensive repairs had to be carried out on the church, including the re-roofing of the tower. The maintaining of the grounds and other tasks is carried out on a voluntary basis.
Once again 116 Christmas Shoe Boxes have been packed by the teachers and some young people, also bags of blankets and jumpers etc. for needy children in orphanages in Europe.
We are saddened that Fortwilliam Presbyterian, yet another North Belfast Church, closed very recently and the area has also lost two nearby Roman Catholic
Churches. Sr Edna Cooper
Sr Sandy Smith
© Daniel Lock
© Br John Cooper
© Sr Marjery Sutcliffe