This week’s message comes from the Stewardship Working Group.
Weathering the storm
We live in strange times. Many people, and many churches, have suffered greatly through the pandemic. While there have been significant bumps in the road for St Columba’s over these last few months, we have been blessed in many ways. Though we have lost around £55K in hall hire bookings since April this year – in an
ordinary year, a considerable source of income for us – a generous legacy we received in 2019 has allowed St Columba’s to weather the storm so far in 2020. Many churches don’t have this level of financial support to fall back on, and we are very grateful to all those who give to St Columba’s in their will.
Despite the difficulties we have been through, we have worked together and supported each other as a community. There is still much work to be done, however. The Church has aimed to cut discretionary spending as much as possible this year. We did, however, need to upgrade the fire alarm system as a matter of urgency, and that is costing around £40K. The new system will be fully implemented by the end of the year. Many churches would struggle to cover this cost.
There were also some set-up costs involved in organising the provision of live streamed services in 2020. This was a vital investment: the live stream has been so important to so many throughout the pandemic, allowing us to continue to worship together and maintain our community. We are grateful to all those who make the live stream possible each week, and we give thanks that this investment will be available in future.
We are also very grateful to our office and support staff, who have been kept very busy planning the reopening of our Church for the many support groups who rely on our space, where possible and when it is safe to do so, in line with government guidance.
St Columba’s has weathered the storm so far, but your support is needed to ensure we do so in the future. Whilst understanding that many are in difficult circumstances just now, we invite you now, as we do each autumn, to review prayerfully your giving to the Church if you are able, and to continue your support through the weeks and months ahead.
A prayer for good stewardship
Gracious and loving God,
all I have comes from your hand.
You call me to be a steward of your abundance, a
caretaker of everything entrusted to me.
Teach me always to use your gifts wisely
and share them generously.
Send your Spirit upon my church family
that working through us all,
we might carry your love to those we serve,
and in the giving, so receive.
Amen
Thank you for your continuing support.
Prisons Week 11th – 18th October 2020
For forty years Prisons Week has prepared prayer literature to enable the Christian community to pray for the needs of all those affected by prisons. We are asked to continue to hold these things in our prayers, as well as asking ourselves whether there is one thing that I/we can do as an individual, or as a church, to help any of those people that we are praying for. For more information and for prayers for Prisons Week please visit: www.prisonsweek.org
Additional, excellent resources are prepared by London Prisons Mission. (Contact Angus for more details.)
The Prisons Week Prayer
Lord, you offer freedom to all people.
We pray for those in prison.
Break the bonds of fear and isolation that exist.
Support with your love prisoners
and their families and friends,
prison staff and all who care.
Heal those who have been wounded by the actions of others,
especially the victims of crime.
Help us to forgive one another,
to act justly, love mercy
and walk humbly together with Christ
in his strength and in his Spirit,
now and every day. Amen
Worship at St Columba’s
For all the details about the upcoming 11am services at St Columba’s health and safety precautions, mask wearing etc. please visit
https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/worship-during-covid.
Live Streaming of Worship
The live stream service continues this Sunday at 11am. Music begins from 10.50am. The service can be watched via the church website,
https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/live-stream at 11am.
To access the live stream from the homepage (front page) click the Menu button in the top right-hand side of the page and scroll down and click on “Live Stream”. This will bring up the live stream to the church. The act of worship of approximately 60 minutes, includes prayers, a sermon and music. (Note: This will not be public worship that everyone can attend, but an offering of prayer and praise, on behalf of us all.) The words for the hymns will be on the website.
We believe it is really important to continue to live-stream the Morning Service under its current format i.e. for the benefit of those joining worship from afar or those as yet unable to make the journey to Pont Street. For those without internet, the Dial-In facility continues. Many people comment that they do have a sense of worshipping together, even if invisible to each other. While current regulation forbids singing in the pews, the live stream strongly recommends singing in the sitting room!
Dial into Sunday Service
If you are aware of church members or friends who do not have access to internet please inform them that they can now phone in to join the Sunday service. No visuals clearly, but at least they can hear the service. Those interested should follow:
Step 1: At 10.40am call phone number 0203 051 2874.
Step 2: You will be prompted to enter a meeting ID. Please type (using your telephone keypad) 266 883 5072#
Step 3: You will then be asked for a participant number – simply press the #.
Step 4: Enjoy the service! You will hear Ben’s organ music from 10.50am.
Member of St Columba’s
We sadly announce the death of St Columba’s member, Anne Woodall. We keep Anne’s children, Trinny, Susan and Mark in our prayers through this difficult time.
Former members of St Columba’s
Former member and Friend of St Columba’s, Ann Cumming, died recently. Ann and her husband John were much involved in the early years of the Service Unit (now Tea Together) in the late 70’s. We keep their family in our prayers.
We have also received sad news from Reverend Easter Smart, who was a member of the clergy team at St Columba’s in the late 90s and who is now Minister at Currie Kirk, Edinburgh. Her mother, Rosemary, was killed in a road traffic accident last week in the USA. We send Easter and her family our deepest sympathy and prayers.
Harvest – Thank You
Many thanks to everyone who supported the Harvest Appeal. You very kindly supported the Appeal in various ways; either by bringing in items for The Upper Room (UR4 Meals) or by making a financial donation to them, or to Christian Aid and their Global Harvest Appeal, or perhaps by supporting a local Foodbank close to where you live. It is all greatly appreciated and it will make a difference to the homeless and those disadvantaged. Thank you very much.
Caledonian Lecture: Jane Haining, Scottish Heroine
There is still time to view this year’s Caledonian Lecture.
The link to view the Lecture is: https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/caledonianlecture
Congestion Charge
If you are travelling by car, please be aware the London Congestion Charge is now in operation throughout Sundays. Although the Church is not within the congestion charge zone you may need to check your route through London to see if you need to pay the charge or not.
Church Office
Office Hours 9am to 4pm.
Contact details;
Tel: 020 7584 2321
E-mail: office@stcolumbas.org.uk
Website: www.stcolumbas.org.uk
Facebook: @stcolumbaschurchpontstreet
Twitter: @LondonKirk
Pastoral Emergency Number (out of office hours): 07591926271
Maintaining Community and Supporting Each Other
Everybody can play a part in maintaining contact with others via telephone, e-mail or letter, especially those who are particularly vulnerable. Our Elders are encouraged to make contact with those in their districts, and church members are welcome to contact the church office to request a contact from their elder or the Minister.
Congregational Offerings
Details on the many ways you can support St Columba’s can be found here
https://www.stcolumbas.org.uk/giving/supporting-st-columbas
Offerings to St Andrew’s, Newcastle can be made via:
Account – Church of Scotland
Sort code – 40-34-18
Account number – 11310747
Families’ Newsletter
Following summer break we have reinstituted the Families’ Newsletter. We are currently hoping to establish two Sunday School meetings before Christmas. More detail to follow. Families are of course very welcome to attend any Sunday morning service, even while there is no Sunday School provision. Activity sheets are provided. Please know that you are always welcome, even on Sundays when there is no specific Sunday School provision.
Christmas Card Competition
This year Angus and Lucy are running a Christmas Card Competition. We would like the children of St Columba’s to design a Christmas card. If you can use the theme of love, hope and togetherness and/or your favourite thing about Christmas and send your pictures to office@stcolumbas.org.uk by the 8th November 2020. There are two prizes up for grabs for those whose designs are picked to be made into our Christmas Cards, one for 7 year olds and under and one for 8 years +. We are looking forward to seeing your designs!
St Columba’s Book Club
The November meeting of the St Columba’s Book Club will take place on the 23rd at 7pm (via Zoom). This month’s book will be “Someone in the Distance” by Dorothy Whipple. New members are very much encouraged, please get in touch with the Church Office for more detail.
St Columba’s Tennis Club
The Adults’ Coaching programme has been updated for this Autumn, with sessions on offer for players of every standard. A new, 6:00pm Tuesday evening session starts this week (from 15th September) for intermediate/club standard adults, while beginners/’rusty racquets’ are encouraged to join the Saturday session at 1:30pm. Saturday morning Junior coaching has been split into more groups to reflect both the standard and ages of players. This includes a new group for 11 years and over at 10:30am and a Teen Squad session (13+) from 11:15am. The first sessions started this weekend (12th September), so do contact David to book a place or email him a completed Juniors’ Autumn 2020 Coaching Form.
David’s full programme of coaching can be found on the Club website http://www.stcolumbastennis.co.uk/, under Tennis/Coaching. Please note that all sessions need to be pre-booked with David, as numbers may be limited.