20th November 2022

Christ the King

TODAY

8am                     HOLY COMMUNION in Church

10am                   HOLY COMMUNION in Church and on YouTube.

4pm                     CHURCH AT 4 MEETING in the Church Hall – All ages welcome.

NEXT WEEK 

Monday 21th November                10.00am   Bible Study Group – 22 Kellsborough Avenue

Tuesday 22nd November                9.00am     Morning Prayer in Church

                                                                  1.00pm     Funeral Service for Phil Cook

                                                                   7.30pm     Pray and Bless Wroughton & Wichestow – Church Hall

Thursday 24th November               9.00am     Morning Prayer in Church

SUNDAY 27TH NOVEMBER 2022   

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 

8am                       MORNING PRAYER in Church

Preacher:            Dr John Godfree

Sidesperson:      Alan & Christine Wrixon 

10am                     HOLY COMMUNION in Church and on YouTube.            

Preacher:            Tracy Mason

Intercessor:        Peter Ferguson

Reading:               Isaiah 2. 1-5

Reader:                 Janet Henderson

Sidespersons:     Tony & Julia Edmonds 

4pm                     CHURCH AT 4 MEETING IN THE CHURCH HALL All ages welcome.

Bible Study Groups

If you would like to join a small group, please contact the leaders of the groups below and find out where there is space. We would love to have everyone involved in a small group.

22 Kellsborough Avenue Mondays 10am-11.30

 

Lillian Wicks

Louise Bessent

12 Artis Avenue Tuesdays at 7.30pm Carolyn Kirk
Church Hall Alternate Tuesday evenings Nick Orman
The Vicarage Wednesday evenings during term time. Karen & Phill Harrison
Church Hall Saturday men’s breakfast Mike Mason

 

Live streaming the 10am service

The 10am service will be live streamed on You Tube. Please visit our YouTube Channel on https://www.youtube.com/@WroughtonWichelstoweParChurch (or search for Wroughton and Wichelstowe Parish church) and press the ‘subscribe’ button. 

Mask wearing in church

The current PCC policy requesting that masks continue to be worn in church has been updated to recognise individual choice so that mask wearing will now be advisory only, providing that the president and chalice assistants will continue to wear masks during the distribution of Holy Communion. As Covid 19 has not disappeared, the situation will be kept under review.

Setting our budget for 2023

Throughout the Gospel of Luke (the Gospel we have been following this year) money is and its use/misuse is recurring theme. In fact, Jesus talks far more about money than he does about many other important aspects of our lives, like sex for example. Like it or not, money is important: we can’t live on air.

And of course, just like you, the church doesn’t run on air either. Our finances work in this way:

  • We don’t get money from the C of E; in fact we pay into a common pot called parish share. This pays for current clergy, training new clergy and for central support services like property and safeguarding that are used by all of the parishes in our diocese.
  • All parishes are asked to contribute to the parish share based on their size and the relative wealth of the area they serve, which means that better off parishes pay more to support those in less well-off areas.
  • Our income for 2022 is expected to be £120k. This money will be used as follows: We pay £80k to the diocese as our parish share. £33k is spent on church support and running costs. £7k is used to support the wider church and charities.
  • We balanced our books in 2021 and we are on track to do so again in 2022. This is a very good situation for us to be in, for which we give thanks to God.
  • However, in common with many others, prices are going up and our income is not.

At this time of year we need to set our budget for the year ahead. The diocese also needs to set its own budget, so that it can work out how many vicars and curates it can afford and whether it can invest in new ministries to reach new people with the Gospel. This year the diocese has again asked for a parish share of £80k, and this is something that we want to be able to do. However, the effects of inflation and increasing energy prices mean we expect our costs to rise by around £9,000 next year. If our income doesn’t rise to cover this then we will end up in a deficit position. If everyone who currently gives to our church were to increase their giving in line with inflation then we would be able to cover the gap and to set another balanced budget for 2023.

‘Pray and Bless Wroughton & Wichelstowe’ – this Tuesday 22 November – evening prayer meeting, to come together and pray specifically for our local community, 7.30pm Church Hall for about an hour. Do come and join us. (Please note there will be no December prayer meeting, so the next date will be 31 January 2023.)

Healing Meeting at the Vicarage on Tuesday 29th November at 11am.

There will be a healing team meeting on Tuesday 29th November at 11am at the Vicarage, if you cannot make it please let Carolyn Perry know on 813823. 

Monday Bible Study Group

We will meet for the last session on Monday 5th December, usual time. This will be an informal coffee morning and you need only bring yourself and either a funny story, a poem of anything else you may like to share and entertain.  We will meet for our first meeting of of 2023 on Monday 9th January.

Another mission opportunity

There are sign-up sheets in church for our next mission opportunity, ‘Here Comes Christmas’ on Saturday 10th December between 11am and 1pm.  Come and help with craft activities, join in the worship, chat to parents and grandparents or provide some food.  This is something that we can all be part of.  More information from Barbara or any Community Engagement member.

Tear Fund Big Quiz Night – Saturday 19th November at 6.45pm

TEAR Fund’s Big Quiz Night will be returning again on Saturday 19th November starting at 6.45 pm at the Church Hall. £10 entry fee will include food with all money raised going to TEAR Fund.  Please try to support this National Event by helping with food or coming along! Teams of 6-8 members are welcome to enter in advance of the night and help can be offered in joining a team!  Listen out for further details.  If you would like to donate to the Tearfund  Big Quiz evening on 19th November, money can be sent directly to Tearfund through our JustGiving page (maybe you are unable to attend but would still like to support Tearfund)
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to Tearfund, so it’s the most efficient way to give – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
You can donate to our JustGiving page by clicking here https://www.justgiving.com/page/w-church?utm_source=Sharethis&utm_medium=one_page&utm_content=page/w-church&utm_campaign=pfp-email&utm_term=3b036844892441ee8f1bdad6a3c349bb
JustGiving sends your donation straight to Tearfund and automatically reclaims Gift Aid if you are a UK taxpayer, so your donation is worth even more.  Thank you for your support!

Knitting for charities.

Thanks to those of you knitting squares for GWH’s End of Life unit. We are now sewing together a blanket in autumn colours and have already got 40 other squares -halfway to the next one. 6 inch squares in any colour DK wool are most welcome. Please do not use glittery wool and please thread the ends of your squares in.

Last week I heard from Mission to Seafarers that they can accept hats, gloves and scarves again. I have two large boxes of hats and scarves waiting since early 2020 to be sent off. If you would prefer to knit these rather than squares then now is the time to get started again. I will put some patterns in the box by the choir vestry in church. If you would like to contribute but cannot knit then donations of Double Knitting wool are always welcome. These can also be left in the box in church. Many thanks. Janet Henderson.

Eco Top Tips – practical ways to take better care of God’s creation

November – Around the home

  1. Get a smart meter or read your meters monthly to check how much fuel you are using. This kind of monitoring can save on your fuel bills and also up to 250kg CO2e a year, as you keep a closer eye on your energy use.
  2. Find out if you have any unfilled cavity walls and (if yes) have them filled. This extra insulation can make a significant difference to the comfort of your home and save over 1 tonne of CO2e. 

Eco ‘Top Tips’ and the problem of soya ‘milk’

A couple of weeks ago our Eco top Tips suggested switching to soya milk as a way of avoiding the methane emissions produced by cows. However this particular Top tip may not be very Eco… Most soya comes from the Americas and nearly half from just two countries, Brazil and Argentina. Growth of the soya industry has been meteoric – production in Brazil has quadrupled in just 20 years and this rapid growth has come at a huge cost. Vast areas of forest and natural habitats have been destroyed, replaced with mile upon mile of soya fields. Converting forests and grasslands into monocrop farmland for soya releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which cause climate change. If we want to reduce the impact that producing our food has on our planet then we need to understand where it’s coming from, as well as how it was produced – we need to be canny. (It is possible to buy organic milk that was ‘grown’ right here in Wroughton.)

Please pray for…

Please (continue to) pray for St John’s church in Parks and St Andrew’s church in Walcot.

Interviews for their new vicar are being held on 22nd November. Please pray that after a year and half without a parish priest they will be able to appoint someone to love and lead them into the future. 

Floodlighting

The Church will be floodlit on Sunday 20th November by Rosina Stevens in memory of Ron Stevens;

on Monday 21st November by Bill & Doreen Greenshields in memory of their son, Andrew on his anniversary;

on Friday 25th November by James Beech in memory of Eileen Beech.

Funerals

We commend to God’s care and keeping those who have, died recently Phil Cook. We pray for all those who mourn the loss of a loved one. 

Church Office

The Office will be closed on Tuesday (22nd) and Thursday (24th ) next week and also Monday 28th November and then my normal day off Tuesday 30th November.  Janet Burchell

 

The Parish Office, Priors Hill, Wroughton, SN4 0RT Open Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 9am to 1.30pm

01793 812050  office@wroughton.com  Revd Phill Harrison – Vicar 01793 812301 vicar@wroughton.com

Revd Chris HunterCurate 01793 814987 curate@wroughton.com  Church Twitter Account – @WroughtonWichel

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