Reports for March

On Sunday, 30 March, our Circuit Prayers focus on all our Preachers.

Dear All

Preachers, who week in and week out lead us in worship and praise, revealing to us the infinite love that God has for each one of us. This week David reflects on some of those occasions and why they mean so much to him. Please pray for all those who lead us in worship, that they may be empowered by the Spirit to faithfully reveal God's word to us and help us to understand His will for us.

Pete



David writes:

Special Services

All preachers will have some special services which they remember as having a significant spiritual high to them, but hopefully also the congregation. I want to mention three of mine.

My brother-in-law, John died in January aged 93. He was a bachelor and my son was his next of kin and also one of his executors. I was asked to arrange the funeral. This was special as it was at my original home church in Northampton and there would be many people there from the family and the church who I rarely see. This was indeed a memorable service for a man who, although very quiet had a very worthwhile life. I gave a tribute to him and met several people I hadn't seen for over forty years.
By contrast another memorable service was at Weedon for an early morning family service, which I always enjoy. On this Sunday I was very privileged to baptise two children. This was something I hadn't done before and was understandably rather nervous. But I met with the family beforehand as expected and we went through the service, so all understood what was happening. It was a lovely occasion with a good congregation, and I felt very privileged.
The third memorable service was when I was asked to take the Church Anniversary service at Aylesbury some years ago. The church council wanted it to include as many of the church groups and activities as possible. The banner group decorated the front of the gallery with all their banners and we had an African choir from members singing and I was able to introduce Mel Brown who had just started as Circuit Youth Worker.
There are many spiritually uplifting services that are taken around the circuit which are just normal worship, but some just stick in the memory. Please pray for all who lead our services and always make your spiritual contribution.

David Neville

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#On Sunday, 23 March, the focus of our Circuit Prayers was on Fairtrade.

Dear All

We join Neville from Princes Risborough as he gives us some interesting background information on other ways that we can help through financing farmers and other businesses to get started. Thank you, Neville, for showing us more ways in which we can get involved and help. Please read and help if you can by checking out the links below.

Pete



Neville writes:

Living in Western Europe we are often sheltered from the reality of the difficulties faced by farmers and producers based in other parts of the world. As Christians, though, I think that we have responsibility, if not desire, to look beyond our immediate experience and look to support and benefit others through our choices – to seek for social justice.
One of the obvious and easy everyday ways to contribute to achieving this is through supporting Fairtrade and buying Fairtrade options. I found this definition : "Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices (which must never fall lower than a minimum price or a price based on real costs), Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers with pricing that is set by the 'market', supply and demand, regardless of real costs. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives."
As we know, Fairtrade has become more mainstream over the years and there are now more options than ever available to us, but there are concerns that such a movement is still needed and perhaps the approach and focus since the movement started in the 1960s needs re-considering to re-gain some momentum. There are some quite interesting articles in the Journal of Fairtrade (www.joft.org.uk) for those interested in the theory as well as the practice.
In addition to making Fairtrade choices, I think there are other ways in which we can make a difference. For me, one way (above the micro level but below the macro level of the Fairtrade movement) has been through "Shared Interest" (www.Shared-interest.com). This is an organisation set up in 1990 which brings together over 11,800 people in the UK with a shared goal of investing in a fairer world by providing finance to fair trade businesses in up to 47 countries.
Funds invested by members are used to make loans to organisations of farmers and craftspeople as well as some fairtrade buyers. The focus is on supporting communities where income opportunities may be limited and where businesses are facing increasing challenges. The majority of businesses financed by Shared Interest support smallholder farmers who produce around a third of the world's food but often struggle to feed their families. The loans typically fund seeds, plants, materials, crops, equipment or nished goods. Once the crops or crafts are sold, the organisation repays Shared Interest the capital plus a fair rate of interest. The funds are then recycled and lent out again. Typically, lending goes to coffee (51%) and cocoa (25%) producers but also covers handcrafts (8%), nuts (5%), chocolate, honey, sugar, fruit and herbs.

In a similar vein, but down at the level of individuals, is the "Lend with care" organisation (www.lendwithcare.org). This provides "microcredit" to people in the form of short term loans of modest amounts for working capital or small scale investment. The loans are administered locally and interest is charged to the borrower. The person making the loan can select the business, group or person they want to help fund and is updated on repayments once the borrower is fully funded. Unlike Shared Interest, the person providing the funds doesn't receive interest and at the end of the loan the lender can re-lend or withdraw their loan. "Lend with care" operates in 14 countries ranging from Cambodia to Zambia covering a range of business sectors although farming and shopkeeping feature significantly. I once helped fund the growth of a bicycle taxi firm in Rwanda!

There are, of course, other ways of seeking reform of international trade and social justice, and with perhaps more widespread impact, but I wanted to share ideas that work for me. Don't forget, of course, that it is Fairtrade Fortnight 9th – 22nd September this year. If you can't wait that long, Princes Risborough will be hosting a Fairtrade stall at the coffee morning run by the men of the church on Saturday 29th March!

Neville

On Sunday, 16th March, the focus of our Circuit Prayers was on Karibuni Children

Dear All

Karibuni Children is an amazing charity that our circuit supports. Joy updates us on her experiences in Kenya as she visits the different projects set up by the charity to support the youngsters and help them to have a better start in life. Joy and her fellow workers at this charity are offering a lifeline to so many children who would otherwise be destined to live lives of poverty. It is amazing to see the results of this work as the youngsters are enabled to better achieve their potentials and plough back the fruits of their education into the local communities. Please pray this week for all the staff at Karibuni Children that they may feel the warmth of our prayers as we support them in this wonderful work.

Pete



Joy writes:

Good News from Karibuni Children

My own 'good news' is that I'm in Kenya visiting the projects! Kenya is desperately waiting for the March rains to start, especially as the last rains in October/November were very poor and the maize and other harvests were likewise meagre. The grass is like straw and everywhere is covered in thick dust from the parched earth and unmade roads. The car windows have to be kept shut when travelling despite the heat, and few cars have any air conditioning! I'm not really complaining, but it is HOT!
That's the bad news!

Following the Trustees' recent whirlwind tour of the projects, I'm able to take a more leisurely visit to them all and I've visited Limuru and Njoro projects and am now at Meru. Here, after a difficult 2024, the project is moving forward again. They have new offices in a small bungalow and are employing two alumni from the Meru Children's Home which has been closed for some years. It was good to meet them again and see them managing their lives. I met and spent some time with the new headteacher at the primary school where most of the children go, and am very impressed with his concern for the poorer children there. Most of the school population is living in poverty in the slums, not only the 6 a year added to Karibuni's number!
Yesterday I visited the home of an 11-year-old boy who, with his brother aged 14, is cared for by his 91-year-old 'Grandma'. She is not a relative, but inherited them when their fathers had already disappeared and then their mother died. Imagine that, all grandma's!
One of the homes I visited in Njoro was that of Moses, who some of you will remember I told you about. One of his bow legs has now been straightened and a plate inserted. He now rushes around like a whirling dervish and is in school – another miracle? The project is going well with a new Chair and their energetic, enthusiastic and caring social worker, Esther.
I am being well-cared for and thoroughly spoilt and have forgotten how to clean, cook, wash my clothes – etc! The only trouble is that I'm almost being force-fed! I'll be going round the charity shops when I get back for clothes to fit me!
This year, incredibly, it's Karibuni's Thirty Years Anniversary – come to the Circuit weekend 21/22 June at AMC if you possibly can, and thank you for continuing to support the children in Kenya.

Every blessing and love from Kenya.

Joy
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On Sunday, 9 March, the focus of our Circuit Prayers was on our Circuit Leadership Team.

Dear All

Jamie Gannon tells us of his journey, of his doubts, of his first tentative steps and then acceptance as a member of Christ's flock. Please remember in your prayers this Sunday, all those who feel for one reason or another, that they will not be welcome in our churches. A true Christian church is open to all, welcomes all and as Jesus teaches us, loves all. We come together with our different gifts and graces and together with all our variety, we are God's people.

Pete



Jamie writes:

How I came to the Methodist Church.

In many ways I have always been involved with Christianity. I was christened in the Cof E as a baby and went to a Cof E primary school, I then started attending a church choir as a child. For my teens and young adult years I lost touch with the church and religion in general, I thought because I was gay I would not be welcomed, how wrong was I.

It was about 3 or 4 years ago that I asked Heather if I could attend Waddesdon's Carol service. That was my first service at Waddesdon and since then I have never left. Some people call it a calling, but for me it was more of a need to be part of this community, something that was missing for me. Since coming to the Methodist church things have changed for me from just being a member of the congregation, to a member, to church steward and now a circuit steward, and my hope is everything I do will always be for the betterment of the church and the circuit.

This is just a little about me and I hope gives you a little more insight into how I came to the circuit.

Take care and God bless

Jamie

On Sunday, 2 March, the focus of our Circuit Prayers was on our young people.

Dear All
Emma shares her story with us, a story that shows she is a real champion for all young people, with a hunger to ensure that every child knows they are loved and wanted. Please pray for Emma this Sunday and for all who work for an inclusive, caring society, that the love of Jesus may be present in every precious young life.

Pete


Emma writes:

Faith for me was not something that I stumbled upon or found unexpectedly; neither do I have an inspirational story to share of a life-affirming calling. Rather, mine is one of an unshifting, unfaltering feeling of belonging to God's family, and a compelling aspiration to live my life through Him. It would, of course, be remiss of me, to fail to acknowledge, that my faith had, indeed, been nurtured through my family's own path trod in faith; and consequently, of their unwavering love, kindness and compassion towards others and their steadfast spirituality.
As children, our Mother urged us further, to be kind and share what we had, especially with those that she suggested were perhaps less fortunate. Less fortunate, wasn't deemed as those necessarily, with fewer belongings or food, but rather those who appeared to be less happy, and perhaps in need of compassion, friendship and love, to feel welcomed and ultimately have a sense of belonging.
My Grandma would often share the passages Mark 10:13-16 and Matthew 18:1-5, of Jesus welcoming, wholeheartedly, the children, despite the rebuke of his closest friends.
These passages, exemplified themselves in my mind, when my Mother became a Foster Carer. Despite already having my three siblings and I, she had a constant bounty of selfless love to share. Our home was always filled with children who desperately needed to be loved, and to ultimately feel the safety of belonging, which she gave willingly and wholly with God's grace alongside, to that fact, I am sure.
I witnessed this need of belonging in the children too, within the Sunday School that I attended as a child, and then at The Shell Group as a teenager; within children, that were seemingly very happy, well looked after and clearly loved.
I see this same basic need in the children of our churches today.
Sadly, for all the 'connectivity of the world' today, there seems to me to be an even greater fracturing and often a loneliness to our society. Children need to feel they belong; we are wired to be social creatures and be around others, this is an innate, irreducible need of all people. Our interactions, as children, develop not only our self-awareness and social skills, but also our ability to be kind, generous and empathetic, and therefore the best people that we can be, just as God intended us to be; in His image.
I have recently been blessed with the Circuit assignment of Children's Work Enabler. I have felt God's hand, generously guiding me to this role, a role for which I truly believe, I have been in 'training' for, my whole life. Through Him, I have an unrelinquishing desire to serve the children within our communities; to share with them the power of God's bountiful love and grace, and allow them, through his generosity, that human necessity of belonging to something truly great.

Lord God, I ask you to be at my side and within our congregations, to actively welcome and encourage all children, to become a part of and ultimately feel, that they truly belong, to our church family and its surrounding communities. Amen.

Emma