Reports for October

On Sunday, 27 October, the focus of our Circuit Prayers was on Fairtrade

Dear All

We have a joint contribution from Rod, our Fairtrade champion, and Linsay from Haddenham who ensures that there is always a good choice of Fairtrade goods on offer at the church there. Please remember that we are a 'Fairtrade Circuit', so browse the goods on offer in our churches and supermarkets and support the producers whenever you can.

Pete

Rod writes:

There are a number of churches locally, from across the denominations who tap into the Fairtrade/ethical items I have or can make available.

Haddenham is one of those churches who offer, promote and support Fairtrade over the year.

The links within these churches are so important to enabling those trying to trade their way out of poverty to progress their own and their community's life.

I'm grateful to Linsay for stepping forward to help with this contribution and would welcome others to contribute why and how they support Fairtrade.

Rod

Linsay writes:

Fairtrade Fortnight in September celebrated 30 years since the first Fairtrade-certified products appeared on supermarket shelves, and the Fairtrade Foundation encouraged us to 'Be the Change'. In Haddenham, as our Harvest Service fell in Fairtrade Fortnight this year, we tried to include Fairtrade ingredients in our harvest lunch contributions.

In 2022 alone, sales of Fairtrade products in the UK generated approximately £30 million in Fairtrade premium for farmers and workers to invest in business and community projects of their choice, including healthcare, education and environmental initiatives. As well as minimal social and economic standards, Fairtrade standards cover key areas for environmental protection, including energy and greenhouse gas emission reduction, soil and water quality, pest management, biodiversity protection, prohibition of genetically modified organisms and harmful chemicals, and waste management. This is a social, economic and sustainability win-win situation for us all.

Over 60% of the total supply of Fairtrade tea is sold in the UK. One of the first things we can do to 'Be the Change', standing with farmers for fairer pay, safer working conditions and greater security – is to make a simple switch to buying Fairtrade tea and coffee.

The circuit champion for Fairtrade or ethical certification and accreditation is Rod Thorpe, Chinnor. He is supported by, and links with, many others to promote and source many of the 6,000 Fairtrade products available in the UK. Bringing purpose, self belief, improved circumstances and supporting those in disadvantaged circumstances are themes within the Bible, Fairtrade and many organisations. The notion of 'Be the Change' is a call to us all and invites action to help make change happen. Given the progress made in 30 years, please pray for Fairtrade as it moves forward in its missions.

Linsay

Sunday 20 October, the focus of our Circuit Prayers was on Karibuni Children

Dear All

We join Joy as she shares her story with us. We will learn the inspirational story of how Corinne became led by God to start Karibuni Children. This is the story of how a wonderful family listened to and responded to God's call to offer love and help to a whole generation of young people. Please pray for those precious young people who have been given such an amazing start to life, that they may be able to plough their God-given skills back into their local communities and bring the riches of God's creation and the light of His love to those who struggle daily to survive.

Pete

Joy writes:

I was the second of 3 children with a single parent from the age of five, which was when my father, who had been in the RAF, left us to join his WAAF lady friend after the war.

We never went to church – it was never even thought of. However, my friend and I went to Sunday School for enough weeks to qualify for the Sunday School picnic outing!

At 16½ I left home and became a cadet nurse at Booth Hall Children's hospital, Manchester later qualifying as a Paediatric Nurse there. While at Booth Hall I started to go to the local Methodist Church – but only to keep my new friend company. This was a mind-blowing, life-changing experience for me – there was a crowd of young people who had real fun together. They were funny and caring and, especially the boys (!) very interested in these two girls who joined them. After a few weeks I gave my life to Christ and started on a new life-long learning – not finished yet after the first 68 years!

I met Bill! at Theological College and I fell hook, line and sinker for him! Sadly, after about 3 months back at college, Bill decided he was called to a celibate ministry – his Irish ancestry?

This heartbroken nurse emigrated to Australia – and had a wonderful time; Australia had a shortage of unattached women at that time, and working as a ward sister, there were crowds of doctors!!

Then Bill got in touch through a friend back home, admitting he'd been mistaken. Now in his first appointment in Basingstoke, he realised how lonely he was, he loved and missed me and asked me to go back home and marry him.

I had a lovely 6-week cruise back to Southampton, arriving 21st June 1963. We were married 14th September 1963, 3 months after returning from Australia, God must have been in there with us.

Four children, thirteen grandchildren and two great grandchildren later, I still believe in God's guidance and providence – that each step has prepared us for the next.

While we were in Northwood, we took part in a 7-month exchange with John Mungania, a Kenyan minister; a life-changing, challenging and wonderful time. Corinne, our daughter, came with us, taking a year off school. This time laid the seeds of Karibuni Children! We served at Kariokor Methodist Church in Nairobi where we were very aware of God's presence protecting and guiding us.

Two years later, Corinne went to the MAYC rally in London with a friend. She later told us, that as she sat in the audience listening to the choir sing, she had a vision of children in Kenya holding out their hands and saying, 'Help me, help me'. She replied that she would help them. Some days later she came in and said she'd been to see the bank manager and told him her story and said she intended opening a bank account to collect money for the children. He asked how much money she had, and she gave him £2.56 – all she had! He looked at it, looked at her, and agreed to open a bank account for her.

The first money was raised (£13,500) by Corinne cycling 460 miles from Edinburgh to London, finishing on the stage at the next MAYC rally in Battersea.

The bigger miracle was Bill and I cycling alternate days with her. God's leading through this adventure is another story of God's care and encouragement!

Karibuni was born and many doors opened and gave us the openings we needed to spread the story of how it had happened and the many miracles that are happening in the projects Karibuni supports. Children with no hope of a daily meal, of going to school, gaining a skill, going to university and college, now healthy, educated and working, some able to support their families and volunteer in the projects!

'Karibuni' means 'Welcome to many', and over the years hundreds of children have had their lives changed through the vision of a young woman who listened to God and made a difference.

Next year is Karibuni Children's 30th Anniversary and celebrations are being planned – join in when you are able and help Karibuni to achieve their 50th Anniversary!

Asante sana na Mungu Awabarike! Thank you very much and God Bless you!

Joy

On Sunday, 13 October, the focus of our Circuit Prayers was on our Circuit Leadership Team

Dear All

We share in Richard's journey as he shares his story with us. Events such as Richard describes make a lasting impression on young minds and the 'Church' can seem a strange organisation that is not always easy to understand. Please pray this week for all those in our midst who struggle to make sense of the 'Mysteries' of our faith, and where possible, stand alongside and guide them to understanding the love of Jesus.

Pete

Richard writes:

I can remember, like it was yesterday, sitting in our house, the phone ringing and my dad, as happened in those days, going into the hall to answer it while my brother and I watched whatever delight was on the television. Dad came back into the room looking dreadful as he told us that our maternal grandmother had died. This came as a terrible shock; I knew she was ill because my mother had gone to be with her but in my innocence didn't grasp the full picture and my parents, in their wisdom, had decided I was too young to be told that my Gran's condition was terminal.

My life collapsed around me and I can remember struggling to understand all that was going on. My maternal grandparents lived 100 yards away and so we spent a lot of time at their house as we were growing up and the thing that brought me some solace was the recollection of my Gran's usual parting words. They would be either goodbye or good night followed by God bless. I claim no Damascus Road style experience but looking back now, it was this event that really began my journey in earnest. I went to Sunday School, my Church of England Primary School had taught me many of the Bible's stories but it was my confrontation with mortality that encouraged me to try and find meaning, to help make sense of the world. It took a while, I struggled to make sense of my Gran's belief alongside the somewhat fussy practises of Anglicanism. As my faith grew, I became more accepting of the, as I saw it, of the men in dresses, the hushed tones and the rigid liturgical formalities of worship, but continued to struggle with the church as I experienced it.

University saved me. My Methodist friends sensed my discontent with the Church of England and invited me to experience their church. It was a revelation, worship was less formal, the people were more outgoing and friendly and the music made my heart sing, it felt different, there was enthusiasm and it all seemed to make sense especially ways in which the hymns related to the preacher's theme. Looking back, it was the first time that church felt like a spiritual home and I will ever be thankful that in my undergraduate days I was so blessed by the Methodist community of

St John's English Methodist Church in Bangor in North Wales.

This all helped me to see things in a different light, sermons became more real and more challenging. Methodism's delight in singing and the way the words of the hymns wove themselves around the preacher's theme resonated with me along with the absence of liturgical dress. Methodism felt real.

I still question the church, I still ask questions as I try to reconcile faith and the realities of life as we experience it and I continue to be moved by examples of those who live out the way of faith. I am still fascinated at the revelation of God in Scripture and in history, still amazed that God is mindful of me and I am still striving to comprehend the fullness of what being blessed involves.

Richard

On Sunday 6 October, our Circuit Prayers focus on our Young People.

Dear All

Liz from Chinnor has spent a lifetime working with and for young people and she shares some thoughts with us on that work. Please pray for our youngsters and for those who work with them, that these young people may from early years be given an understanding of the love and power of a life lived with Jesus.

Pete

Liz writes:

Young people throughout the circuit have been supported by youth workers and church members for many years in the past for which we give thanks. In Chinnor, for example, there have been Holiday Clubs, Sunday School, Youth Club, Activity Club for 7-11s and under 5s group Tots and Toys. The latter two are still running regularly. However those staffing them are aging and and are less able to contribute as much as they did in the past. Let us pray for the upcoming appointment of a Circuit Youth worker and for greater community and joint church involvement in groups in both Chinnor and other churches in the Circuit, enabling them to be of service to the youngsters and showing them Christianity in action.

Liz