Category Archives: What’s New

A very busy June – Money Advice, Summer Fayre and Welcome to Ricky

Summer is nearly here and we have a very busy month ahead of us at All Saints’.

On Thursday 5th June we will be hosting the first of three sessions on Money Management as part of our new Money Advice project in partnership with Carpenders Park and South Oxhey Methodist Church. The course will start at 11am, find out more on our Money Advice page.

Our Summer Fayre will be on Saturday 14th June from 10:30am to 12:30pm. We will be transforming the church into a summer holiday beach resort for the day, so come along in your beach-wear.

And to round off the month, we will be welcoming our new Curate, Ricky Turner. Ricky will be ordained on Sunday 29th June at St Albans Abbey and then we will be returning to All Saints’ for a lunchtime welcome service at 2pm. Please come along to meet Ricky and his family on their big move as Ricky begins his ministry with us.

Holy Week and Easter Services 2014

Next Sunday (13th April) is Palm Sunday. We will be holding our traditional Palm Sunday Service at 10am where we celebrate Christ’s entry into Jerusalem before starting his final week of ministry. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week, the most important week in the Christian calendar.

On Thursday (17th April) we will have a Holy Communion Service for Maundy Thursday at 7.30pm, the moment when Jesus gave us the Eucharist as our main act of worship and it is the service when he washed the feet of his disciples and set us the example of how to live as Christians. On Friday (18th April), we will hold our Good Friday Service at 2.30pm to remember the sacrifice that Jesus made for us as he suffered on the cross to save our sins. Please join us for these services, there is no Easter without Good Friday or Maundy Thursday

Then looking forward to Easter Day (20th April), we will be holding our Easter Communion Service at 10am. The service will start outside – beside Oxhey Chapel – with the lighting of the Pascal Candle from a fire. The lit candle will then be carried into the church  symbolising the light of Christ coming into the world. Our Easter Service will be followed by our annual Decorated Egg Competition and Egg Rolling Competition.

Then on Monday(21st April) a group of us will be heading on our annual Easter Monday Pilgrimage to St. Albans Abbey. Chris and Vik will be leading a walk to the Abbey (11 miles), leaving All Saints at 9am, or you can meet us outside the Abbey for a picnic before the service at 3pm.

Check our Special Services page for full details and come and join us at All Saints’ this Holy Week and Easter.

Mothering Sunday Breakfast Service 2014

We had a fantastic Breakfast Service  for Mothering Sunday. We were thinking about caring. We wrote the names of the people and things we care for and those that care for us. We then joined these thoughts together into paper chains.

Which of the people or things you care for or who care for you would you put on your paper chain link?

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Annual Parochial Church Meeting 2014

We had our APCM Annual Meeting today to review 2013 and elect our Church Wardens and PCC for the new year.

We are pleased to confirm that our current Church Wardens; Dianne Campbell and Christine Wyard; have been re-elected for another year. We also elected out Deanery Synod Representative; Chris Thomas; and our PCC members; Copeland Beckles, Vik Davis, Joan Kennedy, James Muriithi, Jane Muriithi, Stuart Seaholme and Matilda Tsiquaye Anie.

Committee positions for the upcoming year will be decided at the first PCC meeting in April.

Congratulations to all those elected and we pray for a successful year ahead for the new PCC.

Lent 2014

Next Wednesday (5th March) is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Please come along to our Ash Wednesday service at 7.30pm. It is a beautiful service and wonderful way to begin our Lent observance.

Then on Sunday 9th March at 3pm we will be showing ‘The King’s Speech’ as an introduction to our Lent Course which will be based around this film. If you haven’t seen it then now is your opportunity to see the Oscar winning film, even if your not taking part in the Lent groups. There will snacks…maybe even popcorn!

Our Lent Course will start the following week. We will be holding three Lent Groups which will be at various venues on Thursday afternoon, Thursday evening and Friday evening. Please speak to Pam if you want to find out more.

Finally, our next Breakfast Service will be on Sunday 30th March – Mothering Sunday. Come along (and bring a friend) and have breakfast made for you!

Details of our Holy Week and Easter services can be found on our Special Services page.

Missions for 2014

We have now agreed our Missions for 2014. These are the three charities that we will be supporting with our fundraising events throughout the year, including Table Top Sales and our Summer and Christmas Fayres.

We have a target to raise £2000 this year to share between these Missions. Our first fundraising event is our Table Top Sale this Saturday (22nd February 10:30am-12:30pm).

Our Missions for 2014 are:

International Mission: Ethiopiaid

Ethiopiaid → has been changing lives in Ethiopia since 1989. It is a small but effective charity raising funds for trusted community partners in the capital of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa. They work with the best local charities, valued for their expertise, skill and ambition tackling poverty alleviation, healthcare and education. By targeting these areas they help the poorest to find their way out of unnecessary suffering.

National Mission: National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease

Crohn’s and Colitis UK → is the working name for the National Association for Colitis and Crohn’s Disease (NACC). The NACC was first established in 1979 as a patients’ association and aims to improve life for everyone affected by Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) – the main forms being Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis. The charity has been providing information and support, funding research and fighting for change by bringing together people of all ages who have been diagnosed with IBD, their families and friends, and the professionals involved in their care.

Local Mission: ASCEND

ASCEND is our very own Mission working right in the heart of our community. They’re all about moving people forward, challenging their perceived barriers to education and training; providing people with more choice and control over their lives.

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Keep checking our Events page for details of our future fundraisers.

Mission total for 2013

We now have the final total for our Mission fundraising for 2013. We had several exciting events including our Scottish and 1940s themed evenings, our Summer and Christmas Fayres as well as our regular Table Top Sales.

Together these events and other donations meant that we successfully met our target of £2000 which will be shared equally among our three nominated Missions; The Willow Foundation→, Diabetes UK→ and Mary’s Meals→.

The final total for the year was £2307. The £307 above our target will be donated to our own mission, ASCEND.

We also collected £384 for one-off appeals including the Syria and Philippines crises. This makes a grand total for 2013 of

£2691.

Thank you to everyone who helped organise any of our events in 2013 and all those who came along to support them and help us reach this total.

Our new Missions for 2014 will be announced soon.

Saints, Pilgrims and Peggy

At our service yesterday we watched the annual new year message from Alan Smith, the Bishop of St Albans. His message centred around the centenary of the formation of the current Diocese of St Albans in 1914. As part of this celebration, there will be a festival day of fun and praise on the 25 August in Keysoe, Bedfordshire. For more information, you can visit the Diocese website www.celebrate100.org.uk.

Also accompanying this special year, we have been given a book “Saints and Pilgrims in the Diocese of St Albans”. This book has 366 pages for each day of the year with each one reflecting on the life of an inspirational person from our diocese. One of the people represented is our very own Peggy Leech who most of you will remember preaching at All Saints’ for many, many years.

We hope to put this inspiring book on display in the church so that all our congregation and visitors can follow this centenary year through the interesting stories of these fascinating individuals.

Merry Christmas from All Saints’ Church

All the shopping is done and the presents are under the tree. Now take time and remember what Christmas is all about.

Our Christingle and Nativity Service is at 4pm on Christmas Eve. This service is designed with children in mind and is a great way to take time out from your Christmas preparations to remind them of the true meaning of Christmas.

We will be holding Midnight Mass at 11:30pm on Christmas Eve as we wait beside the manger.

Then at 10am on Christmas morning, come along to celebrate Jesus’s birthday and bring along your favourite present to show us.

It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas!

We had a wonderful breakfast service this morning all about welcoming. Before the service, we met to share breakfast while the children (and the young at heart) decorated our Christmas Tree. It’s looking fantastic!

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In the spirit of today’s message, we would like to welcome everyone to our church over this Christmastide. You can find details and times for all our services here.