News for June 2021

Appointment of New Minister

We are pleased to announce that Bishop Robert has agreed to the appointment of Rev Oliver Strange as our new Priest in Charge to succeed Richard Rendall, subject to the usual processes. He was ordained in 2018 and is currently Curate in Burford. He went to Sheffield University studying Russian and German, then took a Masters at Oxford and a PGCE at Oxford Brookes before taking up a teaching career in primary schools. He left teaching after 10 years to be ordained and he and his wife Lucie are very much looking forward to moving to our benefice later this summer.

 

Church Services

We are continuing to meet in person for church services following Church of England guidelines. We look forward to welcoming those who are emerging from lockdown.

 

Please do join us for our United Service at 10.30am on Sunday 6th June at Holy Ascension, Oddington when all seven parishes combine to worship together. The reordered Church of Holy Ascension provides a spacious and welcoming venue for our benefice to join together with social distancing and following Church of England guidelines.

 

Advance Notice: Bishop Robert will be making a pastoral visit to our benefice on Sunday 4th July when he will be presiding over and speaking at our 10.30am United Service at Holy Ascension, Oddington. Do put the date in your diary and join us if you can.

 

Central Prayer

Our next Central Prayer meeting will be on Saturday 12th June at 9.30am at Holy Ascension, Oddington. Prayer underpins everything that we do in the Evenlode Vale Churches. Please join with us as we pray for our parishes, and the wider community. Social distancing and mask wearing is required. All are welcome.

 

Pastoral Care

As we approach the return of normality we are conscious that many people will still have high levels of anxiety. If you or anyone you know has any pastoral concerns please contact our Curate, Helkias Mapimhidze on 01608 658500.

Church News for May 2021

Church Services

We are continuing to meet in person for church services following Church of England guidelines. We look forward to welcoming those who are emerging from lockdown.

Of special note is the Ascension Day Service on Thursday 13th May at 7.30pm at St Edward’s, Evenlode. All are welcome as we remember the Ascension of our Lord Jesus.

 Pastoral Care

As we approach the return of normality we are conscious that many people will still have high levels of anxiety. If you or anyone you know has any pastoral concerns please contact our Curate, Helkias Mapimhidze on 01608 658500.

Appointment of a New Minister

Since the application deadline we have received a number of applications and short listing has begun. We would welcome your prayers for our churchwardens, patrons and parish representatives as they consider the applications.

May Church Letter

Dear Friends,

Perhaps it’s the hubbub of punters at the pub. Indeed, I do wonder what proportion of the country was hungover (“working from home?”) on the second Tuesday of April. Perhaps it’s the sunny weather or perhaps it’s the roll out of the vaccination program and how most of the nation’s vulnerable have had at least one jab. We are certainly thankful that we’ve been able to meet for Sunday services following the guidelines set by the government. For all these and many other things that are resuming there seems to be an air of optimism about. The path to normality (whatever that may look like) is not immediately totally clear but from all appearances, it is getting less and less murkier. My family and I are looking forward to being able to camp in the summer. May Providence sustain and guide us all.

 

For this is the hope of Easter. The resurrection of Jesus gives us eternal hope for better things to come. It’s probably that from where we get the idea of Easter eggs. Chickens look little like the eggs from which they hatch. It’s not clear to us what the immediate future will look like, but the eternal future will be more than we can imagine. May that hope sustain us now and forever

Helkias Mapimhidze

Church News for April 2021

Easter Services

Our Easter Day Services on Sunday 4th April will be ticketed in order to comply with social distancing requirements. To book places please contact the relevant person for the parish of the service you would like to attend. Contact details can be found below.

Parish contacts for booking services:

 Adlestrop    Lesley Bishop-Milnes     01608 659114

Bledington    Aloyse Packe                     01608 658447

Broadwell     Pat Beard                            01451 870017

Evenlode      Mark Dancer                     01608 651653

Icomb             Sue Nock                            01608 658373

Oddington    Peter Davis                        01451 830224

Westcote      Trevor Bigg                         01993 830624

 

Prayer

We have renamed our monthly prayer meeting Central Prayer to reflect the crucial role that prayer has within our lives. Why not come to our next Central  Prayer Meeting on Saturday 3rd April, 9.30am to 10.30am at Holy Ascension Oddington. This is an opportunity to pray for the work of our church and our villages.  You won't be asked to read or to pray out loud; social distancing and mask-wearing will be strictly observed; and we'll start and finish on time.

A Fresh Start

Easter marks a time of new beginnings.  For Christians, that centres of course around the new life made possible by the death and resurrection of Jesus; for others it's about the arrival of Spring, with bulbs bursting into flower, lambs bouncing around in the fields, longer evenings, and the promise of better weather and more outdoor living.

This year, as we awaken from the hibernation of lockdown and look forward, soon, to being able to meet up again with friends and family, it's an especially poignant time.   It's poignant for those who have lost loved ones; and for those whose livelihoods have been battered by the economic consequences of the pandemic.   Poignant too for many who have struggled to maintain hope, when the world seemed to be falling apart around them.   But the astonishing rollout of our vaccination programme, and the ground gained by this third (and worst) lockdown, gives us reason for hope that some degree of normality may not be far away now, after these recent challenging months.

As a group of parishes, we're also in a time of change, as we are between Rectors.   Richard Rendall retired in January, and between us all we're working hard to maintain our church services and our church life.   The job has now been advertised and we hope to be shortlisting for Richard's replacement soon, with interviews pencilled in for early May.   We look forward with anticipation and expectation that our new Minister will soon be able to open a new chapter in the life of our churches in the Evenlode valley.  

So as Easter comes, let's look forward to celebrating some better times, and let's pray that we'll learn from what we've endured, whatever the next few months bring.

Rev'd Dr Stephen Blake, Associate Minister

Church News for March 2021

March Services

We are continuing to hold physical services in most of our churches. We are able to do this because appropriate precautions have been put in place including regular risk assessments and careful security at services.  St Paul’s Church in Broadwell will remain closed during March but all our other churches are open.

To provide for those who aren’t able to meet in person we are also streaming an online service each month. Our next online service will be on Sunday 21st March 2021 at 10.30am. Recorded from Holy Ascension, Oddington our Curate, Rev Helkias Mapimhidze will be speaking. You can access our online services from our benefice website: evenlodevalechurches.org. Please contact the church office on 01451 831424 if you would prefer a DVD of the recorded service.

 Prayer

We have renamed our monthly prayer meeting Central Prayer to reflect the crucial role that prayer has within our lives.

Why not come to our next Central  Prayer Meeting on Saturday 6th March 2021, 9am to 10am at Holy Ascension Oddington. Please note the revised time for this month only. This is an opportunity to pray for the work of our church and our villages.  You won't be asked to read or to pray out loud; social distancing and mask-wearing will be strictly observed; and we'll start and finish on time.

 Lent Course

'The cross of Jesus is the centre of human history, and the centre of the Christian faith.   And so it should dominate our view of ourselves, our future... and our present'

passion by Mike McKinley.jpg

 This Lent we are looking at Luke's gospel account of the final day of Jesus' life on earth - the hope and anguish; the joy and pain; and his heart-breaking, life-bringing death.  

 Over five Tuesday evening 'Zoom' sessions we'll be using Mike McKinley's book to discover how Christ's Passion changes our heart, and challenges our life, every day.

Join us, to consider how Christ's final day changes your every day!

 Online meetings: Every Tuesday 7:30pm - 8:30pm from Feb 23rd to March 23rd inclusive. (It’s not too late to join in with the remaining sessions in March if you would like to.)   Zoom link and book copies available price £5 from the church office (office@evenlodevalechurches.org).  You'll need to read two short chapters each week before the online discussion meeting.

 Youth Update

Please see the newsletter this month written by Mark Smallwood, our Youth Minister.

 

Youth Update by Mark Smallwood

Our group of village churches aims to welcome people of all ages to be part of the church.   For the past two years my job as Youth Minister has been to support youngsters in the area, and to help make the church relevant to their lives.   Before Covid came, we had a lot of fun week by week in various clubs and activities, but not surprisingly most of what we currently do has had to move online’.

 

So, now we meet every Friday night to play virtual games and discuss a pop music video. One popular game has been  'Among us'; in this ‘whodunnit’ game where we are all astronauts on a mission, but there is an imposter among us seeking to sabotage the spaceship. Rounds are played on our phones and then ‘emergency meetings’ are called, where we discuss (over zoom) who we think the impostor is. In our discussion of pop music videos we consider the worldview and messages they contain and what the Christian point of view might have to say to it. On Sunday nights we have an online Bible study (we are just finishing the Sermon on the Mount) and play some more virtual games. On Monday afternoons at 4pm we have been baking over Zoom. So far we have made some flatbreads (with a little help from Jamie Oliver), some Rice Krispie cakes and chocolate cakes! We have given some of the produce of this to the Food bank, but currently all they need is toothpaste and deodorant!

 

Another lockdown innovation has been virtual Murder Mystery parties. We have had a couple of these (and hopefully have another coming up in a few weeks). These are fancy-dress and plenty of fun as well as good mental exercise (the secret is to look for ‘means’, ‘motive’ and ‘opportunity’). I also use this opportunity to show how we can consider the evidence to come to a reasonable faith in Jesus Christ.

 

Looking ahead, we are looking to put on some zoom family fitness sessions, so please be in touch if this interests you! And please contact me if you have a child who would like to join in any of these activities!

 

Mark Smallwood

Mobile: 07584 561378

Email: ms@evenlodevalechurches.org

From the Rector's Wife:

Dear Friends,

 

As Richard and I leave the Benefice it is a time for reflection and review.

 

Our time here has been a mixture of great enjoyment and very hard work. We have enjoyed the company and fun of times with friends and hope to keep in touch with them; we have enjoyed becoming familiar with this lovely part of the world and it will always hold a special place in our hearts; we have enjoyed the fields in which we walk our dogs each day and are so grateful for the generous access that is given by local landowners and farmers.

 

It has been a great privilege to work hard in serving God and the people of this Benefice for a long time in which we have seen many changes. I have done what I can to support Richard and initiate areas of work here alongside running a separate career. However the real work has been done by Richard not just in his visible ministry but in the detail and focus that would be expected of a former lawyer and that has been given to all aspects of Benefice life. He has worked tirelessly with an able team of lay and clergy to enable all the villages to work and worship in their own churches as well as being connected to the hub which holds the Benefice together.

 

Richard has exercised a ministry to all the different parts of the society which make up the Cotswolds and has brought structure, purpose, vision and teaching to the Benefice. He leaves it with a strong team and the ability to attract quality candidates to replace him.

 

As he switched out the lights at the end of our Farewell service, I reflected on the end of the time we have spent here and on the fact that as we move into the future and this Benefice looks ahead to a new Rector, we can continue to trust in the promises of the Lord that we serve and love.

 

Isaiah 40:31

but those who hope in the Lord
    will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
    they will run and not grow weary,
    they will walk and not be faint.

 

As we move away, we will pray for you in the future and send out best wishes and love,

 

Anita and Richard

Church News February 2021

Interregnum

With our Rector’s departure at the end of January the work of the Benefice continues in a unified way coordinated by the staff team. While we are supported by our Associate Minister Rev Dr Stephen Blake this is however just a voluntary role. During the interregnum the churchwardens are legally responsible for services in each of their parish churches and the staff team will be supporting them in this work. If you have any questions or queries during the interregnum please do speak to your churchwardens in the first instance, however if you’re not sure who to approach you are welcome to contact the Benefice Church Office on 01451 831424 or by email: office@evenlodevalechurches.org.

February Services

After discussion with churchwardens some churches will be closing while others remain open with some changed services and timings. The following churches will remain closed to the end of February: Adlestrop, Broadwell and Evenlode. Please do check the Benefice website for the latest updates for services and times: www.evenlodevalechurches.org .

The staff team and the churchwardens will continually review the situation, but we remain the body of Christ, united in him, whether we're able to meet in lawfully gathered worship, or whether we're shielding or isolating for personal safety.

Prayer

We intend to hold our next Benefice Prayer Meeting on Saturday 6th February 2021 at 9.30am at Holy Ascension Oddington. This is an opportunity to pray for the work of this Benefice, for the needs of those who live here as well as for the wider community.  This will be a Covid secure, socially distanced prayer meeting. If you would like to attend please wear a face mask and we ask you to keep 2 metres away from others not in your household.

Lent Course

This year Lent starts on 17th February and we plan to hold a course as we have done in previous years. Because of prevailing circumstances, we're likely to conduct it via Zoom. Look out for details of the course coming soon through the weekly church email bulletin.

Benefice News via Weekly Email

Every Friday we send out an email bulletin with forthcoming services and weekly news. If you would like to receive a copy of this please contact the church office (01451 831424 / office@evenlodevalechurches.org) to be added to the distribution list.

Covid Update

Rev Helkias Mapimhidze

Hebrews 10: 23-25
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together.

We are thankful to God that when we couldn't lawfully meet, our benefice conducted Youtube services successfully. However, as edifying as these were, they are not a substitute for meeting in person. Even in this difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic, we ought not to forsake the meeting of the saints. Our faith is an embodied faith and so we are thankful that we're able to lawfully meet in person, with the full support of the government and the church. Accordingly, we plan to meet in our parishes for Sunday services, strictly observing lockdown guidelines so as to minimise transmission of the virus and to protect the vulnerable.
By no means is this compulsion for anyone to attend gathered worship. If, for whatever reason, you're wary of meeting with other parishioners in church, please do not feel guilty or ashamed for not attending parish services. You have the full support of the staff team and the Bishop of Gloucester.
We will strive to be compliant with the guidance from the diocese and the government and will readjust as required. Please feel free to contact Stephen or Helkias if you have any concerns about this. In addition, Helkias remains available for pastoral support on 01608 658500

However you decide, may we remain people of prayer because our God is faithful to keep his good promises to us. I trust that you will find this prayer useful.

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

You have brought us to the valley of vision,
where we live in the depths but see you in the heights;
hemmed in by mountains of sin we behold thy glory.

Let us learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;

Let us find your light in our darkness,
your life in our death,
your joy in our sorrow,
your grace in our sin,
your riches in our poverty,
your glory in our valley.
Amen

Farewell

Dear Friends,

2020 is unlikely to go down as anyone’s favourite year (unless you are a major shareholder in Amazon or Zoom). Many have lost loved ones or jobs and others are separated from their families and feeling lonely and isolated.

In difficult times, we look for the hope that Christmas can provide. Although it will be different this year, the message remains the same: Jesus came to dispel the darkness and fear and bring the light of hope.

Our speech is now full of phrases never uttered before 2020. Social distancing. Track and Trace. The R number. In John 1, the traditional Christmas reading, there is an older phrase which if embraced would bring the hope we need as we enter 2021: Jesus came full of grace and truth.

Grace is God’s overwhelming, unconditional kindness and it means we can find the forgiveness we all need for our failings. Truth means that there is a God who directs the future, understands the past and knows us better than we do ourselves.

These have been uncertain times for Anita and me – purchasing a house at distance in the middle of a Pandemic has been challenging - but things have now become clearer. We will be overseeing necessary work and beginning our move in December a process which will be concluded in January allowing Richard to complete his handover to those who will run the interregnum.

Our final service will be broadcast on December 6th – sadly without a congregation – but if allowed we will say as many personal farewells as we can in between journeys up and down the M1.

We have made many friends here – thank you for all you have done to create the happy memories with which we will leave this beautiful part of the world.

May the God who came in his Son Jesus, full of grace and truth, shine his light upon you this Christmas and in the months and years to come.

With our love and prayers,

 

Richard and Anita

October Church Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Autumn is my favourite season of the year and Harvest a much loved festival. This is the last autumn Anita and I will spend with you in the Cotswolds and we are hoping to be at as many Harvest Festivals as possible as we begin to say our farewells.

Harvest is an opportunity to connect in our minds the growing focus in our society on the environment, health and food with God. We offer to God the contribution our farmers make in producing food and we pray for others involved in the process of bringing the food from the farm to the table.

Above all, of course, we praise God for his creation, creating the soil, and the sun’s radiance, giving life to all things.

Harvest is also an opportunity to pray for members of the farming community. 2020 has forced farmers to contend with many unforeseen challenges. Severe flooding and significant disruption caused by Covid-19 has put immense strain on many as has the extra work required to prepare for Brexit. Farmers need our prayers!

We are holding in all our parishes socially distanced Harvest Services (which include the wearing of face masks) and you can find details in the Church Services section of this newsletter.

We would love you to join us as we celebrate this great festival – and raise the song of harvest-home.

Yours sincerely,

Richard Rendall

September Church Newsletter

You’d have to live under an enormous rock to not be aware of the recent furore over the value of black lives. As with most controversies, the disagreement has generated much heat but very little light. The careless use of words and the alacrity by which bad news travels on the internet have only further muddled the issue. And as we speak, it’s difficult to see whether the dust has settled and what, if any problem, has been resolved.

Thankfully, the Bible is not silent about the matter and it has much to say about justice. In fact, our judicial system and much of Western society was shaped by Biblical principles, and the benefits to society have largely been due to the equity that is foundational to our law system. Indeed an appreciation of history is also key to the concerns we face, else, as in Santayana’s sentiments, we be those who are doomed to repeat history because of our ignorance of it.

As a way of helping to think critically about these issues, I will be conducting an online seminar on 22nd October 2020 about justice in conjunction with the North Cotswolds Gospel Partnership. Details will be forthcoming soon through the church office and website. I look forward to seeing you then.

Helkias Mapimhidze (Curate)

August Church Newsletter

Dear Friends,

It is a privilege to write this newsletter for the first time! And It has been so good to be able to meet up again in person for prayer meetings and services, as it says in Psalm 133:1 ‘How good and pleasant it is when God's people live together in unity!’

Our youth work has taken another exciting step forward: we have begun a series of socially distanced walks to raise money for Ibba Girls’ School South Sudan.

Our first walk was Sunday 12th July, and we covered thirteen kilometres. We started in Stow and walked down to Lower Swell, then we joined the Roman Road known as ‘Ryknild Street’ (where we saw a snake!) to Condicote. From Condicote we walked to Donnington and thence back to Stow! It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the light turning golden as we moved from afternoon to evening.

Next Sunday we will be starting from Lower Slaughter and I think we’ll do a good loop to Naunton and back. A highlight of this walk will be following the River Windrush through a steep wooded valley and then into lazy meanders in flat meadows.

Ibba Girls’ School provides a quality education for girls and young women in the youngest country in the world. This is an education which changes lives and society for the better. As Christians we believe that God has made us all, male and female, in his image, and therefore we all have a great potential which can be unlocked by education. If you would like to hear about how Ibba Girls’ School does this, please visit www.friendsofibba.org.

Finally, there has also been another change to our youth programme — we are now running a ‘Bible Breakfast’ over Zoom every Sunday morning. If you or a young person would like to come to this and to hear from the God who still speaks today, please be in touch with myself (07584561378) or Lydia (07852329193). And don’t forget that our online services are still happening twice a month!

Best wishes in Christ,

Mark Smallwood (Youth Minister)

Steps For South Sudan, Walk 4

`Meeting some goats!

`Meeting some goats!

On Wednesday the 29th, Lydia, Mark and eight young people completed the fourth in our series of walks for Ibba Girls’ School, South Sudan.

We started at Greystones Nature Reserve, Bourton-on-the-Water, then marched down the hill where we checked out an iron-age replica house, which is built on a real iron-age site. 

We continued through some fields, playing walk bingo along the way, making our way into Wyck Rissington. From there, we went up another hill and then down past a farm where we saw some cows, a bull, some sheep, goats and a billy goat!. Shortly afterwards we arrived in Little Rissington where we stopped for lunch. We came out of Little Rissington, down the hill, through arable land and on towards New Bridge where we took the opportunity to cool off by going for a paddle. 

We then headed back towards Bourton, following a path behind Birdland in Bourton-on-the-water (where we saw some bright orange flamingos!). Finally we made our way into the town centre where we enjoyed an ice cream on the green. It was 11.7km in total!

Youth Fundraising Walk No.3

Walk 22nd July (1).jpg

22nd July – Broadway Tower circular walk

Our group of 6 walked 9.6 kilometres on Wednesday 22nd July. We started up on the hillside by Broadway Tower, we descended down into the valley, up and over another hill. We then walked on the flat for a bit and made our way into the gorgeous town of Broadway, Worcestershire where we all enjoyed a well-earned ice cream. Then for the final part of the walk; the ascent back up towards Broadway tower to finish off our walk. It was another beautiful, sunny day and on this walk we saw two rams on route.

We are doing these walks to fundraise for IBBA girl’s school in South Sudan, the ‘eighth’ parish of our Benefice. If you are willing and able to support us as we take part in ‘Steps to South Sudan’, please follow this link https://www.friendsofibba.org/news/steps-for-south-sudan and say that you are from the Evenlode Vale Benefice in the comments so that your donations can be distinguished from others.