Caterpillar Café Messy Church 2014

Caterpillar Café
Caterpillar Café reopened in January 2014 as a
drop in parent and toddler group, open to all in the
community, under the able leadership of Bex
Hughes.
The re-launched group quickly grew and now we
have up to 40 parents and carers with their preschool children every week. It can get very busy! We
provide a warm, safe space, toys, often a simple
craft activity, snacks and lots of tea and real coffee.
Most of the morning is free play and chat but
we finish off by tidying up and singing songs
altogether.
Sadly we lost Bex to work at Pre-school across
the hall in November, but we muddle along
with various people helping in many ways: all
offers welcome! A huge thanks to the kitchen
team: Linda Carr, Pat Aberdeen, Carol Salter
and Marcelle Falconer who make it all
possible.
Jo Levasier
Messy Church 2014
Messy Church has continued to attract
families with young children this year.
With the re-launch of Caterpillar Café
we have seen more younger children
attending Messy Church. While numbers
vary most months about 35 children and their parents attend.
Messy church is a church for adults and children to enjoy together.
At Messy Church we explore a Bible theme through crafts, activities,
a celebration and eating together. This year we have been looking
at Old Testament characters. The children had their faces painted as lions as we thought
about Daniel in the lions’ den, we made crowns and cloaks and had a wonderful
banquet served on gold and silver plates as we thought about Esther and the children put
their hands in gunge as they tried to find Jonah in the whale’s stomach.
Tricia’s lovely collages have continued to be very popular with the children; they just love
using as much glitter as possible! We usually try to include one food related activity each
month, for example decorating ice cream cones to remind us of Joshua’s trumpets and
rainbow fruit kebabs to remind us of the promise God made after the flood.
We have a faithful team of helpers who
prepare crafts, run activities, prepare the
food and welcome families. We are very
grateful to those from the church who supply
delicious home-made cakes every month.
Messy Church is held once a month on a
Saturday afternoon 4.30-6.00pm. All parents,
grandparents and children are welcome.
Adult Growth Groups
At the moment we have 5:Monday Night Growth Group (leaders
Murray & Julia Jennings with Lewis and
Yvonne Williams)
Our group began in September 2014
with some of those who had just finished
the Christianity Explored Course. This term
we have been studying Ruth with the
sermon series and then the beginning of
Genesis. We wanted to dive into a
chapter with challenge to inspire some
debate. It has raised many good issues and combined with insight from our different
perspectives and knowledge it has been thought provoking. It is not easy for everyone to
attend as work and family commitments challenge us, but it’s good that we share this
perspective.
Wednesday Evening Group (leaders Ann Wigmore and Pippa Ford)
We started up in September and enjoy meeting weekly. Over the last few months God
has taken us deeper with each other and with Him as we look to His word to reveal to
each of us more of God. We laugh, cry and share our lives with each other and celebrate
as God brings us new freedom in different areas of our lives. We have also explored
different ways of connecting with God such as meditating on pictures and on God’s
word, and also imaginative prayer. Many of us went together to the Women’s’ day at
Christchurch Woking recently and received a fresh touch of God’s Spirit to equip and
encourage us.
Wednesday Morning Group (leaders Roger & Carol Salter)
We have been meeting for nearly two years now. During
the past year we’ve worked through some challenging
material, both on Bible books and on topics, and have
grown in our spiritual lives and our relationships. We are a
closely-knit group and love meeting together.
Wednesday Evening – Leader Ann O’Grady
We are a group of people moving toward having God at
our centre. We are happy, fun loving and love God and
each other. We meet on a Wednesday evening and
begin our evening with cake which we take in turns to
provide and a beverage of our choice. We have a short
chat about what has happened in our lives during the
week. We are always available to each other throughout
the week to talk, pray or whatever is needed. We
continue the evening with a Bible study which is
recommended to us and we end by praying for each
other and those who we know will benefit from prayer. As an outreach we gather nonperishable foodstuff and deliver it to the Foodbank each week.
We also try to have a social evening during the break between
terms.
During the year we have said goodbye to Paul West who got
married and has moved away, and our co-leader Mike Shaverin
who is working an increasing amount overseas. Thank you Mike
for all your input!
This is our honorary member Arnie, who keeps an eye on us all!
Thursday Evening (leaders Ruth Boughton & Jean Davy)
This year as a group we have continued to grow in our knowledge and love of Christ
through great times of studying the Bible. We have a meal together once a month and
have time for worship, praise and prayer. Supporting each other in good times as well as
hard times has been a privilege as has supporting members of our group as they take on
various roles in the life of the church. We look forward to another year of the same!
Burpham Church Men’s Group
This group has been running in its current format since the
beginning of 2015, having grown from the previous regular
curry nights we have enjoyed. It is open to all men
associated with Burpham Church and their guests.
We aim to meet about once a month, on either a Friday (to
allow for Saturday workers) or a Saturday, usually in the evening. We try to be as inclusive
as possible, but realise that it is difficult sometimes with work and family commitments. So
far we have enjoyed an inaugural breakfast, a games evening (pool, table tennis, darts,
air hockey) and most recently a curry evening at the Rajdoot.
Future plans include a Race Day at Brands Hatch at the end of May, a steak BBQ (at the
Vicarage) and another curry evening. (yes….we do like our food!)
We welcome newcomers, and any suggestions that you may have for activities that we
can include in our programme. We look forward to seeing you in the near future
Contact Martin Luke for further details: m. 07462 033377 e. martin-luke@sky.com
Youth Work
Growth Group
Our weekly youth growth group meets each Monday night for school years
10 and up. We meet for an hour and a half to enjoy each other’s
company and explore God’s word together supporting and encouraging
each other as we journey forward in our faiths.
Livewire
Livewire is a weekly kids club which meets each Tuesday
evening at Burpham Primary School. Currently only available
to children in school years 1 – 6 at Burpham Primary, we see
around twenty children each week for an hour of games,
crafts, laughter and fun!
Download & Download
2.0
Download is our weekly
youth drop in running every
Wednesday evening from 5
– 6.30 for school years 6 – 8, and Download 2.0 running later in
the evening from 7.30 – 9 for school years 9-11. Packed with
tons of exciting and fun activities, including Playstation 4,
Xbox 1, table-tennis, football and more, as well as a meal,
Download is great fun for all included!
TNT (Thursday Night Thing)
Thursday Night Thing (or TNT for short), is our weekly bible study group
for school years 7-9. We meet at a leaders home each Thursday
evening from 6 – 7.30 for a meal, fellowship & friends, and to explore
God’s word and his plan for our lives with each other. All welcome!
Sunday Night Lights
Sunday Night Lights is our Sunday night drop
in for school years 10 and up. We meet at
Church of the Holy Spirit from 7.30 – 9 for
pizza, games and a chance to take a break
from the week and recharge our batteries!
Burpham Church, Music team
The music group lead the musical aspect of worship on a
Sunday morning at the 10.45am service. We are a group
of musicians who love to praise God through music and
hope to bless others in facilitating their worship and praise.
We meet at 9.15am on a Sunday morning to practice
ready for the 10.45am service and try to meet once a
month to learn new songs, and develop our relationship
with God and each other. We are always on the lookout
for new members of the team who have musical gifts and
want to use them in this way.
We all tend to get involved in the Carol Service and other
special services at Christmas and rope in as many others as
possible. A big thank you to everyone who contributes.
Debbie Smith
Women’s Breakfasts 2014
We had four breakfasts in 2014. These were attended by between 25 and 35 women most
were members of our church congregation but several were visitors.
January 2014: Ann Mather, coordinator of North Guildford Food Bank told us about the work
of this organisation set up to help those struggling to provide food for themselves and their
families.
March 2014: Afghanistan
A PhD student from University of Surrey spoke. She talked about her life in Afghanistan and in
Guildford. She also told us a bit about her research into ways to treat cancer and how it t will
be useful in her own country. She described how she had been made to feel welcome in
Guildford with the support of Friends International. This organisation has been adopted as
one of our church’s mission partners.
September 2014: Pippa Ford, our then new ordinand, shared her journey to faith and
onwards to Burpham and described how she and
her family spent time in Burma.
November 2014: ‘Burpham Will Remember Them’
Team members Carol Salter and Chris Willott l gave
us the inside story into the research for this exhibition
commemorating those soldiers named on the war
memorial in St Luke’s Churchyard. They shared their
discoveries and showed photos.
Ann Wigmore
Discussion Group
This group was started around 1980 by the late Pat
Gathercole and Gillian Belgrave. I joined a short
while later. Members have come and gone over so
many years and have all left their mark some have
been here for well over ten or twenty years following
gentle encouragement to join after extremely
challenging experiences in their lives, it speaks
volumes for this group that they are still with us. .
People join for various reason, friendship and an
openness to God and faith are at the core, moving
forward at whatever pace is relevant to them. This
group may not even be appropriate but somewhere
the right group is available.
The leadership has changed three times over the years and I had no hesitation when it looked as
if all would be lost if I hadn’t felt the urge to say I would take over when Gillian Hughes announced
she would be moving away to be near her daughter. Would my visual impairment prove a
problem? Colin had no objection so with trepidation I began.
I have a special scanner/reader which I use to ‘read’ the article then I save it onto a memory stick
in order to listen again’ on one of my book players, by the time we have our meeting I have
listened at least 3 times to the article and heard the bible passage on one of the cd versions, I
have both NIV and King James which is useful because members of the group all have different
translations.
The format of the group has changed slightly over the years mainly by the regular use of a piece
of music at the start of each meeting.
We meet on the fourth Thursday of each month. This is a relaxed light hearted group using books
written by Eddie askew as a foundation for discussion.
We begin with some music usually relating to the article. A short Bible reading is the starting point
followed by a discussion on the relevant passage. After reading through Eddie’s impressions of the
Bibleverses, we are always surprised at the wide variety of thoughts his ideas conjure up among
the group. We may vary slightly off course but always find our way back to the original thinking.
Finally Eddie’s poem bringing together his thoughts is read then another short discussion before
we all have the opportunity to bring to the group any person or situation we want mentioned
and then we draw the group to a close with the grace. A cup of tea is then most welcome.
A very important feature of this group is that we always find something to laugh about which gives
us a good feeling of relaxation so that by the time the afternoon is over if we have arrived feeling
sad or apprehensive we know we will go home feeling uplifted.Tricia’s fun and games sorting out
how to make sure she plays the correct track or in some cases the right CD are always a source
of fun for her. And the rest of us
Joan Barnett
DROP-­‐ IN
Drop-­‐In has been part of Burpham Church for over 33 years attracting membership from both the church family and the wider community. As well as tea, coffee and companionship we offer a well stocked library, a card stall, garden produce when in season, and provide a monthly 'Hearing Aid Clinic'. Extra events include the annual Hunger Lunch, a half day and a full day outing, a summer garden party and much more. New members are always welcome.
(Photo taken at our Christmas 2014 celebration)