News

Thy Kingdom Come

Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement, initiated by Archbishops Justin Welby and John Sentamu several years ago. It invites Christians around the world to pray between Ascension Day and Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus Christ.

The hope is that: people will commit to pray with God’s world-wide family; churches will hold prayer events; people will be empowered through prayer by the Holy Spirit, finding new confidence to be witnesses for Jesus Christ.

At St Andrew’s, our own aims for Thy Kingdom Come are to:

  • Embrace this global prayer initiative
  • Extend our own prayer habits (church & personal)
  • Engage with our community in prayer
  • Embolden our witness

Find out more about how you can join in our services, prayer meetings and prayer walks to support this global initiative.

Exercising mind and body to help turn hunger into hope…

Oh what fun we had (whilst doing a lot of good)

Almost fifty people from St Andrew’s gathered last Friday night in the church hall to exercise their minds in the Christian Aid Quiz. It was a hotly fought contest amongst 6 teams with one of the teams from the Wednesday Morning Life Group taking home the trophy at the end of the evening. Together we raised almost £1,000 to support the world’s poorest people, millions of whom are likely to face extreme hunger over the coming months. We all gave and we all prayed; and if anyone wants to take action then please sign up to the Christian Aid Loss and Damage campaign.

If anyone would like to try the quiz at home then please contact and he will send you the questions and answers.  Thank you for all your support.

Meanwhile, Mark is getting on his bike again. He writes:

“I’m planning on doing a bit of cycling in May to raise money for Christian Aid, with three days in the Peak District on the mountain bike riding 70 miles in the hills and climbing 11,000 feet (2 ½ times Ben Nevis). Then I’m on the road visiting 10 cathedrals in the north of England from Newcastle to York to Sheffield and then to Derby, covering 300 miles and 11,000 feet of climbing. I’m finishing off with 102 miles around Essex with a further 3,600 feet of climbing.

In all I’m aiming to cover 80% of the distance from Land’s End to John o’ Groats and to have climbed Ben Nevis almost six times. Any support you can give to the world’s poorest people will be much appreciated. I’ll be updating you on my journey on Facebook and on my Just Giving page. If you would like to make a donation, please go to my Just Giving page and don’t forget to tick the gift aid box if appropriate. Thank you for any support you can give.”

Building Your Church (BYC) update

During the last 12 months there have been some very interesting, challenging and exciting developments on BYC – both in terms of the people and the buildings.

We are pleased to invite you to join us in church on Sunday 20 March when the BYC team will share these developments with you. The presentations will take place at 11.30am with coffee following the 10am service and again at 3pm. There will be children’s activities, so you are welcome to come with your children. We hope you can join us.

Ukraine donations update

St Andrew’s Oxshott is open each day for all who would like to pray for the situation in Ukraine.

You may find these links and prayer helpful:

Loving God, we pray for the people of Ukraine, for all those suffering or afraid, that you will reveal yourself, your love, to them and protect them. We pray for every separated family, each city in fear, all soldiers and especially those fighting for freedom and their homes.We pray for world leaders, for compassion, strength and wisdom: Lord, guide their choices.

Prosper every attempt to bring practical help to those in need and protect those who deliver it.

May we, and many who do not yet believe, learn to walk in your ways, striving for peace and justice, for the people of Ukraine and wherever we are in the world. Amen

Toys for Ukraine

We are very happy to have found a way to get the remaining boxes of toys that were donated to the appeal for Ukraine to where they are needed. Around 30 boxes have now been transported to Fetcham, from where they will be taken to Poland and Ukraine.

THANK YOU to everyone who brought items to the church on Wednesday or Thursday – there was a constant stream of people bringing bags and boxes. Some donations also came from other local churches and schools.

Sadly, we ended up with a problem: there was so much donated that the original carrier was overwhelmed. Amazingly, a new Ukrainian link was found but they needed us to sort all the items before transporting them. Many locals (from the church and the community) responded to a call for volunteers on Friday and Saturday with the net result that by 3.30pm Saturday we had filled well over a hundred boxes (kindly supplied free for us by Farrer & Fenwick in Fetcham)!  THANK YOU to them and to all of you who came to help!

Three hours later, the van was loaded with all the goods (except the toys, which they had no outlet for and for which we will find a good home). The Ukrainian Christians who drove the van (Sergei, Micha and Slavik) took photos and prayed for Oxshott before driving off, which was a humbling experience. And, of course, we prayed for them and will continue to do so.

What an amazing few days, and what an amazing effort by the people of Oxshott! So many commented that they just wanted ‘to do something’ and frankly, it was a privilege to be able to join in, despite some aching muscles the next day.

Some of us were expecting to collect blankets and clothing this week. However, it seems that it is better at this point to send money via the DEC to the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Blessings,

 

Donate to A Rocha Wolf Fields project

Kailean of A Rocha is speaking this Sunday. You can make an online donation to their Wolf Fields project by clicking the button below.

Donate

 

The Gathering Soup Kitchen a great success

The Finnies’ Christmas soup kitchen lunch, which was so generorously supported by the congegation of St Andrew’s, became a Welcome to 2022 lunch following Dean and Paula’s long awaited trip to the UK and was held a few days ago. They have sent us the following letter of heartfelt thanks.

Dear friends at St Andrew’s,

What an absolutely wonderful day we had on 23 January as we welcomed 2022 and celebrated with our soup kitchen friends. It was a joy to love on our friends and to serve them with a fabulous 2 course lunch and drinks. Each one took away a very prayed over, personalised goody bag and the gospel was preached. We also had several very special opportunities to pray with people on the day, which was the icing on the cake. The weather, though boiling hot, was perfect because we had no wind, and God blessed us with the provision of 5 gazebos during the lunch, so for the first time, everyone ate in shade!

We really could not have done this without you all and want to take this opportunity to thank you all once again for your amazing generosity and partnership with The Gathering. I hope that the attached Thank You conveys some of the joy of the day to you!

Sending you very much love,

Paula and Dean, Joel and Eli

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Join a Life Group – or give it a try!

Life Groups are at the heart of St Andrew’s church life, providing an opportunity to grow in faith through bible study, prayer, fellowship, sharing what is happening in our lives, and interaction with our Mission Partners.

If you don’t currently belong to a Life Group and would like to ‘give it a try’, we would love to help you find the right one for you. Life Groups meet weekly or fortnightly on different days and at different times, so we hope there is one suitable for everyone.

If you would like more information, please fill in this form, or contact Patrick Fleming via .

 

A message from the Archbishop of Canterbury

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Church of England nationally are encouraging support for the roll-out of COVID boosters across the Diocese.

So please:

  • Don’t wait – get a booster as soon as possible
  • Encourage others to get all their jabs and boosters
  • Support the roll-out by volunteering if you’re able

Together, let’s do whatever we can to fight Covid and protect our neighbours

Sermon Series & Life Group Study

Ruth is one of those biblical stories which, once read, is not forgotten. As it is so short, can I encourage you to read and re-read it during this series?

This book concerns the lives of ordinary people, (principally, widowed women – among the poorest and least influential in their society) caught up in the big picture of Israel at the time of the Judges, over 1000 years before Jesus’ birth. We learn of a God who is ‘in the detail’ and a Moabite woman (Ruth) who finds faith in Him as she chooses to remain loyal to her Hebrew mother-in-law.

Ruth’s story is part of Jesus’ story too as King David is in direct descent from Ruth and of course from His line comes the Saviour of the world. In it we also find many themes which are relevant to us today, such as sadness and regret; choices (and consequences); redemption/reconciliation with God and loving kindness.

Do read it and follow the teaching on Sundays as well as perhaps joining a Life Group to study the passages with others.

Frances’ New Year message

Dear Friends,

On New Year’s Day, feeling I needed to be encouraged, I joined Morning Prayer from Scargill House, a familiar place from my annual retreat. During the service the following verses were read from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, chapter 1, verses 26-27 (The Passion Translation):

‘There is a divine mystery—a secret surprise that has been concealed from the world for generations, but now it’s being revealed, unfolded and manifested for every holy believer to experience. Living within you is the Christ who floods you with the expectation of glory! This mystery of Christ, embedded within us, becomes a heavenly treasure chest of hope filled with the riches of glory for his people, and God wants everyone to know it!’

What an uplifting passage! Even in the face of the grey weather, the march of Covid and all that currently seems to be wrong with God’s world, Christ in me = the hope of glory!

As we step into 2022, perhaps with some trepidation or reluctance, let’s remember that if we have invited Jesus into our hearts, we have within us ‘a heavenly treasure chest of hope’, which is not only for us but for the encouragement of the world. Let’s make encouraging the world (and one another) with this truth one of our New Year resolutions!

Blessings,

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Revd Frances Trickey