News

The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee

Jacob King/PA Wire/PA Images.
Jacob King/PA Wire/PA Images.

On 5 June, St Andrew’s will be singing hymns with the community of Oxshott, to celebrate the Queen’s 70 Years of Faith and Service.

Hymn singing will take place in Oxshott High Street at 2pm and again at 4pm, including hymns that have been significant during the Queen’s reign.

From 12 noon, St Andrew’s church, grounds and playground will be open for anyone who wishes to enjoy a picnic, to eat food purchased in the High Street, and to use the toilets.

We look forward to sharing together in this wonderful celebration of our Queen and all that she has done in faith and service.

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.

Christian Aid Week – help turn hunger into hope


Mark Currie has organised two events in support of Christian Aid week, 15-21 May:

Mark writes:

“There has been so much generosity shown to help the people of the Ukraine in the last couple of months but I’m hoping that we can still find it in ourselves to support some of the world’s poorest people suffering in other countries. In Afghanistan 8 million people are facing extreme hunger, in the Horn of Africa the latest drought has caused 16 million people to be at risk of extreme hunger with a further 8 million people at risk in South Sudan due to floods.

I’m planning on doing a bit of cycling in May to raise money for Christian Aid, starting on 6 May 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). On 16 to 18 May, 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 then finishing off with 102 miles around Essex at the end of May 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.

Thanks for any support you can give”

 

Mark adds:

“Christian Aid believes that everyone is equal in the sight of God, yet we live in a world where poverty still persists. Poverty is an outrage against humanity – it robs people of their dignity and lets injustice thrive. Together we have the power to transform lives. For over 75 years, Christian Aid has been standing with the poorest of our neighbours. They work to help people on the basis of need, not religion, race, ethnicity or nationality. They fund projects that help people of all faiths and none in 26 countries, helping them to stand up for dignity, equality and justice.”

St Andrew’s @4

Patrick and Belinda will be delighted to welcome you to our new gathering at 4pm on Sunday 15 May, which is especially for families with primary aged children and younger. You are invited to stay for food and drinks afterwards.

More details…

New service schedule from May


Following a really good PCC meeting yesterday evening, I have some exciting news about services for the next period at St Andrew’s.

Throughout the pandemic we have offered Listen & Pray – a single 10am service alternating between two service styles (i.e. the so-called ‘Traditional’ and ‘Oxshott Praise’). We are grateful to the technical team who have enabled everyone – whether from home or in the church building – to join together for worship using this format.

Over the past few months, the Ministry Team, Wardens and the PCC have prayed about and discussed how best to move forward with services so that they reflect three priorities: namely, integration, simplicity and families and children. We also want to retain aspects that we have enjoyed about our temporary Listen & Pray service, such as meeting together as one big Church Family. Many have also enjoyed coming to church mid-morning, rather than at 9.15am (too early for some) or at 11am (too late for others). We also want to continue to live stream the service, if at all possible, to enable everyone to join in.

Therefore, as the clocks ‘Spring forward’ this weekend we too plan to move forward into a service called ‘St Andrew’s at 10’. This will be neither a traditional service nor Oxshott Praise but a service that combines the very best of both styles and, importantly, allows us to come together as one big Church Family before God. Communion will be celebrated every week, sometimes integrated into the service and sometimes offered as an addition (just as at Listen & Pray). The new service will be launched on Sunday 1 May and further information will follow in the Weekly News, the magazine and on the website.

We want also to offer two other services to provide more opportunities for members of our community to meet with God. First, we are preparing to re-launch families@4 as a more frequent service aimed at families with primary-aged children. Secondly, we are planning an informal time of musical worship, prayer and studying God’s word in the evening, aiming for a service to which our young people can belong, together with everyone who enjoys worshipping in this style. Both of these services will emerge and be piloted over the next few months.

I believe that the Lord is in these plans for St Andrew’s. May I ask you to pray with me as preparations continue and as we trust the Lord to guide us into the next season of our church’s life.

Blessings,

APCM Sunday 10 April – 7 for 7.30pm

You are invited to join us on Sunday 10 April at 7 for 7.30pm as we hold our annual meeting (officially known as the APCM – the annual parochial church meeting). If you come  at 7pm you will be offered a free glass of wine!

For more information, including reports and nomination forms please visit APCM information.

Come and celebrate  what God has done at St Andrew’s during 2021.

Come prepared  by reading the Annual Report. Copies are available on the website or please ask the office for a hard copy.

Come and vote for new members on the PCC and a new Churchwarden.*

Come and pray  for the year ahead.

*Please note that only those who are on the Electoral Roll can vote.

Update from Frances regarding Mask Wearing in Church

Dear Friends,

At a recent meeting, the churchwardens and I made the momentous decision to remove the long-standing recommendation for everyone to wear a mask when attending services or activities at St Andrew’s, Oxshott. This means that anyone who wishes to continue to wear a mask may do so but there is no need for everyone to do this. To mitigate this relaxation, we will maintain good ventilation, for services in particular.

Among the first hymns we sang together in worship without our masks was ‘Lord, for the years’ by Timothy Dudley-Smith. The words of the first verse are as follows:

Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided,
urged and inspired us, cheered us on our way,
sought us and saved us, pardoned and provided:
Lord of the years, we bring our thanks today.

which are such a powerful reminder of all that God has done for us in Jesus. We do also thank the Lord for being with us through the past two difficult years.

Please remember that we continue to hold a quiet, said service of Holy Communion using traditional liturgy on Wednesdays at 11.30am. In this service we continue to socially distance and observe all hygiene protocols so that we are able to include anyone who remains especially vulnerable to Covid and any other infections. If you know someone for whom this might be relevant, please pass on our invitation for them to join us!

Of course, the Covid pandemic is not over, and the churchwardens and I will remain alert to government and diocesan advice about re-introducing guidelines if and when these become necessary. We ask too that if you have any Covid symptoms you refrain from on-site attendance and, if you are able, take a lateral flow test before re-joining activities and services. Please feel free to contact us via the church office if anything is unclear.

Blessings,

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,

 

Electoral roll revision

The Electoral Roll revision period is upon us again! If you have previously signed up to the roll there is no need for any action this year. But if your name is not on the roll we would encourage you to fill in an application form, which may be downloaded from the Electoral Roll page or obtained from the vestibule.

The closing date is Sunday 13 March.

If you are not sure whether or not you are on the roll, you can easily check if you use My ChurchSuite. Just login as usual and look in the menu for the Electoral Roll item. If it says “Electoral roll member” then you are on the roll, otherwise it will say “Sign up to electoral roll”. Clicking on that link will take you to the page where you can find more details and download an application form.

Please telephone the Church Office (01372 842071) if you are still unsure or if you have any further questions.