Tearfund donation – Thank you

Our Christmas donations to Tearfund have raised a total of £758.85p, for which we are very grateful. Thank you.

Coffee Morning & Christmas Sale

Can you believe that just £20 funds a nutritious breakfast for a year for a child in need… how many can we feed between us?

The Garden Route Children’s Trust works across multiple locations to feed more than 7,500 children with a nutritious e’Pap breakfast on each school day. Backed by years of scientific research and using state-of-the-art nutrition chemistry, e’Pap includes 24 micronutrients, 4 macro-nutrients. The result: reduction in illness, improved concentration and better school attendance.

Please do join us for our Oxshott coffee morning and Christmas sale and help us raise extra funds for this great cause.

WHEN?  Thursday 25 November, 9am-1pm

WHAT?  Coffee, cakes, raffle, gifts, fashion, bags, jewellery, Christmas wreaths, plants and much, much more!

WHERE?  St Andrew’s Church Hall, Oakshade Road, Oxshott, KT22 0LE

To find out more about the GRCT, please visit the GRCT website

Commitment Sunday

St Andrew’s Day, 28 November, is also ‘Commitment Sunday’ when members of the church family review their commitment to God’s work – a commitment expressed through prayer and the giving of our time and skills, but also importantly through the giving of our money. This is because, as followers of Jesus, we believe that everything we have is given to us by God, and we are simply offering back to him what is rightly his.

We hope that you will join us in church to celebrate the real joy of giving.

The Parish Giving Committee have produced a leaflet designed to help us all prepare for Commitment Sunday:

Please download and, if possible, print the Giving Pledge Leaflet.

You will see that the leaflet falls into two parts. The first is a more general (and entirely personal) response to the recent teaching series entitled ‘Whole Life Stewardship’. There are details on the form as to how to find the talks or study materials you might have missed as you may need these to inform your responses.

The second part concerns our financial stewardship to the local church family of which we are part by God’s grace. Please read and complete the forms prayerfully and carefully. If you need any help at all, please contact the office staff. This section of the form needs to be returned in a sealed envelope, please, and will only be seen by our experienced Parish Funding Administrator.

Please do all you can to respond to these opportunities by 28 November – or as soon as possible thereafter. Thank you.

The Finnies’ Christmas Soup Kitchen – Thank you

We are delighted to be able to announce that a total of £1800 has been raised to support the Soup Kitchen and has been gratefully received by Dean and Paula.

Our mission partners, Dean & Paula Finnie in South Africa, run a soup kitchen throughout the year at ‘The Gathering’, their community church. Every year they hold a special Christmas Soup Kitchen which is an especially joyful outreach occasion.

This year’s lunch will still be held in January as a welcome to 2022.

They have sent us some photographs of last year’s event and say…

“Hopefully these photos will give a really good flavour of this beautiful annual event that we have been so privileged to put on for our soup kitchen friends. So for the past 3 years we have invited 120 soup kitchen regulars, and then 80 in 2020 because of COVID-19, to a sit down celebration Christmas lunch. The aim is to extend the love of God to our friends in a very real and practical way, celebrating each one as an individual whom God loves to bits and for whom He gave His Son Jesus. Every year, both the invitees and volunteers from The Gathering and wider church circles, have been absolutely blown away by the love and generosity of this outreach. We love that it is made possible by hard graft locally, as well as practical financial gifts both locally and from overseas. Every year we have a brief 3 minute preach spot inbetween main course and dessert and there is opportunity for prayer and ministry throughout the lunch. Every year people have gone away with very full bellies(!), take away and a goodie bag with love from The Gathering.”

The Mission Partnering Committee at St Andrew’s have chosen to support the Finnies’ work again this year.

 

Read more

ABC is thriving – find out about it!

Since starting on 13 September, ABC (Adults, Babies, Children) has been full every week! Not only is it a time of play, songs, stories and refreshments for little ones, it’s also a time for their adults to have coffee and connect with others at the same stage of life. The feedback has been really positive and we are so pleased to see young families being able to meet together again.

For the moment, places are necessarily limited to 15 little ones with their adults, so please remember to book your place each week.

ABC runs every Monday in term time from 9.15-11am – Patrick and Belinda look forward to welcoming you.

Cricketing and Community news

Despite a wet start last Sunday, we played a thoroughly enjoyable 100 ball match. The cakes were a huge hit with the players and supporters – warm thanks to Adele, each baker and helper. Jeff and Moya in the clubhouse made us most welcome, as did the Maori Oxshott team. Two mixed and good humoured teams played a close match – we won! Thanks to Gavin for facilitating and to all our supporters. A definite fixture for our 2022 community calendar.

Enjoy our new vestibule sofas!

We hope you like the new look vestibule – a step on the way to making our entrance look and feel more welcoming and comfortable. You are welcome to drop in and try them out anytime – the church is currently open from 9-1 each weekday and, of course, now on Sundays!

Enjoy our refurbished playground!

A wonderful team of volunteers has worked very hard over the last few weeks to restore the outdoor playground (at the back of the church) to its former glory. Please stop by to admire it and bring your little ones to enjoy it too. There are also benches and seats for you to meet and chat, and don’t forget the coffee van at St Andrew’s every Friday from 8-12.30 and from 2.30-4pm!

Join St Andrew’s in giving thanks for our vaccines

For so many of us in Oxshott, and for millions across the UK, the availability of a free vaccine has brought a deep sense of relief and hope. However, we are increasingly aware of the huge disparities in how communities and families are able to protect themselves in places around the world. We are the ‘Haves’ and so many are the ‘Have nots.’

As a gesture of thankfulness for our vaccines, I would like to challenge the community of Oxshott to give generously in support of this St Andrew’s initiative in tandem with Christian Aid. Whether you can give just a few pounds or a much larger sum, it will be an opportunity to share hope and love with our brothers and sisters across the world.

For more information, please visit our Just Giving page Giving Thanks for our Vaccines in Oxshott

Thank you for your generosity at this crucial time,

Sharing our gifts

Christian Aid Week is fast approaching, giving us a chance to share the generous gifts that God has given us. Mark Currie is our local representative…

Now is your chance to share what you have with those in greater need! In order to inspire us to share our love for our neighbours, we are planning to hold another quiz event, and communications about this season’s quiz will be routed through the Life Groups.

I will also be taking on a personal challenge involving a bike (or two); a cathedral (or two or maybe more) and possibly some sheep. It will be a carbon neutral challenge, so will be in keeping with the theme of this year’s Christian Aid Week, which is focused on Climate Justice.

The world’s poorest communities are suffering the most whilst they have contributed the least to the problem of global warming. The devastating climate crisis robs people of the water and food they need to live.

Please donate this Christian Aid Week. Your gift could help a community build an earth dam, providing a regular and reliable source of water in affected areas of Kenya and other affected countries.

  • £4.40 could teach 10 farmers how to plant drought-tolerant crops that can survive the drought.
  • £10 could buy a pair of taps at a water point, which will be installed at an earth dam making it easier for people to fetch water.
  • £42 could buy 350 kg of cement, which is needed to build an earth dam.

Please visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mark-currie8 if you are able to make a donation, so that we can associate the donations with the St Andrew’s community, and I can keep you updated on progress.

Creator God, from the tree of the garden of Eden, to the tree in the city in Revelation, we thank you for your vision of creation healed. Help us to be your agents of restoration, tending to the beauty of the Earth, and enabling your healing of the nations. Amen.

Mark Currie