FOCUS
From the Associate Minister
Dear church family,
Happy new year! I trust you are all settling well into the new year and new term.
As we look back on the last few months at St Peter’s there is so much to praise God for. Throughout the whole of December the church was packed full of people for all the various Christmas services we had going on. I think we can truly say this year that we are back up to our pre-covid numbers! It was a joy to worship with you all as we celebrated God coming to be with us in Jesus, and we continue to pray for spiritual fruit from the hundreds who came along to hear the Christmas story. Off the back of our Christmas services we have about 40 people attending our Alpha courses this term. I wonder if you might pray each Wednesday that they will all encounter Jesus Christ?
Easter will be upon us very soon and the planned services are included in this edition of Focus. Please be praying for all that we’ve got coming up and why not start praying about who you might invite to some of our services? If you think you might like to get baptised on Easter Sunday then please do get in touch. I’d love to chat about that with you!
This term we will also welcome Tim and his family to the St Peter’s family. We are so grateful to God for calling Tim to lead and serve alongside us and we are excited by what God has in store for us! Please pray for the Bateman family as they prepare to move to Farnborough and for Tim as he prepares to be installed on 27th February. I’d like to take this opportunity to say a great big “thank you!” to all of you for your prayers and support over the last few months of vacancy. It is a peculiar time for a church to not have a Rector but I thank God for the amazing staff team, wardens, and generous church family that have ensured our regular ministry and mission program (and more!) has carried on. It has been a joy to lead you through this time and I thank God for being part of such a wonderful church family.
With Tim’s arrival, inevitably this is a new season for St Peter’s. And any new season is a time to pause, reflect, and ask for God’s spirit to guide us forward. Where God might be calling you this term? With all the excitement of new beginnings, there remains challenges with our finances. We continue to ask God to lead us and provide for us as we all consider our part in the finances at StPeter’s. Please pray about whether you can give a one off gift to ease our reliance on reserves this year, and whether you can start/increase your regular giving to help us continue all the amazing things that go on at St Peter’s.
Lets keep seeking Jesus and keep growing together. I hope you all have a really blessed term!
Ben Perkins
Associate Minister
‘let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.’
Hebrews 12:1-3
CHILDREN
Mini shakers
Thank you for all your prayers for the launch of Mini Shakers. We had a really successful first term, with around 40 toddlers and babies attending each week. It has been great to see friendships formed - both between the children and the adults - and to not only welcome families who we recognise from other groups at St. Peter's, but to welcome families to church for the first time too.
Another blessing has been the provision of lunch after the baby session. We have had lots of good conversations during this time, and the adults are very appreciative of having food provided and prepared for them - especially with three sets of twins and a few newborns attending that session.
Please continue to pray for friendships and that all the classes will be full for this term.
The Hub Mini
We have a wonderful team serving the Mini Hub and have seen real blessings in this area of ministry over the last couple of months. We celebrated Christmas with a Toddler Nativity which was a real joy, seeing families (some who had never been in the church building before) feeling welcome and enjoying being in church with their children, while exploring the Christmas story together. One mother was particularly touched by Yo’s Polaroid photos saying she would ‘treasure it for life’ as she does not usually have photos taken of her and the children.
The team have worked really hard to build relationships and this is evident with one mother describing the Hub Mini as ‘my safe space, I love St Peters and all the volunteers’. Another exciting example of God opening doors to deeper conversations is seeing a family and one of our childminders sign up for the Alpha courses this year. Each week we see new faces coming through the door and we have noticed our afternoons double in numbers, with some families arriving in the morning and staying through to the end! None of this could happen without the incredible Mini Hub team; we are so grateful for everyone who serves tea and coffee, shops for goodies, sets up and packs down tables and toys, welcomes in and spends time chatting to and loving the local families, carers and childminders. This really is a unique place where we can serve people who are vulnerable, isolated and seeking. As numbers at the Hub Mini grow, we would also love to grow our team; if this sounds exciting to you and something you would like to be a part of please do chat with the Helen’s.
Helen Smith
Helen Smith
Helen Rogers
Helen Rogers
YOUTH
Looking back:
We had a great last term at Pathfinders and Discovery with lots of new faces particularly at Pathfinders on a Tuesday evening! Tuesday Pathfinders is very high energy with a majority (around 65%) of the young people from families who do not attend church. We therefore have an amazing opportunity each week to welcome and love these young people, have fun, build relationships as well as have a short time exploring faith, God and the Bible. There are some challenges to this group, but they are good fun and we are blessed with a wonderful opportunity to be sharing with many young people who otherwise wouldn’t hear the gospel, and we pray that the seeds that are being sown will bear fruit!
We had a great time at the Pathfinders weekend away in October, with rock climbing, archery, bingo, mattress surfing, and lots of time to hang out and have fun together, as well as having some more extended times of teaching and small groups around the subject of prayer. It was a blessed weekend and we were grateful for new friendships being formed and the opportunity to have this extended time with the young people who attended and to see glimpses of God at work sometimes among the most unexpected young people!
We also enjoyed time together at Christmas, with a bowling trip, and our Pathfinders and Discovery Christmas Parties where we had lots of laughs together, as well as many young people being involved in and attending Christmas outreach and services.
If you read the last ‘Focus’ you may have spotted that I hoped to be able to work more closely with local schools. I was so pleased, therefore, to be able to start going into The Wavell School on Monday mornings to mentor some students. It has been so encouraging to have been welcomed into the school and to be able to serve in this way, and to meet some great young people! I pray this new season of a good relationship with Wavell continues!
Looking forward:
This term, as well as our usual Pathfinders/Discovery activities, we will be having our Discovery weekend away at the end of February. Please pray that we have a fun time together and that the young people grow deeper in their relationships with one another and with God!
As well as continuing the mentoring at Wavell, I am looking forward to being involved again in each year group retreat days at Farnborough Hill. It is always a joy to work closely with the chaplain to share the gospel with the girls at Farnborough Hill.
Beth Perkins
VOLUNTEERING
Sheila Alcock initially came to St Peter’s toddler group with her grandson and enjoyed many happy years with him there. When he went to school she offered to help in the kitchen and hasn’t looked back!
Linda Ellis joined the church when one of her daughter’s was getting married. She was asked to help with the Sunday morning refreshments and has helped ever since!
What teams do you help on?
We help at The Hub and Mini Hub, Lighthouse Club, Sunday refreshments and catering for funeral teas for church family.
What do you like about helping on the teams?
We’re both ‘doer’s’ and enjoy feeling useful and doing practical things. We enjoy chatting to people but also being able to observe the chatting going on around us. We’ve been helping for so long now that it’s second nature to us. We know where everything is and the systems to follow! It’s great to arrive to help and know what needs to be done.
It’s lovely to be able to contribute to a group that perhaps isn’t aimed at us but we can build relationships within. Our skill is completely transferable to any of the groups and activities that go on at church.
What would you like us to pray for you?
It would be great to be over-run with volunteers! We always need more people to add to all the teams. We’d show you what to do!
If you would like to volunteer at any of our services or events, either regularly or as a “one-off” please contact the office.
Farnborough Half Marathon
On Sunday 21st January, St Peter’s were asked once again to volunteer at the Farnborough Half Marathon.
We would like to take the opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone who volunteered their time for this.
Your efforts and time helped make 2024 another great year for serving our local community in this way.
WELCOME TEA
Our next Welcome Tea is on 17 March 3.30-4.30pm.
It’s a great time to get to know the clergy team and meet some other newcomers to the church.
AMBULANCE CHAPLAINCY
For the past 11 years I have been a volunteer chaplain to the South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAMB). SECAMB provides the emergency ambulance service for Kent, Sussex, Surrey and NE Hampshire. It is staffed by a range of medical and care staff who respond to 999 calls and are based in ambulance stations across the region. They are supported by some 20 volunteer chaplains, ordained and lay, of many denominations.
I serve the local station and its staff in Farnborough, near the southern end of Hawley Lane. I try to visit weekly at times when crews are arriving back at the end of their shift, or before the first call of their shift. I always receive a warm welcome, and some go out of their way to chat, if they have time. Over the years I have listened to accounts of traumatic ‘calls’ (or ‘shouts’), and discussions of decisions made in the care of patients. I’ve visited in hospital a SECAMB employee who tried to take their life and was once in text contact with someone whose drink problem led to their dismissal.
I’ve also been asked about marriage and child baptism, and what the Church thinks about particular issues. Often, I just join in the conversation ... if I understand the medical jargon or the organisational abbreviations!
Your regular prayers would be most welcome.
Richard Cobbold
WHAT’S COMING UP?
Every Wednesday during Lent
From 14th February 12pm-12.30pm Lent Communion
23rd March
11am-12pm Egg Drop in the Town Centre
25th, 26th & 27th March
7.30pm-8.00pm Holy Week Reflections
29th March
10am-12pm Good Friday prayer stations for all ages
2pm-3pm Good Friday Hour at the Cross
28th March
8pm-9pm Maundy Thursday Communion
31st March
8.30am Easter Sunday Communion
10.30am Easter on the Lawn
7.00pm Easter Celebration (with Baptisms)