District News 10 September 2024

This Week's News

Abbeydale Primitive Methodist Chapel

David Capewell has written a fascinating history of the rise and fall of the Abbeydale Primitive Methodist chapel. It was built on the corner of South View Road and Vincent Road with the foundation stone laid in August 1891, and closed in 1949. There were plans to convert the building in apartments, but a fire in 2008 gutted the building and it has now been completely demolished.
You can read the full history here: Abbeydale Chapel

EcoFest '24 Barnsley

Saturday 21 September 10:00 am

Everyone, including families and children, is welcome to Barnsley's 2nd ECOFest, organised by the Methodist Church Barnsley North West ECO-Church group. Following the great success of last year, a wide range of organisations concerned with sustainability, the impact of the climate crisis at home and across the globe, will share their information, inspiration and campaigning priorities. Some organisations will make short presentations in our Speakers' Corner and others will sell items.
Our Barnsley Bard, Ian Macmillan has written a sonnet in support of our cause which has been used to inspire some primary school-aged pupils to write their own poems. The winning entries will be read at the Fest and prizes presented by the Mayor. Of course, no festival would be complete without our Fair Trade Cafe Corner, supported by the Good Taste Fair Trade stall.
Do join us, at this FREE event, to be inspired by others and learn what YOU can do to make a difference to save our planet!
Emmanuel Methodist Church, Huddersfield Road Barnsley S75 1DT

Africa Calling?

Have you ever wanted a short experience working in communities in Africa and take in its wonders?

THE AFRICA'S GIFT – AWE, WONDER, & WILDLIFE INTERACTION COULD BE FOR YOU!

This is an invitation to join a two week visit and interaction to Lesotho & South Africa Nov 17th to Dec 1st 2024
Calling all those with a sense of adventure: gardeners, crafters and cooks most welcome!
Would you like to join an Africa's Gift visit and interaction this autumn and swap grey skies for blue, the cold and the damp for warm sunshine and do some amazing uplifting work? Do you have the last two weeks in November free?
Over the two weeks you will get the opportunity to breathe in the awe and wonder of these amazing countries and be welcomed by joyous community members. Your guide will be the Founder of Africa's Gift Ken Dunn MBE (who has been working with communities in Lesotho for 25 years!) a member of Clifton Methodist Church in Rotherham, and husband of Curly Karen of the Rotherham Circuit who many of you know.
Daytime and night-time safaris (think Lion King!) will bookend a week of community interactions in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho. There is a food growing focus to our work where we shall be constructing and planting raised beds as well as developing a community fish farm. If you like cooking (or simply eating!) then our Eco Cook Bag work could be for you! Creating, demonstrating and cooking with heat retentive slow cooking bags, which are made in the community for the community is simple but transformational. The work is sensitive and part of an ongoing sustainable program and is hugely important and uplifting.
The visit concludes in the beautiful city of Cape Town where we visit The Botanical Gardens at Kirstenbosch on the side of Table Mountain. This is a perfect time to visit as the gardens will be in full bloom. The tea room in the gardens cannot be passed! A hike or cableway up Table Mountain and a visit to The Cape of Good Hope is a must! We can cool off with a swim with the penguins at Boulders Beach then watch the sun set into the ocean!
If you would like full details please email ken@africasgift.org

Being Still: A Quiet Revolution

Sunday 29 September 6:30 pm

An evening of poetry, music, and reflection at Whirlow Spirituality Centre.
In this unique event, Aaron Shah will be sharing readings from his poetry book, "Being Still – A Quiet Revolution", as well as performing a selection of songs he has written over the last twenty years. The evening will be a time of quiet reflection, where through the poems, songs, and moments of stillness, we will be making space to receive the hope and healing that God offers us.
This is a free event, but please book your ticket in advance at https://www.whirlowspiritualitycentre.org/whats-on/being-still

Sustainable Flowers

26 October- St Luke's Lodge Moor, S10 4LS

Helen Chambers NSDF Floral Designer, qualified tutor and experienced NAFAS Area Demonstrator specialises in sustainable sourcing and flower arranging. She will share top tips on arranging flowers sustainably with a demonstration in the morning session, followed by an optional hands on workshop after lunch (all materials, tools, flowers and foliage provided).
Tickets are £20 for the morning demonstration 09:30 to 12:30; £40 for the full day with workshop 09:30 to 16:00.
Full details here: https://stlukeslm.churchsuite.com/events/beko28q4

Nether Edge Festival events at St Andrew's Psalter Lane Church:

Nether Edge Festival Opening Night Concert: Daria Golovchenko Saturday 14th September Daria, a pianist from Ukraine, played her first concert in the UK at the Nether Edge Festival in 2023. This year, after being a finalist in Channel 4 series THE PIANO, Daria will headline at St Andrew's Psalter Lane Church on Saturday night.
St Andrew's Cinema: Sing! Sunday 15th September, 3.00 – 5.00 pm in church Join us for an afternoon of fun, laughter and music with a screening of 'Sing'! Set in a world like ours but inhabited by animals, 'Sing' follows Buster Moon as he attempts to save his theatre with a singing competition. Tickets for the screening are 'pay what you can' and refreshments will be available for a donation – but please bring your own food and drink if you need to. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Sound Bath with Muna Friday 20th September, 7.00 – 8.30 pm in Shirley House An immersive opportunity to rest in resonance. Group Sound Baths are a journey of sound meditation that support deep relaxation where stress release and balancing can occur in a safe and secure place.
Repair Café Saturday 21st September, 10.00 am – 1.00 pm in church As part of the Nether Edge Festival, our Eco Group is hosting a Repair Café in church; Please come along with your wonky stuff and get it fixed! Refreshments and a Fairtrade stall selling fairly traded goods will be available.
The English Fiddle Ensemble Saturday 21st September, 7.30 pm in church The English Fiddle Ensemble is made up of 4 of England's finest traditional fiddle players, Bryony Griffith, Jim Boyle, Ross Grant and Rosie Butler-Hall. They make a truly wonderful sound and in the Church this will be even more special, purely acoustic in a building designed for this.
See https://www.netheredgefestival.co.uk/ for more information on the Nether Edge Festival

The Samuel Chadwick Lecture 2024

Cliff College is delighted to be hosting the seventh annual Samuel Chadwick Lecture on Wednesday 16 October 2024. This year the keynote speaker will be Rev Dr Martyn Atkins, former Principal of Cliff College and former President of the British Methodist Conference. Rev Dr Atkins will be speaking on The Marks of Methodism: Mission Potency for Today.
You are invited to attend the lecture either online or on campus at Cliff College in Derbyshire. For further details and booking, please visit the Cliff College website.

District Officers – News

Learn how to use Canva

the website to create quick and easy social media content, leaflets & presentations.

The Connexion has arranged for a series of free sessions on how to use Canva and how it can benefit your church. It begins at 7pm on Wednesday and there's still time to join.
Just use these details
https://zoom.us/j/97100451760?pwd=2k56zkU7bKJ0ecC8zdGTNx7Sq3Jh5d.1
Meeting ID: 971 0045 1760
Passcode: 886556
If you'd like to know more about Canva or anything else Communications related drop our District Communications Officer, Sam an email at Comms@Sheffieldmethodist.org

District Safeguarding Update: Updated Policies and Guidance

First, let me say a huge thank you to everyone who contributed towards the completion of the Safeguarding Audits. I will be replying to each and every church over the next few weeks, and working with circuits to decide who is best placed to provide help, if help was requested.

I just wanted to let you know the following booklets have been updated, and will be available on the DISTRICT website in the next few weeks:

• Pastoral Care Guidance for pastoral visitors: Pastoral Care Guidance August 2024
• Safeguarding and Pastoral Care for ministers and those who have a leadership role in pastoral care within the Methodist Church: Safeguarding and Pastoral Care August 2024

The 'Pastoral Care Guidance' document covers topics such as good practice, support and keeping yourself safe, confidentiality and record keeping. The 'Safeguarding and Pastoral Care' document also looks at safer recruitment and different roles which pastoral visitors may have.
Please note that these documents give general guidance; they note that 'Pastoral care is understood and expressed in different ways in different places' It is therefore not possible to produce a booklet which can answer every question about the way each church arranges its pastoral support.
I have also updated the Responding Well Flow Chart which we ask all churches to display on their Safeguarding Noticeboard.
The two Pastoral Care booklets are discussed in chapter 3 of the Church Safeguarding Officers Handbook. The Responding Well flowchart in chapter 2.

As ever, if you have any questions or concerns, please give me a call on 07483 362 735 or email me at safeguarding@sheffieldmethodist.org
Many thanks
Alison Hill -District Safeguarding Officer.

Events

Pitsmoor Methodist Church

Friends of PMC are invited to a short service at Pitsmoor on Sunday 15th September at 3.00 pm. This will be a service of thanks for the 52 years of faith we have shared here together. It will be the final service here, as the church is closing under the new "fewer than 12 members" rule.
The short half hour service will include a simple Holy Communion, and be followed by tea and coffee for friends to meet and remember. We don't feel it is a time for celebration, but it is a time to give thanks for the journeys of faith we shared here, and its place in our lives. So all the friends of PMC will be very welcome.

UTU – New Doctoral Seminar

Tuesday, 24 September 202411.15am -12.40pm
Lower Hall, Victoria Hall, Sheffield S1 2JB
It has been decided to institute a new Doctoral Seminar on the Tuesday morning of the Seminar Group dates. All welcome to this first 'taster' Seminar on the 24 September 2024.
The programme will be:
11.15am Coffee
11.30am Input/Talk/Presentation/Discussion 1 -Dr Neil Johnson will present a paper on Keir Hardie's Christology
12.05 Input/Talk/Presentation/Discussion 2 -Dr Rob Hoch will introduce his soon-to-be-published book Living with the Sermon
12.40 Close

Contributors for future sessions are welcome: papers, book reviews, 'bees-in-the bonnet'.
RSVP (office@utusheffield.org.uk or to Ian or Rob) would be helpful but not essential.

UTU – Mental Health Day

5 October 2024

Listening to Ourselves & Listening to Others
Central United Reform Church, Norfolk Street, Sheffield S1 2JB
10am – 3pm
Speakers & Discussion/Reflection Leaders:

• Rich Andrews
• Zadie Orr
• Ruth Weston
• Jackie Wright

If you enjoy being creative, come and spend some time with artist, Naomi Gordon McKibbin in a friendly, informal setting.
All welcome!

Vacancies

Health Improvement & Outreach worker

The Terminus, Sheffield

The Terminus Initiative delivers the Community Wellbeing Programme in LBJ under contract to Sheffield City Council. This addresses health inequalities in selected areas of the city by engaging communities in the planning and delivery of interventions to improve health and wellbeing. Delivery takes place within the framework of the People Keeping Well Partnership for the area.
The role of the Health Improvement & Outreach Worker is to:

• Work with stakeholders in identifying, delivering and monitoring health initiatives across the community to improve targeted areas of health.
• Work across all areas of the front line charity to support service delivery to the community.

The normal hours of work will be 37.5 hours per week – mostly Monday to Friday, with some flexibility required for very occasional evening and weekend activity when there will be time off in lieu, in agreement with the line manager.
Salary: £24,000 per annum, Fixed term appointment to December 2026 with a view to permanent

• Download the full job description here : (This is a Word document)
• Download an application form here : (This is a Word document)

Application deadline: 5pm on 21 September

And finally ...

A prayer for closeness with God

Loving God,
help me feel connected to you so that you may use me where you have placed me.
Help me draw close enough that I may see with your eyes, hear with your ears and think with your mind, because you are a just God and justice is a part of loving.
Let me support victims who aren't recognised and people excluded from the accepted circle.
Enable me to help people who are suffering because others seek to increase their wealth.
Empower me to advocate for children who cannot fulfil their potential or for those whose voices aren't heard.
Bring me out from my comfort zone.
Stop me just acting in my own interests.
Let me do right! Amen.
Margaret Lee, steward, Borders Mission Circuit