St John’s Weekly Bulletin – Sunday 19 February 2017

2017 is powering on! It’s been good to speak to a number of parents in our congregations and find out how kids are doing at school this term, especially with quite a few starting Kindergarten this year.
We’re already half-way through February, and this year that means we are only a fortnight away from the season of Lent. Lent is the forty days (not including Sunday) between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Christians often use that time to grow in their faith, and try new things to develop their spirituality. By the beginning of this Lent, we expect to have three Bible study groups running at St John’s and a number of opportunities to grow in your faith. I think that we have fifty different events happening in Lent (as well as our Sunday services!) designed to grow you in your relationship with Jesus Christ. I hope you will take the opportunity to pick up something new and make that part of the routine of your walk with God and make that a permanent part of your life.

Mondays

Mondays have two opportunities for you to be involved in developing your faith. On the first and third Monday of each month, we have a time for meditation and reflection. The first Monday of each month at 6pm we offer a Healing Eucharist and on the third Monday we offer a Taize Mediation Group. Dates for these services in 2017 are available on our website.

Tuesdays

This Lent, we are starting two new prayer services on a Tuesday morning. This will feature daily prayer from the Anglican prayer book, so if you are new to faith or uncomfortable praying your own prayers in front of other people, this is the perfect group for you. We are offering this service at 8am and 9.15am – come at whichever time suits you best. We are particularly hoping to make the 9.15am service a time that works for parents who have dropped children at school so please let us know if 9.15 is too soon after school drop-off for you. We can easily adjust the start time for this service to make it work for parents’ needs. The first of these services will be on Tuesday 7 March 2017.

Wednesdays

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday 1 March 2017, so join us for either of our services that day. The early-morning service at 7.30am will continue every Wednesday through Lent. The evening Ash Wednesday service will be at 7.30pm and for the remaining weeks of Lent, there will be a Communion service at 6.30pm each Wednesday evening.

Thursdays

On Thursday morning you have two St John’s options for growing in your faith if you are a woman, but only one if you are a man!

Men’s Weekend

The 2017 Anglican Men’s Weekend will be held 19-21 May 2017. This is a great time for men to get their faith built up with a great weekend of teaching and support. The main speaker will be Rob Llewellyn, a former professional musician, now an Anglican minister in this diocese. Please get in touch with Phil Ashley-Brown for more details, or get an information postcard from church.

KoG and Youth – returning 17 February 2017

KoG is our Friday afternoon group for kids in Primary School years 2–6 and Youth is our Friday evening group for high-school aged children. Both KoG and Youth resume on Friday 17 February 2017. KoG runs from 4.30pm-6pm and Youth is 7pm-8.30pm. Contact Rob Woolfrey, our Youth Minister, on 0425 278 063 for more information.

Communion in homes and hospitals

One of the ministries that we love to offer here at St John’s is a service of Communion in people’s homes when they are unable to make it to church.