This summer the Benefice have launched a campaign to ‘Get Prayer Growing’ in the churches of St. Peter’s and St. Paul’s. Rev. Patrick announced the initiative in the service on Sunday 29th June stating that if we feel that our prayers have been answered, imagine what would happen if we prayed some more. ‘Get Prayer Growing’ urges us to “Seek God's face in prayer and to seek God's face particularly and directly for the transformation of our lives, transformation of our churches and ultimately for the transformation of our wider communities.” He went on to say “Often our prayers are about the things that are on our hearts, for those in need, peace in the world, transformation of government and community, which of course is perfectly fine and normal. We would like people this month to pray particularly and directly for our church life. Patrick asked that we “come in humble declaration that we are not perfect, that we need God's work in our lives to find Jesus and to find His work in our church community. Good work goes out to create a harvest and to benefit others that God's bread of love might be shared. Matthew 6:6 says, “But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” The idea of the initiative is for people to make time in coming weeks to find a quiet place to pray to our heavenly father in humbleness of heart to seek his grace. Each day we will pray for something different in the life of our churches. Patrick told us about the three different levels of prayer, ASK: Ask - ask for things and await his answer in patience Seek - seek God's presence, recognise his awesomeness and our own insignificance stepping into His presence and seeking out His heart. Knock - knock on heaven’s door and be persistent in prayer for those impossible things that we can't do in our own strength. The hope is that this will become part of our routine over the coming weeks. The last Sunday of August is a United Benefice service at St Paul's where we will be thinking about prayer again. It would be fantastic if people could share their testimonies on how this has transformed their prayer life or praying devotedly has grown green shoots of life in the life of our churches or maybe transformed us inwardly. No sign of growth is too small to be recognised and acknowledged. Patrick finished asking us to go forth and “build the life of the church on the declaration that Jesus Christ is lord.” If you do not have a ‘Get Prayer Growing’ leaflet you can download one using the link.
Every parish church, cathedral, church plant or other local church body has a safeguarding policy, and a volunteer appointed to act as safeguarding officer. The safeguarding officer is supported at a local level by a diocesan safeguarding adviser (DSA) and at a national level by the National Safeguarding Team (NST). I asked Rebecca Kelly, the Safeguarding Officer for St. Peter’s, if she could tell us a little more about her role. I asked her why she felt that the Safeguarding Officer’s role was so important. She said “Keeping people safe in St Peter's Church is everyone's responsibility. I want people who come to St Peter's, for church services, special events, groups and hobbies, to feel welcome and know that people are looking out for them. As safeguarding officer at St Peter's, I want people who come into the church to feel loved, cared for and for it to be a safe place to talk, be listened to and advice given if appropriate. If safeguarding is the responsibility of everyone at St. Peter’s I asked what the church is doing to empower individuals within the church family. Her answer was “people who come to church services and do voluntary roles within the church are encouraged to do safeguarding training. The training sessions are provided by the Church of England and are done online. We learn about safeguarding adults and children and different kinds of abuse. There is additional training of domestic abuse awareness, safer recruitment and leadership training for some roles, and I keep track of what training is needed and let people know what is recommended for their role.” “Some roles in church, including those with children and/or vulnerable adults and members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) are also required to have a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check. As safeguarding officer, this is something I do and keep track of who needs what and when.” “At a local level, we, as a church, are working really hard to look after people and provide a safe space in our community.” As well as being responsible for training and background checks the Safeguarding Officer also acts as the first point of contact for people with concerns about safeguarding issues at St. Peter’s. I asked Rebecca what individuals that are worried about a situation in the church environment should do about it “If you have safeguarding concerns for yourself or someone else at church or in a church led group, please contact me and we can have a chat. If you would rather talk to someone else in church that is fine too. You will be heard. There are support services in Leeds which are here to help us if we open up, reach out and ask. As Jesus said in the Bible in Matthew 7:7 ‘knock and the door will be opened to you’.” If you or somebody you know would like to have a chat about a safeguarding issue within St. Peters’ here are some useful contact details Rebecca Kelly Parish Safeguarding Officer St Peter's Church 07779 393834 Leeds Anglican Diocese Safeguarding Team 0113 353 0257 Adult Social Care 0113 222 4401 Children's Social Care 0113 222 4403( Cover image: Icon by the best icon)
Anticipation mounted on Sunday morning as the congregation at St. Peter’s were welcomed with balloons, mood lighting and colourful bulletin boards. The service started with a procession into church being led to a chant of “Praise the Lord”. The procession came to a climax when a huge party popper was set off by the altar! This was the explosive launch of our Season of Stewardship; Up, Out, In. The campaign will run over the next 8 weeks. During this time we will be looking at 5 different themes exploring how stewardship is needed to build up our lives together as a congregation, as a church and as a ministry. We will be looking at where we are currently and where we need to be moving forwards. 1. The purpose of God – 22nd September 2. Being generous – 13th October 3. We all belong, don’t we? – 20th October 4. Time, talents and treasure – 27th October 5. Celebration Service – 17th November To encourage and help us focus our prayer time, prayer slips will be available throughout the season. These will be available to download using the download links. The first edition also includes 2 questions for us to ponder which will be revisited in week 4. The question was asked of us – “what is the season of stewardship?” to which answers included: “Learning to look after God’s church, including every member” “Looking after and caring for people” During the service we were reminded that being a steward is our primary function in life. Every moment of our lives we are being stewards of something, be it our family, home or garden. In Genesis Ch 1 we were called to look after everything that God has created. Although we have a season dedicated to stewardship, this is a continuous process, all day, every day, 24/7. Being a good steward gives us peace, otherwise we descend into chaos, get stressed & lose our peace. One definition of church stewardship is – “Church stewardship is about checking whether the ways we are serving God are achieving His purposes, for His church – and whether we are doing what God wants us to do, with the resources He has already so generously given us.” The idea for Up, Out, In comes from the song “The Die has been cast” whose chorus is: I've got to get up, I've got to get out, I've got to get in The purpose of God. which the congregation sang with gusto supported by a fully manned worship band. The name “Up, Out, In” was broken down and explored further. People’s interpretations and insights have been written on boards in the church foyer. These will be left here throughout the season for people to add further comments to. The full service can be watched on Facebook using this link https://fb.watch/uN0GJG-53a/. The service ended with a reassuring and encouraging round of applause!
