Mission Together 2018

https://www.facebook.com/leeabbeydevon/videos/10156222002910516

More pictures on Lee Abbey’s blog page.

It’s been a fabulous ten days and the weather could not have been better. The churches in the Ministry Area came together for a family ceilidh on the first Saturday, a huge success with many people coming in from the town and further afield. The Lee Abbey team joined us for Open the Book, with the launch of Prayer Spaces in Schools and at a wedding party at Llanbedr School, making contact with over 600 children in our Ministry Area. We’ve been out on the streets in Brynmawr, we’ve spent time with care home residents making them feel special for the Royal Wedding, and we had our own event in the Market Hall with the wedding live-streamed onto a big screen.

Check out the photos on our Mission page

Huge thanks to the Lee Abbey team, and to all who got involved. Job done? Mission accomplished? Not yet! This is only the start…

Ascension to Pentecost, Ten Days of Prayer and Mission

A great deal of planning has gone into the preparation of the services and events which will take place across our Ministry Area in the next couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone who has offered support, prayers and practical help to the teams involved, both here, and in Lee Abbey.

Ascension Day Service, 7.00pm St. Mary’s Brynmawr

We are delighted that the Archbishop will be preaching and presiding at this service to kick off the Mission and help us to welcome our guests from Devon. Everyone is very welcome to attend this service, where the Mission will be launched, and the Ministry Area Council and Teams will be commissioned.

Please pray for the final preparations of both teams, for safe travels for the Lee Abbey visitors, for warm welcomes, for generous sharing of our gifts and love, and that many will be reached by our projects and prayers.

2 weeks to go!

Sally Rees has prepared a wonderful prayer diary for us to use during the Mission Together Project. Please take one and use it during the ten days of the visit. We hope that, each day, between 5pm and 5.30pm, people across the Ministry Area will pray at the same time, wherever they are, for the specific events and churches on the list.

Ceilidh

Printed posters and flyers are available for the Ceilidh, please think about where you could display a poster, and who you could give a flyer to. You can also download the poster. Please do use the flyer as a personal, hand-delivered invitation, and consider whether you could offer to bring a plate of food for the person you are inviting!

Royal Wedding Party

On Saturday 19th May from 10am, we will be holding our Royal Wedding event in the Market Hall, Crickhowell. Wedding cake, flowers and chocolates will be given out to shoppers, and bubbles and face-painting offered to children, to share our love with the community on the occasion of the Royal Wedding. At 1.30pm, we are delighted that the couple marrying in St. Edmund’s on that day will attend to cut the cake! If you are able to join us, we’d love to see you.

3 weeks to go!

The Lee Abbey team will join with Lay Pastoral Visitors in the usual activities that are going on during their time at Maes y Ffynnon, Glaslyn Care Home, Greenhill Care Home, and Caffi Croeso (Dementia Friendly Cafe).  However as Pastoral teams we are also involved in some extra activities for the Royal Wedding aimed at making Older People in Care Homes feel special for the celebrations.  In Gilwern the pastoral team are inviting residents at Glaslyn to join them at their weekly Saturday drop-in, which will have a special emphasis on the Royal Wedding on May 19th.

At Oaklands a small pastoral team will help get residents ready for their Royal Wedding celebrations on Friday May 18th, and in Greenhill the Crickhowell pastoral team will be helping residents get ready for celebrations on the morning of Saturday May 19th.  Staff will get residents up as usual and dressed in smart clothes and then the pastoral team will help to further ‘dress up’ residents by helping them with hair style, hand and nail care, and by offering perfume, jewellery, providing button holes and lending a hat or fascinator for those who would like it. Residents will then be ready to watch the Marriage Ceremony of Harry and Meghan hopefully feeling able to join in ‘in style’.  The Care homes are then providing a special tea to complete the occasion.

What can you do to help?

• We are asking anyone in the Ministry Area Churches if you have a hat / fascinator or any cheap jewellery that we can borrow from Thursday May 17th – Monday May 21st this would be very much appreciated. Please label your item clearly (so that we can return it to you), and give it to one of the Lay Pastoral Visitors in your church. If you would prefer to drop it off, there will be a clearly marked box at the back of St Edmund’s church where you could leave it from Sunday May 13th.
• Please pray for a special blessing for the residents, staff and visitors of Care Homes during this time.

6 weeks to go

As you will have realised, there are many ways in which you can get involved in the Mission Together project. One of the most important, is through prayer. Try Praying is a 7-day prayer guide with an accompanying booklet which will be available in our churches in the next couple of weeks.

We are asking individuals in each church in the Ministry Area to pray for another individual from 13th to 20th May, using the booklet, and then to pass the booklet on to the person you have prayed for. The idea is that you “use it, and lose it”!

If you would like to join in with this, you can find more information at www.trypraying.co.uk including explanatory videos, inspirational stories, and even a link to download an app to your smartphone.

We will let everyone know when the booklets are available to pick up.

7 weeks to go

During the Mission Together project, The Lee Abbey teams will be joining with our Open The Book teams to lead assemblies in Crickhowell Primary School, Llangattock C in W School, St. Mary’s School, Brynmawr, Llanbedr C in W School, Llangynidr School, and Gilwern School. We are excited that the testimonies of the young people, as well as the activities they will lead will open the children’s eyes to a new idea about the Kingdom of Heaven.

Thank you to everyone who has offered help with catering on the final Sunday. We would still be pleased to hear from anyone who can provide any component of a meal which can easily be reheated, to be served in Tretower at lunchtime on 20th May. Please phone or email Katy in the office on 01873 810944, katy.tutt@catwg.org.uk

• Pray for the Open the Book and Lee Abbey teams, as they prepare activities to engage the attention of the children in the schools across the Ministry Area.
• Pray for the Prayer Spaces in Schools project, giving thanks for the successful taster session which took place in Gilwern last week. Pray that the inaugural prayer space in St. Mary’s Brynmawr in May will be inspirational to the children who participate, and that members of our churches will be moved to be a part of the project.

8 weeks to go!

A few people have been asking ‘We know we have a team coming in May, but what actually is Lee Abbey?’. Well, Lee Abbey is a Christian Community on the North Devon coast, that hosts retreats, holidays and conferences. They have an excellent website where you can find out more about what they do: www.leeabbeydevon.org.uk

We are still in need of offers of help with catering on the final Sunday (20th May). Could you provide some items to go in the packed tea for the team to take with them when they leave? Perhaps you could provide a dish of hot food for lunch? Please contact Katy in the MA office if you can help with this or anything else during the project: katy.tutt@catwg.org.uk

On Saturday 19th May, we will be holding a Royal Wedding Street Party, in the Market Hall (beneath the Court Room Café) in Crickhowell. We plan to have a huge cake to distribute to members of the community, craft activities for children, music and more, as well as opportunities to talk to people about faith. Please tell your friends and neighbours about it and encourage them to come along.

• Give thanks for the gifts of the teams organising this Mission. Pray for Rev. Nick Haigh and his team, that their preparations will go well.
• Pray for the Street Party, that we will speak openly about our faith and reach the hearts of those who are interested in finding out more.

9 weeks to go!

Thanks you to those of you who have offered to host meals. Two gaps remain for hosting team members for supper; namely Monday 14th May – four people and Thursday 17th May – ten people. Please contact Katy (katy.tutt@catwg.org.uk, /01873 810944) letting her know how many you would like to invite (You don’t need to cater for all ten people!).

The team will be travelling back on Pentecost Sunday (20th May) and so we have offered to provide both a hot meal in Tretower Village Hall prior to the final service at 4pm, and a packed tea for the team to take with them for the home journey. Offers of help with this would be appreciated.

Financial donations and pledges of help have started to come in. Thank you so much for your generosity! Please don’t worry if you can’t cook or don’t have space to host a large group, the very best way to contribute to this mission is to invite friends, family members, neighbours etc. to one of the Community Events.

One of our main outreach events will be a MA / Community Ceilidh on Saturday 12th May in the Clarence Hall, complete with a live band. There will be slot for the LA team to introduce themselves at this event. It will be a family-friendly occasion and suitable for all ages – no experience necessary!

Prayer Points

• Give thanks for the generosity of those who are already offering to help in whatever way. Pray that God will show you what contribution you could make in terms of hospitality or time.
• Pray for the Ceilidh. That people would come bringing family and friends with them; Pray that the organisation might go smoothly and that there would be a sense of generous hospitality in our welcome.

10 weeks to go!

Thank you to those of you who have responded to requests to host meals. Please make sure you have contacted Katy Tutt in the office to let her know. Our plan is to have a fridge stocked with food for the team’s weekday lunches and refreshments in the Crickhowell Church room. Could you help with this?

The Lee Abbey team will arrive on May 10th – Ascension Day and on that evening there will be communion for the whole Ministry Area in Brynmawr Church, followed by a bring and share supper. Please mark it in your diaries.

Jesus’ last command to his disciples before he ascended into heaven was ‘Go and make disciples of all nations’ and this mission is very much about honouring that commission.

Pray this week:

• We need more offers of hosting meals please – contact Katy
• For donations to help with the general costs of the Mission and especially the Ceilidh.
• For the Lee Abbey team as they start planning for the worship and activities they will be leading.