Category: Family Services

During 2013 we’ll be having Family Services on the third Sunday of each month. Please see below for recent Family Services

Below are blog entries from recent Family Services:

Family Service and BBQ – 3rd July 2011

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We were able to welcome around 70 people to our latest Family Service, a big increase on numbers last month.

The service was once again chaired by David Hedges who had selected Jesus is Lord as an opening hymn before he opened in prayer.

Alan then ran though this month’s memory verse in the form of a short quiz.  The verse is John 6:35 – Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Afterwards we watched this amazing video.

This was followed by a number of children’s choruses which ended with I’m special before our visiting speaker, John Davies, from Reading came to speak.

John spoke simply and effectively and began by asking two questions:

    • How much does God think you’re worth?
    • How much is God worth?

God owns billions of stars and galaxies and has infinite resources available to Him. (Psalm 8)  In comparison, we are nothing.

God sold everything He had because He saw each of us as treasure.  The Son of God loved us and gave Himself for us.  When God gave His son for each of us, he gave everything.  God loves each of us more than anybody could love and spent everything that we can have forgiveness.  All we have to do is believe and trust Him and we can have eternal life, peace and joy.

The closing chorus was Come and see followed by prayer.

Everyone then ventured out into the summer sunshine to enjoy freshly cooked BBQ food followed by a variety of puddings.

A smoky scene in the car park
Some of those gathered in the park

There was plenty of time to sit and chat in the park and before long a game or three of Kubb was underway.

A game of Kubb in full swing
Happy couple, Judith and Brian take a break from the game

It was an excellent afternoon which went on until after 3pm before the final clearing up and dismantling of the marquee.  Next time it will be used will be our Friends and Neighbours BBQ which is scheduled for August 13th.

I’m grateful to Lesley’s excellent notes from the Family Service which helped greatly with this post.

Family Service – 5th June 2011

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Around 30 people gathered for the latest in our series of Family Services this morning.

This time David Hedges was at the helm chairing and opened with the hymn Be Still for the presence of the Lord and prayer.

This was followed by What kind of love is this before introducing this month’s memory verse Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding – Proverbs 3:5.  Audience participation was encouraged with both heart and lean!

We then enjoyed a number of the children’s choruses from Sunday Club before Alan Michael came to speak.

Alan’s subject this month was the Healing at the Pool of Bethesda taken from John 5 and he began with looking at the purpose of different signs before linking this in to Jesus’ miracle of the healing of the lame man and the fact that it was a sign for the Leaders.  He finished by summarising the miracle using the six questions ‘What?‘, ‘Who?‘. ‘Where?‘, ‘When?‘, ‘How?‘ and ‘Why?‘, leaving the final question unanswered for those gathered to think about.

We finished with the singing of I stand amazed in the presence and prayer.

After the service, Alan showed a number of amusing photos from the recent TVCC camp in Romsey.

Our next Family Service will be on July 3rd at 11.30am and will be followed by a BBQ.

Family Service – 1st May 2011

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We had around 40 people in for the latest in our series of monthly Family Services.

Today’s was chaired by Alan Michael in his own unique and entertaining way and began with the hymn ‘God sent His son – they call Him Jesus‘ and prayer.

We then enjoyed a number of children’s choruses aided by a couple of willing participants at the front to help out with actions.

Like the previous Family Service, there was another Memory Verse to learn, this time from Hebrews 11:1 ‘Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see‘.  Alan went on to explain a little about the verse before gradually hiding it to aid the learning process.Our second hymn, following on the theme of Faith was ‘Faithful One‘.

Following this, David Hedges came up to speak.  He took us through the healing of The Nobleman’s son mentioned in John 4 (verses 46 to 54).  After recounting the story, he went on to relate it to us with a number of questions under the heading ‘So what?‘.

Finally, we finished the service with singing ‘I know not why God’s wondrous grace‘ before Alan closed in prayer.

Mother’s Day Tea 2011

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Invitation for Mother's Day Tea 2011

We had a good time for our annual Mother’s Day Tea, at Parkside with around 60 people coming along to enjoy a variety of food on offer.

The tea was ‘chaired’ by David Hedges and he welcomed people, gave thanks for the food and invited those there to ‘tuck in’!

Sandwiches, scones, crisps and cake a-plenty were devoured by the hungry masses with the coloured jelly proving popular as usual.

After the tea we enjoyed singing a few of the Sunday Club favourites before Victor came up to speak for a few minutes expanding on John 3:16 – For God loved the world so much that He gave his one and only son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

All of the Mums at the tea were given a small present to take home with them.

It was especially good to welcome various people for the first time, including Andrew Burdett and his family, as well welcoming back other more familiar faces.

Our next Family Service is on 1st May at 11.30am.

Family Service – 6th March 2011

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Family Service advertising poster

We had around fifty people at our first Family Service of the year.

The opening service of the year was chaired by Phil Bray (@PhilBray) and began with the singing of ‘Amazing Grace’.  This was followed by prayer and our second hymn, ‘What kind of love is this’.  The music was supplied by Kerry on piano and accompanied by Judith on guitar.

During the service we learned 2 Corithians 5:17 – If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.  Various people came up to the front to help.

We also sung a few choruses that the childen from Sunday Club normally have on a Sunday morning.

Finally, before Paul Cogger came to speak, we sung the hymn ‘Majesty’.

Paul took us through the story of Jesus changing water into wine based around the headings ‘Marriage‘, ‘Mother‘, ‘Moment‘, ‘Message‘ and ‘Miracle‘.  He finished with a clever demonstration by pouring water out of a bottle, which turned red in a glass.

The service finished with the final hymn ‘I stand amazed in the presence’ and prayer.

It was generally agreed the it had been a good opening to the Family Services and we’re looking forward to our Mother’s Day tea on April 3rd at 5pm.