The Buckingham Historic Churches Trust (BHCT) has given grants of over £1,000,000 towards the repair and restoration of over 300 churches of all denominations in the County since its foundation in 1957, and continues to do so at the rate of some £60,000 each year. Indeed several churches in MK Deanery have benefitted from some generous grants from BHCT.
The annual ‘Ride & Stride’ is its main fundraising event, held on the second Saturday in September. This year it will therefore take place on Saturday 14 September. As part of this year’s activities there will also be a horse ride in Milton Keynes a couple of weeks later on Sunday 29 September. The horse ride will take the same route as last year, starting at Campbell Park and passing four listed churches in the Ouzel Valley before returning to Campbell Park. Entry has been opened up to a larger number of clubs this year, so the Bucks Historic Churches Trust is hoping for a much larger number of participants.
The BHCT needs to find quite a number of marshalls to help around the course. If anyone can help out, or if you can suggest anyone who might be willing to help, please ask them to get in touch with Nina Newton, the Deanery ‘Ride & Stride’ organiser for Milton Keynes, at ninanewton1632@gmail.com.
If you’re new to ‘Ride & Stride’ and would like to get contribute in other ways (such as sponsoring a walker or rider on Saturday 14 September) or just need further information, here’s the link to find out more – https://bucks-historic-churches.org/.) Anything you can do to support either event would contribute towards the restoration and repair of our beautiful churches.
The church of St Mary Magdalene is hoping others will join them in highlighting the problem of homelessness in our city with the Big Sleepout event which will take place overnight NEXT SATURDAY, 14 September outside Willen Pavilion.
Please email willensleepout19@gmail.com for registration and sponsorship forms. You can read more on Facebook on the bussheltermk page and the Willen Sleepout page on Virgin Money Giving is available for making donations.
Rev Dr Paul Smith, Team Rector of Stantonbury and Willen parish LEP will be taking part himself in support of the MK Bus Shelter, both to help raise awareness, as well as to offer some financial support. He says,
“I would like to invite you to sponsor me. Any amount, however small, will be welcome. It is very easy, as you can go online and pledge your chosen amount. Just go to: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/PaulSmith385.”
If you could download the Willen Church sleepout poster and display it in your church too, that would be really appreciated!
This conference is a Watling Valley Ecumenical Partnership (WVEP) initiative in conjunction with the Diocese of Oxford and HeartEdge/St Martin-in-the-Fields.
The name “WithIN” refers to being WITH God, IN the world. The keynote speaker will be the Revd Sam Wells.
The day session will start at 9.30am with worship led by the St Martin’s Singers, and will end between 5-5.30pm. An evening session has been planned for those unable to attend during the day. This will start at approximately 6.30pm with worship by Testament, and end by 9.15pm. It is hoped that exhibitions and stalls will be available for folk to look at between 5 – 6.30pm.
As well as having a keynote speaker, there will be a variety of workshops to choose from, looking at the various aspects of everyday spirituality and aiming to be practical, accessible and fun. There will even be a workshop that teachers may find useful. Workshop leaders include Barry Lotz, Ruth Maxey, Jonathan Evens (HeartEdge, St Martin’s), Charlie Kerr (Diocese), and Tina Molyneux (Diocese).
WVEP expects the day to be free, although donations would be welcomed. Tea/coffee/Lunch will be provided, as well as light refreshments in the early evening. Lunchtime will include ‘Great Sacred Music’ with Sam Wells and the St Martin’s Singers.
Booking is via Eventbrite. All are welcome, and WVEP hopes to encourage a wide range of participation.
Please advertise this event as widely as possible!
Thursday June 20th: To celebrate World Refugee Day meet us at 6pm at the MK Rose in Campbell Park for a short ‘gathering’. Deputy Mayor Andrew Geary to attend.
6.30pm onwards at MK Gallery event space (short, accessible walk from the Rose) for informal celebration, conversation, nibbles and soft drinks.
If you read my previous article about Benjamin and the power of touch, you will probably have been wondering how he is. I’m thrilled and delighted to be able to report that eventually he got the results of his bladder biopsy, and this showed that it was clear. On top of the good news that the cancer has not returned to the organs previously affected (so he can still keep his remaining kidney), this is just wonderful news. Thank you all for your prayers. God has used him in a powerful way, for which we give thanks and praise.
Christian Aid Week runs from 12 – 18 May this year.
To quote from the Christian Aid website:-
“Everyone is equal in the sight of God. Yet we live in a world where poverty still persists. Poverty is an outrage against humanity. It robs people of their dignity and lets injustice thrive. But together we have the power to transform lives.
For over 70 years, we’ve been standing with the poorest of our neighbours. We work in 37 countries, with people of all faiths and none, to stand up for dignity, equality and justice.
Together we can create a world where everyone can live a full life, free from poverty.
Our voices and actions are stronger together. And with your help, we can make an even bigger difference.”
Together with its supporters and partners, Christian Aid aims:
to expose poverty throughout the world
to help in practical ways to end it
to highlight, challenge and change the structures and systems that favour the rich and powerful over the poor and marginalised.
Christian Aid supports and helps communities to thrive. It tackles the root causes of poverty so that women, men and children the world over are strengthened against future knocks. And if disasters happen, they get people the help they want straight away.
What is your church doing this year? For ideas, please visit the Christian Aid website at https://www.christianaid.org.uk/Christian-Aid-Week.
The Rev Canon Alan Hodgetts (Managing Chaplain at HMP Woodhill) is retiring in November of this year. He is wondering if there are clergy in the Deanery or wider MK area who might have an interest in conducting occasional services at 10.30am on Sunday mornings after this date. If so, he is more than happy for you to email him directly at alan.hodgetts@hmps.gsi.gov.uk with an expression of interest.
There are 2 levels of clearance: A basic clearance will allow 3 visits per annum and the priest/minister would be supervised; A full clearance would allow several visits and more flexibility.
Expenses would be paid and for retired clergy a ‘sessional’ arrangement may be possible.
ACT Awareness eLearning will provide nationally recognised corporate CT guidance to help industry better understand, and mitigate against, current terrorist methodology.
The following eLearning Modules are available:
Introduction to Terrorism
Identifying Security Vulnerabilities
How to Identify and Respond to Suspicious Behaviour
How to Identify and Deal with a Suspicious Item
What to do in the Event of a Bomb Threat
How to Respond to a Firearms or Weapons attack
Summary and Supporting Materials
You will be provided with your own corporate URL link and PIN to immediately access the online version.
I’m sure everyone has been shocked and horrified by the carnage and senseless lost of life on Easter Sunday, 21 April. Our own Rev Dr Sam Muthuveloe, Convenor of Hope Outreach UK, has arranged a special service, to be held at Christ the Cornerstone Church this coming Sunday, 28th April 2019, starting at 2.30 pm, to remember the dead, pray for the bereaved, healing for the wounded, comfort for the distressed and peace and security for all.
‘Dr Sam’ had already planned to visit Sri Lanka in mid-May, before these atrocities took place. The intention was – and still is – to commemorate 10 years since the cessation of hostilities, and to support and encourage Hope Outreach UK’s mission partners. The focus of the visit will be to stand in solidarity with them and the local churches at this difficult time.
Please advertise this service as widely as you can. Thank you.
“Celebrate and Bless MK” (CBMK) is a strand of the Common Vision being developed by Oxford Diocese. It reflects Bishop Steven’s desire to focus a greater degree of attention on the “city” of Milton Keynes at a key point in time as it transforms from large new town to high-impact regional centre. We have a strategic opportunity to act in a way that celebrates all that has been achieved while blessing the first-fruits of new growth.
The current proposal sets out some of the unique opportunities and challenges that exist in the city at this time – while offering a vision for mission that addresses the challenge of MK50. It is particularly important that the Church of England engages with our partners in other denominations as we develop strategies and new ideas – particularly where we have covenanted to travel together.
The main focus of the paper is on church growth – and we see this in terms of depth, impact and numbers. It is important that we respond to the rapid and continuous growth of the city, and this will mean the nurture of new Christian Disciples who will serve the common good and seek an ever-deeper relationship with Christ. We want a more Christ-like church which is able to meet the challenges that the city will face over the next fifty years – particularly amongst those who are disadvantaged or left behind.
In order to drive this growth, we will seek to invest in prayer, leadership and learning. We want to increase the number of worshipping communities as a way of reaching more people and serving the needs of the city.
Our specific need is for seed-money to fund leaders who will grow worshipping communities. Milton Keynes Deanery had previously been asked to reduce the number of ministers deployed here while the population continued to grow. We therefore developed more sustainable patterns of ministry and invested (where possible) in new worshipping communities. We believe that there is now a need for fresh investment if we are to meet the immense challenge that the future presents.
We will be asking the Diocese of Oxford and the Strategic Development Fund (SDF) to seed-fund posts that increase our local leadership capacity. This investment will help us to grow existing churches and plant new worshipping communities. We intend that this investment will be split between full-time, part-time, ordained and lay ministry.
There are four options that we want people to consider. These will affect the balance of investment between different new posts:
The next stage of our local process will be to engage with a very wide group of people – including our ecumenical partners, parishes, and leaders. We want to know what people think about the direction of travel set out in this document and how they might want to engage with this agenda.
We are asking five questions at this stage:
What do you find positive in this proposal?
Which ideas would you encourage us to pursue?
What do you find challenging, uncomfortable or unclear?
What issues would like us to think about?
Is your parish/partnership likely to put in an application for additional investment?
If so, can you let us know what ideas you might have?
What learning needs do you have in your church/parish?
Which of the four “options” do you think we should adopt?
Why do you think it’s the best option?
We are on a tight time-scale, so we want your feedback by Palm Sunday 14th April 2018. Please send feedback to CBMK@mkdeanery.org or fill in the online feedback form.
A proposal will go to Bishops Council which will hopefully become part of a bid for funds from both the Diocese and the National Church. It is possible that national money will be released through a Strategic Development Fund grant which will need to be match-funded by the Diocese.
In the Summer/Autumn of 2019, we will go back to parishes and encourage applications for specific projects. We will work with parishes to help identify the best opportunities for new development, and we will firm these proposals up by the end of the year.
It is hoped that some resources will be released in 2020, but the full amount may not be available until sometime later.
Thank you for taking the time to read this paper. We appreciate your time, and look forward to hearing your ideas. Please keep praying for Milton Keynes as we seek to build a more Christlike church here for the sake of God’s World.
