LATEST NEWSNew team to join us in leading the Heart of England Parishes
Joshua, Ruth, Peter and Joanna We are very pleased to announce that we have been able to appoint Revd Peter Walker as the new Priest-in-Charge of the Heart of England Parishes. We have also appointed Revd Ruth Walker, his wife, as part-time Assistant Minister to the group. This was a unanimous decision by all the Parish Reps and Patrons after the interviews on 10th February. Peter and Ruth have been in ordained ministry for over 20 years and have been working together at Keresley in North Coventry as 1.5 posts for the past 10 years, working 9 days a week between them (5 and 4) where Ruth has also been the Rural Dean for the last 5 years. They have 2 children: Joanna who is 17 and Joshua who is almost 16; both are at the Blue Coat Church of England school in Coventry where they intend them to stay for the duration of their schooling. They hope to move to the refurbished Bidford vicarage in June and we would like to think they could be licensed sometime in July. They have a great deal of experience of parish work and Ruth in particular has a passion for schools and children’s and families work and is looking forward to the challenge of 4 church schools. Peter is keen to continue with the work of uniting the 6 parishes and sees this as one of his first main tasks. One of his joys is leading Alpha courses and they regularly attend Spring Harvest as a family.
So - what now? Having confirmed the appointment of Revds Peter & Ruth Walker on 28th February, we are still officially in an interregnum with no resident stipendary priest in the churches until the Walkers have been licensed, hopefully in July. We are in the group ministry of "Heart of England Parishes" with St Laurence Bidford, and the other 4 village parishes of Wixford, Exhall, Temple Grafton and Binton. Under the Deanery Plan we have been allocated 1½ stipendiary posts for the group who will work with our existing MLT and hopefully eventually with a combined 6 church Team. The process to find the "1½" posts has now been completed. Until the time when Peter & Ruth are licensed as our clergy team, the Churchwardens and PCCs will continue to run the churches under the guidance of the Rural Dean, Revd Richard Deimel, and the Ministry Leaership Team.
The Bishop of Coventry, the Rt Revd Dr Christopher Cocksworth, will be preaching and presiding at a service of Holy Communion at St Matthew's on Sunday 7th March at 10.30am. He will also be formally commissioning the MLT at this service. Everyone is welcome, so do come and make this a special accasion. There will be no 9.00am service on that day.
There will be a CAP (Christians Against Poverty) course held at the TOPS building in Salford Priors (behind the school) on the 17th, 24th & 31st March starting at 7.30pm. This is for anyone who wants to learn how to manage their money rather than letting their money manage them! There is no cost and the sessions last one hour. For details contact Gavin Reynolds Lent Lunches at St Laurence's Church Hall start on Monday 22nd February from 12 noon - 1.30pm. Open the Book goes into Holywood style
Thanks to the sewing skills of Ven Lewis, the "Open the Book" team now have some superbe costumes, as seen here in their production of the Joseph story.
Do you want to know more about the Bible? Do you want to read and study the Bible more but find it hard to understand what it says? Do you want to start a daily routine of Bible Reading? If so talk to Joyce Lewis. She has some sample Bible Reading Notes which will help you start to regularly read God's word and explain what you are reading. It's another great way of listening to God every day.
Sermons now available to listen to on-line - see Audio
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