9th December 2007

ST JOHN’S WEEKLY MESSENGER
9^th December 2007 2^nd Sunday of Advent

§ Church Web Site: www.stjohnsleyland.co.uk

§ Vicar: Alistair McHaffie Tel: 621646

§ Associate Minister: Barbara Wilson Tel: 435340

§ Articles & Notices for The Messenger to be sent to Alan Scarff by the Thursday before at alanandpam@blueyonder.co.uk

Welcome to St John's parish church.

If you would like personal prayer, there will be two people on the front pew after each Sunday service, and during the distribution of Communion, who will be willing to pray with you.

St John’s Christmas Cards

As in previous years can we encourage you to send one Christmas card to all your St John’s friends and donate the money you may otherwise have spent on cards to the Barnabas Fund for Iraqi Christians.

Carol Singing

We are going carol singing around Lowther Drive and Heatherleigh on Wed 19th December from 6.30 - 8.00pm & Sat 22nd 10 – 11am. Please sign up at the back of church.

New Church Congregation

We need a small group of committed people to join a planning group to review the recent questionnaires and make plans from scratch for setting up a new congregation which could be St John’s based, school based or pub based. Could we have at least 2 male volunteers to complete this group? Please give you name to Alistair as soon as possible.

Gina’s Party

On the 16^th December , Gina Matthews is celebrating her 60^th birthday with a party in St. John’s Church Hall from 3pm to 6pm. Gina would like her friends from St. John’s to join in her celebrations.

Please come and enjoy the party---names to Pat Brown or Marie Sams

Open Home at the Vicarage

Alistair & Pippa invite you to drop in to the vicarage for refreshmants any time from 2pm – 8pm on Saturday 22^nd December – stay for a few minutes or a few hours to suit your plans!

Alistair would also like to express his thanks to everyone for their lovely cards, gifts and best wishes for his 50^th birthday last Sunday.

Cell Meeting Outline week beginning 9^th December 2007

Isaiah 11:1-10

Welcome

What things or people fill you with delight?

Worship

Think of all the words you can that describe God. If possible use verses from the Bible that demonstrate that quality.

Be quiet for a few minutes and allow these qualities of God to fill you with a sense of awe. You may want to turn some of this into prayer.

Play a song that talks about God’s majesty.

Word

“Wisdom takes insights gleaned from the knowledge of God’s ways and applies them in the daily walk.” Do you find this true for your own life? How could you become wiser?

Look at verses 6 – 9. What kind of a world is being described here? Is it how you would describe heaven?

What would a world full of the knowledge of God be like?

In the Lord’s Prayer we ask that God’s kingdom would come on earth. What are we doing to bring about the kind of kingdom described in v.3b - 5?

In v 10 it says that the Messiah will be like a rallying banner. If you were designing a banner to attract people to Jesus what would you put on it?

Witness

Pray about ways you could further God’s kingdom in this area over the Christmas period. Are there any practical things you could do?

What about family members and your witness to them?

Try to each take away one challenge and be ready to report back on it in the new year.