New this week:
Warm Spaces Grants
Christmas Grants Scheme
Installation of Chair as Ecumenical Canon
Ablewell Vacancy
In case you
missed it:
Two events relating to Israel Palestine
Action for Children News
Spirituality, Scripture and Conflict Course
Amplify boking open
Children's Support Fund
Lay employee training
WEA training courses
Learning and Development Events
Dial-a-prayer
free phone line to hear prayers : 0808 281 2514 Methodist News :
0808 281 2478
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Warm Spaces Grants
Many
churches across the District are preparing to offer Warm Spaces
this winter in response to the cost of living crisis. At
its simplest, being a Warm Space is about simple,
non-stigmatising, neighbourly hospitality. Providing a warm welcome,
a hot drink or bite to eat, a listening ear, and being ready to
help people access further specialist support. Many churches
already run activities which can be adapted to meet the current
need.
We
know that this provision may put strain on church finances.
If your church is stepping forward to respond to a desperate
community need there will
be people who can and want to contribute time, expertise or money
(e.g. you might consider asking your local councillors, members
of regular groups using your building, asking your local food
bank for advice or applying for specific local grants).
But
to help you get started, we are offering grants of £500 to
churches offering a Warm Space this winter.
Qualifying criteria for a Warm Spaces Grant
•
This will be a new activity or an existing activity which has
been specifically adapted to respond to the new circumstances
•
You will have looked at the situation in your local community to
ensure that what you provide is shaped around real need.
For instance, you will know where else “Warm Spaces” are being
provided and will have worked in partnership to ensure that
opening times etc complement one another.
•
Wherever possible you will have worked in partnership,
particularly with other local churches or faith
organisations. If your church is part of a team to provide
a Warm Space in a different building, you may still apply for
this grant
•
All necessary risk assessments will be in place before opening
(guidance is available)
•
Sessions will be freely available to those participating
•
They’ll be advertised in ways that make them easy for people who
need them to find out about them
•
They’ll be sustainable through the winter. We are looking
for local provision at least weekly, though this can be shared
with other organisations you’re partnering with.
•
They’ll be non-judgmental, hospitable and open to people of all
faiths and none
•
You’ll be prepared to listen to people’s concerns and to signpost
people to specialist support if needed.
•
The Warm Space initiative will be prayed for regularly by your
congregation.
Please clock on the links below for more information and
application form:
Application
form
Safeguarding
Form
Safeguarding
Guidance
Risk Assessment Proforma
example
Please send completed application forms to: Richard Lockley at admin@wsmethodist.org.uk
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Christmas Grants Scheme
There is Room…..District Christmas Grant scheme
We believe that the birth of Jesus changed everything for
everyone. It began an incredible story where space was made at
the table, the doors were opened up and all were welcomed in. At
Christmas, we celebrate this with a simple invitation:
Come,
just as you are, because There is Room for you.
This year the District is again supporting the Connexional Advent
& Christmas Campaign by making small grants available of up to £150.
This is for projects which seek to share the Good News of
Christmas with the wider community. Your Superintendent’s
counter-signature will be needed, but anyone can apply on behalf
of their church or Circuit.
Applications will be considered by the District Chair and the
Ministry & Missions Co-ordinator. Most Circuits will
have a maximum of 3 grants awarded, with more negotiated for
larger Circuits.
Jo and Rachel will be particularly looking for projects which:
- Not only give
gifts away, but also seek to encourage community engagement
and participation.
- Seek, through
relationship, to invite their community to meet with Jesus
this Christmas.
- Are conscious of
the need to be environmentally friendly in their
implementation.
Please
fill in the application form
(electronically if possible) and email to Janet Fenney janet@wsmethodist.org.uk
You can find more resources for the Methodist Church Christmas
campaign here: https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/there-is-room-advent-and-christmas-2022-resources/
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Installation of Chair as Ecumenical Canon
Installation of Chair as Ecumenical Canon 22nd
November
Ecumenism between this District and the Diocese of Lichfield will
be marked and celebrated on Tuesday 22nd November at 5.30pm when
the Chair will be installed as an Ecumenical Canon during
Evensong. Rt Revd Mark Davies, Bishop of Shrewsbury, will
be installed on the same occasion.
It would be lovely to share this celebration with any members of
the District wanting to come along. The service is, of
course, open to the public
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Ablewell vacancy
Senior Adviser/Team Leader
(Money
advice and welfare benefits)
16.5
hours per week at £14 – 15.50 per hour depending on experience
We are seeking a proactive and organised individual to join the
Ablewell team. Ablewell Advice Walsall is an outreach
project of the Central Hall Methodist Church. Central Hall is a
registered charity and our services are authorised and regulated
by the Financial Conduct Authority.
We provide specialist advice in relation to debt and welfare
benefit matters. Our philosophy is to provide advice that is
“people-centred, putting the client and their needs first”.
We are a distribution centre for the Black County Foodbank.
Working hours are Monday, Wednesday and Friday 9.30- 15:00, with
occasional support to the foodbank on Saturdays, 11:00 –
13:00.The successful candidate’s duties will include:
- Lead the team of
advisors, by setting direction, motivating and supporting
them in delivering their work as a team and individually.
- Liaising with
management committee to ensure effective service delivery,
and when support from outside your role is needed.
- Provision of
specialist advice and casework in relation to debt and
welfare benefits
- Maintaining
accurate case records and managing cases proactively
- Supporting the
training needs of the adviser(s).
You will
be someone who:
- Has demonstrable
supervisory and team building experience
- Has at least 2
years recent experience of delivering welfare benefits and
debt casework within an advice agency or similar
- Is able to
independently manage a caseload, taking a proactive approach
- Is trustworthy
and comfortable with handling confidential information
- Enjoys working as
part of a small team
- Is flexible and
adaptable
- Is sympathetic to
the Christian ethos of our organisation.
This
post is subject to an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service
check.
For an informal discussion about this role, please email Andrew
Beattie at ablewelladvicemanagment@gmail.com
, leaving your telephone number, and a best time to call back.
Application packs will be sent on application to the above
contact details. CVs will not be accepted.
Closing
date: 9.30 am on 22nd November 2022.
Interviews
will be held on 30th November 2022.
Ablewell Advice Walsall, The Central Hall, Ablewell Street,
Walsall WS1 2EQ www.ablewelladvice.org.uk
F: AblewellAdvice T:@Ablewell_Advice Tel:
01922 639700
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Two Events relating to Israel Palestine
Conference “Peace Justice and Reconciliation”
With
particular reference to Israel Palestine.
Guest
Speakers: Dn Angleena Kaiser. Methodist Mission Partner -
Bethlehem
Rev
Dr Nadia Nassar - Director of the Awareness Foundation
Workshop
leaders: Rev Dr Inderjit Bhogal, Rev John. Howard,
Methodists
for World Mission. Charity No.243221
Friday
9th to Sunday 11th December 2022
Venue:
The Hayes Conference Centre Swanwick Derbyshire.
Places available with special offers of low cost
Contact Rev John Howard
john_d_howard@hotmail.com
—————————-
A Ten Day visit to Israel Palestine.
“Living Christianity in the Holy Land.”
Wednesday January 18th to Monday January 30th
Run through the Methodist Liaison Office Jerusalem
supported by the Methodist Church Global Relationships Team
Leader: Rev John Howard Former Mission Partner
Bethlehem.
This is an ideal opportunity for a visit to
Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nazareth and other places in the Holy Land.
It’s an experience that you will never forget!
For details contact:
john_d_howard@hotmail.com
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News
from Action for Children
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Hello from Action for Children!
Thank you for supporting our work!
Our thanks to everyone who raised funds in the last
couple of months to support the vital work we do.
You're amazing! Those who took part in Boycott Your
Bed in October will be pleased to know that we’ve
raised over £450,000 so far.
'Warm welcome' Christmas worship is ready to
download
Christmas is just around the corner! And we've
created a worship outline for churches that wish to
hold special services to support and pray for our
work. The prayers, poems and stories are
based on the theme, ‘Warm welcome’. It’s times like
these when those of us who can need to reach out
with warmth and welcome to support the most
vulnerable in our society, and make Christmas about
hope, love and peace. Visit actionforchildren.uk/worship
to download a copy.
If you're a church, district or circuit contact who
hasn't been receiving our newsletter and the
worship outline by post, please email ask.us@actionforchildren.org.uk
with your details and we will add you to our
mailing list.
Be a Secret Santa
Christmas, for children, is magical. Decorating the
tree. Delicious food. Presents! But there are
children all over the UK who will wake up on
Christmas morning to nothing but a cold house. No
toys, no treats, no Christmas dinner – maybe no
dinner at all. Your gift could help change this.
You could help put the magic back into Christmas. Be
a Secret Santa for a vulnerable child. To
find out more and sign up, visit iamsanta.org.uk/afcupdate
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Thank you for your prayers and
support; they mean a lot.
Blessings,
Karis Kolawole
Faith Partnerships Lead, Action for Children
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May
mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you
Jude
1:2
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Spirituality, Scripture and Conflict Course
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Amplify booking now open
Hello
everyone,
I have some very exciting news: ticket sales for Amplify are now
open!
Amplify is a weekend away for children, young people and leaders
from the Birmingham and Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury Districts,
to be held between 24th and 26th March 2023. The weekend aims to
gather young people together to build relationships and to grow
in faith together with others their own age. As part of the
weekend there will be times of worship and learning together in
different ways, and access to outdoor activities at the site.
Please read the following information carefully so that you know
what to expect when using the new booking system and how to build
your group.
This year, the booking process is in 2 parts - a deposit stage
and a final payment stage. The deposit holds the place and gives
access to making the final payment later. This allows us both to
maintain a first come first serve basis and to ensure that
we give the Pioneer Centre the correct numbers at the time
required.
Once again, it is up to you how you decide to do your booking
within your group. You could decide to book everyone in your
group on at once, ask parents to book their own children on, or a
mixture of both - whatever works best for you. If you
choose to input the information yourself as a leader, I have
attached a form
in order for you to gather exactly the information you will need
in the order that you will need it. There is some overlap in
the questions asked at each stage due to limitations in the
system to ask conditional questions (i.e. has any information
changed), but I am sure you will appreciate the importance of the
information asked to ensure that Amplify runs smoothly.
Thanks to the subsidy being provided by both Districts, the cost
of tickets has been able to stay the same as last year at £80 for
young people and £20 for leaders. The deposit for each of these
will be £20 and £10 respectively. Tickets will be sold on a
first come first served basis, with the deadline for purchasing
deposit tickets being
22nd January 2023. The final
payment can be made anytime after the deposit stage, with 19th February
2023 being the deadline.
We have got approximately 120 places available at Amplify this
year for young people (aged 8-18) and leaders. This year, all
young people will need to have a group leader responsible for
them who will be named at the final payment. This includes being
responsible for medication, bedtimes, and generally keeping tabs
on them, making sure they are safe and happy. Obviously young
people will be able to approach all leaders at the event, but
having a known leader to a young person has proved to be a good
model. In order to maximise the spaces that we have for young
people to attend, we are asking that groups think about how many
leaders they need to have a safe ratio of leaders to their group,
bearing in mind that the whole event will be well within the
required ratio with volunteers and other leaders at the event.
This will be 1:8 for under 13s and 1:10 for 13+. It would be
really helpful if you were able to consider gender within your
leadership to match your groups. If needed, groups booked with a
high ratio of leaders to children may be asked to reduce their
leaders in order to make space for other groups to attend.
Following on from booking, closer to the event, all leaders and
parents will receive the relevant consent forms and a link to the
portal for uploading information. There will also be an online
form for young people to select their activities for the weekend.
More information will be sent about this closer to the event
itself.
We will be meeting on Monday 21st November at
7.30pm for a leaders' briefing about Amplify. https://zoom.us/j/95720015246?pwd=T1FHREFvb0FyM04rK0lkQ1BCYVptZz09
In order to honour the places funded by each District, there are
two separate deposit links.
If you are in Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury you can book your
tickets here:
https://www.tickettailor.com/events/birminghammethodistdistrict/780344#
Here
is a step by step guide to making bookings.
I hope that this covers everything but please do contact me if
you have any questions.
Thanks,
Charlotte 🙂
Charlotte
Hambly | District Youth Coordinator
07742737437
www.birminghammethodist.org.uk |
Registered Charity no. 1134167
36 Amesbury Road, Moseley, Birmingham B13 8LE
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Children's Support
Fund
There
is still money available from the above and if your Church is
thinking of running any Children's activities, especially with
the Christmas approaching which is traditionally the time
for activities then, please consider applying for a maximum
of £500. The attached application
form needs to be completed.. Any further questions
please contact Tim Lorimer on tim.a.lorimer@gmail.com Many
thanks
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Lay Orientation Training in the Methodist
Church
A day
for new Lay Employees to meet, explore their role, understand
Methodism and get to grips with key employment practices and much
more!
The next Lay Orientation Training will be taking place on-line on
6th
December 2022 from 10:00 am – 14:30pm.
To register for the event please click the link below:
Lay Orientation Training Registration, Tue 6
Dec 2022 at 10:00 | Eventbrite
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