News

Walk, cycle, run or swim the virtual 84-mile pilgrimage route from Bethlehem to Nazareth.

Click here for the challenge page and click “register” to join in!

• Take part on your own or as a team and do a few miles each day or week.
• Log your progress on the virtual map and see where you’ve got to along the route. Have a look around with Google streetview!
• Hear some unique inside stories from local Christian communities as you make your way to Nazareth.

Follow the instructions to set up your own fundraising page and you’re ready to go!

From Isolation to Community – The Retreat

At end of a year that has been challenging to everyone, what we need more than anything else is a chance to reflect and recharge with others who understand the pressure of working with young people.

I am running a retreat for those working with young people in July. It begins on Thursday 1^st July, 4 weekly sessions online to aid rest and reflection. The link to book tickets is below.

Going away on retreat can be costly and can also mean travelling a distance, staying in unfamiliar surroundings, as well as finding a large chunk of time to dedicate. These are all good things, but can prove problematic. This retreat enables youth workers to dedicate a smaller chunk of time to the need for rest, whilst still giving the benefits of reflection and recharging the batteries.

At £90 for 4 sessions (there are additional Eventbrite fees), this is also less costly than a weekend!

The link to book tickets is here https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/jenni-osborn-33475740273

There are limited spaces so book soon to avoid disappointment!

Jenni Osborn

Mentor – Author – Trainer

Supporting those who support young people

[Stroke survivor, please bear with me if I take some time to respond]

New book out: From Isolation to Community: Youth Work in the Covid Era and Beyond

Available now from here: www.jenniosborn.org

St John’s Worship Pastor Vacancy

St John’s Church in Meads is advertising for a new Worship Pastor.

Click here for a copy of the job spec: Worship Pastor Job Spec

The interview date is 17^th June, so get your responses in!

To apply please send a copy of your CV, with a covering letter to Rachael: office@stjm.org.uk

If you have any questions then please email or give her a call on 01323 738671

Explore is a series of weekend courses designed to train and equip God’s people through a journey of learning, understanding and personal transformation.

Together we will find that there is hope and help for the issues we struggle with in everyday life – issues of anxiety, stress, physical pain, emotional distress, problems in relationships, addictive behaviour and depression to name just a few.

Those who journey through Explore will grow in their personal relationship with the Lord but also become better equipped to help others as they learn how to minister in the love and power of God to those in need.

Each of the events in the series will include time for worship, biblical teaching, group discussion, activities, personal reflection and opportunity for prayer.

Find out more here

On the 1st July we welcome our new Pastor, Rev Peterson Anand, but have a problem in that having let our manse out we now have to give the tenant 6 months notice due to Covid regulations.
   . 
We are therefore looking for a short let of 3/4months on a temporary home for him and his wife.
If you have property or are in touch with any group who do, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Many thanks.

Colin Marchant
Secretary
contact@newhopeeastbourne.onmicrosoft.com

No Longer Rubbish!- by Erik Cornelisse

When lockdown started, March last year, I started thinking what my legacy would be if and when we would come out the other end. Our daughter encouraged me to get this little story published, which I have told around Europe and in local schools and churches for many a year. A story of discovering that inside a stinking mess, something beautiful can be hidden away. That inside each person who is struggling, something to admire can be found. A story of a boy and his favourite teddy, a story of a teddy found at the dump, a story of loving … the unlovable!

After a difficult and painful journey, on the 21st February this year .. I became a bonafide, published children’s author. Copies of No Longer Rubbish! have now been used for Baptism classes in churches in Drax (indeed, I’d never heard of it either), Middlesbrough, Nottingham and other towns. We also produced a video version for ‘virtual assemblies’ with introductions by the lovely Janet Mottram. Schools in Hailsham, Gloucester, Coventry, Sydney (as in Australia!) and other places have already used this. Copies have been sent to a library in Romania (as a tool to teach English under Roma children) as well as India and State side. At Easter we donated copies for every resident at Bernhard Baron Home and Cottages and the feedback has been amazing. In July, a church in Danehill will use it for their Holiday club where I have been invited to do a book presentation and signing (it’s all still feeling rather strange).

Please pray for this little, true story to touch more lives than I could ever imagine or pray for.

Further details can be found here: https://no-longer-rubbish.company.site/

A Bible game about the books of the Bible and how they interrelate. Play with up to 12 people and win the Pearl of Great Price

Find out more here

Following COVID-19 we need to begin by asking: “How do we best care for our communities, including the people in our church?” We should also ask how we help people cope with ongoing uncertainty. COVID-19 is going to be a part of life for a long time; we can expect some restrictions and practical challenges to remain for months and even years. So how do we, as the Church, help people to cope with the anxiety and loneliness that this has already caused and will continue to produce?

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On 5^th November 2020, the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Faith and Society launched their latest report. Almost six months on, we wanted to remind you of the findings from this important report and give you an update on the activity that has occurred since its launch.

Keeping the Faith was a report conducted by researchers at Goldsmiths, University of London, with the aim of evaluating how local authorities had worked with faith communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. In short, their survey of 194 local authorities found that collaboration between local authorities and faith communities had increased drastically.

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