Welcome to SMc – July

Posted on July 1st, 2022

Welcome to Salisbury Methodist Church

Whether you visit us in person or simply online, you are welcome to join with us.

For details of our Sunday services, including links to our live streams, please see our Worship page

Please get in touch using our contact page, or sign up for our news emails.

Our July/August Newsletter is now out – July 2022

Please click on the links below for weekly Sunday notices.

Notices July 31st 2022

Notices July 24th 2022

Notices July 17th 2022

Notices 10th July 2022

Sunday 17th July Action for Children

Cake will be available to purchase and enjoy after the service.

There will be AfC Envelopes available for you to donate, should you wish to do so.

To find out more about Action for Children the work that they do, and to donate online, please follow the link below

https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk

27 August We are hiring St Thomas’s Coffee Bar 10-12 midday and we would love you to come along and support us.

Perhaps you have some unwanted gifts/items which are suitable for Raffle Prizes for an event we are planning in the autumn. If so, please have a chat with Jacqui, Jeanette or Daphne at your convenience.

Revd Anna Bishop has signed up!

The Star Jump Challenge is really simple: you just need to complete 100 star jumps every day for 30 days.

You can sponsor her at https://givepenny.com/annabishop_star_jump_challenge

 

Fun in the Sun –

Saturday 30th July at SMc and Saturday 13th August at the URC from 10am to 2pm.

This is a 3 Churches initiative.

Crafts, Games, Face painting and refreshments.  Please contact Lynda Hayman (outreachworker@salisburymethodist.org.uk) for details

Methodist Prayer Handbook 2022 – 2023

If you would like to order a copy of the new Prayer Handbook, which will be available in August, please order your copy price £4.50 from Margaret Rutt, by Sunday 14th August. Large print copies are also available.

Contact me at church, or email: margaret.rutt@salisburymethodist.org.uk

 

GOD IS LOVE IS LOVE

There will be a feature on SMc’s registration for same sex marriage on BBC Radio Wiltshire this Sunday morning , 10th July on Jill MIsson’s programme between 6am and 10am. (You can also listen on BBC Sounds)

Salisbury Methodist church welcomes same sex couples to be married in the church.

Salisbury Methodist church is delighted to announce that it can now welcome everybody in a loving and faithful relationship to celebrate that love in this beautifully modernised historic building. The Church Council recently voted in favour of taking this step following a decision by the Methodist Conference last year to give local churches the option to conduct same sex marriage ceremonies in Methodist buildings.

Assistant minister, the Rev’d Anna Bishop, said, “This is what we are here for. The church is here to serve everybody in our community without judgment or condition and we are delighted that we can now welcome same sex couples to celebrate their special day here.”
“I would warmly invite any same sex (and mixed sex!) couples considering marriage to come along on a Sunday morning to meet our warm and welcoming community, and have a chat over coffee afterwards.”
With the first same-sex wedding booked for August, church members are excited to support joyful celebrations for couples who have for too long been denied the acknowledgment of their love and commitment. One said, “God accepts us all and loves us all so we should do the same… Everyone should be invited to this church, and we should be prepared to offer joy, love and safety to everyone when they enter and when they leave.”
Salisbury Methodist church also hosts and sponsors the Salisbury Community Hub for Ukraine, which welcomes Ukrainian refugees and their hosts, offering all kinds of support, from language classes, through food and clothing supplies to spiritual care. Rev. Bishop said, “It’s all part of our ethos of offering hospitality and doing everyday practical work for justice.”
“It’s all about love, really. Love comes in all shapes and sizes and that is its glory. Not sentimental, satin-hearts Valentine’s love (although that has its place), but love that seeks the highest good for the other person and works tirelessly and selflessly to bring it about. Salisbury Methodists are here to show and to share that love, but also to recognise and celebrate it wherever it already exists.”
The Church Council has also given its consent for services of blessing for same sex couples who are already married to take place in the church.

Prayers for our sister church, St John’s, Mtendere, Zambia

Pray for Ezekiel Siwale and his family. Ezekiel is the first member of St John’s to enter training as a minister. He came and preached for us on 10th July, UCZUniversity Sunday. Ezekiel is entering his final months of training at the UCZ University.
Pray for Rev Godfrey Gama and Mrs Ruth Gama and their family, especially for Rev Gama, as chair of Chelston Consistory as well as minister for three congregations.

Salisbury Community Hub for Ukraine

Friday mornings – The Salisbury Ukrainian Hub will be open ay SMc to welcome anyone wanting to help – from 10 – 12 midday.

For information about how you can help, please see our Ukraine page