Christmas is a time of giving. January can sometimes be a time of money worries. As a church we are committed to helping each other to live life well and a major part of this is helping each other deal with money. if you have any concerns about being debt or paying the bills, then get in touch and there are gifted people who can help you through. If you want to do some budgeting on your own, then register online with ‘My money steps’ which is a brilliant tool that will take you right through the process of budgeting and dealing with your debts. Check out the website here: www.mymoneysteps.org
Don’t let the fear overwhelm …

It was a bolt out of the blue. One word. “Everyone” Nothing more, nothing less.
And I knew it was a God thing.
I am excited about our new series on Sundays called “EVERYONE”. I believe that God wants us to know something simple, but deep – that this thing is for EVERYONE, that he is for EVERYONE, that this gospel is for EVERYONE, that God’s love and blessing and presence is for EVERYONE. It sounds simple and sounds as if we already know it. Which we do. It’s just that we don’t always really know it – or live as though we know it. Somehow we have categories of who is in and …

New Year is often a time of reflection and anticipation. Our prayer is that God will go with us and that we will be obedient to him in the year to come. If you get a chance, grab a few minutes, be still, and pray. To help you in your prayers, here is an ancient blessing and a wonderful covenant. Don’t rush… take your time… God bless you.
A blessing
The Lord bless you and watch over you, the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you, the Lord look kindly on you and give you peace; and the blessing of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you, now and always. …

Once again Grace Community Church are holding a Christmas Day Lunch and this year it is at Rose Cottage. If you are not doing anything and want to join them, give Ruth or Barrie a ring on 07876334094 to book a meal. It will be amazing! The food, the crackers, the games! Don’t miss out.

Join us at the Rec House to welcome in the New Year from 8pm on New Year’s Eve. A great time to get together, party and have some fun. God goes with us from one year to the next and he never changes and we will pray together for the year ahead too.

At the beginning of each month we have a slightly different routine for our Sunday gathering. At 9am we have a ‘traditional communion’. At 10.15 we have breakfast together and at 10.45 we hold an informal, more creative service specifically aimed at being accessible and meaningful to families.
The other Sunday we discussed together a new idea – holding this “Sunday Live!” service at the school rather than in ‘church’. After some worship together we introduced the idea and opened it up to discussion and reflection. Everyone threw in their ideas and prayers. People wrote down what they thought and wrote prayers to God about how they were responding. It was a good …

A new club is coming after school at St Michael’s Junior School. Probably on Thursdays. It’s going to be fun!

Over the next few years it is my hope that our church here in Twerton will learn to ‘be church’ in a fresh way. Instead of organising ourselves around our services and programmes we want to see what happens when we see ourselves primarily as people engaged on a mission.
A few weeks ago now I was reflecting about church and had an image in my mind of an orange. All my life I have been involved in church life trying to make it as juicy as possible – helping to make the worship relevant or contemporary, being involved in social programs, modernising our buildings, updating our use of technology, learning about leading services and preaching, trying to run …

A wonderful group of Young People are heading our way from Nottingham to do a 30hr Mission here in Twerton and Whiteway, organised through Youth For Christ. There will be about a dozen young people coming down on the Saturday morning ready to bless the community up in Whiteway (car washing, litter picking, football) and hand out leaflets about the Rec House to other local young people. Then in the evening they will be running a Youth Cafe at the Rec House where we hope to have some music, DJing and some dance. On Sunday they will be available to help out with Children’s work and Youth Work before heading off back up the motorway after lunch.
It’s …

All around churches in the UK, especially the more traditional ones, people are celebrating Harvest. We know the kind of thing to expect – a few hymns (We plough the fields, Come ye thankful people come, etc), a short talk about Africa or Water or Ecology or Giving, and some prayers that have a more repentant feel. This is all good, but if we are honest the festival is hard to connect with at a deep level.
So what will we do?
This year we are not having a ‘Harvest Service’. We are having a ‘Harvest Season’. During this period of time (four weeks) we will be encouraging each other to give thanks to …