Dear Friends
The PCC, at its June meeting, agreed to the setting up of small groups within different areas of our parish for study, prayer, care and witness. As I explained in my sermon on 9 July, these groups will reflect the activities of the early church that we read about in Acts chapter 2, verses 42-47, namely:
| ‘they devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching…’ (v 42) | STUDY |
| ‘to prayer…’ (v 42) | PRAY |
| ‘to the fellowship…’ (v 42) | CARE |
| ‘The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved’ (v 47) | WITNESS |
Small groups have been a well-established part of the life of many churches of differing denominations over many years. They do not replace regular, weekly worship but seek to complement it, for it is with the encouragement and support of fellow Christians that we can seek to grow in our understanding of God, our prayer lives, our care of each other and others, and witness to our faith, so growing the church.
The groups are being set up on a geographical basis so making it easier for people to attend and hopefully meaning that people can walk to them, so supporting our fifth church value of treasuring the environment by reducing our carbon footprint.
The details of the groups will be as follows:
| Group Area | Leaders | Time |
| North of Whittle Brook | Ali & Keith White | Tuesdays, 7.30 pm |
| Whittle Brook – Liverpool Rd | Joan Rotheram and Janet Kerswell | Mondays, 2.00 pm |
| Liverpool Rd – Warrington Rd | David & Janet Tanner | Mondays, 7.30 pm |
The fourth area of the parish is within Warrington Road – Sankey Bridges but as we have very few church members in that area, we will not be starting a group there yet. If church members live outside of the parish (if you are not sure ask or look at the map on the PCC noticeboard), then you will be allocated a group nearest to where you live.
Groups will start meeting week beginning Monday 11 September, meet bi -weekly during term time (though not during Lent when there will be Churches Together groups and possibly not in Advent when they might meet all together in church) and are open to anyone who wants to grow in their Christian faith and who wants to see others find faith as well.
Sign-up sheets are available at the back of church. I do hope that you will want to take part in this exciting new venture in the life of St.Mary’s !
Best wishes,
Jeremy Tear, Pioneer Team Rector
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