Here comes Lent! 22nd Feb-9th April 2023
Dear Friends,
See you at church or online this Sunday as we look ahead to the start of Lent next week. Stock up on your batter ingredients! There are pancake parties at Busbridge and St Mark’s on Shrove Tuesday, and we will observe Ash Wednesday with the traditional communion service with ashing, 8PM at Busbridge Church. Read on for more news and events coming up.
Sunday 19 Feb:
Pray for revelation
SERMON series "Transformed Life"
Readings: Ephesians 1: 17-19
Busbridge
9.30AM Contemporary
Busbridge Church & online
Led by: Patrick Samuels | Speaker: Margot Spencer
Children’s groups meet from 9.20am and return to the service at approx 10.35am:
Ark (3-7s) in the Village Hall, Creche, Tiny Tigers and Explorers (7-11s) in the Old Rectory
Join us for coffee and donuts in the Yew Tree Café between services
11.15AM Classic Service
Busbridge Church & onine
Led by: Frances Shaw | Speaker: Peter Shaw
Hambledon
10AM Morning Worship [Holy Communion]
no Children’s Club - see you at Messy Church at 4pm.
Hambledon Church & online
Led by: Andy Spencer| Speaker: David Jenkins
4PM Messy Church
Hambledon Village Hall
Led by: Simon Willetts and the Messy team.
Dust and Ashes: Thrown out of the Garden of Eden – the Easter story starts here.
Weds 22nd Feb
8PM Benefice Communion Service with Ashing
Busbridge Church
Readings: Genesis 2:4,7,15-18,21-22,25 and 3:1-13,17-19
Coming Up:
See the events coming up next and look up dates further ahead in the full calendar.
Notices
Last Sunday John Valentine led the first session on Gifts of the Holy Spirit following the 6PM service at Busbridge. Feedback has been hugely positive. Coming to all the sessions is encouraged, but if you would like to be part of this equipping the church for mission, please come along to the next one on 26 Feb. More details >>
Would you like to know more about Spiritual Gifts? The Diocese recently ran a two day training event with Jackie Pullinger about the sensible, careful exercising of Spiritual Gifts. About 20 people from BHC, St Mark’s and St Peter & St Paul’s attended (there were limited spaces and our church context meant we got extras) and all were blessed by the event. Jackie talked about exercising these Gifts of God positively with grace and love. A free 1 hour follow up webinar on ‘leading in the power of the Holy Spirit’ is being provided by the Diocese, which anyone can attend. If you’d like to know more about this area of God’s work and our church family, please attend. Wednesday 22nd February at 11am (book here) and Thursday 2nd March at 2pm (book here).
Small Group Info Evening - 7.30PM Monday 27th Feb. All small group members, and those who would like to find out about them are invited to a session with Richard Lloyd, from the Mission Enabler Team at Guildford Diocese. Richard will share his thoughts and enthusiasm for Small Groups, and offer tips on how to make sure they support you in discipleship, and the mission of the whole church. Find event details here.
Ad for our new 4-11s Children’s Pastor - the closing date for applications is 13th Mar. Please pray and share, share, share!
Outward Giving - thank you letters have been coming in from our Mission Partners, acknowledging the donations made by Busbridge&Hambledon Church in 2022. They can be found on the outward giving page here. Thank you for supporting the special appeals at Easter, Harvest and Christmas, and for your monthly giving - a portion of which is passed on to BHC’s selected charities. To get more involved with mission and outward giving on behalf of the church, please get in touch with members of the group via the church office.
Nexus on Thu 2nd March: ‘Past, Present and Future of Milford Hospital’ Nexus talk by Jenny Millar, Chair of League of Friends
Nexus are delighted to welcome Jenny, who will share with us points of interest about the past, present and future of Milford Hospital. There are a lot of new plans for our local hospital, so come along and be among the first to hear about them! As this is our charity for 2023 it would be good to give Jenny our full support. This month we’ll meet in the Old Rectory at 8.00pm. Event details.
'The Bereavement Journey' - FEB-APR COURSE NOW FULL - See: The Bereavement Journey and please do contact Sandra Wilkin e: pastoral@bhcgodalming.org if you would like to find out about it, as further courses will be scheduled.
Get Involved
Busbridge&Hambledon Church runs on the generous giving of time and talents of its members, led and supported by the clergy, ministry leaders and other staff. Everyone has a valued part to play in the life of the church, and we believe it’s key to feeling like you belong to the BHC family. If you are not already serving in one or more roles, please think about committing to something now. The commitment can be small. Most areas would welcome more volunteers, but support is urgently needed for the following:
Busbridge AV Production Team - Sound desk, laptop and/or livestream operators needed for 9.30am, 11.15am and 6pm - one Sunday a month. Training provided! See https://youtu.be/BDYQFjQx3-s and please contact Patrick Elshen to find out more.
Sunday Hospitality - to help on the Busbridge coffee rota please contact Sandra Campbell via the church office.
Elsewhere
World Day of Prayer - Friday 3rd March - Godalming Prayer Gathering at 10.30am
Godalming Baptist Church Life Issues talks: See the full 2023 Life Issues programme.
Sat 25 Feb 'Self-Harm' led by Suzette Jones at GBC. 10.00am-12.15 (coffee from 9.30am) Please do consider coming to find out more about this huge issue in our society today. Suzette will look at the signs of self-harm, how do we react, where help can be found, what we can do. To book a place contact Sally Pollard-pollard3@hotmail.co.uk or tel-01483-428646.
For news from all the other local churches, see:
Churches Together Link Up - Feb 2023
Don’t forget about…
Minster Update. The Minster Transition Steering Group have published a January Update, which can be found here.
Mid-week Prayer Gatherings
Reflective Prayer Mons at 8.45am online.
Busbridge Morning Prayer Weds at 9am online.
Hambledon Morning Prayer takes place on Wednesdays at 9am. All welcome.
Busbridge Saturday Prayer Meeting + PrayerFest 0-30 8-9am 2nd Saturdays of the month [11th Feb]
***Send prayer requests to prayer@bhcgodalming.org***
Groups & Activities
The Men’s Group meets for breakfast at 8.15am on the first Saturdays of the month. See the calendar event for details.
The 2023 Prime Time programme for Jan-Jun is now available, and the next event is the Shrove Tuesday pancake party on 21st Feb. For all events and details, see Prime Time.
The 2023 Nexus programme is now available, and the next event is a talk on 2nd Feb is about the Normandy Healing Garden. For all events and details, see Nexus.
VACANCIES
We are truly blessed to have talented and faithful teams of volunteers from the church family coordinating worship and children’s groups for the time being, but we wait expectantly for the right people to take up the positions so that these crucial ministries can fully flourish and soar!
Busbridge and Hambledon Churches are open daily for private prayer.
Yew Tree Café
at Busbridge Church
The Yew Tree Café at Busbridge Church is open 8.30am-4pm weekdays in term time, and 10am-2pm on Saturdays and school holidays.
Pastoral Care
PASTORAL CARE & PRAYER MINISTRY TEAM AVAILABLE
If you, or someone you know at church, are in need of support and care, please contact Sandra Wilkin via the church office, or e: pastoral@bhcgodalming.org.
To contact the EMERGENCY prayer chain, email prayer@bhcgodalming.org or call 01483 421267.