Why not host an afternoon tea for Imago Dei Prison Ministry?

Why not host an Afternoon Tea!?

Our friends at Imago Dei (ID) Prison Ministry are inviting us all to host an afternoon tea on or around 14th August. Supporters of Imago Dei Prison Ministry are joining together to host Afternoon Teas across the country for their friends and family to raise awareness and funds for ID Grace House UK. For further information and how to register your event and get your bunting and fundraising pack, click: Will you join us?

Grace House UK is a project of ID Prison Ministry, set up specifically to offer housing with life skills training and support for women leaving prison in the South East who may otherwise be homeless and need further resettlement provision.

(cover photo courtesy of Soo Chung at Unsplash)

An exciting event coming up in Liverpool in September - Connecting Communities, Serving People

Connecting Communities, Serving People is the aim of the event coming up at Liverpool Town Hall on 30th September: 1.30-3.30 P.M.

Further details on how to register will be available soon, but for now, save the date!

Lots of inspiring resources for Education Sunday: 12th September

For well over one hundred years there has been an annual recognition of Education Sunday in England and Wales. It is a national day of prayer and celebration for everyone in the world of education. Education Sunday will be marked this year on 12th September and the theme is - A Word in Season.

There are lots of inspiring and helpful resources and materials to help you in your church to celebrate this day. This year, we are delighted that a preacher, who was one of the Sermon of the Year contest* (in 2020), has written a sermon for this year’s Education Sunday. You can download and share Jan Thompson’s dynamic and inspiring sermon HERE.

As well as this thought-provoking sermon, there is a theme introduction from FCG Moderator, Revd Dr Hugh Osgood, a Commissioning Prayers for Education Sunday and lots more to come! We hope that you enjoy using and sharing these resources which you can access at the Churches Together in England link below:

EDUCATION SUNDAY RESOURCES

*Sermon of the Year is an annual competition held by Preach magazine.

(cover photo courtesy of Zero Take at Unsplash)

'Organ Donation Week' coming up in September

A couple of years ago Free Churches Group, working with the Blood Transfusion and Organ donation services, facilitated a one day conference with our member churches and groups. This was a useful event to help us to raise the profile and importance of these services, particularly for our churches who have members from Black, Asian and other ethnic communities. We would like to continue to encourage more blood and organ donors from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to come forward to meet the needs of patients from across our communities. Certain conditions, such as sickle cell and thalassaemia, are more prevalent within these communities.

We would like to share with you news of Organ Donation Week which is coming up in September.

This is an awareness raising week from 20th - 26th September with a theme this year of: ‘Leave Them Certain’. This campaign aims to encourage people to talk to their loved ones about organ donation through highlighting that families are always involved before organ donation goes ahead.

Watch this space for further information about this year’s campaign and how you, your churches and your families can get involved in the discussions about this vital issue.

ORGAN DONATION WEEK

(cover photo courtesy of Alexandru Acea at Unsplash)

Journeying from Despair to Hope… preparing for Prisons Week 2021

Journeying from despair to hope is an online event coming up on the morning of the 20th July to help church and community leaders explore the prayer and support materials for Prisons Week.

For forty years, Prisons Week has prepared prayer literature to enable the Christian community, through individuals and churches, to pray for the needs of all those affected by prisons: prisoners and their families, victims of crime and their communities, those working in the criminal justice system and the many people who are involved in caring for those affected by crime on the inside and outside of our prisons. Prisons Week raises awareness and generates prayer.

(cover photo courtesy of Jeremy Bishop @ Unsplash)