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Mental health matters - book your place for our conference coming up soon

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Booking now!

Mental health matters and it affects many of us and many of those we support in our communities and ministries…

We are hosting a day conference for Christian leaders, chaplains, student workers and anyone interested in looking after their own mental health and that of others. This will be held at Bloomsbury Baptist Church, London on Wednesday 23rd October.

Lots of varied conference content and the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics… Theological input, panel discussions and a choice of workshops including exploring mental health first aid, supporting those in study, and worship and dementia.

The conference costs are £25 per person and you can find out more information and book your place here.

Come along and be inspired… learn together…

Develop skills and share good practice in this important area of ministry

For information contact sarah.lane.cawte@freechurches.org.uk

BOOK YOUR PLACE →

Tickets provided through Eventbrite

(photo courtesy of Jeremy Thomas @ Unsplash)

Supporting young people who are going to university?

If you and your church are supporting young people who are going off to university, then you might find this leaflet we have just published useful: Branching Out

It is designed to be printed out double-sided and folded into 3 and covers a variety of things, such as:

  • Getting ready to go

  • Making contact

  • Practical help


You may also find the ideas and resources helpful on the links below:

A CALL TO PRAY At the start of the academic year (autumn): Merciful God, we pray for all those starting university courses for degrees and vocational programmes. We know this is a time of great change, so we humbly ask that you uphold and guide the students at this time of transition. Living God, we pray for the parents, carers and church families who are waving off their church / family members who are embarking on university courses. Give the parents, carers and our churches the courage to be brave about this change in their family and church community, as they see their loved ones go on to a new phase in life. Amen

Education Chaplaincy - survey results out now

Chaplaincy Central hosted a survey which resulted in over 100 chaplains from schools and colleges responding. The results were published earlier in the summer and you can read all about them by checking out the links below. The survey is set out in 4 parts:

The survey results make interesting reading - did you know that whilst chaplains are involved in taking services and assemblies, they play a vital role in mentoring and pastoral work with students?

The survey also highlights some of the challenges and delights of working as an educational chaplain…. such as… “Seeing young lives changed and outcomes improved.” What could be more headline grabbing than this statement made by two chaplains responding independently to the question: ‘What is your biggest highlight of the past year in educational chaplaincy?’

There are some really interesting findings, so why not take a look?

Chaplaincy Central’s vision is: “With the rapid growth in the number of people working as chaplains in schools and FE colleges has come a desire expressed by many for a way of sharing resources and good practice and for connecting with others. Our vision is that this web site will be a hub for this exchange of news and ideas and that chaplains will find support and encouragement through being better connected with one another and with Chaplaincy Central.”

The Free Church Education Committee invite you to join with us as we pray for the work of Chaplaincy Central, pray for all of those serving as chaplains in our schools and colleges and for the networks of churches who support chaplains. To find our more about how your church might get involved or get access to more resources to support your church in building partnerships with local colleges check out the FCG link HERE.

Let us pray… Living God, we pray that you will guide and inspire all those students embarking on training for employment and all those seeking support and new learning for their personal development. We pray for the staff and chaplains at our colleges and learning providers, that they have the courage, wisdom and stamina to support the students. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen

(photo courtesy of Jens Johnsson at Unsplash)

A rolling prayer diary for each day of the month...

It is perhaps quite logical for us to think about students at the beginning of the academic year…. each September. It is a time of great change as students get used to living away from home and settling into a new home and church community.

Often the first few months can be the hardest, so students need our on-going support and prayer as they chart their way through the first few months.

The Student Christian Movement (SCM) has designed an easy to use rolling prayer calendar which you can use in your personal devotions and at your church to pray on each day of the month.

You can download this here.

SCM says, “Your prayers for the movement are very much appreciated. Our prayer calendar has a specific prayer item for each day of the month, including SCM groups across Britain, Link Churches and Link Chaplaincies, our volunteers and the staff team.”

(photo courtesy of Alexis Brown at Unsplash)

A WARM INVITATION TO OUR 2019 MEETING OF THE DEPUTIES

Dear Friends,

A WARM INVITATION TO OUR 2019 MEETING OF THE DEPUTIES

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We very much hope that you will join us at 6pm at 27 Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9HH on Monday 14th October when we are delighted that the Rev. Dr Jennifer Smith, Minister of Wesley’s Chapel, will speak on the intriguing title of “Wife Beating, Worship and Public Conscience – C17th Providence Plantations and Today”

The “Deputies” were established as elected lay people, working with a body of Ministers, in 1732 to fight for the removal of restrictions which excluded the churches and people we now call in the “Free Church” tradition from many areas of public life. London based, they argued on behalf of churches across the country.

We maintain this somewhat quaint sounding body as an annual society to honour their memory and successful work. Free speech should never be taken for granted, enabling us to sustain our life, worship and witness. The body also keeps alive our historic right of direct approach to the Monarch.

Today, the Free Churches Group carries out the Deputies’ functions relating to government, as we will hear during our very brief formal proceedings.

This is an open invitation to your members and Minister. It would be most helpful to know in advance of the numbers attending. Please return the attached form by post or email. Respecting our historical structure, it would be appropriate to nominate two “Deputies”, but all are welcome. Please display the poster. Our income is limited, and a contribution would be very welcome to help cover our meeting costs.

We know that Jennifer will have a great deal of interest to say and we hope very much that you will come.

For more information and RSVP, please contact Sabina Williams at sabina.williams@freechurches.org.uk / 02036518334.

Paul Rochester and Keith Salway

General Secretary and Treasurer