Tas Valley Team Ministry

We are now 95 days away from flying, and counting.  As the intrepid team of 18 prepare to fly for a 12-day tour of duty, please pray for us, and for those we will meet on our travels.  We welcome donations of school supplies or to help poor families with very little.  Please talk to a member of the team for further information.

What can I do?

You can give online: https://mydonate.bt.com/events/uganda2012

For more information: http://www.justgiving.com/wsm2012

You can give simply by text, and if you're a taxpayer, we can claim back 100% of the Gift Aid on your donation.  Simply text "UGAN87 £10" to 70070.

You could support one of our fundraising events:

Sat 19th May - Choral Evening, with wine and nibbles @ Tasburgh Church, £7.50 per head from Linda 471175

Wed 20th June - Sponsored Swim, Taylor family - details from Vivienne on 471790

Sat 21st July - 80s Disco, with live band @ Tasburgh Village Hall, £5 per head from Nathan 471197

More to follow...

What are we doing?
A team of 18 volunteers are heading to Uganda to work with a Ugandan registered charity, World Shine Ministries.  WSM seeks to administer the gospel of hope of Jesus Christ to the poor and the needy through evangelism, education and social programmes for the healing of the nations.  WSM is supported by a Scottish registered charity, World Shine Foundation.  They run a school for about 500 pupils, aged 3-14, with a staff of 22, and are involved in supporting some of the poorest families in the world.  The team will be working with the local churches, as well as the school and a local mission hospital.  They will be helping to build a much-needed dormitory for the older girls, and offering pastoral, medical, educational and prayerful support.  We shall also be able to take plentiful supplies with us towards the charitable work.

Why?
WSM believes that education is the key to changing a child's life from poverty to a life of possibilities.  The needs among this AIDS-ridden under-privileged community in the Ntungamo District, in South West Uganda, is vast.  We want to do what we can to get alongside them and to help, offering the love of Jesus in word and deed.  We recognise also that we will be blessed and challenged through the experience, and we trust that there will be a long-lasting, fruitful and mutually beneficial partnership that develops.

When?
Thu 16th August - Wed 29th August 2012

Donating
Money raised here will go towards:
     -  The cost of supplies that we can take to donate to the charity
     -  The cost of building materials for the girls' dormitory
     -  Other costs for the charitable work of WSM, applied at the discretion of the charity on the ground, in liaison with the team while we are there.

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Annual Report for 2011 available in pdf format here (click to open in new window).

On behalf of everyone, Adrian and I would like to thank Chris Martin, David Lancaster, David Sochon and all the Pastoral Leadership Team for their pastoral care, servant-hearted leadership, teaching and worship leading. We are truly blessed to have such a great team. Special thanks also to the church wardens who do so much for little
recognition and have been a great personal support to the clergy as well. Much gratitude also to Vicky Ball who has now been our wonderful voluntary Benefice Administrator since April 2004.

2011 has been a challenging year in the Tas Valley Benefice. Many individuals have gone through hard times and in that I include our family with Katies time in hospital and learning to live with her Sturge Weber condition afterwards. We have through a very trying time been so grateful for the outpouring of love and prayer from you all. Thank you so much especially to Adrian Miller for his outstanding care and to all who visited us in hospital, sent messages and gave practical help.

As we have moved into 2012, Adrian , Chris and I have been seeking to listen to God for his work in the Tas Valley.
The key word for me was BLESSING - Gods desire to bless us, to bless his world and for us to learn to both speak his blessings and to be a blessing to his world. For Adrian the word was BREAKTHROUGH ? an encouraging word for many of us after a difficult year. Chris had a picture ? a bottle of overflowing champagne! ? This is a lovely picture of the overspill of Gods blessing reaching beyond the church into our communities. So we move into 2012, expectant to see more of Gods work in our midst and encouraged to both receive Gods blessing and to pass it on through what we do, say and pray. Here is an ancient and beautiful prayer for us to receive for ourselves and to pray for others:

The Lord bless You and keep You
The Lord make his face to shine upon You
And be gracious unto You
The Lord lift up His countenance upon You
And give You peace.

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High speed wireless broadband in local communities

This joint venture between the Diocese of Norwich and FreeClix will use parish churches across the Diocese as the platform to deliver high speed reliable wireless broadband internet access to local communities (especially to areas where current speeds are very poor), supporting both business and residential customers as well as the potential for the delivery of other services.

To signup for the service in a live location, please Sign Up Online

• Guaranteed fast speeds (6mb download / 1mb upload)
• Quick install
• Reliable service
  
  If 20 or more people register an interest for a village, then this service could be made available in that village.  Not only will it provide higher-speed broadband, but if the service is installed, it will provide benefit to the lcoal church as well.
  
  Find out more about the product/service

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Norwich Foodbank is a church-backed crisis food bank project to offer emergency food parcels to needy people across Norwich.  Foodbanks provide three days of emergency food to individuals and families in real crisis, before the statutory authorities can get involved. The Foodbank also supports existing local charities working with distressed and destitute people by donating food in bulk.

In the three months August to October Foodbank fed 824 local people in crisis that is an average of 275 a month, an increase from an average of 230 a month for the previous three months. 90% of the people helped only ever need one or two food boxes from the Bank due to working closely with care agency partners.

Food is collected at collecting points in churches, schools and outside supermarkets. It is then gathered in a central warehouse and sorted for use. Local care professionals in the Norwich area refer people to the Foodbank centre using a food voucher. At the centre clients exchange the voucher for food supplies. They are given a hot drink and are directed to the appropriate professionals to help with their crisis.

After hearing about a successful Foodbank project at Shotesham at  the last wardens meeting, the churchwardens felt that our churches are ideally situated in the community to help by providing a dropping off point for contributions.   A box/basket will be available in each church porch donations together with a list of suitable foodstuffs to be donated. 

Please spread the news about this wonderful opportunity to donate to Norwich Foodbank starting this month.

Further information about Norwich Foodbank and suitable foodstuffs to be donated are listed at www.norwichfoodbank.co.uk

Sally Gaze (Team Rector)and Jane Blease (Shotesham Churchwarden)

Links

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One of the things I am really excited about in 2012 is learning to pray for blessing.  The sense that we were being called to do this began back in May last year – and has not gone away.  I began to hear more and more stories of churches who had committed themselves to praying for blessing on their local area and the difference this has made. 

 

We can all learn more about prayer and in January and February there is going to be a special focus in sermons and cells on how Jesus taught his disciples to pray – The model of the Lord’s prayer:  Look out for the special prayer cards which will be appearing at the back of church and in cells groups soon.

 

I would also like to ask if some people are willing to join me in setting aside 1 hour a week for 52 weeks to pray specifically for God to bless our area.  If possible this hour should be at the same time every week.  A structure for prayer and notes with areas for prayer and news updates will be provided to help you – following the sort of pattern written about in “The Grace Outpouring” – a book which I know has inspired many of you as it has me.  If you would like to do this, or simply to find out more, please e-mail me on sally@tasvalley.org or phone 470762.  We hope to start on Sun 29^th January at the Gathering Service.

 

God bless you all in 2012.               Love Sally

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Thanks to all who worked so hard for our Festival of Angels at Newton Flotman Church.  One of our visitors made a video of their visit and put it on youtube for all to enjoy.  It captures the mood and moment really well.  You can see it here.

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As we draw to the end of 2012, we look back on quite a year in 2011.  We've seen riots in many of our cities that have demonstrated something is deeply wrong somewhere.  We've seen economic turmoil around the globe.  We've seen battles for democracy in Middle Eastern dictatorship states.  There seems to me to have been more than the usual number of personal struggles around this past year as well.  Whether or not that has been your experience, I wonder how last year has impacted you?

Archbishop Rowan Williams was talking recently about the state of the world and referred to a passage in the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, ch.12, vv.25-29 that talks of how God shakes the nations, and only what cannot be shaken remains.  The writer says "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks..."

God broke into our world in the person of Jesus to launch a dramatic rescue mission, to provide us with an unshakeable hope and a firm foundation for our lives.  In these shaky times, how good it is to be able to rest in Him and to give thanks for what He has given to us.  God is not the instigator of troubles - but He is the redeemer of them.  He is able to use times of shaking to get our attention and to bring us to the place of absolute and eternal security.  So I pray that you will know this unshakeable kingdom and I say with the writer to the Hebrews, "let us give thanks."

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We had a good writeup in the EDP's Norwich Advertiser about our Breaking the Silence fortnight.

Bells have begun to ring out across the county in support of victims of domestic abuse.  Georgina Holloway, High Sherrif of Norfolk joined with Sally Rozier, chief executive of Partners Against Crime Team (PACT), and members of Leeways refuge centres to light candles in Saxlingham Nethergate Church, while a team of ringers sounded the bells.  This was a wonderful way to kick off our fortnight of "Breaking the Silence" - and coincided with the launch of a new resource from PACT.

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One of the loveliest sights at Christmas is of a child delighted with a gift.  Some people even say, “Christmas is really for the children”.  However, the older I get the more I love Christmas for other reasons: The angels tell us what Christmas is all about and their message tells of joy, not just for children, but for everyone.  A Saviour to rescue the world from greed, from war, from hunger, from debt, from addiction, from illness, from death.  And the sign of this great rescue is not a jolly bearded santa bearing countless presents but a baby lying in a cattle trough.  I love the trimmings of Christmas – the tree and puddings and cards and carols and parties and presents - and I look forward to seeing friends and family enjoy it.  But I would rather there were no presents than we should not know the joy of the message of the angels. 

So when we celebrate, let it not be just that children are delightfully excited or even that a baby was born long ago.  If we celebrate, let us celebrate with the angels.  Let it be that the baby did not stay in the manger but died to make the angels promise come true.  Let it be that he has invaded our lives with purpose today, making our picturesque traditions pale into insignificance, striding over our shallow sentiment and overturning our cash registers, wielding his peace like a sword and rescuing us from the lies of materialism into reality.  This Christmas let us take some time out from the consumer rush to be silent and alone - hear in our hearts the song of the angels and celebrate with them the joy which God has prepared for us all.

Wishing you a wonderful and joyful Christmas          Sally

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From Friday 25th November, churches up and down Norwich Diocese will be ringing bells in support of the White Ribbon Campaign to counter domestic abuse in all its forms. More people than you might imagine have been affected in some way by domestic abuse. About 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men - rich, poor, young, old, and even Christians.  For women, the suffering is often more intense and more prolonged.

We don’t often talk about it. We don’t like to acknowledge it. We might even make jokes about it. It may be hidden, but it happens, and it’s horrid. We know that God cares about this. He hears the cries of those suffering. And we care because God cares.  We may not have all the answers, but we know that this behaviour is wrong, we care about those who are suffering, and we want it to stop.

Churches all across the region will be ringing their bells on Sunday 27th November, or at other unusual times throughout the White Ribbon fortnight (25th Nov - 5th Dec).  This is a simple act of showing solidarity with those who are suffering, and it is a parable of what we long for - a breaking of the silence.

We understand how hard it can be to talk to anyone about what is going on, and yet how desperately victims long for freedom.  We also know that talking to someone is often the first step in discovering that freedom.  We also appeal to those whose hands commit the acts, and we know how many feel chained by their own behaviour - help is available.

If you'd like to get involved in this very simple way to show our support for such a worthwhile cause, there is more information and plenty of resources available at our new website.  You can also find links there to places that can offer assistance to those affected.

www.breakingthesilence.co

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Christmas is a busy time of year, especially for those of us in Christian ministry - but the longer I am in ministry, the more I appreciate the flow and rhythm of our seasonal worship.  Christmas is great, because it reminds me of God’s love for me.  As Christina Rosetti wrote:

God went to great lengths to show his love for you and me, taking on flesh, living in a hostile world, suffering and dying - all for love.  But love demands a response.  If someone had bought me the most expensive present I’d ever been given, I wouldn’t ignore it - I wouldn’t leave the giver out in the cold.  I would do my utmost to find out about this person who was professing such costly affection towards me.  In this way, Christmas invites us to respond.  Herrick wrote:


Christmas speaks of the costly and intense love of God for us, and it invites us to respond, not just by singing carols or attending church - as lovely as those things are - but by opening our hearts and finding a room within for the king of kings.  In all that life brings to us, in all the trials of this sometimes harsh world, don’t miss out on the fabulous love of God - the God who has made the first move.

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We were thrilled with the response to this year's Samaritan's Purse Shoebox Appeal.  We gathered 250 shoeboxes to send to children who otherwise would receive no Christmas presents this year.

Thanks to all who gave so generously of their time, money and effort to make this possible.

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I recall the occasion well.  I was sitting round a large campfire, listening to the crickets and frogs and all kinds of wildlife that we don't see around these parts.  I was talking with a group of locals about life in Uganda.  We had just conducted an open air service, where hundreds of young people had gathered to watch "The Jesus Film" projected onto a large sheet, hung between trees.  I had addressed the gathered throng and it had been a very moving experience.  Now I was listening and curious to know what life really was like for people here.

As we talked, 2 boys approached us.  They were about 12 years old, bare feet, torn dirty T-shirts, extremely thin, dirty teeth and clearly after something.  It got quite cool up in the mountains of South West Uganda at night-time, and they were drawn by the warmth of the fire...and the smell of the soup and potatoes.  They were hungry - desperately hungry.  Of course, we shared our food with them.  One of my friends said to me, "These boys don't need a sermon, they need a meal.  How can we tell them about the love of Jesus without first filling their stomachs?"  I find it hard to describe how I felt at that moment.

We have witnessed drought and famine yet again in East Africa in recent weeks, and I've been painfully aware of how wasteful we can be with food that would be so treasured by others in need.  If you would like to go to Africa, and make a difference there in person, then you have the opportunity to do just that next August.  I am very excited about what lies ahead.

We are planning a cross-cultural trip to Uganda, 9th-23rd August 2012.  We shall be working with churches, school and hospital, collaborating on a building project, children's camp, and offering pastoral, educational and medical support.  We’ll be based mainly in Kabale, south-west Uganda (pictured), on the border of Rwanda, as well as in the capital, Kampala.  We’ll also have some time to visit various significant sites and see some local wildlife.  It could be a life-changing experience.

If you are interested in coming along or in supporting this venture financially, please contact Adrian for more information.

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Stop Press!

£3000 has been granted by the diocesan mission fund to support Hannah, in her year with us.

New Member for the Tas Valley Team

We are really pleased that Hannah Pye has decided to spend a year out with the Tas Valley Benefice. She will be supporting the ministry of the church in a number of ways, especially with our young people and our musicians. At the same time she will take this opportunity to explore her vocation.

Donations Welcome

We need to be able to pay Hannah’s expenses and pay her a modest bursary. To this end we are raising £6000. £3000 of this we hope to raise from a diocesan grant and we want to match this with £3000 from donations.

What To Do

If you would like to support Hannah, either write a cheque (made payable to the Tas Valley Cell Church) and send to our Treasurer, Vicky Ball c/o The Rectory at Newton Flotman - or ask for a standing order form, and send that to Vicky.

Many thanks.

Love Sally Gaze

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Open Churches Week

6th-14th August 2011

Many of our parish churches are open all year round, but this summer, we'll be having special events through the open churches week across our benefice.


Check out our events pages or follow the links below to see what is going on in the different parishes:

Links

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At the moment in the Tas Valley group of churches, we are considering freedom. The sort of freedom that is true and lasting and more amazing than we could ever ask or imagine. I’ve known people in prison experience this freedom. And I’ve known plenty outside of prison who miss it.

It is about being fully alive, being fully human, being accepted, secure, significant, experiencing the richness of life that we were actually designed for. It is about genuine victory over sin. It is about escaping negative ways of thinking and behaving. It is about winning the real battles of life. It is about resolving issues from the past that have so hindered us. It is about knowing the truth, not just in theory, but really connecting with and experiencing the truth of who we are made to be.

Where can we find this freedom? I guess you know the answer I would give. Only in one place, in one person, Jesus, the son of the living God. But I don’t just think that because I’m a vicar, and it’s what I’m paid to think! I know this is true for two reasons. First, it makes sense. Intellectually, I am compelled by the sheer weight of evidence to adopt this biblical Christian view.

Secondly, it works. I have seen so many people discover freedom in Christ, I am forever delivered of doubting that God can and does give freedom and fullness of life to anyone who comes to Him with open hands and an open heart. I’ve seen nightmares stop, demons dismissed, addictions broken, phobias vanish, joy come home and whole new surprising vistas of life open up to people. I’ve seen it again and again in others, and I’ve known God do it for me.

This is something not to be missed. Why not come along on Sundays or join in with one of our small groups, and find out more?  Or even book in on our Freedom in Christ Away Day at Fishergate House of Prayer, Norwich on Sat 16th July.  Contact Adrian for more info.

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The Prayer Tent event has begun. We enjoyed a wonderful gentle opening service, led by Ian Masson, pastor at Saxlingham Chapel, as we sought the Lord together for His presence with us over the coming week.

The cell groups had clearly put a lot of thought, prayer, love and attention to detail in designing and creating the various prayer stations around the tent.

There was a real sense of the closeness of God's Spirit. There are still a handful of slots available towards the end of the week, so if you haven't booked yet, click here to book now.

Links

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The prayer tent week has come to an end - sort of. We had a full week of prayer being offered from the tent, for 168 hours, and many encouraging things written in the sharing book through the week. People have really met with God.

The prayer stations were inspiring and helped us all to connect with God. So we are really glad that they will be being used at Newton Flotman School next week. Do continue to pray for all those who will visit the school's prayer room and make use of the prayer stations.

So, another week of prayer is over for us, but only just beginning at the school.

To see photos of this year's prayer stations and the prayer tent set up, do click the link below.

Links

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