Diocese of MonmouthEsgobaeth Mynwy |
| Governing Body of the Church in Wales  This week, members of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales met online for their Spring meeting. In this week’s edition of our Friday Round-up we will cover many of the debates and motions, with more coming in the next few weeks.The Archbishop, John Davies, who retires on May 2 gave his last Presidential Address to this Governing Body, having been a member for more than 40 years.Archbishop John’s Presidential Address, and more information about Governing Body, can be found on the Church in Wales website –I have a ‘joyful sense’ Church vision is being revived – Archbishop – The Church in WalesBecoming better stewards of God’s creation  The Church in Wales declares a climate emergency agreeing to have net zero carbon emissions, ideally by 2030, and to divest funds from fossil fuels.Climate change was a key issue at the recent Governing Body meeting, where it was agreed that an “urgent and rapid global response” was needed.Seconding the motion, Revd Rebecca Stevens, Ministry Area Leader for Newport North, said: “This is our chance to show our communities that this is an issue we will join with them to tackle, and our chance to work with and to give the younger generation a voice as we show them that we take their concerns seriously. It is a concern that affects us all.”Bishop Cherry now asks “what are we going to do as a diocese to play our part in saving our planet – God’s creation and gift to us? There are many small and simple steps that we can take as individuals, congregations, and at Ministry Area and Diocesan level to help reverse the trends. Churches can aim to become an Eco Church. Working towards an Eco Award (Bronze, Silver and Gold) would be a wonderful way of bringing churches in each of the Ministry Areas together. What an achievement it would be if by the year 2024, we could become an Eco Diocese! (Llandaff are already there). The charity A Rocha, which is committed to equipping Christians and churches to care for the environment, has plenty of ideas and information on its website here.“ Get involved! Please let us know if you are interested in being part of a diocesan group committed to helping us all become better stewards of God’s creation. You can find out more about the Governing Body motion to declare a climate emergency here.  Faithful Stewards in a Changing Church There were a good number of exciting debates at the meeting of the Governing Body this week. Amongst them was a presentation of the report ‘Faithful Stewards in a Changing Church’; a collection of essays written by members of the Standing Doctrinal Commission of the Church in Wales which explore different perspectives on the ordained ministry of deacons, priests and bishops. In the light of the 2020 Vision, and as we welcome a growing number and variety of lay ministries that are emerging across the Church, this report asks specifically what the role of ordained ministry should be. The report is a rich resource for prayerful reflection and will be of interest to both clergy and laity. But the real value will be in discussing the ideas and perspectives offered in the essays with others. As a way of whetting the appetite, four videos have been recorded of the authors talking about and discussing their essays together. The first video, exploring the first three essays, will be out next week. This will be followed on April 26th by a live discussion with the authors which you are very warmly invited to join. The report and information on links to all of the videos will be available via the Church in Wales website. A Study Guide has also been produced that will be available to aid further discussion. Watch this space – The report and links to the videos will be available via the Church in Wales website next week. We’ll make sure to keep you updated in next week’s Friday e-mail. You have heard a lot from us about Ministry Areas in the Diocese of Monmouth and our first set of toolkits and videos can be found on our website here.In this week’s Governing Body, our neighbours, the Diocese of Llandaff, gave a presentation on the formation of their Ministry Areas. Take a look at their video which was shared with members of Governing Body yesterday. News  Bishop Cherry encourages Christians to pray for others to come to know Jesus Christ.Thy Kingdom Come is a global prayer movement that invites Christians around the world to pray specifically from Ascension to Pentecost for more people to come to know Jesus. This wave of prayer has been supported by the Church in Wales since the initiative began six years ago. More information, including ideas and resources about how you can get involved can be found here.Join in a churchyard nature count Churches are being invited to a week-long ‘nature count’ this summer to assess biodiversity within the ‘national park’ of churchyards.Churches Count on Nature, to run between 5-13 June 2021, aims to encourage people to visit churchyards and record what they see. It is a citizen-science event covering churchyards across the England and Wales.It is being jointly run by the conservation charities Caring for God’s Acre, A Rocha UK, the Church of England, and the Church in Wales.The week is open to anyone with a love of nature and churches are being encouraged to link with local schools, local wildlife groups, and those who may not have visited before to discover churchyards.Join in churchyard nature count – The Church in WalesAnnual Returns The Representative Body are not collecting Membership or Church Fabric Returns this year and, as a Diocese, we won’t be requesting the Database Return until later in the year.At this time, the only returns to be submitted are the Finance Return and a copy of your independently examined/audited accounts for 2020 (including a balance sheet). If you have opted for online submission, you should have already received the link and your log in details. If you have requested a paper copy, these will be sent out as soon as we receive them. The deadline for returns this year is the 30th of June. Please do not take any unnecessary health risks in completing your returns. If you need any help in completing the forms please contact Libby, libbymorgan-owen@cinw.org.uk 07508 801511   Lent AppealJust a reminder that there is still time to give to the Diocesan Lent Appeal, which this year is supporting the Church in Wales Centenary Appeal. Find out more here. Please could all payment be made by the end of May. For details of how to donate, please contact Libby on 07508 801511.Donations for the HighveldIf you have any donations for the Highveld, please also contact Libby. A transfer will be made later this month. Libby – 07508 801511.Services and Resources  Join a Requiem Mass for HRH the Duke of Edinburgh this evening (Friday) at 7pm in Newport Cathedral here.Vocations Sunday – 25th April You can find resources for Vocations Sunday including prayers, school assemblies and a Bible Study here. Meet the Vocations team in this video – Join an Easter 3 Eucharist on Sunday at 10:30am here. Hymn Books Available Hymns Old & New, New Anglican Edition 1996, hard back, words only – 90 copies. Full music editions of the above – 8 copies. Please contact office@stpaulsnewport.org.uk if you are interested.Books Available Have you thought of setting up a spirituality library in your church? Fr Colin Sutton is downsizing his large book collection and has many books on prayer and spirituality all in good condition he’s happy to donate as a starter for a church library. He also has some books on pastoral care and on liturgy as well as organ music suitable for services, some easy church choral music and a set of ‘Classical’, an educational highly illustrated periodical introduction to music for 11 plus to adult. An excellent resource for someone keen on classical music. Please email frcolinsutton@gmail.com if you’re interested.The Wisdom’s Table Podcast  https://wisdomstable.podbean.com/e/the-treasures-of-the-cloud-of-unknowing-with-carmen-acevedo-butcher-pt-2/Training/Events April Safeguarding Training DatesPartDateTimePart 1Tuesday 20 April18.00pm Part 2Thursday 22 April14.00 pm Friday 23 April (PTO specific)10.00 am Tuesday 27 April18.00 pm Thursday 29 April14.00 pm Friday 30 April10.00 amEmail safeguardingtraining@stpadarns.ac.uk to book.  Our SchoolsOur education team have been putting together a range of great resources for our church schools to support them, if you would like to access these resources they’re available here.There are resources for FP and for KS2 which will be available each week on the website, this term focusing on Islam.  For a downloadable and printable version of this email please click here.You can find the one-stop-shop for all you need to know and this week’s updates here. |
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