We will be serving FREE coffee and cakes in the church – why not pop in and say ‘hello’; we’ll be very pleased to see you.
While the church hall is being refurbished, this will happen on the third Saturday of each month until September.
All are welcome to this short ecumenical service which lasts about 30 minutes – the church is open from 2.30pm to give everyone a chance to catch up with friends or sir for quiet reflection. There is disabled access into the church and hall and plenty of willing helpers and we hope you will join us in the church hall after the service for afternoon tea and a sing-along.
The Annual Parochial Church Meeting of St Gregory’s Parish Church, Seaton will take place on Sunday, 6th April at 11.45am in the Church Hall. Copies of the Annual Reports and accounts are available from the back of church.
On Saturday, 15th March, we will be throwing open the doors of St Gregory’s Church from 10.30am until 1.30pm and inviting you all to visit this beautiful Grade 1 listed building and find out more about its history and role in our community. We will be explaining our vision for a new group, the Friends of St Gregory’s Church, Seaton, which we hope will enable us to raise funds for much needed maintenance on this historic building. You will find more information here http://www.coastalchurch.org.uk/the-friends-of-st-gregorys/
At the same time, we will be throwing open the doors of the Church Hall to invite you all to visit us for a free coffee, cake or even a light lunch at FREEdom Cafe (yes, that’s right, everything is free – no catch). We’re serving Leek and Potato soup this month, with our usual array of cakes, sandwiches and jacket potatoes. Why not come and be part of it? You can find out more information here http://www.coastalchurch.org.uk/freedom-cafe/
Could you reduce your consumption of carbon-based fuels by up to 40% this Lent? It’s a big challenge, but one we are being asked to consider by the six south-west dioceses (including our own Diocese of Exeter) in cooperation with Tearfund. We are being encouraged to improve our care for God’s creation by signing up for daily email suggestions for simple actions which will prompt us to examine our lifestyles, take money-saving initiatives, adventurous actions and to pray for our stewardship of the earth.
You can register for the emails at http://www.thecarbonfast.org/ , or find out more from the Diocesan website here http://www.exeter.anglican.org/index.cfm?page=church.content&cmid=456
OPEN THE BOOK offers a programme of themed and dramatised Bible stories for school assemblies. Each session is around 10 minutes long and fits comfortably into assembly times.
A team of volunteer storytellers use drama, mime, props, costume – even the children and staff themselves – to present Bible stories in ways that are lively, engaging, informative … and great fun for everyone involved!
The team from the Beer churches have just celebrated their first anniversary of Open the Book at Beer CofE Primary School. Through the encouragement and expertise of the Beer team, Seaton now has an Open the Book team of its own. The Seaton team take the Bible stories into Seaton Primary School every other week for the Key Stage 2 assembly.
Both teams say it is great fun and a very rewarding activity which really helps the children (and adults!) to engage with the stories of the Bible. If you would like to know more about this scheme please contact the parish office at St Gregory’s.
And so that was Christmas…
Well, not quite: we’re still waiting for the three wise men to arrive at Bethlehem and give the baby their extraordinary gifts (they’re late every year!). The church celebrates this event twelve days after Christmas every year and calls it Epiphany. In many countries, people exchange gifts at Epiphany, not on Christmas Day, in recognition of the gifts of the Wise Men.
We were reminded of the story of the wise men at St Gregory’s last Sunday (a week early) when the team of people who have committed to taking the Christian story into our local schools using Open the Book came to show us what they would be doing to open the Epiphany story to our school children next week. Members of both St Michael’s and St Gregory’s congregations depicted the characters in the story (many were unrecognisable owing to some rather splendid beards), simple projected animations were used and we finished with some lively music to cement the message.
It was wonderful to see and hear part of the gospel story conveyed in a different way. God uses all sorts of people in all sorts of ways to try to help us to hear his Good News. We hope you will all support those that are using Open the Book to take the message into our schools with your prayers.
We are delighted to announce that Lloyds Bank Community Fund has awarded FREEdom Cafe
£3,000 thanks to your votes. We will be using the money to improve the facilities for families with young children (a baby-changing station in the toilets and new high chairs) plus a new water boiler in the kitchen and other improvements which should make our kitchen service more efficient.
Many thanks to all who voted for us, online, by SMS text message and in person in the bank. We hope to see you soon at FREEdom Cafe.
Starting in January 2014 on alternate Tuesdays, 8.30-9.15pm, a group will take the bible stories into our local Primary School Assemblies. We shall do this with a nationally recognised scheme called Open The Book (who are partners with the Bible Society).
Could you read, act/mime, make costumes/props and or support in prayer?
IS GOD CALLING YOU TO HELP ON A REGULAR OR OCCASIONAL BASIS?
We are holding an explanation and information session on
Monday 11 November at 2.30-3.45pm at St Gregory’s Church Hall.
ALL WELCOME TO ATTEND.
Please speak to Dave Stuckey 01297 23016 djstuckey@hotmail.co.uk
