Church news Melbourn Baptist Church After enjoying a busy time over Christmas, with many of the church’s regular seasonal activities, members are getting ready to enjoy another new year, with all the hope and opportunities it will bring. Among many other special events, the Christmas activities at Melbourn included the traditional youngsters’ Nativity service, and the carols by candlelight service. Members also joined other churches in the village for Carols at The Cross. Once again, church members saved what they would have spent sending one another individual Christmas cards, and instead the money was donated to the East Anglia Children’s Hospice, and to Canon Andrew White’s Foundation for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East. The church ladies enjoyed a night out before Christmas, and in January it was the men’s turn, with a visit to a Chinese restaurant. Members have also been preparing for a church weekend away, which this year falls on the weekend of Valentine’s Day. The weekend is an opportunity for people to have fun together, and to learn more about God’s care and love for them. As usual, church members will be taking part in the GenR8 tour of primary schools in the Royston area during April. GenR8 is a Christian organisation that works mainly in schools and churches. Volunteers from various churches visit schools each term with high-energy assembly presentations, aiming to combine fun and faith in a relevant and educational way.
United Reformed Church During November and December, we enjoyed many of our annual events and held familiar services of celebration at Christmas. Many thanks to everyone who filled a shoebox for the Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child Appeal. We celebrated ‘Shoebox Sunday’ on 16th November, when Duncan our minister blessed 100 boxes during the morning service. Boxes were received not just from Melbourn but also from a number of the surrounding villages and later that afternoon another 91 boxes arrived from the churches at Fowlmere. Together they were taken to the Huntingdon depot before continuing their onward journey to Belarus where they will bring joy to the children there. This year our ‘Big Christmas Card’, sending greetings to friends locally, raised £105. The proceeds were sent to the Christian Aid Christmas Appeal, which aims to get vital healthcare to mums and babies in Kenya. Our second ‘Tastes of Christmas’ event was held on 6th December, when a good number of people from in an around the village, as well as further afield, joined us and enjoyed an array of good things to eat or buy, all with a seasonal flavour. It was a fun event with a great Christmas atmosphere and we will be doing something similar
again on the first Saturday of December 2015! By the time this edition is published, we will have marked Homelessness Sunday with a special service, including collecting and making useful items for Jimmy’s Night shelter in Cambridge. We will also have joined with the other local churches in the Melbourn and Meldreth Churches Together in marking the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity with a mixture of services and prayer meetings. We have sent crafted items to a number of charity projects in Africa (e.g. Beanies and Blankets for Babies) and knitted and crocheted houses to support the Age UK Warm House campaign. If you are interested in joining us at any of our services, you will receive a warm welcome. Our weekly Sunday services are at 11.am. Feel free to drop in to our Craft and Chat group on Thursdays 2–4 pm if you would like to join us. continued on page 63
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