Newcastle Methodist District

Welcome

Roger Johnson — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:59:05 +0000

Welcome to our BLOG for the Newcastle upon Tyne District of the Methodist Church.

We hope this will increasingly become a useful resource of information and communication for the District and anyone looking for local church information.

District Map of the Circuits Use the zoom controls and the list down the side for closer detail.

Job Advert - Street Pastors Newcastle Coordinator

Steve — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 15:56:47 +0100

We are looking for a person who will be passionate about developing up a new exciting ecumenical project called “Street Pastors Newcastle”.
This person must be a Christian with good leadership and communication skills, be able to motivate, manage and train a team of volunteers and be willing to work unsociable hours.
25 Hours a week ~ £17,000 per year
Based in Newcastle
Applications from: Mrs Vivien Smith ~ The Salvation Army
Balliol Business Park West, Newcastle, NE12 8 EW
Vivien.smith@salvationarmy.org.uk / 0191 238 1802
Closing Date: Friday 8th August 2008
(For more information also phone Major Ray Begley 0191 2381810)

An Evening in Zimbabwe

Steve — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:56:36 +0100

An Evening in Zimbabwe

Thursday 3rd July 8pm to 9.30pm @ Trinity Church, Gosforth

You are invited to an evening when we will hear about the recent trip to Zimbabwe by Pastor David & David Lowry. They will share more about their experiences of visiting the Nkulumane Congregation.

There will be time to hear first hand about their visit, to see photographs, ask questions, and time to pray for this country and ask the Lord how as individuals and as a Church we should respond. By this time we hope we will know the result of the Presidential Election rerun.

African Music, tropical drink and nibbles will be served as people arrive in the Café and Ouseburn area followed by the main presentation in the Church.

There is no charge for this evening however donations towards the work in Zimbabwe will be gratefully received.

Job advert - Project Manager Heaton Wallsend Circuit

Steve — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:57:54 +0100

HEATON AND WALLSEND CIRCUIT seeks to appoint a PROJECT MANAGER to co-ordinate the ‘HAND IN HAND’ PROJECT
This is a church community project based in Wallsend providing a volunteer based befriending service and activities for the elderly
part time (20 hrs./week) on Methodist Church lay worker salary (pro-rata £13,401/annum)

For further details and application pack contact:

Revd. Allan Loudon
tel: 0191 262 5402
or email: allanloudon@talktalk.net

applications by Friday 11th July 2008

(interviews 24th July / anticipated start date September 2008)

PRAYING FOR NORTHUMBRIA POLICE

Steve — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:52:42 +0100

‘PRAYING FOR NORTHUMBRIA POLICE ’
On Thursday July 3rd 2008
7.30-9.30pm
The Magpie Suite
St James Park
Newcastle upon Tyne

Pray4tyneside invites you to our Summer event when we intend to thank and bless our local Police Service at St James Park.
Members of the police will be telling us about their work and how it affects their lives.
We want to demonstrate how much we appreciate and value the service our local police force provides and build bridges in establishing a beneficial relationship between us.
Parking on site. Drinks available to purchase.

This is a ticket only event. The tickets are free (an offering will be taken to further the work of pray4tyneside) Please download the file to print and post or use the contact details below.

Further information and tickets are available from
Jenny Steiner:
Tel: 0191 2680598 or
Email: pray4tyneside@talktalk.net

Job advert - Family Worker Newcastle West Circuit

Steve — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 14:41:35 +0100

The Methodist Church Newcastle (West) Circuit are advertiseing for a Family Worker.
This worker will develop a programme of regular contact and relevant activities for the Young Adults and Young Families connected with designated churches of the Circuit through youth organisations. The aim is to create initiatives which offer ‘belonging’ to these people and which will encourage full Christian commitment. Also, the responsibilities will include specific leadership of some of the Youth activities of Ponteland Methodist church.

40 hours per week (Salary: £17,747 to £20,193 per annum)

Write or e-mail for an Information Pack and Application Form to:
Revd. I Suttie, 61 Cheviot View, Ponteland, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE20 9BH

Closing date for applications: July 4th 2008 e-mail: methodist@ponteland.eclipse.co.uk

Job advert - District Development Enabler

Steve — Thu, 22 May 2008 08:01:14 +0100

From September 2008, the Methodist Church Newcastle upon Tyne District are seeking to recruit an experienced and creative person to the full-time post of District Development Enabler.

The successful candidate will identify, facilitate and support strategies for change and development, enabling the district and its constituent circuits to make the best use of resources for mission and ministry.

The post is open to lay or ordained members in good standing of a church in association with Churches Together in Britain and Ireland or equivalent.

Salary for a lay appointment will be in accordance with the Methodist Church Salary Scale for Lay Employees £31,818 per annum (pay review pending). For a ministerial appointment, standard terms and conditions will apply.
A final salary pension scheme is available.

Closing date for applications: 21 June 2008
Interviews will take place mid July.

Please download further details from the attached file

Job advert - Internship 2008/9 at Jesmond Methodist Church

Steve — Thu, 22 May 2008 07:53:59 +0100

Come and join a small enthusiastic team with great opportunities to develop spiritually and shape projects that will make
a difference. Please download the attached file for further detials of the three roles we would like to fill for Sept 2008.
Over the year you will need to be flexible and work closely with the Leadership. Your training and work will be shaped to
help you grow in faith. We seek to identify best practice, locally and nationally, and introduce it appropriately into our
Church.

R.U.N. Conference - June 2008

Steve — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 09:33:55 +0000

Reaching the Unchurched Network's National Conference 2008 – 17/18/19 June
The keynote speaker will be Brian McLaren - More Than This - breaking the mould of mission

Exploring -
Radical church
Incarnational community
Contagious Spirituality

Join us for the RUN 3 day National Conference Tues 17th June - Thurs 19th June 2008
At the superb new facilities of the Kingsgate Centre in Peterborough, home of Peterborough Community Church.
Other contributors include
Gerard Kelly, Mark Greene, Anne Hibbert, Pall Singh, Nick Cuthbert, Jonny Baker, Jason Clarke, Liz Babbs.

This event will be a rich mix of main sessions, seminars, creative worship, networking opportunities and time just to meet with God. We are delighted that Brian McLaren will be with us for the whole event and this will be an excellent opportunity to engage with one of the foremost thinkers and speakers of this generation.

Do put the date in your diary now and seriously consider bringing a whole team to what we believe will be a landmark event for this year and an excellent equipping opportunity for Hope 08, with whom we enjoy a close working relationship.

More details from the web site http://www.run.org.uk/runhome.aspx

Disability - meeting the challenge

Jenny Collins — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 18:17:02 +0000

Many churches in our district have responded to the physical changes to their premises required by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), such as the provision of ramped entrances, accessible toilet facilities, etc. even though such changes carried quite a financial burden.

There is one physical change, however, which is met with more reluctance and that is the provision of a hearing loop system. This is rather unrealistic, since, in the context of an elderly congregation, there are likely to be more people who are hard of hearing than those who are wheelchair users. Also, the provision of a hearing loop system, could very well be the least expensive physical change that church premises need.

However, the DDA can only make regulations that require physical changes to buildings; the real change necessary to confront discrimination of any kind is a change in attitude. An Act of Parliament can rarely change attitudes; that requires a more internal change.

Discrimination can be hurtful to people with a disability or impairment, and sometimes even more hurtful because it is so casual and unthinking... people displaying some kind of discrimination often say, " I'm sorry I never realised."

One way that a local church, or a circuit, can help to challenge discrimination is by having some kind of disability awareness training.

As District Disability Officer I have only been invited to arrange one such event -- in the South Shields circuit -- but I would be more than willing to consider arranging something similar for other circuits should they be interested.

A friend passed me an article from an old copy of the Methodist Recorder, which may help to recognise some of the hurtful discrimination disabled people feel. It's in the form of a parable entitled ' My Idea of Heaven' (I only know it was written by someone called David)

There was once a village in which all the inhabitants were wheelchair users. Gradually, as the years passed, they began to realise that it was unnecessary to have high ceilings and doorways, and new houses in the village came to be built with ceilings 5' 3" high and doorways 4' 9" high. In time these measurements became enshrined in the village's building regulations, and in many other respects -- height of shop counters, absence of steps -- the village became perfectly adapted for wheelchair users.

A small number of able-bodied people were obliged, by circumstances beyond their control, to come and live in the village. They found some aspects of life in the village awkward. They had to walk bent over under the low ceilings and kept bumping their heads on the doorways. The village doctor, who was of course a wheelchair user, saw a constant stream of able-bodied people complaining of backache and bruised foreheads.
Hats

On his recommendation, hard hats were issued free of charge to all able-bodied people by the village authorities. Special splints and crutches were also developed to enable able-bodied people to walk bent over at the "correct" height. These were intended to combat not only the low ceiling problem but also the difficulty able-bodied people had in communicating when their faces were so far above the level of everybody else's. Of course the helmets, splints and crutches gave rise to aches and pains of their own.

Seeing the sorry plight of the able-bodied, groups of well-meaning wheelchair users got together to help them. Soon the bar in the village pub and the counters in the village shops sported upturned hard hats bearing the legend "Help the Able-bodied" into which people put their loose change. Painted plaster models of able-bodied people with hard hats and splints, and in the characteristic bent-over posture, appeared in shop doorways with a slot in the top for money.

Matters came to a head when an able-bodied person applied for a job as a presenter on the village television channel and was turned down. The channel's bosses said that, while they recognised the need for able-bodied people to be better represented on television, an able-bodied person with a stoop, a bent head and a hard hat covering the upper part of his or her face, simply did not have the on-screen presence necessary for the job of presenter.

After this, able-bodied people got together and formed a self-help group. They realised that they were never involved in the management of their own affairs and resolved to fight exclusion from mainstream life. They felt that their problems were social ones and had social solutions. In fact, they realised that there were no problems; only solutions.

Of course the wheelchair users felt that the able-bodied were failing to accept and adjust to their disabilities; that they had chips on their shoulders. But the able-bodied said, "We have to challenge the idea that able-bodied people must adapt. What we should be aiming at is to redesign the normal world so that we can all function in it equally. This is to focus on diversity and celebrate the difference."

Henry Yorke
District Disability Officer

Faith Representation on public bodies

Rev Andrew Letby — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:53:30 +0000

In recent years the government has actively encouraged faith communities to take part in bodies such as Local Strategic Partnerships. In the next few months the reorganisation of local government in Northumberland and County Durham is going to open new opportunities for this. I recently completed some Home Office Funded work on behalf of the Chruches Regional Commission. This is part of an on-going prgramme of events and training.

Attached is my final report - if anything in this interests you, please contact me:

Resources

Rev Andrew Letby — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 10:47:03 +0000

Want to know more about issues of faith and work? Have a look at these:

http://www.licc.org.uk/ - London Institute of Contemporary Christianity provide excellent resources in the field of engaging with the culture of our society today. Included in this are many insights into the world of work. Sign up for their weekly emails and you will have access to a fresh and challenging resource.
http://www.mibic.org.uk/ - Some information about Methodism's engagement with the economy. Have a look for the official strategy - Let your Light Shine - and the dramatic dialogue that introduces it.
http://www.faithatworkorg.nz/ - Includes details of an excellent range of written resources and links to other valuable sites. Well worth a close look.
http://www.aftersunday.org.uk/ - The website of a network sponsored by Durham Diocese. Includes some encouraging content and the chance to interact with a panel of 'experts'.

Job Adverts - Hexham

Steve — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:23:37 +0000

Hexham Trinity Methodist Church
Half-Time Pastoral Worker
Half-Time Children’s Worker

In response to the growth the church has experienced, Hexham Trinity Methodist Church is seeking to fill two half-time posts.

We are looking for a Pastoral Worker to be involved in new projects in Hexham and to help care for the existing church community.

We are looking for a Children’s Worker to help us cope with our fast expanding Sunday Club.

Both these posts are at a salary of £9840 for a 20 hour week (please note that we are not able to offer accommodation as part of this package).

Further details and an application pack may be obtained from Ann Bingham, Hexham Trinity Methodist Church, Beaumont Street, Hexham NE46 2HD Telephone 01434 601055. However, everything is online at www.hexhamtrinity.com.

Closing date for applications is noon on Tuesday 4th March 2008.

NB A full Enhanced Disclosure arranged by Trinity Methodist Church will be required in due course.

Prom Praise

Steve — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:43:56 +0000

Prom Praise North East 8 November 2008 - Tickets.

Performances will be at 3pm and 7.30pm at The Sage Gateshead.

Ticket prices will be A £16, B £12, C£10, D£8.50, E£7 with availability from
the box office from 1 May

PPNE will again be selling the A and B price seats at a 10% discount for
blocks of 10 or more seats, (making A £14.40, and B £ 10.80 each) with ticket
distribution from 1 April.

To reserve block-bookings please advise whether you want them for matinee 3pm
or evening 7.30 performance, number of seats and A or B. Also please advise if
any wheel-chair locations are required. Please provide this information to our
web address info@prompraisenortheast.org.uk , or by mail to the address below.
As we are already getting many enquiries could I encourage you to send a
cheque made out to Prom Praise North East, or PPNE to PPNE c/o 10 Marquis
Avenue, Newcastle upon Tyne NE5 1YF as soon as possible so your request can be
made a firm booking.

Fliers with more details of the event should be available by end February, but
I would encourage you not to wait/delay.

Rob Hawkins Chaplain at Newcastle University and University of Northumbria home 0191 281 2309 mob 0798 5544997

Public Issues Newsletter No. 11

Jenny Collins — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 20:22:35 +0000

Concerned about climate change? So are many Christians and this latest newsletter has much to offer on this important issue.

...

Methodism’s Spirituality Heritage in a changing culture

Steve — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 10:10:12 +0000

Revd. Graham Carter will take time to tell of his experiences in his Presidential year, giving ample time to explore, question and reflect as individuals and as a group.
Saturday March 1st 10. 30 – 4 p. m. @ ST ANTONY’S PRIORY - DURHAM

Graham served as President of the Methodist Conference in 2006/7 . During the year he travelled extensively in Britain as well as visiting China, Korea, Bolivia, India, Europe and Ireland and meeting Church leaders around the world.

Coffee is served from 10 a.m and a lunch of soup, bread , cheese and fruit is included. The suggested donation for the day is £15 or a concessionary rate of £7.

To book or for more information ring : 0191 384 3747 or durhamstant@aol.com.

St Antony’s is 400 yards from the Market place in Durham . The city now has an excellent Park and Ride scheme