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Tuesday, June 24th, 2008

Just to let you know...This blog will be moving to a new one before September. This is because we felt that it would be good to rename the blog BS10 - which is the name of our context. There will always be a link back to this page on the new blog, so watch this space...

Saying GoodBye To Context Students

Sunday, June 8th, 2008

It was an emotional day on June 8th as Andrew and Miriam (+ Girls), David and Sally (+ Boys), Melanie, Chantal, Vanessa, Sudharshan and Angelina (+ the 2 V's) and Hannah (although she'll be back!) said their goodbyes to people from Brentry church and St Mary's church. The service was led with passion by Peter Grimwood and David Lloyd.

It was a mixture of sadness, thanks and joy as we gathered together and as we moved outside to have a picnic together. Sadness, because the people leaving are fantastic and gifted and part of the family of the two churches. Thanks, because of all that the students and families have given in their time as part of the two churches. Joy, because they are leaving to arrive somewhere that God has prepared for them and we know what a blessing they will be!!!

We all look forward to what God will do through their lives and we also look forward to what God is preparing to do with Brentry church and St Mary's church in the coming years. For our God, is a God of hope!

Pastoral Quiet Day - Tockington

We had a great day in Tockington. All of us assembled at Brentry church at 9.30 and arrive at Tockington Methodist church well in time for morning prayers at 10 am, which was graciously led by Chantal. Afterwards we wandered around the village and found our own spots to sit and have our personal time with the Lord. I do not know how to theologically articulate it but the Lord managed to see all of us at the same time individually. Around one o'clock we all met at the Swan Inn for a sumptuous meal and the usual Brentry banter. Highlight of the day (apart from meeting with the Lord, of course) was, a leg of a monk was spotted dangling from the ceiling of the church. Quote of the day from Hannah, "I have done bird watching", in response to Daniel's description of an eighty year old man who commented about the cohort ladies having their time with the Lord on the village green.

Nature Walk

The Cohort climbed the Everest as part of an exercise for chapter 19 of the Spirituality workbook. We had a great time admiring the beauty of creation on yet another gorgeous day. The icing on the cake was we stopped to have doughnuts and coffee towards the end of the exercise, which was carried by Andrew and David. Thank you David for organising it.

Context Social

BS10 and ICP cohort got together for a social evening at Brentry in an undisclosed venue on a Sunday night. With pop-corn and drinks the highlight of the evening was "Wild Hogs". A movie which otherwise would not have been watched, provided the entertainment for the evening. It was hilarious as Tom, with Audrey manning the door with a -100 candle light power torch and Spielberg mixing the drinks at the bar on the whole it was a great evening.

Ho, ho, ho, Merry Christmas

Hi again, everyone at Henbury and Brentry context have worked very hard this term, hence deserve a good holiday. It's been fun too. Happy holidays!!!

We wish all our friends and well wishers a Merry Christmas! Enjoy this video when you have time. See you next term.

Ethiopian Concert

Once again this year the Brentry Cohort hosted the Ethiopian concert in aid of the Clinics in Ethiopia on behalf of Bradgate Surgery. The church was decorated in Ethiopian colour, tent sheets were hung overhead to give the effect of a bedouin tent. Samosa's and the bhaji's went down quickly and the singing was good too. On the whole every one had a good time. What's more some of the cohort members were able to witness England thumping France to go into the Finals on the Rugby world cup in the middle of all this. Praise the Lord! Have a close look at the photos has Tom grown taller or has David got shorter?

Rare sight

For the benefit of all those who have never seen Tom in tie here is an opportunity. A smart man in action. Well done Tom keep it up. Can anyone guess whose car the bannana skin was photographed from? Post your comments by clicking the 'comments' link below this article.

Commissioning Service

We had the commissioning service for the members of the Inner City Partnership and Brentry Cohort at Easton Christian Family Centre in Easton. It was a wonderful evening of worship and fellowship. As usual Can. George Kovoor delivered the sermon with enthusiasm and excitement. The cohort members were officially commissioned by the Rev Deborah Frazer. Service was well attended by parishioners and well wishers. We look forward for an adventurous year ahead.

First week in Context

The week has been going well. Four new great people have joined us. As we are getting to know each other we have already started work in our parishes. There is a lot to do as we have been divided into two groups towards Henbury and Brentry parishes.

We have distributed leaflets in each parishes informing the new service times respectively. David and Peter have shared their vision with us. Gerry and Emma have explained their role and the program for the new year. We even had a session with our chef Henry about food hygiene and health and safety.

Today following the morning session the cohort marcheed to the carvery in the Henbury parish for a sumptuous lunch. After which the team assembled at the Brentry children centre to do some work in their garden. after three hours of hard labour the woodland was made safe and attractive for the children to play and an extinct pond was re created.

Tomorrow we meet together with the Easton Cohort for a session on child protection a game of volley ball and picnic. Watch this space.

Welcome (Back)

Warm welcome to all of you. Hope you all had a wonderful break as we did. Looking forward to see you all again. Hope we are ready for the second leg of the marathon run before we are thrown deep into our curacies. Well done those who have sorted their curacies to the rest of us their is hope!

Special welcome to our new students Daniel, Lee, Pete their families and Chantal. Hope your time here is exciting as it is to us.

Hooray! It is the holidays

We as the guinea pigs have finished one year as the cohort of Brentry, Hooray! It was a very exciting year. Three of our friends have completed their training. James and Mike will be ordained in Bristol and Worcester on the first of July. Vicky will be inducted on the 9th of September at St Matts & Natts, may God Bless them!

We undertook to paint the Youth Hall at the Brentry Church. It took us two weeks and the and it was worth the effort. Have a wonderful holiday watch this space for more updates next term.

Flashback

We have completed our first academic year as CBT students. God has taught us a lot and we have come together as a group very well. Praise God for his faithfulness and his mercies. It is a great privilege and honour to be a part of God's movement in Brentry. Exciting time ahead folks, watch this space.

Good Friday

On Friday morning we gathered at Brentry Church along with members from Churches together in Henbury and Brentry, for a short service led by Rev David Lloyd and assisted by David Salter. Whilst the service was going on the children were busy making an Easter garden and hunting Easter eggs. Soon after the service everyone enjoyed coffee and hot cross buns in the hall (during which the coffee filter decided to explode on Hannah, thankfully no serious injuries requiring hospital treatment). Afterwards we processed to Crow Lane where three of the Cohort members enjoyed distributing hot cross buns to the public and engaging them in conversation, whilst the rest of the faithful carried on with the second half of the service on the green hill opposite the Coop. According to Rev David Lloyd this was the best Good Friday he had in years. Praise the Lord!

Social Project in the Community

Brentry Children's Centre

We were given the privilege of clearing the garden on Friday the 23rd of March. This took six of us just over two hours to complete. We cleared the garden of dead leaves, wood and rocks, Fixed bird houses and toad stools and Created a fresh vegetable patch. The child centre staff kindly provided us with tea and cakes, whilst James and Mike along with their manual contribution led a theological debate. On the whole it was a productive and entertaining afternoon.

College Communion

Uganda Christian University

On Thursday we traveled in a minibus-taxi, packed in like sardines for 2 hours to a place called Mukono. For most of the 20th Century this was the home to Bishop Tucker College, a theological college named after one of the early CMS Bishops in Uganda, where ordinands were trained for service in the Church of Uganda. In 1997 the Church of Uganda decided to apply for University status and began to offer courses in subjects other than theology. Now, almost ten years on, Uganda Christian University has 5,000 students instead of 120 and the place feels very much more than a theological college. George's eyes were virtually popping out on stalks!

We spent the day with some of the faculty hearing about their growth their vision and their students. All the faculty are Christians and the majority of the students are too. The students have to pay $1,000 per annum for fees, accommodation and full board. By Ugandan economics this is similar to the cost of tertiary education in the USA - the difference being that loans are not as readily available over here.

George preached at the lunchtime service and we received a warm welcome. We spent final hour or so wandering around the grounds, chatting to folk and having a soda on probably the hottest day so far.

Mukono still trains people for ministry in the Church of Uganda. They are hoping to increase their numbers from 120 to 300 over the next few years.

I think we all left thinking that our time with UCU had been informative rather than formative, unlike the rest of the week.

Visiting the Schools

Today we visited a primary school in Kampala. As soon as we set foot on the playground the children crowded around us and wanted to shake our hands. They were very excited and we really enjoyed meeting them! Groups of us then split-up and spent time with different classes outiside under trees. We introduced ourselves to the children, sang songs with them, did dramas and generally tried to give the children a fun time! They participated really well and there was much laughter. I (Hannah) was attacked by a spikey catipillar half-way through the session but lived to tell the tale! Tom tried to climb a tree whilst pretending to be Zachaeus.

Soon after we visited another school which was different in comparison. This was a slum school where we were welcomed by the children who sat tightly in a tin-roof shed. The level of health and hygiene was poor in contrast to our schools in the UK. We introduced oursleves to the children who sang a song for us and Vicky, Sudarshan and Andrew spoke a few words to the children. We spent time meeting the children who mobbed us! We then travelled back to the guest house along the dusty and bumpy roads.

During the evening we attended an Ash Wednesday service at the All Saints Cathedral, Kampala. The service was popular among the local people of Uganda. Bishop Zac preached, we later met with him and found out about his vision for the church of Uganda and he gave us advice on ministry in the UK.

Visit to Mbale

Following a bumpy and hot five hour trip to Mbale we had the privilege of seeing the work of ACET (AIDS Care Education & Training)in the locality. We enjoyed a comprehensive presentation of their work at their offices including some excellent educational materials that they use in schools. They also gave us Uganda's best samosas.

First stop was a school, similar to the slum schools of Kampala but with more space. A fantastic welcome, as ever, and an introduction by a well motivated teacher who explained the partnership with ACET. Essentially, ACET's schools work revolves aropund life skills education focusing on AIDS/HIV prevention and general sex education. This class of 10-12 year olds then presented some riddles, poems and songs that they had learnt about HIV. Their level of embarrassment was low and their knowledge about HIV was high which was a real credit to both the male and female member of staff that ACET trains in each school to deliver their programme.

Next up was an entirely different project, a drinking club in a remote village. A striking contrast to Kampala, in the middle of denser vegetation including coffee plants and the ubiquitous banana trees. Upon arrival we were warmly greeted by the village and the women were wailing in that high pitched African style that you may have heard in films. About seven men and women sat supping from an earthenware pot with lengthy bamboo like straws, quite a sight. The millet based alcoholic drink was regularly topped up for the locals. The rest of the village surrounded us and the Chair of the drinking club spoke of his partnership with ACET. He explained how people would get very drunk and then have sex carelessly thus spreading the deadly virus. ACET's teaching of them at the drinking club, where they have a captive audience, had encouraged them not to get drunk and had educated them about the risks that cause the transmission of HIV. We questioned some folk and it was good to see a correlation between what ACET were telling us and what the punters were saying, this seemed to be a great project, many of the people had now been tested for HIV too. Another encouragement was the level of people in nearby communities who had become Christians and left the drinking clubs behind.

It was a super trip where we got to see a very different side to Uganda and learn about the encouraging work of ACET.

Source of the Nile

HI friends, greetings from Namirembe (hill of peace),

We had a refreshing and light programme yesterday after the emotionally shattering day we had on Monday. We drove two hours outside Kampala to Jinja to see the source of the Nile. It was a refreshing experience. Enjoyed the beauty of creation.

Proceeded to a Catholic Church in Jinja, from outside it does not look like a Chuch. It is a book shop and restaurant, we have to walk through the restaurant to enter the beautfull church. We worshiped with the congregation in their lunch time service. Afterwards the vicar joined us for lunch.

In the evening we visited the Ugandan Martyrs Shrine just outside Kampala along withthe Seminery. 23 Ugandans were killed by the order of the King, the youngest being only 14 years old, and recently the principal of the seminery was killed by the rebels.

The highlight of the day was that our supervisor and Vicar of Henbury was seen glittering in the sun after using sparkling suncream on himself.

Today we visited three schools, one private and two in the slums. We had about 45 minutes in each, singing songs and sharing the goodnews.

Take care, more later! Will appreciate your prayers and encouragements.

Visits in Kampala

It's been a very rich couple of days. Yesterday, being Sunday, we visited a number of churchs with amazingly diverse styles. A few of us attended Namirembe Cathedral, which is very close to the guest-house. This service was a realtively traditional anglican service, but clearly forward-looking, with time for testimony and a lively time of praise singing at the start. Others went to a church and were very warmly welcomed, heloing lead the Sunday School and enjoying the worship together with the joyful community there. Lastly, we went to the Miracle Centre Cathedral - an extraordinary contrast - huge, with the most vibrant worship-leading, colourful, energetic choirs and seating capacity of 10,000!

Today we joined in Morning Prayer with the ladies at the Crisis Pregnancy Centre. This was truly humbling as they told us some of their stories. George led us in singing and praying for them. This afternoon a representative of Christian Aid took us to see a school in a poor part of the city. The children were adorable, eagerly learning in a shabbily built hut, from dedicated teachers but again, giving us a huge, warm welcome.

This city is a place of incredible contrasts and it is a true privilege to encounter so much and have the luxury of reflecting on it.

We value your comments and encouragement, Thank you.

St John's Church, Sunday School, Kampala

OUr Context girls had the opportunity to interact with the Sunday School children of a slum area in Kampala. The children enjoyed Brentry style singing for a few minutes.

First Few Days in Uganda

Good Evening. It's now about 9pm on our second complete day in Uganda and we are slowly adapting to the Ugandan way of doing things. We've had some fun, and now starts the serious stuff. Some of us are off to a slum church tomorrow morning (pre-7am start!) to listen to George preach (lucky them!) and some more of us are going to the Cathedral for the 8.30am service. Mike, of course, is going for the 7am Communion service, so it will be an early start for all of us! Sunday will be fairly fluid as we're hoping to be invited for lunch to various places, but we are hoping to meet together for dinner in the evening. Mike Mukasa, who spent 2 weeks at Trinity in the fall term, spent some of this evening with us and it was lovely to catch up with him again.
The group of us went up to the Cathedral yesterday and met the Dean, who has invited some of us to share in the service tomorrow. It is very interesting hearing about Uganda's history from a native Ugandan, instead of what we hear on the news or in the papers.
The weather here has been gorgeous (sorry, everyone) and we've had to suffer rather warm, sunny, dry weather. The altitude hasn't bothered the members of the group so far, but we're very careful not to walk up hills! We've had some "interesting" transport experiences!
That's all from Melanie for now. Someone else will update this again soon. Lots of Love and thank you for your continued prayers.

All Praise and Glory to God

Brentry Community Lunch
On Sunday the 28th January we invited the community of Brentry to join us for lunch at the church. We all brought something, but the main meal was cooked by two students. Big thank you to Andrew and Mike and their spouces for their delicious dishes and their efforts to make the event a success.There were around twenty five people and we all had a wonderful time. There was one visitor and she had made the effort to come by bus to join us. The new cooker was used well.

Christmas in the Brentry context

We decided to arrange three services for Christmas and invite as many people as possible to come and join us. We produced a terrific invtitation card and went out door-knocking in the week before Christmas. We delivered about 1500 cards and spoke to perhaps 500 people. It was a great experience to go out and meet people, introducing yourself as representing the local church, their local church.

The services themselves were all very different. Christmas Eve was a Sunday, and we took over the regular morning service to tell the Christmas story from the experience of an angel, a shepherd and a wise man. In the afternoon we used the verses of 'Once in Royal David's City' and illustrated the story in different ways, including the sharing of real-life experience of God in the face of troubles. On Christmas morning we rediscovered Jesus' vulnerability as a baby by each holding a nappy with a 'Jesus' label on it, and reflecting that the King of kings came to such a place for us.

As a result of our door-knocking we did welcome some new people into the church, which was great, although it was only a small number of the people we spoke to. It was the first time that many of us had gone out to meet Brentry residents outside the church, and it certainly won't be the last.
Contributed by David

During the week before Christmas, the ten of us paired-off and invited the people of Brentry to the Christmas services we were putting on. We knocked on people's doors, introduced ourselves as members of Brentry Church and handed people invitations. We were each tested through this task as many of us felt a bit 'wobbly' about door-knocking, others were exhausted after just meeting essay deadlines and we endured freezing temperatures, mist and ferocious dogs! However, God blessed out efforts! Between us, we put on three services: a Christmas Eve all-age service, an outreach service and a Christmas day service. New people came to Brentry Church and it was a delight to meet them. We praise God for this and give thanks to Him for guiding and sustaining us through this busy week and providing us with fresh and creative ideas for the services. We have invited people to a community lunch on the 28t January and we pray that God will continue to use us to make Himself known among the people of Brentry.
Contributed by Hannah










Gospel in Action

We shared with the College Community some of our triumphs and struggles of the context based training we have experienced, on Wednesday the 22nd of November. It was well received and it was very moving how the the whole community came together and prayed for us and our families. All praise and thanks to the loving Father, whom we serve.

College Communion

We the Context based students led the Mass at college on Thursday the 16th of November. Can. George Kovoor presiding, Mike Rutter as Deacon and Vanessa Parr as Sub-Deacon. Dr Craig Smith preached the word from the Gospel of Mark. We all experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit and the peace of God. One of our supervisors Rev Peter Grimwood attended the service. On the whole it was a great experience.

African Concert

We hosted the African Concert at the Brentry Church on Saturday the 18th of November sponsored by the Bradgate Surgery in aid of their clinic in Ethiopia. The Church was packed with over a Hundred people attending most of them from Brentry. We were busy from 9 in the morning till 11.15 in the night. But it was worth the effort with over £800 being collected so far. Everyone who attended had a good time and enjoyed themselves including us.

Plan for Spirituality/Theological Reflection in Brentry Context 2007

	9.30-11.00 on Wednesdays mornings at Brentry church
Sept 19th	Spirituality plenary in college (context students will be in college for this)
26th	Spirituality Chapter 13: Spiritual development through life’s stages
Oct 3rd	Theological Reflection
10th	Spirituality Chapter 14: The Prayer of intercession
17th	Theological Reflection
24th	Half Term
31st	Spirituality Chapter 15: Confession and forgiveness
Nov 7th	Theological Reflection
14th	Quiet Day
21st	Spirituality Chapter 16: The Spirit in Christian Spirituality
28th	Theological Reflection
Dec 5th	Spirituality Team activity (Belbin or similar??)
12th	Reading Week
19th	Theological Reflection
Jan 9th	Spirituality Chapter 17: Liturgies and shapes to pray with
16th	Theological Reflection
23rd	Spirituality Chapter 18: Ignatian spirituality
30th	Federation Quiet Day
Feb 6th	Theological Reflection
13th	Spirituality Chapter 19: Creation and Spirituality
20th	Half Term
27th	Theological Reflection
March 5th	Spirituality Chapter 20: Spirituality in times of change
12th	Theological Reflection
19th	Spirituality Chapter 21: Praying in a world of violence
April 23rd	Theological Reflection
30th	Spirituality Chapter 22: Contemplating the world
May 7th	Pastoral Group Quiet Day
14th	Theological Reflection
May 21st	Spirituality Chapter 23: Spirituality beyond religion
28th	Reading Week

Programme for Wednesdays in Context

8.40 Morning prayer

9.15 Theological Reflection with Gerry
OR
9.30 Spirituality with Emma and George

11.30 Ministry formation with Peter and David (or at college)

1.00 Lunch / Business discussions

2.30 Projects in the community

Dates for your diary

Date	Event
13-Oct-2007	Ethiopia Concert
15-Oct-2007	Serve Lunch at College
16-Oct-2007	Serve Lunch at College
18-Oct-2007	Serve Lunch at College
26-)ct-2007	Tea & Coffee Duty
27-Oct-2007	Tea & Coffee Duty
29-Oct-2007	Tea & Coffee Duty

Program for Friday Afternoons in Context

Prayers 2 to 3 pm

provided by onlinedegreeadvantage.com .

Our Rotas for the coming weeks

	Sundays			Weekly
	Children's Church	Preaching	Leading	Morning Prayers	Lunch
Andrew				2nd May 08	7th May 08
Chantal				7th May 08	30th Apr 08
Daniel				25th Apr 08	14th May 08
Dave				30th Apr 08	21st May 08
Hannah				14th May 08
Lee				16th May 08	23rd Apr 08
Melanie				21st May 08	30th Apr 08
Pete				23rd May 08
Sudharshan				23rd Apr 08
Tom					Special
Vanessa	4th Feb	22 Apr 6 pm B	11 Mar 6.30pm H