Welcome to the Lordsbridge Team
Monthly Newsletter
October 2023
Blessed are you, Creator of all
to you be praise and glory forever
as your dawn renews the face of the Earth
bringing light and life to all creation
bring hope to your people.
May we rejoice in this day you have made
open our eyes to behold your presence
and strengthen our hands to work
for justice for all of creation,
that the world may rejoice together
and give you praise. Amen.
(Adapted from Lancelot Andrewes, 1626)
From https://greenchristian.org.uk/resources/prayer-guide/ (September 2023)
Worship with us across the Team
Details of services across the team, as well as our worship at home resources, are available each week on our website.
Our Sunday Zoom Church meets every week at 11.00am at the following link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82311473640. Everyone is welcome.
Spotlight on…. Eco Church
at St Peter and St Paul
Dry Drayton
At St Peter and St Paul’s, Dry Drayton, the church community has long been committed to creation care through deliberate strategies to maintain our beautiful rural churchyard sensitively. In 2022 our efforts were recognised and rewarded by the local Wildlife Trust with their Bronze Award.
This year the Parochial Church Council (PCC) agreed we should try and build on that achievement by reviewing our commitment to environmental stewardship in other areas of our corporate life. These include:
- our worship and teaching
- our building
- our land
- our community and global engagement
- and our lifestyle
We have been auditing our current situation across the five areas listed above using an EcoChurch tool. The auditing instrument has helped us: (i) to highlight those areas where we are already doing quite well as a church, and (ii) to identify other areas we need to work on. We have registered with A Rocha as an EcoChurch and have committed ourselves to working towards applying for the Bronze Award accreditation by the end of 2023.
The good news is that in three of the five key areas, we are already doing well as a church: Worship and teaching, Building, and Land. The two areas where we need to do some further work are: Community and global engagement and Lifestyle. But we are confident that, with a little more focused attention and effort on these areas over the next few months, we should reach the requirements to apply for the Bronze EcoChurch Award recognition before the end of this year.
Dry Drayton has formally registered as a Fairtrade Church. We plan to use fairly traded products, such as coffee, tea and sugar, in our church kitchen. (We already use fairly traded communion wine and linen.) The church Bible study group is exploring environmental concerns from a faith-based perspective, using some excellent materials produced by A Rocha. A working party takes place in October to continue to keep our churchyard in good order, and a new monthly outdoor ‘Forest Church’ service is also under way.
This initiative is about a whole church commitment to making St Peter & St Paul’s care for world even better, a world which God created and sustains in love.
Several churches in the Lordsbridge Team have achieved Wildlife Trust and Eco Church awards. If this is something you are interested in doing in your local church, do speak to your Team Vicar.
Are you a volunteer in your local church? If so, read on to learn about free safeguarding training available to help you in your role…
As we are called to love one another, we are also called to take particular care for the vulnerable amongst us. The word “safeguarding” is used to describe the act of caring for the vulnerable of all ages in our midst. Did you know that the Diocese of Ely offers free online safeguarding training to anyone who would like to improve their understanding of how to care for the vulnerable in our churches and beyond? If you are a welcomer, sidesperson or help with other church activities, we’d highly recommend you taking the basic training to assist with your role (available on the safeguarding portal here). If you find online courses tricky, please get in touch with Becca (rebeccaherrick@lordsbridge.org) and we can look to organise some in-person training.
WCCYM Autumn Term Programme
West Cambridge Churches Youth Ministries (WCCYM) is a partnership of churches in villages to the west of Cambridge, working together to communicate the good news of Jesus to young people in the area. The Lordsbridge Team churches are involved in this partnership.
There are lots of exciting WCCYM events taking place this Autumn. The programme is available here. Do pass this on to any young people you know and encourage them to join in!
The Shed
Barnabas is exploring the idea of starting ‘A Shed’ in Comberton. A Shed is a community space for people to connect, converse and create. It provides a space for people to do woodwork, or other bits of DIY, alongside other people. Sheds help reduce loneliness and isolation, and provide a lot of fun.
If you are interested, please speak to Barnabas (barnabasleeke@lordsbridge.org). For more information on Shed’s, please click here.
Update on
St Mary’s Church, Hardwick
St Mary’s is delighted to announce that work on their building, which is currently closed for repairs, is scheduled to commence in March 2024. Contractors will be repairing the cracks to the ceiling and walls using lime plaster. It is hoped that the Church will be able to reopen in May 2024. The cost of repairs is expensive, but will be worth it because it will enable the building to remain at the heart of the community for future generations.
Thank you to everyone for your continuing support and generosity. St Mary’s could not do this project without your help. The next fundraising event will be a Harvest Supper and Ceilidh on Saturday 7th October.
Harvest Supper and Ceilidh
Saturday 7th October
6.30pm for 7.30pm
All are welcome to join us at Hardwick School for a Harvest Supper and Ceilidh, with music provided by the Cambridge University Ceilidh Band.
Tickets are £12 Adults, £6 Children, and will include a hot supper. Please bring your own drinks!
Tickets are available from Sue Cornwell 01954 210063 or Anne Jones 01954 211417. Proceeds to the Hardwick Church restoration fund.
Prayer and Praise
Everyone is very welcome to St Peter and St Paul’s Church on a Wednesday afternoon for a service of Prayer and Praise.
Climate Emergency Workshop
Although not in the Team area, we know that many across the parishes are concerned about climate issues and therefore this event may be of interest: a Climate Emergency Workshop at Granchester Village Hall on Monday 9th October, 7.30 – 9.30pm.
New Forest Church!
St Peter and St Paul’s Dry Drayton are launching a new Forest Church on Sunday 22nd October, 3.00 – 4.00pm in the Churchyard. Everyone is welcome.
It is a service for all ages, not just little ones! There will be lots of space to run around, explore nature and make noise during this short, informal service. There will be music, craft activities, a fire pit and a Bible story, all in the open air, whatever the weather, so do come prepared!
Several churches in the Team now run outdoor/informal worship on a Sunday afternoon. New attendees are always welcome!
Barton: Forest Church, 3.00pm; 1st Sunday
Hardwick: Wild Church, 3.00pm; 2nd Sunday
Haslingfield: Forest Church, 3.00pm; 3rd Sunday
Caldecote (Village Hall): Cafe Church, 3.00pm, 3rd Sunday
Dry Drayton: Forest Church, 3.00pm; 4th Sunday
To get in touch with the Lordsbridge Team and for links to our Facebook and Instagram pages, please see the Contact Us page.