Preparing for Harvest 2020

 

Next Sunday, 27^th September 2020, we’ll be celebrating our Harvest Festival.  

Once again we’ll hear the Harvest hymns and offer to God our prayers of thanks.  And once again we’ll have the opportunity to make a special offering, on top of our usual giving. 

This year’s Harvest Mission Offering will be split between two charities.

The first works overseas and it is Operation Agri.  Their Harvest Appeal for 2020 is called Trees for Tanzania.  The money we raise will help set up tree nurseries as well as helping to establish village community banks and providie fuel saving stoves.

Operation Agri, an organisation with a Baptist foundation, is working with the Anglican Church in Tanzania to do this and it is called the Imarika Project – and African word which means ‘to strengthen’.

The second charity is closer to home.  It’s the New Hope Trust based in Watford.

New Hope was set up in 1990 by two ladies who called themselves a couple of ‘ordinary housewives’.  They purchased two old coaches and turned them into Soup Kitchens that helped feed homeless people.

Today, New Hope has an operating budget of just over £2m a year, employs 60 people and has 160 volunteers.  It’s aim is to prevent homelessness.

It runs a night shelter than runs from 1^st Dec to 31^st March and operates 9 houses.  Homeless people who stay in these houses all have a key worker so that, together, they may make a journey from dependent to independent living.  Last year 271 people stayed in one of New Hopes houses and went through their programme.

So, Harvest Sunday is a day for us to give thanks, it’s also an opportunity for us to give money to these two wonderful projects.  We can do that using the pink mission envelopes in your offering pack, if you have one.  Or placing money in the basket clearly marked HARVEST OFFERING when coming into church on the 27^th September.  Or you could send a cheque to Bob, our treasurer.

Along with that, New Hope, are happy to receive the produce of our Harvest Display.  A list of what they need is on the website.  We can bring these gifts to church on either the Sunday 20^th or 27^th and leave them in the basket by the Sanctuary doors.

So, conscious of our many blessings, let’s use Harvest to bless others.

And so a few items of Church Life news now:

The September edition of Manse Talk is now on the Website, as is a new audio service of Holy Communion.

This coming Tuesday we have Team Meeting and would be grateful of your prayers as we gather to discuss church life at this challenging time.

As worship ends at the 10.30am service and we leave church we need to be aware of the new social distancing guidelines of not gathering in groups larger than six.  Further guidance will be given on Sunday once our denominations publish new guidelines.

This is the last week to send in your photos for our Harvest Project All Things Bright and Beautiful – we have received lots of wonderful pictures already and look forward to publishing them on 27^th September.

Matthew’s CD of Lockdown Worship songs is still available with all profits going to Trees for Tanzania, if you’d like a copy do get in contact with Rachel.

On Harvest Sunday we are accepting dry goods for the display.  These will then be sent on to The New Hope project in Watford.  They have sent us a list of what they require and that list is posted below.

You can drop off these goods into a basket by the back door of the church next week between 9.15am and Noon any morning of Monday through to Thursday, when it will be dealt with by our Church Administrator.

Or you can bring you gifts to church either this Sunday or next and leave them in a place guided by the welcoming steward.