Mercy Ministry Christmas 2022
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death,even death on a cross.” Philippians 2:5-8
Church Family
Do be praying and thinking about who you can meet up with over the Christmas period. We can be hospitable in lots of ways - be creative
- Invite someone on their own to join you for Christmas lunch
- Organise a few to go for a walk between Christmas and new year
- Have a evening of board games and mince pies on Christmas Eve
- Offer to babysit for a family while their parents go Christmas shopping
The possibilities are endless but let's make sure that we celebrate the incredible gift of Jesus' incarnation together as a church family.
The Coombes
The children will be icing cakes for the teachers in the Coombes school on the 27th November. If you would like to provide some additional cakes for the teachers please bring along your offerings on 27th November.
Prison Fellowship
If you are thinking of buying Christmas Cards do check out Prison Fellowship's Christmas Cards which were designed by a prisoner and raise money for angel tree.
Read about how angel tree re-connected Jonathan with his family Jonathan's story or donate to the angel tree project.
Link Visiting Scheme
Link Visiting Scheme are planning to support those on their own during the Christmas period with friendship, food and gifts! They hope you can join them to make this another extra special year. They are inviting those on their own to come and enjoy a delicious home made Christmas meal with all the trimmings. For those with health issues that would make coming out to an event difficult, they will be delivering a hot meal and gifts straight to their door.
They need volunteers for a variety of roles and will discuss with you what you are able to do. Roles required are:
- Call two or three people on Christmas Eve to check they are prepared for the next day.
- Drive and hand deliver a hot meal and gift bag on the big day.
- Call a few people once or twice in between Christmas and the New Year.
We are also looking for volunteers to help us at the venue in Wokingham to host our Christmas meal. This includes setting up, welcoming, providing some Christmas cheer and help with clearing up too. Ideally we need volunteers who are happy to help with transport and who have access to a car but there may also be other roles available.
They are also looking for a few volunteers to help them at the venue (St Paul's Parish Rooms in Wokingham) with setting up and most importantly clearing up!
There is also a wishlist for presents you can buy older people in the area or the option just to donate to Link Visiting Scheme
To find out more about donating or volunteering see the Link Visiting Christmas Page
CCA
We will be having our final donation of the year for CCA early in December - watch out in Church family news for the list of items they would like to bless the users of their service.
Mercy Ministry
Mercy Ministry at Arborfield Church
For he will deliver the needy who cry out, the afflicted who have no one to help. Psalm 72:12
The Arborfield church family are keenly aware of how God, our loving Father has helped us. We are eager to follow in his example and offer our help to those in need. There are many opportunities to serve, listed below are some we are focusing on as a church family. It would be wonderful if you could prayerfully consider if you could help with one (or more) of these organisations. You will need to sign up directly with the organisation and go through their safeguarding procedures. However if the people volunteering in the same organisation could be linked together to share stories and pray together it would be a great encouragement.
There may be people you are aware of who are in need or you may be need yourself. If there is any way we can help we would love to know.
So if any these apply:
- You are aware of a need you think some of the church family maybe able to help with
- You want to find out more about any of these volunteering opportunities
- You want to inform us that you have signed up so you can get in touch with other volunteers.
Please do get in contact by sending an email to mercy.arb@abch.org.uk
Prison FELLOWSHIP
Prison Fellowship's mission is to show Christ’s love to prisoners by coming alongside them and supporting them.
“When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?” “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’” Matthew 25 39,40
There are opportunities to help by writing letters, enabling prisoners to send gifts to their loved ones, supporting the chaplain and more.
Please visit their website to find out more and to sign up Prison Fellowship
“The letters were a breath of fresh air to the prisoners – receiving something from people unknown to them, showing care.”John Brown (former prisoner chaplain).
The Link visiting scheme
CHANGE YOUR LIFE AND THE LIFE OF SOMEONE ELSE
Would you like to have a chat with someone who may be feeling isolated or lonely and looking forward to a call from you?
Why not consider becoming a volunteer with the Link Visiting Scheme? They have been running for many years and have now become a valuable and essential organisation in Wokingham Borough.
The Link Visiting Scheme is a Wokingham based charity whose aim is ‘Changing lives through friendship’ and they are dedicated to reducing loneliness by helping isolated people make friends.
They have an excellent website where three volunteers explain what it is like to be a volunteer with Link, including reading about why they joined, outlining what they do and the benefits they experience both as volunteers and the people they befriend.
Don’t delay and take a look at their website and request a volunteer pack
Christian Community Action
CCA aim is to demonstrate God's love by meeting people's practical needs and restoring their self worth. In addition they offer support to their service users; helping them to learn new skills, rebuild their confidence and get into paid employment through volunteering at their shops.
CCA provides support for individuals and households in Reading who are in need of emergency furniture, bedding and kitchen items. They do this through recycling donations of furniture, clothing, bric-a-brac and household goods.
They need volunteers to help serve in their shops, and to train as assessors in the Support Centres. Van drivers and able-bodied crew members are needed to collect and deliver furniture.
The following skills are always needed:
- Administration
- IT
- painting
- decorating
- plumbing
- electrical work
- Public Relations
- Human Resources
To find out more and sign up to serve please visit the volunteer page
We also plan to have a monthly collection for food and other essentials parcels.
The Coombes School
The Coombes primary school is our local primary school. We are keen to support them in a number of ways including reading with children, making cakes for staff, assisting with landscaping and tidying the grounds. There are a number of people from our church serving as governors. The ministry team visit for weekly assemblies.
Owing to the current pandemic we are still exploring how to safely support the school, and will update this page as options are agreed.