On Saturday July 30^th 10 young people from across the parish came to our holiday club based on the Creation story.

The children first watched a short video about the creation story after which they carried out activities to demonstrate each of the 7 days God took to create the world ;

cutting shapes from white paper and sticking them on black card to give night and day, separating the sea and sky;

making flowers and a globe,

using paper plate to show the seasons by drawing and colouring trees as they change throughout the year,

make animals that swim or fly from plasticine,

decorating gingerbread men (Adam and Eve)

ending with the Sabbath when they wrote prayers. 

There was also a ‘banner’ made up of drawings the children associated with the Creation story, which they added to as the club went on.

On the following day, Sunday July 31^st at 4pm a service was held for the children to show and talk about to their family what they had done, as each part of the story was read out interspersed with hymns and songs, finishing with the prayers they had written.

This was followed by pizza, cake and gingerbread men.

We all take our toilets, having clean water on tap, along with the associated hygiene for granted. For one third of the 7 billion people across the globe this is not the case.
Toilet twinning is a scheme whereby people can, for a £60 donation, twin their toilet with one in a poor community anywhere in the world to enable them to build a basic toilet, have access to clean water and learn about hygiene.
Not just individuals can twin toilets; schools, workplaces, youth groups in fact anyone can take part in this scheme. If you do this you are given a certificate with a picture of your twinned loo and the latitude and longitude and the knowledge you are helping to improve the lives of those less fortunate.

If this is something you are interested in visit Toilet Twinning – Flushing away poverty, one toilet at a time for more information

Janet McCheyne has recently made donations for the toilets in Orsett and Bulphan churches to join Horndon church, whose toilet has been twinned with one in Nepal for a number of years.

Click on the links below to see where the twinned toilets are :

HORNDON – NEPAL : 28°40’16.0″N 81°34’37.7″E – Google Maps

ORSETT – ZAMBIA : 12°47’18.2″S 28°15’12.1″E – Google Maps

BULPHAN – MALAWI : 13°48’11.3″S 34°23’02.7″E – Google Maps

On Sunday 14th June at the Family Service in Orsett members of the congregation were invited to write inspirational biblical/religious messages on stones (and turn them into “God Rocks”) they may say to someone, who was going through a tough time to let them know God is there for them no matter what, in as few words as possible to fit on their stone.
The idea was to then leave their stones in places for people find and maybe help them find some peace or reflection in the message that God cares regardless of their circumstances.
Below are some pictures of one left for people to find

On Saturday 1^st May, we gathered around a fire in Bulphan Churchyard for Forest Church. It was great to be able to meet again. We thought about St George and his fight against evil. We made swords which, upturned, became crosses and reflected upon the demons we fight in our own lives but how, with God’s strength we can overcome them and we listened to two short passages from the Message Version of the Bible.

Deuteronomy 31: 6

6 Be strong. Take courage. Don’t be intimidated. Don’t give them a second thought because God, your God, is striding ahead of you. He’s right there with you. He won’t let you down; he won’t leave you.”

Ephesians 6: 13-17

3-18 Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.

NEXT FOREST CHURCH …

Do join us for our next Forest Church which will be in Orsett Churchyard on Saturday 5th June at 4pm. All ages are welcome. Please wrap up warm and bring something to sit on.