No. 126 June 2023
This month our special focus is on the Parish of St Michael’s Sandhurst.
Please Pray for:
Rector: Rev John Castle
Associate Ministers: Rev John White
Rev Jane Kraft
Warden: Karen Allen
Vice Chair: John Martin
Treasurer: Jon Toohey
Secretary: Sue Campbell
Family worker: Sarah Bishop
Youth Worker: Mike Gower (employed by the independent charity Sandhurst Youth)
In the Parish, please pray for:
- Our Year of Renewal Project, as we seek to renew our relationships with God, with each other and with those who have become distanced from the church’s life during Covid.
- All our work with children and young people, especially Baby and Toddler Time, Kidz Church and Reach (year 6+)
- The outreach work in Sandhurst and Crowthorne carried out by Mike our Youth worker and Sandhurst Youth; Sarah our Family Worker’s work with baptism families and families in need in our community; our bereavement and pastoral visitors.
- For the success of our first Holiday Club to be run by our Family Worker in the Summer Holidays.
- St Michael’s Church Primary school, and for the proposed Prayer Space in Uplands Primary School this term.
- Those newly elected or re-elected to the PCC and other roles, that we will continue to work together well to share God’s love in our community.
- Funding to repair our church spire and guidance throughout the project.
- Sandhurst Counselling service, which the church started and continues to support.
- Little Sandhurst Nursery Group, which uses our hall but is due to close in July.
In the Deanery, please pray for:
- All Saints Wokingham, giving thanks for the completion of the building works, that the re-ordering of the building will truly make space for all, and that the Thanksgiving and Rededication Service on 19th June will be a source of inspiration and blessing on the vision for the building and God’s mission in the parish going forward.
- Rev David Hodgson’s final Sunday at All Saints before his retirement with his wife Lorraine as they say their goodbyes to Wokingham and move into this new phase of life.
- St John the Baptist Crowthorne, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the dedication of the Church. The Rededication Service on Sunday 18 June conducted by the Bishop of Oxford followed by a parish Barbecue. ‘The Church on Waterloo Road’, a docudrama on 22 and 23 June to celebrate Crowthorne’s rich history, community, and the church’s anniversary.
- The family of Rev Leonard Onugha as following his funeral in May, for all of the people at Finchchampstead, and for everyone who knew and loved him across the Deanery and in the wider community.
- Rev Rickey Simpson-Gray and his wife Nicki as they settle into life in St Sebastian’s, and for the whole parish as they begin their new adventure with a new Vicar.
- All those being ordained this summer, in the Oxford Diocese and beyond.
- The Hong Kong Congregation worshipping at Winnersh for the first time on June the 4th
- Ruscombe, Twyford and Hurst, and Winnersh and Bearwood, as they continue in vacancy and face big decisions about the future. All Saints as they move into vacancy.
- Leaders in every Church and context, especially those who are feeling weary.
- Everyone who is watching the ongoing conversations and debates at General Synod around the blessing of same-sex couples, with hope and with concern.
In the wider community please pray for:
- Sudan, Ukraine, Israel/Palestine the Middle East, and all places where there is war or conflict.
- Turkey and Syria still struggling with the effects of the recent earthquakes.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, from whom all thoughts of truth and peace proceed,
kindle, we pray, in the hearts of all, the true love of peace,
and guide with your pure and peaceable wisdom
those who take counsel for the nations of the earth,
that in tranquilly your kingdom may go forward,
till the earth is filled with the knowledge of your love,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
