may 2013 st.stephe n’s THe thest.stephe n’s twickenham ......In his recent book ‘unapologetic:...

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I’ve been reading a fascinating book recently, a Sunday Times bestseller called ‘Quiet’ by Susan Cain. Its stra-pline is ‘The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking’.

Emma gave me the book for my birth-day, partly because she knows that I share some of the characteristics described in the book as ‘introversion’ and also because she knows I’m interested in how different kinds of people and personalities interact, relate and contribute in group gatherings.

But it’s also a book that has got me thinking about different ways we relate to God and the fact that the classic Christian spiritual disciplines have always included room for both ‘dynamic celebration’ and ‘quiet contemplation’.

When we gather as the people of God, Sunday by Sunday, in our church services, we experience aspects of both celebra-tion and contemplation in our engagement with God. Partly by virtue of there being

different tones and flavours in each of our three Sunday services (in very simplistic terms, the style of worship service gets more overtly ‘celebratory’ as the day goes on). But also because within the ‘liturgy’ of each of our three services we often make a journey in worship that begins with cel-ebration (‘the people of God, in the pres-ence of God, pouring out the praises of God’) but which moves on to quieter and more reflective moments of contemplating and responding to what the Spirit is doing among us and saying to us. as an aside, I’m also currently reading a fascinating lit-tle book called ‘open to the Spirit’ explor-ing how the spiritualities of St Ignatius of Loyola and John Wimber (of the Vineyard!) have much more in common than might be realised – but that’s a slightly different topic for another occasion…

So I’m excited that the current develop-ment of our church building to create a dedicated prayer space / chapel will only

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the Weight of Debt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p3Interview with tara Kerr-Elliott . . . . . . .p4

hosting an Intern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p5alpha Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .p6

the ‘If’ Campaign . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . p7Interview with Lavinia Byrne . . . . . . . . .p8

enhance the varied ways and styles in which we can encounter God and engage with him. We don’t yet know exactly what shapes and forms this will take but I get excited imagining rhythms and patterns of prayer both during the week as well as perhaps the occasional kind of ‘compline’ service of night prayer to draw Sunday and the weekend to a close. I was interested at our church weekend away to see how many people appreciated that reflective space for ‘compline’ after the bigger cel-ebration meetings in the main venue.

Whether we are drawn more instinc-tively and temperamentally to ‘dynamic celebration’ or ‘quiet contemplation’, I feel that the physical reshaping of our church building to create a dedicated prayer space, reflects God’s invitation to us all to make an even more central space in our life together for Spirit-inspired celebration and contemplation.

and for those of us wanting to grow in our practice of contemplative prayer, please do come to the evenings Ron Bush-yager is leading on three Wednesdays this month (may 15, 22 and 29 in the Centenary Room at 7.45pm) to be guided by Ron in how some ancient models of praying can help to equip us for modern day living.

CELEBRatIon and ContEmPLatIon

JEz BaRnES, VICaR

2 | th emonth may 2013

Month of SunDayS: mayJEz BaRnES

tExt MessageDaVID EmERton, CuRatE

‘Now the serpent…’ At the begin-ning of Genesis chapter 3 a new character enters the biblical story; a character who actively opposes God.

as created beings, adam and Eve are given the capacity to choose whether or not to live under God as they were called to do. that’s why they can experience temptation. Specifically, the temptation of the serpent to assert their autonomy over and against the word of God: ‘Did God re-ally say?’; ‘you will not certainly die’; ‘your eyes will be opened’. and in asserting their autonomy – eating from the one tree that God had commanded them not to eat from – things, to use theologically loaded terminology, go pear-shaped. Sin enters in to all of God’s good creation.

theologically, sociologically, ecologi-cally and psychologically, creation becomes disordered and discordant; human rela-tionship with God, with each other, with ourselves and with creation is broken. Something that becomes very apparent in Genesis chapters 4-11, which see the de-scendants of adam and Eve getting caught in an ever-worsening spiral of selfishness, arrogance, jealousy, violence, revenge and abuse, culminating in a monumental and

communal attempt by humanity to make a name for themselves apart (in autonomy) from God – the tower of Babel.

as Eugene Peterson describes, ‘a catas-trophe has occurred. We are no longer in continuity with our good beginning. We have been separated from it by a disaster. We are also, of course, separated from our good end. We are, in other words, in the middle of a mess.’

But even in the middle of this mess there are hints that God has not given up on his good purposes for creation; hints that one day, this mess, this problem, will give way to a redemptive solution. Can

you spot what they are? Why not look at Genesis 3.9, 3.15b and 3.21 and see what it is you think God is doing and promising in these verses?

If I asked you to describe a Christian understanding of what ‘sin’ is to some-one who has no knowledge of the Bible, God, Jesus or the Church, what would you say?In his recent book ‘unapologetic: why, despite everything, Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense’, Francis Spufford defines sin as ‘the human propensity to **** things up’, as ‘our active inclination to break stuff, ‘stuff ’ here including moods, promises, relationships we care about, and our own well-being and other people’s, as well as material objects whose high gloss positively seems to invite a big fat scratch.’ now that, I think, might provide some common ground to work from…

SuNdAy 59.15am holy Communion11am Baptism Service6pm Informal Service

SuNdAy 129.15am morning Worship11am holy Communion6pm Informal Service

SuNdAy 19 - PeNTeCoST9.15am holy Communion11am Informal Service6pm Informal Service

SuNdAy 269.15am morning Worship11am all together Service6pm holy Communion

during May we continue our series at the 6pm service on Prayer: kingdom come. As we see the physical space of our church being reordered to make room for a dedicated prayer space/chapel, it’s exciting to be looking at the different ways in which we con-nect with God in prayer – through both informal, conversational ways of praying and more structured, litur-gical forms of prayer. And whether on our own, or with a gathering of others. I hope this series on prayer will encourage you to come to three Wednesday evening sessions Ron Bushyager is leading on contempla-tive prayer on May 15, 22 and 29 in the Centenary Room from 7.45pm. Come and find wisdom in ancient methods of praying that can help us

live well in the modern world.In the morning services we’ll be look-

ing at God’s healing power (both Sonja and I have been encouraged recently in this whole area through attending a new Wine leaders’ training day and a more recent gathering in London with a team from Bethel church in California). We’ve been hearing some encouraging testimo-nies from people at St Stephen’s experi-encing God’s healing and restoring touch through times of prayer ministry and we want to continue to reflect Biblically on how we co-operate with Jesus in this kind of ministry.

may 19th is Pentecost Sunday and the fol-lowing Sunday we shall be having an all to-gether service at 11am – the first Sunday of half term.

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What will you be like at 70? Have you ever considered praying for your future self? God has plans to prosper you, not to harm you! I love it when I see how individuals are themselves throughout life; yet God transforms us from glory to glory. What a prospect!

to many, age brings humil-ity, seen in David’s words: ‘If the Lord had not been on our side…the raging waters would have swept us away. our help is in the name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.’ (Psalm 124). If you want to hear the wisdom of the older generations you might need to ask them for it – invite somebody round for a meal!

Let’s avoid the temptation to feel insignificant or enti-tled because of age (and that can work whatever direction you’re looking in).

While some of you will only have experienced Sunday ser-vices at St Stephen’s, there’s a

lively community of midweek groups that meet needs of all ages. this includes worka-rounds for all ages: Step-ups for the little ones and micro-phones for the big ones! thankfully those things don’t limit us on the inside.

Ron BuShyaGER, aSSoCIatE PaStoRMoney management and debt are very real is-sues within our community and level of need around the area of financial help is ever in-creasing. Sonja and I, with the rest of the lead-ership, have been thinking over the last several weeks about how to best respond to this need. We are gathering a group together on 21 May at 7.45pm for 8pm to consider some of the op-tions. one possibility is to provide courses on managing finances whilst also setting up a debt counselling service at St. Stephen’s.

We are looking for congregation members who have a passion to help those in debt, and ideally

who have a few hours free during the day to act on behalf of those in financial cri-sis. you don’t need to have financial ex-pertise to be involved and there could be several ways to serve in this kind

of ministry. If you have a heart for people trapped by debt and a will-ingness to be part of the church’s response, then please email [email protected] and come along on the 21st!

froM glory to GLoRy!VICtoRIa ByRnE, SEnIoRS PaStoR & PaStoRaL CaRE CooRDInatoR

For adults this term at church midweek, we have sessions on skiffle music, local history, life testimonies; spiritual encour-agement from Isaiah 35 at the healing services, fuel for your

prayer life from Colossians at the Seniors Life Group. you will all know of other connections that happen informally. Be in touch if you want to connect with our midweek activities.


IntervIew wIth taRa KERR-ELLIottTara Kerr-elliott is a member of St Stephen’s Church and works in nurs-ing as Senior Care Team Leader for the ‘in-house’ services at Shooting Star House Children’s Hospice in Hampton. She was recently nominated by david Cameron as one of his ‘Health heroes’ for the nursing support she gave his family and disabled son Ivan. Tara lives in Teddington with husband Mark and children Flossie, Sam & Nancy. She spoke with Ali Herbert

you work for Shooting Stars Chase – can you tell us a little bit about the charity?Shooting Star Chase is a charity that pro-vides a service to over 500 families who have a child with a life-limiting or life-threat-ening illness. the children we care for range from birth to nineteen years old and have a range of conditions. Some come to us just for end of life care but most will access our services over many years which is why peo-ple are often surprised to find the hospice is normally a fun and uplifting place with lots of noise, music and laughter! What might an average day look like for you in the Hospice?It’s always busy and too often I feel pulled in so many different directions! It will nearly always involve helping the team of nurses and carers with the children as well as having meetings and management duties. Every children’s hospice has a special bed-room where we can care for children who have died until the time of their funeral and so supporting bereaved families is also often part of my day.

I know it sounds a bit cheesy but every single day at work includes lots of cuddles (I can’t resist a baby!) and normally lots of noise and laughing too – our building is an interesting shape with so many opportuni-ties for hide and seek! What do you enjoy most about your work?I love the variety – I can honestly say no two days are the same and I never get bored! I love being able to try new things – at the moment I am working really closely with other teams both locally and national-ly looking at the best ways to provide pal-liative care to neonates and we are starting to work with couples who receive a diag-nosis antenatally. We also have an amazing team of therapists – music, Physio, occu-pational, art and Play therapists as well as bereavement counsellors and it’s great to be part of such a varied team.

Finally the best part of my work is work-ing with the children and their families. I love the intensity of the relationships that you can form in this area of nursing and although people feel at their weakest in these situations, you are often witnessing them at their strongest. And what is the most challenging part?one of the biggest challenges that we cur-rently face is a problem recruiting experi-enced Children’s nurses. the needs of chil-dren we care for continue to get more and more complex and we have a growing pop-ulation of technology-dependent children. How important is Shooting Stars to the children and parents you serve?the most important thing that can be of-fered to families in this situation is choice. For the families who do decide to use us, which is over 500, I would say it is incred-ibly important. after the death of their child, families are offered the chance to come to a memory Day which is held once a year. It is an incredibly emotional day for all who attend but the way in which families em-brace the day and talk about their ex-periences here always makes me realise what a significant role the hospice team have played in their child’s life and can also influence the way in which families cope with the bereavement process. How can we help or volunteer with what you do practically?there are lots of fundraising opportuni-ties – it costs £23,000 per day to run the service. If anyone wants to get involved please let me know or look on the website for details.We also rely on volunteers for a huge range of practi-cal tasks such as reception work, gardening and house-keeping. our families can also book into use our swim-ming pool but they need a ‘pool watcher’ – many of these

are volunteers who have had training. We also have a small team of volunteers who can be booked for ‘babysitting’ well siblings when families come to stay.

And how can we pray for you per-sonally – and for the charity?

For the charity – please pray for wisdom for the Senior Leadership team and for continuing financial resources – as a char-ity we have obviously felt the impact of the current economic climate. Please pray about the recruitment and retention of staff, particularly nurses. and for myself that I am open to what God wants me to do at work, and that he gives me vision to see situations as he does.

It would be great too if people could pray for protection against ‘burn out’, not just for me but for the rest of the team. not surprisingly in this area of nursing the burn out rate is pretty high. Please pray for our staff team - one of the most com-mon phrases I hear at very difficult times is, ‘how can you possibly believe in God when you see this happening?’

thank you!

For more information about Shoot-ing Star Chase go to their website www.shootingstarchase.org.uk


About three years ago, in a little bookshop on the Isle of Iona in the west of Scotland, I bought a book about hospitality. over the course of the next year it was increasingly clear that God was challenging me (and my family) to be-come more hospitable and in response we increasingly had various people to stay for short periods of time.

however our ‘spare room’ seemed to need a more permanent inhabitant and when St Stephen’s asked for people to host interns, I knew it was for us. after a little logistical re-organisation, and some hasty painting, Kay-marie joined us.

hosting an intern has added to all our lives and by God’s grace this is without seeming to compromise the time or space we have as a family. although the house is rarely quiet and we are often cooking for 7 or 8 (with the occasional guest!), the small-er children (Euan, 10 and Katharine, 6) love having a big ‘sister’/ ‘brother’ and our old-est (ali, 16) enjoys helping Ben, who is with us now, to raid the fridge late at night!

over the two years it has been a privi-lege to get to know both of these young adults, and we feel we have been particu-larly blessed being able to provide some space and support for them as they have developed and grown at St Stephens. If you have the room, I would say ‘go for it’ as you will gain much more than the space you lose!

LouISE mILLER

Several years ago I had a six week gap in the diary with more evenings to use for recreation. I decided to use the time to get fit and found a personal trainer to show me around a gym. I was familiar with the concept of the gym as a place to get leaner and stronger, but I didn’t know how to set a fitness target (weight loss, muscle growth, speed, endurance, etc.) and work towards it. At the first session the personal trainer absolutely destroyed me. Part of this involved him showing me the various ways I was cheating on the equipment, using it incorrectly, and therefore wast-ing my energy and sabotaging my own set goal. I remem-ber the humiliation of having to set the weight lower on each machine and still feeling spent after a few reps!

In the 1500’s there was a soldier named St. Ignatius who came to faith in Jesus. From the moment of his conversion he was highly focused and fiercely devoted to his target of growing in Christ-likeness. he gathered a community around him that eventually became a monastic order (today called the Jesuits) and set up missionary outposts all over the known world.

one of his best tools for focused prayer is called ‘the Exa-men.’ It is a quick and simple assessment of how the day is going spiritually that allows one to keep on target as a disciple of Jesus. In the Examen a person simply and prayerfully asks the question, ‘What of this week/today/these last few hours has pushed me

away from God or made me cold toward those around me?’ and, ‘What of this week/today/these last few hours has brought me nearer to God and more in love with his people?’ the person may write this down, or simply make a mental note. the thoughts or behaviours that are repeatedly taking someone away from God are then further targeted and worked with, as are the things that bring someone deeper in spiritual growth.

much like a session at the gym, the Examen can be general or very specific. I am right now targeting my impatience through the Examen. Each evening I ask God to reveal times of impatience and patience throughout the day so that I can grow in this virtue. I also ask him to show me any deeper reason (poor planning, a sense of self-importance, a lack of concern for others etc.) for my different times of impatience so I can know how to make necessary changes.

the Examen could not be more simple or user-friendly. Give it a try for a week or a fortnight and see if it makes a difference in your growth and closeness to Jesus.

talkIng wIth GodBy Ron BuShyaGER, aSSoCIatE PaStoR


‘The church is looking for people to help with running the next Alpha course’, I announced casually at our Life Group meeting, expecting that possibly a few people would volun-teer. I was surprised when after some discussion everyone was on board! So we aban-doned our programme for the next term and joined the team running the Alpha course.

Some of us helped in the kitchen serving the delicious suppers, whilst others were in-volved with leading and helping

in the small group discussions. We all loved doing it and grew in faith as we journeyed with new friends and saw prayers

being answered and people be-ing filled with the holy Spirit.

We wanted to keep our fel-lowship and caring for each other alive during these three months, so we held a monthly Sunday tea for chat and prayer (and to eat cake!). It was amaz-ing how we grew closer as a group serving together.

at the end there were a number of guests in our al-pha small groups who wanted to carry on meeting. So we agreed to multiply and become

two Life Groups with michael and Claudia Clark taking one half and alison and I continu-ing with the other. our twelve members have now become about twenty four. as we want to maintain links between the two groups we will have occa-sional joint social events.

altogether it has been a fan-tastic adventure of faith, not least for the leaders, and has proved to us once again God’s faithfulness as we are prepared to take risks for him.

A quick catch-up on what some of our global partner families are up to this summer.

The Heatons (see the month – april) are now back in uK on leave, happily settled in South Suffolk and glad to see anyone pass-ing through. Katie and Jamie are attending the village ‘Forest’ school for the summer term. the family return to mozambique in august hoping to use the rather basic International School for them this time but their future will be affected by their educational needs. Let’s get praying now for God’s will to become clear for them

as tim feels a strong calling to unreached people groups (of which there are over 950 in africa alone who have never heard of Jesus. See www.aimint.org/eu )

Richard Gordon-Smith in argentina is out with the Discipleship training School team that he leads helping his students practise all they have learned of sharing Jesus cross-culturally. Pray for great op-portunities, wisdom and strength. also for his planned uK visit in June.

Ciara Courtney in Capetown had a great training camp for her teenage leaders and a huge response to their Christmas parcels project (see the month Dec/Jan and www.metrokidsafrica.org ). She has found a good church Common Ground and comes home for one month from 8 July-8 august and will run Rock Solid at new Wine LSE for one last time.

The Fabers (see the month – march) had the biggest ever Spring Project and are still asking for summer teams for their work in Bulgaria. Contact [email protected] if you are interested.

GLoBaL PaRtnERS In transItIonaLISon QuInLan

lIfe groups on the aLPha CouRSEmIKE QuInLan

Ciara Courtney

Bob & Becky Faber

The Heatons


an evenIng wIth zaC GoLDSmIthon 22 may at 8pm as part of a group of Richmond church-es, holy trinity Richmond are hosting an evening with zac Goldsmith mP for Richmond and Barnes, to engage with him on issues of injustice and poverty before the G8 con-ference this summer.For further details go to www.htrichmond.org.uk

tEaRFunD’S IntERnatIonaL FoRtnIGht, 17 - 28 JuneEach year tearfund’s frontline staff have the opportunity to come together, from all over the world, and spend time with uK-based staff. For many of those coming from overseas and travelling long distances having somewhere homely to stay makes all the difference. If you have a spare bed in your own home, could you help out this year and host one of tearfund’s international guests for the fortnight? many hosts have found these two weeks an enriching time, where life-long relation-ships are built with those living or working overseas.To find out more, contact [email protected]

GIFt Day updateon 24 march, we invited all who come to St Stephen’s to participate in a Gift Day so that we could raise the financial resources we need to support our Global En-gagement partners: asha, Soma and tearfund. It is fantastic to report that our Gift Day raised a sum just short of four times what we set as a minimum we wished to gift our partners. this was in excess of £66,000. thank you for your tremendous generosity – together we can use these gifts to help make a difference among some really needy people.

870 million will go to bed hungry tonight and 2 million children will die this year due to malnutrition. The prob-lem is not a shortage of food, God created an abundant world. The problem is that hungry people cannot always get the food they need.

In 2013 the uK hosts the G8 and we, the church, can ask David Cameron to put hunger on the G8 agenda. order tearfund’s free Recipe for Change church resource today and join the campaign to help combat hunger.

the church was the backbone of make Poverty history and Jubilee 2000, and of many other campaigns from Wilberforce and the slave trade onwards. Jesus commands us to feed hungry peo-ple and to love our neighbours as ourselves.

So in 2013 we hope to see the church take its place again, stand-ing shoulder to shoulder with people from across our society against hunger, showing the world that our God is a God of justice.

Please join us on 8 June at mid-day in Westminster Central hall where we will gather together and march to hyde Park. We need you there to be a voice for the voiceless. For more details please go to our website at www.tearfund.org/en/get_involved/campaign/if. Please call Nicky Crampton on 07969 180 477, to let her know if you’re going to be there.


IntervIew wIthDR LaVInIa ByRnEBy aLI hERBERt

dr Lavinia Byrne is a former Roman Catholic nun who left her religious order in 2000 after 34 years, over the issue of women priests. She is the author of several books and a contributor to Radio 4’s Thought for the day and currently lectures and leads travel groups on Jon Baines cultural tours.

She spoke with Ali Herbert.

Was your upbringing within the Ro-man Catholic church?my Irish grandfather was doctor to the Catholic Bishop and to the fathers at the oratory in Birmingham. that was a very famous church because it is the religious order that Cardinal newman founded. my grandparents were married by a priest who was the final novice that Cardinal newman admitted to the community and that priest married my parents as well as baptised all of us four children. So I have very close links with that church where we went every Sunday throughout my childhood.

did you enjoy going to church as a child?I loved it! It was full of smells and bells. my father bought me a special prayer book and he underlined in biro all the bits that the priests would say and then in a differ-ent colour all the bits that I should say.

And you went to a convent school?yes I went to a convent school in Edg-baston where we lived and subsequently throughout my education I was educated in very good convent schools. I was 17 when I joined the community as a nun.

Was that a clear calling for you?not a one-off big bang in the night but much more of a gradual sense that this is what God wanted me to do and that I would be very happy if I did do it. I’ve never had a conversion moment – faith has always been a total part of my belief system and my value system ever since I can remember.

And you were a nun for quite a long time?For 34 years. the religious life changed considerably all the time I was in the com-munity. Because we had the second Vatican council which meant dramatic changes in our lifestyle. For instance when I entered I wore a habit but by the time I left I hadn’t worn a habit for about 15 years. It was jolly nice to start wearing ordinary clothes and a great liberation because by the mid-70s and early 80s wearing a habit was begin-ning to look increasingly strange.

What did you find hardest about it?Well it wasn’t that hard actually. honestly we weren’t enclosed, we were an edu-cational order, we had huge amounts of personal freedom and received very good education ourselves.

you wrote the book ‘Woman at the Altar’ in 1992 that eventually led to you leaving the Catholic order. How did that come about?I’d written eight books by then and my publisher said, ‘Why don’t you write one about ordination of women?’ So it wasn’t my idea! I was working at the Council of Churches at the time and my job was to look after the concern of women in all the churches. I went to the debate in the houses of Commons and Lords and in the General Synod and saw all these tired old arguments being talked about and debated. It seemed to me that it was such a natu-ral thing to ordain women and therefore I wrote a book at a time when the Catholic church permitted debate. Cardinal hume – the English cardinal to the Catholic church at the time – came out in my favour and said that Rome should never intervened retrospectively and that it was quite unfair.


you have suffered with something called ‘Familial Tremor’ for many years. When did that begin?alongside the good things I inherited from my mother and grandmother, I also inher-ited very shaky hands which began when I was fourteen. It gradually increased, every ten years I noticed it getting worse. It used to be called ‘Benign tremor’, though no tremor is benign when you cannot write or hold a cup of tea without pouring half of it down yourself. the school nurse used to tell me to put my hands in cold water. that was in 1961.

And you have had a successful operation to control this?By 2001, a radical new treatment had been devised both for Familial tremor and for the shakes associated with Parkinson’s dis-ease. the surgeon places two probes deep inside the brain, runs a tube round behind your ear to connect them to a gadget that is inserted inside your chest. then you are given an external remote control, which al-lows you to choose how high or low you want the signal to your brain to be. and miraculously it works. or it does now I have learnt how to control it. at first I had it on too high and was waving my upper arms around like a chicken and had very slurred speech, to the alarm of my friends. these are side effects that the doctors an-ticipate, so nothing to worry about.

And now you are busy leading cultural Jon Baines tours each year?I enjoy that hugely – it brings so many threads of my life together. First of all, looking after people in a quite basic way, for instance by making sure they’re on the bus safely, that their luggage is there, they’re comfortable and they’re sucking sweets when we go up

high mountains. and then the way of being able to make very intelligent people think, because I also give lectures that are very fo-rensic. I’m not trying to convert people to anything, I’m merely spelling out the facts but in a way that I hope triggers with their own experience and understanding. Because nowadays we all have a duty to try to under-stand for example Islam, or why religion is so important in the middle East. So it’s thrilling to be part of that.

For more information about Lavinia Byrne please go to www.laviniabyrne.co.uk or for more info on the tours she leads go to www.jonbainestours.co.uk

This is an edited version of an article originally printed in Woman Alive magazine. www.womanalive.org.uk

don’t be afraid. Because the journey of faith is such an exciting one and you’ll end up somewhere you could never imagine.

And your most recent book was called ‘original Prayer’?I wrote that about three years ago – about the origin and groups of prayer. It examines some of the origins for instance in Ben-edictine spirituality and Ignatian spiritual-ity and then I go further afield and look at the hymns of Charles Wesley, prayer when you’re ill and then the final chapter is prayer in cyberspace – it comes right up to date!

do we need to engage with prayer more in our secular society?I think we have to grab new opportunities and certainly teach children about silence, about listening to their own hearts. We’re such a noisy world and they’re almost taught to be afraid of silence.

do you feel that your faith has changed over the years?the book I wrote when I left the commu-nity is called ‘the Journey is my home’ and I think that sums it up for me. If you are a person of faith you have a duty to grow, to change because to change often is to live more fully. But I haven’t lost my Catholic roots and that’s what the church should be: a place where people are able to grow and answer all the calls God sends them.


this book contains a programme of twelve power thoughts for changing destructive thought patterns and allowing us to live free and empowered lives. Each Power thought is described and explained with life examples and Bible verses designed to help you implement the principles taught in that chapter.

Change your thoughts and you can change your life. We all slip up. Joyce meyer reminds us that at every opportunity we can stop and realign ourselves to God’s truth in our lives through the renewing of our minds. It’s that simple. We just need to stop and be aware of our

thoughts, then take control of what we think

instead of let-ting ran-

d o m thoughts direct our emotions and actions.

I like this book because it re-minds me to focus on the positive, to come from a place of gratitude and it gives you a ‘power packet’ of Bible verses you can arm your mind with when the negative voices appear. my favorite power thoughts (and the ones I need to work on the most) are ‘I am diffi-cult to offend’ and ‘I will not live in fear’ . I know I need to work on all of them, and this book is written in a practical way that makes it easy to do that.

a thought-provoking book for someone look-

ing for a practical way to

w i n t h e b a t -

tles in our minds, by ac-

tively directing your thoughts with scripture

to positively affect every area of your life. not for

someone unwilling stop, think and be challenged.

tuRnInG oVER a nEW LEaF:‘PoWER thouGhtS’ By Joyce MeyerREVIEW By hELEn ChEn

For more thoughts from Nick check out www.nickherbertworship.com

one song we have been singing recently at church is ‘The cross stands above it all’ and al-though this is a newer song its inspiration came from a famous old hymn ‘In the cross of Christ I Glory’ written by John Bow ring, 1825.

Bowring (so the story goes!) was sailing past the coast of macao, China. on the shore were the re mains of an old, fire-gutted church. above the ruins, he saw the church’s cross still standing. the story may not be true but what a sentiment to still sing out today - we have a sovereign God and his cross stands above eve-rything in this life!

sIng, sIng, sIngBy nICK hERBERt

In the cross of chrIst I glory

John BoW RInG, 1825

In the cross of Christ I glory,towering o’er the wrecks of time;

all the light of sacred storyGathers round its head sublime.

When the woes of life o’ertake me,hopes deceive, and fears annoy,

never shall the cross forsake me,Lo! it glows with peace and joy.

When the sun of bliss is beamingLight and love upon my way,

From the cross the radiance streamingadds more luster to the day.

Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,By the cross are sanctified;

Peace is there that knows no measure,Joys that through all time abide.

In the cross of Christ I glory,towering o’er the wrecks of time;

all the light of sacred storyGathers round its head sublime.


Which St Stephen’s service can you be found at?6pm

How and when did you first come to St Stephen’s?I found St Stephen’s via the new Wine website, late march 2012 – I entered my new address, came across eleven churches, whittled them down to two I really liked the look/feel of, and decided to check out St Stephen’s first…haven’t looked back!

Where did you grow up?I grew up in mid Sussex – loved every minute of it; countryside, close to Brighton, great friends,

job, family etc…

What do you do for work? I work for Surrey County Cricket Club. my role is to coach & educate within the Development and Performance departments. Basically I work anywhere within the Playground to test arena.

What was the first job you ever had?I worked as a Paperboy – loved it – 22 houses, 25 mins to do the round, 6 days a week, £15 a week and generally around £400 – £500 Christmas tips for 4 years running. mum & Dad really encouraged me to keep

hold of the job!

What’s the best holiday you’ve ever been on?Cape town, South africa – I took my school cricket team on a 3 week trip. 15 pupils, 18 parents and just the best time. two parents came to faith whilst on the tour – which was totally unexpected but amazing. our bus driver, for the tour, was a man named Julius. It turned out, on the final day of the tour, that he was the man who led nelson mandela to freedom from Robben Island. there is an iconic picture of this which he still keeps in his wallet. Just an incredible way to end a life-changing trip.

What’s your perfect day?Early(ish) morning run. Fresh coffee and breakfast on the jetty. Smashing a 100 runs against a quality bowling attack. hot summer’s evening with a Braai, glass of red, closest friends and family around. Chatting away

until the early hours, ending with a late swim in the river!

do you support a Sports Team?Rugby (union, of course): England. Football: Liverpool. Cricket: England (men’s and Women’s), Surrey CCC and Sussex CCC

Which actor would play you in a film of your life?tim Robbins.

What’s in your fridge?not much!

What’s your favourite film?Shawshank Redemption

BBC or Channel 4?Sky Sports?

The Ritz or Macdonalds?neither. the Savoy is much better.

Indian or Chinese Takeaway?Either. I’d prefer to cook the dishes.

What would your three desert Island discs be?test match Special (Soundtrack). Jonners and aggers (Giggling fits when Botham flicks the bails!). I Want you Back – Jackson 5.

would lIke to Meet... tom BEnham

FoR aLL PRaCtICaL PuRPoSESa REVIEW oF thE aPCmJuLES moRGan, DIRECtoR oF oPERatIonS & DEVELoPmEnton 08 April, the 2013 Annual Meeting was held in the church. Church war-dens and PCC members were elect-ed; the 2012 financial accounts were presented by the church treasurer, Martin duffy and there was oppor-tunity to hear about vision priorities from Jez and to ask questions regard-ing anything in the life of the church.

GoveRNANCe eLeCTIoNSDavid Wilson stepped down as warden af-ter six years of faithful service. alex Pett was re-elected as warden and Sarah mum-

ford was elected as a new warden, both to serve for 2013-2014. Sandra Jennings was re-elected and helen Chen, Steve nixon, Jean moorhouse, hugo Foxwood and Car-ol Fletcher were elected as new members to the PCC.

vICARS RePoRTJez reminded us of our vision as a church, “a people empowered by God’s love; join-ing God in renewing all things”; and of the progress that had been made in the areas of youth vision, engaging the next generation, whole of life discipleship and global engage-ment; all of which had been highlighted as priorities under God last September.

Looking ahead to the next season, Jez and the wider leadership have been dis-cerning that the following areas may be on the agenda to look at: 1) the shape of Sunday services, including Kids’ Church; 2) Growing Leaders and 3) Confidence in be-ing naturally supernatural.

For those unable to attend the meet-

ing, electronic copies of the annual Re-port, slides from the meeting and the draft meeting minutes can be downloaded from the website www.st-stephens.org.uk

BReATHe – WoRKS IN PRoGReSS…


notIces ANd events

Church office: 30 Crown Road, twickenham tW1 3EEp: 020 8892 5258 e: [email protected] w: www.st-stephens.org.uk

and f Inally. . .WIt, If not WISDommy Dad used to say, ‘always fight fire with fire’, which is probably why he got thrown out of the fire brigade. Peter Kay

CRoWn RoaD CommunIty FaIRSunday 9 June.theme: my St margaret’s Farm

With a selection of small animals for chil-dren to hold plus pygmy goats and lambs for them to admire!

there will also be farmyard-related games and competitions on the day. www.mystmargarets.com

DEmEntIa aWaREnESS WEEK19-25 mayWith various activities, drop-in sessions and fundraising events throughout Richmond borough.

www.alzheimers.org.uk/talkdementia

If you recently pledged money (gave us an I.o.u.) at the Giving day please can you now consider paying your pledge.

Bank details: St Stephens PCC,

Sort code 20-72-17

Account 20807087

would you lIke to contrIBute to thE month?If there is anything you would like to write about, anyone you think should be interviewed, any great photos you’d like to share we’d love to hear from you! Contact: [email protected]

THe

Big LuNCH

Sunday 2nd June, after the 11am serviceIn marble hill park (weather permitting) with your own picnic for some fun and outdoor games and leisure time to chat with friends & family. all welcome – the more the merrier!

For more info please do visit www.thebiglunch.com or contact mandy in the church office [email protected]

WomEn’S DaySaturday 8 June10am-9.30pmtickets: £25 (15s-18s: £15)

IOU

vInyard coMMunIty centre SPRInG oPEn Day Friday 17th may 2013, 10am to 3pmVineyard Community Centre, the Vineyard, Richmond, tW10 6aQyou are warmly invited to discover more about your local charity.

Please come and enjoy some tea, coffee and cake. Lunch can be purchased. We look forward to welcoming you to our first community open Day!

Please call 020 84399735, email [email protected] or visit www.vineyardcommunity.org for more information

FooD CLuBtuesday 30 april 7.45pma group for 20s & 30s. Food for the body. Food for the soul. For more information contact [email protected]

may 2013 st.stephe n’s THe thest.stephe n’s twickenham ......In his recent book ‘unapologetic:...

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