Welcome To St. Martin's Church Desford

Friday February 3rd 2012 7.30pm

St. Martin’s Church, Desford, will host a public lecture by Neil Finn on the self-taught Leicestershire artist John Flower, an exhibition of aspects of his work will be in the church over February, to co-incide with the lecture.
Mrs. Caroline WESSEL will chair the meeting.
Refreshments on sale for £3.

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Did you miss our first Messy Church?

why not got to our Facebook page to see what happened?

messy church

Sunday February 26th, 2012 4pm-6pm, and every 4th Sunday of the month at St. Martin's Church Centre LE9 9JP

There will be Crafts and Hot Food and a informal 20 min childrens service, based around the story of God's Love. This is for parents and children. No unaccompanied children please. Meal for all ages, free Session but donations welcome. Need to know more?
Call 01455 822276

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Jill and Richard announce retirement

On Sunday January 8th, Jill. and Richard Sharpe announced that they will be retiring to Kirkbymoorside, North Yorkshire from July 31st, 2012. They arrived in Desford and Peckleton in 1997 from their previous parish at Dosthill, Tamworth. The Sharpe Family

Kirkbymoorside is in Ryedale, a pretty area between the Howardian Hills to the south and the North Yorkshire Moors to the north. They will wait to see what opportunities for ministry emerge, but have already expressed an interest in voluntary work at the Ryedale Folk Museum, the Helmsley Walled Garden Project and Nunnington Hall National Trust, all of which are six miles or less from their front door.

Jill. grew up in the East Riding (now better known as David Hockney Land) and they will be able to see more of their Yorkshire friends as well as periodic visits to Leicestershire to see friends and visits to London to see their son.

We give thanks for the faithful ministry of Jill & Richard and we are planning a farewell lunch later when we hope as many as possible will come to wish them well.

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The Archdeacon of Loughborough will be visiting us and preaching on Sunday January 29th at 10.30am. He will also be giving out Talent money for 2012. After the service he will join the congregation for lunch in the church centre. We hope as many people as possible will come to join us.

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Bishop’s Lay Congress 2011

A record number of more than 300 people from churches across Leicestershire attended the Bishop’s Lay Congress on 26th November. Entitled “God, the Universe and Everything”, three eminent Christian astrophysicists from the Faraday Institute at Cambridge University presented key note speeches and workshops to debate God and the start of the Universe. As Bishop Tim said in his opening address, “well, we should cover all that in a day”!
The Big Bang theory of the start of the universe was proposed by a Belgian priest Lamaitre in 1927, and the opposing Steady State Theory of atheist Fred Hoyle around the same time. Both theories were discussed and compared in terms of their supporting evidence. The Big Bang theory is well supported by observational evidence of the expanding universe, whereas Fred Hoyle’s philosophical idea of a universe that looks the same at all times and at all places within it has been discounted. There has to be some explanation for the specialness of the universe, which is essential if there is to be life. The most obvious explanation is that it was designed so that life would appear. Christians would say that God intended there to be living creatures with the capacity for reason and with free will, who would be able to have a relationship with him.

The speeches were inspiring, thought provoking, and supported by powerful imagery from the Hubble telescope. It is impossible to over all the topics here, the afternoon workshops provided an opportunity to talk with the speakers and overall I was left with a feeling of strengthened faith, and the knowledge that we are all responsible for caring for God’s fabulous world. I eagerly await next year’s Congress and if it maintains the standard of the 2011 presentation I would recommend it to everyone.

Jane Harwood

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church centre picture St. Martin's Church Centre is available for Hire