Heald Green United Reformed Church

Dear friends,

The season of lent is a time of reflection and self examination, and not by accident, is also the time of fairtrade Fortnight, which this year runs from 26th February to the 11th March.

The title for our own lent course this year is as you know from recent sermons, ‘The Power of Small Choices’, and by coincidence the theme of this years Fairtrade Fortnight is ‘Change Today – Choose Fairtrade’.

Choice is a powerful thing, and to many a luxury they are denied, so for those of us who have a choice, we also have a responsibility to use it responsibly.

The success of the Fairtrade movement is all about the power of small choices, and in no small way the Fairtrade movement owes much of its success to the church – that is, ordinary people like you and me, committed to making a difference – for Christ’s sake!

If during this lent season we look back and reflect on the growth of the Fairtrade movement and our involvement in it, we can see several stages of its development and our growing understanding of it.

First was the coffee no one liked and which only the most committed drank out of a sense of duty! Only for sale in churches and charity shops, and accounting for less that 1% of the UK’s total coffee sales.

Next came the Supermarket campaign, you may have taken part. Church members saved their supermarket receipts and after a period of time presented them to their local store with a note attached saying, ‘This is how much I spend in your store, and I would like you to stock Fairtrade goods, if not, I may have to start shopping somewhere that does’. It was simple, to the point but most importantly, effective; try finding a major supermarket today which doesn’t at the very least stock Fairtrade tea and coffee, if not a much wider range of products.

The next stage was strangely a much tougher task, and we still have a little way to go. Convincing people Fairtrade wasn’t a brand name in itself, but an award given to any product which met the strict criteria of the Fairtrade Foundation.

The problem was, so many people could remember their first encounter with Fairtrade coffee and said, ‘Oh I’ve had that stuff and I didn’t like it!’ We’ll today there is no excuse, there are dozens of different brands and blends of coffee all bearing the Fairtrade Mark, so why not try a few till you find your favourite.

And finally, the Fairtrade movement and the churches relationship with it has moved forward again to where we are today. We’re re-learning about the power of small choices AND that Fairtrade isn’t just a good cause that we support now and again, a product we buy only on the occasions when we are feeling charitable, but is a lifestyle choice, a Kingdom principle!

Once we know about Fairtrade, once we know the difference buying Fairtrade makes to peoples lives, and the misery some multinational companies are causing. Once we know there is a small choice we can make which we will hardly feel the effects of, just spending a few pence more, but which through the Fairtrade Mark we know will have real life changing effects in other parts of the world. Once we know all this, how with a good conscience as followers of Christ can we ever buy non-fairtrade goods again?

So this year I pray the Fairtrade movement takes another stride forward, as we as a church commit to saying, not only will we use Fairtrade goods in our church, but we will all strive to use them in our own homes, only using non-fairtrade products when there is no choice, and not when we simply choose not to!

Remember the power of small choices WILL change the world!

Mike

Dear friends,

In the business of our preparations for Christmas day, let us pause for a moment and remember the place where the story all began, Bethlehem.

And let’s try not to focus on Bethlehem as it is in most of our Christmas carols and nativity stories, or even as it may have been in Jesus time, but how it is today; a city which is virtually a huge prison camp, surrounded by the walls, fences and boarder check-points of the Israeli government.

Many of you bought at the Autumn Fair, Christmas decorations made from Palestinian olive wood. These are transported to the UK by Rev’d Brian Jolly from Altrincham URC. The sale of olive wood is a vital trade and lifeline for the oppressed people of Bethlehem. With its once thriving tourist industry in ruins, transporting their goods to churches overseas is the only way they can continue to share their craft skills and make a living.

In recent years we have sung together this powerful re-wording of the traditional Carol, ‘O little town of Bethlehem’

O troubled town of Bethlehem,
with conflict still you lie.
Above your deep but restless sleep
indifferent stars go by;
yet in your dark streets may you find
resilient, endless light:
for hopes and fears of all the years
were borne in you one night.

For Mary’s child was born, and cried,
unnerving powers-above,
whilst God of Life who bears our strife
en-couraged hope and love.
O morning stars, now sniper-fire
obscures such hopeful births;
but mothers sing of everything –
their prayer still ‘peace on earth.’

How silently, how violently,
your wondrous gift was given;
while God is grace for every race,
your streets with fear are riven.
As Jesus came amongst the poor
(confronting powers-that-be),
through risen will and faith he still
invites us ‘Set them free.’

O daring child of Bethlehem,
empower us all, we pray,
to work for peace that wars may cease
and love be born today.
With all the nations’ angels
proclaiming we shall tell:
“Heal Bethlehem, join ‘us’ with ‘them’” –
Amen, Immanuel!

Graham J. Adams (1975 - )

We’ll be singing it again this year, and as we sing, I hope we are also praying for the day when we can sing the original again.

I wish you all a very happy and peaceful Christmas.

Mike

Dear friends,

It’s been an excellent year again for our Churches Together in Heald Green Youth Initiative and caféunity as the project has continued to develop apace, and go from strength to strength.

During this year we have

• Established the internet café as a viable venture at the heart of our community, which provides a safe and enjoyable place for all, but especially focusing on young people

• Further built on existing relationships and the goodwill of the wider community towards the work of our churches through our ministry at the cafe

• Built up a reliable, committed and capable team of volunteers who support the work of the café and the aims of the youth initiative

• Employed a qualified youth worker Lee Bassman, for two evenings a week to help us provide two sessions of evening youth work at the café for young people to meet, for educational, recreational, and leisure activities

• Put plans and funding in place for a second paid youth worker

• Begun a relationship with local Youth Offending Team

• Held Alpha courses at the café to promote understanding of the Christian faith

• Held ‘café style’ worship events to complement the existing ‘menu’ of Christian Worship in Heald Green

• Completed the refurbishment of the upstairs of the premises which is now generating additional income from room hire




During the year we have also with some sadness said goodbye to Phil Hassle, our manager since opening in July last year. The trustees warmly thank Phil for his contribution to the project and wish him well in his future employment.

As a result of Phil’s departure our thanks must also go to Norman for his much valued work over the summer and Dave’s continuing work as our part time café manager.

Finally, my thanks go again to all our many volunteers, donators and customers from this church, without whom the project simply would not exist.

If you have not yet volunteered and think you could, please have a chat with myself or any of the other café volunteers. And if you’re still to visit the café, well what have you been waiting for? It’s there for you to enjoy, I’m sure you’ll love it too!

Mike