News

Newton Abbot Mayor.

Louise Cooke, a member of our congregation, has been installed as the new Mayor of Newton Abbot, and Kim Martin, our Anna Chaplain is supporting her as the Mayor’s Chaplain.

Milk Bottle Tops

are no longer being collected in church. Thank you to everyone who has supported this project in the past.

Annual Parochial Church Meeting Elections

Elected Churchwardens are:

Abbotsbury Church: Pauline Giddings

All Saints Church: Paul Cannock

St Bartholomew’s Church: Stella Llewellyn and Gwyn Hughes St Mary’s Church: Sharon Lawrence St Paul’s Church: Lorna Tresidder.

For PCC Members there were 4 vacancies.

Morice Kennedy came to the end of her term representing St Paul’s Church, and was reelected.

Brian Harding came to the end of his tern representing All Saints’ Church and was replaced by John Calderwood

There are still two vacancies for St Mary’s Church. Volunteers are welcome to apply for adoption as PCC members.

Deanery Synod Representatives are: Lynn Buckley, Ian Tresidder and Rachel French

Following the APCM, the new PCC met and agreed that Karen Hooker be appointed PCC Secretary.

Baptism and Confirmation Preparation

On Sunday 5th July during the morning service at St Paul’s, Bishop James – the Bishop of Plymouth - will be baptising and/or confirming candidates from across the parish.

If you have never been baptised or confirmed, and you would like to find out more about taking this step of obedience in baptism and/or being confirmed into the Church of England, please get in touch with Dave as soon as possible. Contact details are: Tel 01626 335862 or email rector@newtonabbotparishes.co.uk

There will be separate two preparation courses: one for children and young people aged 12 to 18, and one for adults. If you have children younger than 12 who wish to be baptised, please speak to Dave as well. Preparation classes for them will be held separately.

Middle East Crisis Appeal. (From the Diocesan newsletter, Roots and Shoots)

Conflict in the Middle East is escalating, pushing an already fragile region into a deeper humanitarian crisis. In Lebanon, violence is forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes. In Gaza, closed border crossings are stopping food and medicine from reaching people in need.

Tearfund, a Christian charity, is working with local churches and partners across the Middle East by providing urgent health care, emergency funding to hospitals, distributing food and essentials, and providing shelter and assistance. If you would like to donate to Tearfund's Middle East Crisis Appeal, click here.

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Newton Abbot Deanery Synod Report – 10th March.

The Newton Abbot Deanery Synod meets three times a year and there is usually a main speaker.

At the March meeting, Chloe Axford, the Director of Communications and Engagement, came to speak on the topic of ‘Pray Grow Serve 2035’, which is the Bishop of Exeter’s vison for the next ten years in Devon and is based on Jesus’ great commission to “go and make disciples”.

There are five strategic priorities:

Missional Leadership – In a world where the Christian faith cannot be assumed, our Christian leaders need support and resourcing. Hence there is to be a focus on providing training opportunities for clergy and Licenced Lay Ministers (LLM), using up to date material.

Missional DNA – encouraging churches to be outward looking into their communities with resources to equip Christian communities to be missional in their worship, outreach and communications.

Vocations – to establish a vocational culture for lay and ordained through several leadership pathways. Partnering with organisations offering specialist training on various topics.

Children, Young People and Families – Reaching the children and young people with the gospel is vital. Training and developing children and youth workers through various courses. This was a key part of the bid for funding from the central church. (see below)

Mixed Ecology – In order to reach the wider community, we need to provide different ways of doing and being church for which training and webinars are being offered.

All this will cost money, and the Diocese has been awarded an initial grant of £10m from the Church of England’s Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMiB). This includes a bold reshaping of the Church in Plymouth for mission to revitalise the Church in Devon’s largest urban area.

More information can be found on the Diocese of Exeter website, www.exeter.angli can.org/pray -grow -serve -2035

The Bishop of Exeter’s prayer for Pray Grow Serve 2035 is:

God of Mission

Who alone brings growth to your Church

Send your Holy Spirt to help your Church here in Devon:

To grow deeper in faith and prayer

To grow new disciples

To grow leaders

To grow younger and

To grow in joyful service

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

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Parish Giving Scheme (PGS)

The Parish’s bank makes significant charges for depositing cash, so, if you normally give in cash, it would be very helpful if you could switch to donating through the PGS. If you pay UK income tax, the PGS, enables you to take part in the Gift Aid scheme, which gives the Parish an extra 20% on your donations.
If you wish to set up regular donations through PGS using a paper form, please contact the Parish Office with your details. Alternatively, you could sign up on-line through www.parishgiving.org.uk or go in to the office and fill in the form electronically.
Other options are: giving by using the card machine available in some of our churches, or setting up a standing order from your bank, payable to Newton Abbot PCC, account number 62909168, sort code 30-84-6

Cornerstone

The Parish has just signed up to a new initiative in the Church of England called Cornerstone, which aims to help us manage our finances more effectively and to get better at communicating information across the parish. As part of setting ourselves up on the system, I’d like to ask if you take 5 minutes to complete a short survey.

Each of our 5 churches has its own code number, but it is the same link for each church. Details are below:

St Mary’s, Abbotsbury- 615305

All Saints, Highweek- 615304

St Bartholomew’s, Ogwell- 615313

St Mary’s, Wolborough- 615317

St Paul’s, Newton Abbot- 615319

The link is: https://forms.office.com/e/CysxHx2G9E

All of the results are anonymous and will be automatically collated to build a picture of where we are right now. Thank you.

The Jesus Revolution

For those of you who have a Netflix subscription, can I recommend The Jesus Revolution as a film to enjoy and to stir you to pray. It tells the story of the huge Christian revival that took place in the USA amongst the hippies at the end of the 60s and the start of the 70s. It’s thought to be the greatest spiritual revival in American history. Many thought the dropping out and taking drugs was an act of rebellion, but one young preacher saw their lifestyle as a sign that they were searching for God, but in all the wrong places. It stirred my heart to see God work a revival like that amongst the young people of our town and country. May it do the same to yours!

Car Parking at St Paul’s:

Over the last few months we have noticed an increasing number

of people from outside of our church community are using the car park at St Paul's. This has

meant that those coming for midweek services or events in the hall have found it harder (and

sometimes impossible) to find somewhere to park. We are therefore bringing in a system of

permits for those coming to regular groups so we can monitor the situation.

As long as there are no busy services or large events in the hall, we're happy for church members

to occasionally use the car park when they head into town. But from next week we are going to

ask members of our church family who wish to use the car park in this way, to collect a car park

permit from the office, and to display it in their car windscreen when they park at St Paul’s. You

won't need to do this when you are coming for a service or a church meeting. You will need one

if you're using the car park at other times.

These permits are free and will be renewed every year. Mel will keep a record of your name and

car registration number next to the number of the permit, so we can make sure they're not being

copied!

Christians Against Poverty Teignbridge

One of our Parish mission partners has sent us this request.

CAP (Christians Against Poverty) Teignbridge provides Free Debt Help and personal support for those struggling with unmanageable debt. We are funded and supported by churches across Teignbridge. In December 2024 we provided 14 Christmas Hampers and gifts for CAP clients – for 19 adults and 7 children across Dawlish, Teignmouth, Kingsteignton and Newton Abbot, along with toys provided by Newton Abbot Salvation Army. We’re thrilled that Newton Abbot and Ogwell Parish is now partnering with us in this work.

One of our critical needs is for BEFRIENDERS. Befrienders join the debt coach at client appointments and help support the clients through the debt-help process. This service couldn’t function without the support of befrienders, but we have a real need for more befrienders, especially men. Could you please prayerfully consider whether you could be part of this support team. Thank you. The minimum commitment is only 2 hours/month. You wouldneed to be a good listener, and passionate about supporting those in poverty.

Prayer Support. We also have a Prayer Support Team who meet once a month to pray for CAP clients and the work of CAP Teignbridge. This is invaluable and makes a huge difference. If you would like to join this team, please get in touch. In either case, please contact Tim Wigley, Debt Centre Manager email: timwigley@capuk.org

Used postage stamps.

Please collect up your used postage stamps, and let Mel have them in the Parish office at St Paul’s Church or bring them to a church service. They will used to help the charity RNLI.

The Diocesan Prayer Diary

features intercessory prayers for local communities, each day of the month. It includes prayers for parishes, mission communities, clergy and diocesan staff across Devon, along with key dates throughout the year. Click here to read it.

Safeguarding

Many of you may have seen or be aware of the recent media attention around the now former Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and other senior clergy in the Church of England following the publication of the Makin Safeguarding Report. The Makin report, commissioned as an independent review into the Church’s response to the abuses perpetrated by late John Smyth, has highlighted shortcomings by the Church in responding to the allegations and has provided key recommendations to improve safeguarding cultures.

Speaking as the Parish Safeguarding Representative, I can say that as a Parish we are horrified by the abuses carried out by John Smyth and greatly saddened to read that more could, and should, have been done to prevent it from happening.

We want to be a Church and community where everybody feels welcomed and everybody feels safe. We want those who may have experienced (or be experiencing) abuse to be confident in coming forward, knowing they will be listened to and any allegations be treated with the utmost seriousness and concern; whomever the other party may be.

We should not and cannot say this doesn’t impact us as a Parish. Whilst the media has focussed on the senior clergy of the Church of England there are lessons for us in this to. We need to work harder to build a culture which emphasises the importance of safeguarding and which prioritises the voices of the abused, victims and downtrodden ahead of the powerful.

If anybody wants to discuss the events of the last few weeks or would like to discuss any safeguarding issues or concerns they may have please know you can reach out to me, or any of the safeguarding team, at any point. We are here for you and you will be listened to. We cannot and will not be silent on abuse.

Rob (07792081776)

Missed some church services?

Catch up on You Tube - same series in each church, or the recordings of talks HERE

Abbotsbury Church YOUTUBE

St Paul's Church YOUTUBE

Parish Office Hours.

Parish Office at St Paul's Church, Devon Square is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday: 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. For all enquiries, please phone 01626 211346 or email office@newtonabbotparishes.co.uk

Mel Dunn, Benefice Administrator.