To Layla Beau who was baptised at St Mary & St Ethelburga, Lyminge 

on Sunday 7th August

 St. Mary’s and St.Ethelburga’s church, Lyminge

Everyone is welcome to take part in a Week of Accompanied prayer organised and led by a Team from Canterbury ‘Weeks of Accompanied Prayer’ group. The week will begin with an Opening evening service at 6.30 pm on Sunday 25th September and finish with a closing celebration at 9.30 am on the following Saturday morning.

The Aim of the Week

· To set aside a week to take time and space to pray and reflect on God in your life

· To explore different ways of praying

· To have the opportunity for a retreat in daily life

What happens?

· Each day you are asked to set aside time on your own for quiet and private prayer using the focus of a short passage of scripture. 

· Each day from Monday - Friday you will meet with your Prayer Guide in church at the same time each day for about half an hour to reflect together on your prayer time. 

· Your Prayer Guide is there to listen to your reflections and to suggest a focus for your next prayer time. 

· There will be suggestions of different traditional ways of praying which you may or may not be familiar with. 

We are very aware that each of us is different, and some may never have spoken about their faith journey with another. With this in mind, the WAP will be very relaxed, with no pressure for people to do anything they are not comfortable with. All conversations are kept confidential.

There will also be a Tea room for people to linger in as they come and go each day, if they wish, and this is a good way to meet with others who are on the retreat. 

If you are not able to come to the church each day because of health reasons, then an arrangement for one of the Prayer guides to visit you can be made. Please just add this to your booking form. 

Prayer Guides give their time voluntarily, but travel costs and other expenses are covered. You are invited to make a donation towards the week (suggested amount £20-£25 ). Donations will be collected at any point during the week. However, more importantly this week is open to everyone and if you are not able to give financially then please do still take part in the week. 

This week is open to absolutely everyone who feels drawn to explore their faith journey through prayer, whether a member of this Parish or not, whether a regular worshipper or not.

Janet McDonald, 

Co-ordinator, Weeks of Accompanied Prayer: janet.mcdonald@btinternet.com01227 860837

or Diana Baldwin (see poster above)

  Churches Together in Elham 

is once again hosting a prayer meeting in the Methodist Hall, open to all persons of any denomination or none. Bi-monthly, on a Saturday morning, at 8 am,  half an hour of prayer followed by breakfast at 8.30 (please let David Whitethread know if you are coming – 840650 or 07961053335). 

The next Prayer Breakfast is 6th August . All welcome, come and join us.

  At present we cannot enjoy the company of many of those we would wish to be with. Nor can we all meet together in order to offer and share prayers for those people and situations we know are in need of them. 

Each Wednesday morning a few of us join together (by Zoom) to pray for our communities and those in particular need. However, not everyone is comfortable with this form of communication, nor necessarily available at that time.

Yet we can still collectively offer prayers together as a church family albeit from our own homes at any time. If you would be interested in joining a prayer circle, undertaking to offer prayers regularly for those who need them, please do let me know. ( sharonpaine10@aol.com, or 0787 3316492 ).

If you would like prayers offered by this circle for a particular person or situation please also use these contact details. Confidentiality of information will be maintained, and only sufficient information in order to frame a relevant prayer would be needed. Sharon Paine

There are plenty of ways you can still enjoy worship and fellowship from your own home

On the Internet:

Click on The WORD on Sunday tab above for weekly reflections and prayers from members of our Ministry Team.

  Here are some links for videos of services and further resources from Canterbury Diocese and the Church of England

Canterbury Cathedral 

Canterbury Diocese Parish Support  For some excellent resources and Apps for prayer

Church of England Daily Prayers 

The Lords Prayer 

The cathedral will live stream a midday Eucharist and Evensong at 5.30 p.m. weekdays, and at 3.15 p.m. weekends. Please follow this link to access the live stream on YouTube

A Church Near You 

Follow the Church of England on Twitter

Daily Hope Free phone line: 0800 804 8044

Daily Hope offers music, prayers and reflections as well as full  

worship services from the Church of England at the end of a 

telephone line. Options available include materials such 

as Prayer During the Day and Night Prayer updated daily, 

 from Common Worship, and a recording of the Church of 

England weekly national online service. A section called 

Hymn Line offers callers a small selection of hymns, updated daily. An option entitled ‘Hymns We Love’, provides a hymn and reflection and is based on an initiative by the Connections group. The line – which is available 24 hours a day on 0800 804 8044 – has been set up particularly with those unable to join online church services during the period of restrictions in mind.

ELHAM VALLEY GROUP OF CHURCHES CONTACTS

Priest-in-Charge Rev’d Jane Weeks - (currently on sick-leave, please contact Rev Deb for urgent matters)

Assistant Curate Rev’d Deb Scoble 01303 862747 revdebscoble@gmail.com 

Associate Priest Rev’d Stephen Dougal: 07764775507 stephendougal@btinternet.com 

Pastoral Team Leader Sharon Paine 07873316492 sharonpaine10@aol.com

Benefice Administrator: Alison Dale 07985025381 (Thu-Fri 9-11am)– alison-dale@outlook.com

Churchwardens:

Elham Peter Swain 01303 840408 - Graham Ernest-Jones 01303 840645

Acrise Simon Smith 07999515551 – Martin Bradley 01303 864289

Denton & Wootton Lesley Alexander lesley.j.alexander@icloud.com

Lyminge  Derek Smith 01303 862508 – Mike Chinneck 01303 863911

Stanford Sara Myers 01303 814183 – Paul Smallwood 01303 813198

Postling Peter Le Feuvre plefandsem@doctors.org.uk – Chris Reynolds chris.r@thepent.co.uk

Paddlesworth Celia Mosley 01303 893609 - Lindsey Smith lsmith665@googlemail.com 

On the Internet: www.elhamvalleygroupofchurches.co.uk 

Churches open for Private Prayer 

Lyminge Church:– 9am to 5pm daily - Elham Church: - 9am to 5pm daily

Postling: - every day, daylight hours - Paddlesworth:- every day, 9am -5pm 

Denton & Wootton:- every day, all day – Acrise:- every day, 10am – 4pm

At 8am every morning, the Ministry Team will be saying morning prayer - do join us in spirit!

Here are some links for further resources from Canterbury Diocese and the Church of England:

 https://www.canterbury-cathedral.org

 https://canterburydiocese.org/parishsupport/coronavirus/prayer-worship-during-coronavirus/- some excellent resources and Apps for prayer

CHANGING LIVES PRAYER NETWORK

https://www.canterburydiocese.org/strategy/prayer/

https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-service-daily-prayer

The Lord's Prayer... 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgN0s2xmCuM

https://www.churchofengland.org/more/media-centre/news/archbishop-canterbury-lead-first-national-virtual-church-england-service

The cathedral will live stream a midday Eucharist and Evensong at 5.30 p.m. weekdays, and at 3.15 p.m. weekends. Please follow this link to access the live stream on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x1i7znmokE