Dear friends,As we move through October things are starting to pick up in the life of the Circuit and our Churches and I thought that it might be helpful to flag up two or three events. Occasions like this don’t happen very often in a lot of Circuits, please come along and support Ruth. Please…

Dear friends, Channel four are currently screening their modern adaptation of the James Herriot story “All creatures great and small” I loved reading the books, more than once and whilst I loved the original BBC story screened from 1978-1990 starring Christopher Timothy, I love the new series. I often find that when we have had…

Dear friends, Karen and I enjoy going to Church when we are away on holiday, mainly because we seldom have the opportunity to sit together in worship, and I believe that it is good for me to be able to receive and be fed instead of always being the one who is attempting to preach.…

Dear friends, A lot has happened since I wrote my letter last week. One of my pet hates as a minister is training, when I am told that I have to participate in compulsory training, I become irritated and never take part with joy, rather with utter reluctance. In May of this year several of…

Dear Friends, The words “living in unprecedented times” have been quoted over and over again during the last two years and following one of the most challenging weeks that I can remember, I believe that the last fortnight definitely qualifies. I will normally write my letter to you first thing on a Wednesday morning, when…

Dear Friends, One of my mantra’s that I have found to be true over the years is something I learned a long time ago, surround yourself with good people and you will experience the very best that life has to offer. I believe that was true of the wonderful welcome service we offered to God…

Dear Friends, I always look forward to September with a mix of emotions, on the one hand, it is one of the busiest months of the year for me, with a string of meetings, several of them quite heavyweight. I also find it quite depressing as the evenings start to draw in. On the other…

Dear friends, I have questioned for a long time the value of Church notices and newsletters and have heard people say over and over again “nobody ever reads them” and I have wondered what the point was in writing them if that were the case. In the beginning, when I first started preaching, you were…

Dear friends, It’s good to be back among you following our fortnight’s break in Cornwall and Devon.  We last spent a holiday in the West Country in 2013 just before moving to Ipswich and it is twenty-six years since we spent a holiday in the Bude area and I had forgotten just how beautiful this…

Dear Friends, The current trend in a lot of Circuits around the Connexion, indeed in a lot of Churches of all denominations is one of pessimism, with aging congregations, depleting numbers, and financially starved Churches, meaning that across the land Churches are fighting hard, simply to keep going, knowing that the writing is on the…