Thursday, 1 December 2016 | Blog, Church Life
We are really looking forward to celebrating Christmas, why not join us at one of our events?
SILENT NIGHT CAROLS at PNE FC, Deepdale Stadium
Monday 5th December at 7pm till 8pm
Sing carols with other Preston churches and the local community in the football stadium.
‘SLEEPING BEAUTY’ PANTOMIME by Saltmine Trust Theatre Co.
Saturday 10th December
Doors open at 2pm, Start 2:30pm
Tickets £4 from our office.
Please book in advance as it will sell out.
CHRISTMAS NATIVITY SERVICE
Sunday 11th December at 10am
Our young children tell the story of Christmas.
CAROLS BY CANDLELIGHT
Join us for one of the most popular night’s of the year.
Sunday 18th December at 6:30pm
A traditional service of readings and carols.
Refreshments are served from 5:30pm so be sure to arrive early.
CHRISTMAS PROMS
Wednesday 21st December at 7:30pm
Join us as we host the Preston Music Centre Concert Band playing a great selection of music.
Free entry – donations towards costs.
CHRISTMAS DAY SERVICE
Sunday 25th December at 10am for 45 mins (getting you home in good time for Christmas dinner).
Come and celebrate the gift of Jesus with us.
Tuesday, 29 November 2016 | Blog, Church Life
Fulwood FMC’s first Prayer Away Day is happening on Saturday January 14th 2017 at Tabor Retreat Centre on Sharoe Green Lane.
It’s time for more information and to get yourselves signed up.
Who?
This is for anyone, top teens and above. Every Christian needs to cultivate and refresh their prayer links with God, whether you’ve been a Christian for years or just new to the idea of prayer and wondering where to start.
Why?
Prayer is one of the underlying principles of our faith. Communicating with God is an amazing privilege which can have powerful results, but most of us struggle with it to some degree. This day is to encourage, inform and equip us to grow our prayer lives. It will also give us a welcome time of quiet after the busyness of Christmas – a spiritual ‘detox’ at the beginning of a new year.
Where?
Tabor is a beautiful retreat centre with great modern facilities and a lovely spiritual atmosphere. It’s ideal for our Away Day and we have found the folk there wonderfully helpful and encouraging. It may be on a busy Fulwood street with the hospital just round the corner, but when you go in, you immediately step into a peaceful and away-from-it-all atmosphere.
What will we do?
One of our main aims is to help us understand that we are all individuals, with different characters and therefore different ways of coming to God in prayer. As well as worshipping, relaxing and having lunch together, we will have the chance to engage in two different workshops. There will be a choice of topics, but in each there will be an introduction and explanation followed by plenty of time for you to have a go yourself. But – and please take this on board – you will not at any time be asked to do anything you don’t want to or would find embarrassing. There will be total freedom to join in what you want to, or just to disappear off into a quiet space on your own.
How do I sign up?
Use the form on the file below by 15th December, selecting your preferred workshops. There are 50 places, so it’s first-come-first-served! If you have any questions, do have a word with a member of the Prayer Team. And, by the way, there is no charge for the day, but you do have to bring your own lunch.
We had initially said that we would set up an Eventbrite for registration, but as most places have already been taken, we have decided to only use the forms. So please don’t delay waiting for Eventbrite.
Monday, 21 November 2016 | Blog, Heart Magazine
See You Soon
So many times I drove past thinking, “What goes on in there?” . . . ‘I’d be walking the dog, wondering if I’d be allowed to go inside.’ . . . ‘I stood outside, took a deep breath and the doors opened for me!’ Just a few of the comments people have made after coming in for the first time, and the third one was said by Andy, whose inspiring story is on page 9.
It can be daunting to walk into any new place, which is one reason Fulwood Free Methodist Church runs so many courses and events for adults and children; to help you find your way around, make a few friends, have fun. Heart Magazine highlights just a few of these groups, from choir (p8) to Kickstart (p11), from Sparks (p4) to Men’s Breakfast (p7).
Talking of breakfast, 73 men arrived one recent Saturday for a ‘full English.’ 90 minutes later, they emerged into the sunshine saying they could have listened to the speaker, Ian Ferguson, for another hour. On pages 6-7, part of Ian’s breathtaking story “Eject!” is for you to enjoy.
The Christian faith is at the heart of all we do, every day of the week. Whatever your background, your experience or your needs, you can come into any Sunday service, to join in, question, laugh, cry, make friends, sing, pray, or simply look around. Someone is always on the door to help you find your feet. Children and teenagers are well catered for, as are those with additional needs. For the deaf, BSL/SSE volunteers sign for the 9.15am and 11am services. Afterwards, there are free refreshments for all.
At first everything will feel new, but as Andrew says in his story, ‘In less than two years, so much has changed for the better in my life. I’m so glad I stepped inside.’
See you soon.
Katharine
Friday, 9 September 2016 | Blog, Church Life
Each year, September 16th marks the start of a very special countdown.
The summer months fade into a distant memory and as the air gets colder and the evenings get darker, the reality is it’s only 100 days until Christmas.
The cash conscious adult masks the excited child in us, and the “to buy” list seems to grow as the days tick by…
But don’t panic, we’ve got you covered. Christmas may drain your energy but it doesn’t have to drain your bank account.
We have put together some top tips to make January a little more manageable, whilst still achieving the magic of Christmas.
1. D.I.Y – Everyone knows the Christmas bill would be much smaller if everything were handmade.
However, in reality – we aren’t all Christmas elves and our everyday jobs aren’t put on hold just for the festive period.
We suggest batch making presents, and then personalising them slightly for friends and relatives.
Some popular ideas are festive chutneys and biscuits – this way the gift will be truly appreciated and a quarter of the price!
2. Christmas cupboard – Allocate a storage space in your home and collect festive treats and goodies.
Grabbing one or two items from each weekly shop leading up to December will dramatically reduce the size of your last-minute Christmas Eve shopping list.
3. Don’t rely on the December income – Work out in advance what you can afford to put aside in September, October and November, then add this to your December fund and your Christmas budget will stretch much further.
Don’t forget you’ll still have bills to pay in January.
4. Book in advance – If you’re planning on travelling for Christmas, whether it’s coming home from University or a getaway to visit relatives, booking ahead is the key to the getting the best price.
Train tickets, flights and accommodation will rocket in costs around the festive period, so do your research now and steal the deals.
5. Don’t buy things that don’t get eaten – Resist the temptation as you stroll the supermarket aisles to pick up everything that is mildly related to Christmas.
Things like Christmas cake may be traditional but they aren’t everyone’s favourite. If they’re likely to end up in the bin, don’t waste your money!
6. Don’t procrastinate! – It’s tempting to ignore the fact that Christmas exists until it’s staring you in the face, get ahead of the game now and start your prep early.
Team up with family members and plan in advance, you could group your funds together to buy a big present for a member of the family that you wouldn’t be able to buy alone.
Living with unmanageable debt can be crippling and our centre based at Fulwood Free Methodist Church is here to help you. You can email the Centre Manager, Lisa Bell at lisab@fulwoodfmc.net for further information on our CAP Money Course, and getting Debt Help.
For more information about CAP’ s services, or to find a CAP Money Course or CAP Debt Centre near you, check out capuk.org or free phone 0800 328 0006.
Wednesday, 7 September 2016 | Blog, Talks Series Information
LIVING THE TRANSFORMED LIFE
In Spring, as part of our year of Digging Deeper, we took an in-depth look at the first part of the letter to the Ephesians.
We begin our Autumn Sunday mornings by looking at chapters 4 to 6 over 3 Sundays to find out how we can practically live out the TRANSFORMED LIFE we learned about in chapter 1 to 3.
THE LORD’S PRAYER PATTERN | “Lord, teach us to pray.”
Our year of Digging Deeper in 2016 has taken us into God’s word in a new way through TRANSFORMED LIFE and the letter to the Ephesians. In Summer, we dug deeper into God the Holy Spirit as we have learned who He is and how He works in our lives. Our third key to Digging Deeper is prayer.
We continue our Sunday mornings in the Autumn by learning all we can from the LORD’S PRAYER PATTERN and find out that prayer is a beautiful blessing and a privilege which brings us into a deeper friendship with God than we could ever imagine.
LIVING FOR PURE PLEASURE
One of the most significant cultural shifts of the last 30 to 40 years has been a move towards a pleasure based, leisure based society. Life fulfilment is about adventures, not careers, getting not giving, defining who I am by what I enjoy, not in how I can serve.
We believe God has made us for PURE PLEASURE! But what does this look like from a Christian, Biblical perspective?
Our Autumn evening services will tackle some of the big issues our society readily embraces so we can enjoy life as God intended!
John 10:10 “I came so they can have real and eternal life, more and better life than they ever dreamed of.” The Message
Thursday, 1 September 2016 | Blog, Church Life
This Sunday we launch into the new term with four opportunities to gather.
As it’s no longer August we will be returning to two Morning Gatherings at 9:15am and 11:00am when Andrew Gardner will be our speaker. Energize and Ignite return and hopefully there will be some sausage butties on offer. We’ll also be sharing in Communion together.
At 3:00pm it’s the monthly Afternoon Gathering when it will be Malcolm Handforth speaking.
Then at 6:30pm it’s Ian Clarkson’s turn to speak.
We’d love to see you there.
