MCC Manchester worship service on 28th June 2009 at Wilbraham Saint Ninian’s Church, Chorlton

Dear Friends,

As you know we have been considering moving venue as a church.  We have established a warm relationship with Wilbraham St Ninian’s United Reformed Church in Chorlton who voted unanimously to extend an invitation to us to move there.  Feedback form the survey, which people have completed having seen a description and pictures of the church, is overwhelmingly positive.

Next Sunday (28th June) we will hold our service at Wilbraham Saint Ninian’s at the slightly later time of 4.30pm.  After worship we will have refreshments and show people around the building.  We will then have a church meeting where we will go through our reasons for recommending the move and have time for questions and comments.  Everyone can take part in the questions and comments bit of the meeting.  Then the church members will vote on whether or not to move.  We need to give three month’s notice to St Chrysostom’s which would end our tenancy at the end of September;  the Board have approached St Ninian’s, however,  who have agreed we could move in for Sunday 30th August and celebrate our Pride service there.  This means that our PR materials at Pride would just have the St Ninian’s address on. St Ninian’s have just to work out how best to accommodate an office for us – please pray for their building managers as they think this through.

The address of the church is Wilbraham St Ninian’s United Reformed Church, Wilbraham Road / Egerton Road South, Chorlton, M21 0XJ. If you enter the postcode into www.multimap.com you will get a map.  This also allows you to enter your home postcode and get directions from home to the church.

Where Is the Church in Chorlton?

Chorlton is 3 miles south of Manchester city centre. It is easily reached from both the M56 and M60 by following the A5103 Princess Road.  You turn off to the left onto Wilbraham Road at a junction with lights.  The church is on the corner of Wilbraham Road and Egerton Road South.   St Ninian’s is on the left (if you are coming from Princess Road) just before the road rises as a bridge over the old railway track.

If you are travelling from the centre of Chorlton you need to turn down Wilbraham Road from the junction with Barlow Moor Road, pass the Morrisons supermarket on your left, go over the bridge towards the petrol station, and St Ninian’s is on your right.

Parking

If you have a blue disabled parking badge you may park in the little forecourt in front of the church – well away form the church doors please!   Otherwise there is plenty of on-street parking on Wilbraham Road itself, and on Egerton Road North and South.

MetroLink

The nearest Metrolink station is Stretford which is 1.5 miles away.  You turn left out of the Metro station and walk down Edge Lane towards Chorlton; this becomes Wilbraham Road. The walk would take between 20 and 30 minutes but the road is well served by buses.

Buses

Chorlton is well served by buses - 16, 16A, 22, 46, 47, 84, 85, 86, 168, 23A, 270, 276, and the 297 all stop in the centre of Chorlton – at the cross roads.  Many stop outside St Ninian’s.  The 86 bus leaves every 12 minutes from Piccadilly Bus Station alongside the Metrolink platform at Piccadilly Gardens.

And So….

Please pray this week for St Ninian’s as they work out the best solution for an office, for our congregation as we discern God’s will, and for St Chrysostom’s who have been our hosts for the last 7 years.  I look forward to seeing you all next Sunday at St Ninian’s at 4.30pm.

With much love,

Andy

Andy Braunston
Pastor
Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester
www.mccmanchester.co.uk

 

Raising money for the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit – Lancashire Loop Cycle Challenge

Would you like to have ‘fun day’ and raise money for a good cause? Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU) provides legal immigration advice and support. Many of the people it represents have come to this country seeking asylum, people who have had to leave their home countries because they have faced violence or oppression; often their lives have been in danger.

As part of its fund raising programme for the current year, GMIAU would like to enter 10 cyclists in a sponsored cycle ride (the Lancashire Loop Cycle Challenge) taking place around the village of Cockerham, north Lancashire, on Sunday 27 September 2009.

This is being organised by the children’s charity ‘MedEquip4Kids‘ . Would you like to take part and help raise money for the GMIAU?  Apart from being a good cause, it should be a lot of fun as well in what is a very nice part of Lancashire. There are 3 possible routes to choose from  – 18, ‘50′ and ‘100′ mile’ – depending on your fitness, experience and enthusiasm.

If you would like to take part then please contact Duncan Poulton: duncan.poulton1@btopenworld.com

 

Sacred Space service, Thursday 11th June 2009, 8pm

Dear Friends,

Our fortnightly Sacred Space service takes place on Thursday at 8pm in the social room – access via the side door on Anson Road.

There is a common theme to each of the four types of Sacred Space Service: time for quiet reflection, gentle music, prayers led gently, a time to pause, meditate and enjoy God’s presence, all providing a form of worship different to what we offer on Sunday afternoons.

We change the format of the service sometimes offering Holy Communion, sometimes sacramental anointing, sometimes a reflection and, like this week, a time of prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. This service allows us to spend time in Jesus’ presence, to bring to Him our needs, dreams and prayers and to sit quietly and listen to Him as he speaks to us.

We have a short time for refreshments afterwards too. I hope to see you on Thursday as we enjoy His Presence together.

With much love,

Andy
Andy Braunston
Pastor
Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester
www.mccmanchester.co.uk

 

Support for refused asylum seekers

Refused asylum seekers left destitute in the UK

Background information

No doubt you will have heard or read reports about how the UK is meant to be a “soft touch” for asylum seekers. Yet, in reality, the level of support provided to asylum seekers is far lower than that of income support and is usually withdrawn altogether if a claim is refused. Many refused asylum seekers are, in fact, unable to return to their home countries due to the risks they would face because of, for example, armed conflicts, generalised violence and repressive regimes. As a result, many refused asylum seekers from countries where such problems are rife (including Zimbabwe, Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Eritrea) are being forced into destitution, as they are not permitted to work here. To make matters worse, it appears as though this could be part of a deliberate strategy on the part of the UK Government. Certainly, this is the view of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, which recently reviewed the treatment of asylum seekers in the UK and reached the following conclusion:

“We have been persuaded by the evidence that the Government has indeed been practising a deliberate policy of destitution of this highly vulnerable group.  We believe that the deliberate use of inhumane treatment is unacceptable.  We have seen instances in all cases where the Government’s treatment of asylum seekers and refused asylum seekers falls below the requirements of the common law of humanity and of international human rights law”.

In light of this, we are calling on you to support the Still Human Still Here Campaign, which is fully endorsed by Amnesty International and many other reputable organisations (http://stillhumanstillhere.wordpress.com/).

The Still Human Still Here Campaign

The Still Human Still Here Campaign is dedicated to highlighting the plight of tens of thousands of refused asylum seekers who are destitute in the UK.

Supporters of the campaign believe that the denial of any means of subsistence to refused asylum seekers as a matter of government policy is both inhumane and ineffective.

Its supporters are calling on the Government to:

• End the threat and use of destitution as a tool of Government policy against refused asylum seekers 
• Continue financial support and accommodation to refused asylum seekers as provided during the asylum process and grant permission to work until such a time as they have left the UK or have been granted leave to remain
• Continue to provide full access to health care and education throughout the same period

What can I do?

We are asking you to write to your local MP in order to highlight the issue and ask for his or her support. Please feel free to use the model letter below (preferably adapting it, where possible) for this purpose. If you don’t know who your MP is, you can find out at www.theyworkforyou.com. Then, all you need to do is send your letter (addressed to your own MP) to:

House of Commons
London
SW1 0AA

If you receive a reply from your MP, please send a copy to The Human Rights Action Centre, 17-25 New Inn Yard, London, EC2A 3EA

***START OF MODEL LETTER***
Dear …..

I am writing to you because I am extremely concerned about the plight of tens of thousands of refused asylum seekers within the UK.

As you are no doubt already aware, under current rules the vast majority of refused asylum seekers are not entitled to any form of financial support. However, you also need to know that due to the fact that many of these refused asylum seekers are unable to return to their home countries for perfectly legitimate reasons and are also forbidden from working under UK law, they are being forced into destitution. The “lucky ones” manage to survive thanks to the charity of other people, yet others end up begging or working as prostitutes.

Many of those who have been refused asylum are from countries where conflict, violence and human rights violations are rife, including for example places such as Zimbabwe, Iraq, Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea. Fearing for their lives, these refused asylum seekers are unable to return home, but at the same time are unable to achieve any quality of life here in the UK because of the restrictions imposed on them.

What is even more worrying about this situation is the conclusion recently reached by the Joint Committee on Human Rights while reviewing the treatment of asylum seekers within the UK:

“We have been persuaded by the evidence that the Government has indeed been practising a deliberate policy of destitution of this highly vulnerable group.  We believe that the deliberate use of inhumane treatment is unacceptable.  We have seen instances in all cases where the Government’s treatment of asylum seekers and refused asylum seekers falls below the requirements of the common law of humanity and of international human rights law”.

I firmly believe that the current system is inhumane, unjust and inefficient and am therefore calling on you as my local MP to help end the destitution of refused asylum seekers by raising this issue with the Home Secretary and urging her department to:

• End the threat and use of destitution as a tool of Government policy against refused asylum seekers 
• Continue financial support and accommodation to refused asylum seekers as provided during the asylum process and grant permission to work until such a time as they have left the UK or have been granted leave to remain
• Continue to provide full access to health care and education throughout the same period

Yours sincerely,

 

***END OF MODEL LETTER***

 

Clare Summerskill presents Her Finest Bits! – at Metropolitan Community Church, Manchester – a Manchester Pride 2009 event

Join us on Friday 21st August, 2009, 8.00pm, at Saint Chrysostom’s Church, Anson Road, Manchester, M14 5BG (just a couple of miles south of Manchester city centre) for an original cocktail of stand-up and comedy songs.

Full details of how to find the venue are here.

As a lesbian comedienne, Clare performs to mainly gay and lesbian audiences up and down the country and has even been known to make straight people chuckle just a little bit!!!  She brings “dyke” humour to the forefront of alternative comedy!

Clare writes and performs her own stage shows, several of which have been produced at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and taken around the country to venues which include The Komedia, Brighton, Oval House Theatre, London. Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton. Lighthouse, Poole. Tobacco Factory, Bristol. Y Theatre, Leicester. Unity Theatre, Liverpool and Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield.

MCC Manchester is delighted to host this event as part of the Manchester Pride Events programme in 2009.  Tickets (price £10) will be available on the night of the performance but can be reserved in advance.

If you wish to reserve tickets for easy collection on arrival, please complete and submit the online form below.  Please ensure you give your full name, your email address, and include a comment in the large text box saying how many tickets you wish to reserve.  We will respond by email acknowledging your booking.  (We reserve the right to sell tickets reserved by customers who do not collect their tickets by 8.00pm on the evening of the performance.)

Name (required)

Email (required)

Website

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“One of the funniest women in the country” – What’s On

“Uninhibited and Unorthodox” – The Independent

“A Lesbian Victoria Wood” – Radio 4 Woman’s Hour

“Engaging and Charming” – Time Out

“One of the most rip-roaring talents on the lesbian stage today” – Rainbow Network

“The discerning Dyke’s comedienne” – Gingerbeer Website

You can see Clare’s website at http://www.claresummerskill.co.uk/

For more information about Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester – Manchester’s only lgbt-led church – see http://www.mccmanchester.co.uk

 

Worship on Pentecost Sunday, 31st May 2009 – with baptism and new members

Dear Friends,

We have a very special service on Sunday for three reasons……

• We celebrate Pentecost – the birthday of the Church – with music ranging from the 12th to the 20th Centuries!
• We celebrate Anne’s baptism.  Anne has been a Christian for many years but has never celebrated her baptism and we are proud to share this special day with her.
• We celebrate four people formally joining our church – Anne, Alan, David and Lynette.  (Three others will be joining over the coming weeks)

Please make a special effort to be with us this week as we celebrate together.

love

Andy
Andy Braunston
Pastor
Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester
www.mccmanchester.co.uk

 

Emmaus Groups, and Membership Class, Thursday 21st May 2009

Dear Friends,

 

Our two Emmaus groups meet this Thursday evening (21st May).  These groups give an opportunity for friendships to develop, discussion about our faith and prayer.  One group meets in Altrincham and the other in Newton Heath.  If you would like more information please let Andy know.

 

Also on Thursday we have a membership class for anyone who wishes to explore becoming a member of MCC.  Membership is about making a formal commitment to the work of God through MCC.  The class will look at our history and beliefs, how we work, and our expectations of members.  The class starts at 7.30pm and lasts until 9.30pm.

 

With much love,

Andy

Andy Braunston 
Pastor
Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester
www.mccmanchester.co.uk

 

Sacred Space service, 8pm, Thursday 14th May

Dear Friends,

Our fortnightly Sacred Space service takes place on Thursday 14th May at 8pm in the social room – access via the side door on Anson Road. 

 

There is a common theme to each of the four types of Sacred Space Service: time for quiet reflection, gentle music, prayers led gently, a time to pause, meditate and enjoy God’s presence, all providing a form of worship different to what we offer on Sunday afternoons. 

 

We change the format of the service sometimes resting in the presence of Jesus, sometimes sacramental anointing, sometimes a reflection and, like this week, a celebration of Holy Communion.  We meet the Lord Jesus in this simple celebration of Holy Communion which is quieter and more gentle than our Sunday celebrations.

 

We have a short time for refreshments afterwards too.  I hope to see you on Thursday as we enjoy His Presence together. 

With much love,

Andy
Andy Braunston 
Pastor
Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester
www.mccmanchester.co.uk

 

Rev Carmen Margarita Sánchez De León becomes Pastor of Metropolitan Community Church, East London

We have heard that MCC in East London has finally called a new pastor.  

Andy helped to found this church in 1992 and Jane Clarke, their second pastor, left 18 months ago to found MCC Glasgow.  Their new pastor, the Rev Carmen Margarita Sánchez De León is the former pastor of MCC Puerto Rico and worked for Amnesty International there. 

She will be installed on Sunday 14th June although she has already started her ministry there.

 

Regional Elder post to be vacated from 31st July 2009

We’ve had news this week from our wider denomination.  Due to the financial problems in the US economy, in particular, there has been a need to reduce the central budget.  This has, sadly, meant making two elders redundant.   The Revs Arlene Ackermann and Glenna Shepherd will, therefore, cease to work as elders on 31st July. 

Their positions will not be filled in the immediate future and proposals for a modified structure, at least for our region, will be taken to our governing conference in 2010. 

Whilst we are sorry for Glenna and hope she finds a new job soon, these changes will make absolutely no difference to the life of our own congregation here in Manchester as our own finances are not dependent on the denomination’s; we receive no money from the central budget. 

We’re not sure if Glenna will still be visiting us in August; we imagine this will be dependent on her future ministry plans.

 

Prayers requested

Andy says: “Thank you for praying for my friend Elaine; her mum is still critically ill but her own personal health is improving.”  

We’re also asked to pray for Ross, a friend of Stephen Harte (one of our further flung members) in Edinburgh.  Ross has his Viva (oral exam) on his PhD in financial mathematics on Thursday.

 

‘Smartie tube’ collection for Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit going well

We have collected over £460 so far from our Lenten Smartie tube fundraiser for the Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit (GMIAU).  If you still have a tube to return to church, or wish to make a donation please bring it along and pop it in the collection basket.

 

Membership classes in Metropolitan Community Church, Manchester

Five people attended our membership class on 2nd May.  We will be organising a second class in the next couple of weeks as we know some people couldn’t make the first session.  Please let Andy know if you are interested in formally joining the church.  We will be admitting new members in the service on 31st May – Pentecost Sunday.

 

Meal after church on Sunday 10th May – Tai Pan Chinese Restaurant

We are going for a meal together next week after worship, to the Tai Pan Chinese restaurant just down from church on Upper Brook Street.  Please let Ian Wilson know if you wish to come; the meal normally comes to £15.

 

Sacred Space, mid-week service at MCC Manchester, 8pm on Thursday 30th April 2009

Dear Friends,

Our fortnightly Sacred Space service takes place on Thursday 30th April at 8pm in the social room – access via the side door onAnson Road.

 

There is a common theme to each of the four types of Sacred Space service: time for quiet reflection, gentle music, prayers led gently, a time to pause, meditate and enjoy God’s presence, all providing a form of worship different to what we offer on Sunday afternoons. We change the format of the service sometimes resting in the presence of Jesus, sometimes a simple celebration of Holy Communion, sometimes a reflection and, like this week, an opportunity to be sacramentally anointed and prayed for.

 

We meet the Lord Jesus as we are anointed and prayed for to be whole in body, mind and spirit. We have a short time for refreshments afterwards too. I hope to see you on Thursday as we enjoy His Presence together.

 

With much love,
Andy

Andy Braunston
Pastor Metropolitan Community Church of Manchester