Welcome to the Enews for October 31

The latest resources, news and more.

Click on headlines or pictures for more details.  

Contact enews@leeds.anglican.org with your news. 

13 members of The Feast, a new worshipping community built around a shared meal in Seacroft, Leeds have been confirmed by the Rt Revd Arun Arora, Bishop of Kirkstall. 

Candidates from nearby St James’ Church and from Elmet Trinity Benefice were also confirmed in St Paul’s Church in Whinmoor in the East Leeds Deanery, at the service earlier in October. Read more here

Wedding guests at St Mary’s, Embsay had a warm, green welcome recently, thanks to a newly installed eco-friendly heating system that was switched on for the first time.

The old gas boiler had been turned off and the new Zero Carbon system of underfloor heating and wall mounted FAR infra-red units worked wonderfully, said Revd Canon Marion Russell. Read more here

Diocesan Synod members listened and learned well together as they considered a busy agenda at the most recent meeting of the body, the first in this triennium. Diocesan Synod met on Saturday, October 19, at Holy Trinity Boar Lane, looking at topics including work towards becoming net zero, being a diocese that supports Fairtrade, our diocesan budget for 2025, engagement with Barnabas: Encouraging Confidence and more. Read more here

The Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell will teach the Lord’s Prayer across the North of England throughout 2025, a priority of his vision for Faith in the North. Archbishop Stephen is to visit all 12 dioceses in the Northern Province of the Church of England where he will be speaking and sharing the importance and relevance of the Lord’s Prayer to our world today, encouraging people to pray and live by this as part of their missionary discipleship. Read more here

The first Diocesan Synod of the new triennium began with a Eucharist and a welcome to newcomers and all from Bishop Nick, plus his invitation to listen, learn and debate. It was also the first time the event had been held at Holy Trinity, Boar Lane, Leeds and attendance was high for this important gathering of clergy and lay representatives from all our deaneries. Read more here

A prized fragment of the Croft Cross, is now on display at the Yorkshire Museum, thanks to the churchwardens of St Peters Church, Croft-on-Tees in the north of our diocese. The base piece of the medieval standing cross is a beautiful example of elaborate and skilled stone carving and religious expression from the late 8th Century and is now for all to see at the popular York centre museum. Read more here

Monthly breakfast meetings featuring talks with top business people are drawing good numbers to Holy Trinity, Boar Lane, Leeds. The Rt Revd Arun Arora, Bishop of Kirkstall has so far held relaxed and informative interviews with Tom Riordan, former Chief Executive of Leeds City Council and Clare Morrows, Chair of famous Yorkshire businesses Betty’s and Taylors of Harrogate. Read more here

As Black History Month concludes, the Church invites congregants to watch these films on Racial Justice – Visitor, Chocolate Digestive and After the Flood.

Visitor and Chocolate Digestive are short film

monologues by Testament, a West Yorkshire

performer, poet, and rapper, exploring racism

within the Church. These works, based on

interviews about systemic and personal racism,

were commissioned by the Leeds Church Institute and Bishop Smitha Prasadam.

After the Flood highlights the overlooked

history of African chattel slavery in British

Christian history and explores biblical

principles for racial reconciliation in today's

churches. Archbishop Stephen Cottrell

recommended it for Bible study and small

groups to reflect on being one in Christ.

Find out more here.

Harrogate School of Theology and Mission are pleased to offer a new autumn programme of lectures, with speakers including Dr David Moffit, the Revd Dr Alan Garrow, the Rt Revd Arun Arora, Bishop of Leeds, and more. All lectures are offered in person, at St Mark’s Harrogate, starting promptly at 10am, but preceded by breakfast. The lectures are also available by live-stream (on Zoom) but you’ll have to make your own breakfast!

Find out more and book here.

Are you searching for peace and a deeper stillness in your life? Find out how meditation was rediscovered within the Christian tradition as a form of contemplative prayer and how it is practiced today by many Christians around the world. Each session will have a time of meditation.

Click here to find out more.

The topic is 'Helping Rural Churches Thrive'. Includes Holy Communion. Please RSVP governanceofficer@riponcathedral.org.uk by Friday, November 1 with any dietary requirements.

"Prayer in the Risen Lord: helps from scripture and the

saints."

Led by Br Philip Nichols, Prior. Before the busy-ness of December, this will be a day for refreshment and guided reflection in the peaceful, meditative surroundings of Mirfield. All most welcome.

Tea and coffee provided, bring your own lunch

Suggested donation: £10 (bring on the day)

To book your place email

caroline.asquith@leeds.anglican.org.

Now is the time to start exploring a vocation to Lay Ministry with your incumbent, your Episcopal Area Warden of Readers and/or the diocesan Vocations Team. 

Expressions of interest are invited for LLM training with a start date of September 2025.

Eligibility criteria, discernment information and details of the application process together with an Expression of Interest form have been sent to all incumbents, chaplaincy team leaders, PCC Secretaries and Churchwardens in September 2024. A reminder will be sent in early January 2025. The deadline for an expression of interest is Monday, March 3, 2025. 

Application/sponsor/referee forms are only sent out after an expression of interest has been received.

Click here to find out more.

If you require any specific help or information, please contact the Ministerial Development Administrator at shuna.hartley@leeds.anglican.org.

Ever wondered what theology means and how to study it? Need some guidance on how to dig a bit deeper? Don’t know where to start? This free and updated course is for you! Don’t miss out - sign up now for a March start.

Introduction to Theology (ITT): A 12-session journey looking at the Christian faith, thinking about your own faith journey and developing theological skills. This is a great place to start when considering where God is calling you. Attending this course is a pre-requirement for Licensed Lay Ministry training in the diocese of Leeds and is also useful for those considering any of our other Lay Ministry pathways.

Click here to find out more.

Booking deadline is Sunday, March 9, 2025.

If you require any specific help or information, please contact the Ministerial Development Administrator at shuna.hartley@leeds.anglican.org.

For the commemoration of the faithful departed. Please join us and light a candle in memory. Names of those to be remembered can be posted through ther letterbox on the church porch gates.

Are we making disciples here?

As church leaders, we can be so busy worrying about the ABCs (attendance, buildings, and cash) that we lose sight of our main purpose: making disciples of Jesus. If that sounds familiar and you’d like to reinvigorate your disciplemaking ministry, this day is for you and your team. Discover what LICC has learnt about how to create a whole-life disciplemaking culture, and use our major new resource, Vital Signs, to put that wisdom into practice in your particular church.

‘Whole-life disciplemaking’ means equipping Christians to join in with what God’s doing in every part of their lives – at work, at home, in hobbies, pubs, clubs, and beyond. Because his mission goes far beyond our church-organised programmes, into the whole world. And so do our people. Vital Signs identifies 20 key ways you can put that kind of discipleship at the heart of your church culture.

The day will be led by LICC’s Ken Benjamin, former President of Baptists Together and author of the Vital Signs book, and Vaughan Pollard an Associate Speaker for LICC. Between them, they have decades of experience of both leading whole-life disciplemaking churches and equipping leaders to do the same.

Designed for anyone in any kind of church leadership, this day will be filled with practical advice, biblical insights, and opportunities to discuss with peers from other churches. It’s the perfect way to get equipped and inspired for whole-life ministry. Together, we will:

• Explore the biblical vision for whole-life disciplemaking
• Share principles and processes to make whole-life discipleship possible
• Introduce the 20 vital signs as a practical way to embed whole-life discipleship
• Show you how to make the most of the Vital Signs resources in your own context

Click here to find out more.

A series of five lectures at St.Cuthberts Church, Pateley Bridge, HG3 on Wednesday evenings at 6.30 for 7.00pm between September and January.

• Religious Experience - Wednesday, November 13, 2024
• Faith and Reason - Wednesday, December 11, 2024
• What is Christianity? - Wednesday, January 15, 2025

Whilst booking is not essential, due to high demand it would help if anyone who wants to attend could advise the Revd Darry Hall on horlix@aol.com.

Join us for the 36th Joseph Winter Memorial Lecture, part of a long-standing tradition of distinguished speakers engaging with the ecumenical community. Everyone is warmly invited to attend.

For further details, contact Deacon Ronnie Aitchison. Phone: 07940 110793

Email: ronnie@raitchison.co.uk

Annual Subscriptions will be due & payable on this day. Please bring your own lunch. Everyone is welcome!

Please bring your own robes. New members can be admitted during the Eucharist Service.

If you need any further information, please contact

Chapter Secretary: Sue Middleditch

T: 0113 2643946 M: 07976 209127

E: middleditch@live.com

An invitation to a day nurturing respect and tolerance. The day will be led by Dr Chris Hewer, a Christian Theologian with a thorough understanding of Islam. He will give several talks about representative passages/verses from the Bible & the Quran that highlight to importance of respect & tolerance with other extracts which indicate the problems with disrespect & intolerance. Chris is an engaging & informative speaker who comes from a background in Christian theology, education, Islamic studies and inter-faith studies. He has worked in the field of Muslims in Britain and Christian-Muslim relations since 1986, including 6 years as Adviser on Inter-Faith Relations to the Bishop of Birmingham. The talks will be interspersed with personal testimonies from individuals & groups to demonstrate both good & bad behaviour that they have experienced. The day is free with a delicious buffet at lunchtime.

To book a place & your lunch email nkinterfaith@gmail.com.

An invitation to enjoy singing wonderful traditional choral music in beautiful St Margaret's Church. Rehearsal at 3pm; refreshments at 4.15pm; evensong at 5pm. To book your place, contact Christopher Rathbone on saintmargaretschoirs@gmail.com, by Sunday, November 10. No experience needed!

Join us for a fun evening to raise funds for our redevelopment project. Visit our website at www.allsaintsilkley.org/auction to take a look through our auction catalogue and for more information.

If you can't make it in person on November 23rd, then don't fear! We will take proxy bids by email (auction@allsaintsilkley.org) - let us know the lot you'd like to bid for, your name, email and phone number, and your maximum proxy bid. We will then bid on your behalf, by the bid increment, up to your maximum.

Happy bidding!

Gareth Davies-Jones - singer, songwriter, story-teller and producer has been writing, recording and performing as a professional musician for twenty years. From community halls to concert halls, from rural heartlands to the heart of the city he has travelled the length and breadth of the country armed with a rich distinctive voice and now two decades worth of perceptive and compelling songwriting spanning some sixteen albums and song-writing collaborations. Having garnered a loyal following on the independent roots/acoustic scene, his performances are known for gathering people together, inviting audiences to travel with him into a world of landscapes, history, characters and causes all underpinned with assured vocals and the warmth and vibrancy of a beautifully played array of stringed instruments.

From stories of heroism on the Irish Sea to gentle praise for a beguiling Loire Valley village, from insight into the lives of pitman painters to the moving response of nineteenth century Belfast women to deadly famine, “All Things Come” sets out to share a life in song-writing to warm the heart and soul.

Find out more here.

With Philip Wilby on the organ. Highlights will include Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor and popular organ favourites.

Entry £5 Donation (Children Free)

Proceeds in aid of Holy Trinity Church, Dacre Banks.

The Diocese of Leeds is seeking to appoint a priest or lay person with passion and aptitude for advancing its ambitious racial justice programme. As well as being an experienced, collaborative leader, they will be an inspiring and creative trainer, capable of developing and delivering contextually appropriate training pathways. They will serve as Programme Lead for a funded three year programme with three strands: advancing learning, advancing ministry and advancing engagement. Implementation of the overall programme will be overseen by a programme board, chaired by the Lead Bishop for Racial Justice. Find out more about this role here

Ripon Cathedral wish to appoint the full-time Residentiary Canon Pastor to take the lead in growing the congregations, nurturing new and long-standing disciples, and providing pastoral care. This includes ensuring that there is a suitable provision of pastoral care for the whole Cathedral community. mThere are various parish structures that work alongside the Cathedral structures. The Canon Pastor will chair the Chapter’s Growth Committee. Its membership is made up of representatives of the congregations, including churchwardens, deanery synod reps and licensed lay ministers. The committee oversees the nurture, pastoral care and growth of the congregations, along with their service to the wider community. As Chapter lead for safeguarding (Safeguarding Representative), the Canon Pastor will work closely with the Cathedral Safeguarding Advisor, the Chief Operating Officer (Safeguarding Coordinator) and the Diocesan Safeguarding Team. The Canon Pastor sits on Chapter’s Safeguarding Committee. Find out more about this role here

Please contact the Communications Team with your news for future editions. The Enews is published twice a month. The next edition will be sent out on November 14. All news stories to communications@leeds.anglican.org. Many thanks!