This Week - CAP Sunday

This Sunday is Christians Against Poverty Sunday. With rising costs of living and higher levels of inflation the numbers of people struggling with debt is spiraling and the statistics suggest the situation is only going to get worse. Yet… in the midst of this deep darkness there is real hope. This week we will be seeing how your involvement with Christians Against Poverty is providing practical help to many. We are so grateful to those who are part of our CAP team, those who pray regularly for the work of CAP and all those who give financially to our church to enable us to undertake this important work.

This CAP Sunday we will be finding out how people are being released from their debt and much more besides. Natalie Gavan our CAP Debt Centre Manger will be guiding us through. Do join us if you are able.

Click here to watch a powerful video in which Melinda shares her story of finding hope and breaking free from debt.

As a Church we are delighted to support and fund both Natalie Gavan and Steve Worts, in part-time roles, to offer help to those struggling with debt and we rejoice to see members of our church family also serving week by week.

To increase your planned giving or make a one off donation to our Church to enable us to continue to support and expand this area please click here.

Children’s groups will continue this week and refreshments will be served both before and after the service.

Kea Feast

Please join us this Sunday for our annual Kea Feast at Old Kea Church at 3.30pm. Marc Baker will be leading the service and there will be scones and hot drinks served afterwards.

Tear Fund Quiz and Harvest donations

Wendy writes… “I would like to say thank you to everyone who came to the Big Quiz and for all the help setting up, clearing away and, especially, with the technology needed. The latest news regarding the Quiz is that we've received £700, but there is still time to donate so this may not be the final figure.

251.5 kg of food were donated on Sunday morning at Kea which is fantastic. Huge thanks to everyone who brought in a gift. That's equivalent to about 420 meals.”

We’re also very thankful to Wendy for all that she did last weekend.

Creation Care

Chris & Annabelle South write “As part of our harvest celebrations last week, we considered Micah 6 v8 and what it means to "act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God" in the context of the cost of living and climate crises. As a practical step, everyone was invited to register with the Creation Care website, which will help each of us find ways to live more just and sustainable lives. For those who were unable to be at the service, this short Tearfund video provides some background. When you register on the creationcare website, you have the option to link your account to a church: if you select St Kea church, we will be alerted if your household reaches an award level - we'd love to be in a position to give out some awards in the new year!”

This Week - The Words of the Amen

This week, we come to the end of Jesus’ letter to the church as we look at the final three churches. If Jesus’ words last week were shocking, His words this week are sobering. He writes to a dying church, a weak church and a lukewarm church... but the reason He writes is because He loves his church and for each of these churches there is real hope.

It can be hard thinking about our life together as Jesus speaks to us. Maybe, as you come to this final section, spend some time praying that Jesus’s words would come in power. At the end of each ‘letter’, Jesus says, “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches”. I assume that is because we find it hard to hear. Let’s pray we might have ears to hear this week.

Youth Weekend Away

This weekend lots of our 11-18 year olds are heading off on a Youth Weekend Away. They are going to Heatree Activity Centre in beautiful Dartmoor for an activity-packed weekend. We are really grateful for Ben Ireland who is going to be providing teaching from God’s word on the theme of ‘Living in light of eternity’ and to all those involved in cooking, transport and running extra sessions and activities.

As a church family, let’s commit ourselves to praying for the young people who are going and the whole team.

Join us next week

We will be gathering to share fellowship, praise God, hear ministry updates and pray together on Wednesday 18th October. Come at 7pm to spend time with others, with food and refreshments. The meeting will start at 7.30pm.

Launch Day - 16th October

You are all welcome to join Dockyard Lounge for a coffee, lunch, or a play on Mondays 10am-2pm. If you are interested in supporting this project, they still have some equipment to buy and need volunteers to help set up and close down. Please click the image above (website link) for opportunities to give funds and volunteer time.

This is a wonderful expression of unity as members of five local churches and the community come together to form this new team. Please join the Dockyard in praying: for the team as they serve; for the logistics that come with running a pop-up cafe; and that they would reach those most in need. 

Living in Love and Faith

Many will know that, for the past few years, the Church of England has been undertaking a process called ‘Living in Love and Faith’, and exploring the possibility of introducing prayers of blessing for people in same sex relationships. Our ministers (Marc and Hugh) have written to the church family in relations to media coverage earlier this year. You can read their previous letters from January 23 and February 23 by following the links below. Our Parochial Church Council (the trustees of our church) continue to have LLF developments on their agenda. Marc and Hugh have also been joining some Small Groups that have requested visits to answer questions (and they are very happy to continue visiting any Small Groups who request it).

For some time, the St Kea Leadership Team have been seeking to also host a meeting for church family members so they can hear more from Marc and Hugh and have a chance to ask questions. The week after next we have no scheduled midweek Small Groups or Prayer/Fellowship Meetings, so we are inviting members from St Kea or Christ Church to an informal meeting at St Kea - Wednesday 25th, 7:30-9:00pm.

As that meeting is during half-term we know that some people might not be able to attend. If that is your situation, and you would like us to organise an additional meeting at another time so you can attend, do contact either Marc or Hugh. Also, if you wish to discuss any of this individually with either Marc or Hugh, or seek their support, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Light Party - 31st October

Join us this year for a fun-filled party, including games, crafts, food, music and a short talk from the Bible. The party is aimed at all primary school aged children and their families. It is being run for all the churches across Trinity between 4 - 5.30pm at St Kea Church.

We’d love to see many coming along, so do sign up if you have primary age children yourself and do consider who to invite. Please do also get in touch if you could help us run this event, there are all sorts of roles that you could serve in.

Key Dates

Kea Feast - Old Kea Church - 15th October - 3.30pm

Dockyard Lounge Launch - Hendra Hall - 16th October - 12pm-2pm

St Kea Fellowship Evening - 18th October - 7.30pm

Chance to talk about LLF - 25th October - 7:30-9:00pm

Living with Loss Memorial Service - 29th October - 3pm

Light Party - 31st October at St Kea Church - 4-5.30pm

Weekly Prayer Points

Each week there will be a few things for our church life and church family that we can join together in praying for:

1. Please pray for all our young people who will be going to Heatree this weekend. We pray that this will be a great time of growing together as a group and deepening their faith. We also give thanks for all the leaders who are giving up their time to take this group.

2. Let us pray for our mission partners Compassion UK and for the ongoing support of the sponsors which are helping Compassion-supported children receive routine health screenings that enable local staff to monitor the health of sponsored children.

3. Please pray for the awful violence that has been taking place between Israel and Palestine this week since the attack launched by Hamas. The death toll in Israel from the Hamas attacks has reached 1,200 - while more than 1,100 people have been killed by Israeli air strikes on Gaza. Please pray for God’s comfort for all those traumatised and grieving and for some sort of peaceful resolution to be possible.