September Advance This is the regular publication containing news of events and our church life. You could help by sending content to advance@stjohnsurcipswich.org.uk Also if you have both a printer and nearby members that a print a copy that would be their only means of reading it. Ensuring you avoid any possible contamination in doing so by using disposable gloves for all stages including posting it through the door. Here are 2 versions: 1 Full Colour & light download 2 Coloured Pictures & Cover for printing

Covid-19 latest news: St John’s URC Ipswich is holding times of Individual Quiet Prayer from 10:30 and beginning on Sunday 13th September will also include the Online Service Projected on Screen starting at 10:45. The church will close at 11:30 More Here

Opening for Individual Prayer and Online Service We hope to open the church starting on Sunday 13th September at 10:30 and the online service will run from 10:45 and finish before we close the church again for the necessary cleaning required at 11:30. • The idea is to avoid too many people arriving at once. You must stay outside St John’s until called forward and stay two metres apart from others waiting to enter. • You must not enter the building if you have any of the symptoms of Covid 19 or feel unwell. • You will need to have a face-covering on at all times, from just before entering the church, until you are outside again. • There will be a one way system to ensure social distancing of two metres is possible. This will be marked by arrows. • You will enter the left hand doors and turn left to enter the sanctuary (there will be hand sanitiser available). • As required by Government for church premises, we will ask you to sign a form to say you agree to our keeping your details; once signed, we will keep that whilst we are operating the church in this way. We will then take your details: See example of the Form below which says we will only keep a note of the date and time of any visit for 21 days. This is to provide the necessary details for NHS Track and Trace, and whilst not compulsory, the elders would urge you to provide this information. • A steward will direct you to a seat which will be socially distanced from others. • There will be no singing possible and you are requested not to engage in conversation with others until you have left and are outside the building. • You will leave the sanctuary via Room 1 as guided by a steward. Despite all the above, we would really love to see you if you can visit safely. If you wish to know more about a Risk Assessment please email the Church Secretary From the Elders of St John’s Consent form for places of worship To support the NHS Test and Trace programme, we are taking contact details (name and telephone number) for all visitors, as well as recording times entering and leaving St John’s URC Ipswich. In line with guidance issued by the Department for Health and Social Care, we will keep your details safely and in compliance with GDPR legislation. We will keep your visit details for 21 days before securely disposing of or deleting them. We will only share your details with NHS Test and Trace, if asked, if it is needed to help stop the spread of Coronavirus. We will not use your details for any other purposes or pass them on to anyone else. Thank you for your understanding. If you agree to providing your information for this reason, please complete the following form: Name Tel. No Signature Date

Hello everyone, my name is Adam and I’m a minister in training from Westminster College and I’ll be spending nine months working with Rev. David Rees in the Ipswich and East churches as my final year placement. I thought you might like to know a bit about me. From the age of four years old I attended Christ Church URC in Hatfield, Herts, prior to this I attended a Church of England Church in Plymouth. Other than the first few years of my childhood I have always been part of the URC. It was at Christ Church I came to faith at 11 years old and became a member a few years later. I was ordained as an Elder at the age of 21. At this church I was Elder for Youth and volunteered as a Youth Leader for a Youth Club for unchurched young people, this included planning an outreach event which attracted over 100 young people when we were expecting only about 30. I attended Boys’ Brigade most of my childhood and served as the Captain of 1st Hatfield Boys’ Brigade and as a national training officer. In 2007 I moved to Bradford and in 2009 I was employed as Senior Youth Worker at The Edge Project, which is part of the work at Holme URC Church, and as a Youth worker at Westfield URC Church in Wyke. I was a serving Elder and also a member of the preaching team at Holme. As part of my role in Wyke, I co-led a Messy Church group in a local primary school and served as a school Governor. I have been an active member of Street Pastor's type organisations, working in the night-time economy for the past 5 years. I have worked as the Senior Pastor leading a group of volunteers ensuring a safe and enjoyable night out for the hundreds of customers of local pubs, clubs and restaurants. A highlight of my time at Westminster was having the privilege of serving as a Police Chaplain for Cambridge Constabulary. I spent time building friendships with police officers and staff, sometimes accompanying them on patrols and being available as a listening ear and to provide pastoral support as needed. I am looking forward to meeting you all, hopefully in person even if it may be via zoom to start with. God Bless, Adam

This story is about the angels that we encounter in our walk through life. A few years ago Robyn and I hired a narrowboat, from the Sawley Marine Center just outside Nottingham and began our big narrowboat adventure. We had never steered a narrowboat, navigated a canal or operated a lock in our lives. Now I can understand the response of most people when we told them our plans, and of our lack of experience. They wished us well, saying that we would have a wonderful time. They were positive and encouraging, but we could detect a note of doubt in their voice, coupled with a knowing look amongst those more experienced in boating! A week before we departed, some dear friends took us on a trip to St Ives, to a manual lock and taught us how it worked. Armed with this knowledge, we left for Nottingham to pick up our boat. After receiving some training by the kind and patient staff of Canal Time, we set off with one of the trainers who helped us through the first double lock, which we shared with a couple called Tim and Julie. We didn’t realise at this time that they were angels in disguise! Then we were on our own, and it was clear that I didn’t have much control of the steering for shortly after setting off, I had the boat heading for the opposite bank. Panic! Going into reverse, I hit the bank behind me. Then our angel Tim appeared again. He had seen that we were in trouble, moored his boat and walked back to us. He came on board and demonstrated how to steer the boat. After dropping him off, he set off ahead of us, telling us to stay close behind and he would see us through the next five double locks. Without our angels, we would never have enjoyed our adventure as much and had such a relaxing, enjoyable experience. As Tim said, ‘this is the most fun you can have at four miles an hour’. The secret to steering a narrowboat is to change direction, you must push the tiller hard over, and then make gentle alterations to keep on course. The mistake that I had been

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making was to try and steer in the same way as driving a car, where small movements of the steering are sufficient to change direction. We have enjoyed the relaxed manner of the trip taking in all the sights and sounds of the canal and enjoying God’s beautiful creation close up. Travelling at four miles per hour allowed us to marvel at the swans and their chicks, and the intricacy of their nests built with such attention to detail. The ducks amused us with their antics fighting amongst each other for any morsel of food. These and many other sights and sounds of the canal reminded us of the beauty of God’s creation which we so often take for granted, much as we sometimes take our relationship with Him for granted. We allow the hectic pace of our lives to rob us of time to spend in God’s presence. It was good to be able to slow down, to stop, and spend some time in His presence, to: ‘be still and know that I am God’ Psalm 46.10. ‘but they who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles’. Isaiah 40. 31 Ernie

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