News

Crown Court Church Choir and friends will once again be singing carols under the Christmas Tree in Trafalgar Square and raising money for Christian Aid. Our slot this year is on Sunday 17 December from 2pm to 3pm. All are welcome.

Carol sheets will be provided for singers and collecting buckets for collectors. For further details contact Shona Campbell, Christian Aid Coordinator.

Join our team of volunteers at Crown Court Church and learn how to use a defibrillator at our training session. We do not have a date yet for our training session but it will be soon. The only thing we require is your willingness to help.

If you’re interested in being a part of our team, please contact the church administrator for more information.

Our Christmas Cards are back! Send your friends and family Christmas cheer with a picture of Crown Court Church.  Cost is £1 per card with no discount for bulk ordering. If you are unable to attend church, they can be sent to you. Please contact the church administrator to arrange for postage, with an additional fee applied. 

The Advent Book for Christmas this year is “The First Christmas” by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. The book looks at how the different Gospels teach us about Jesus’s birth. Rev Scott Rennie will be leading the study. There will be 3 sessions in the church hall starting from 19 November at 6pm.

It would be advantageous to read the book before the first session. The book is available on Amazon. If you are interested in joining or have any questions please speak to the minister or the church administrator.

Let’s make the church sparkle with an autumn clean. The clean is scheduled for Saturday 11 November. Anytime you can spare would be greatly appreciated. Lunch will be proved.

Ian Gilbert, former Crown Court Elder and Session Clerk, sadly died on 18 September 2023.  His funeral will be held on Friday 20 October at 3 pm at Bournemouth Crematorium. 

You are invited to attend a Congregational Meeting on Sunday 15 October at 1pm in the church hall to review and discuss the Branding project which the Outreach & Heritage Committee has been working on in conjunction with the new website.  For more details please contact the Session Clerk Sheena-J Clark on clerk@crowncourtchurch.org.uk.    

Thank you to all who gave so generously in our retiring offering on 1 October for Westminster Food Bank. We raised £238.45 – the majority of which was ‘gift-aided’, meaning a huge boost for the charity and the work they do.
 
If you missed the offering on Sunday, we will be collecting foodstuffs on Sunday 15 October at the Harvest service. 
 
If you would like to give foodstuffs at the harvest service, Westminster Food Bank have requested the following non-perishable items:

UHT Milk
Long Life Fruit Juice
Pasta Sauce
Rice Pudding/Custard/Sponge Pudding
Tinned Fruit
Tinned Tomatoes
Jam/Marmalade
Tinned Vegetables
Meat Soup
Sugar

They have requested that there are no donations of Pasta or Teabags.

If you would rather give money, so you don’t need to carry the tins to church, this will also be gratefully received, and a supply of gift aid forms will be made available.

This year, our Service of Thanksgiving will be part of our regular morning worship on Sunday 5 November, when Holy Communion will also be celebrated. During this service we will remember and give thanks for members of our congregation, family and friends who are no longer with us.

If you have lost a loved one in 2022 or 2023 and would like their name to be read out at this service, please let the church administrator know, either by emailing office@crowncourtchurch.org.uk or by phoning 020 7836 5643.

There will also be an opportunity for all those attending the service to light a candle in memory of loved ones who have passed away either recently or in years gone by, should they wish to do so.

The Book of Remembrance will be available to view after the service.

The Presbytery of England and the Channel Isles
Saturday 14 October 2023. Crown Court Church.

As part of the Presbytery meeting being held in London Crown Court Church Hall there will be an open session in the afternoon, running from 12.45 to 3pm, which anyone is welcome to attend – not just those who are members of Presbytery. Attendance can be either onsite or online. Details of the log in will be circulated, or can be obtained from Alistair Cumming Presbytery Clerk. acumming@churchofscotland.org.uk

We are delighted that that session will be facilitated by Rev. Eleanor McMahon and Very Rev. Dr. Martin Fair who will be travelling down from the Church Offices in Edinburgh to join us for the weekend. Between them, Eleanor and Martin have sixty years of experience in ordained ministry but since earlier this year, they’ve assumed national roles focusing on:

• Encouraging more men and women to consider whether God might be calling them to ministry
• Examining what new pathways into ministry might be opened up to open the way for those for whom the traditional route is not suitable
• Overhauling the way in which we prepare people for the various ministries of the Church, keeping in mind the very changed circumstances facing us in the 21^st century
• Supporting candidates for ministry through their discernment, assessment, formation and into the early years of ministry

 Have you ever considered that there might be a calling upon your life? Or do you know someone in whom you see the necessary gifts? Or would you simply like to know more about what the Church is planning and doing to address some of the major challenges facing us in these days?
 
This day is for you.
 
And beyond the particular business of ministry, Eleanor and Martin will offer an introduction to the recently-launched Church of Scotland Learning platform and various others of the initiatives currently being piloted and launched.
 
Information and inspiration together with plenty of opportunity for discussion and questions and answers. Come and be a part of it.