Churches Together   Mr E Taylor   44 Mellor Rd, New Mills, Tel 01663 745785.

This comes to you from the Christian
Churches of New Mills wishing you all the
good things of the Easter Season.

Jesus Died, Jesus Rose, Jesus Lives

At Easter we celebrate Jesus' victory over evil and death. He was betrayed, tortured and killed, but he forgave those who killed him. Although he had worked miracles to help others he did not lift a finger to help himself, but offered his life to pay the debt for our evil deeds: through his death we can be forgiven. Jesus was killed, dead and buried on the first Good Friday but on the Sunday morning God raised him to life - life which is no longer subject to temptation, evil, sickness or death. Jesus wants to share this life with you. We are not born with it, and we cannot earn it, but God is willing to give it to us - as a gift.

It is my privilege to be number three in writing a piece under the auspices of the “New Mills Churches Together”.

The subject of unity is still far from solved, but for me a few glimmers of the way forward have become clearer.

Many of us have very definite beliefs about God, about what has been done for us in Jesus and about what our duty is. Sometimes we have grown up with these ideas, sometimes we have come to them much later in life. Because God has done so much for us we cherish all that we know of God and cherish our beliefs about God. This is fine.

The problem starts when we meet others, whose faith is just as strong and definite, who seem to believe things very different to our beliefs. We may react with anger or confusion but the experience is seldom a happy one – certainly it was not for me. Yet as time has gone on I have recognised, in people of very different beliefs, a genuine Christian discipleship.

My conclusion has had to be that we are not genuine Christians because we hold specific tenets of theology or church practice but because of something much less tangible. This intangible seems to me to be a genuine relationship with God – a real relationship in which God loves them and they know and love God. This seems to transcend all theologies and church practices.

It is this relationship with God which is, I believe, our point of unity. It is not created by us: God in Christ made us God’s own despite our sinfulness. It is not maintained by us: our security is the love and power of God, not our piety which continues to be laced with sin. In short we are Christians if we are accepted by God and not Christians, however correct our theology or church practice, if we are not accepted by God. We cannot impose our own terms but are immediately accepted if we come on God’s terms.

Therefore in the many Churches Together of which I have been and am a part (I am in four at present), I have found getting on with each other very easy since, if we look for it, that genuine mark of the love of God is plain in Christians of all and every persuasion. If God accepts them then what have I to fear in accepting them too.

Sadly that is not quite the end of the story. I still hold, as does each Christian, various ideas which I believe to be true about God. Many of these beliefs are very dear to me. Yet many of these beliefs are not shared by others. I am tempted on occasion to put my sisters and brothers right in their wrong thinking – as they try to put me right. I cannot do otherwise because I believe many of the things God has shown me to be true; not just true for me but fundamentally true. And yet not all Christians agree with me.

Some would suggest that it does not matter what you believe so long as you love God. I cannot accept this. So much of Scripture tells of God trying, often against great resistance, to convince people of what the truth is. Truth matters because truth is from God.

So we find ourselves one family but deeply divided about the truths of our faith. I do not see in what form this will be resolved but I do know the tool we must use. We must put aside hatred and suspicion, insult and condescension. God loves us and we will uncover the unity we have in God only by loving each other as God loves us.

Geoff Farthing, Superintendent, New Mills Methodist Circuit (May 2001)

Janice & Peter Bird

The letter of Paul to Timothy (1 Tim 1:15) reads: “For this reason Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners”. The central doctrine of the Christian faith is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and this month Jesus’ death and resurrection is particularly remembered by Christians all over the world as we celebrate Easter.

Many children will be delighted to receive chocolate eggs on Easter Sunday morning and will enjoy opening them up, as some will hold a speciality inside. Mums and Dads like chocolate eggs too! The ‘Easter Eggs’ are symbolic of ‘New Life’ and in the days of our parents or grandparents (before chocolate eggs were invented ) chicken eggs were carefully relieved of the yolk and studiously painted with various designs before being given as a special Easter gift. The giving of eggs at Easter began as a representation of the new life that believers have when Jesus Christ comes into one’s life. Sadly the true meaning of the giving of eggs in this way has been somehow lost through the passing years. However as Christians we can be secure in the promise of our ‘New Life’ both here on earth and in heaven.

Easter Sunday is a time for Christians all around the world to celebrate and rejoice together, and the song that will be on our lips is – “He is Risen”. In our town of New Mills ( a small corner of God’s vineyard), we can celebrate in our different churches and be one as part of God’s family. In the book of Revelation 1:8 the risen Jesus says “I am He who lives and was dead and behold I am alive for evermore”. Brethren, we have the blessed hope before us that we shall never see death because death is just passing over to life to be with our Lord where we will be for evermore.

We all want to see God’s blessing on our town of New Mills. We would love to see the churches full with people from our town. An important key to release God’s blessing is unity – For where there is unity God commands the blessing (Ps 133). Let us endeavour to be a people united in our faith, although we worship in our different buildings let us remember always that if we are in the faith, we are part of God’s family here in New Mills. May God richly bless you this Easter time.

Peter Bird, Christian Revival Church (April 2001)

My Dear Friends. Churches Together in New Mills.

In Chapter Seventeen of St.John’s Gospel, Jesus prays for those who will follow Him in these words:

“I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message. I pray that they may all be one. Father! May they be in us, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they be one, so that the world will believe you sent me” (Verses 20,21: Good News Bible)

These words are part of the last of four chapters of most inspiring teaching which St. John represents Jesus as giving at the Last Supper, on the very night before he died on the cross. In them Our Lord not only prays that His followers may be one, but also gives a reason for this: so that the world would believe that God His Father sent Him.

Sadly Our Lord’s clearly expressed will has by no means always been obeyed by His followers in Christian history. Quite early on, the Orthodox Churches of the East split from the Western Catholic Church. Then about 500 years ago, the Reformation led to the breaking away of the Anglican and Protestant Churches from Roman Catholicism. To our shame, differences of understanding and emphasis led at one time to bitter and violent controversies between Christians. However, the twentieth century saw a coming back together of Christians from different denominations, in a sincere attempt to seek to recover that unity which is the Lord’s will for His church. That journey of reconciliation continues today, and as part of it Christians from different churches co-operate in communities all across the country, just as we do here in Churches Together in New Mills.

At a recent meeting of this organisation, we paused to reflect and had a very fruitful discussion on what we do, how effective we are, and what our priorities for the future should be. There was a feeling that while Churches Together in New Mills is a good and active group, not all the members of the different churches are aware of what it does. One way of addressing this was that each of the clergy, agreed to write an article which would be published simultaneously in one another’s church magazines.

We all value your prayers for ourselves and our church members, that together we may see ourselves to be members of the Body of Christ in this town. May we work increasingly closely with all our fellow Christians in New Mills to learn More of Our Lord and His great love for us, and to share the good news of that love with all amongst whom we live.

With my love and prayers,
Fr. David Murdoch, Vicar, St.George with St.James C of E Churches, New Mills (March 2001).

We give you a warm welcome to come and worship with us at any of our Church Services, as we believe Jesus is indeed alive today -

Christian Revival Church Revd. Peter Bird 01663 746941
(AOG Pentecostal Church), High Street.
Sundays 10.30 am Family Service with Sunday School
Sundays 6.30 pm Evening Service
Thursdays 6.00 pm Royal Rangers for 5-15 year olds
Fridays 7.00 pm Youth meeting for 12-17 year olds

Church of England, Revd. Father David Murdoch 01663 743225
Parish Church of St George and St James’ Church
Sundays 8.00 am Holy Eucharist at St James
Sundays 9.30 am Parish Eucharist and Sunday School at St Georges
Sundays 6.30 pm Evensong at St Georges
Eucharist, Morning and Evening Prayer Daily Except Mondays

Methodist, Revd. Dr Geoffrey Farthing 01663 742331
Low Leighton, Brookbottom and St James’ Church
Sundays 10.30 am At Low Leighton Chapel, High Hill Road
Except 11.00 am Family Worship on 2nd Sunday, Contact P. Deacon 743629
Sundays 10.30 am At Brookbottom Chapel, Brookbottom, A. Beard 742925
Sundays 11.00 am At St James Church, Spring Bank Road, N. Lloyd 745234

Roman Catholic Church, Revd. Father John Cairns 0161 427 2408
Church of the Annunciation, St Mary’s Road
Sundays 9.30 am and 6.00 pm Mass
Holydays 9.15 am and 7.30 pm Mass
Confessions After mass at 10.00 am as requested, and 7.00-7.30
Baptisms and weddings by Appointment

United Reformed Church, Revd. Jane Barron 0161-427-2231
Providence Church, Mellor Road
Sundays 10.30 am Sunday Morning service, Children Welcome
Monthly United Evening Service with Marple and Marple Bridge Churches 6.30pm