Our men's ministry groups start up this month!

Please be praying for the men in our church as they come together to pray, study the word and are welcomed to be vulnerable and open with other brothers in Christ. Be praying that God would encourage and challenge them, that they would deepen in their love for Jesus and for those around them.

Legacy is a family made up of church members and members of the wider community who are over 60 and enjoy friendship, care and connection together.

Join us from 10:30am-1pm this Thursday for an interesting presentation, a cup of tea or coffee and a delicious lunch!

If you fit into the over 60s demographic (even if you look much younger than 60!) you would be so welcome to join us! 

The prayer meeting on Monday 14th September is cancelled due to Malpas road works between 8pm-5am every night next week.

The next prayer will be on Monday 28th September.

We’ve just added a new memory verse playlist to our Christchurch Kids Spotify! It’s a collection of songs linked to the memory verses that will be taught in classes throughout the year ahead, in order from January to December.
 
Here’s the link!  
 

It’s back to school and back to work! Whether the next few weeks feel exciting or daunting for you, know that the Lord goes with you wherever you go.

We have lots of courses and events starting up again this month - come along to our Joshua Bible study series or our New Life in Christ course for new Christians.

Lots happening! Lots to look forward to even amongst the chaos of new beginnings!

3rd: CAP Money Course
4th: Kids Summer Challenge ends
9th: Board Games Evening
10th: CAP Money Course
12th: Teddy Bear Picnic
14th: Prayer Meeting
17th: Legacy
22nd: Joshua Bible Study
22nd: New Life in Christ
28th: Prayer Meeting
29th: Joshua Bible Study
29th: New Life in Christ

Christchurch Kids! Are you ready for a new year?

We will be moving up this Sunday, the 6th of September. The first Bridge of the new year is also taking place on Sunday 6th September!

All the changes mentioned below will also take place on this date.

Below is a list of the ages for each class. Please take note if it will impact your child/ren:

Babies- 6-18 months
Toddlers- 18 months- 3 years
Adventurers- School Nursery & Reception (3-5 yrs)
Builders- School years 1 and 2
Conquerors- School years 3-4
Discoverers- School years 5-6
The Bridge- School years 7-9
 
Classrooms

Every September there is a slight change in our class sizes which means we sometimes have to change the rooms about to accommodate the size of each class. This year this will impact our Builders and Conquerors who will be having a room swap! Builders will meet in Room 2 (the old conquerors room) and Conquerors will meet on the Landing.

Therefore, Builders parents we would now ask you to use the main stairs to drop your child off instead of using the stairwell up to the Landing.

Consent forms

Every parent with a child in Christchurch Kids (including the Bridge) will have received an email asking for updated consent for your child to attend Christchurch Kids. To help Sunday 6th September's registration team and avoid any queues, it would really serve if you completed this as soon as possible. Please check your emails or complete it via this link. 

We still have a couple of gaps in our rota and need some people to fill them. If you'd like to get involved, please drop Lindsey an email at lindsey@christchurchnewport.co.uk 

All Toddlers and Adventurers and their families are invited to a Teddy Bear’s Family Picnic at Christchurch on Saturday 12th September!

This is an event we would love for you to invite other families too so be thinking about who you could bring along!

Parents are asked to bring a picnic and a picnic blanket for their family. We'd love for the kids to bring their favourite fluffy toy or teddy with them to enjoy the picnic!

There will be lots of fun activities to enjoy including balloon modelling, bubbles AND a puppet show so it’s going to be so much fun!

We will hopefully be eating together outside on the grass so please pray for good weather!

Sign up here!

On 22nd September we are diving back into our Bible studies in Joshua.

This Bible study is for everyone, even if you haven’t been able to make the previous Joshua studies, you would be really welcome to come along! All that we ask is that you arrive promptly and that you read chapters 8, 9 and 10 ahead of the studies.

Sign up on the app!

CHANGE OF DATE!

Board Games evening which would normally take place on September 2nd has been moved to September 9th.

See you there with the normal board games, great coffee and strategic-minded people!

New Life in Christ is a five-week course for new Christians and those wanting to learn and understand more about the Christian faith starting on the 22nd September at 7:30pm in Christchurch.

The course is an introduction to the basics of the Christian faith and life. We will look at what the Bible is and what it is about, how Jesus saves us, what the church is, what life as a Christian looks like and what it’s ultimately all about.

Sign up here!

Join us for a prayer meeting on Monday 31st August.

We will be praying for our young people as September brings lot of change as children  begin nursery, move into new years groups in school, or transition to high school. Teens and EPIC who will starting back next week and our Christchurch Kids will also be moving up classes. We will be covering all of these big but exciting changes in prayer.

These prayer meetings are informal, you will not be forced to pray out loud, we simply love to meet together to encourage one another to pray to a good God who cares for us and cares about what's going on in the world around us.

If you have served as a team leader at Christchurch Kids this year, you are warmly invited to a BBQ at Christchurch Centre at 7.30pm on Monday 21st September.

This is an opportunity for us to thank you for all your hard work and commitment in leading our kids’ work teams over the past year.

We’d also love it to be a relaxed opportunity to share some highlights from the year. So if you’d like to, think about any memorable moments or how you’ve seen God at work in your team and in the lives of our kids; that would be great. There’s absolutely no pressure to prepare or share anything — just come along and enjoy the evening!

We’d really love as many of our Team Leaders as possible to be able to join us, so if childcare is needed, please do consider arranging a babysitter for the evening. We hope this will make it possible for everyone to come along and enjoy some time together.

Please sign up using the link.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Every parent with a child in Christchurch Kids (including the Bridge) will have received an email last week to ask for updated consent for your child to attend Christchurch Kids.

If you haven't managed to update this yet, it would really help us if you could complete this as soon as possible. Please check your emails or complete it via this link.

Legacy is a family made up of church members and members of the wider community who are over 60 and enjoy friendship, care and connection together.

Our next meeting is this Thursday 20th August from 10:30-1pm.

Anyone over 60 is welcome!

We’re running another Money Coaching course over two weeks on the 3rd Sept and 10th Sept 10am-12pm.

Money coaching is a free service designed to empower you with the knowledge, budgeting skills and confidence to better manage your finances. This course is for anyone who wants to learn helpful tips for managing their finances better.

The link to the sign up page is here!

Christchurch Kids! Are you ready for a new year?

We can't wait to have everyone back together again after the summer and wanted to give you the heads up on a couple of changes...

Changeover date

This year our classes will be moving up on Sunday 6th September. All the changes mentioned below will also take place on this date.

Here's the ages for each class, please take note if it will impact your child/ren:

Babies- 6-18 months
Toddlers- 18 months- 3 years
Adventurers- School Nursery & Reception (3-5 yrs)
Builders- School years 1 and 2
Conquerors- School years 3-4
Discoverers- School years 5-6
The Bridge- School years 7-9
 
Classrooms

Every September there is a slight change in our class sizes which means we sometimes have to change the rooms about to accommodate the size of each class. This year this will impact our Builders and Conquerors who will be having a room swap! Builders will meet in Room 2 (the old conquerors room) and Conquerors will meet on the Landing.

Therefore, Builders parents we would now ask you to use the main stairs to drop your child off instead of using the stairwell up to the Landing.

Consent forms

Every parent with a child in Christchurch Kids (including the Bridge) will have received an email asking for updated consent for your child to attend Christchurch Kids. To help Sunday 6th September's registration team and avoid any queues, it would really serve if you completed this as soon as possible. Please check your emails or complete it via this link: https://ccnewport.churchsuite.com/-/forms/rgxkfrzi

The Bridge

The first Bridge of the new year is also taking place on Sunday 6th September.

Gaps in our rota

We still have a couple of gaps in our rota and need some people to fill them. If you'd like to get involved, please drop Lindsey an email.

We hope some of you are already enjoying the Christchurch Kids Summer Reading and Listening Challenge! If you haven't got involved yet, it's not too late!

If your family is looking for something to enjoy together on a long car journey, we really recommend the Faith in Families podcast episodes here. 

Or why not try The Biggest Story episodes here?

To record your points and find out how many points each item earns you, simply use the online form via the link or scan the QR code displayed on the poster above The Book Nook. You can also find a list of reading and listening suggestions on this link!

Prizes
Children who collect 100 points or more will receive a special goody bag at our Kids Celebration Gathering in September! There will also be extra prizes for our top three point scorers. Our overall winner will receive a family takeaway pizza to enjoy!

Join us at 7:30pm next Monday (17th August) as we come together as a church family to pray for our Mercy Ministries.

Linda, who leads our CAP (Christians Against Poverty) team at Christchurch will be joining us to give us an update on their work and some specific points for prayer.

Can you believe it's been nearly 10 years since we released Stronghold? And we can still sing with confidence that grace has been our story!

This week, why not listen to the album again as part of your personal devotional time, reminding yourself of the truth and joy of God's Word.

Listen to Stronghold here!

Summer Sports Academy! ⚽️

If you are in Conquerors or Discoverers, we have a really exciting event for you next week!

Come along and learn some ball skills, play with friends, and compete in plenty of fun-filled team challenges and activities! We will also make time to read the Bible together and learn more about Jesus who loves us and made our bodies to be able to play sport and do fun things!

Lunch will be provided. Parents are asked to accompany their child to this event and to sign both themselves and their child up via the form below.

Sign up here!

We've started to wind down a bit at Christchurch for summer. But please still join us at our regular prayer meetings throughout August, and if you are over 60+, Legacy is on as usual.

August dates for your diary

3rd: Prayer Meeting
5th: Board Games Evening
15th: Summer Sports Academy    
17th: Prayer Meeting
20th: Legacy
31st: Prayer Meeting

Christchurch FC Return to the Pitch in Six-Goal Thriller!

Christchurch FC made their long-awaited return to action two weekends ago, taking to the pitch in Aberdare for their first friendly match in nearly a decade against Oasis Church.
After a fast-starting Oasis side went 2–0 ahead, a resilient Christchurch side dug deep, battling back to level the match at 2–2. Oasis ultimately scored two late goals to seal a 4–2 victory.

It was fantastic to see some experienced, familiar faces alongside an exciting new generation of debutants making their mark.

Looking ahead to entering the Welsh Churches Football League next season, Christchurch FC need volunteers who would be willing to give up and hour or two of their time every week for key off-pitch roles, including Treasurer, Secretary, Chairman, and Administrator.

We are also currently raising funds for a new kit. If you would like to sponsor the team, suggest fundraising ideas, or put your hand up to help run the club, please get in touch!

Email the church office or contact Jon Graham directly on 07377404842

In our most recent prayer meeting, we brought our new prime minister and new government before God and asked for his wisdom and love to be poured out into the hearts of those in charge of our country.

Let's continue to lift up our government in prayer - that Christians in Parliament would be united in their love for Jesus and would be able to create good discussion that crosses political lines.

Join us next Monday (August 3rd) when we come together to pray again. We believe in a God that cares about the biggest challenges in our world and also the smallest details of our lives. We can come to him with everything. What a wonderful truth!

Did you know that hospitals in Wales require 350 donations a day to support patients in need? We can’t supply our hospitals in Wales without donors! Giving blood is quick, simple and entirely safe. And the best part? You’re saving lives.

Welsh Blood Service returns to Christchurch on the 4th August. There are still a number of spots to fill in the afternoon.

Book your slot here.