News from the Methodist Church nationally

News from the Lancaster Methodist Church

The sponsored cycle ride for Christian Aid along Morecambe Promenade took place on Saturday 10th May 2008:

During Lent 2008 we followed the theme of Diving Deeper into God. Each Sunday morning's service took an aspect of this theme as we prepared for Holy Week and Easter.

The 2007 Christmas Tree Festival was held at The Cornerstone for the first time. It was good to see so many people supporting this event, especially on the Saturday. Over £170 was raised for local and national charities.

Our 2007 Harvest Appeal was for Aquaboxes. Enough was raised to pay for three boxes and an additional donation. In due course we will be able to find out where among the world's disaster zones the boxes were sent. Wherever it is they will supply much needed safe drinking water and other supplies.

On 18th March 2007 we decided to give a new name to our central Lancaster premises - The Cornerstone. Read all about the new initiatives there on the Fresh Expressions page of this website.

In February 2006 our Church Council passed a resolution to become a Fairtrade Church, committing us to:

• Use Fairtrade tea and coffee for all meetings for which we have responsibility

• Move forward on using other Fairtrade products such as biscuits, sugar and fruit

• Promote the FAIRTRADE Mark at events during Fairtrade Fortnight – and through other activities whenever possible.

We are building links with the Methodist church in Uruguay - among other initiatives we have been raising money to help them buy essential food, medical and other supplies for people in their neighbourhood. We have also welcomed visitors from Uruguay while young people from the District have visited the church there.

Each year we support Christian Aid Week through house-to-house collections and other activities. In 2007 we broke all records for these collection: now for 2008!