Charles Le Jeune Throughout my time at Holy Trinity Charles has been responsible for the ushering teams at the 10.30 service week by week and how well he has done it! Not only has he organised it with near military precision but he has also permeated it with his deep warmth and great personality. To those of us in the pastoral ministry responsible for the maintenance of regular worship it is such a blessing when you know that a certain major area of responsibility is totally taken care of. This Charles has done consistently, thoroughly and throughout the eleven years that he has been in the role of Chief Usher (in four of which he was also Church Warden). Altogether Charles has served for 33 years as an Usher. His record is only surpassed by the late Willy Demoustiez (certainly in modern times). We all want to express our warm appreciation to Charles as a congregation and thank him sincerely for his hard work, total reliability and faithfulness. He will retain his ‘Beadle’ responsibilities (matters of petty church discipline!) in the church for which we are all delighted. His successor will be announced at the 10.30 service this morning.

Prayer Meeting The Council invites you to join them for prayer in the Conference Room tomorrow night (Monday) at 20.00 for our monthly prayer meeting.

This month Archbishop Rowan Williams will take his seat formally in Canterbury Cathedral (27 February). He will have to face many issues including the future of Anglicanism itself. During Lent this year we will attempt to examine three of those issues with tapes from the conference on the ‘Future of Anglicanism Conference’ at Wycliffe Hall, Oxford, last July. The dates and three subjects I have chosen are:

·                                  Wednesday 12 March: The Interface with Islam. Tape by Dr Patrick Sookhdeo of the Barnabas Fund.

·                                  Wednesday 26 March: Sexuality. Tape by Martin Hallett (True Freedom Trust) with special emphasis on same sex relationships.

·                                  Tuesday 8 April: Environmental Issues. Tape by Peter Harris (A Rocha).

 

Each will be followed by a period of discussion. All three are burning issues for which we need a Christian mind. You are welcome to join us in the Conference Room on these dates.

Convalescent period At the end of this month three months will have passed since my operation for a new hip. I hope therefore to be back on ‘full power’ by the beginning of March.                                                               Nigel Walker

 

 

TODAY

At 10.30 during Communion, Jean-Pierre Herman, Assistant Chaplain, will speak on ‘Run to win’.

At 14.00 during a service of healing, Isaac Mensah, Assistant Chaplain, will speak on ‘The compassionate saviour’.

At 19.00 during Evening Praise, Sally Steen will speak on Luke 8.19 – 21: ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’

 

COMING SOON . . .

Next Saturday Another fun morning working for the Centenary Renovation Project!! Come between 8.00 and 13.00 in warm, old clothes to sandpaper, paint or do any of 1001 other jobs. The air’s a bit chilly but the fellowship’s very warm.

Alpha This 12 week course on the building blocks of Christianity continues on Thursday 20 February starting at 19.00 and finishing at 21.30. A hot meal will be served each week, followed by a short talk, questions and small group discussion. The venue is c/o Carolyn Walker Rue François Debelder 11, 1200 Woluwe St-Lambert, Brussels (very close to metro stop Tomberg). More information from Filip Ameloot at amelootfilip@hotmail.com The cost of the meal is €5, the Alpha manual is €2.50. Unemployed and students can come for free; please let one of the Chaplains know if you need a subsidy.

The Ambassadors for Christ (The youth group from the 14.00 congregation) would like to invite you to attend the Ron Kenoly concert on 21 February at 19.00 at Forest National. The Ambassadors will be part of the 300-voice choir backing up Mr Kenoly, who is a world-renowned Gospel singer. Admission tickets cost €10 (no reserved seating). For tickets or more information, contact Cheryl McCoy on 0494 11 01 50.

Oasis - Counselling Training for Christians Certificate in Counselling (also known as Level 1). Oasis are running this course in conjunction with PhilippiTrust. It is recognised by the Association of Christian Counsellors.  It will run in two sections Thursday 6 (evening only) - Saturday 8 March, and Thursday 20 (evening only) - Saturday 22 March. The cost is €185 payable at the beginning of the course. This course is a great follow on for those who have done Acorn Christian Listeners or who would like to learn more about Christian counselling. For more details there are leaflets at the back of church today with all the contact addresses and details. Oasis Counselling Centre 02/502 32 72

'The Belgian Partnership – workers amongst Turks' is organising a training and information day on how to live and work with Turkish Muslims, what are the differences between our faiths and what attitudes should be adopted or avoided. The session will take place on Saturday 15 March from 9.30 to 16.00 at the Christen Gemeenschap, Lakenmakersstraat, Mechelen, both in English and in Dutch. Cost €4 per person including photocopies and food. To register, please e-mail lwborkes@pi.be.

DITT (Dyslexia International – Tools and Technologies asbl) are pleased to invite you to hear and meet Lee Pascal and Susan van Alsenoy, experts on study skills, dyslexia and learning differently, who will be talking about helping children to succeed in school, overcoming the nightmare homework can be and offering teachers support. This will be from 16.00 – 18.00 on Wednesday 19 March at 1 rue Defacqz, B-1000 Brussels, from where tickets at € 15 each can be purchased or places booked. Phone 02/537 70 66.

NW Europe Archdeaconry Retreats 2003 Two Lenten Retreats will be held in the Netherlands: 4 - 6 April: Conductor: Rt Rev Dr Geoffrey Rowell, Bishop of the Diocese in Europe. 11 - 13 April: Conductor: The Reverend Jonathan Goodall, Chaplain & Research Assistant to the Diocesan Bishop in Europe. More details at the back of church.

 

INFORMATION

The Mission focus for February is the Karen/Karenni people. They are ethnic minorities persecuted by the military junta of Burma. On the mission board in the porch and on the notice board near the coffee area you will find warm letters of thanks to you from orphanages and a Bible College.  There are also prayer booklets for the Global Day of Prayer for Burma, 9 March. The loose plate collections at all 4 services this Sunday will be sent to old people in the refugee camps, these are WW2 veterans who receive no pension, and only have their medals to show.  Thank you for all the support given so generously.

Tuesday morning Bible Study Just to let you know that the new Tuesday morning Bible study is underway and we will be looking at 'Women like us' - a study of women in the Bible. We meet at Ilka Tank's house, Chaussée de la Hulpe 439, 1170 Watermael Boitfort, each Tuesday morning from 9.30 - 11.00 and there is a crèche for those with small children.  All are welcome.  For more information
contact either Ilka Tank on 02/675 52 10 or Helen Walley 02/354 59 85 or
helen.walley@belgacom.net and we can send a programme for the term.

Due to a shortage of volunteers, we can only offer a supervised crèche 3 Sundays a month. The room in Church House is of course still available but there will be no helpers there today and on 16 March. More volunteers would be highly appreciated. Pease contact Gayl Russell on 02/649 11 30 or gaylr@skynet.be.

The church office regularly receives news and instructions from the U.S. Embassy. The information will be posted up on the 'Community news' notice board. If however you are an American citizen and would like to receive this personally, you should register at the embassy and be added to their mailing list.

 

Items for the Newsletter Please send these by 9.00 on Tuesdays by e-mail to David.Iliff@Pandora.be or to the Church Office.