CHAPLAIN'S NOTES

Centenary Renovation Project We are delighted that from tomorrow our contractor. Pierre Compté, commences work on the project. It has been a long time in coming, with a number of anxious moments along the way. There will be a few practical adjustments to be made. From today, the side door will not be accessible or the pigeon holes (which will be moved as soon as the partition is erected in the church). Those who need to access the church will have to use the garden door and then enter through one of the vestries. Please speak to our administrator Vicki, if you need access outside of normal Sunday service hours.

Secondly, it will be important to continue in prayer for three things, firstly the safety of the workers on our site. Various walls and a staircase will be demolished which will be a dangerous operation. Please pray daily that there will be no accidents. We have appointed a safety officer (required under Belgian law) but he will not be on site all of the time. Secondly, please continue to pray towards our new gift day on 8 June. If you did not receive a letter from us before now, please use one of the forms you will have received today to make your pledge on that Sunday. We are very thankful to you all, for the generosity we have received this far. Let us continue in trusting God for the rest of the monies needed.

Thirdly, please continue to uphold Richard Craddock in your prayers together with the contractor and the building committee, namely: myself, Gareth Llewelyn, Mark Madeley and Andrew Johnson, as we take decisions on your behalf. If you have any concerns at all, please do not hesitate to contact one of us.

Ascension Day Service On Thursday this week we are delighted to welcome the Men's and Girls' Choir of York Minster for our service of Holy Communion at 20.00. Please make this widely known and come yourself if you are in Brussels. It promises to be a very special evening.

Peter Walley, Associate Chaplain

 

                                                                                                           

COMING SOON . . .

The Christian Work Seekers and Facilitators Group's Networking Meeting will be held on Monday 26 May, 20.00 – 22.00 in Church House. At this meeting the topical issue of Self-Employment will be discussed by Mr Dries Verhaeghe, from UNIZO, the Brussels based organisation of Independent Entrepreneurs on the Flemish side, and Mr Rocyn Williams, a Christian Self-Employed and a member of St Paul's Church in Tervuren. Mr Verhaeghe will discuss registration procedures, the obligations to the Belgian government and financial assistance available with special references to foreigners and ethnic minorities in Belgian. Mr Williams will share his experience as a Christian self-employed in Belgium. More and more employers are requesting this status from prospective 'employees'. If you are unemployed and job seeking or if you have a concern for the unemployed, at this event many of your questions concerning this issue will be answered. The meeting will start at 20.00 sharp. All are welcome. For further information please contact Mary Sampson on 02/346 91 08 or marysampson@skynet.be

'Igniting the passion of worship' Two evenings with Bob Sorge, author of Exploring Worship, at the Christian Center, Chaussée de Waterloo 47, Rhode-St Genèse on 26 and 27 May. More info from 0497 54 12 96 or BrusselsEuroWorship@hotmail.com

Chassepierre 2003 This year our annual weekend away in the Ardennes is from 13 - 15 June. This is a great opportunity to meet new people, relax and sample the beauty the Ardennes have to offer . . . Information sheets are available at the back of the church. Places are limited and are going quickly so sign up soon! If you would like more information please contact Heather Roy, Lucy Whittles, Jon Morgan, Becky Foreman or Ingrid Kelling. Alternatively email hjroy@yahoo.co.uk See you there!!

Christian Outreach Through Sport Please note our annual Golf Day at Bercuit is arranged for Friday 13 June. Contact Ken Thomas on 02/657 05 57 for further info.

INFORMATION

Fun needed! The York Minster Men's and Girls' choir, who are singing for us at the 20.00 Ascension service on Thursday, would like to discover a little bit of Brussels in their spare time here, on Tuesday 27 and Thursday 29 May in the afternoon. Fun and/or culture are the order of the day. Does anyone have any idea how best to make the girls happy (preferably within walking distance of the church for the Thursday)? And anybody willing to come and help and accompany is most welcome! Please speak to Peter Walley.

Alternatives, centre d'aide pour femmes enceintes (crisis pregnancy centre) is in need of baby clothes for ages 0 - 12 months, especially for new borns.   If you can help, please phone Alternatives at 02/737 91 32 or contact Sheila Cuthbertson or Catherine Pennington.  Thank you.

Helpers needed! The Climbers and Scramblers groups could really benefit from some additional helpers for their Sunday morning activities.  Could you give up one Sunday morning a month to help?  If we could find at least four people then that is all you would have to do! If you would like to know more please contact Heather Roy at hjroy@yahoo.co.uk  THANK YOU

Congratulations and best wishes to former HTB members, Chris and Mary Bercaw. The family is now joined by Sophia Grace Bercaw - born in Tokyo at 17.45 on 16 June. Mother and daughter are both fine.  Dad and big brother are adjusting.

A message from Steve and Kathy Howell 'By the time you read this I anticipate that Robert, one of two of our three sons in the British Army, will have returned to his current base in Germany having successfully completed his mission in Basrah as part of the recent war of liberation by coalition forces. We would like to thank all of our friends at HTB who have been so supportive in prayer and on a personal basis over the last few months during this difficult time. We have never been in any doubt as to the importance of prayer and the support in this by our Christian family and friends both at HTB and our home church in the UK and elsewhere but it has been a personal encouragement to us at this time to have known that many of you have been praying for Robert and for a resolution of the conflict. Over the last few weeks we have heard from him several times and hear that he is OK . We have heard something of his personal involvement in the more dangerous aspects of his initial rôle and it is clear that he was often in danger.  More recently it has been good to hear that he has been able to play a productive part in the restoration of power supplies to the area, most of which have been out of action since the Iraq/Iran war and were not in fact damaged by recent events, so he has aided the re-commissioning of a power station for the Basrah area. We expect that he will be back in Germany on 19 May with his immediate colleagues prior to their being sent to Kosovo shortly to undertake peace keeping activities there. So once again our thanks for your prayerful support.'  

 

ADMIN NEWS

To all those who use the photocopier in the church offices We are now in the process of detailing what the photocopying needs for each church group and committee are. This is an important step in a very necessary process of budget control. In order to do this, we are requesting that all users fill in the form on (or near!) the machine. Many thanks for your cooperation.

The French to English translation team is doing a wonderful job on the Newsletter but still needs more members. If you master both languages well, and have some spare time, please get in touch with Vicki at the office.

A new 'HTB Classified' space has been created on the church website for all those Wanted – Needed – On Offer ads you would like to post up. Please send the exact text and format you want to appear to webmaster@htbrussels.com

The church has been given three New English Bibles with apocrypha and one New English Bible New Testament. These bibles are quite old, but available to anyone who would wish to collect them from Church House. If you are interested, please call Vicki at the office first.

Definitely no dumping! We request that no second hand items be left in the church or at Church House at any time. We have no means of distributing them, and they are just wasted, which is a great shame when the 'Petits Riens' may be able to use them.

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