Hymns are normally sung at all our Common Worship (CW) services and services of Evening Prayer but not at Book of Common Prayer (BCP) services of Holy Communion, unless stated.
The homilies project was developed so that a congregation can engage in study and discussion of the lectionary when a Priest or Reader are not available to lead the service. The files include the gospel reading, details of the other readings for the week, the homily itself which can be read out loud, discussion points and the collect for the week. They are written by a variety of people, including our bishops and archdeacons, and they are intended to be used by lay leaders who are not authorised to preach.
The Walesby Group, set into the north western edge of the Lincolnshire Wolds, consists of 10 parishes, 10 worshipping communities and 11 church buildings. With a population of around 2100 we are a benefice of very small communities, living in the vast open spaces of this Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
We are blessed with beautiful buildings and faithful commitment from our congregations. As the group continues to integrate together, we are being enabled to offer a variety of worship and outreach styles. Lay ministry and leadership is key to all we offer, and encouraged as we endeavour to open the Kingdom and its values to all.
As worshipping communities we are aiming to deepen our faith and discipleship, supporting and engaging with our local communities and bringing the good news of the gospel to others.
To be a healthy and sustainable group of churches, transforming lives in our local and wider communities.
The Christian faith is focused on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. We also believe his death achieved something very special: the opportunity to reconnect with the God that we might believe in but might sometimes feel remote from.
We believe that Jesus was not just a human being but, in some way that we cannot fully understand, God as well. We believe in God the Father, the creator of the entire universe, and the Holy Spirit, who is the way we can experience Jesus today. Not three gods but one, who together are described as the ‘Trinity’ – a description not so much of philosophy but of the relationship at the heart of God.
In the most famous Christian prayer we pray ‘Our Father…’ This creator God wants a relationship with us, for us to be his children and to give us, as Jesus says, ‘life in all its fulness’ (John 10.10).
The sections below show some of the Walesby Groups' links to missional and outreach work in other parts of the world
Hats for Uganda
Towards the end of 2023 a friend on Facebook said they would soon be going to visit Uganda and would like to take a suitcase full of knitted hats for a children's centre in Mbale: he said "If you know of knitters who'd like to participate, or would like to make a hat yourself, thank you!"
The Walesby Group of Parishes knitting group (known as the Clickety Clickers) picked up on this with great enthusiasm and started producing hats. We also work with a group of ladies from the church in Cherry Willingham and they too started on the project. In the space of just a few weeks over 100 hats were knitted in a huge variety of bright colours and, in late February, they were packed up and began their journey with about 400 other hats to Uganda. All the hats were vacuum-packed in three suitcases for ease of transport and distributed at the LOVED children's centre who care for malnourished children and help their parents with ongoing care for their children with disabilities resulting from malnutrition.
In the photograph Bex Henderson, the founder of LOVED, is on the extreme right, front row. After receiving and distributing the hats Bex sent us a message of thanks:
"A huge thank you to everyone who knitted hats for LOVED Children's Centre. Each of the children in the day centre received a new hat (perfect for the rainy days) and we were also able to give lots out to the local community as well as two nearby hospitals. So much JOY was had by all!"
The ladies said that it was wonderful to have played a small part in this amazing venture and were delighted to receive the photographs and to hear how well the hats were received. We have now gone back to making hats and scarves for the homeless shelter in Grimsby; blankets and fiddle muffs for local nursing homes and Grimsby hospital; and fulfilling specific requests from the emergency services for trauma teddies; from the Grimsby Woman`s refuge and special requests from premature baby units locally.
Thank you to all the ladies for all that they do and for their amazing outreach to so many. If you would like to join our group please contact me. We meet once a month and wool and needles are provided if required.
Revd Elaine
St Mary's Walesby make an annual donation to Lincs2Nepal.
Nepal is a landlocked country bordered by China and India. Nepal is fiercely independent and does not want to be swallowed up by these two giant nations.
'Namaste' is the cultural greeting and farewell in Nepal. It means "I honour the spirit and light within you." Said so many times on our trips, always returned along with wonderful smiles.
A Brief history of Lincs2Nepal:
Garry Goddard, who lives in Lincoln, fulfils the saying, "One person can make a difference." Garry had been volunteering in Nepal in the early 2000's. He heard of a RC priest, Fr Jomon James, who was struggling to keep his little school open for low-caste children. He was unable to obtain funding from the Nepalese government because these children were low-caste. Garry met with Fr Jomon and, cutting a long story short, in 2009 Lincs2Nepal was born. Garry started fundraising back here in Lincolnshire after meeting with Fr Jomon. Education is the key which changes the lives, especially for the girls, for these low-caste people. Without education they are trapped in poverty and kept powerless.
2024/2081 in the Nepalese calendar, is a huge celebration year for Lincs2Nepal. April marked 15 years since Lincs2Nepal was registered as a charity, 10 years since the opening of Jeevan Jyoti School in Kohalpur and 2 years since rescuing our very special ‘40Friends Childrens Home’ in Kathmandu. Jeevan Jyoti school has grown from a few low-caste children in a couple of classrooms to a huge building, developed over the years, and now with a community of 2,000 students, 500 of whom are scholarship children. Our 10 year celebration sees that this is the first year we have had year 10 students (equivalent of year 11 in the UK). This further cements Jeevan Jyoti position as the top school in Nepal. All the hard work has been worth it. We had 41 children that took their final exam, of which 17 were our scholarship children whose lives have been changed in a way they never could have been imagined. 27 of our children passed with an A and the other 14 passed with A*. To help ensure that our students pass their final exams all of year 10, along with years 8 and 9, lived at the school during the week for the 3 months leading up to the exams because they have nowhere to study at home.
All the children are staying on for our first 6th form where they will be studying, amongst other things, the Cambridge University A level Science course, delivered in the new state of the art laboratories which are now finished. We witnessed this new block being built – and noted how many of the labourers are women. When we arrived at the school, and despite having the experience before, I was still overwhelmed with emotion watching the tiny tots, nursery, class by class guided by their teachers to the school buses waiting to take them home to their villages. We could see from our bedroom window the preparations for the Celebrations the following day. Along with the Bishop, Mayor and other local dignitaries we were honoured guests. We watched amazing dancing, all telling stories, and fantastic gymnastics displays. This is a way of keeping their culture alive with the increasing pressure of Western culture on the Internet. We felt so privileged to witness this event and it was an interesting and joyful blend of Hinduism and Christianity. We were set to work the following day collecting and returning the scholarship children to and from their classrooms. This is for the distribution of sponsor's letters and photographing each child for them to be included in their return letters to their sponsors. It was pretty emotional meeting with my 2 boys, Ganesh and Tekendra again, and Anjula for the first time. I have sponsored the boys since they were 3 years old and now they are 10. However I was unaware that it was my last hug with Ganesh. Sadly, overnight we lost 19 children from the village, Shantiagar, situated on the edge of Kohalpur. The village had been under threat for years from the local government, despite the Tharu tribe inhabiting this land for generations and forever. Of course uneducated, poor, low-caste people didn't have any written proof of settlement or ownership - another example of low-caste people having no human rights. Recently the army moved in and bulldozed the whole village to make way for a cricket ground and a stadium! The villagers, including our 19 families, have been dispersed across Nepal finding refuge hopefully with their extended families. We have no way of tracing them or checking their welfare. I pray for Ganesh, his family and friends. I pray he is safe.
The following day was spent photographing the new intake to appeal for sponsors. Due to the present political climate, it is more difficult to find and retain sponsors.
We returned to Kathmandu and the 40Friends Children Home. These children are both orphaned and abandoned. We were greeted with jubilation, handmade bouquets, green tea and made especially for us, cookies. Later we took them for a restaurant meal, a new experience for them. We had a lovely evening but I'm always touched by their genuine gratitude. Another highlight of our visit with the children was on their day out. They had had a discussion and requested we go to the Bhaleshwar Mahader Temple in the Chandragiri Hills, which happened to be on top of a mountain! It is situated on the South West of Kathmandu Valley, 2551 m above sea-level. This also entailed travelling up in a cable car, which filled me with trepidation. However, it was an amazing experience as we rose up above the forest and actually saw eagles below us. The Temple was impressive, surrounded by many people chanting, praying and even picnicking. I was anointed and blessed by a Holy man and rang the sacred bell. All these experiences are enriching and after an ice cream we headed back down including the cable car to our coach. The children's treat continued after we arrived back in Kathmandu. We went to a cafe for refreshments which happened to have a climbing wall. I was amazed at the courage of all the children, especially the little ones. What a day, all the children slept on our journey home.
We have made huge improvements at the orphanage. The new kitchen has been built with a roof! We were fortunate to see the completion of the building which includes a dining room large enough for everyone. A new water purification system has been fitted, outside lighting and eco- friendly water heating so everyone can have hot showers now. Since our last visit, the children had requested their own little Temple. Whilst the kitchen was being built, their Temple was also built. The new facilities and equipment have changed their lives. Personally I am always so uplifted being with these young people, the joyful energy they share with us. They are so grateful for small things that we in UK take for granted.
Besides the school and the orphanage Lincs2Nepal is always there to help in other ways. Adhyan, a 9 year old scholarship boy, was very ill earlier in the year and subsequently diagnosed with leukaemia. Lincs2Nepal is funding his treatment of £29,000 in Delhi hospital. Monsoon damage at one of our villages was funded. Fr Jomon took school staff, including teachers, to clear the site and within two weeks the school's maintenance staff had rebuilt the homes of our students' families, better and stronger. In Jajarkot, the village destroyed in the earthquake in November last year, over 40 homes and 20 people were lost - Lincs2Nepal has been financing the rebuilding. I'm delighted to say that everyone in the village now has permanent shelter. A young girl was orphaned in the disaster and will be joining the 40Friends family very soon, after all the complicated paperwork is completed.
If you are interested in the work of Lincs2Nepal, further information can be found on their website https://www.lincs2nepal.com or, follow us on FaceBook, or contact me.
Love and light Paula.
Namaste