October 2019

Where there’s land there’s HOPE.

This month in our churches we celebrate Harvest.  At Harvest time, we give thanks for all the good gifts we have and enjoy, and pray for and give to those who have less than ourselves. 

Our Harvest Charity for 2019 is Send a Cow, a charity, founded by Christian dairy farmers in 1988, which exists today to support families in rural Africa today with ‘milk and manure’, and help and train them to grow their own futures – on their own land, on their own terms –

“Every day families face poverty that is extreme, cruel, and worst of all – unnecessary.  But rural Africa is rich with opportunity and where there is land, there is HOPE.”

When Send a Cow first started (in 1988) they would send cows to Uganda by plane!  Today they source their cows from within Africa for six African nations and livestock is just a small part of what they do. 

We will be taking collections for Send a Cow’s Harvest Appeal for Rwanda this month at our Emmanuel & Hope Harvest Suppers and our all age Hope.4.All Harvest Celebration.


Our Hope.4.All Harvest Celebration: Send a Cow for Harvest! is going to be great fun!  On Sunday 6th October from 3:30pm, there will be cow crafts and activities for the youngsters, delicious dairy foods for us to try (!) and I’m delighted Richard and Ruth Pilkington of Shordley Hall Farm will be bringing along two of their calves too! 

We will remember that, “A cow isn’t just a cow. For farmers and their families in Africa, it’s HOPE for the future.”


LyCiG Local

This month too, in Hope Church, we are launching the Leading your Church into Growth Local Course.  Having attended a residential version of LyCiG, I know that this course will be excellent.  We want Hope Church to continue to be a growing church and for everyone here to find their place and role in the mission and life of Hope Church and LyCiG Local is for everyone within Hope Church (and hopefully soon we will run it across Emmanuel and St Johns Churches too).

LyCiG Local encourages us to put together a P4G – a Plan for Growth – and to help us put this together we will meet in Hope Church over 6 evenings to look at:

1. Our Focus – Committing to growth
   Tuesday 8 October, 7:45pm
2. Our Plan – Developing a strategy
   Tuesday 22 October, 7:45pm
3. Our Culture – Developing a community of invitation, welcome & hospitality
   Monday 4 November, 7:30pm
4. Our Calling – Telling our story and helping people meet Jesus – Jan/Feb
5. Our Journey – Growing and going deeper as followers of Jesus – Jan/Feb
6. Our Heart – Developing worship that helps the church grow – Jan/Feb

Please can I encourage as many of you on our electoral roll as possible to come along to these evenings?  They are not just for church committee members or those who hold particular positions of responsibility in the church but for everyone!


Flintshire Ward Boundaries

Finally this month, I would like to bring to your attention the Flintshire Draft Proposals for future electoral arrangements, in particular for the Hope, Llanfynydd and Higher Kinnerton Community Councils.  The proposals suggest that Hope Community Council splits into two along the river Alyn.  That a new one ward Caergwrle Community Council will absorb the Cymau and Cefn Y Bedd parts of Llanfynydd Community Council (which itself will then fold) and then the Higher Kinnerton and Hope wards will merge to form a new two ward community council. 

Concerns have been expressed to me that this will split up our local community of Hope and Caergwrle that works so well together as one community.  I have also heard positive comments on the potential the proposals have for Higher Kinnerton and Hope to work more closely together and the plus of Abermorddu School becoming part of the Caergwrle ward. 

We may well have opinions on the proposals.  Please can I encourage you to consider completing the consultation available online until 27th November at https://ldbc.gov.wales/reviews/08-19/flintshire-draft-proposals and to pray for the best solution to be discerned and decided upon?


In Christ, Adam