Posts by James Henley
The Heart of the Matter
It’s a remarkably common phenomenon that when we, as people, experience intense suffering, it’s precisely then that we often find ourselves reaching out desperately for God. As we approach the final two weeks of Lent — a period often called ‘Passiontide’ because it is the time in the church year when we are drawn to reflect on Jesus’ passion — one of the parts of the passion narrative which is so often glossed over is the Garden of Gethsemane.
[April Fool’s!] Evangelism Funding to transform Cyncoed Church
Subject to final approval, we are delighted that the PCC and Diocese of Monmouth have reached agreement in principle for an ambitious bid to the new Church in Wales Evangelism Fund. The centrepiece of the bid is to fund a complete transformation of All Saints’ Church, Cyncoed Rd, creating a new centre for animal-based mission in South Wales. Pews and other furnishings will be removed to make way for small animal enclosures, and a new animal performance space created which…
Regroup, Refuel, Refocus
Reflections on Lent from this month’s Ministry Area Magazine. Life today usually necessitates plenty of road trips. Whether for work, for leisure or to see our extended family, we often find ourselves spending lots of time on the road from place to place. This Christmas just gone, over the course of a week or so, as a family we travelled from Cardiff to Aberystwyth to my parents’ house, then across to the Wirral to see my wife Amy’s family, then…
Using our gifts to grow God’s Kingdom
It was really lovely to come together for our first Ministry Area service of 2019 a couple of weeks ago. Over the last year, our Year of Listening, we’ve worked together to create our new Ministry Area vision — to ‘grow God’s Kingdom for the good of our neighbours’ by nurturing faith, growing together and strengthening our communities. At the service in January, we began to explore what it would look like to put this all into practice together, and…
Wait!
I can’t believe that it’s already that time of year once again where we look ahead to Christmas! Services are being planned, calendars organised, gifts bought and Christmas adverts are beginning to appear on TV. But of course, before Christmas arrives in our churches, we first share in the season of Advent. Advent is a time of watching and waiting, when we reflect on all the rich Old Testament prophecy about Jesus’ arrival, and look ahead to his coming again.…
Gift Day 2018
A day of generosity, thanksgiving and prayer. On Thursday 1st November, All Saints’ Day, we are holding our annual gift day to support the work of mission of our four churches across the Ministry Area. All Saints’ Church will be open from 8am until our Celebration Eucharist at 7pm. During the day, there is a programme of prayer, fellowship and activities, and throughout the day there will be refreshments, spaces to pray and information available about our finances. You will…
(Extra)ordinary Time
As Summer continues, we’re now well into the part of the church calendar which has the very mundane title, ‘Ordinary Time’. The practical reason for this term is that we use all the ‘ordinary’ parts of the liturgy in our services during this period, without any seasonal variations. But it also gives us an opportunity to think about what it means to follow Jesus in all the parts of our lives which feel ordinary and mundane to us. We don’t…
Loving our neighbours
Who are our neighbours in this ministry area? What are their dreams and their concerns about our communities? How can we best welcome and serve them in order to make our communities better places to live? These are some of the questions we will have been exploring in our second Ministry Area service for our ‘Year of Listening’ on Sunday 1st July. Jesus, of course, famously commanded us to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’, but also modelled through his earthly ministry…
Bearing Fruit
How can we bear ‘fruit’ in our shared life as a ministry area? And what fruit should we bear? These are the questions that we will have explored together in our first Ministry Area service of the new year, which will have just taken place by the time this month’s magazine is distributed. This word, ‘fruit’, comes from the wonderful image of the vine and the branches, shared by Jesus with his disciples in John 15.1-8. This is a rich…
A Year of Listening
In our rapidly developing 21st century world, change is now the only constant! Our city is continually adapting and ever expanding (as shown by the current housing developments close to St Edeyrn’s), and modern technology has brought about societal change on a level that previous generations could never have imagined. In addition, we now find ourselves in an increasingly post-Christian society, where the old adage that ‘the parish church is at the centre of the community’ sadly no longer applies.…
Lent is here: Your discipleship MOT is due!
Unless you are lucky enough to be driving a brand new car, many of us will be used to the annual process of renewing our MOT. It can seem an arduous process, but it is also vital for keeping the car in good condition, fit for purpose, and making sure it is road-worthy. In the same way, the season of Lent in our Church Calendar is an opportunity to stop and evaluate our own lives. As we begin to move…
The Cornerstone Community: Introducing two more new faces!
Well, Christmas and New Year have been and gone! Amy, Evie and I are so grateful for the incredible welcome we’ve received from everyone across the whole ministry area over the last couple of months. We are settling in so well, and enjoying getting to know everyone better! In all the busyness of our arrival, and then Christmas, you may have missed our friends, Georgia and Sarah, who moved into the ministry area shortly after us at the beginning of…