1st November 2015

Acorn Pregnancy Counselling is a small but highly effective charity in Worthing in which Christian people offer counselling and support to those struggling with an unplanned pregnancy, facing difficult decisions concerning a pregnancy, or dealing with issues of pregnan-cy loss. We also offer practical help.

Acorn has been providing its services in Worthing since 1995 and GPs and other health professionals appreciate that we can offer their patients more time than they can give. Clients can access face-to-face opportunities to talk through the issues that concern them with a trained volunteer counsellor. If appropriate, they will be offered the chance to be part of a pregnancy loss programme called “The Jour-ney”, which has been very well received.

There is an excellent schools programme, in which volunteers take part in school lessons in most Worthing high schools and some be-yond, teaching about relationships and about the development of a baby in the womb in accessible, interactive ways. Pupils find these sessions informative and enjoyable. and staff find them very useful in the PHSE part of the curriculum.

Some of our work is done through the drop-in centre in town; in-creasingly people are contacting us by email through the online Pregnancy Choices Directory; others come across our contact cards (there are always some available at St Matthew’s and in Smalls); others phone.

Just this month, a client who had benefitted from support over a peri-od of time following an abortion said this:

“Thank you, I am very grateful to you. I feel a lot better within myself. People who are close to me see the change in me too. I know I can deal with the bad feelings I get much easier now instead of hiding away. Thanks.”

Give thanks for this positive feedback. It’s this kind of thing that helps us to remember why we do what we do, and take joy in what we have to offer.

If you would like to help, join the Acorn One Hundred – calling 100 people to pledge a monthly gift to help our ever-stretched resources – or think about volunteering in reception, counselling, or schools.

Worthing Churches Homeless Projects (WCHP) is a charity based in Worthing

that supports people who are homeless or insecurely housed. In the last year

the charity has been fundraising for and building an annexe onto the Short

Term Assessment Hostel. This is an extension to their services to enable them

to work with people who struggle to engage with the current services.

In the last year WCHP has supported 1400 people whether this be giving

advice over the phone, offering support through the Local Assistance Network

or providing a hot breakfast and a warm welcome at St Clare’s Day Centre,

right through to providing intensive one to one support in hostel

accommodation or outreach support when people are living independently in

the community. Worthing Churches Homeless Projects has a variety of

services: St Clare’s Day Centre, the Short Term Assessment Hostel, Stepping

Stones Project, Move on Project, Recovery Project, Littlehampton Breakfast

Club and an Outreach service. For the majority of the people WCHP supports

these services meet their needs and enable them to return to independent

living. 70% of the clients the charity work with remain living independently 6

months after leaving WCHP.

However, for some clients WCHP work with who have been rough sleeping

for a long time or who have adjusted to a lifestyle of moving from place to

place, hostel accommodation can be daunting. Clients with the most complex

needs may come into a hostel and find the house rules or structure difficult, or

struggle to adjust to living with other people. They may just find an enclosed

space challenging so end up leaving, then they might come back again 3 months

later and repeat the cycle – these are revolving door cases where long term

changes are not made. The new annexe is intended to support entrenched

rough sleepers who find engaging with current homelessness services or other

support agencies in the town difficult due to their complex needs. When built,

the annexe will provide 6 self-contained flats for people who need help with

finding accommodation alongside support around substance or alcohol misuse

or mental health difficulties. Once in the flats clients will have a key

worker who will work with them to create a personalised support

plan. The flats will provide a platform for other agencies to be able to

access and provide much needed support to these individuals.

The build is in progress and is scheduled to be completed by the end of

the year. Please pray that this service will help previously hard to reach

people make positive changes in their lives and put an end to revolving

door cases. It is WCHP’s mission to end rough sleeping and help

everyone in the local area to live independently and achieve their

potential.

Family Foundations Trust is a local Christian charity which seeks

to promote family values and encourage a Jesus centred lifestyle.

We own and operate Dalesdown, which is near Ashurst in rural

West Sussex, and is a 64 bed conference and activity centre, which

welcomes schools and Churches for residential holidays and retreats

throughout the year.

During the summer, we run Christian holidays for children and

young people. Dalesdown Camps has been running on our site for

over 25 years, and this year welcomed 75 campers and around 25

leaders. We provide bursaries which enable those from challenging

home circumstances to attend the camps. We also provide Chil-

dren Worldwide (CW), a networking organisation for Christian’s

working with children or families. We offer regular support with the

CW team and welcome them to an annual weekend Team Confer-

ence at Dalesdown.

We have many stories of God blessing, challenging, empowering and

inspiring people through our work.

Dalesdown:

A father who brings his autistic son to Dalesdown with local charity

‘Through the Roof’ said ‘My son becomes a different child when he

comes here. He loves Dalesdown and the peace here.’

A visitor who attended a day retreat, run by the Dalesdown team: ‘I feel

so close to God in this place.’

This year, Church leaders bringing groups to Dalesdown have spoken of

reconciliation within families, congregations and leadership teams, heal-

ing, and challenge amongst their groups. We have many stories of peo-

ple coming to know Christ, growing in faith, and in August 2015 being

baptised during Church weekends at Dalesdown.

Dalesdown Camps

A child who was supported by an FFT bursary, when asked, ‘what was

the best thing for you about Dalesdown Camps?’ replied, ‘I had food

every day!’

Response of a child who acts as carer for his siblings, after a teaching

session at Camps: ‘I know that God is proud of me!’

Children Worldwide

A mother who suffers with dyslexia and has struggled in the past with an

abusive relationship, but recently completed training with CW and now

employed as a Children’s and Families Worker with a Church said, ‘The

support of the (CW) team has helped me to grow in confidence in ways

I never thought possible.’

Charles & Jocelyne, Charlie & Sandra, Phil

Arab World Media reaches out to Arabic speakers worldwide through

the internet and social media. Our response system enables trusted

national believers to reply to interested inquirers from their own country.

Ibrahim from Algeria first wrote to us in Oct 2014. In a series of brief

exchanges with one of our Algerian brothers, he made it clear that he

wanted to meet a Christian believer. So our colleague requested a per-

sonal visit for him in Dec 2014.

We rejoiced to read the following, sent in by another Algerian brother in

Aug 2015:

Ibrahim was delighted to meet me. We talked about the love of God and his

forgiveness. I explained to him the basics of the Christian faith and we prayed

together. He had searched a lot on the internet. Through Facebook he got in

contact with a Syrian Christian woman. He came to respect her as a mother

and he heard the message of salvation from her. His heart was filled with joy.

We prayed again and he thanked the Lord for his salvation. We are keeping in

contact and have made a date for his baptism in two weeks’ time in the sea.

May the Lord make it a blessed time.

Ibrahim’s story is one of many. During the past

year, we have also reached out to hurting women

through self-help videos on Depression and other

topics. Many women (and, indeed, men) have

suffered harsh experiences in childhood and still

struggle with them today. Correspondents have

shared a wide range of struggles - in family life and marriage, failure

Daily illustrated Bible verse .

in education, post-natal depression, physical illness, financial and

material difficulties, unemployment and a sense of hopelessness,

and fears for the future. We seek to show love and concern to

each one who writes.

To find out more, please visit our English website:

www.arabworldmedia.org

Or speak to one of us at St Matthew’s!

2 Magazines – we publish Woman

Alive, the UK's only monthly magazine

for Christian women, which has a circula-

tion of 10,000 and a readership of around

30,000. It is edited by Jackie Harris who

says: "Woman Alive has been sharing ide-

as, offering advice and highlighting issues

for over 30 years and our readers tell us

they love the variety of articles and con-

tributors, and appreciate a magazine that

is based on Christian principles. A recent

letter is typical of the response we re-

ceive: 'I have subscribed to Woman Alive

for a number of years and thoroughly enjoy the whole magazine. Many articles have appeared at just the right time and there is al-

ways something helpful in the Bible study'. Another one that really

made my day said: 'Thank you again and again for such a wonderfully

positive, encouraging and inspiring magazine. My life is very bus , but

I always make time to read my copy when it arrives'.”

CPO (Christian Publishing & Outreach) has

served the Church with mission and outreach

resources for almost 60 years, and has a flour-

ishing ministry in several key areas:

1 Church Resources – we work with major ministries on national

campaigns, providing printed materials like posters, banners, invita-

tions and booklets, plus web and digital services. Current partners

include HOPE, Ethos Media, the Church of England, the National

Prayer Weekend and Engage 2015. Sue Slide is one of our graphic

designers.

Kieran Mitchell from Living Hope Church, Leeds, is one of our church

resources customers: "I can't thank you enough for your sensitivity

to our needs and for your kindness. We really appreciate it! We will

be ordering cards like this every month – it's a great joy to work

with you."

We also publish Inspire, the UK's

largest reach regularly published

magazine, going out to 50,000 in

churches across the UK and with a

readership of around 200,000. Inspire,

edited by Russ Bravo, specialises in

encouraging stories of God at work

changing individuals, churches, and

communities in the UK and around the

world.

Together with Evangelical Alliance and

YFC, Inspire runs the Inspire Awards,

telling the stories of unsung heroes

motivated by their faith to make life

better where they live.

Colin Chattey from Maldon in Essex told us: "Your magazine has given

me hope in the midst of cancer treatment, and I have learned a lot

about our God and my faith. It has made me a better person – I am

always learning and wish to learn more."

3 Other charities and ministries – we provide a wide range of

services for other Christian ministries including magazine design, sub-

scriptions, fulfilment and despatch. Among those we work with are

Barnabas, Church Army, Boys Brigade, Scripture Union, Roots, Rural

Ministries and Brighton & Hove City Mission.

www.cpo.org.uk

www.womanalive.co.uk

www.inspiremagazine.org.uk

UGANDA

Sister Ann Moore has sent us recent glimpses of

life in the Special Care Baby Unit at Kisiizi hospi-

tal.

Mary came to the Hospital for the birth of her

baby. He was born by caesarean section because

he had to be delivered early as his mother had

life-threatening complications of pregnancy and

all seemed well.

As I was doing the ward round in the Special Care Unit one morning a

nurse tapped me on the shoulder and whispered “ very premature baby”.

I turned round and saw on the work surface what looked like a heap of

rags. It did in fact contain a tiny, barely-breathing blue baby. We tried to

help his breathing but realised he was very premature around 26 weeks

and also very tiny (760g — smaller than a 1kg bag of sugar!). Had he not

been alive he would have been an aborted foetus, but he was alive and his

mother, Anita, wanted us to do all we could. So into the incubator he

went and we gave him intravenous fluids to warm him up and we could

start feeding him through a tube into his stomach. We didn’t actually do

much else for him.

Mary and Anita became great friends and

together they enjoyed “kangarooing” their

babies, giving skin-to-skin care which is

enjoyed by mother and baby!

After 3 months, sadly Mary’s baby devel-

oped complications and died. But Anita’s

baby reached the target weight of 2kg and

was able to feed by mouth. He had reached

the criteria for discharge and what joy it

was that the tiny blue bundle was now able

to go home!

Please pray for these two families to know

God’s love and blessing, and for Ann Moore and those working daily in the Baby Unit

often facing difficult situations without all

the modern equipment of UK hospitals!

They see God work miracles and we can

share in the work by our prayers!

3 months later

It was about 2am and BarTen was closing. People were coming

down Ann Street to the taxi rank. We became aware of a couple

who looked like they might need some help. The young lady was

extremely inebriated, almost unable to walk. She was being

supported by a man who appeared to be her partner and they

were heading towards the taxis. We offered some water to the

young lady who was unable to speak, the man refused our help and

said that they were fine and he was just going to get her in a taxi

and take her home. We offered help again stating that they would

not be allowed in a taxi in her present state. Reluctantly the man

let us help the young lady to a bench

where we started to give her small sips of

water. She began to be very sick. We

were trying to speak to her, tie her hair

back and keep her decently covered. We asked the man her name. He did not

know it - relationship obviously not quite

what it seemed at first sight. The man

melted away and we spent some time

with the young lady, eventually managing

to phone her mum and getting her safely

home albeit to a very angry mother!

A couple of stories from a recent Saturday night out

with Worthing Street Pastors

Later that shift around 4am we were again at the Taxi Rank as One

Club emptied. We became aware of a man shouting at one of the taxi

marshalls. We approached to see if we could help. The man started

to sob and appeared to be having some kind of panic attack. We

persuaded him to sit on a nearby bench. It transpired that he had

been one of the first firefighters on the scene after the Shoreham Air

Crash and was totally traumatised by what he had seen. We were

able to listen to his story, pray for peace and get him chatting about

other things. He asked the familiar question of why volunteers from

different churches would do what we do and we were privileged to be

able to talk to him about God’s love and how God has helped us in

difficult circumstances. Street pastors are trained volunteers from

local churches who care about their com-

munity.

They patrol in teams of men and women,

usually from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. on a Friday

and Saturday night, to care for, listen to

and help people who are out on the

streets.

A street pastor is someone who is…

a Christian and is part of a local

church;

concerned for society and their local

community;

willing to engage with people, whatev-

er their perspective on life and wherev-

er they hang out; happy to work in a

team and in collaboration with other

agencies and projects, both statutory

and voluntary.

What is a

Street Pastor?

Sunday 11 October was our last major outreach event of the sea-

son - Brightona in, believe it or not, Brighton.

Things started out with a bit of confusion,

not knowing where the facilities were etc.

We had none of the supplies that were

supposed to be provided. It turns out we

were given the wrong cabin - really glad

we took our own supplies. We ended up

having the Tea cabin provided at one end

and our stand at the other end of

Madeira Drive. It seemed a bit

disorganised, but God knew what He was

doing and He was in control.

With being blessed to have two locations instead of one, it

meant we had double opportunities to meet people and have

amazing conversations that we might not have had if we were in

one place.

At the Tea Cabin, we were blessed to spend time and have really

good conversation with members of a club, one of whom, an Irish guy,

had been in contact with our Northern Ireland Branch. God is at

work in his life. Some of our members also had conversations with

several members of a disabled riders' club.

Meanwhile, one of our members met

a guy at the CMA stand who has an

amazing testimony of his Salvation,

which he was able to use to minister

to someone else who came at the last

minute as we were packing up. The

first guy will visit and hopefully join us

in the near future.

We were able to comfort someone who had lost his elderly Mum in the

crowd. Although she hadn't been found by the time we left, he saw the

love of God in our prayers and help to look for her. He took the trouble

to contact us to let us know she'd somehow managed to make her own

way home safely, despite being a mobility scooter user. She'd even man-

aged to get a bus!

Finally, although we never ask, we received £29.52 in donations

which goes towards replenishing supplies and other branch expenses

with any excess going towards printing Biker Bibles.

We praise You Jesus and give You all the glory.

People, Prayers and Potatoes!

Licensed Lay Minister Emma Major developed a fresh expression

of church in Earley, Berkshire. This is her story.

People, Prayers and Potatoes at St Nicolas, Earley, brings people together

once a month at midday for a Bible story, craft, activities, worship and

prayer before sharing a jacket potato meal. Since launching four years ago,

they have served up over 2,200 jacket potatoes at what is now known as

PPP Messy Church! PPP takes place in the church hall but moves into the

church itself for worship and prayer.

It grew through the fresh expressions’ ‘journey’ of Listening, Loving and

Serving, Building Community, Exploring Discipleship, Church taking shape,

Doing it again.

Listening

Being a mum in the local primary school playground, it became clear to

Emma that there were many families searching for something ‘God

shaped’. She encouraged people to come to St Nicolas but the majority of

them had never been to church so this was a step too far.

Loving and Serving

After several months of prayer and conversations with the families, and

Emma’s very supportive vicar, PPP was born. It is not exactly like a Messy

Church because there is no set format each month but the name gives a

verbal shorthand for what they do.

Building Community

Six families turned up for the first one. Within three months, they had

brought friends along; and those interested in baptism at St Nicolas came

to PPP to explore faith as a family. Now, four years on, they regularly have

50-60 children - and their parents and carers – worshipping together.

Exploring Discipleship

Emma started the ‘Mums and More’

group attended by a dozen mums from

PPP; this is a group which explores pray-

er, the Bible and what it means to be a

Christian.

Church taking shape

Over the last two years they have had

three Messy Church adults’ baptisms and

six of the PPP mums were confirmed in a

Messy Confirmation in September.

Doing it again

Emma is now handing over the leader-

ship of PPP. The leadership group, includ-

ing four teenagers, are running PPP

alongside the clergy worship team.

Full story:

www.freshexpressions.org.uk/stories/

pppmessychurch

Our chaplains provide spiritual, pastoral and religious support for all our hospitals’

patients, relatives, carers and staff.

An admission into hospital can be a spiritually challenging time – being away from

home, family and all that you hold dear, along with concerns, fears and anxieties

about your health.

The vision and values of this Trust are enshrined in two words – ‘We care…’ The

chaplains reflect this in offering spiritual, pastoral and religious support to all

patients, relatives, carers and staff.

My wife Sandra and I are new to St

Matthews, although not new to

Worthing. After 25 years as a local

Baptist Minister, I left the church in

Broadwater and began my work as

one of two full-time Hospital

Chaplains for Worthing and St.

Richards Hospitals in April.

A Chaplain’s role is to be available to be a support to patients and

staff by being involved in spiritual sharing as the need arises as well as

being available for the ‘religious’ duties – like funerals and weekly

hospital services – and occasionally sharing personal faith as we are a

visual statement of faith. This is chaplaincy as mission. The mission of

God embraces the whole world and it is my privilege to be some-

thing of a sacramental presence of Christ to those in hospital, with

or without faith.

Hospital Chaplains

As to what I actually do: sometimes I simply sit with someone who is

struggling or suffering and has no visitors or peace; I sit on a weekly

Palliative meeting; other times I may offer Holy Communion at the

bedside or wheel people to the chapel for quiet prayer; then there are

the many calls from Ward Sisters asking for our help – maybe to the

Delivery Suite or A&E - so I go to a place where tears, a cup of tea, a

shoulder to cry on – and maybe even an audible prayer – are desper-

ately needed as people journey through grief. Sometimes I only get

chance to give verbal encouragement – like when I recently listened

to a woman who “felt so guilty” because of something done to her

and I was able to lead her through acceptance to peace and grace,

whilst at other times I get involved in the whole family as I help them

organise the funeral of their loved ones. There are the exceptional

things – like bedside weddings, helping those who have lost a loved

one through suicide or mending a nurse’s bike, as well as the more regular, like the weekly service of Holy Communion in both hospi-

tals. We have a fantastic team of chaplaincy ward visitors whom we

encourage and support.

God is at work in the hospital and if you are ever visiting someone or

admitted as a patient do let the Chaplaincy office know – we can

spend some time with you – and my tea making is not too bad!

The open-handed approach of chaplaincy, that does not impose faith,

or seek a particular response, does seem to bring about opportunities

for those whose lives would otherwise not be touched by church life.

Please pray that in my role as a Chaplain, I may touch people with the

love that ministers something of the healing that comes through com-

mon grace.

We love the style of your church services and have always appreciated

John’s ministry and therefore feel we are going to making St Matthew’s

our spiritual home. I cannot be in the congregation every Sunday as

occasionally I have opportunities to take services elsewhere or have

to be on hospital duties, but we like it when we can be a part of this

church family. It is most likely that when I am not with you I am on

mission, a mission with a difference!

David Hill

If you ant to know anymore about anything in this

booklet contact the church office

st_matthews@btconnect.com

or visit our web site www.stmatthewsworthing.co.uk