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Tim's re-ramblings
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Do you want to invest in "US"?
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Leaders' Net news (session on 11th December with Martin Scott)
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SOCIAL JUSTICE update---and 10th December (Green Pastures)
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GENnet news update---weekend away/Christmas party
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BLACK COUNTRY TRANSFORMATION INVESTMENT--VOTE NOW!!
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Hope '08 UNITEDBLACKCOUNTRY launch event reminder
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Family Christmas opportunity in Wednesbury/Sandwell ----PLEASE help!!
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CHRISTMAS DAY----want to help someone else?? (Options For Life)
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Dudley Churches Together--news from DOSTI
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LAWYERS' CHRISTIAN ASSOC---Queen's Speech update
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Scrolls & Parchments
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We will not forget!(CORRECTION-editor's note)
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JOBS
MAKE A DONATION to "US"??
Many have asked us over the years how The Net is funded. Essentially, we have been financed by ordinary people and a few handfulls of church congregations. But we sense that things have been changing again recently, and we want to give you opportunity to SOW into what God is doing with us TOGETHER in our region................You can do this in various ways;
1)you can now make one-off donations on-line with credit/debit cards;
2)you can download standing order and GIFT AID forms there too.
If you do not see God at work in what we're about, or in our vision, then please ignore this, but if you recognize His hand on our vision, strategy and activity, you can now be part of what is happening by sowing into US....yes, "US".
This is your opportunity to respond, both now, and in future as this will regularly feature on our web-site as we are not a government-funded organization, but a Kingdom Body depending on The Body to produce the necessary funding and resources to keep the synergy in motion..........as and when and how you sense such leading........
leaders' net news
Hi,
Well time fly’s by! Our next Leaders Net gathering approaches
When - Tuesday 11th December 9.30 til 1.30 (including lunch)
Where - St Phillips, Penn, Wolverhampton. (See the map link below)
Speaker - Martin Scott
Lunch will be provided for a small charge of £5.
Please book in via admin@thenet.org.uk
Many thanks,
Adrian
On behalf of the Core Vision Team
GENnet news
Hi Guys,
-Weekend Away
Great news, the weekend is now fully booked with 106 men, women, children & babies gathering together for an amazing time of fellowship, sharing, teaching, worship, prayer and of cause curry!!!
Date – 1st Dec 2007 Venue - Pioneer Centre, Cleobury Guest speaker - Martin Scott
-GENnet Gathering
GENnet Christmas Quiz Night
Where: Himley Cricket Club, Dudley
When: Monday December 10th 2007
Time: 7:30pm
How much: £2 per person
Join the GENnet community for a good old fashioned quiz night. Prizes will be awarded to the winning team and nibbles will be provided. Many a laugh is guaranteed so come along and show off your brains (or just hijack someone else’s!!)
NB: No more than 6 people in a team please!
Hope to see you at the weekend and/or the gathering!!
Love Cookie
On behalf of the GENnet Team
Black Country Urban Park-----TIME TO VOTE!!
Dear All,
Just a brief reminder that on-line voting started this week (26th) in the People’s Millions lottery vote - aiming to win £50,000,000 for the Black Country.
The project will transform Dudley’s underground mines and canals into a world class visitor centre, create a 12 mile long green bridge park between West Bromwich and Walsall, and breath new life ino Wolverhampton’s canal network.
ALL 4 BOROUGHS OF THE BLACK COUNTRY WILL BE AFFECTED..............MAYBE PART OF THE PROPHETIC WORD WE HEARD LAST YEAR REGARDING THE RELEASE OF RESOURCES.....WE HAVE SEEN THE FIRSTFRUITS OF THIS ALREADY THIS YEAR..........PLEASE DON'T THINK THAT GOD ONLY WANTS TO BLESS US IN OUR CHURCHES.......AND THAT HE CANNOT USE SECULAR MEANS TO DO THIS!!
To vote on-line please log on to www.thepeoples50million.org.uk and follow the instructions.....I did mine on Monday----come on!!
Please pay this forward to everyone you know as it is a direct way of our region being RE-GENERATED, and it only takes a few minutes.
Regards
Tim Fellows
For The Net
Family Christmas opportunity in Wednesbury/Sandwell ----we need your help!!
Hi Everyone,
CHRISTMAS DAY GET TOGETHER
Tuesday 25th DECEMBER 2007
At Oak Green Lodge, Oak Green Way, Oldbury
Options for Life is a voluntary organisation which provides a range of services for people with learning disabilities living in Sandwell.
Each year we hold a Christmas meal for adults with learning disabilities and other people who would otherwise be alone on Christmas Day. We provide them with a meal, presents and drinks and try to make the day memorable for them.
We are in need of volunteers to help with the preparations on Christmas Eve, and with either the morning pick ups or the cooking for around 16 people on Christmas day.
The ‘Christmas Day Get Together’ finishes at approximately 6pm, if you unable to help with the actual transport or cooking but are able to pop down for a short time during the day you will be more then welcome.
If you are able to help in anyway please can you contact Linsey Hodgson on 0121 544 6611 by 30th November 2007.
Website: www.optionsforlife.info
Information Update Following Queen’s Speech
7th November 2007
Headlines
Romans 1 v 25 – “They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator...”
YESTERDAY the Queen outlined the Government’s plans for the laws it wants to introduce this year. Included in the list of twenty nine Bills were the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill and the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill. These Bills will have a massive impact on the foundations of our society. It is significant that in the media coverage of the Queen’s Speech so little has been said about these Bills which will have an effect on some of the basic building blocks of our society. As our recent updates have indicated, the content of these Bills will create further obstacles for Christians wanting to live out and proclaim Biblical truth in the public arena and will have a negative impact on the whole of society.
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Human and animal hybrids – striking at the heart of humanity
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Redefining the family – removal of the father
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Saviour siblings – designer babies and life as a commodity
The Government are pressing ahead with laws to allow the creation of ‘cytoplasmic hybrid embryos’ (human cells mixed with animal eggs) and ‘true’ hybrids (human eggs mixed with animal sperm and vice versa). Although these proposals have been described as ones which will “ensure Britain remains at the forefront of medical research”, experimenting in this way is not only a horrific affront to God’s creation order, usurping His role as Creator, but is highly dangerous, unethical and unbiblical.
Furthermore, Parliament will relinquish to the regulator of embryo research, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the power to decide the boundaries of science in this area in the future. We cannot predict what scientists will do when given this amount of power to play with the embryo. Unimagined science fiction possibilities could become a living reality.
The family as we know it will be redefined when laws are introduced to allow lesbian couples to gain automatic legal status as parents (two mother legal parenthood) over children born using a sperm donor, even though only one of them will be biologically related to the child.
Homosexual men will also be allowed to apply for a parental order (two father legal parenthood) where a child has been born from a surrogate mother. We can only expect our society to suffer as the full effects of the redefined ‘family’ are played out in years to come.
The previous legal stipulation that in IVF treatment there should be the consideration of the need for a father is done away with and parenthood will be defined in law according to a person’s preference rather than truth, biological fact or the child’s best interests. This flies in the face of the biblical ideal for family - that children should be born to a mother and a father who are married.
The new Bill also broadens the scope for ‘saviour siblings’. Existing law allows embryo selection in order to treat existing children who suffer from life threatening conditions. This process involves the destruction of countless other healthy embryos. Proposals in the bill will extend the law so that embryos can be selected to help children with a ‘serious illness’ too. As there is no legal definition for ‘serious illness’, it could include anything which treatment providers feel should fall within the definition and liberalise this already flawed approach to the treatment of sick children.
We will be providing an action pack soon on how to respond to this piece of legislation.
To read the latest media comment on the Queen’s Speech, and to read the Speech itself, please click on the links below.
Links
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The full text of the Queen’s Speech
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The Guardian explaining the provisions
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/queensspeech2007/story/0,,2206052,00.html
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The Times ‘controversy rating' on the provisions, which rates the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill at 5/5, and the Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill (see below) as 4/5.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2821216.ece
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BBC explaining the provisions
Incitement to hatred on the grounds of sexuality
The Criminal Justice and Immigration Bill will include a provision making it a criminal offence to incite hatred against a person on the grounds of their sexuality. The provisions represent a serious attack on freedom of expression and freedom of speech. As Christians we must love people irrespective of their sexuality, but we are also called to speak the truth in love. This new law will put us in a difficult position if biblical teaching on homosexuality is perceived as that which incites hatred against homosexuals. We are concerned we will be unable to speak openly about the bible’s teaching on sex and sexuality.
In addition, the introduction of such a law is unnecessary because the criminal law already prohibits physical and verbal assaults as well as the use of threatening language and behaviour against homosexuals, as it does against all people.
We are expecting the Report of the Public Bills Committee considering these proposals to be published shortly and we will keep you updated as to any further developments.
To read all the latest media coverage on this proposal please click on the links above.
To read the LCF submission to the proposal please click on the link below.
Link
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LCF Submission on homosexual hatred proposal
http://www.lawcf.org/index.asp?page=LCF+Submission+on+homosexual+hatred+proposal
NEWS FROM DUDLEY CHURCHES FORUM
A £100,000 pot is being made available to community groups, faith groups and voluntary organisations working in particular parts of Dudley Borough who can provide training for people who are not currently accessing training and/or workless people aged 19+ wanting to improve their skills and return to work.
This Breakthrough Funding is for delivery of provision within the City Strategy wards of:
• Netherton, Woodside and St Andrews
• St. Thomas’s
• Castle & Priory
• Brierley Hill
• St. James’s
Grants will need to be spent within a set period of time (the next 4 – 8 months), and you will need adequate resources in place in order to fulfil the monitoring requirements.
Go to our noticeboard: www.dosti.org.uk/noticeboard to download an application form and read more news about job opportunities, activities and consultations in Dudley Borough.
Dosti . 7 Albion Street . Brierley Hill . West Midlands . DY5 3EE
Tel: 01384 265363 . Fax: 01384 484587 . Email: lorna@dosti.org.uk . Web: www.dosti.org.uk
Every Child Matters
Can I please remind you about the Dudley Borough Churches Forum’s Every Child Matters meeting at 7.30 p.m. on 5 December at the Methodist Church in Bank Street, Brierley Hill - parking on site. Could you please publicise to your congregations.
We will be joined by Pauline Sharratt, Assistant Director, Dudley MBC, for Children’s Specialist Services, together with colleagues in the social care field to consider the issue of children in care.
We are told that there are currently around 500 children and young people in Dudley Borough either in foster care or children’s homes and the number is rising. Back in May John Freeman, Director of Children’s Services asked, ‘how do we address the spiritual needs of young people who are brought up in children’s homes?’
At this meeting we shall look at issues facing children & young people and explore together how we might respond to the challenge that John gave us.
For more information about this event or the work of the Every Child Matters group and its work please contact Revd Andrew Wickens, Dudley Education Chaplain on 01384-214487 or by e-mail awickens@cofe-worcester.org.uk
Enjoy a weekend exploring …
Scrolls & Parchments
… encountering the Hebrew Scriptures
What? Deepen your understanding of reading the Law, the Prophets and the Writings (in English!) in an exciting, creative and Christian environment
Who? Open to everyone with an interest in studying their Bible
When? 1st - 2nd December 2007 from 09.00-17.00 (both days); an optional Saturday ‘Evening with a Rabbi’ a simple meal and discussion (open to non-weekend participants – contribution to cost of the meal)
Where? St George’s School, Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston B15 1RX
£80 (inc tea / coffee) – bring a packed lunch, £40 for students and unwaged
Pre-book or enrol on the day
Call – 01142888816
Visit – www.workshop.org.uk (for more details)
E-mail – admin@anvil.org.uk
Enjoy a weekend …
Re-Imagining Hope
… living at the edge of time
What? Explore the ‘living hope’ at the core of the Christian faith, discuss its astonishing vision, and engage with its big questions in a stimulating way
Who? Open to everyone with an interest in thinking about Christian hope
When? 2nd - 3rd February 2008 from 09.00-17.00 (both days)
Where? St George’s School, Calthorpe Road, Edgbaston B15 1RX
£80 (inc tea / coffee) – bring a packed lunch, £40 for students and unwaged
Pre-book or enrol on the day
Call – 01142888816
Visit – www.workshop.org.uk (for more details)
E-mail – admin@anvil.org.uk
Editor's note....from last time......"We will not forget".
On our last Net News included, I included an article on the withdrawal of the Holocaust from the UK education curriculum. This information proved to be incorrect. The actual position of the Holocaust in the curriculum is as follows:
The teaching of the Holocaust is compulsory in schools at Key Stage 3 [age 11-14] and it will remain so in the new Key Stage 3 curriculum from September 2008.
As this information was part of a memorial chain please take the appropriate steps to ensure this information is relayed to anyone who would have received the previous mistaken information.
I apologises for any inconvenience caused......we take great care to ensure that information sent to us is accurate, but this one slipped through the net......Tim.
