Community

Over recent years our Christingle celebration has become a very popular and important part of our Christmas worship. We look forward to joining together for this celebration at 11am on Sunday, 19th December. At 1pm, after the service we would like to sing carols outside church and distribute Christingle kits to families passing-by. This was very well-received by shoppers last Christmas. Would you consider staying after church to join in singing carols and helping to distribute the kits? If you would like to help please speak to matt – Matt@bullring.org Also on Saturday morning on 18th December we will need a team of people to help prepare the Christingles ready for the Sunday. If you would like to help then please let me know – Jeremy@bullring.org

We are delighted to welcome back the West Midlands Fire Service who will be performing their Carol Concert on Sunday 12th December at 6.30pm. This is a ticket-only event. All are welcome and the tickets are free but you need to book and download your tickets via Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/west-midlands-fire-service-carol-service-tickets-217492896107

Join University Hospitals Birmingham Charity at St Martin’s Church for an evening of festivities at the annual Christmas Carol Concert on Wednesday 15 December. We will be joined by a children’s choir to welcome in the festive season. Doors open at 7pm, with the concert starting at 7:30pm. Tickets cost £10 for adults, £8 for NHS staff and are free for under 16s. Tickets are also available to purchase at the door on the day. (Please note you will still need to order your free ticket for under 16s who must be accompanied by at least one adult) We look forward to seeing you for an evening of festive fun! Tickets can be purchased through the link: https://www.hospitalcharity.org/shop/product/christmas-carol-concert

Did you know that the word ‘Advent’ means ‘coming’ or ‘arrival’? The focus of the Season of Advent is to prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ in his First Advent. We anticipate the return of Jesus Christ in his Second Advent. Advent is a time of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ that is marked by prayer. You are welcome to come and pray with us at the services listed in the poster below. If you are not able to be with us at the church, the services are available online. If you want to watch the service live on Sunday the link is: http://smitbr.shor.tn/Sunday-1030 If you want to watch the service at another time the link is: http://smitbr.shor.tn/ServiceRecordings

The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to show God’s love in a tangible way to children in need around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ. Since 1990, more than 186 million children in over 160 countries have experienced God’s love through the power of simple shoebox gifts from Operation Christmas Child. An amazing 265,975 shoebox gifts for children in eight countries across Eastern Europe, Africa and Central Asia in 2020! (samaritans-purse.org.uk) We are delighted to say that we were able to collect 95 boxes this year which have been passed on to the depot in Oldbury ready for distribution to children around the world. We pray that each shoebox will bring some joy and excitement to each child who receives one. At their warehouse in Oldbury they are very much in need of additional volunteers – if you think you might be able to give some time to help then go to: https://www.samaritans-purse.org.uk/what-we-do/operati

No one should be alone and homeless. Christmas is a particularly harsh time of year to be sleeping rough. To help spread hope, Crisis, the charity that works to end homelessness, are putting on a Carol Concert here at St. Martin’s on Thursday 2nd December at 6pm. Further details can be found on https://www.bullring.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Carol-Concert-1.pdf If you would like to join us for an evening of singing and mince pies please reserve your tickets by following this link: https://www.crisis.org.uk/get-involved/crisis-christmas-carol-services/events/birmingham-carol-service/

Beginning from Sunday 24th October we are delighted that our Evensong service will recommence once again. This is a choral service which follows the traditional liturgy of the Book of Common Prayer. Our choir will lead us to worship God during the service which will be held usually every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month at 5pm. Please do keep an eye on church notices, this website or our social media pages for updates of the dates and they may vary in December. The dates of the services in December are: Sunday 5th December Sunday 19th December – Choral Carol Service

Please do come and join us for worship when you can – each  Sunday we continue to provide two services at 9.30am and at 11am. During November we will continuelooking at Our Vision. The details of our worship are as follows: Sunday 7th November 9.30 Holy Communion 11.00 Holy Communion: Focused on Overflowing in thankfulness Colossians 3 v 14 – 17 Sunday 14th November 9.30 Holy Communion 11.00 Morning Worship: Genuine in Friendship John 15 v 9 – 17 Sunday 21st November 9.30 Holy Communion 11.00 Holy Communion: Passionate in Worship Revelation 5 v 6 – 14 Sunday 28th November 9.30 Holy Communion 11.00 All Age: Unceasing in Prayer 1 Thessalonians 5 v 16 – 20 Sunday 31st October 9.30 Holy Communion 11.00 Holy Communion: Compassionate in support Philippians 2 v 1 – 4

Please do come and join us for worship when you can – each  Sunday we continue to provide two services at 9.30am and at 11am. During September we will be focusing on God’s wonderful creation and the enormous challenges we face in order to take far better care of the beautiful world we live in. Many thanks to the Caring for Creation working group who helped plan our worship for September and who will be asking throughout this month how each of us are engaging with the environmental challenges around us. Please note we will be celebrating Harvest at our all-age service on Sunday, 26th September – we will send out more information nearer the time about suitable Harvest gifts. The details for our worship are as follows: Sunday 5th September 9.30 Holy Communion            11.00 Holy Communion          Caring for creation – mission impossible? Genesis 1