What’s On

We are meeting once a month on Saturday mornings to enjoy a time of prayer, Bible reflection and fellowship together. Hot drinks and toast will also be available from 10.30am.

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.

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

‘A prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well.’ – James 5 v15 Starting on Tuesday 7th September, we are delighted that our Healing Service will be resuming each week at 12.30pm. This will be a simple service of worship with music, prayers, scripture reading, and reflections on God’s Word – all focusing on God’s healing power in our world and our lives, and encouraging us to seek the Lord’s healing through prayer for ourselves, our families and friends, our communities, and our city. Through the autumn we are going to be looking at healing stories from the Gospel of St. Mark. Every second and fourth Tuesday the service will also include holy communion.

We are delighted to be able to welcome people back to our Holy Communion service every Thursday at 12.30 pm. If you are in Birmingham city centre this is a lovely opportunity to take out from your busy day to spend time with meeting Jesus in this way. Our lunchtime service of holy communion will continue up to and including Thursday 23rd December and will resume on Thursday 6th January.

Free guided tours of St. Martin in the Bull Ring will start on 16 September from 11 am. These will take place throughout the day with the last tour at 3 pm. The tours will last about 50 minutes. The guided tours will include explanations of the stained glass windows, including the windows by Burns Jones and Craigie Aitchinson. The tours will also include the Guild Chapel, Birmingham’s oldest monument, the contemporary font and the prayer sculpture. Several quirky and unexpected features will also be revealed..! There is no need to book in advance for these tours. You can just turn up. We advise that whilst face coverings are not mandatory, if possible you consider wearing one whilst in the church. The tour to the Bell Ringing Chamber will include the history of bell ringing at St. Martin’s and an explanation of the ringing tradition. There will also be a demonstration of ringing and an opportunity to participate with hand bells. We look forward to welcoming you during Birmi

Starting on Pentecost, Sunday 23rd May, St. Martin in the Bull Ring will be resuming worship at 9.30am and 11am.Each Sunday, the 9.30am worship will be a more formal service of holy communion.11am worship is more informal with slightly different services throughout each month:1st Sunday: holy communion2nd Sunday: morning worship3rd Sunday: holy communion4th Sunday: all-age worshipIt will be possible to view the 11am worship via live-stream on Zoom.For more information on any of the above please e-mail life@bullring.orgWe hope to post information about the resumption of our Sunday activities for children and young people in the church building in the coming weeks.

To celebrate Ascension Day, there will be a service of Holy Communion at St. Martin in the Bull Ring at 3pm, Thursday, 13th May.In the evening our Growing Roots groups will also be sharing in worship and bible study for Ascension – for more information please e-mail life@bullring.orgAs part of our series on ‘Resurrection Life’, our worship at 10.30am on Sunday, 16th will also celebrate the ascension of Jesus Christ. All services are available to view via live-stream on Zoom – again, for more information please e-mail life@bullring.org