What’s On

On Wednesday 13th February to mark the beginning of Lent we will be joining with the World Prayer Centre at St Martin’s, to have an afternoon of prayer, praying specifically for the City of Birmingham and it’s people. The afternoon will begin at 12pm with a short act of worship that will include the imposition of ashes and will finish with an Ash Wednesday Service with Holy Communion at 6pm. Throughout the afternoon there will be prayer stations, times of guided prayer and a chance to prayer walk around the Bull Ring. Please do come along for all or part of the afternoon if you can. If you are unable to be with us – we do encourage you to set aside some time during the afternoon to join with us in prayer for the City wherever you may be. Click here to visit the Regular Services page. Photo by gocyclones – Flickr  

We have recently added a new meeting room to hire – the Bryan Green Room. This room is ideal for small meetings as it accommodates up to 10 people. For more information and availability, including, prices, please contact us by email at booking@bullring.org or telephone 0121 600 6020. Click here to visit the Room Hire page.     Image by ario

Week Beginning: Sunday 27th January 2013. Question 3: Why and how do I pray? Bible readings: Psalm 30, Matthew 6:1-5. Discussion Questions: 1. As you read the Lord’s Prayer which phrases do you find are most encouraging and which are more challenging? 2. Why is praying in private different from praying in public with others? 3. What do you think “your kingdom come” might look like when this prayer is being answered? 4. In your life today are there ways you can make the Lord’s Prayer personal? For example a particular need for help in an area of temptation or an area of provision.  Further resources for those exploring… Websites: http://www.alpha.org / www.rejesus.co.uk Books: “Questions of Life” by Nicky Gumbel, “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel & “Prayer: Does it make any Difference?” by Phillip Yancey.

All are welcome to join us as we remember Wayne and Ian, the Big Issue Sellers, recently killed in Birmingham.

Week Beginning: Sunday 20th January 2013 Question 2: Why Did Jesus die? Bible Readings: Romans 6:1-14,  John 6: 35-40;  Discussion Questions:  1. Which of the images or ways of answering the question “why did Jesus die” speak most powerfully to you and why? 2. If Jesus died to save us, what are you saved from?  What are you saved for? 3. Has your view of why Jesus died ‘for us’ changed over the course of your Christian experience?  If so, how?  Further resources: for those exploring… Websites: www.alpha.org www.rejesus.co.uk   Books: “Questions of Life” by Nicky Gumbel “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel  for those who want to go deeper… “The Enigma of the Cross”, Alister McGrath (Hodder and Stoughton) “Salvation”, T J Gorringe (Epworth Press)  

Week Beginning: Sunday 13th January 2013 Question 1: Who is Jesus? Bible Readings: Matthew 16:13-20, Isaiah 9: 1-7 Discussion Questions: Who do you think Jesus is? What images, words, thoughts, feelings come to mind? Having heard the talk in one of the services this week, has your concept of Jesus changed, how and why? How do you respond to what Jesus said about himself? (e.g. “I am the way the truth and the life”, “I am the light of the world”) If you had a chance to meet Jesus, how would you feel and what would you say to him? Further resources for those exploring… Websites: www.alpha.org www.rejesus.co.uk Books: “Questions of Life” by Nicky Gumbel “The Case for Christ” by Lee Strobel For those who want to go deeper… “Four Gospels, One Jesus?” by Richard Burridge “The Jesus I never knew” by Philip Yancey

During the cold nights St Martin’s are taking part in the city wide Winter Night Shelter and will be housing eight guests, selected by Street Outreach Teams, for an evening meal, night, and breakfast. We will be hosting one night per week during the 6 week period.  A number of churches across the city are working together so there will be beds every night of the week. Please pray that our guests will be renewed and refreshed during their time with us. Pray that all the preparations will go smoothly. Please thank God for our volunteers and for equipping us to host our guests during this cold winter period in the city. Click here to see an article with photos about the shelter on ITV.com   (Photo: Dubber, Flickr)

St Martin’s HOTS – January 5th 2013  Once more the weather was almost spring like in January. It was pleasant. There was some   cold wind but from time to time the sun appeared.  Passers-by were not rushing as much and they appeared to enjoy the unusual January weather. A good number of people from St Martin’s HOTS team turned up including some we had not seen for a while. It was a blessing to see you again.  A big thank you to you all. Also, thank you for your encouragement when we gathered together to pray before and after the session. Before we went out to pray we read a Bible passage from John 1: 43-50 about Jesus calling Philip and Nathanael. Three things were pointed out of this passage: Verse 46 ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there? Nathaniel asked.’ We too may be tempted to ask this question when we see places where we don’t see much peace, order or goodness. Verse 48 ‘How do you know me? Nathanael asked Jesus.’ Jesus answered: I saw you under the fig tree before Philip

  8th Feb: Bantock Quartet (String); 15th Feb: Brass Concert. 22nd Feb: Trio: Clarinet, Piano, Viola. 1st Mar: Jonathan Warburton, Bass Trombone 8th Mar: Madelaine Jones and Daniel Edwards, Cello and Piano 15th Mar: Juliet Alice Jefferies: Piano, songs & solo 22nd Mar: No concert due to events in the church 29th Mar: Good Friday, no concert but please join us for Good Friday events. Watch this space for updates. (Image: crazybobbles)

Watch this space for the exciting upcoming Chocolate Lifepaths schools programme coming up at St. Martin in the Bull Ring…   Click here to read more about Scripture Union’s Lifepath model.     Image John Loo

THANKYOU Gordon Thornett, Sutton Coldfield Chamber Choir  &  Bournville Strings for a fabulous 9th Annual Christmas Charity Concert Almost 300 gathered to hear and see this wonderful Christmas event again and had a wonderful time.  Money was raised for St Martin’s creative arts ministries and for St Basils, working with homeless young people. Thankyou for all who gave generously. Final figures from the collection came to £470!  If you’d like to you can comment or add your thanks to the choir and musicians here.

Here’s some info about a project that our young people, working with other young people in the city, did recently. Transforming Church – St. Martin in the Bull Ring – St. Thomas Garretts Green MyFaith Video Project Just before Christmas 2011 we applied for and secured funding from the Transforming Church Fund to run a video project at St. Martin in the Bull Ring. The concept was: – to team up with another youth group from Birmingham; – to run training sessions for all aspects of film-making, recording and editing; – to use workshops, activities and discussions to explore what faith is and what it means in our lives. The working title for the project was ‘My Faith’, and we hoped that by the end of the project the young people would have developed the skills and ideas to produce several short films about their faith. In Spring 2012 we linked up with the youth group at St. Thomas Garretts Green, and we held our first project day just after Easter 2012. Through the

St Martins Whole Church Alpha: Exploring the basics of the Christian Faith From  Sunday 13th January to Sunday 31st March (Easter Day) at all the services, St Martins will be exploring the questions posed from the Christian Enquiry Course Alpha. We will do this through sermons, small group discussions, questions posed in a small theme guide and over bring and share lunches that will take place after our 11am services on Sunday 27th January, Sunday 24th February and Sunday 24th March (Palm Sunday). This is an opportunity for anyone who is wanting to know more about the Christian Faith to come along listen, chat, ask questions, as well as for those who have been Christians for a while to be reminded and encouraged by what we believe. Each service has it’s own particular flavour and tradition but essentially the pattern will be as follows:   Sunday 9.30am, Holy Communion service: Sermon will be given on the theme, with an opportunity after the service for an informal chat over

Only by listening, being patient and worshiping God, can he work with us. We had a time like that during our prayer meeting before we went out on the streets on Sat Oct 11th at St Martin’s. Thanks for all who came and joined in singing and praying beforehand and then going out to pray for passers-by. We had a team of 15 women and 1 man. At first the chairs were empty for some time but after we ourselves sat on them and received prayers from one another it seemed to have released something – anointing, God’s presence and power? After that the chairs were all occupied most of the time. Here are some prayers people requested. A asked for prayer for her grandchildren B is having difficulties in conceiving and wanted prayer for healing so she and her husband can have children now that he started using testosterone boosting supplements to increase the sperm count. C had prayer for general health and for her diabetes, to have peace of mind and not to thinks she is alone. D used to feel