Emmanuel Church Upper Olland Street, Bungay
Address: Upper Olland Street, Bungay, Suffolk, NR35 1BH
Times Of Services: Sundays: 10.45am (All Year) & 6.30pm (August Excluded)
1st Sunday mornings and 3rd Sunday evenings are usually holy communion services.
Evening service on 4th Sundays is held at Holmwood residential home, immediately opposite the church in Upper Olland Street.
Ministers:
Rev David Gibson
Tel : 01986 896501 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01986 896501 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email : david.gibson@methodist.org.uk
Rev Ruth Browning
Tel : 01379 854343 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01379 854343 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or email : ruthgladbrowning@hotmail.com
Latest Events at Emmanuel Church
All Under One Roof! 16th July 2011
We had a dreadfully wet day for this event, but crowds of people turned up nonetheless. We were delighted with the interest shown and the contacts made.
One practical spin-off from the day was Suffolk County Council's Greener Homes DIY scheme. Orders were taken on the day for free roof insulation, draught-proofing material and water butts. A few weeks later these were delivered to Emmanuel's Orange Hall for the participants to collect. The photo at right shows our hall full of four lorry-loads of materials waiting to be collected.
Emmanuel Church Choir
Over the past 40 years or more, the choir has been an important feature within the life and worship of the church, but, as in many churches at the moment, it is finding life a bit difficult.
Our regular practice time is at present 7.30pm on Friday evenings. There has always been a lovely feeling of fellowship at these times, a feeling of caring for members of the choir as well as their families and other members of the congregation. Our regular organist, Paul Leeder, has played anything we have put before him, sometimes with a wry grin, or a shrug of the shoulder!
Over the years, many of the members have been loyal and have grown old together. As fashions in music used in worship change, we have to learn to change with them. Also, as life in the everyday world has changed, so some of the younger singers in the church find it difficult to make a regular commitment to practice, a necessary aspect of choral singing.
Our ‘library’ is full of sheet music for 4 part choir, including works by John Rutter. However, we have tried to adapt, so have also books of anthems in three parts ‘for choirs which are short of men’, these, therefore, are for sopranos, contraltos and baritones. Having bought these, we then welcomed a tenor into the choir! At the same time we have lost 2 very valuable contraltos. Also in our cupboard we have copies of books of worship music from Iona, which can be adapted for part singing or unison.
Besides singing an anthem at special events, we usually sing an anthem during the morning service on the first Sunday of the month, a service of Holy Communion. However, the most important weekly aspect is to help in the leading of worship, by encouraging the congregation to sing well, by introducing new tunes and new hymns and by supporting whoever is leading worship.
At Christmas, we share in leading the Carol Service for ‘Churches Together in Bungay’. This takes place, in turn, in one of the three churches in the town. For these occasions, we welcome other singers in the church to join us and adapt the choir practice for this purpose.
In the past year or so, we have welcomed singers from other churches in the Waveney Partnership to join with us in leading worship on the Sundays when the service has been one for the whole group.
Our doors are always open to welcome anyone who enjoys singing and who would wish to join us. There’s the invitation. Will anyone answer it?
Prayer Meeting.
A prayer meeting is held in the Emmaus Room on Tuesday mornings at 9.30am for approx 30 minutes. It was initiated with a view to supporting and upholding our church, congregation and community though regular group prayer. In the Emmaus room is a wooden prayer box for anyone to use.
Do you have anyone or a situation which you would like prayer for? Please feel free to write on the paper provided and place it in the prayer box. In the prayer meeting we pray for situations and concerns within the world; our country; our town and our churches, we pray for the requests placed in the prayer box.
Please use us; tell others they are welcome to use the prayer box and feel free to come and join us in prayer. All are welcome and there is no commitment required to come each week.
Wednesday Fellowship
This is held in the Emmaus Room (at the front of the Church), on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays in the month. (September – June, except January) from 2.30pm- 3.45pm. Each week, there is a speaker or an interview with a guest or discussions between ourselves and refreshments are served at the end. The theme for 2010/2011 is Mission for Everyone. All are welcome, (male or female and whatever your age.)
Luncheon Club
An inexpensive delicious ‘home cooked’ meal which provides a source of a social event for older people This takes place in the Orange Hall (in the Church rooms- behind the Church) at 12 noon for 12.30- fortnightly.
It is open to all, not just Church members, but it is invitation only.
Please contact info@emmanuelbungay.co.uk for more information.
Junior Church
This is held during the service on a Sunday morning. - we start the service altogether and then the children go out to their own groups to learn more at their own level.They do various activities during the ¾ of an hour that they are together, from reading stories in the bible and discussing them to acting them out.
Art and craft activities based on the scripture for that day- lots of fun things that children can also learn from. (There is also a crèche available for the younger children). On the 3rd Sunday of each month, we have an All age worship- where the children stay in the service and are involved in various aspects.
At various other times of the year, the children have special activities and jobs to do: on Mothering Sunday- they hand out posies to all the ladies in the Church; at Easter- they go to the residential complexes (e.g. Olland Court) in the town, to deliver eggs and flowers and at Christmas, they are involved in the Nativity.
Our Junior Church is an important, integral part of the life of our Church- they are our present and our future.
The Elastic Band
Every 3rd Sunday morning, Emmanuel has an All Age Worship and music is provided by the ’Elastic Band’.
The name ‘Elastic Band’ came about, because it was said to be stretching it a bit to call it a youth band, as several of the members were ‘older’- and the name stuck.
The Band members at present are:
Andrew Gilding - Guitar
Charlotte Remblance - Clarinet
Dorothy Temple - Vocals
Emily Johnston - Bass Guitar
Jane Johnston - Violin
Kimberly Aldous - Glockenspiel and Drums
Mary Armstrong - Vocals
Mary Perry - Piano; Saxophone and Recorder
Molly Martin - Guitar and vocals
Peggy Finbow – Piano
Michelle Fuller-Watts – Flute
Archie Fuller-Watts – Guitar
David Gibson –Vocals (part-time)
Gemma Aldous - Visual Technician
The hymns /songs that are played, are more of a contempory/ modern style of music and these are projected onto a screen.
The Band are always looking for new talent to join them, they rehearse two thursday evenings a month, before the AAW service so if can play an instrument, the band would be pleased to see and hear you!
(The logo was designed by one of the band members- Emily Johnston)
Pilots /Badgers.
This is a youth group for 5-11 year olds. It is held on Wednesday evenings from 7pm – 8.15pm (Term times) in the Orange Hall (In the Church rooms behind the Church)
The group is unique as it combines the Pilots group, which is a United Reformed Church group and Badgers- the junior youth section of St John Ambulance.
There is therefore, a wide range of fun activities covered throughout the year.(Some religious according to the season, and some St John based - badge subjects are covered and different levels- Bronze, silver and gold- can be achieved, which go towards becoming a Super Badger ).
Some evenings (weather permitting!) – we go out- for walks and outside activities.
The leaders are all CRB checked, with varying childcare experience.
For more information: contact…. or come along and see us!
http://www.urc.org.uk/what_we_do/pilots/pilots
http://www.sja.org.uk/sja/young-people/badgers.aspx
JMA (Junior Mission for All)
The JMA promise is” I promise to learn, pray and serve with the worldwide Church of Jesus Christ”
This is a group that the Methodist Church started so Children can contribute and help support mission in their Church and in the world.
(JMA is part of The Methodist Church presence in the World Church and Mission Education.)
Each child has a collecting box and subscribers from whom they can receive money from. Each year at a special service, they receive a JMA badge and certificate which corresponds to the amount of years that they have been collecting.
The money collected goes to lots of worthwhile causes around the UK and the world
For more information on JMA go to the website:
The Dutch Connection!
Emmanuel Church, Bungay, have a long-standing (31 years) connection with the Protestantse Gemeente te Hellevoetsluis, the Protestant Parish of Hellevoetsluis, a small town just south of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
This year a group of nine people from Bungay visited Hellevoetsluis over the Easter weekend, and were very warmly welcomed (as always) by their friends there.
To read an account of the visit, see the website at www.pghellevoetsluis.nl
Follow the link to Emmanuel, Bungay on the left-hand side of their home page.