“And in him you too are being built together
to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
(Ephesians 2:22)
This weekend Fiona and I celebrate twenty years serving at St. Luke’s in Ramsgate. I am only the second vicar at St. Luke’s to stay that long, although the first vicar of the church stayed for over thirty years, and I am not promising to try and beat him!
When I started, I remarked to the Area Dean at the time how big a building St. Luke’s was. His response was to say, that I needed to fill it! Sadly, that has not happened – at least not yet. We still have plenty of space in the pews and we have not had to buy more chairs to cope with increased numbers, although we have acquired a lot of sofas in the last two decades.
Yet, God has been at work during the twenty years. People have come to faith and others have found a Christian home and family within the church or been helped in their walk of discipleship. Many have joined us as a church and many have left, either positively because they have moved away or been called to another church or more sadly, because their faith has faded. A few who have grown up in the church are now elsewhere ministering and even preaching or leading churches themselves. Others have moved on to their eternal home and we look forward to being reunited with them once again.
People come and go, but the Christian faith is not ultimately about filling a building. Rather, as the verse above says, it is about God building a community of people to fill it with his Holy Spirit. Let us pray for God to do that more and more in the next twenty years, no matter who the vicar is!
Paul Worledge
This Week’s Sunday Service – 11am
Join us for our regular Sunday morning worship this special Pentecost Sunday, which is also the twentieth anniversary of Paul and Fiona starting at St. Luke’s. The service is a communion service with the normal groups for children. We will looking at the events of Pentecost as told in Acts 2:1-21.
Paul and Fiona’s Twentieth Anniversary at St. Luke’s
Thank you so much to Julie Leonard for writing an article in the Isle of Thanet News about Paul and Fiona’s twentieth anniversary. You can check out the picture of our family we originally sent to St. Luke’s in early 2004 just before we came on this post and the article with a more up to date family photo here.
Please join us this Sunday for our 11am service at St. Luke’s to celebrate the event and at the Barbecue afterwards.
Pentecost Gift Day
To celebrate Paul and Fiona’s 20th Anniversary at St. Luke’s this coming Pentecost Sunday (19th May) we are having a gift day to raise funds for two new signs at St. Luke’s church. We want to replace the old wooden ones that have almost fallen apart with aluminium ones that should last longer. It costs around £1,000 for each sign.
As is traditional for Gift Days we will give 10% of the gift to the Church Pastoral Aid Society, our church patrons.
There will be a collection during the last hymn of the service. You can also give online.
Paul and Fiona’s celebration BBQ – Today from 12:30pm
On Sunday 19th May we will be holding a celebration BBQ for Paul and Fiona who have been at St Luke’s for 20 yrs. It will be held in the field behind church. It starts after the normal service at St Luke’s. Please join us.
Announcement about Claire Coleman
Last Sunday we announced that Claire, our curate for three years, has been appointed to a new post as Team Vicar in the Dover Team ministry. It will be a while before she takes up the post as no date has yet been fixed. Read more…
Connecting with Young People – Thursday 23rd May, 7:30pm
This meeting at St George’s hall is to encourage us to connect with young people in our community, as we continue exploring a potential after school drop in on Thursdays from September. Contact Tonya (07376485784) if you are interested in volunteering and cannot make the meeting.
Offer of a Grant for a Youth Worker
As mentioned at the Annual Meeting last week, St. Luke’s has been offered a five-year grant to employ a youth worker. The cost of employing a youth worker is around £36,000 a year (including tax, pensions etc.). The grant is a tapered grant, so we would receive around 87% of that amount in the first year, reducing down to 13% in the fifth year.
At present we are not sure how feasible it is to pursue this. If you know of anyone who might be a potential youth worker here or have any thoughts about how we could fund the rest of the costs, then please talk to the vicar or someone on the PCC. Also, please pray about this possibility!
Four ideas for ensuring every child has a chance to explore Jesus
How do we ensure children have an opportunity to explore Jesus? With increasing numbers of children growing up outside of a Christian faith, join us to explore four creative ideas for mobilising our churches to give every child a chance to explore Jesus.
This is an online training event on Tuesday 11th June 2024, 9:15-11:25am. The cost is £9. If you want to attend, book a place, then let Paul know and the church will reimburse the £9. Book now…
Links to Share:
This week a reminder of some of the resources available on St. Luke’s website.
Looking back beyond 2004
For St. Luke’s 140th anniversary, we compiled a history on the website of the church. You can check it out here and see pictures of vicars from a long time ago. Read more…
Catch Up on Sermons
On St. Luke’s YouTube channel there are now nearly two hundred sermons and talks going back four years. Check it out… Or just check out our most viewed sermon on YouTube. Watch…
Finally, let’s keep on praying for God to build us and fill us with his Spirit.
Yours in Christ
Paul Worledge
(Vicar, St. Luke’s Ramsgate)
Weekly Calendar
Sunday 19th May
Creative Group Singing Practice (St Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:30am
Family Service (St. Luke’s Church), Acts 2:1-21, 11:00am-12:00pm
Paul & Fiona’s 20th Anniversary BBQ (St. Luke’s Vicarage Gdn) – 12:30-3:00pm
Monday 20th
Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Study Group (South Eastern Road) – 7:15-9:30pm
Tuesday 21st
Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Christ Church Toddlers @ St Luke’s (St. Luke’s Church Hall) – 9:30-11:30am
Study Group (Lyndhurst Road) – 2:30-4:00pm
Wednesday 22nd
Study Group (Langdale Avenue) – 10-12 noon
Study Group (South Eastern Road) – 7:30-9:30pm
Thursday 23rd
Prayer Meeting (St. Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Cafe4All (St. Luke’s Church), Coffee and Chat for all – 10:00-11:30am.
Connecting with Young People (St. George’s Hall) – 7:30-9:00pm
Friday 24th
Play and Praise (St. Luke’s Church Hall) – 10:00-11:30am
Gather, Women’s Drop-In (St. Luke’s Church) – 12:30-2:30pm
Saturday 25th
Prayer Meeting (St. George’s Church) – 9:30-10:00am
Sunday 26th
Creative Group Singing Practice (St Luke’s Church) – 9:30-10:30am
Family Service (St. Luke’s Church), Isaiah 6:1-8, 11:00am-12:00pm
Online Forms
Under the ‘Contact’ tab on the website, there are now three forms that you can use to help us in managing the church:
- Events Application Form. Use this if you are organising a church event that needs a church room booked, advertising or ticketing.
- Submit a Notice. Use this if you want to ask us to include a prayer request or other notice in the church notice sheet or email.
- Maintenance Reporting Form.Use this to report any non-urgent issues with our buildings or grounds.
St. Luke’s Website
- What’s On – a page which lets you know what is happening this week and gives information about upcoming events.
- Notices – You can read the latest notices on this page.
- Sermons – Read a transcript of a recent sermon or watch the YouTube version recorded at St. Luke’s. You can also listen to the sermon through the podcast website castbox.
Safeguarding Training
If you volunteer in anyway at church the national authorities are strongly encouraging you to take at least the Basic Module in safeguarding training once every three years.
If you have not completed the training in the last three years, then the module can be completed online and takes about ninety minutes. You can access the training by following this link. You will need to first register, to access the training. Once the training is completed, you will be sent a certificate. Please forward that certificate to James (office@stlukesramsgate.org), so that we can keep records of who has done the training.
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 