This year has seen our regular activities continuing and growing :-

Sunday services – numbers fluctuate considerably with holidays and members involvement in other activities, but we have had several new local people joining our congregation over the year. On Sunday evenings we looked at the Bible book of Acts using a DVD for the readings and looking how the Early Church grew, looking for pointers to move forward as a church.

Prayer meetings – these continue on Sunday mornings and Thursday mornings. The Thursday group has recently seen a 66% increase in numbers – although we were only 3 to start with!!

Craft group – this has also grown in numbers over the year and they have done many varied activities, including sewing and knitting, and have recently finished preparing shoeboxes for the Samaritans Purse Operation Christmas Child Appeal which takes gifts to poor children around the world..

We have also started two new ventures:-

Parent and Toddler Group – in February we opened up on Friday mornings and had good numbers until the Summer. Since the Summer, with some children starting playgroup, numbers have been lower.

 

 

2007 has been a great year! I've continued going into the local Primary schools regularly to take assemblies, sharing the relevance of the Bible stories to our lives today. PCY, a Friday night youth group for youth from different churches has really flourished, growing closer to God and each other in a safe environment. We had a great time at Youth Camp with a few from Rhydyfelin really enjoying it. It's been a very outward looking year, God has blessed us with so much support & encouragement from the American teams that we thought it was time to move out. I've taken young people to: Pembroke to run kids clubs at 2 churches; Uganda to visit schools, churches, medical facilities, play football, experience a new culture & share their faith; as well as doing lots of exciting local things. It's been a real privilege & pleasure to be working for God this year Why don't you consider getting to know God and becoming more involved in the great things He is doing?  Alun Davies Rhydyfelin & PCC Youth Worker

 

Howard Smith from Rhydyfelin church was one of a group of Engineers, Doctors and Medics who went to Mbale, Uganda in 2005 to work with local people and to explore possible links and joint projects. Howard went to Mbale again with PONT recently. He took part in worship with Biglife Outreach Church on the Sunday. The rest of the week he discussed the arrangements to send a Mechanical Machine Workshop there to set up as a small business. The profits of this would hopefully add funds to the PONT projects. He also coordinated Investigations into potential carbon offsetting and environmental schemes, including solar powered lights for homework clubs.

If you would like to know more about the work of PONT try asking Howard or go to the PONT website: http://www.pont-mbale.org.uk/index.htm

Hello! What a troubled world we inhabit! Global warming creating weather changes with increased floods and changes to wild-life habitat that have been accepted as normal for centuries, violence in nearly all parts of the world where human beings have settled, and in our own land social problems that sometimes cause us to despair for the future for our children and grandchildren.

It is good to realise that people are waking up to the fact that education and money can be of some help to alleviate some of the problems, but are not the answer in the long term. Both are limited in what they can achieve. There is, however, a greater awareness that individually we can make a difference and we have people encouraging us to be environmentally friendly in our buying patterns and waste disposal. 'Green Issues' are now part of the political agenda. Each of us is encouraged to recycle what we can and avoid unnecessary packaging in buying and selling goods. Legislation goes some way in making us aware of how our behaviour affects the society and community in which we live. Trouble is, we can get tied up by red tape in all sorts of areas of life and we can find ourselves tripping over it and making mistakes which can be costly in terms of fines, or even prison sentences.

Nevertheless, the laws do point to our individual responsibility for our own attitudes and behavior, and people are finding that as they consider their own attitudes that they are looking for some sort of Spiritual fulfillment that can't be found in a purely materialistic way of living.

I have been interested to see that there is a swing back towards couples getting married, rather than just living together, and not only to get married, but to have the wedding in a church setting. People seem to be becoming more aware that there is a power outside of and beyond them. There is awareness that that power can have some influence on their lives, and so wish to invoke its benevolence by getting married in a place where they feel that power may be present – a church building.

As a Christian, I call that power 'God' and see life through that spectrum of Christian faith and belief. It does not necessarily make life easier, nor does it always provide me with answers which satisfy me, but I have to admit to a sense of peace, well-being and acceptance which others tell me they lack.

As we meet week by week in churches around the world, we seek to come into a deeper, more meaningful awareness of that amazing Power. 

Why don't you come and join us in our journey of discovery?

I look forward to seeing you. Rev Ian Howlett

 

Rev Ian Howlett

You may be wondering what on earth this is. Over the past 30 years, there has been a continuous children's and youth work at Poplar Road. It started with Boys Brigade, then a few years later Girls Brigade started up too. These were uniformed organizations and in the early 90's it became increasingly difficult to get the youngsters to wear a uniform and also it was difficult to find enough leaders to keep separate organizations going.

We decided then to join the Crusaders organization, which was not uniformed and was unisex. We have had varying degrees of involvement with the National organization, choosing mainly to do our own thing. In 2006, the Crusaders organization celebrated its Centenary and started thinking of an alternative name to take it on into the future. In our multi-cultural population, the link with

the Crusades of history was embarrassing and it was felt that the name should change.

At the start of 2007 the name 'Urban Saints' was launched. Many people think of 'saints' as very special people who made a difference like St Peter, St Paul, St Mary etc. but in the New Testament Paul calls all those who seek to follow Jesus as saints and urban means 'in the community'. The general thinking is that through Urban Saints youth groups, we are seeking to produce a generation who are willing to be agents of change for God in their world. Not satisfied with 'taking' or 'spectating', they are willing to serve despite their weakness, making a God-honouring difference in every situation they face.

The funny thing is that most of our youngsters still call our meetings 'Wednesday Club' or simply 'Club'. Over the past year or so, we have got involved with National events. In June 2006 we went on a Spree Activities day in the grounds of Cathays High School, last December we had an area Swimming afternoon at Hawthorn and earlier this year a Sports Afternoon at Hawthorn. In July, we took a group down the Gower on a Saturday, to be part of a Spree Weekend and all those who went said they want to go for the whole weekend next year.

If you have, or know, children who would like to get involved then we have groups for ages 3 to 16 on a Wednesday evening!