Bells rung to celebrate our patronal festival of All Saints

Our celebration of the All Saints weekend began with bell-ringing last Saturday morning .The ringers attempted a full peal and the bells rang out for an hour and a half over Wokingham to celebrate our patronal festival as a parish. If you'd like to find out more about bell-ringing at All Saints Church Wokingham visit the dedicated website.

View of a bell-ringing practice in All Saints Church tower from above

The blessing of owning your own Bible and what it means for China

The annual Bible Sunday was celebrated yesterday at All Saints.

 In his sermon David the Rector picked up the Bible Society's focus theme this year which is the blessing of owning your own Bible and the call to help the Chinese Church to print and distribute millions of new Bibles in China. David said:

"I'm privileged to be invited as a guest of the Chinese Church to visit China next month with a Bible Society group of British church leaders. We will see the printing of the Bibles first-hand in Nanjing, meet Chinese church leaders and worship with Chinese Christians. A highlight of the trip will be the opportunity to take part in the distribution of free Bibles in one of the rural areas in the region around Suquian City in Eastern China"

Read David's sermon for Bible Sunday with more details about the growing demand for Bibles in China

What's a prayer twirler?

The Reverend Helen Charlton with the prayer twirlers created by the 11am Family Service congregation yesterday.

Revd Helen Charlton congratulated

Applause from the congregation greeted the announcement yesterday that the Reverend Helen Charlton has been licensed by the Bishop of Reading to continue to serve All Saints Parish following the successful completion of her four years of post-ordination training.

A weekend of cultural exchange for All Saints Church

Last weekend saw All Saints Church involved in cultural exchange in two directions.
 On Sunday afternoon the church was full of people to see the Maasai Warriors from Osiligi in Kenya. They delighted the audience with their jumping, dancing and whistling accompanied by their  traditional songs and gospel songs. Earlier in the weekend All Saints Church Choir were the "cultural imports" as they sang Anglican choral music pieces to an audience of over 1000 members of the Reading Indian community at a Bengali cultural festival in the Rivermead centre on Saturday. A return visit to All Saints of performers of Bengali music is promised!

Osiligi Maasai Warriors on their way to Wokingham

Ticket sales for the Osiligi Maasai Warriors concert have been vigorous. Bookends, the book and gift shop on Peach Street,  has now sold out of its allocation of tickets and the Parish Office will be closed from 1pm today Friday. Those still wanting to attend without tickets are advised to turn up on the church door from 2pm on Sunday and purchase tickets there. Cash sales only please as there are no electronic payment facilities at the church.

There will be cool drinks and snack refreshments available in the interval and Maasai craft products will also be on sale.

Tickets are £12 fr adults and  only £1 for any child or young person under 19 years of age.

Guest speaker from the PACT charity at All Saints Parish Communion service this Sunday

This Sunday 13th October All Saints Church will welcome a guest speaker at the 9.30am Parish Communion service. Linda Reid is from the charity Parents and Children Together (PACT). PACT exists to build and strengthen families and to help families to be able to make the very best life for their children, especially those from more vulnerable backgrounds. PACT is a professional agency set up in 1911 as the social welfare arm of the Anglican Diocese of Oxford.

Today PACT continues to be supported by the Oxford Diocese in the area of nurturing family life. In 2011, PACT celebrated 100 years of caring. PACT has a long history of providing adoption and fostering services to couples and single people. In 2012, the agency placed more than 100 children with their forever families.

All Saints Church prays for and donates regularly to the work of PACT. David, the Rector, said, "I'd like to see All Saints Church becoming a key partner parish in the work of PACT. I'm looking for greater awareness across our church membership of the work of PACT for the benefit of vulnerable children and the building of families in the Thames Valley region". 

All Saint parish's relationship with PACT was deepened some years ago when the Eric Rand legacy funded a  dedicated PACT Family Support Worker in the All Saints Primary School.