Put a little Christmas in your pocket

The Methodist Church is hoping to spread a little festive cheer with the latest edition to their hugely popular In Your Pocket booklet series.

Christmas in Your Pocket offers readers an inspiring collection of images, Bible verses, prayers and reflections on the Christmas season. It draws together contributions from authors as diverse as Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Benjamin Franklin and Bob Hope.

Joy Fisher, Series Editor, said; “This is a pocket-sized reminder that Christmas starts with Christ and finds its home in us. Christmas is for everyone - it’s a time of miracles, hope, expectation, excitement and the most precious gift that anyone can receive.”

Christmas in Your Pocket is ideal for personal or group reflection, but churches are also encouraged to share the Christmas spirit with their communities by giving the booklets away.

The whole range of In Your Pocket booklets (also including Prayer in Your Pocket and Hope in Your Pocket), are available from Methodist Publishing at £5 for 50 copies. They can be purchased online here: http://tinyurl.com/yen2zce/.


Source: Methodist News Service 06/11/2009

Bible Study Courses

I was a bit disappointed that no-one commented on my report that our Circuit Disciple group had completed our study of the Disciple 4 course, especially as I believe we are probably the first group in the UK to have done so. This is probably because I mentioned it in my post on our Circuit Farewell Service. It could also be because of the current difficulties being experienced by the Methodist Publishing House that necessitates all study materials having to be ordered direct from Cokesbury in America via the Disciple website http://www.cokesbury.com/disciple.

However, I want to draw attention to the tremendous benefits that come from the study of the Disciple Courses - in discipline, in fellowship and, most of all, in personal transformation as we all walk closer with Jesus. It seems very daunting at first to commit to spending 34 weeks in in-depth Bible study (for the Disciple 1 course means covering most of the Bible in nine months), but all who make this commitment speak enthusiastically of the experience. Personally, I found the Disciple 2 course to have the deepest, most lasting effect on my Christian journey, though each course added to the others.

So I would urge you to seriously consider committing yourselves to a Disciple course this year. When a number of members in the same church commit themselves in this way, the effect on the church is quite extraordinary.

But if you really and truly feel that such a long commitment is not for you, please consider whether your house group could follow one of the six short Disciple courses that are now available, covering 8, 10 or 11 weeks. The titles of these are -

Invitation to Psalms
Invitation to John
Invitation to the New Testament
Invitation to the Old Testament
Invitation to Genesis
Invitation to Romans

Also I was surprised to find that after Disciple 4, they list two further 30-week courses -

Jesus in the Gospels and

Christian Believer

I am excited to read about 'Christian Believer' on the Disciple website because it looks to me as though this study could revitalise a church if enough people could be signed up to discover what it is we Christians really believe!

If you are alone in wanting to take a Disciple course, I have good news for you! I understand that, just as blogging and Facebook can form groups of friends, it is now posible to become part of an on-line Disciple group! So do make enquiries about this, if you think this is the way in for you.

Finally, I heard a whisper that our Connexional Team are about to resurrect the resourcing of Disciple courses in the UK. I do hope and pray that this is more than a rumour because the Disciple courses are such a powerful tool to enable earnest, committed Christians to grow. Over to you!