Hello everyone and welcome to the BUZZ.

THE BUZZ is a great resource that brings the whole Methodist Connexion together and allows us to share what's happening in our districts, circuits, churches and church groups. If you have any stories you would like to share, which illustrate how your church is working out the four aspects of Our Calling, then please get in touch.

You can advertise your church, circuit or district events and news on the Connexional Noticeboard on the Methodist Church website. Here's the link: www.methodist.org.uk

After you've held your event, do let me know how it went. Your ideas can encourage and inspire others to try something similar and I'm sure the latest stories below will do just that. The contacts will be pleased to give you more information.

Lynne Newland

After being widely advertised in the circuit and district, the first Jazz Church gathering took place on Sunday 20 June 2010 at Shirley Methodist Church. The service was well attended and the congregation enjoyed a mixture of traditional hymns and modern choruses arranged in a jazz style supported by the Jazz Church band with Laura and Themba on vocals, Adam on keys and Steph on drums.

Using speech and live music, Adam and Jayne unpicked the "jazz factor" metaphor for living the Christian life in light of the vision of the kingdom, encouraging people to have that same biblical vision of a just world or new creation as they thought about their own mission and ministry.

© Nigel Collins

Christians of all traditions on the Isle of Man came together on Fathers' Day for what was probably the biggest ecumenical celebration ever seen on the Island. This historic event culminated in church leaders signing a Covenant for Mission.

Over 3,000 people gathered in a massive tent in Douglas that had been erected for a weekend rock festival and kindly offered to us, free of charge, by the festival organisers. The theme of the celebration was, unsurprisingly, that of unity. Worship was led by ‘Mannifest’, a local band, and reflection was provided in drama and dance by members of the Island’s Scripture Union team. The atmosphere was tremendous, with a real sense of joy that God’s people had come together in this way, and longed to move forward together.

Relations between the churches on the Island have been good for many years and tribute should be paid to the work of Churches Together in Mann over recent decades. But the last few years have seen a change of pace, and a real desire for greater levels of commitment and co-operation between the churches - hence the Covenant.

The Covenant for Mission takes as its starting point the faith in Jesus that the Churches have in common. It celebrates the diversity within the body of Christ, and confesses the sin of division. It then commits the Churches to working together in five main areas: making Jesus known; serving human need; overcoming divisions in the body of Christ; the call to exercise the gifts God has given to us; and recognising that we are stronger together, the commitment to listen to and learn from one another. As its title suggests, the focus of the Covenant is outward-looking, with its call to the Churches to look to the needs of the Island and the wider world.

Bishop Robert Paterson, the Anglican bishop of Sodor and Mann, led the part of the service in which the Covenant was signed and he was joined by representatives of all the denominations; Methodist, Baptist, Elim, Roman Catholic, Salvation Army, and the United Reformed Church. The Revd Malcolm Peacock, Chair of the Isle of Man District, signed on behalf of the Methodist Church. After the service others were able to add their own signatures.

On an island of 80,000 people, a gathering at 9.30am on a Sunday morning of 3,000 people was a sign that the Church is very much alive and kicking. Pastor John Powell of the Elim Church reminded us all, as we left, of God’s promise in scripture, that where there is unity it commands a blessing. Early in the service a seagull found its way into the tent and flew for a while over the heads of those gathered: maybe a dove wasn’t readily available! We look forward to what God has in store for us in the future.

© Alan Irvin

“The vision for 'exalt' came out of a time of prayer during a Sunday morning service”, reports Alan Irvin, Methodist local preacher in the Chester-le-Street Circuit. “We felt a need to create a contemporary act of worship that would appeal to those who are unfamiliar with modern forms of worship and also provide an opportunity for smaller churches in the region to be part of something bigger. We took on the challenge of the words of Psalm 34:3 "let us exalt his name together".... hence the name.

We decided to hold ‘exalt’ on a Saturday evening and publicized it via flyers, posters, word of mouth, emailings and a website: www.exalthisname.webs.com We invited any musicians to arrive early and join an ad-hoc music group.

The response exceeded our expectations. Fourteen musicians arrived to form the music group, made up of individuals from six different churches, including two keyboard players who played at different times in the worship. The congregation included people from 14 churches - Methodist, Anglican and Pentecostal, and in our prayers we celebrated and prayed for the ongoing witness and faithfulness of these churches in their communities.

A sermon based on Hebrews 10:23-25 reminded the congregation of the need to "motivate and encourage one another" knowing that God is faithful. We used strips of fabric, individually, tied in groups and then joined across the whole congregation to symbolise our unity. Many people then laid their strips at the foot of a cross as a sign of commitment to encourage others.

© Shackles Off

Shackles Off  Drop-In Centre is a well used, fresh expression of church in Seascale, Cumbria and provides a safe, caring, drug and alcohol-free environment for those aged 16-25. But on the day when 12 people were shot and killed in Cumbria, the Centre took on a very different function.      

The Shackles Off Team reports: “On Wednesday 2 June 2010, a mist was over the sea and the sun had broken through. It was just an ordinary day. Some first heard the news on the radio, or later on television, but most people knew nothing of the events that were unfolding until the gunman had gone through our village. Seascale had shut down.

This was a day no-one will ever forget. Every individual will always remember where they were, what they were doing and the emotions they felt.

Shackles Off Drop-In Centre was used as a point of contact for the emergency services and as a refuge for those who had witnessed the horrific events outside. It was used as a hospital to help keep a man alive until further help came, and later it was used as a base for the investigating police detectives. For two days after that we stayed open to offer support and to comfort one another; our friends and our community.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones. As we later gathered together for a Service of Remembrance, over 500 people turned out in the rain to pray for those lost, hear comforting words and to stand together as a community united in grief and in mourning. A minute’s silence was held and, as the service closed, there was an opportunity to lay a flower at the foot of our driftwood cross, made with wood from our beach.

Here in this village of Seascale, John Wesley’s words were lived out by everyone.

"Do all the good you can
By all the means you can
In all the ways you can
In all the places you can
At all the times you can
To all the people you can
As long as ever you can'"