We are looking forward to the festive period at Kempston East and we wanted to highlight our Christmas services in the coming weeks, along with the recently re-introduced restrictions so that we can all enjoy this time together safely.

In short, our services will continue ‘face to face’ as normal, albeit with some familiar adaptations (see below) and some will also be broadcast on YouTube which you can watch via our website here - https://www.kempstoneastmethodist.org/live.html

When coming to Church:

- Wrap up warm: we’ll keep the Church well ventilated
- Help the Door Stewards to record your attendance on arrival
- Keep ‘distanced’ from other groups when seated, allowing one chair – or two if possible – between you and the next group
- As is required legally unless an exemption applies, wear a face covering
- We advise keeping your face covering on whilst singing
- Refreshments won’t be served, and you are asked to do your ‘fellowshipping’ outside.

This is all explained in more detail below.
Please also find the list of upcoming services at the bottom of the page.

Changes at Kempston East because of new Omicron Covid variant

As you can imagine, there has been considerable discussion about what changes we need to make to improve our Covid security in light of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Our immediate plans (let’s call them the ‘Kempston East Plan A’) are as follows:

The Church based services will be held subject to COVID safe guidelines. There will be some constraints on these, though and, although the church will do as much as it can, there are also things that you can do to improve both your and other people’s safety. Firstly, you must wear a face covering at all times when you’re in the church and halls – unless you have an official exemption. This is mandatory under the Government’s Plan B. You are also strongly advised to keep your mask on while singing.

Secondly, you will see when you arrive at church that we have gone back to closing off alternate rows to help with social distancing. You are also requested to leave at least one or two free seats between yourselves and other people outside your group. Thirdly, there will be no after-service refreshments until further notice. You are asked to leave the church immediately after the services and, if you want to chat, do this outside. Fourthly, we will be reverting to ‘hybrid’ services. This means that as well as services in the church we will be going back to streaming them on Zoom and also on Youtube via this page.

It is possible that things may move so quickly over the coming days that it is decided that services in church will need to be halted for some time (‘Kempston East Plan B’). If that happens, you will receive an email telling you of this and of how you can then access the online equivalents on Zoom and YouTube. There are, of course, things that we would encourage you to do if you are coming to one of the live services at church. Top of the list of these is to take a lateral flow test at home before you come to ensure that you are free from the virus.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation with this.

The concept of diversity encompasses acceptance and respect. It means understanding that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences. In the same way, we can also recognise what we have in common and what connects us. Over the 117 years that Kempston East Methodist Church has existed, there have been many different members who have lived locally, moved from the far corners of the UK and many further than that. We all have different backgrounds, cultures and interests; but there are many things we have in common, with the main connection being our faith. Our church family has continued to evolve to what it is today, and it is something that we are proud of.
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You may be aware that the month of October is Black History Month, and ultimately, it was created as a festival of celebration. This service will be part of our way of marking this and celebrating our church family in its fullness. The Black Lives Matter protests around the world sparked a commitment among many individuals and organisations to educate themselves about Black history, heritage and culture – as part of understanding racism and standing in solidarity against it. Whilst the protests raised awareness of the issues and opened up progressive discourse on the matter, the main theme and focus of Black History Month is celebrating heritage and diversity. This year in particular, we collectively want to inspire and share the pride people have in their heritage and culture – in their own way and in their own words. This is similar to what we are hoping to share with you all this Sunday at Kempston East, with several church members talking about their heritage and background.

Another theme for our service is Christians around the world – highlighting that our faith is something that connects us to millions of people across the world, not just in Kempston. We are also hoping to show a short video from our friends in Uganda who are part of the organisation, GAAF. In 2018, our Church charity was GAAF (Gideon’s Anti Aid Foundation) who are based in the community of Bombo just north of the capital Kampala, Uganda. The charity supports children who live and are cared for at the site, and are taught in their school. The charity also supports the local community, with crops that they grow and animals they rear. We were pleased to have Fred (one of the first children who was supported by GAAF) and Victoria to stay with us in December 2017. They also came to Kempston East to speak to us about GAAF and the work they do in the community. From this, they are also indirectly part of our church and wider church family. We continue to stay in touch with them and hope that one day we can go to visit them in Uganda.

The themes of diversity and Christians around the world remind me of the song ‘We are the Church’:

I am the church! You are the church! We are the church together! All who follow Jesus, all around the world! Yes, we're the church together!

It also says that the church is not a building, but a people. We have learnt this over the last couple of years, with the church coming to our living rooms via Zoom and through this newsletter. The work of Kempston East is not limited to the church building and is something that reaches many people, both near and far. We have all had our part to play in enabling this to happen and to continue the good work of this church. The book of Corinthians in Bible specifically highlights that we are collectively the body of Christ and individually make up the different parts.

"Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptised by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many." - 1 Corinthians 12:12-14

It is important to remember this and that no matter who we are, we are all a part of this church. It is our differences and diversity that makes Kempston East unique and special. But ultimately, as we celebrate and learn more about church family and community this week, it is amazing to think that the main constant that connects us is God and his love for us.

We wanted to take the opportunity to officially welcome everyone back to the church as we start to get back to business. Ever since we opened up again in September and as restrictions were eased, it has been great to see everyone happy to be worshipping back in church and sharing in fellowship together. Not only that, it has been fantastic to welcome back the people and groups that use the halls and premises for their meetings and activities during the week.

​Almost all of the outside groups who use the church halls and who have not been meeting since the first lockdown have decided to start up again and begin to use our premises again. As well as outside groups starting up again, some of our own church groups will be re-starting and we hope and pray that this will be a resurgence and a return to the pre-pandemic normality of our church life.

The Kempston East Wesley Guild meets twice monthly on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday at 2.30pm between September and the end of May in the New School Hall at Kempston East (entrance in Foster Road).  
All are most welcome to join the group. The Wesley Guild was initially established by the Methodist Church over 100 years ago. Its membership has embraced a wide age group drawn from various denominations.
Learn more about the Guild and their programme here

On Fridays, the 1st Kempston Boys Brigade Company meets from 6pm in the New School Hall and Old School Halls for their weekly activities. The Boys Brigade is one of the biggest Christian Youth Organisations in the UK & Republic of Ireland. We are committed to seeing lives enriched by supporting children and young people to reach their full potential by providing opportunities to meet together and engage in a range of fun and developmental activities and experiences.
Learn more about the company and what they do here

Every Friday during term time, we have a parents and toddler group in the New School Hall from 9:30-11:30am. This is an ideal group to bring your child to let off a bit of steam and interact with other children in a safe and friendly environment.
Learn more about the group here

Not only that, but the Tibbs Dementia Group and Lunch Club are both hoping to meet again soon so there is a lot going on and we are pleased to welcome everyone back. 
There are now opportunities to be involved and volunteer with these groups so if you are interested, you can find our contact details here.

The following precautions must be followed by all people who attend:

• Face coverings must be worn (unless you are covered by a government exemption)
• You must sanitise your hands on arrival and there will be no using of hymn books, bibles or other shared resources. You should also avoid touching key touch points like door handles.
• There will be no communal singing. We will have soloists singing from the front.
• There must be absolutely no conversation in the church before, after or during worship. We will be opening the door only ten minutes prior to the worship beginning, so any conversations should take place outside at a safe 2m distance. Please take care about the impression you give to passers-by, ensuring you are obviously maintaining social distance and not interacting with more than one other person or mixing with people outside your household or support bubbles.
• You should maintain a safe 2m distance from all other people outside of your household/bubble group. (Alternate rows will be closed off, and two empty chairs should be kept between you and any other household or bubble group sitting in the same row).
• The windows and doors will remain open during worship to ensure the place is well ventilated, so please dress appropriately to avoid being cold.
• Please follow the one way system using the centre aisle to move to the front (towards the worship area) and the side rows to move to the back (where the sound desk is).

You are also reminded that should you feel unwell with Covid-19 symptoms, which can be any of the following:

• A high temperature
• A persistent cough
• A loss or change to your sense of smell or taste

YOU MUST NOT ATTEND CHURCH, but we hope that you are able to enjoy worship on Zoom or via the website later in the week. As a stewarding team we hope that the mix of these requirements, combined with the option to remain at home, will reduce the risk as much as possible, whilst acting on the view of church council to return to our much-loved place of worship.

In terms of lettings and users of our Halls, the restrictions mean that the earliest that these can recommence is the 12th of April (again, this is subject to further Government review). We are working towards this date and thank Barbara for liaising with our Hall users.

A challenge we have all been facing recently is how do we stay connected. Staying connected to friends, family and to God. With another UK wide lockdown in place, Kempston East is once again having to close our doors until it is lifted and it is safe to meet and worship together again. So we are once again left with this question, how do we stay connected with God?

​It is important to keep a strong connection with God and we wanted to outline some ways in which you can do this.

In terms of connection, I’m talking about how strong is our connection to God - similar to a WiFi signal. I thought that was fairly apt for the current times where the most asked questions nowadays must be: “How do I improve my WiFi signal?” and “Have you tried clicking on the microphone symbol?” We have all been there when our connection to the internet has been a bit dodgy, the picture isn’t as clear as it could be, and we have unexpectedly left an online meeting due to a bad connection — or that was our excuse anyway! In order to keep the picture clear and be able to communicate we have to have a strong connection. This is the same in our Christian life; we have to have a strong connection with God.

To ensure we have a strong WiFi connection, we have to pay a subscription. To ensure our strong connection with God, we have to play our part as well. Instead of paying money, we have to dedicate our time and our lives to God to ensure our connection with Him stays strong. Recently, we have celebrated Kempston East's 116th Church Anniversary and this week we remember those who served in the war all those years ago. Both of these initial events in time that we are marking are remembered in a similar way; where the actions of the few benefit the lives of many. The people involved dedicated their lives to do God's will and to make the world a better place.
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We are all God's people and we were created to do his will. By doing this, we strengthen our connection with Him.
Without this strong connection with God, we cannot communicate with Him and we cannot understand the plan that he has for us. We can do our bit to keep our connection strong by praying, reading our bibles, living as the people of God and being stewards of his world.

The Bible tells us how important it is to have a strong connection with God. We learn on several occasions that Jesus removes himself from everyone else to pray. Sometimes, his own followers have to look for him in the mountains, where Jesus sits and connects to God. He was able to re-connect with his Father in Heaven. We can do the same and create a deep connection when we take time to spend with God. This deep connection can balance us, create direction and purpose in our lives, and recharge us for the rest of the day. This is all linked with our relationship with God.

Private prayer, Bible reading and meditation play a pivotal role in our personal walk with God, in building a relationship with him. This doesn’t have to all be done inside either; going outside for a walk and being thankful for the world that he has created is very beneficial for the soul. Many great thinkers and leaders scheduled a daily walk to help their thinking and connect to God. Winston Churchill walked every single morning right after he got out of bed. Other great leaders who set the same example include Einstein, Beethoven, and of course Jesus.

It’s important to remember that no journey with God is ever the same. We all take different paths in life and have discovered Christianity in different ways, so keeping our connection with God is going to be personal for each person. Ensuring a strong connection is one of many challenges we are facing at the moment but as was mentioned earlier, a strong connection with God can balance us, create direction and purpose in our lives. Keeping a strong connection with God will make everything else in life fall into place.
Put your faith in him and you will not be disappointed.

Stay safe and we look forward to seeing you back at the church when we are able to worship again.

Church Anniversary services are about looking back with thanksgiving, learning from the past and then they are about moving forwards. We celebrate the achievements and faith of so many saints at Kempston East. Many we shall never know by name but they quietly and faithfully kept the faith and passed on the baton to the next generation; for that we are truly grateful. But if it’s only about looking backwards then what of today and the future of the Church? We need to ask ourselves questions about the church, organisation and our own faith.

Why does it exist? What in a sentence is it doing today? What will it have become in, say, 5-10 years? What does your church have to do in the next year in order to become the church you wish it to become in 10 years time? What are the values which you will not sacrifice in order to see your vision fulfilled? What is your strategy? These are not easy questions to answer, but the real shock is if we have rarely asked them. These four points may help us:

1. Building a Personal Faith
Looking at Acts 2, which is a snapshot of the early church where building a personal faith was vital. Is our faith the same as 50 years ago or has it changed? I am not talking about the core beliefs but our experience and knowledge of our faith. Hopefully we have grown and John Wesley’s rule on doing good all the time means we have an active faith.

John Wesley’s rule:
Do All the Good You Can, In All the Ways You Can,
At All the Times You Can,
By All the Means You Can, In All the Places You Can,
To All the People You Can,
As long as Ever ......You Can!”

2. Building a People of Faith
Ezekiel 37 is a picture of walking through the valley of dry bones and being given a vision by God of new life. I am not suggesting that Kempston East looks like a valley of dry bones, but when we celebrate Pentecost it is a reminder that the spirit created a fellowship and community of faith. The Church is NOT a spiritual sanatorium in which to hide from the world but a mission station where folk are cared for and equipped to engage with the world. Ultimately, it’s not about church meetings but MEETING with the living God that really matters. We are in the business of ‘Building a People of Vision’ in our 21st century post-modern culture.

3. Connecting Locally
The church in the book of Acts connected with folk from a wide range of backgrounds. In fact the wrong sort of people got converted and Kempston East should be attracting the wrong sort of people as well as the right kind. In the words of Archbishop William Temple the Church exists for the benefit of its non-members. The church that doesn’t evangelise will fossilise and we need to constantly re-connect to the local community.

4. Connecting Globally
The New Testament Church communities connected and supported each other. However I sometimes think it is easier to contact with people around the world than locally. I have spoken to Church members by phone - one was on a beach in Corfu, another in Shanghai - and with a Methodist Minister from Ghana ringing up from his village in the jungle. Perhaps it would help to see Kempston East as a part of a global church worshipping locally.

If we want the Church to be around for the next 116 years we need to allow God’s spirit to continually renew its life. A good question to ask ourselves, do you still have faith in a Great God?

Kempston East, Happy 116th Birthday Blessings

Rev. Michael Giles
Kempston East Minister

​As of Sunday 13 September, we are pleased to be reopening for Sunday worship. As you may be aware, the Government has just announced new regulations on meeting together from 14 September. Therefore, we will now be meeting together for worship in the church at Kempston East this week under our four-point guidance. We have also included a new poster below about how you might recognise someone who is unable to wear a mask because of a hidden disability.

If you are not able to come to the church on a Sunday morning, we plan to livestream and record the services and make them available to view in full on the website. If you would like to watch the services live, please sign up to our email list to receive the viewing details.

Last Tuesday, and following the large increases in Covid-19 cases in the previous three days, the Government announced new rules for how we can socialise with other people. This is our guide to what these are and how they might affect us.
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There will be a limit of six people allowed to meet together socially (up until tomorrow the limit is thirty people). This applies to meeting together indoors and outdoors, so you won’t be able to have more than six family members meeting together, even in your garden, in a restaurant, or in the park.

There will be some exceptions to these rules:

• If your household or your ‘support bubble’ is larger than six, then you can meet together. Your household is the people you actually live with, not including your wider family. A support bubble is formed when one adult living alone forms a group with a second household (of any size) and effectively acts as one group.
• Education is exempt from this, so schools will still be open and classes can be larger than six
• Work is also exempt, so you will still be able to go to work with other people
• Weddings and funerals are also exempt but there are still limits of 30 people at weddings and a ‘modest number’ at funerals
• Team sports are also exempt providing they are run so as to limit the spread of the virus
• And, most importantly for us as a church, religious worship is also exempt.

This exemption has not been mentioned as widely on the news as the others have but the Methodist Church has posted its guidance by quoting a statement from the Archbishop of Canterbury: "After contact with Government we hear that there is no change to guidance on places of worship. Worship is the work of God – not a social gathering – and gives the strength to love and serve. The increase in COVID cases is very concerning. We must follow the guidance and take all the necessary measures to keep people safe. And let’s keep praying for everyone who is affected – those who are ill, or whose families are ill, those who are anxious, or struggling with cancelled plans and isolation. We give grateful thanks to God for the NHS and all those who work tirelessly to keep us safe." - The Archbishop of Canterbury