Church Matters – Sunday 4th October

Sunday 4 October

10am Parish Communion – St Mary’s, Easton

4pm Cafe Church – Itchen Abbas Village Hall

David’s talk from last Sunday’s Holy Communion can be listened to here

Or read here

Above all else, guard your heart for everything you do flows from it’

Proverbs 4:23

The two big mistakes we’ve made: overprotecting children in the real world (where they need to learn from vast amounts of direct experience) and underprotecting them online (where they are particularly vulnerable during puberty).

Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness

Being a teenager has always been a complex right of passage. It’s a season where you are working out who you are, what you are interested in and simply trying to make sense of the world and how you fit in with it. It has never been a more difficult navigation – as a study released this week confirmed (link

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2854067

To nurture and help that navigation we have organised a Valley youth day seeking to bring together children/ youth aged 9-16 who are either part of or connected relationally to our church. We are praying the day will be both engaging and fun. It might also be a stepping off-point for friendship and possibly lead on to some future gatherings/ activities.

What you need as a teenager is actually what we all need:

To know God loves you

To understand that our lives have purpose.

If you can grasp this as a teenager ( ie ‘guard your heart’ ) you tend to save yourself a good deal of heartache and mistakes later on.

You can sign up for the day here and please pass this forward to any in this age bracket who you think might be interested.

with every blessing

David

David’s Contact Details

If you would like to contact David, his email address is david@itchenvalleychurches.org

His landline telephone number is 01962 582226

David’s working days are Monday – Wednesday and services on a Sunday

for global peace

for those who are ill or suffering at the moment or for those recently bereaved

for Elisabeth and the other family and friends of Robert Darley-Doran as they mourn his passing

for the family and friends of Les Willoughby, who was a former organist of the Itchen Valley, and sadly passed away after a long illness. If you would like details of his funeral please let me know.

Parish Communion readings can be read here