Still on Christmas Eve they have the first Holy Communion of Christmas at 7.30pm and again on Christmas Day there is a Family Communion Service from 10.00-11.00.

You are welcome to come to any of their services.

They have no strangers only friends we haven’t met yet.

Contact Revd Christine Williams: christine.mwilliams@btopenworld.com

And Colin is always full of ideas and so joined forces with an attempt to break the simultaneous carol singing record. It stood at 15,000 but the church helped with their merry band of over 100 to over 17,000.
Each session across the country had to be recorded and so verified by the Guinness Book of Records, so we popped along and filmed all fifteen minutes of some wonderful singing.

A warm welcome awaits you at any of our services.

Christmas Eve Nativity Service

Saturday 24th December

4.00pm – Our very popular “Night before Christmas” service.
Young ones are encouraged to come dressed as shepherds and angels to join in with the tableau

“Midnight Service” Saturday 24th December
11.30pm – Holy Communion with carols

Christmas Day Sunday 25th December

8.00am – Traditional Holy Communion Service
10.00am – Holy Communion Service with carols for all ages

New Year’s Day Sunday 1st January

10.00am – Morning Worship service for all ages

Contact Revd Clive Russell for more details: russell-mail@tiscali.co.uk

The Conference concluded with the formal launch of ‘Thurrock Faith Matters’, the newly established borough wide forum for dialogue and activity between the many different faith communities. The conference was a partnership event between Thurrock Council and Thurrock Faith Matter.

There has for some time been a desire to establish a Thurrock wide network across the various different faith communities. There have been several attempts to get this off the ground but for various reasons, they have not proved to be successful. Twelve months ago a gathering took place at the Beehive Centre in Grays where the idea was once again raised. It was agreed that the time was now right to move this forward and so a small steering group was established to develop the concept further. Help has been provided by the East of England Faiths Council together and Thurrock Council.

The steering group has met regularly through the last year and has developed a draft Constitution (see attached). It was decided to hold a Thurrock Faith Leaders Conference that would take place during the National Inter-Faith week (20-26 Nov 11). The conference was arranged for Thursday 24 Nov at The Barn, High House Production Park, Purfleet. Invitations were distributed widely across the borough and around 60 people representing the Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Christian faith communities gathered for the Conference. The programme included various speakers (see attached).

The feedback at the end of the conference was very positive and we have a number of ideas to take forward into the new year with many more people wishing to be involved.

As it happens, we were at the All Souls Church on Lexington Avenue.

This reporter has been to NYC on many occasions but has never seen so many people on the streets, homeless and begging.

Never have we seen so many soup kitchens in operation during Thanksgiving.

So, we spoke to Rev David Robb about what the church can do to keep the community together in these troubled times.

The Premier Christian Radio initiative hopes to beat the current World Record for the largest number of people singing carols together across multiple locations. The aim is to recruit over 15,000 people to join in for 15 minutes of carolling.

The record attempt is part of the ‘Christmas Starts with Christ’ campaign, which exists to engage people with the true meaning of Christmas. It includes church poster, national newspaper and radio advertising.

Accepting the challenge, pastor Colin Baker said, “Our church is always open to visitors and being on the main road through Grays we do see a lot. However, some people who might not bother coming to an ordinary carol service might come along if the event was part of a World Record attempt. Also, some people just love singing carols and are just waiting to be invited – consider yourself invited!” The service will formally begin at 6.30pm on Sunday 18th December and the World Record Attempt begins at 7.00pm.

All any church needs to do is sign up at www.christmasstarts.com/worldrecord. They will need musicians to lead the singing and have a nominated person to click people in and record the attendance.

Carols on the night will include Silent Night, O Come All Ye Faithful , O little Town of Bethlehem and Away in a Manger – and song sheets will be provided.

The World Record attempt is part of a wider campaign organised by Premier Christian Radio in partnership with ChurchAds.net and Church from scratch. The ‘Christmas Starts with Christ’ campaign aims to engage people with the true meaning of Christmas. Log on to www.christmasstarts.com for more information.

The Faith Leaders Conference at High House Production Park, Purfleet will feature speeches from council leader John Kent and leader of the Conservatives Phil Anderson about the faith sector as well as the importance of faith by Rev Darren Barlow, chair of the Inter-Faith Forum.

The Thurrock Faith Matters will also be launched at the conference from 9.30am until 1pm.

For more information call 01375 652472.

The Mayor of Thurrock Cllr Charlas Curtis and the Mayoress Cllr Wendy Curtis were the chief guests who wished HAPPY DIWALI to all the people and praised the work of the Thurrock Asian Association for bringing about Community Cohesion amongst various Thurrock Communities by organising this wonderful multi-coloured and multicultural event.

Also joined in the celebrations were a number of Councillors including Cllr Tony Fish, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Adult Social Care, Cllr Bukky Okunade, Cllr Martin Healy, and Cllr Simon Wootton. Jo Olsson Corporate Director, People’s Service represented the Chief Executive of Thurrock Council. A number of Community Organisations were also represented in the audience.

The evening was full of Asian , Western, classical, modern and folk music and dancing. The highlights of the evening were Diwali Songs sung by the Asian Adult Music Group; Bollywood dancing performances by the Zarine Dancers, Storm Entertainment and The Thurrock Naplese Group. A loud cheers came from the audience to the beautiful classical performance of Bharatanatyam Dancers led by Sanskriti. The audience appreciated the vocal performance of Jai Khan and Voilin Playing by Adisha.

It was the internationally famous Punjabi JUGNU Bhangra Group which really moved the feet and hands of the audience by their enthusiastic Bhangra Performance for more than 30 minutes.

Yash Gupta, President of the Association in his welcoming address outlined the achievements of Thurrock Asian Association and added,’ I was delighted that this evenings’ celebrations fulfilled broad objectives of the Association i.e to bring about community cohesion and community well-being amongst all residents by organising such cultural events.’

Meena Mitra, Cultural Secretary of the Association thanked everyone for their contributions to make this evening a memorable event.

Mr. K. Mitra, Secretary of the Association said, ‘Our Committee Members worked hard to make this evening an enjoyable one for every one to have a nice, happy time.’

The Ahmadyya Association have had a stall on Grays High Street for quite a while but recently decided to have a dedicated exhibition in the shopping centre.

YT spoke to the organisers about the reaction to their exhibition.

Fancy dress is encouraged but not the usual 31st October theme! The church wants children to come as knights, princesses, kings or queens. Parents/carers must be in attendance with any children who come, for safety reasons.

The programme will run as follows:

4:30pm – Welcome

4:35pm – Lantern Making

5:00pm-5:30pm – Lantern parade, door knocking (giving sweets to pre-warned residents!)

5:40pm – Evening meal for everyone (Centrally catered – donations welcome towards costs)

6:30pm – Close

This event is most suitable for children over 3 years old.

Will Graham, the grandson of Billy Graham came to the Civic Hall to speak to the assembled throng on what has been a terrific week.

We caught up with Colin Baker, during rehearsals to assess how the weekend of prayer and celebration had been going at the Civic Hall.

Rev Christine McWilliams said: “This renewal of vows is a reminder to everyone who has been baptised that they turned away from their past sin and turned to God, who loves us and saved us through Jesus.

“In the service we will also be baptising two children. The service is followed by tea, coffee and cakes in the hall. Everyone is welcome to come.”

Will is the grandson of well-known evangelist Billy Graham, who held several large-scale outreaches in the United Kingdom, dating back to 1954 when he spoke to more than 2 million people over the course of three months at Harringay Arena. For the past five years, Will has spoken to audiences across North America, Australia, India and other parts of Asia and South America.

On Friday, 23 September, Will Graham will speak at Rock Thurrock’s “Celebration of Hope” event at the Thurrock Civic Hall. The free programme begins at 7 pm, with music by The Gathering Band.  All age groups are encouraged to attend.

Rock Thurrock’s “The Main Event” will take place at 6 pm on 24 September, and 5 pm on 25 September. The two-day event for young people will feature music from LZ7, Empire Nation and Beautiful Remnant, along with messages of hope from Will Graham.

During the past 12 months, preparations have been taking place in cooperation with churches in the Thurrock area of southwest Essex. More than 500 people recently attended a series of classes designed to help local Christians share their beliefs with others. In addition, a version of the classes specifically geared for teenagers will take place at the beginning of September. Local churches have also been preparing for Rock Thurrock through ongoing prayer and by participating in Community Action Projects.

Colin Baker, the core team leader who has helped oversee preparations in Thurrock, reports: “We stand as believers in Thurrock at an important crossroads. Through the work of local churches over the last four years and the welcome impact of working with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, there has arisen an incredible unity. The time is now for us to reach out to the young people of our borough. Having prayed and studied God’s Word together, we believe that we are ready to see amazing things in our communities, borough and our nation. We believe that we have been prepared for such a time as this.”

Further information on Rock Thurrock activities and events can be obtained by calling 020 8559 0342 or visiting www.billygraham.org.uk/rockthurrock.

They are a group of Bible-believing Christians seeking to raise “a testimony to God and the truth of His Word” in Essex and East London.

We asked them about the nature of their church and their teachings.