Christ Church, Stantonbury will be among the venues for events during the first Milton Keynes Churches Together Week of Prayer for Christian Unity which runs from Wednesday January 18 to Wednesday January 25.

The church will host an Any Questions evening starting at 7.30pm on Tuesday January 24 with the focus of Where now for ecumenical mission in Milton Keynes. This will be a chance to ask the big – or silly – questions.

Panellists will include the Moderator of the United Reformed Church East Midlands Synod, the Rev Geoffrey Clarke.

Details of the week are included on the poster that can be downloaded here.

A meeting for members of all six Stantonbury Ecumenical Partnership is to be held at Christ Church, Stantonbury, on Sunday January 22.

This meeting is to discuss the results of discussions with Archdeacon Guy, Methodist Circuit Superintendent Nicola, Regional Baptist Leader Lisa Kerry and Dean Tim Norwood about the future of ministry in the SEP

There is a tentative agreement to appoint a full time Anglican and full time Baptist Minister from late 2023, early 2024 and a reduction in Methodist time from .25 to .2 days a week.

The meeting will seek the agreement of these negotiations and will vote on what we want to begin advertising for in 2023. We have to decide at this meeting to be in time to send our decision to the Deanery meeting. We also need to agree a date to move out of transition into being a full time CIO.

The Leadership Team met recently and for a second time was again not quorate, or representative of the six congregations, so the decision was made to combine the Standing Committee with this team so that we can be quorate and make sensible decisions to move forward. The next meeting for those who now attend either or both meetings will be 5 January at 10.00 via Zoom.

Details of this meeting and other events are contained in the latest SEP newsletter which is available to view here.

Plans have been announced to use New Bradwell Community Centre – next to St James’ Church as a warm hub.

Germaine Newnham, clerk to New Bradwell Parish Council, wants to use the former New Bradwell School building and is appealing for  volunteers to supervise sessions and also to provide light meals – soup, jacket potatoes etc.

Please contact her if you would like to help – Germaine Newnham, Parish Clerk, New Bradwell Parish Council, Unit 10, New Bradwell Workspace, St James Street, MK13 0BL Tel: 01908 313602

Meanwhile Cross and Stable Church at Downs Barn is open as a warm space until 3.30pm on Wednesdays.

The church is already open on Wednesdays from 10.30am to 12.30pm for the popular Chatterbox sessions.