Carol Services

There was a great buzz in the hall on Sunday 20th December as over eighty people turned up at Craft and Carols making a selection of 11 crafts, ranging from ice-cream cone angels to edible baby Jesus, donkey poo and wise men's hats. There was lots of mess and noise with glitter, icing and PVA glue being spread liberally on various crafty concoctions. We retreated into the church for a short service highlighting Jesus as the first and best Christmas present, followed by tea and biscuits and finishing off crafts afterwards. It was great to see a number of guests and families from the area, remembering the true meaning of Christmas.

The Carols by Candlelight was the "best atmosphere for many years" according to a congregation member, and the candle lit church did look beautiful. We applaud all those who braved the lethal icy conditions to sing and celebrate the Saviour's birth - and they received a warm welcome.

Valence School Carol Service

We were very pleased to welcome 300 children from Valence school to a special carol service on Tuesday 8th December. The children did four readings from the Bible and sang some old and new carols, and they all behaved very well. We are pleased to have growing links with some of the local primary schools, even though they are not church schools.

Stop Climate Chaos

A few people from St Thomas joined in the Wave protest in central London to demand climate justice, especially ahead of the Copenhagen summit next week. Apparently there were about 20,000 people there and a good presence from churchgoers. We couldn't even get in the pre-march service at Westminster Central Hall, but found ourselves at St Martin in the Fields instead, before heading for the march start at Grosvenor square, outside the American embassy.

Christmas Services

Don't forget to come to our Christmas service. Some different ones this - Craft and Carols will be fun for all the family as will the Christmas Xtravaganza where Jade and Tony Roovers will be singing some contemporary songs to accompany the nativity story. And of course there is our special Carols by Candlelight with 500 candles

Life After Debt

Our Life After Debt project has been taking clients for 3 weeks, and we have 11 people booked to see our centre manager, or have already seen her. It is an amazing response! There is obviously a huge need out there and if CAP can deliver then surely many people will be able to view their involvement with us as a positive step on the road to becoming debt free. It's so exciting to know that this project didn't exist a year ago and now it is giving significant practical help to so many people. Our original target was 12 clients in 6 months, so it looks like we are going to bust that easily. Praise God!