Welcome to The Bread Church website.

January 2021

Whilst The Bread Church remains closed due to the current Coronavirus Pandemic restrictions, you can keep in touch with our community via this website, our facebook page Somewhere Else - The Bread Church and also our Instagram account.

Please take time to read the statement from the Chair of the Methodist District, Rev. Dr Sheryl Anderson, in response to Lockdown 3.

During this time of closure, we have added pages about on-line worship, prayer, help in Liverpool and activities to do at home to keep us all connected.

Look at our Action for Children charity section for help with your children during the coronavirus (Covid 19 ) pandemic.

Do scroll through the other pages; to see how we normally work. We look forward to welcoming you to Somewhere Else in the future.

If you need to contact SWE, then email info@somewhere-else.org.uk as Lorraine, the administrator and pastoral assistant, continues to work from home.

Or phone on 074 9873 6436.

We're an inclusive community

Who Are We?

Somewhere Else (also known as The Bread Church) is an inclusive community that usually meets around the making and sharing of bread. We offer a warm welcome, hospitality and friendship to those of all faiths and none.

Since the lockdown in March 2020, we have begun to be church in a different way, as we have had to meet online via Zoom or via telephone calls and emails. If you look at the Facebook page Somewhere Else - The Bread Church, you will find a video of all the different activities that we have been involved in.

https://www.facebook.com/109817523771917/videos/413673793011103

Prior to the arrival of the Covid 19 Pandemic in our country, this is how our community met. We look forwarding to meeting in community when it is appropriate.

We are open twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 10.30 - 2.00 to make bread by hand, with individuals and community groups of all ages and abilities. The sessions include time for:

all the elements of making bread,
conversation and refreshments,
shared reflection and prayers, and
a simple meal together, prepared by volunteers and those who come to make bread.

Anyone wishing to make bread is asked to arrive by 11a.m. To share in other parts of the fellowship - coffee, conversation, Reflections and lunch - people arrive at any time from mid-morning onwards.

The activity is usually led by our team of volunteers who help with hospitality, and guide visitors through the steps in bread-making.

All our volunteers, known as facilitators, have undergone a 5 session training programme which includes food hygiene as well as safeguarding.

We also hold meetings for worship and contemplation at other times. Scroll down this page to read about our Quiet space on Tuesday sessions last year.

Check this website or our facebook page to keep up to date.

The Bread Church - Liverpool City Centre Methodist Church

Reflections on the water - Barbara Glasson

Looking for a book to help you to walk through Lent?

Barbara Glasson, former President of the Methodist Conference and founder of Somewhere Else has written such a book - entitled Reflections on the water.

"In these reflections for Lent, Barbara Glasson leads us through forty days focusing on the theme of water: its power, potential, terror and gentleness, providing a deep well of daily prayer and meditation."

To order the book go to the following link:

https://www.kevinmayhew.com/collections/lent-easter/products/reflections-on-the-water

Cost £6.99

Members of the community are looking forward to reading this as they journey through Lent together.

HeartEdge conference 23rd February

Andrew Lovelady, our Senior Steward and Treasurer at Somewhere Else will be a speaker at this event, as well as Chair of the Liverpool District, Sheryl Anderson.

HeartEdge Liverpool brings together people to share ideas and experience, do theology and develop their church and community.

After words of welcome from Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool and Sheryl Anderson, Chair of the Methodist District, Sam Wells, from St Martin in the Fields in London, will tell us what HeartEdge is all about. We will then hear 5 minute stories from people in Liverpool around each of the 4 Cs of HeartEdge: Compassion, Congregation, Commerce and Culture. We will also hear about what HeartEdge is doing in Manchester. Speakers include: Crispin Pailing, Miranda Threlfall-Holmes, Andrew Lovelady, Bill Addy, Andy Salmon.

There will also be a time in breakout rooms to discuss and share.

On Thursday 17th June we hope to hold a further, larger, conference at Liverpool Parish Church and your contributions at this online meeting will help shape that day and its content.

We want to support churches in reimagining themselves and society. This is about churches engaging in commerce, culture, compassion or congregational life – our 4 Cs – investing in two, three or all four at the same time. We work with churches moving beyond conventional notions of church, being open to partnership and collaboration with others in the wider world.

Grain. Gather. Grow.

Join in with our new project this winter, which is being led by Chris, our OPP.

We are pleased to announce the following with regards our project.

Turn to ...

Or read Chris's first newsletter by following this link.

January newsletter now out.

"Somewhere Else are very grateful to the Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Service (LCVS) for providing us with funding to support our Grain Gather Grow project. We applied for the funding from LCVS's Covid Community Impact Fund back in October and were delighted to be awarded with funds to cover the costs of the project, helping us keep in touch with our community and beyond in these difficult times."

Back Baking on Zoom - 2021

On Saturday, 30th January the community of SWE met for our monthly baking session on Zoom. We were pleased to welcome our youngest baker, Harry (aged 10), who made a plaited loaf. Here he is slicing the finished product. I am sure that he enjoyed eating it too.

Look out for the invitation to future Saturday baking events - 27th February, 2021 and then the last Saturday of each month - on Facebook or email info@somewhere-else.org.uk to ask to be added to the mailing list for the Zoom link.

Prayers for February 2021

Be thou my vision,

O Lord of my heart

Naught be all else to me

Save that thou art

Thou my best thought

By day or by night

Waking or sleeping,

Thy presence my light.

OLD IRISH

During February, please follow this link for the daily prayer. Thank you for joining our community in prayer since lockdown. You can also join the community in prayer on our Facebook page every Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Lorraine

Psalm for the week - Psalm 92

Thanksgiving for Vindication

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord,

to sing praises to your name, O Most High." v.1

Read more about this psalm on our Positive Thoughts page .

Image By Matthew LeJune on Unsplash

Click on the image to listen to Paul Baloche sing his upbeat version of this psalm.

CHURCHES TOGETHER IN ENGLAND

CALL FOR SUSTAINED PRAYER

At a meeting on of Churches Together in England held on the 11th January, there was a feeling that this is a key period in which we are being called to pray in a sustained way.

The following is taken from the Baptist Union of Great Britain website.

As Covid-19 threatens to overwhelm our health service and continues to inflict pain and loss, we stand together with many others and renew our commitment to sustained prayer.

You may like to join virtually with friends to pray, perhaps in small groups or as a wider congregation. You might like to spend time in solitude praying for our nation at this time of crisis.

Here are some pointers to help you and your friends as you pray. These have been written by a senior A&E nurse in a large teaching hospital:

1. Pray for all the NHS staff for their own safety, energy and peace in dealing with each and every patient.
2. Pray for those in hospital leadership, for wisdom and for good decisions to give the best outcomes for patients.
3. Pray for patients; for healing, for peace and ultimately to fight this disease and get home and pray for their relatives who feel helpless.
4. Pray for the vaccine, that it will and is working against this latest strain of Covid-19.
5. Pray for a reprieve and an end to Covid-19.

Praying the breakthrough prayer

A prayer for God to break through in the life of our churches:

God of love, God for all,
your purposes are more beautiful than we can possibly imagine.
Fill us with your Holy Spirit.
Help us let go of all that holds us back.
Open our lives and our churches to new seasons of humility and faith, of change and growth.
Shake us up with the Good News of Jesus and show us the way.
Amen

The Methodist Church in Britain is focussing on a Year of Prayer for Evangelism and Growth 2020/2021. The breakthrough prayer forms part of daily/weekly devotions that we, as Methodists, are being asked to pray.

Pause on the Positive Thoughts Page

Take time out to pause and take inspiration from our Positive Thoughts page.

Listen to a song, read a poem, psalm or passage from the Bible.

If you have any inspirational passages or songs that you think others would enjoy, then please send them to info@somewhere-else.org.uk

Struggling to stay focused when you pray? Read about Finger Prayer Labyrinths on our separate page.

Also follow a link to the same page to watch a short video about Contemplation by Rev'd Rachel Parkinson.

At the moment, the community of SWE is separated from each other, but joined through their love of God, prayers, and especially when we think of each other as we bake bread and knit or crochet our squares for our blankets at home. Last week, I heard this new song on the Radio 4 Morning Service – adapted from the original by John Bell (a leader of the Iona Communty), which was originally written by his Norwegian friend Hans-Olav Moerk. May it give you peace.

Click on the image to play the video.

We will meet; when the danger is over,

We will meet when the sad days are done;

We will meet sitting closely together and be glad our tomorrow has come.

A reflection as 'Lockdown 3' begins

Putting our hand into the hand of God

A reflection by the Revd Dr Jonathan Hustler, Secretary of the Methodist Conference, following the announcements of further lockdowns can be read by following this link.

The Methodist website also has a page about "Spiritual sustenance when in isolation" which provides daily and weekly support. Read more ...

UN Sustainability Goals

Find out more about this global initiative and how you can make a difference

on ....

Methodist Website Prayer Wall & Prayers during the coronavirus pandemic

Here at Somewhere Else, we have a wish wall in the main room. When we are waiting for the kettle to boil or our bread to prove, then people may physically write their wishes for local and national issues on a post-it and glue it to the wall. If you log on to the Methodist Website https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/prayer/prayer-wall/ you will find a prayer wall, where you can add your concerns.

Do take time to have a look, as it is another way for us to feel connected.

The Methodist Church Website has also added prayers connected with the pandemic not only from the UK, but from our brothers and sisters around the world. https://www.methodist.org.uk/about-us/coronavirus/prayers-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

Follow this link for A prayer for Home https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=Z9KRMAFgk7o&feature=emb_logo

A prayer for all people during lockdown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7LoWxlpLfDA

Members of the SWE community say a prayer together, which is posted to our Facebook page, every Tuesday and Thursday evenings at 8 pm.

Live-streamed services each Sunday

Each Sunday morning, you can join in worship from Central Hall Westminster at 11 am by following this link.www.youtube.com/mchwevents

You can also join in worship led by the Minister of Wesley's Chapel London at 11 am https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUAUqhmhevz5sqhh72LIMxA

Sthie ('At home')

This is a different form of worship experience from the Isle of Man. Join in live on Sundays by joining a Facebook group. For details see https://andyfishburne.com/2020/03/15/sthie-at-home-online-worship/

You can watch previous live-streamed videos at https://www.youtube.com/andyfishburne

Find out more about Sthie by turning to....

We trust that these will help you to feel connected to the wider Christian community.