What’s Happening in Cromarty?

As you may have noticed, I’ve been doing services solely from Culbokie since the beginning of the month. No, we haven’t abandoned Cromarty, and yes, there’s a method to this madness.

Prior to COVID, Cromarty had a small, but faithful and aging congregation. Needless to say nearly 2-years of isolation took a stiff toll, and many of them simply continued to watch online rather than return to church. This was due to a combination of age, infirmity, or simply, choice. As such the congregation dwindled.

At the same time, I’d been thinking about how to do a different sort of outreach into the community. An outreach that was somewhat outside the box and that would catch the interest of people who don’t normally attend church. I also wanted it to be uninterrupted by the rotating schedule. What I didn’t know was that Carol Rattenbury had a similar idea, which I discovered when I called to talk with her about my idea.

After a good discussion, and eventually a chat with the Cromarty Session, the outreach was born, and named “Church at the Royal”, because instead of holding services at the West Church, we’re holding the service at the Royal Hotel. The service there is totally different. It’s café style and it’s very informal with more give and take as Carol leads worship and teaches.

It's done very well over the last 4-weeks and we want to continue this experiment through the remainder of the summer.

With that in mind, please pray for Carol and her core group of volunteers, as well as asking God to open the hearts and minds of the people of Cromarty to this new outreach. Our hope is that it grows enough to be a self-sustaining and fully active congregation.

Blessings,

Terry

MARY’S MEALS DONATION THANKS

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your precious gift of £100.00, which is helping us to bring renewed hope to children living in difficult and dangerous situations – including in six countries affected by brutal conflict.

Your kindness is particularly appreciated at this time, when many of our dedicated supporters are facing their own challenges linked to the cost of living crisis.

Please know that every single thing you do for our mission makes an enormous difference to the children who eat Mary’s Meals, allowing them to gain an education and look to a much brighter future.

Rima, 15, lives in Aleppo. The Syrian city came under siege in 2012, when she was just four years old. Ongoing unrest affects the availability of food, leaving her family – and millions of others – hungry. 

“The food served by Mary’s Meals is making it easier for our families to send us to school because it makes us full and energetic,” Rima says. “I hope to achieve a good education and make good friendships. I want to become an engineer.”

Please help to raise awareness of Mary’s Meals by telling your friends and family about our work. You can find information about our website and social media below.

I thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for helping us to keep our promise to the hungry children who rely on our nutritious meals.

Yours sincerely

Highland Foodbank

I also received a letter of thanks from Highland Foodbank thanking everyone for our financial support and also our ongoing food bank collections. I have several more boxes of tinned and packed items ready to take to Inverness. We maybe small in number but our generosity is without doubt huge ... and very much appreciated and valued by those who require support at this time.

Prayer Sheet & Notices can be found here.

Click here for the latest list. 

Click here for Prayer List.

Details can be found here. 

Dropping off the donations to the Highland Foodbank can be seen here. Please see the message from Lorna at Highland Foodbank - our contributions really do make a difference. My sincerest thanks to everyone who helps support this charity.

"As you can see I dropped the remaining Easter Egg Challenge donations off at the Blythswood office. Since we are now back in the church building we can start collecting items again for the foodbank. However, please do not buy pasta, beans or soup. The blue and green boxes behind me are the over flow stack of these items with another stack in the distribution area. Longlife milk is in short supply as are the other items on the list.

It was lovely chatting to Lorna about the work the Highland Foodbank is doing in the local area but sadly as some of us suspected the demand for assistance has grown and looks likely to continue to grow."

Click here to access the photo presentation of the first 10 years of Culbokie Church Centre along with photogrpahs of the evening Social. The presentation is also available through the "Who we are" page.

Dear Churches supporting Highland Foodbank,

A massive thank you to all who donate to Foodbank either regularly, or as-and-when you can.  Your donations really make the difference to people living in our communities as to whether they eat or not, that’s the reality.  

During March, Highland Foodbank was able to give enough food to 500 adults and children, which enabled them to make three meals over three days.  We could only do this because of the generosity of people who donate both food and finance.

Please find attached our May flyer, listing the items we are currently shorter of.  We are still extremely well stocked for pasta, soup and beans, so are unable to take donations of these items, meantime.

Very many thanks,

Lorna Webster

Click here for the order of service.

"We're going to do it cafe style with tables and chairs, so people can have coffee or tea with them as we sing. Afterward, we'll ask people to stay and enjoy the snacks. There's a good number of songs."

Click here for poster.