The theme this year is “Fit for Purpose” - A Lenten Course in Spiritual Health. This may be purchased at www.kevinmayhew.com or better still through the CLC bookshop.

• Broughty Ferry Churches Group:

The theme will be “This is our Story: Journeys of Faith”, using material from CTBI (including downloadable pdfs of the materials), also to be the basis of BBC Radio Services (Radio 4 and Local Radio stations) in Lent.

• Mondays 10.15am-11.45am in St Mary's Episcopal Church, Queen Street, Broughty Ferry (in the church, at the back ' font area');
• This Thursday 14th March in St Mary's Episcopal Church, Queen Street, Broughty Ferry, (usually Wednesdays, 7.30pm to 9pm in New Kirk Small Hall, Queen Street), from 7.30pm to 9pm.

Divine Poetry Competition

This year, aspiring (and established) poets of all ages are invited to submit a poem on the theme 'Chocolate is something to cherish'. The official entry form can be downloaded from http://www.divinechocolate.com/poetry/default.aspx and entries must be submitted by 30th April 2013.”

“Lies about poverty: shattering the myths”

13 million people - including 3.6 million children - live in poverty in the UK today

The Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Church of Scotland, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church have published the above major new Report, confronting the most common myths told about people who are in poverty or in receipt of benefits, highlighting some of the most abused statistics.

The Report states that the misuse of data supports “a comfortable but dangerous story: that the poor somehow deserve their poverty, and therefore deserve the cuts which they increasingly face.”

The Churches, together representing more than 1 million people across Britain, hope that the Report will empower Christians and others to challenge myths and lies about poverty, wherever found.

The Report is to be sent to every MP and MSP; encouragement is given to constituents to ask how this information will be used by their elected representatives to challenge and better inform policy-making.

The World Mission Fund

This Fund, to which Dundee Methodists contribute through support of JMA, 'coffee money', boxes, sale of stamps, and an allocated Communion Offering, has reported a total expenditure of £4.3 million for the year 2012/11. The current economic difficult times are affecting this Fund, as all others, despite the freeing-up of £6.1 million of previously restricted endowment funds under charity law.

Work supported by the Fund includes

• mission partners from the UK working with partner churches abroad;
• Scholarship and Leadership Training grants for students from overseas to study in the UK or elsewhere;
• Nationals in Mission appointments grants - 5 year funding of strategic mission posts;
• annual grants - supporting general work by partners;
• general grants - for unexpected, emergency relief work by partner churches or organisations.

“We always work through our partners asking them what their needs are and responding accordingly.”

(from MMS Review 2012)

Meetings this week

Support other Organisations

Scottish Bible Society

Our support through the Bible-a-Month Club is invited in March for work in Bolivia.

Our prayerful attention is drawn this week to

• promotion of the Jamaican New Testament in Patois following its launch last year;
• translation of the Epistles into Gaelic and funding for work on the whole New Testament;
• meeting of the SBS Board of Directors on Friday;
• use of the Bibleworld Mobile trailer / classroom on journeys through Scotland.

Forthcoming events

Prayer Points for this week

• the President of Conference's visit to Manchester and Stockport and the Vice-President in Beds, Essex and Herts, next weekend;
• the Roman Catholic Church, especially our brothers and sisters in Scotland, at this time of election, challenge, and change;
• those responsible for finance and property in the Circuit;
• work in Chad, supporting a population affected by poverty & bad social conditions (MAF);
• The Leprosy Mission's work in Bangladesh;
• Fairhaven School Alexandria's support of children with learning disabilities (Embrace);
• projects in the Newcastle-upon-Tyne District (Methodist Homes);
• provision of looms by RAADA for women in Afghanistan (Christian Aid);
• Bible Society work in Bolivia;
• we pray with and for the peoples of Germany and France (WCC Ecumenical Calendar);
• we remember fellow Methodists in Biggleswade (Bedfordshire, Essex and Hertfordshire District) and our Circuit colleagues in Riverside, Blairgowrie (Angus, Dundee and Perthshire Circuit).

• 3 March 2013
• 17 March 2013