Exwick Community Church
Linked with:
Welcome to ECC!
Dedicated to seeking God and serving Him in our community
Sunday Worship
We meet on SUNDAY MORNINGS at 10:30am in the Exwick Parish Hall, Station Road. Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month - all who love the Lord Jesus Christ are invited! For more information, please click here.
Our MESSY CHURCH service happens on the second Sunday afternoon of each month. If you like activities and crafts, check it out!
You can now make a one-off or recurring gift to ECC in a safe way. Just use this button, which will take you to the Secure Just Giving Website. You can also add Gift Aid if you are a tax payer.
Latest News
For all our news, events and dates, see our monthly Newsletters. If you would like to receive the Newsletters by email, and regular updates on our events, please complete the Form on our Newsletters page.
Climbing the Mountain of Romans
Over the Autumn and into the Winter we will be looking at two books in the Bible for our Sunday morning talks – the book of Psalms from the Old Testament and the book of Romans from the New.
Romans has been described as “the high peak of scripture”, with “all roads in the Bible leading to Romans”. The riches it contains are almost inexhaustible. Martin Lloyd-Jones, the famous Welsh preacher, took 13 years to preach through the book Romans! We will take a little less but I hope enough to give us an overview of this amazing book and whet our appetites to plumb its depths in greater detail in our own time.
Next Evening Course
Four evenings at St. Michael's Church Alphington
28 September, 5, 12, 19 October 7-8:30pm
The CAP Money Management Course has helped thousands of people get control of their money. Everyone can benefit, regardless of your current financial situation.
Contact Sandy Salisbury at admin@exwickcommunitychurch.org.uk
SLEEPING BAGS and BLANKETS needed!
Street Pastors are asking for donations of sleeping bags and blankets. Could you please give them to Chris Carter or email admin@exwickcommunitychurch.org.uk.
TWO’S COMPANY needs YOU!
The number of referrals for the befriending service has increased. Could you phone or visit someone once a week? If so, please speak to Chris Carter or email admin@exwickcommunitychurch.org.uk.
photo by Gin on Unsplash
Sermon theme this term: the Psalms
Our lay preachers this term, September-December 2023, will be using the Psalms. The Psalms contain some of the most beautiful lines in Scripture: lines that inspire and comfort us when we need them most and draw us into a life of prayer and praise. The Psalms remind us of community, of the people around us, known or unknown to us, and all that their lives hold. They also call us to worship and pray together. If you would like to explore this theme more, see the article in the September Newsletter, which is based on the book ‘Journalling the Psalms’ by Dr Paula Gooder, Canon Chancellor at St Paul’s Cathedral and a writer and lecturer in Biblical Studies.
KIDS MATTER: A small group of mums, dads and carers of children aged 1-10 meets weekly on FRIDAYS, 1:15-2:45pm. The programme focuses on parental wellbeing and confidence, and equips parents with the tools to build strong relationships, giving their children the best chance to thrive in their families.
September, October 2023
Small groups of 4-8 parents
Suitable for families of all faiths and none
No flipcharts or experts
Working together with our user-friendly booklets
Sitting together around coffee, tea and cake
Free creche for babies and toddlers
For more details, contact Debbie Carter at debbie.carter@ymcaexeter.org.uk
A donation box is in the foyer of Exwick Parish Hall.
Spree 2023 – 23-25 June
We took our biggest ever group to this regional youth event, with 14 young people and 5 leaders. Altogether there were over 2,000 people on site at Westpoint.
The theme for the weekend was ‘Follow Me’. The young people joined in with worship, listened to talks, played games, had small group discussions, prayed, and had the opportunity to respond to the message.
Over the weekend we saw many answers to prayer.
One young person in our group made a first-time commitment to follow Jesus.
All of the young people have been challenged to think about who they follow, and why.
Everyone had a wonderful time, and we sent home a group of happy, tired and slightly sunburnt young people (and some exhausted leaders).
It didn’t rain!
Thank you to everyone who supported us, in prayer, financially or by lending us equipment. We could not have done it without you. We are planning a group reunion in September, and we have already booked for 2024.
Please continue to support us with:
Prayer – please pray for our young people. They live in a world where they are taught that to be happy, they need to seek fame, money, success etc. We know ultimately that none of these can satisfy. Many of them are asking questions and looking for answers to life’s big questions. Pray that they will look for this in Jesus.
Finance – many of our young people cannot afford to attend Spree. It costs about £100 to take a young person to Spree..
Your time – we’d love to take even more young people to Spree next year. To do this we will need to expand our team: people to help set up and take down, and someone to help with the catering.
Report from The Gathering:
10 men from ECC and friends went to Christian Vision for Men's The Gathering festival in a field near Swindon from 23 to 25 June, joining around 1,500 other men. We enjoyed really good teaching and testimonies, worship with Graham Kendrick and his band, a comedian, a Queen tribute band and entered into various activities including axe throwing, archery and quad biking. One of our group became a Christian over the weekend. We were blessed with superb weather and took turns to cook breakfasts, lunch and dinner and had some great conversations. We are hoping an even bigger group will go in 2024 so please let me know if you are interested.
Dave Ovenden
Warm Spaces
Many thanks to EXETER CITY COUNCIL, who provided us with a Warm Spaces grant to help us put on extra 'mini Messy Church' sessions over the winter. Our regular Messy Church events will continue monthly, and of course Friday Friendship is open to everyone every Friday!
FRIDAY FRIENDSHIP: Every Friday during term times 10am - 12midday. ALL WELCOME! A warm space to get a hot drink, have a chat with friendly people. Lots of toys for toddlers, too!
MESSY CHURCH: Sunday afternoons 4pm - 6pm every second Sunday of the month. Activities and crafts around a Bible theme, a celebration time, and a FREE HOT MEAL! Suitable for families with primary school children.
You might have seen on ‘BBC Spotlight’ a short snippet featuring Mark, the Exeter Foodbank Manager. It was part of an item on the ‘cost of living’ crisis and Mark was saying that donations to the Foodbank have also dropped significantly as a result.
As part of the Foodbank response, they are asking each church or community group to focus on specific items. We have been asked if we can become the ‘Cleany Uppy’ Church and collect Washing-up Liquid and Laundry Pods (not bottled or powdered soap though!)
This doesn’t mean we can’t take anything else of course, and you can always get the latest list of items urgently needed from the foodbank website HERE.
There's a box in the Parish Hall foyer for collections together with a sign so please remember the Foodbank when you do your weekly shop. If you would prefer us to go shopping for you, we are happy to do that for you and any donations can be made via the Church Just Giving page HERE. Please add a note to Marie to say it’s for the Foodbank or you can also place cash in the offering box on a Sunday Morning, again marked for the Foodbank.
Thank you all for supporting the Foodbank in the past. If you have any questions, please just ask! Graeme Salisbury
Pastor Peter is working from the Exwick Parish Hall Church Office. You can contact him by leaving a message in the Contact Us box, or drop by for a cup of coffee and a chat!
Recommended Books
Romans: A Letter that makes sense of life by Andrew Ollerton. Follow the Apostle Paul's footsteps all the way to the summit. Take in the grandeur of God's eternal purpose, before descending to put into practice what you've learned. Along the way discover the power and relevance of the gospel in every area of life.
Journalling the Psalms by Dr Paula Gooder, Canon Chancellor at St Paul’s Cathedral and a writer and lecturer in Biblical Studies. The Psalms contain some of the most beautiful lines in Scripture: lines that inspire and comfort us when we need them most and draw us into a life of prayer and praise. The Psalms remind us of community, of the people around us, known or unknown to us, and all that their lives hold. They also call us to worship and pray together.
FILTHY RICH: How the property crash saved my life by Manoj Riathatha. Manoj Raithatha appeared to have it all: a booming property company, a picture-book family and the power to shape his destiny. Then his professional and personal worlds were shattered. The 2008 financial crisis devastated his business and a sudden illness threatened his son's life. With his hollow foundations exposed, Manoj found himself utterly dependent on the prayers of others and the help of a previously unknown God. Morally bankrupted by greed and selfishness, Manoj would have to build his life and marriage anew with different foundations. With profound reflections on race, identity and meaning, Filthy Rich addresses some of the burning issues of our day.
TEN: Laws of Love Set in Stone by J John. TEN rediscovers the Bible's perfect design for our relationship with God and others. Author J. John shares how readers can reclaim God's absolute truths while living in a subjective culture. We explored the Ten Commandments in our preaching series Winter/Spring 2023. Listen to those talks HERE.
God on Mute: Engaging the Silence of Unanswered Prayer by Pete Greig. Originally written out of the pain of his wife's fight for her life, but also the wonder of watching the prayer movement they founded changing lives around the world, Pete Greig steps into the dark side of prayer and emerges with a hard-won message of hope, comfort, and profound biblical insight for all who suffer in silence.
The Bible in One Year - by Nicky Gumbel. Read the whole Bible in 365 days. Get the book, app, or podcast. Click here: Bible in One Year.
How to Pray – 'a simple guide for normal people’ – by Pete Greig. Very readable with lots of helpful illustrations from Pete’s own experience. The book is an accompaniment to the prayer course: Sessions | The Prayer Course - The Prayer Course
The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry - John Michael Comer.
The Bible: A story that makes sense of life - Andrew Ollerton. A great overview of the Bible, which shows how relevant it is for our lives today.
Singing in Babylon - Jeff Lucas. Flourishing in second-choice life situations.
We recommend ordering your books from Bridge Books, 3 Okehampton Street, Exeter.
