From Finland to Jerusalem (via Southwark Park Rd)

London's only church with a sauna was the venue for today's meeting of the Bermondsey Deanery Chapter (the clergy of the 7 parishes of the deanery plus the Finnish and Norweigan churches in Rotherhithe).

Rotherhithe's Finnish Church (left) played host to our meeting and provided the chapter members with a delicious Scandinavian meal. It was good to meet up and to share news across the parishes of the deanery.

Next up was the annual remembrance service at the Age Concern Healthy Living Centre in Southwark Park Rd. Around 70 members gathered together in the sunshine of the Age Concern garden for a service, which we had been asked to lead in commemoration of members of the centre who had passed away in the past year.

It is an amazing centre, presided over by the indefatigable Simone, a marvellous asset for the community and a place which is always a joy to visit.

And then this evening there was a great turnout for our new Bermondsey Christian Training course on the book of Acts. This links in well with our current focus on mission as we start to implement our mission action plan.

Tonight we looked at Acts chapters 1 and 2, and saw how the Spirit came on the day of Pentecost and the message of the Gospel started out by being in Jerusalem before spreading through Judea, Samaria and then to the ends of the earth.

There was some great questions and comments tonight from the floor and it felt like we had got off to a really good start.