• Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it… How awesome is this place!  This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven. Genesis 28.16-17

This is the verse the MDT felt God was laying on our hearts for the coming year.

In all our busy activities and exciting programmes we dare not lose sight of the spiritual reality at the heart of our life together.

We are called to be a holy temple made of living stones (this is the house of God) and a portal for others to see the glory of God (this is the gate of heaven). Surely the Lord is in this place!

May the Lord give us all grace to become increasingly aware of his awesome presence amongst us in 2012.

Painting: Jacob’s Ladder by Albert Houthuesen, 1966

Coming to our 6.30pm services in 2012…

Seven café style services designed to radically challenge you to a new and passionate discipleship.

Who is God? What is he like? How does he want to relate to us?

What is church? Who is it for? Is it broken? Can it be better?

Wednesdays 5.30pm – 8.00pm

Do you think that Christianity is a bit boring, not really relevant and probably untre?

Do you consider yourself to be a Christian but don’t really know much about what that means?

Youth Alpha, from 11th January to 28th March 2012, explores in various different ways what Christianity is about.

Each week has a different theme about God and there’ll be:

• a meal
• games
• discussions
• film clips
• talks
• YouTube clips
• and loads more…

You also get your chance to ask all of those questions you’ve been wondering about.

The course will be happening every Wednesday night from 5.30pm-8.00pm until the Easter holidays.

If you’re already in a Life Group, Youth Alpha will be replacing those just for the next few weeks and we’ll all be meeting together.

Hope to see you there – and please feel free to invite friends!

1st January – 19th February 2012

Morning Services at All Saints’ from the New Year up till Lent (which starts on Wednesday 22nd February) will focus on the theme of Renewal.

Life as a disciple of Christ can easily become stale and routine. We can become complacent and lose our focus. We need to constantly be renewed in our walk with the Lord and in our understanding of what he is doing amongst us.

In order that our priorities throughout 2012 might be aligned to God’s, we will begin the year by exploring together God’s programme of spiritual renewal for us as individuals and as a church.

All services are at 9.00am and 10.30am unless otherwise indicated.

• 1st January – Renewal in Love (Romans 12.9-21) 10.00am
• 8th January – Renewal in Leadership (John 13.1-17) 10.00am
• 15th January – Renewal in Awareness (Genesis 28.10-22)
• 22nd January – Renewal for Our Building: Gift Day (2 Kings 12.1-12)
• 29th January – Renewal in Attitude (Philippians 2.1-18)
• 5th February – Renewal of Vision (Colossians 1.3-12)
• 12th February – Visiting Speaker Mark Newham
• 19th February – Renewal of Commitment (Acts 2.42-47)

14th – 27th May 2012

Following on from our succesful Springboard event in 2011, All Saints’ is joining forces with about a dozen other churches for a similar Stockton-wide fortnight in the Spring of 2012. We hope to have several student teams from the USA with us as well.

For two weeks, members of churches all over Stockton on Tees will setting aside time to be of service to anyone in and around the local community. And it’s free. It’s going to be good news for people around our town.

Jesus told his followers to “love your neighbour as yourself”. We are organising Love Stockton because Christ-followers want to be good neighbours. We want to help in any way we can. We’ll be serving tea at bus stops, tidying up litter around the area and lots more.

The kind of service we will be offering include:

• Cleaning
• Gardening
• Walking the dog
• Shopping
• Sewing and ironing
• Transport
• Small decorating or DIY jobs

More details will be released nearer the time.

Love Stockton is the first of three high profile outreach events at All Saints’ in 2012. There are plans to organise a street party to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on 5th June.

Preparations are also being made for a Holiday Club in the run up to the Olympic Games in which we hope to show the Opening Ceremony on a big screen at a special party on 27th July.

Tuesday 5th June 2012

Plans are underway for a street party style celebration to mark the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee this summer. Get your bunting ready and save the day…

More details will follow.

23rd – 27th July 2012

The Greatest Show on Earth is coming to London this summer. Plans are underway at All Saints’ for an Olympic themed Holiday Club in the week running up to the Games, which is the first week of the summer holidays.

The Opening Ceremony (Friday 27th July) is expected to be a stunning and spectacular event. Why not make an evening of it, enjoy the party atmosphere with all the family and watch it on a big screen?

More details to follow. Watch this space…

All Saints’ is on Facebook.

The official group page is called All Saints’ Preston on Tees.

Anyone can see the group and who is in it but only members can see posts.

If you’re on Facebook, ask to join the group (there is a link to click on situated on the top right corner of the group page). It’s a great way to share information, find out what’s going on and get to know other people from All Saints’.

Please note that this is the only Facebook page about All Saints’ administered by members of the church.