News

The Milton Keynes Mission Partnership is being dissolved and our mailing lists will be cancelled.  Our data cannot be transferred to another charity because of data protection rules (GDPR).

A new organisation is being set up by a working group.  We hope and pray that “Churches Together in Milton Keynes” will build strong relationships between churches in Milton Keynes – seeking to encourage ecumenical mission and mutual support.

Sign up to receive updates about “Churches Together”.

Churches Together in England and Churches Together in Britain & Ireland are supporting Christian Aid to create a moment of prayer and witness for the crisis in Ukraine on Sunday 3rd April, which is Passion Sunday. #WePrayforUkraine

CTE Forum 2022 – The Hayes, Swanwick

The Churches Together in England Forum, the broadest ecumenical gathering in the country, ended on 16/3/22 with a renewed commitment that the church is ready to serve a ‘broken world’.

More than 300 delegates from CTE’s 52 national Member Churches, Bodies in Association and partner organisations met to discuss the theme ‘Reconciling Hope: A broken church for a broken world’ viewed through the lenses of racial justice and the climate emergency.

Thank you to those who attended the General Meeting of the Milton Keynes Mission Partnership on Tuesday 29th March 2022 at Christ the Cornerstone. All members present at the Meeting agreed to the resolution to dissolve the charity and therefore an application will be made by the MKMP Trustees to the Charity Commission for the dissolution.

Thank you to those who attended the Special General Meeting of the Milton Keynes Mission Partnership on Wednesday 9th March 2022. It was heartwarming to see so many of our members and friends present and we hope you appreciated the opportunity to hear what had happened since the last Assembly and to ask questions of our Presidents. Minutes from the Meeting will be available shortly.

Those of you who were at the Meeting will be aware that our solicitors had advised that due to some technicalities, we were not able to hold the vote on the future of Mission Partnership on Wednesday.

Therefore we need to hold another General Meeting of the Milton Keynes Mission Partnership which will be held at Christ the Cornerstone Church (300 Saxon Gate, Milton Keynes MK9 2ES) on Tuesday 29th March 2022 at 7.00pm. Our solicitors have advised that this Meeting cannot be held on zoom and must be held in person.

On 13th March 1992 Christ the Cornerstone was dedicated by  the national heads of the Catholic, Anglican, Methodist and URC Churches in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen. It was a very special occasion – the first time for over 400 years that a Catholic Cardinal (Basil Hume) had delivered a sermon in the presence of the Monarch. The service was televised live on BBC1.

This Sunday, 13th March, at 6pm, the Choir of Christ the Cornerstone sings Celebration Choral Evensong to mark this anniversary occasion. The service will include hymns, readings and special choral settings  from the original Dedication Service. The service will be led by Revd Tim Norwood.

There will be a Vigil for Ukraine on Saturday evening, 12th March, 6pm at the MK Rose in Campbell Park. It will last half an hour and the Mayor will be present. It will be an opportunity to show our concerns for those involved. All welcome.

We also have details of a Three Counties Radio interview Rev Nicola Vidamour has recently done. And details of the Methodist Emergency Appeal for Ukraine.

The Salvation Army are looking for Transport Volunteers and First Responder Volunteers.

Here are some of the ways you can help local charities this Christmas.

Today, Thursday 25th November 2021, is the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, and White Ribbon day. Here in Milton Keynes there will be a vigil at the MK Rose at 5.00pm to call for the end to violence against women and girls in our city.

Bishop Mike Royal has been called as the next General Secretary of Churches Together in England (CTE). He will take up his post in March 2022 when the current General Secretary, Rev Dr Paul Goodliff, retires.

YMCA MK’s brand new project, tackling violence amongst young people, has officially launched within Milton Keynes University Hospital.

Milton Keynes Christian Centre are looking forward this coming year to serving the needs of our community. Over the next twelve months, they’re raising £20,000 for four specific areas. They want to show the people in our city that God is for them, and we are too – we are “for Milton Keynes”.

St Marks Meals feed hungry kids in Milton Keynes. They now want to give away the knowledge they have built up and train other charities, churches and voluntary organisations to do the same.

A short resource from Churches Together in England to help local groups to re-focus and find new life. It is written by CEOs and includes practical examples.

There are Reflection Services being held across the church partnerships over the next month. These give an opportunity to remember loved ones you have lost, particularly poignant this year.

CTE Presidents have issued a statement following the death of Sir David Amess

10th – 16th October is Prisons Week. An opportunity to pray for all those in prison, and those who work in custodial settings.

Vital Signs MK is an annual publication designed to summarise the current research on the communities of Milton Keynes and present it in an easy-to-read summary of a much longer report. This year’s focus is Health and Wellbeing; Poverty and Disadvantage; Work and Education. It also looks at each area through the lens of Diversity and how different parts of our community are adversely affected to reflect the intersectionality of issues.

Would you be interested in volunteering? Read this report from Penny Keens

We had a good turnout for our Living Mission Event at the beginning of September, part of Bishop Steven’s Pilgrimage to Milton Keynes, with attendees from across our many churches, partnerships and denominations. We invited those attending to share what matters to them about mission in MK through one of our famous “dotmocracy” exercises applied to the 5 Marks of Mission. We discovered what can be celebrated, what we need to work at, and what we could do as we emerge into this new post-lockdown world.

Bishop Steven will be with us next week for his pilgrimage across Milton Keynes. Most of the events will be in local churches where he will pray with us – marking a blessing on our places of worship with chalk. Sadly, he won’t be able to visit every church, but will be visiting every parish, so everyone will have a chance to see him at some point.

Following on from a pilgrimage walk around Oxford Archdeaconry in 2018 and Berkshire Archdeaconry in 2019, Bishop Steven Croft, Bishop of Oxford, is walking and cycling across the three deaneries of north Buckingham Archdeaconry – Buckingham, Newport and Milton Keynes – over five days at the beginning of September.

We’re delighted to welcome a new homelessness prevention charity to the area, Depaul Milton Keynes.

Depaul UK is a national homelessness charity that has been running for over 30 years, based on Vincentian values. With the full backing of Milton Keynes Council and the Milton Keynes Homelessness Partnership, they have been commissioned to offer two of their prevention services to MK – Reconnect and Nightstop – so that no young person will have to experience hidden homelessness or rough sleeping.

The Methodist Church Zimbabwe Fellowship is pleased to announce the opening of the new branch in Milton Keynes. The fellowship is a national organisation and a fully integrated part of the Methodist Church of GB. It’s role is to serve the Zimbabwe community, in Milton Keynes.

Milton Keynes featured in a recent edition of the Diocese of Oxford eNews. Read about the new deanery plan and watch Rev Catherine Butt of St Frideswide’s Water Eaton talking about the challenges and opportunities of parish life in MK and how the congregation is ‘giving itself away’ as a diocesan resourcing hub.

At the June Assembly AGM we have the capacity to elect up to four new trustees to the Trustee body in line with our Constitution. Could this be an opportunity for you to come and work with others, to be a ‘critical friend’ in the life and development of MKMP?

Constance Coltman was the first woman ordained in a UK denomination over 100 years ago. Constance, and her husband Claud, ministered in Wolverton from 1932 to 1940. Join contributors of ‘Constance – Pioneer, Pastor, Preacher’ for the book’s official launch on Tuesday 18th May.

There will be a local Commemoration Service for the Duke of Edinburgh, which will be broadcast from Cornerstone at 2:00pm on Friday afternoon. This will be attended by the Lord Lieutenant, the High Sheriff, the Mayor and our two MPs – with contributions from other faith communities.

The Trustees of Milton Keynes Mission Partnership (MKMP) have decided to undertake a Review of the organisation

It is with sadness we inform you of the death of Rev Gordon Simmonds on 19th February. Gordon was the Methodist Superintendent in MK from the late 1970s to the early 1980s and played a significant role in the development of ecumenism in Milton Keynes.

We hope you enjoyed our Advent Reflections 2020: ‘Hidden in Christ’. We’re pleased to introduce a new series of reflections for the Season of Epiphany written by Rev. Matt Trendall – Epiphany Reflections 2021: ‘Looking for Light’.

After our lively Assembly in November, we are following up the great enthusiasm we heard for being part of intentional discipleship groups. We have earmarked Wednesday 10th February at 7.30pm for a training session at which we will also launch a scheme for such groups.

MK based Youthwork+ write: “To cut a long story short, we believe God gave us a passion to be champions for young people and to encourage, support and empower work with children and young people. In 2019 somehow, we ended up in the right place at the right time (God’s timing!) to start working towards setting up Youthwork+ as a non profit…

Adrian Boynton writes: “As you know, we have just entered the season of Advent. One of the very special occasions of our musical year at The Church of Christ the Cornerstone is the Advent Carol Service, held on Advent Sunday.”

Not everyone is looking forward to Christmas. This may be a difficult time of year for you, maybe for the first time, or perhaps it always is. On 21st December Watling Valley Partnership will be sharing a video service called ‘The Longest Night’ – a space for you to be real about the feelings you hold deep in your heart.

Under the heading “Crisis, Challenge and Commitment….responding to Covid 19” our Assembly this week explored how we strengthen our discipleship together by looking at some very simple questions which arise from the letter to the Colossians.

  Vital Signs MK is an annual publication designed to round up the most current...