First Dunboe Presbyterian Church

January                  

Sun.  8th     8:00 p.m. Discipleship Explored begins

Mon.  9th  8.00 p.m.    PW Hear about starting out in ministry from Phil and Terry Kerr.

Tues. 10th     2:30 p.m. Afternoon Club. Rebuilding a classic car

Tues. 17th     8:30 p.m. Men's Fellowship : Hugh Mullan.

Sun 22nd 11:30 a.m. PW Service with Charlotte Stevenson,

Development Officer of PW and editor of Wider World. 

February

Mon.  6th   8:30 p.m.  Men's Fellowship : Norman Lynas

Mon.   13th     8:00 p.m. PW : Panel Evening

Tues. 14th     2:30 p.m. Afternoon Club. Love & the Ulster Scots

Wed. 22nd    8:15 p.m. Church Membership Classes begin

Fri. 24th     7:30 p.m. Annual Church Family Social

Sun. 26th   11.30 a.m. Youth Sunday  

March

Sat   3rd    9.00 a.m. Ladies' Breakfast in the Lodge Hotel : Speaker – Elaine Price

Sun.  4th   7:00 p.m. Mission in Ireland Rally in Balteagh Pres.

Sun. 11th     7:30  p.m. Youth Rally in 1st Dunboe

Mon.   12th     8:00 p.m. PW : Jackie Burke from Lisburn

Tues. 13th     2:30 p.m. Afternoon Club

Fri.       16th     7:30p.m. B.B. Display 

Sat. 24th     7:30p.m. Girls' Brigade Display

Sun. 25th      7:00p.m. Divine Healing

April     

Spring Celebration of the Lord's Supper

Fri.     6th  8:00 p.m.   Preparation for Communion  

Sun 8th 11:30 a.m.   Communion

         7:00 p.m. Easter Celebration

Tues. 17th    2:30 p.m. Afternoon Club 

Sun. 22nd  11.30 a.m. United Appeal & Outreach.

Last year we joined forces with St. Paul's, Castlerock Presbyterian and Christ Church, Castlerock to run a very worthwhile Christianity Explored course in the Hezlett. Plans are now well under way to run two courses starting in January. We plan to join with St.Paul's to run  "Discipleship Explored", which is designed to follow on from  Christianity Explored. We hope to hold this in St.Paul's Church Hall starting on Sunday evening 8th January. The two Castlerock churches will be running Christianity Explored in Castlerock. The details are still to be finalized, and will be announced when all the details have been sorted out.  

Please think about whether you might come on one of the courses, and who you might ask to come with you. 

A Christmas Prayer - By Robert Louis Stevenson

Loving Father, help us remember the birth of Jesus, that we may share in the song of the angels, the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of the wise men. Close the door of hate and open the door of love all over the world. Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts. May the Christmas morning make us happy to be Your children, and the Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus’ sake, 

Amen.

Dear Friends,

           One night a couple of years ago, the Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary summoned every last man for a special operation. An officer had noticed that sensors, which count the number of vehicles going along a road, were showing a very high volume of traffic heading into Galloway Forest Park in the middle of the night. Now usually there might be 2 or 3 cars heading up the road into the forest, so when the sensor registered over 30, the local constabulary guessed that something was up and mustered all their forces to swoop on an isolated car park by Clatteringshaws Loch. They didn't find people traffickers or drug dealers, but a group of respectable citizens clutching Thermos flasks and telescopes, who had all come to this isolated spot in Galloway Forest Park to view the stars – the Crab Nebula to be exact. 

The forest covers 320 square miles of parkland in which there are only 414 homes. So there are no street lights, and almost no light pollution. A few years ago the Forestry Commission realised that this was a potential tourist  attraction which could bring hordes of star gazers to the area. So they launched a dark-sky campaign. When they asked those living in the park for their help, out of 414 householders 411 agreed to douse unnecessary lights. In 2009 the International Dark-Sky Association officially recognised Galloway Forest Park as one of the darkest places on earth.

The fact that Galloway Forest Park is so dark does not mean that you can't see much. The darkness actually makes it possible to see far more stars than is normally possible.  

When the Lord Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, the apostle John wrote, 

"In Him was life, and that life was the light of men.

The light shines in the darkness

and the darkness has not overcome it."

The darkness can do nothing about light. Light wins every time. And when Jesus Christ came into this dark world, it was to bring a light that would never be extinguished.

And as Christmas comes once again, Christians everywhere will live by the promise which Jesus made:

"Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness

   but will have the light of life."

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Christmas, 

   Jim and Alison McCaughan

It has been brought to our attention that a virus has been present on this site. It appears to affect some computers and not others, probably to do with what antivirus software you use.

It has now been removed from the site.

If your computer is affected:

Follow the instructions in this link http://www.myantispyware.com/2011/09/13/how-to-remove-data-recovery-virus/  

The site has now been rescanned and is certified free of viruses. Check the status reports here for further details:

• http://www.google.com/safebrowsing/diagnostic?site=1st-dunboe.co.uk
• http://www.avgthreatlabs.com/sitereports/domain/1st-dunboe.co.uk/
• http://safeweb.norton.com/report/show?url=1st-dunboe.co.uk 
• http://sitecheck.sucuri.net/scanner/?scan=www.1st-dunboe.co.uk#
• http://www.UnmaskParasites.com/security-report/?page=1st-dunboe.co.uk

Our sincere apologies for any inconvenience caused. Please leave a comment below to let us know if you have been affected.

Dates for your diary

September

Fri. 30th    8:00 p.m.   Preparation for Communion  

October

Sun.   2nd   11:30 a.m.   Celebration of Communion

            7:30 p.m. Thanksgiving 

Sun.  9th    11:30 a.m. B.B.  Enrolment 

Wayne and Suzi McAfee with a girls' netball team from the OAM Academy, S. Africa.

Mon. 10th     8:00 p.m. PW

Tues. 11th   2:30 p.m. Afternoon Club

Sun.  16th 11:30 a.m. Presentation of Sunday School  prizes 

Fri. 21st    8:00 p.m. Dunloy Orchestra [Church News p.6)

Tues.  19th  8:30 p.m. Men's Fellowship.

Sun. 23rd       Harvest Thanksgiving

11:30 a.m. Rev. Jim McCaughan

     7:00 p.m. Rev. Rob Craig (Kilfennan)

Tues.  25th 12:00 p.m. Afternoon Club  Harvest Lunch.

November

Tues.    8th   2:30 p.m. Afternoon Club 

Sun.   13th 11:30 a.m. Remembrance Day: G.B.  Enrolment

Mon.  14th   8:00 p.m. PW  (See PW letter enclosed)

Tues.  16th   8:30 p.m. Men's Fellowship.

Fri. 25th   7:30 p.m. P.W.  Sale 

Sun. 27th 11:30 a.m. Amir & Clare (London)

    7:00 p.m. Service of Divine Healing 

Wed. 30th    7:00 p.m. Switching on Christmas Tree lights.  

December

Mon. 12th    8:00 p.m. P.W.

Tues.  13th    2:30 p.m. The Afternoon Club 

Sun. 18th  11:30 a.m. Christmas Family service

       7:00 p.m. Christmas Carol service 

Sun. 25th     10:30a.m.   Christmas Day service

► No Sunday School or Bible class on 25th Dec.  or 1st January.

N.B. The church books close on Sat. 31st December, 2011.       Donations received after 31st Dec. will be included with our 2012 accounts.

Dear Friends,

I read about a problem which arose in one of the ancient college buildings in Oxford. A huge oak beam, which went right across the centre of the ceiling in the great hall, had begun to rot and needed to be replaced. It was 500 years old. The university's architects were contacted and were told that, in order to preserve the character of the great hall, they had to replace the rotten beam with another oak beam just like the original one. The architects said this would be completely impossible as timber merchants do not grow oak trees of the size that would be required for such a beam. They would try to make something which would look similar by cladding a steel beam with oak. The architects also inquired if any of the original plans for the college had been preserved, as this would enable them to see how the existing beam had been fitted. When they studied the plans they found a curious note inscribed beside the drawing of the beam. It said, 

    'We have planted a grove of oak trees.'

It then gave precise directions to a wooded area of the parkland surrounding the college and said that, when the time came to replace the beam, the oak trees should be large enough to provide a new beam. When the architects followed the directions they found a grove of enormous oak trees, more than ready to provide a suitable replacement beam. 

The trees had been planted 500 years earlier by people who would never see the trees fully grown. However, they knew that a new beam would be needed some day, and they planted the seeds which would provide the timber necessary for others to make a new beam – although they were well aware that this would be long after they were gone.

         In one of his best known parables Jesus spoke about "a farmer who went out to sow his seed"(Mt.13:3-9)

He went on to explain that this is a picture of how the Kingdom of God spreads and grows in every generation. The seed is the Good News of Jesus Christ, and every Christian fellowship has the responsibility to pass the Good News on to the next generation. As we commence a new session in the organisations and activities of our church family, let us be sure that we sow the seed which will produce a harvest in the lives of others long after we are gone.  Also, the Lord gives each of us opportunities as we go about our daily lives to sow seeds of truth and grace and kindness – seeds of the Kingdom.  Let us sow them in our homes, at school, at our work – wherever we go, whoever we meet. There is a harvest coming when each of us will reap whatever it is we have sown.

           Yours in Christ,  

Jim McCaughan

Contents (click each story to read more):

• Letter from the Manse, Harvest 2011   
• GOD Acts - 2011 Booklet
• Who? What? Why? The reformation
• United Appeal and Outreach, Harvest Offering 2011
• Report From Sam
• Dates for your diary - Harvest 2011
• Marriage Enrichment Course

Funny how a £10 note looks so big when you take it to Church, but so small when you take it to the supermarket
Funny how big an hour serving God looks and how small 60 minutes are when spent playing golf
Funny how long a couple of hours is spent at Church, but how short when watching a movie
Funny how we get thrilled when a football match goes into extra time, but we complain when a sermon is longer than the regular time
Funny how laborious it is to read a chapter in the Bible and how easy it is to read 200 pages of a best selling novel
Funny how we believe what the newspapers say but question what the Bible says
Funny how people scramble to get a front seat at any game, but scramble to get a back seat at Church
Funny how we need 2 or 3 weeks to fit a Church event into our schedule, but can adjust it for a social event at the last minute
Funny how much difficulty some have learning a simple gospel well enough to tell others but how simple it is for the same people to understand and explain gossip about someone else
Funny how we can't think of anything to say when we pray, and we don't have any difficulty thinking of things to talk about to a friend
Funny how we are so quick to take direction from a total stranger when we are lost, but are hesitant to take God's direction to be found
Funny how people are so consumed with what others think about them rather than what God thinks about them
Funny how so many churchgoers sing standing on the promises but all they do is sit on the premises
Funny how people think they can get more accomplished in a lifetime without God than in an hour with him
Funny how everyone wants to go to heaven, provided they don't have to believe, or think, or to say, or to do anything

                                        FUNNY HOW WE ALL NEED TO READ THIS!

Dear Ladies,

The P.W. (Presbyterian Women) is for all ladies of all ages connected to our church family. If you have been with us before, we look forward to welcoming you back again, and if you have never been to the P.W., you will certainly be made very welcome.  Our programme is printed below and we hope that it includes something of interest to everyone. In particular I am sure that the visit of Dunloy Accordion Orchestra  and Lord Laird will be a great night when we could invite along friends and neighbours. 

We meet in the Minor Hall which is a small, comfortable room and is easily found if you come to the church halls and follow the other ladies. We hope that you will find it interesting and we would be delighted to welcome you to any of our meetings which begin at 8pm.

Yours sincerely,

Alison A. McCaughan

 Programme

10 October – 'Just Ourselves'. We will launch the theme "Under His Wings" and welcome along Tracey Nicholl, our trainee deaconess 

14 November – Ian and Helen McClean, heading to Kenya in January 2012. Ian will be teaching pastors from Southern Sudan and Helen will be involved in education 

12 December – Christmas Meeting with Alice McAlary St. Patrick's, Coleraine

9 January – "Starting Out in Ministry" Phil and Terry Kerr. Phil, our former youth worker, is now the student assistant in 1st Ballymoney

13 February – Panel Evening  with Sam Stevenson, Lorna Livingston, David Radcliffe and Heather Clements

12 March – "A Life Turned Round" with Jackie Burke, Lisburn

Other Dates

Friday 21st October – Fund Raiser for our Outreach Account with Dunloy Accordion Orchestra  and Lord John Laird  of Artigarvan as our MC

Sun 20th November – Coleraine and Limavady Presbytery Rally in 1st Dunboe : "Songs of Praise" with PW members

Friday 25th November – PW Sale

Sunday 22 January – PW Service

Fri 2nd March – Women's World Day of Prayer

Sat 3rd March – Ladies' Breakfast in the Lodge Hotel with Elaine Price