Immanuel Church meets each Sunday at the Fairway Day Centre on the corner of Wychall Lane and the Fairway in Kings Norton. Over the last few years we have seen a much greater emphasis on Church members taking part in and leading services. The services are relaxed and informal in style with musical worship led by a band and singers. A Sunday School called Oasis meets every other week during part of the service.

Immanuel Church seeks to reach out to those living in the area around the Fairway and the Chaddesley estate.

Visitors and new members are always welcome.

Services
For details of general services at Immanuel Church this coming Sunday click here.

Warden
Alan Haynes

Photos
Photos of Immanuel Church can be seen by clicking here.

Address & Contacts
Immanuel's address is

Fairway Day Centre
2 The Fairway
Kings Norton
Birmingham
B38 8XJ

Though written correspondance should be directed via the Parish Office.

You can, however, e-mail Immanuel Church by clicking here.

The location of the church can be found by clicking here.

Greetings from Immanuel
Issue: August 2008
Article by: Susan
Immanuel has always had a family feel about it and, just as we hope families are there for us in good and bad times, our congregation are again supporting each other through some difficult times – illness, bereavement, sadness, stress. We have been praying for each other again and trusting God that “in all things God works for the good of those who love him…”
(Romans 8:28). We have also shared plenty of laughs and joys – Sarah and Jon’s wedding, for one.

We have decided not to meet as a congregation on August 24th due to many being away for the Bank Holiday weekend. Instead, we will be encouraging people to visit other congregations within the Parish.
In September, we look forward to a beach trip to Weston Super Mare In October we will be having another Moveable Feast, whereby each small group eat one course of a meal in one home, then divide up to meet with others for the next course at another home, divide up and move again for the third course with a different group and then finish the meal elsewhere with coffee all together. We really enjoyed this a couple of years ago and so wanted to do it again. The dates for both of these events are to be confirmed, but we will publicise them in the newsletter as all are very welcome.

Susan
Greetings from Immanuel Church
Issue: February 2008
Article by: Susan
Immanuel Church has a change of venue for a couple of months. The Fairway Centre is closed for some refurbishment and so Fairway School has kindly offered us the use of their premises on Sunday mornings. It’s great to be able to continue to meet together locally and it is an interesting thought that we’re going back to our roots – when we first set up as a congregation in the 1970s, some of our activities were held at the newly built Fairway School for a while. Of course there have been lots of changes since then for both the church and the school, but our good relationship with them has prevented us from becoming homeless at this time! If you would like to worship with us, Fairway School is in Muirfield Gardens, off The Fairway and we shall be there from 27th January until around 16th March. All are welcome!

Lent has come upon all of us rapidly after Christmas. We welcome the Bishop’s Lent Appeal this year to have become an encouragement to pray and we will be actively using the booklet “Too Deep For Words” about prayer, produced by the Diocese of Birmingham. Each member of our congregation will receive a booklet and will be offered copies to share with friends.

The booklets will be used in our personal prayer times as well as at CafeT and our Wednesday Bible Study. We learned a lot together last year about prayer (having been driven to prayer on several occasions and seeing God answer in amazing ways) and we look forward to building on this.

Our Alpha group continues to meet throughout February and March. It’s an introduction to the Christian faith for those “just looking” and those wanting a refresher of the basics. Subtitled “puddings and ponderings” we will be eating and discussing together as we journey through the sessions.

Susan
Greetings from Immanuel Church
Issue: June 2007
Article by: Susan
By the time you are reading this article, we will have had our Pentecost Celebrations on 27th May, including an All Age Communion service, our Gift Day and a shared lunch.

The Fairway Centre (where we meet) is having a summer fayre on Thursday 21st June from 11am to 3pm and would appreciate people’s support by attending on the day.

Impact! youth group is leading Immanuel’s morning service on Sunday 24th June and so we look forward to welcoming them.

We are having a PrayerWorks prayer walk on the evening of Wednesday 27th June, walking around parts of the Immanuel neighbourhood and stopping to pray at particular places of interest.

We have the Immanuel weekend away from 29th June to 1st July at Cleobury Mortimer, where we will be sharing a Worship Weekend.

CafeT will be organising two socials – Tuesday evenings of 5th June and 24th July (all are welcome!).

We will be running the cake stall at Kings Norton Festival on Saturday 14th July – so will be appealing for contributions of homemade cakes from you again!

For more details on any of the above events, please feel free to call us via the Parish Office. Thank you.

Susan
Greeting from Immanuel Church
Issue: May 2007
Article by: Susan
The last couple of months have been busy ones!

Our AGM this year was held within the context of a Thanksgiving Service at the end of March. It proved to be a good opportunity to hear more about what God has been doing through the past year and to praise him for that, trusting that there is more to come this year as we continue to build on what we have.

We had paid for Rhema Theatre Company to give performances at both Fairway and Wychall Primary Schools. Some of us were able to watch the performances in March and were thrilled with the content and the positive responses from both schools. The performances centred around the theme of “a new start” and covered Noah’s Ark; the story of King Nebuchadnezzar, the statue of gold and the fiery furnace; and then Jesus’ life, death and resurrection – all in under an hour and a half! The children were captivated and we were excited to have been able to be more explicit about our faith, alongside our ongoing, general input into the schools.

A faithful team continue to visit Moundsley Hall Nursing Home each month to offer a communion service and pastoral care to their residents. Up to 20 residents attend the services and we are delighted that one is to be Confirmed at our Parish Confirmation Service this month.

Just before Easter, 16 from Immanuel went to Spring Harvest held at Butlins in Minehead, where through various events we considered what it meant to be “One Church” – one, holy, catholic and apostolic: words we say most weeks, but maybe have not considered in depth before. It was, as ever, a spiritually refreshing (if physically exhausting!) week. As well as the main theme, we were offered Bible Studies on Philippians, children’s and young people’s activities, seminars on a whole range of topics and lots of recreation (such as quiet walks along the beach and our tradition of entering the five-a-side football tournament!). Something for everyone. Ruth Snashall is looking to organise next year’s trip soon as we have to book our places in June, so please feel welcome to contact her if you are interested.

Easter weekend, as we hope for all our churches, was a special time. On Good Friday we had a reflective service, including the Stations of the Cross. This was followed by a lively celebration on Easter morning during which the children had an Easter Party in Oasis.

The end of April sees Nicky Crooks “step down” from leading our Oasis and so we would like to publicly thank her for all her work with the children and with the rest of the leadership team.
Susan
Immanuel trip to Spring Harvest
Issue: May 2007
Article by: Ruth
Just before Easter this year a group of around 20 of us travelled down to Minehead to spend 6 days at Butlins. We were there to attend an event called Spring Harvest, which is a Christian conference that takes place around Easter time every year. It is an opportunity for Christians of all ages to get together to worship, learn and participate in all sorts of different things.

As a group (ages between 4 years and 60+ years) we participated in many different activities. The theme for Spring Harvest this year was One People, continuing the three-year journey looking at The Big Story of God. Each morning started with “The Big Start” – an all-age worship session which introduced the theme for each day. Following this there were all sorts of things to get involved with. There were daily Bible readings, where Steve Chalke (a well-known speaker and author) helped us to explore the book of Philippians during the week. There were sessions (in different styles) that helped to explore the theme of being “One People of God”, using the Spring Harvest study guide. A couple of people also attended a leadership masterclass, to help equip them to lead in church.

All this was before lunch! After lunch there were even more activities. People from our group attended art workshops, new songs workshops, various seminars, and played football in the tournament. In the evening there were several worship sessions to choose from: the main celebration in the Big Top, a quieter “Readings and reflections” worship and an all-age celebration. If by this stage we weren’t ready to fall asleep, there were then a selection of “after hours” events, including various bands, drama and speakers. I went to hear Adrian Plass (a well known Christian author) and had a good laugh!

When we weren’t attending a session there was the chance to wander round all the stalls and information points. Some of us even managed to get a walk on the beach in the sunshine! One of the things that I love about Spring Harvest is that you can pick and choose what you go to and so can do as little or as much as you want.

The only problem can be deciding what you actually want to do, as there is so much to choose from! The worship and teaching are excellent and I find I am able to really draw close to God at Spring Harvest.

I hope that everyone enjoyed the event as much as I did, and I hope and pray that we can use things that we have learned to help us live more for God. We are planning to go again next year and would love even more people to join us – see the article below for details of next years event.
God bless
Ruth Snashall
Greetings from Immanuel Church
Issue: April 2007
Article by: Alan
On 25th March, Immanuel had our AGM as part of a Thanksgiving Service. Many wrote reports in preparation for this. Below is our Warden’s Report, which summarises much of the year’s events for us:

I have been studying Paul's letter to the Philippians recently and it got me wondering what he might write in a letter to Immanuel Church. It might go something like this:

'From Paul, an Apostle in Christ. To my sisters and brothers at Immanuel, grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I always remember you in my prayers, giving thanks for all the good things I read about in the Summary of the DCC meetings that you kindly email to me every other month. It sounds like you have a real sense of family there, with all the highs and lows that come from having such a special relationship with each other. I join with your rejoicing over events like Paul and Karen's wedding, Nicky and David's engagement, the birth of baby Ollie and a brother or sister on the way for Sam. I wept with you over the news of one of you being diagnosed with cancer. I am greatly encouraged by your faithfulness in prayer and the new intercessory prayer group and e-prayer network – you know I stand with you in your praying and I am well jealous of all the eating you do together at the shared lunches and the outreach meal. Please tell the men I shall join them for a curry next time I come to stay with you.

When I wrote to the saints in Corinth I talked to them about the importance of teamwork and working together as one body (I think I forwarded you a copy). It is really encouraging to see so many gifts being used by so many at Immanuel. I pray that you will continue to grow in boldness and confidence and that you will use the upcoming weekend away well to consider further how these gifts can be used in your worship together, bringing glory to God. I can see that God is using Immanuel as a place to grow leaders for His church and I would like to add my congratulations to Ruth on being licensed as a Reader.

I would like to commend you on the way you faithfully and cheerfully give of your finances as well as your time. The ways that both as a church and individually you have sought to bless others through the sharing of the resources that God has provided has been inspiring and a real blessing to me too. I pray that God will continue to use your spirit of generosity as you seek to grow His Kingdom.

Your desire to reach out to your neighbours has been really evident. I pray that the way you are carefully preparing the ground will produce a great harvest for you. Take heart from what you have achieved already. I believe God has much in store.

This brings me on to my challenges to you. I can see that there are many positives of being part of God's family at Immanuel, but don't be tempted to try and keep it for yourselves. I pray that in the coming year you will really support all the mission and outreach initiatives that are being planned and take opportunities to share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus with your friends, family, neighbours and colleagues.

I would also like to warn against burnout. Many of you work very hard in your roles and I pray that you will also take time just to spend time with God, enjoying His presence and allowing Him to refresh you.

Finally, sisters and brothers, you are a part of a very diverse parish and I would urge you to take opportunities to spend time supporting and getting to know those at the other churches in a sense of unity, joining them in worshipping the one true God.

Greet all the saints in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters who are with me send you greetings. To our God and Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Alan
Greetings from Immanuel Church
Issue: March 2007
Article by: Susan
In our Mission and Outreach, we would like to thank you very much for a tremendous response to our appeal for reading volunteers for our two local schools, Fairway and Wychall Primary. 10 people responded! Some have started already; others are in the process of having CRB checks. Thank you. We have been delighted to offer to pay for a Christian Theatre Company (Rhema) to perform at both schools – and both have gladly accepted! We are also ensuring that each child from both schools receives a copy of the children’s version of “Love Life, Live Lent”. We are going to put the adult versions of the booklets in key community places, such at the doctor’s surgery, shops and schools for people to take home if they would like to. We organised a meal for people to bring friends to, which included thought-provoking Christian discussion. We have had positive feedback from this and are looking to organise another. Our four carol-singing events went well – although one in particular was VERY cold! Apparently, we were the talk of the local shops on the following day (in a good way)!

From a Pastoral Care point of view, we are developing an Intercessory Group to meet weekly during Lent, after which its viability will be assessed according to interest. The group will receive prayer requests as well as interceding for the church as a whole, the community and the wider world. Linked with that, those from Immanuel who are on email now have the option to join an E-Prayer Group, exchanging prayer information on email and making a commitment to pray for each other in the requests made, whether big or small.

The Men’s Curry Nights have taken off and become a monthly event, including men from Immanuel, Hawkesley and St Nicolas’ Churches. It’s a great opportunity for men to relax together and to bring friends along if they want to. The next one will be on Monday 12th March, 8pm at Balti Bazaar. Please call Alan in advance if you would like to go so that he can book the table.

On Sunday 4th March, we will be having a Combined Service at Hawkesley and we hope that we soon have a “return visit” back at Immanuel. We are looking forward to welcoming Grace Guinness, our CMS Partner, to Immanuel on Sunday 11th March. All are welcome if you would like to come to hear her speak. On 25th March we are incorporating our AGM into a Thanksgiving Service, giving praise to God for all that he has been doing amongst us in the past year.
Greetings From Immanuel Church
Issue: February 2007
Article by: Susan
Over recent months we have been exploring “worship”. This was started in a conversation at our music group meeting where the question was asked “What is Worship?” Of course, we talked about the whole of our lives being worship – our lifestyles, our choices, our words and actions, etc, but also about the worship that we share in when we get together on a Sunday or mid-week.

We now have 9 service leaders at Immanuel who lead the services alongside the clergy. We have begun to meet together for support and encouragement and to consider ways of development. As we have grown in confidence over the past couple of years in this role, we are being encouraged to plan our own services with a fresh approach within the boundaries of Common Worship. This has led to more creativity and variety, which we hope to build upon. In March, some from Immanuel will be again taking part in the “Prism of Praise” event in Sutton Coldfield, a day of exploring and learning about worship with another 1,000 delegates! We hope that we will gain more insights that can be brought back to Immanuel. In July we have our weekend away and again, the theme is going to be worship, both in terms of enjoying worship times together and in learning more, particularly regarding the Gifts of the Spirit and how to bring these into our worship in an edifying way.

We look forward to more growth in our worship, building on all that God has been doing amongst us so far.

Susan
Greetings from Immanuel Church
Issue: January 2007
Article by: Susan
Happy new year to you!

We would like to share this photo with you of the lovely altar cloth that Betty Griffiths made for us for Advent and Christmas. We have really enjoyed it over the past month or so. Our thanks go again to Betty.

We have three special occasions at Immanuel in January:

On Saturday 13th January, Ruth Snashall will be licensed as a Reader. We are delighted! As well as our being a part of the big day, we will be marking it with a Shared Lunch on Sunday 14th January.

On Saturday 20th January, we are organising a meal with testimonies. We will be inviting friends to come and share an evening together and hear some of what God has been doing in our lives. This is the next step on in our mission strategy. We have so far been encouraging each other to make friendships with our neighbours and daily contacts and this is an opportunity for them to hear gently about our faith, if they are interested.

On Wednesday 24th January, we are having a PrayerWorks evening at Fairway Centre from 7.30pm. This will be a time for worship and prayer, particularly focussing on our mission and outreach into the neighbourhood. We are hoping to invite other Christians who live or work in the area, and that this will develop into a bi-monthly event. All are welcome and we would love to see you there!
Susan
Greetings From Immanuel Church
Issue: December 2006
Article by: Susan
Thank you to those who have responded so far to our plea for additional volunteers to listen to children read in schools. The extra help will be most appreciated.

We have come up with a new idea for Advent! You may remember that we have taken part in Posada over the last few years - passing wooden figures of Mary and Joseph from home to home during Advent. Well this year we are encouraging members of Immanuel to take part in a Living Posada! We are suggesting that each household visits another household during Advent (one that they don’t usually visit) and also that each household invites another into their home for a drink or a meal (again someone they don’t usually have round). This idea came from the desire to make sure that all who have been unable to come to Immanuel in recent months still feel a part of our church community; and also remembering that a previous vicar of ours suggested that all of us ought to know what the inside of at least seven other church family homes look like!

We will be delivering Christmas cards around our neighbourhood again this year, particularly inviting people to our Carols by Candlelight service. These cards are also supported by posters in local schools, shops and places of interest and, for the first time, church families are going to be invited to display a smaller poster in the window of their homes. We are also going to sing Christmas Carols with residents of Moundsley Hall Nursing Home, Fairway Day Centre and on Wychall Estate, taking the real message of Christmas out to our community.

We will be having our Christingle Service on Sunday 10th December at 10.30am, led by our younger people. Our Carols by Candlelight service will be on 17th December at 6pm. On Christmas Eve we will have a Morning Worship service at 10.30am and then on Christmas Day a Family Communion, also at 10.30am. We would love to see you if you are able to come and join us.

We hope that you have a very happy Christmas.
Susan
Greetings From Immanuel Church
Issue: November 2006
Article by: Susan
It was lovely at the end of September and beginning of October to have three opportunities to worship together with different congregations from our Parish. On the evening of 24th September, we took part in the “Harvest of People” at St Nicolas’ Church; on the morning of 1st October, we joined Hawkesley’s 30th birthday celebrations; and then in the evening of 1st October, we hosted the Parish evening service. What a privilege to enjoy such a diversity of worship and to catch up with (and meet new) friends from across the Parish. Lots of us said we should do it again soon! Our thanks go to all who were involved in planning and leading the services and in providing the accompanying food for us.
Greetings From Immanuel Church
Issue: October 2006
Article by: Susan
We recently received an email from a friend which we found quite inspiring. We don’t usually forward emails on (we get a lot of them!) but this one we did and had a lot of positive replies from people, so we thought we’d share it with the readers of this magazine. Alan (Haynes) read the book “Purpose Driven Life” during his sabbatical a few years ago and found it helpful. Rick Warren is the author of that book and the Pastor of a church in California. With his wife now having cancer and, him having "wealth" from the book sales, this is an incredible short interview with Rick Warren, by Paul Bradshaw, and in it Rick said:

People ask me, what is the purpose of life? I respond: In a nutshell, life is preparation for eternity. We were made to last forever, and God wants us to be with Him in Heaven. One day my heart is going to stop, and that will be the end of my body - but not the end of me.

I may live 60 to 100 years on earth, but I am going to spend trillions of years in eternity. is the warm-up act - the dress rehearsal of God wants us to practice on earth what we will do forever in eternity. were made by God and for God, and until you figure that out, life isn't going to make sense.

Life is a series of problems: Either you are in one now, you're just coming out of one, or you're getting ready to go into another one. The reason for this is that God is more interested in your character than your comfort.

God is more interested in making your life holy than He is in making your life happy.

We can be reasonably happy here on earth, but that's not the goal of life. goal is to grow in character, in Christ likeness. This past year has been the greatest year of my life but also the toughest, with my wife, Kay, getting cancer.

I used to think that life was hills and valleys - you go through a dark time, then you go to the mountaintop, back and forth. don't believe that anymore.

Rather than life being hills and valleys, I believe that it's kind of like two rails on a railroad track, and at all times you have something good and something bad in your life. No matter how good things are in your life, there is always something bad that needs to be worked on. And no matter how bad things are in your life, there is always something good for which you can thank God.

You can focus on your purposes, or you can focus on your problems. If you focus on your problems, you're going into self-centeredness, which is "my problem, my issues, my pain.” But one of the easiest ways to get rid of pain is to get your focus off yourself and onto God and others.

We discovered quickly that in spite of the prayers of hundreds of thousands of people, God was not going to heal Kay or make it easy for her. It has been very difficult for her, and yet God has strengthened her character, given her a ministry of helping other people, given her a testimony, drawn her closer to Him and to people.

You have to learn to deal with both the good and the bad of life. Actually, sometimes learning to deal with the good is harder. instance, this past year, all of a sudden, when the book sold 15 million copies, it made me instantly very wealthy.

It also brought a lot of notoriety that I had never had to deal with before. don't think God gives you money or notoriety for your own ego or for you to live a life of ease.

So I began to ask God what He wanted me to do with this money, notoriety and influence. gave me two different passages that helped me decide what to do,2 Corinthians 9 and Psalm 72.

First, in spite of all the money coming in, we would not change our lifestyle one bit. made no major purchases.

Second, about midway through last year, I stopped taking a salary from the church.

Third, we set up foundations to fund an initiative we call The Peace Plan to plant churches, equip leaders, assist the poor, care for the sick, and educate the next generation.

Fourth, I added up all that the church had paid me in the 24 years since I started the church, and I gave it all back. It was liberating to be able to serve God for free.

We need to ask ourselves, am I going to live for possessions? Popularity? Am I going to be driven by pressures? Guilt? ? ? Or am I going to be driven by God's purposes (for my life)?

When I get up in the morning, I sit on the side of my bed and say, God, if I don't get anything else done today, I want to know You more and love You better.

God didn't put me on earth just to fulfil a to-do list. 's more interested in what I am than what I do. 's why we're called human beings, not human doings.

Happy moments, PRAISE GOD.
Difficult moments, SEEK GOD.
Quiet moments, WORSHIP GOD.
Painful moments, TRUST GOD.
Every moment, THANK GOD.
Greetings from Immanuel Church
Issue: May 2006
Article by: Susan
During Easter week, some of the Immanuel congregation went to Spring Harvest and had a great time! For 5 weeks, Spring Harvest takes over two Butlins holiday sites and at each week, 5000 Christians enjoy a holiday of activities, worship, fun, teaching, fellowship and access to Christian resources and exhibitions. It’s for all age groups and various preferences.

Here’s a Day in the Life of a Spring Harvester…

We were woken early by screeching seagulls, but that’s ok because I wanted to be “up and at it”!! We were sharing accommodation as family groups and two 6-bed apartments. Gone are the days of rough and ready chalets with mould in the bathrooms (!) – they were actually quite nice!!

At 9am we went to the Big Top (which seats around 2,000 people) for half an hour of an all-age introduction to each day – songs, drama, prayers and lots of fun. This year’s theme was “One God” and in the five days, we explored Creator God, Universal God, Human God, Sovereign God and Triumphant God.

The mornings were then spent in whichever groups people chose. The adults went to either a Bible Study or seminars exploring the theme of the day. We chose the seminar style according to the radio station that we would prefer to tune into: Radio 2 (relaxed, easy listening), Radio 4 (probing, academic), Five Live (investigative, interactive) or Edge FM (fast, multi media)!! At the same time, the children and young people had their own programmes, also exploring the themes of the day in age-appropriate ways.

The afternoons were mainly for relaxing and enjoying the seaside or the Butlins resort – fairground, swimming, coffee shops, walks, Christian resource exhibition, shopping, afternoon kip, etc. But there were also plenty of one-off seminars to go along to, topics varying from parenting, prayer, leadership, drama, bereavement. The Immanuel 5-a-side football team got through to the third round of their competition (much to their surprise!) and the netball team didn’t!

In the evenings there were three Celebration choices: The Big Top was the most popular for adults – lively worship, prayer, drama, talks by well-known speakers such as Steve Chalke, challenges etc. Or, there was a quiet, reflective Celebration. Or, the mayhem of the All-Age Celebration, aimed at children under 8 years old and their families – lots of dancing, jumping, shouting, laughing and puppets!! For those preferring a quiet night in with a cup of tea, the Big Top Celebration could be found on the television in the apartments, if desired. Songs of Praise recorded our Easter Day Celebration from the Big Top.

For the night-owls amongst us, there was a late-night programme, a choice of Christian bands, speakers, comics and theatre companies.

There really was something for everyone. As much or as little of the programme could be followed as people wanted. For a holiday with a difference, it’s highly recommended! Next year [2007] we will be going from Tuesday 10th to Sunday 15th April (Easter Day will be 8th April), back at the Butlins site in Minehead, Somerset. If you would like to find out more, please contact Ruth Snashall. Bookings need to be made at the beginning of June, so please get in touch soon.
Susan

the parish of kings norton
a church of england team parish