Monday 29 February 2016

February 2016 update

February really has been a busy month for us with every weekend full of different events whether from CMM, or the CMM Choir.

Saturday 6th February: Worship Works Moseley

It was great to begin a run of Worship Works events with a nice local venue.  St Mary's Moseley is the home church for the RSCM in Birmingham, and their main leader Mick Perrier.  Mick has long been a friend of CMM, and it was great to work with him in Moseley almost a year after he came and contributed to our choral day in the spring last year.

The church was a little on the cold side, but that didn't dampen the atmosphere of worship.  We had a super team from CMM including Roger, Annie, Helen, Katie, Paul and Christine.  It was also great to have our chair of trustees, Geoff, with us - although it did feel a little bit like an ofsted...

Roger began the day by introducing the concept of God as the worship seeker - the one who is constantly reaching out to us to develop a worship-relationship.  It is good to look through all of the different ways God reached out to characters in scripture, and then ultimately came himself in Jesus.  The climax of that session came when Katie was able to sing over the group gathered some words of love from Jesus:
Here I am to worship, here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that you're my child
You're altogether lovely, altogether worthy,
Altogether wonderful to me

Helen led the second session, thinking practically about how we use music in worship, and the purpose of different types of music, whether psalms, hymns or songs.

Then after lunch (in a lovely warm room) we divided into two workshops - Annie led a workshop on planning and leading praise, and Roger and Helen led a workshop on singing new material - whether that is the latest song in the songbook or something new and improvised for the moment.

The final session was really quite special.  We looked together at the progression of praise that comes through the theology of the Tabernacle/Temple - entering his gates with thanksgiving, coming into the courts with praise, and then entering into the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.  It is often a very holy moment when we focus on the cross and sing When I survey together.

God is so good - on a cold, stormy day in February he comes and meets with each one of us.

Saturday 21st February: Worship Works Pontesbury

Keith on the drums
Early in the morning Roger, Helen and Amy travelled together to Pontesbury just south of Shrewsbury.  They were joined there by Keith (drums) and Chris (many instruments, mostly guitars this time!).

We were warmly welcomed by Brian Fisher and 'Christians Worshipping Together in Pontesbury' for the day at the Congregational Church in the village.  It was great to see them trying to put up Worship Works bunting in the strong wind!  The church was full for what turned out to be a very special day.  It isn't often when Roger tries to do his 'I hope you haven't brought your harp to the party and no-one asked you to play' joke, that there are two harpists in the group!  Sadly, neither of them had brought their harps.

God is so good to us - when we were praying on Thursday night before the weekend, God gave one of our prayer group the word that there would be someone there with an ear infection in both ears.  He just so happened to be the very first person to arrive after the organisers.  It is so good when God speaks so clearly and people are blessed.

The day ran very much like the Moseley day, except Helen led the planning and leading praise workshop in the hall after lunch, while Roger took a creative worship session.  Helen had Chris to help her, and a wonderful, Spirit-filled moment happened at the end when Helen shared about God singing over us, then sang 'The Father's Song' and (ably accompanied by Chris) was able to sing prophetically over the group.  Roger's workshop facilitated much the same thing, where Amy sang over people and also played her clarinet over them.

We are so thankful for our wonderfully creative Father who is able to use jars of clay to share his love with his people.

Saturday 27th February: Worship Works Wotton-under-Edge

The final weekend in February was a busy one for CMM.  Roger and a large team including Jonathan, Jane, Keith, Jackie, Sam, Lorna, Paul, Wendy, Marilyn and Kaye led yet another Worship Works day - this time in Wotton-under-Edge, Gloucestershire.

There were a fabulous number of folk there from the local churches, and the team were able to share deeply with them.  Roger was absolutely thrilled with his band - Lorna hasn't played violin with CMM for a number of years so it was great to have her back.  It was also brilliant to have Jonathan on guitar, Paul on horn, Jackie on sax and her son, Sam, on drums.  It was a blessing to have Sam as he was involved in a concert back home that evening.  He had a drum solo to play in the evening which Roger made him demonstrate during the day!

During the afternoon workshop slot, Marilyn led the group in learning some new material, before Roger took over and shared about creative and prophetic worship.  One of the highlights of that session was while people were open and waiting on the Holy Spirit, Jane shared a message in tongues with the group which was interpreted by another lady.  While we would love this to be the norm in many churches, it so often isn't - so this was a real highlight for all present.

Saturday 27th February: The Big Sing 3

While Roger was in Wotton, Annie and Jenny travelled down to London for a special day organised by the Jubilate Group - the Big Sing 3.  The aim of the day was to gather a group of singers together in order to record a dozen or so tracks for the Jubilate website.  In return for a little publicity, Annie and Jenny were given a 'marketplace stall' where they were able to showcase the musicals and particularly the choral collection.  So Annie and Jenny joined in with the choir for the recording session, and then met with people on the stall during the breaks and lunch.

The day itself was led by Noel Tredinnick and Geraldine Luce (formerly Latty).  Annie said they were both brilliant choral conductors - so encouraging both musically and spiritually.  It was also great to see a number of CMM regulars at the day.  Susan travelled down from Birmingham, David and Ruth were there from Norwich, and Paul from Oxfordshire.  Another highlight of the day came following a conversation at the stall - Annie was invited to lead a musical in a day in Derbyshire!  So a very worthwhile journey to London.

The CMM Choir

Alongside all of the Worship Works events and the Big Sing, the CMM Choir have also been in action, holding three of their four performances of Barnabas.  They have so far performed at St Bernard's in Hamstead, Ward End Elim Church and St Thomas' Church Aldridge.  All three performances have been in front of packed out venues, and the choir have really demonstrated what it means to be a worshipping, Spirit-filled choir.

The soloists have done a great job on each occasion:
Barnabas: David Hall / Alan Walker (Alan is taking one performance of each - amazing!)
Saul: Jonathan Chappell / Alan Walker
John Mark: David Newell / Alan Walker
Rhoda: Becky Kennard / Pat Woolridge
Miriam: Alison Rushton / Elaine Brittle
Semi-chorus: female soloists plus Sue Walker, Carrie Newell, Linda Chappell and Jules Burley (Linda and Jules doing a great job holding the alto part against all of those sopranos!)

Annie has been delighted with the way the choir have performed, so if any of you are able to go and see them on Saturday at St Leonard's Marston Green, you will not regret it!

Huge thanks also need to go to Sylvia who has so ably trained the West Birmingham half of the choir as Annie works with the East.

Annie in action with the CMM Choir just before Christmas

Friday 26 February 2016

Behind the scenes 4: finances

This blog post is to share with you all a letter Helen sent out to all of our amazing donors two weeks ago.  God has been so good to us!  If you would like to support the work of CMM, please download and fill in this form, or go to our mydonate page.

Dear friends,

I am writing this letter on behalf of the EBRG Trust, the charitable trust that supports the work of Roger Jones and Christian Music Ministries. Over many years God has graciously and generously provided for our needs, mostly through a mixture of donations and income from musical tours. In 2008 we felt it was right to follow God’s lead and end the tours, instead focusing on spending time in individual churches either with a musical-related activity or teaching on music in worship. While this has been very worthwhile, it has resulted in a considerable lowering of income.

In late 2015 the trustees felt it was right to make a special appeal to the supporters of the ministry. The bookings for Roger and the CMM team had not slowed at all, and if they were to fulfil these appointments stretching beyond 2017, an increase in funding was needed. 

We are pleased to be able to inform you that the response to the appeal was very good indeed, and we are bowled over by the generosity of our friends and excited by all God still wants to do through us.
  • Following the appeal our monthly standing orders have increased by over £700. 
  • We received over £15000 in one-off donations in response to the appeal. 
  • The projection of our treasurer Jonathan Chappell is that the funding of the ministry can continue at least until 2020. 
Gift Aid is an incredibly helpful means of increasing our income. If you are eligible for Gift Aid and have not signed a form, please contact the CMM Office on 01527 576 440 or trust@cmm.org.uk and we will send one to you. 

Thank you so much for your response to the appeal, however great or small. We are incredibly blessed and humbled by your love and support. We are so excited by what lies ahead, including numerous performances of Roger’s latest musical Barnabas, a mission trip to Cyprus, 7 Worship Works events in 2016 alone, and plenty of other occasions where we can fulfil our mission statement: 

Christian Music Ministries aims to use music to share the gospel, minister in the power of the Holy Spirit and to equip and encourage individuals and churches. 

Many thanks and God bless, 

Helen Pollard 
Christian Music Ministries

Wednesday 3 February 2016

CMM in action: January 2016

January has been a terrific month for CMM.  It began quietly with a lot of office-based work, stock taking, catching up after the Christmas period, and celebrating Annie's birthday at the local Toby Carvery.  But then in mid January we had our first event out on the road.


Greater than Gold at the Oakes

On a dark Friday night Annie, Helen and Alan travelled up the M1 to the Oakes Holiday Centre, in south Sheffield.  The Oakes is an amazing place - an old manor house taken over and refurbished into a wonderful youth and children's centre, complete with dormitories, a panelled room for meetings, a lovely dining room, games rooms, climbing wall, ropes course, archery range, football field, lake and mudder course.  Annie (orchestra), Helen (choir) and Alan (drama/movement) were there to lead a group of over 40 8-16 year olds in learning the musical Greater than Gold.  With just three rehearsals the young people performed on the Sunday afternoon to a packed room of family and friends.

Sunday morning snow at the Oakes!

Other highlights of the weekend included snow, the Bible teaching sessions and worship, Annie being able to share her testimony with the campers, and also the unstinting enthusiasm of the leaders - mostly made up of a gap year team living in the house for the year.  They tirelessly got alongside the young people, mentoring and supporting them, as well as taking part in the choir, orchestra and drama!  If you know of any children/young people who would benefit from a place like this, or any school leavers looking for a good gap year opportunity, the Oakes is an excellent place to start!


Barnabas Barnt Green

Then the following weekend we travelled the very short distance down the road to St Andrew's Church, Barnt Green.  St Andrews have been wonderful supporters over the years - Tim and Emma used to attend the church until they moved away, and one of our associates, Katie, has been involved in the music and worship there for a long time.  For the last couple of years in January, Katie has led a musical in a day event at the church (last year it was Simeon) and roped in a lot of the CMM team to provide the accompaniment.  This year instead, Katie invited Roger, Helen and Annie to come and lead a special Barnabas day, bringing CMM soloists and instrumentalists along to help.

With St Andrews' kind agreement, CMM took the opportunity to invite lots of associates to the day in order to train up a batch of soloists to perform Barnabas.  While not as many were able to come as hoped, there was still a great turn out.

Annie led some worship to start the day, and Helen led the warm up.  Then after Roger's notices the day began in earnest with Annie taking the choir of 50 through Trust and Obey, Helen teaching Three men in a boat, and then Roger teaching The Word became flesh.  Signs were good that this was going to be a fabulous choir.

 After a break, Annie continued to work with the choir assisted by Katie, while Helen and Roger took out the soloists that were to be learning the John Mark, Rhoda and Miriam parts.  It was excellent to hear the soloists from the CD and first three performances taking the group through what they had learned and watching the drama develop.

After lunch the Saul and Barnabas parts had a rehearsal, and Annie made amazing headway with the choir, finishing nice and early.  The second half of the afternoon saw the choir and soloists come together along with Annie, Helen and Dave on viola, flute and soprano sax respectively.  Katie's brother John had also been present all day operating the sound system - his help with microphones and backing tracks was invaluable.

The rehearsal finished and the choir were fortified by much cake and prayer, as well as time spent listening to God for direction for the performance ahead.  The church filled up with audience, and the performance went very well indeed.  The choir were fantastic despite many of them not having heard the musical before.  The CMM soloists were excellent, showing a great deal of confidence in their parts and the message they were conveying.  Huge, huge thanks go to Rob, Katie, John, Rosemary, Bob and all at Barnt Green for their hospitality and support.  We look forward to working together again in future!


Time with God

The month of January came to a close in a very special way - the annual EBRG retreat.  The regular Thursday evening housegroup that supports Roger, Mary, Annie and Helen were joined by Mike and Barbara (honourary members) and Simon Cooper as facilitator at Shallowford House, near Stone.

Shallowford House has become a very special retreat venue to us over the years, and once again it did not disappoint - this year we were even blessed with beautiful weather for our free time on Saturday afternoon.
Glorious sunshine in the fields
near Shallowford

The aim of the retreat was to seek God together.  There are lots of questions and uncertainties over the ministry looking forward, but we decided to place that all before God and simply spend time in his presence.  And God is forever faithful - in the worship and the waiting we heard him speak to us as individuals, and then as the weekend progressed we came before him in intercession for the ministry and for the many people we meet and are blessed by - our 'parish'.

Please be praying for EBRG and also the EBRG Trustees as we digest all that God has said and begin talking and praying together about the future.