An Opportunity For Families to Discover the Spiritual Outdoors Together

The third Sunday of each month is now the regular slot for the Ironstone Benefice café church. It has become a tradition at this time of the year for the service to move away from the Old School, perhaps for a tour of Horley village gardens or an expedition to Hadsham Farm, thanks to Wykeham and Fi Taylor, for the lambing.

Unfortunately, due to the Coronavirus restrictions, the church is closed and no congregational services are taking place either there or anywhere else. So this year’s Spring café church has taken a new turn, thanks to Lindy Bridgeman, our licensed lay minister creating a version of the Sanctuary Wild Worship Field Guide. We have called it the “Virtual Spring Outing, or Café Church I-Spy” which can be downloaded here. We are wanting this to be an example of how the church can play its part in the spiritual life of the community, despite the lockdown restrictions.

We do hope people, especially families with children, will get stuck enthusiastically into the spirit and reality of the venture by getting out and about and rising to the challenge of spotting and recording as many as they can of the natural sights, plants and animals which are listed, each accompanied by an appropriate biblical text.

It is not a competition as such, but it would be great to know that people have enjoyed doing it and so you are encouraged to ‘report’ your successes by emailing David Kyle at d_kyle@hotmail.co.uk with the points you have achieved and identifying any noteworthy sightings of items carrying two points.

It would also be great to see you at the next café church, whenever that may be, so that a ‘roll of honour’ can be presented of those who have taken part, with top billing going to any who have scored the maximum 50 points. We will be sure to keep you informed, through Horley Views, of moves to restore access to the church and the resumption of services.

We will in any event aim to report on the Virtual Spring Outing in the Summer edition of Horley Views.

Good luck and stay safe.

David Kyle