DMMC News

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Welcome to March's Newsletter!

Please remember that information on courses, awareness dates, etc, that used to be part of this mailer are now available via our Adventures in Faith pages (see menu below).

Welcome!

Judith Wedderspoon, Lay Reader

We welcome Judith Wedderspoon to Edinburgh Diocese as a Lay Reader in The Church of the Good Shepherd, Murrayfield (centre). We wish her every blessing in her ministry.

Continuing Ministerial Development

CMD Tuesday 27 May: Mental Health & Illness

We are going to be joined on Tuesday 27 May by Edinburgh-based psychiatrist and lecturer, Dr Rob Waller, to think through our work with complex mental health needs. We will be meeting at St James the Less in Leith, with coffee from 9:45am, and a finish time of 3:30pm. Register now for what promises to be a very informative day.

Learning Lunches start at 12:30pm and are mostly on Zoom. For reference, here is the Zoom link

▶ Thu 27 Mar: Media engagment with Pip Blackledge.

▶ Thu 15 May: +John reflecting on his trip to Jordan with +Kaisamari. This will be IN PERSON in the Diocesan Office.

▶ Thu 28 Aug: Children and Church with Claire Benton-Evans (rescheduled from February).

Anniversary of Nicene Creed

Fr John Behr, will be delivering his lecture ‘From Gospel to Creed’ on Friday 7th March 2025. This is an SEI event, open to all in authorised ministry, to be held onsite at St Mary's Monastery, Kinnoull. RSVP [email protected].

Trinity College, Glasgow, are again running their online, Masters-level short course Leading in Church Change. The course seeks to "assist recognised church leaders/clergy to evaluate their critical change challenges, engage with recent organisational change practice and equip with tools and perspectives for faithful and strategic responses." It runs for 8 weeks, starting 1 May, and costs £499. A member of the Diocese describes this course as "transformative" and highly recommends it to others.

More information is available on Trinity's website.

The following College of Preachers Zoom seminars take place from 10:30-1pm, and cost £12.

▶ Sat 22 Mar: Preaching & Apologetics, Rev Dr John Woods.

▶ Wed 2 Apr: The Language of Resurrection: Finding the Right Words, Rev Canon Dr Rod Garner.

Preaching Conference: 9-11 September 2025

Title: The Wonder of Words

Blurb: Even in our image-obsessed world, words still matter. Join us to see how poetry, humour, writing-craft, and art can all help us make best use of words in preaching.

Location: Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick

Keynote Speaker: Margaret Cooling, author of "Preaching the Shows"

Early Bird Cost (until 1 May): £275.

Book via eventbrite at this link.

Support Networks

Listening Ears is a confidential peer support service for stipendiary clergy from the SEC. It offers informal peer support by phone on an ad hoc basis for matters professional or personal. More information and contact details on the SEC website.

Spiritual Direction, also known as Spiritual Accompaniment, is a deeply personal and sacred relationship, usually between two people, where the journey of faith and our life with God can be explored, celebrated and deepened. You can read more about it on our website here.

We are also collating a list of Directors who are willing to have they name shared with people, upon request with the Diocesan Office. If you are looking for Direction and would like to see this list, please contact Fee. If you are a Director and would like to be added, please complete this form.

For Lent

The Diocesan Lent Course for 2025 is now available. If you would like hard copies printed and posted to you, or a Word document version, please contact Kristine in the first instance.

Download the course now from the website.

SEI are hosting a short course for Lent, entitled 'Miriam's Sisters, Deborah's Daughters: When Women Lead the Way'. This is being presented by SEC priest, IME2 Officer, and author of a book by the same title, the Revd Liz Crumlish.

There are 6 x 25minute videos, which will be available over the Mondays of Lent from 7pm. More information and YouTube links are on the SEI website.

Lent Books published for 2025

If you have still to find a book for yourself to follow through Lent, a list of those published in 2025 (and 2024) is available on our website.

▶ New for 2025.

▶ New for 2024.

Stations of the Cross

The new Racial Justice Sunday materials for 2025 include prompts and prayers for use in Stations of the Cross. This may be something you wish to incorporate into your Lenten or Holy Week services.

All the resources can be found here.

General Resources & Training

We are offering congregations subsidised access to ROOTS on the Web, an ecumenical resource for Lectionary-based worship and learning. For £20, you can gain digital access to both sets of their resources - ‘Worship Together’ (previously known as ‘All Age Worship’) and ‘Children and Youth’ - plus their back-catalogue. Register here to secure access for your congregation.

Final call for Trustee Training at St Ninian's, Comely Bank, on Saturday 15 March. This session will help trustees understand their role and responsibilities as both vestry members and charity trustees. This training will be largely the same as previous years, but with updated information and areas for guidance. All trustees are welcome to attend, with those who have never yet received training strongly advised to do so, including clergy.

Godly Play Scotland are running the core training "Storyteller and Door Person Accredited Course" in the Godly Play Room at Duddingston Kirk, Edinburgh. It starts at 1pm on Friday 21 March and finishes at 5pm on Sunday 23 March. The course costs £315. More information and booking here.

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday 27 September (9am-1pm), which is the next Youth and Children's Training Day at Ps & Gs. Further details to follow!

For Children and Young People

You will have heard of Munro Bagging. You may even have heard of Bishop Bagging. Let us introduce you to Church Bagging! In 2025, are inviting our young people, aged 12-18, to join us at Sunday evening services. This will be chance to meet up with friends old and new as well as experience a range of worship services. Dates and locations are shown below.

We are heading to Old St Paul's, on Sunday 16 February. The service starts at 6:30pm, and Fee will be around to meet folks at the door from 6:15pm. If anyone wants to be met earlier at Waverley Station, please contact Fee in advance.

Event for P6-S2

We are arranging an afternoon of crazy golf followed by pizza and dessert at Fountainbridge on Saturday 26 April. We will meet at 3pm and finish at 7pm. This event for tweens and young teens is being subsidized by the Diocese and can be enjoyed for just £5.

Registration and consent form can be found at this link.

Provincial Youth Week (Yeek) 2025 registration is open. Join young people from across the country for a summer of deep conversations, new friendships, and plenty of fun—no deep-sea diving required! Find out more and register at yeek.scot.

Young Adult Taize Pilgrimage

In Taize: Sun 29 Jun-Sun 6 Jul

We are delighted that a group of young adults, aged 18-35, are going to be heading to Taize for a week in the early summer. This is open to anyone in this age range who wishes to join (those older need to book separately).

A webpage of information will be published very shortly after a successful Info Session on Sunday: a link will be shared thereafter. In the meantime, please spread the word about this fantastic opportunity.

Adventures in Faith

There are various Awareness Days that might be of interest to you / your congregation in March.

Please use the menu above to navigate to the relevant page of the website, then click on 'March'. There is a full year there now, for those who like to plan ahead!

Here is a fun resource for World Book Day from the Scottish Bible Society: use this week or at any future time!