[Committee] We need a Carols speaker!

Sun Nov 25 00:17:51 CET 2012

Ooo and forgot to mention,  I guess our decision was based on the
availability of a preferred choice of venue, which is on campus and
personally I think that has an advantage despite on a weekend.

(this isn't a decision-making helpful point...) And we don't actually know
what would happen on a Saturday. Whatever we end up doing, God will prepare
people and be at work on whoever will and will not come, so we just need to
make up our minds and pray loadsss for God's will to be done and praise Him
for the fact that we can have a carol service! :)

Phoebe

On Sat, Nov 24, 2012 at 10:27 PM, Phoebe C <phibs.cchp at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello!
>
> I think all that has been said made complete sense and Mark's points are
> very helpful. There are just a couple of thoughts that I'll throw out!
>
> Decision:
> We have spent an hour on Wednesday to come to the decision of having it on
> a Saturday.
>
> Financially:
> Guy mentioned we have a sum of money and about spending it on the Carol
> service since it's a grant in the IC Trust that was originally for a carol
> service?
>
> Having a lecture theatre:
> Not possible as it is too late for John to book one.
>
> Gospel Choir:
> Received a reply from them today and they have now agreed to do it on a
> Saturday.
>
> Reaching people:
> Feel free to disagree, but I am not entirely convinced about how many more
> of the 95% we will be able to reach if we are having the service off campus
> on a weekday, since I would imagine that a lot of people within that group
> have come into the Carol Service in the past because they can just drop in
> on campus. So we are back to what Caitlin mentioned, decreased numbers
> because we are off campus/in a church, or decreased numbers because the
> service is on a Saturday. (though there are a fair amount of students
> around campus on a Saturday, and lots of freshers live close to campus!)
>
> Purpose of the CU Carol Service:
> As a CU, we aim to give every student in Imperial a chance to hear and
> respond to the gospel. Along with all the aims we have mentioned at the
> Carol Service committee meeting, I am thinking that the CU Carol Service,
> which has been on campus for the past few years (or more which I don't know
> of..), is a carol service in which we try to reach those who would not
> otherwise get to hear and respond to the gospel.
> So within that group of people would be those who won't feel comfortable
> or who wouldn't be bothered to walk into a church for a carol service, but
> would feel alright in and/or enjoy coming into the Great Hall for some
> Christmas carols.
> And for friends who are happy to go into a church for a carol service, not
> that we aren't trying to tell them the gospel or exclude them from our
> carol service, but we can invite them to the CU carol service and our
> church carol services (of which there some during the week and plenty on
> weekends and in fact CCK does a student one too!)
>
> There might have been more on my mind when I started the email, though
> you've probably read enough! I am going for Saturday Great Hall.
> But basically, I feel that perhaps we have been too focused on numbers?
> While it is an amazing vision to want to get as many people as possible so
> as many as possible can hear the gospel, we can easily start doing it for
> the sake of getting people in (which might not be what you are doing).
>
> The Great Hall might look incredibly pathetic with only a few people on a
> Saturday, and it might seem like a waste of money, but wouldn't it be more
> amazing if we can build personal relationships with those few people, help
> them grow into Jesus's disciples and bring them into God's eternal kingdom,
> rather than having 200 people who might find the talk interesting and
> convicting for a while then get away with not meeting any of us nor Jesus?
>
>
> God Bless,
> Phoebe
>
>
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 24, 2012 at 7:50 PM, Houghton, Chloe <
> chloe.houghton10 at imperial.ac.uk> wrote:
>
>>  I definitely think a weekday would be better (in terms of numbers), and
>> a church wouldn't be a problem (I can imagine it being better)!  We could
>> organise signposting on the route to get there. And even if there were
>> loads of people and space was an issue, we could serve mulled something and
>> mince pies, maybe just hand them round rather than keep them stationary, so
>> that people can stay in the pews if they're happy to.
>>
>> Chloe
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>> *From:* committee-bounces at iccu.co.uk [committee-bounces at iccu.co.uk] on
>> behalf of Ben Jenkins [lejenkins at live.co.uk]
>> *Sent:* 24 November 2012 19:10
>>
>> *To:* committee at iccu.co.uk
>> *Subject:* Re: [Committee] We need a Carols speaker!
>>
>>   I think Mark would be happy to speak if we wanted on a Thursday/Friday.
>> From a financial point of view not using the great hall would really help
>> the CU's finances. It would be good to have a decision on it what we are
>> going to do either way asap though?
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>> From: caitlin.halfacre09 at imperial.ac.uk
>> To: lejenkins at live.co.uk; committee at iccu.co.uk
>> Subject: RE: [Committee] We need a Carols speaker!
>> Date: Sat, 24 Nov 2012 16:52:46 +0000
>>
>> Started writing that before everyone else replied then didn't realise you
>> all had, but it has the added input of my friend who might be coming. We
>> seem to be heading towards a weekday (Thursday seems sensible to me) but
>> not Andrew Sach speaking. Unless I misread it I don't think Mark said that
>> he wouldn't be able to speak if we did a weekday, he just thought we'd
>> prefer Andrew...
>>  ------------------------------
>> *From:* committee-bounces at iccu.co.uk [committee-bounces at iccu.co.uk] on
>> behalf of Halfacre, Caitlin [caitlin.halfacre09 at imperial.ac.uk]
>> *Sent:* 24 November 2012 16:23
>> *To:* Ben Jenkins; committee at iccu.co.uk
>> *Subject:* Re: [Committee] We need a Carols speaker!
>>
>>   OK, so the decision we were thinking about on Wednesday kind of boiled
>> down to:
>>
>>    - Weekday + church => increased numbers due to weekday, possibly
>>    decreased due to people not wanting to go to church
>>    - Weekend + Great Hall => decreased numbers due to weekend, possibly
>>    increased numbers due not being in a church
>>
>> It feels a little equal on both sides, and on Wednesday I was definitely
>> on the side of people not wanting to go to church. Though after reading
>> Mark's email, I decided to ask my housemate for an outside opinion and she
>> said she'd always prefer a weekday, and said that she figured most people
>> would like the atmosphere of a church at Christmas and pointed out that a
>> lot of the choir and other music concerts are in St. Stephen's Gloucester
>> road and pull a reasonable crowd.
>>
>>  So I'm now leaning back towards Wednesday I think. What does everyone
>> else think?
>>
>>  In other news, I love this Christmas video by Glen Scrivener.
>> http://vimeo.com/54075943
>>
>>  Caitlin
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>> *From:* committee-bounces at iccu.co.uk [committee-bounces at iccu.co.uk] on
>> behalf of Ben Jenkins [lejenkins at live.co.uk]
>> *Sent:* 23 November 2012 20:04
>> *To:* committee at iccu.co.uk
>> *Subject:* Re: [Committee] We need a Carols speaker!
>>
>>   Just got this from Mark, what do you guys think?
>>
>>  "Hi Ben
>> I am, of course, very happy to serve the CU and help out in that way if
>> Andrew Sach is unable to speak.
>>  Is it okay if I ask a couple of questions of the CU cttee about the
>> Saturday choice? Feel free to forward this on to them. I am happy to go
>> with what the CU decide but, if it is ok, may I ask these questions as
>> someone who wants to support the CU in all you do.
>>
>>  1) I assume CUs always choose midweek dates for Carols as it means a
>> maximum potential number of students already around campus and therefore
>> easily accessible and within reach. Are you convinced as a cttee that more
>> (or as many) students would come back into college on a Saturday for a
>> Carols than would stay around midweek? What persuades you that is the case
>> - have you all asked friends to see if they would bother to come back in
>> for a carol service, for example? It may be that the committee have each
>> already invited 20 or so friends and they have confirmed they would come in
>> from home on a saturday - in which case - woohoo!
>>
>>  2) Why the choice of Saturday ? In particular, was it driven by being
>> the BEST time and day to reach non-Christian students or by availability of
>> a preferred choice of venue? If the former, then great and let's roll with
>> that research. If the latter, then I fear any benefit you have as a result
>> of being on campus will be nullified by choosing a day when students are
>> not around on campus.
>>
>>  3) If the venue is the real issue then it may be a case of the tail
>> wagging the dog. I know you all want the most number of students to be
>> reached via the carol service so I would imagine you want to pick the best
>> time, day and speaker for that goal and then find a venue that fits. For
>> example, if you decided Thursday or Friday early evening is best with
>> Andrew Sach speaking (choosing your mission speaker is the norm) then I
>> would imagine you would try to find the best possible local venue that
>> works. For example, in such circumstances, I would be happy for you to use
>> Christ Church Kensington for your service with Andrew Sach speaking. It
>> will have the advantage of being under 5 mins walk from campus, being warm
>> and looking very Christmassy with huge Christmas tree, tea lights,
>> decorations etc. I would not expect to have a role in the service as I
>> would expect you to lead it and Andrew to speak.
>>
>>  I guess what I am trying to say is if the venue is the problem then
>> here is a workable solution to that problem without undermining your main
>> goal of getting the gospel out to the largest potential number of students.
>> Sorry if that is all very cheeky for a speaker to ask or say but there it
>> is - I say it out of love for Imperial CU and out of real support for all
>> you are doing. If you still think that Saturday is the best day for
>> reaching the students then I am happy to help.
>>  God bless
>>  your brother
>>  Mark"
>>
>>  ------------------------------
>> From: james.faux10 at imperial.ac.uk
>> To: lejenkins at live.co.uk
>> Subject: RE: [Committee] We need a Carols speaker!
>> Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2012 16:42:06 +0000
>>
>> Yes! Praise God :)
>>  ------------------------------
>> *From:* committee-bounces at iccu.co.uk [committee-bounces at iccu.co.uk] on
>> behalf of Ben Jenkins [lejenkins at live.co.uk]
>> *Sent:* 23 November 2012 16:05
>> *To:* gt.schofield at yahoo.co.uk; committee at iccu.co.uk
>> *Subject:* Re: [Committee] We need a Carols speaker!
>>
>>   I spoke to Mark and he says he is happy to do it!
>>
>> ------------------------------
>> Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:44:28 +0000
>> From: gt.schofield at yahoo.co.uk
>> To: committee at iccu.co.uk
>> Subject: Re: [Committee] We need a Carols speaker!
>>
>>  Thanks James,
>>
>>  So the past two years we have had Carol service speakers from HTB and
>> St Helens, so we decided on wednesday to go for someone from CCK or CCM.
>>
>>  Ben, could you contact Mark O'Donoghue to ask if he would be up for it?
>>
>>  If he can't make it then I will ask Matt Fuller or Matt Loyd from CCM
>> if they would be up for it.
>>
>>  Thanks everyone, lets be praising God for all he is doing praying for
>> the carol service!!
>>
>> Guy
>>
>>   ------------------------------
>> *From:* "Faux, James" <james.faux10 at imperial.ac.uk>
>> *To:* "committee at iccu.co.uk" <committee at iccu.co.uk>
>> *Sent:* Friday, 23 November 2012, 13:20
>> *Subject:* [Committee] We need a Carols speaker!
>>
>>  Hi everyone, Sachy has let me know that he is happy for someone else to
>> do the talk on Satyrday 8th:
>>
>>  "Ok mate. If you are personally sure that you'll find someone faithful
>> as my replacement then I'd prefer to honour my commitment to Tim's wedding.
>> Thanks"
>>
>>  So let's get asking the other people on the list!
>>
>>  James
>>
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>
>
> --
>  I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as
> the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the
> sheep...... I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one
> will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is
> greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. (John
> 10:14-29)
>
>

-- 
 I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me— just as the
Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the
sheep...... I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one
will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is
greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. (John
10:14-29)
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