Warm Christian greetings! This is the first of a new quarterly letter which shares news from around the churches in South Norwood. Hopefully it will appear on your church noticeboard and/or be photocopied for those individuals who wish to take this letter home.

CTSN unites in pilgrimage churches and individual Christians in South Norwood (SE25). We are Christian believers who are exploring what it means to belong together, and who are seeking to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ through our partnership in the gospel.

Our fellowship includes St Luke’s C of E; St Mark’s C of E; Holy Innocents C of E; St Chad’s RC; South Norwood (Enmore Road) URC; South Norwood (Holmesdale) Baptist; Woodside Bapt; Shiloh Church of God; South Norwood Methodist; Selhurst Congregational; South Norwood (Portland Road) Fellowship Centre.

Each church appoints representatives to attend regular meetings of CTSN. Whenever we meet we explore different ways of encouraging the Christians and churches of our area to develop our partnership in the gospel. We try to make the most of important times in the Christian calendar:

On Advent Sunday we ask the churches to unite together in our waiting and worship; In January we encourage a coming together in the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity; During Lent we organise small groups to help us in our discipleship; On Good Friday we ask those disciples to walk together through South Norwood, bearing witness to the Lord who died for us; At Pentecost, we find new ways to celebrate that we are his church, filled with the Spirit of Christ.

We are always looking for new ways of stimulating our sense of belonging, our worship and our witness. Do you have any good ideas of what we could do?! Please pass them on to your CTSN rep or minister. Thank you!

At the last meeting of CTSN representatives, we welcomed into our fellowship The Redeemed Christian Church of God (Higher Ground Assembly). They meet in Davis House, High Street, South Norwood. Welcome!

CTSN has appointed Rev’d Simon Smith to be its new chair for the next 12 months. Simon is the Minister of South Norwood (Holmesdale) Baptist Church and has served there for 12 years. He wants to strengthen and widen the sense of belonging together within CTSN. Simon also wants us to see if there is one particular and timely venture that might unite our efforts in the mission to South Norwood.

Any thoughts?! Please contact him on 020-8653-1942 or write to him at 1 Pittville Gardens, South Norwood, London SE25 4DJ or e-mail him at simonlinda@lineone.net. Alternatively, share your ideas with your CTSN rep or minister. Thank you!

Did you know that we have our own website?! If you are connected to the

internet you can find out more about CTSN by exploring our website -

The website has recently been updated. Many thanks to Patrick Smyth, Peter Dunkin and Chris Henley for making all this possible.

United Harvest Service - Sun 30th Sept 4pm at St Mark’s C of E

CTSN reps meetings: Tues 18th Sept 7.45pm at St Mark’s C of E

Thurs 22nd Nov 7.45pm at Holmesdale Baptist