Loving God, open our eyes
to see the world and its people
as you see them
Open our ears
to hear the cries of those
who need our help
Open our minds
to your calling us into action
Open our hearts
to live lives of generous love.
This was the prayer that ended a special service of celebration we had here at St Mary’s on Sunday 28th Feb with the children from Pear Tree School to mark Fairtrade Fortnight .
Following on from the report on the Fairtrade Foundation in
This Month of Feb 2010 , the PCC are pleased to announce that St Mary’s Parish Church now has Fairtrade status.
The PCC were first encouraged to look at this issue a few years ago when Chester Diocese became the first of many Fairtrade Diocese in the Country . More recently we were encouraged to do so again by the Nantwich Fairtrade Group ( established in March 2008 and sponsored by the Nantwich Christian Council) The Nantwich Town Council had passed a resolution to support the aim of making Nantwich a Fairtrade Town ( look out for signs in the local shops). The PCC after careful consideration, voted unanimously to also work towards gaining Fairtrade Status.
What exactly does having it mean ?
The parish has made a threefold commitment :
1) to serve fairtrade tea and coffee ( products with the logo) whenever refreshments are served in the name of St Mary’s ( I.e . after the services, in the Church shop, at soup lunches, Home groups, coffee mornings etc.)
2) to support the sale of Tradecraft goods ( Graham and Mary Dodd run a tradecraft stall in the parish hall after the 10.45 service on every second Sunday in the month)
3) To promote the Fairtrade Foundation particularly during Fairtrade Fortnight
We do hope that you too will support us in this commitment with both your prayers …. and actions.