St Joseph's, Stokesley

It seems hard to believe February will be soon upon us already! Our work in Stokesley has seen us continue to engage in fresh ways to reach a new generation with  the message Christ brings. We have very much a seed sowing work. We sow seeds of faith into young people we meet every day and it is real blessing to have conversations which show a real desire to know more and investigate further.

At the end of last term, we led Christmas lessons with year 7 and year 9 looking at The True Meaning of Christmas. Our year 7 students were also presented with their own New Testaments as a gift from our friends “The Gideons”.

This year we joined year 7 in a visit to both Stokesley Parish church and Methodist Church. We shared the importance of the Church in the life of a Christian and hopefully brought insight into why we worship each week.

Our S1 youth events each month are going well. We lost some members who moved on to university last year and these have been replaced by new members. It is a sign of the continuing work amongst new students each year. Our recent event looked at the idea that being a Christian is about a journey, a path that we follow and affects each day of our lives. Thank God for the new students who have joined this event, directly through our lunchtime club input.

This year we are running three lunchtime clubs, covering all school years. We are seeing a good nucleus attending each week and eager to enjoy the fun but also learn about faith. Many of these do not regularly attend church so we are grateful to God for each of them.

Please pray for us. Here are a few pointers to help!

• Thank God for the new young people joining us each month at S1
• Thank God for the input we are having with Year 7 and pray that these contacts will grow as they move through the school
• Pray for the witness of the Christian members of staff, particularly Anthony Laffan, Head of RE

For many years, St Joseph’s parish has provided financial support to the Tees Valley Youth for Christ Workers in Stokesley School. (Youth for Christ is an initiative resulting from the visit of Billy Graham to Britain years ago). On the weekend of Sunday 14 February Neil Harris the leader of the Team at Stokesley School will speak about their work at the end of our Masses.