Previous issues: Spring • Summer • Autumn • Winter

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Issue 79: Autumn 2007
Theme: The earth is the Lord’s
Editors: Jane Dowell and Kaye Bewley
The earth is the Lord’s – or is it? Whether we appreciate the earth from a spiritual perspective of living in harmony with the natural surroundings or exploit it for the materialistic good of humankind, Magnet’s Autumn issue helps us to explore how we view the earth. We take a look at Liverpool’s innovative Operation Eden, we celebrate the revolutionary Fair Trade Movement and share a farmer’s perspective of the land. Children have the opportunity to express how they see the planet God has given us to bless and keep‚ (Genesis 2:15). Above all Magnet seeks to thank the Lord for the blessing beneath our feet.

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Issue 75: Autumn 2006
Theme: Letting Go
Editors: Jane Dowell and Hyacinth Sweeney-Dixon
In the autumn issue of Magnet we celebrate our sexuality as a gift from God and learn what it means to be an affirming and truly inclusive church. Our debate asks whether the Christian ideal of one sexual partner for life is unrealistic in modern society and we take a less than serious look at the menopause. We are encouraged to recognise the importance of safeguarding in work with children and young people and we hear about the growing problems of trafficking and missing children. Also in this issue, of course, will be all our regular features, including a service with a Harvest theme, pages for reflection and meditation and ideas for Bible study and reading.

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Issue 71: Autumn 2005
Theme: Celebrating Sexuality
Editors: Alison Brophy, Sarah Hindmarsh and Hyacinth Sweeney-Dixon
In the autumn issue of Magnet we celebrate our sexuality as a gift from God and learn what it means to be an affirming and truly inclusive church. Our debate asks whether the Christian ideal of one sexual partner for life is unrealistic in modern society and we take a less than serious look at the menopause. We are encouraged to recognise the importance of safeguarding in work with children and young people and we hear about the growing problems of trafficking and missing children. Also in this issue, of course, will be all our regular features, including a service with a Harvest theme, pages for reflection and meditation and ideas for Bible study and reading.

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Issue 67: Autumn 2004
Theme: Our Senses
Editor: Christine Braithwaite
The autumn edition of Magnet reflects awareness of the five senses which contribute to our perception of the world. We examine some sensitive issues and include inspiring features such as the work of The Leprosy Mission. We look at the influence of film on faith, the use of blindness metaphors in the Bible and learn about Jewish festivals and food. Among our regular features we include a multi-sensory act of worship, a prayer focus on the Samaritans and seasonal "things to do".

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Issue 63: Autumn 2003
Theme: Creative Spirit
Editor: Shirley Whyte
The theme of the Autumn issue of Magnet is ‘Creative Spirit'. We look at how God's Creative Spirit is reflected in many different ways and through the lives of such diverse people as the Lakota Native Americans and a chart-topping Christian folk/country singer from Birkenhead. Worship on Colours complements a meditation on Colours of Creation and advice on creating your own colourful worship centres.

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Issue 59: Autumn 2002
Theme: Going on growing
Editor: Alison Judd
Throughout life we face various challenges that enable us to develop and grow. Using personal stories, ideas for group discussion, meditations and resources, Autumn Magnet invites us to ‘Go on growing'. This issue includes worship material by Stella Bristow celebrating the role of older women in the life of the Church, A toast to older women.

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Issue 55: Autumn 2001
Theme: A child's view
Editor: Sarah Hindmarsh
What is the world like for children today? What do they play? How do they view church? How is life different from childhood in their parents' or grandparents' time? This issue is full of the voices of children from within the UK and around the world, and we also hear from some of the adults who work with them. All age worship for Harvest looks at Offering Gifts.

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Issue 51: Autumn 2000
Theme: Small World
Editor: Jean Smith
We live in a global community - the news, our food, our clothes, the telephone, the 'Net', our holidays – all remind us of this in the year 2000. The autumn Magnet aims to help us think about our links with other countries and cultures in today's 'Small World'. Worship material centres on a worldwide Harvest, our Art series continues, and you will find all other regular features.

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Issue No. 47: Autumn 1999
Theme: Tools for Tomorrow
Editor: Margaret Nicholas
Technology is constantly re-forming our future and this is often seen as a mixed blessing. This issue aims to explore the challenges and opportunities of technology in the light of our faith. We recognise its impact on our daily lives, compare old and new styles of living (like the way we do our shopping), learn about alternative technologies both here and overseas, and see how medical technology can transform our lives. Worship resources include ideas for celebrating harvest and a service based on One World Week, as well as regular features of pictures with meditations.

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Issue No. 43: Autumn 1998
Theme: Body, mind and spirit
Editor: Philippa Normanton
The range of articles and resources reflecting the theme include personal stories that run alongside biblical and theological reflection. Ann Lewin's experience of treatment for breast cancer is told in poetry and prose, and Donald Eadie tells of his experience of learning to live life with the physical limitations caused by a serious spinal condition. The issue also contains exercises to help keep your body supple, thoughts on assertiveness and stress management, an article on depression and a meditation which helps us to consider the importance of looking after our own bodies. I planted a seed is the title of worship material for the harvest season that can be reproduced for your own use.

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Issue No. 39: Autumn 1997
Theme: Just as I am
Editor: Philippa Normanton
This issue looks at different people, different lives. We are all 'made in the image of God' and we have much to learn from each other. Ken and Edna Hodson talk about the tragic death of their daughter Gwen and the effect it had on their life and faith. Another contributor talks about her treatment for depression and how important her family and friends were in her recovery. Others challenge our understanding of disability and show the vital role of the Church in welcoming all people. Articles focus on projects offering support to prostitutes and their children. We also hear about the plight of asylum seekers and about a Methodist Church in Leicester that is working and witnessing in an area where most of their neighbours are from other faith communities. A service about Racial Justice, Teach us how to live, and a bible study on Hagar provide resources for worship and reflection.

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Issue No. 35: Autumn 1996
Theme: Moving On
Editor: Margaret Nicholas
Change is something from which there is no escape, in our personal lives, in the Church and in society as a whole. A positive look at this process is taken, conveying images of growth through change. One contributor relates how she came to terms with life with arthritis and two others, in different circumstances, show how they learnt to see situations of change as new beginnings. Voices from South Africa explain how new developments that are welcome can also be challenging. A women's centre in Bolivia, supported by Women's Network in Great Britain, is featured. The service for harvest – a natural time to think about growth, maturing and bearing fruit – is called 'Images of Transformation'. It provides an opportunity to reflect on the 'fruits' of our lives and how, within them, there are the seeds for further growth. A bible study on Joanna can be studied on your own or in a group.

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Issue No. 31: Autumn 1995
Theme: Joy in the making
Editor: Kathryn Schofield
This issue celebrates all God has made, including the gifts of creativity that we enjoy and can use to God's glory. One contributor reflects on her life and poetry and reminds us that creation often involves pain and struggle. A range of creative skills are featured, including stained glass, music, cartoons and embroidery. A number of organisations celebrated their 50th anniversary in this year and Christian Aid is one of them. Resources are suggested. An enthusiast for stained glass offers a guide to a Christian craft that is centuries old, actor Robert Duncan (of Drop the Dead Donkey fame) is interviewed and a couple reflect on the birth of their first child. Ideas for worship help us to Celebrate creativity and a bible study helps us to explore the theme with the help of a picture, words and worship.

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Issue No. 27: Autumn 1994
Theme: Weaving Patterns
Editor: Margaret Nicholas
What a rich and colourful tapestry is woven by those who work for the Kingdom of God! One contributor's pattern was the challenge and adventure of going overseas and identifying with those of a different culture. Others changed their jobs and lifestyle in order to work full time for the Church. Many people weave their patterns of faith and service in rural areas and the Harvest service celebrates this with the title 'Contrasts of Creation'. God gave one writer for this issue 'new threads to weave' when her life changed after illness. Her story, and those of others included here, shows something of the many different patterns of living to which God calls us. This issue also reports back on the culmination of the Vision of Peace programme, for which every District Women's Network chose another country and its issues of concern to study, as well as a community issue in their own locality. Pictures of the final event to mark the end of the programme appear in the centre pages.

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Issue No. 23: Autumn 1993
Theme: Hallowed be thy name
Editor: Patricia Hughes
This issue contains a variety of pieces reflecting personal responses to creation, its immensity, its diversity, its beauty, our responsibilities and the complexities of shared existence. School pupils write of their discovery and understanding, direct and clear-eyed in their perceptions. We read of the challenge of New Age thinking and practices and we are invited to Shetland to learn of the life and witness, honouring the name of God, in the most northerly District of British Methodism. A personal journey of faith in an inter-faith society is brought to us through Ivy Gutridge and David Wilkinson writes on what the cosmos tells him about God. Picture and meditation pages reflect the season of Harvest and a service for Harvest provides a 'ready-made' service for worship leaders.

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Issue No. 19: Autumn 1992
Theme: Opening doors on Europe
Editor: Margaret Nicholas
This issue was compiled at a time when daily references to Britain's future role in the European Community appeared in newspapers and when joy and freedom experienced by former Communist countries existed alongside war in what was Yugoslavia. The issue looked at the European Community and the implications for us of the Single European Act. We take an overview of Methodism in Europe and are invited to Portugal and the Ukraine. Contributors from all over Europe include Hanni Handschin from Switzerland, who talks about her encounters with Methodist women living in the former Eastern bloc. Reflections help us to consider our feelings about 'opening doors' in our personal experience and the centre pages provide pictures and poems focusing on Harvest and autumn.

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Issue No. 15: Autumn 1991
Theme: In the world
Editor: Tricia Graves
This issue focuses on the Decade of Evangelism. Although it meant many things to many people, it became clear in planning the content that evangelism had to be rooted 'in the world' and not confined to the clergy and their pulpits. It is more about action than words. It is how we live, how what we say really speaks to people. Sharing your own journey of faith with others may be difficult, but having read the stories in this edition you will realise how powerful the message is when it shines beyond the words, coming as it does from the experience of people themselves. Reflections by Julie Hulme appear as ideas for developing the theme in a group or church, or on your own. Meditations accompanying pictures include 'On the face of the waters', 'Touch one another', 'Christ means LIFE', 'Feed us with Living Bread', 'I left my candle burning' and 'Living, working in our world.

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Issue No. 12: Autumn 1990
Theme: Feeling the way / The way we feel
Editor: Lois Ainger
In this issue, we are looking at our emotions, the feelings which prompt us to act. It is impossible to cover the gamut of emotions in one magazine, but we welcome insights into the lives of those who have faced a challenge. The sense of fear and rejection faced by one contributor who came to Britain from British Guyana forms a thought-provoking article. We read about steps taken by women and men to establish a more balanced partnership in every aspect of life and we hear of the place of women in Czechoslovakia (known today as the Czech Republic and Slovakia). This issue also reports on a national event organised by Women's Network in 1990: 'Over the Rainbow'. Banners depict signs of hope and solidarity with the women of South Africa, before apartheid was abolished. Prayers, poems and meditations come under the heading 'promises realised'.

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Issue No. 9: Autumn 1989
Theme: Justice and hope
Editor: Lois Ainger
Here, we look around us at a world where there is immense injustice both in this country and abroad. We realise more than ever before that the conditions making for unfairness need to be changed on a global scale and together. In autumn 1989, the figure quoted of people living in absolute poverty is 800,000,000. Articles unravel some situations of injustice. We look at 'openings through the wall' between East and West Europe, and at the work of the director of social work at the West London Mission. The Princetown Project, based on Dartmoor, appears as an early fundraising and awareness-raising project of Women's Network. Two articles, 'trapped in apartheid' and 'redressing the balance', provide information on the situation in South Africa and another challenges us to forgive because 'Christians are committed to specialising in forgiving'. Prayers and meditations focus on injustice and hope and there are suggestions for exploring the theme in personal reflection, through group work, discussion and action.

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Issue No. 6: Autumn 1988
Theme: The light of God for today
Editor: Lois Ainger
In this issue, we see God's light illuminating the lives of those in South India, Sri Lanka and Ghana, as well as those in Britain. Through pictures, poetry and verses from the bible, the centre pages explore what Jesus meant when he said, 'I am the light of the world'. There are many whose witness and writing stands out as a beacon to others and we remember people of Enniskillen as November approaches. Readers have contributed their own insights in poetry and prose and many are included in this issue. An article takes us back to the days of World War I. The resources that are reviewed reflect 'the light of experience' and prayers for God's light in our everyday lives complement the pictures, theme and content.

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Issue No. 3: Autumn 1987
Theme: Thy Kingdom come
Editor: Lois Ainger
'Life in community' is the subject selected for attention in this issue. Many articles depict living conditions in various parts of the world including our own in Britain. Throughout, we hope to discern God's Spirit at work and to recognise how God may use us. We look at specific areas of community life where people are taking action to meet a need, locally or further afield. The situation of homeless people in Nottingham is helped through the charity Macedon, encouragement is offered to others through the Open University and the Leprosy Mission shares news of its work. Isabel King tells of her work as a GP in the community and Joyce Jacobs tells of the tension between communities in Sri Lanka. We also read how National Children's Homes (now NCH Action for Children) prepares young people for living in the community and Winifred Hipwell recalls 'staying with granddad'. The section on 'how to use this magazine' is a valuable source of ideas for personal reflection, group work, discussion and action. Prayers, prose and verses reflect the theme Thy kingdom come.

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