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Annual
Church Meeting
21
April 2005
Reports: Parish;
St Peter's; St
Paul's; The Lighthouse CF;
Appointment of Church
Officers
Appointments to councils: PCC;
St
Peter's DCC; St
Paul's DCC; Lighthouse
CF DCC
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Parish Report
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2004 has been a good year in the life of the Parish of Oadby. There have been many memorable moments of celebration, most particularly in worship. Exciting, well conceived, and executed preaching series at St. Paul's; the opening service in St. Peter's Church Hall for the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship; the commemoration of D-Day at St. Peter's with the visit of members, relatives, and friends of the American 82IJd Airborne Division; the inaugural organ recital on the refurbished organ at St. Peter's by the organist of York Minster -John Scott Whitely; the Parish Confirmation Service conducted by Bishop Tim at St. Peter's in October; and the memorable Nativity Play at St. Peter's undertaken by the children and young people of the church. The most important aspect of our worship is to provide an opportunity for each of us through the power of God's Spirit
to encounter the living God of our Lord Jesus Christ. There are many opportunities and moments in each of our three churches for such an encounter each Sunday and often on weekdays as well. So we give God thanks for all such moments in 2004.
At the beginning of 2004, a new ministry team had just been formed. Throughout the year, the team has worked hard to develop a good collaborative style; to discern each other's gifts and use them effectively; and to serve the whole Parish in an effective way. In July, the team was joined by the Rev. Mandy Flaherty, who was ordained deacon at Leicester Cathedral and invited to serve her curacy in Oadby. Mandy has settled in quickly and along with the Rev. Simon Harvey and the Rev. Helen Bence and myself made a significant contribution in the last 9 months. The clergy ministry team along with the Pastoral Assistant, Margaret Winters, has met regularly on Wednesday mornings thoughout the year. Our thanks also need to be extended to the other members of the Ministry Team: to the Rev. Ken Bastock, the Readers, Steve Carter, John Lee, and more recently, Dr. Hugh James, who was licensed in September. The Parish is very grateful to Ken for his continued ministry to the Thursday Holy Communion services at both St. Paul's and St. Peter's; the 12 noon Holy Communion Service at St. Peter's; as well as the important chaplaincy of Devonshire Court. In addition, our thanks are extended to all those involved in leadership at the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship for their contribution to worship in 2004.
The reports in this booklet indicate more fully, the life and vitality of the individual churches. As Rector, I would like to express my thanks to all who have given voluntarily of their time and expertise to make each church a thriving unit and a successful witness to the love of Jesus Christ. The PCC and DCCs have worked hard in the past year and grappled with some complex issues. They deserve our thanks, prayer, and support. There is, I detect, a greater sense of unity of purpose; of mutual concern and encouragement; of prayerful discernment of God's will, which is particularly evident in our Church Council Meetings. Throughout our Parish, there are indications that individuals are growing in faith, and being enabled to express their faith in creative and practical ways.
I would like to express particular thanks: to Christine Tippin, the Parish Secretary, who retired in December after 30 years dedicated service to the Parish; to Frank Winters for his hard work as Verger and Hall Manager; to Jayne Lewis for her bTfowing contribution to children's, youth, and young families' work at St. Peter's; to our able team of Church Wardens: Colin Chettle, Don Smith, Vivien James, and Marylyn Chamberlain; to our new PCC Secretary, Sian Davies who has developed the whole dimension of e-mailing minutes of the PCC.
Beyond those mentioned, there are many people who sustain the life of the Parish of Oadby through prayer and active help. With such commitment and energy the Parish can move forward with confidence and faith.
Michael Rusk.
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St. Peter's Church Report 2004
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2004 was a year in which St. Peter's flourished in many encouraging ways. Through the excellence and diversity of our worship, there were many moments when earth touched heaven. This was true not only of our Sunday worship but most particularly for families and friends coming to St. Peter's at crucial times of their lives: for baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and funerals. Here there is an opportunity to share the love of Christ, and to demonstrate in a practical, compassionate way the friendship and spiritual dimension of the Christian community. What has been most encouraging in 2004 has been the wide range of voluntary help given by increasing numbers of St. Peter's people to further the life of the church. There has been a huge range of contributions from the gift of offering time: creative fund raising initiatives; carpentry and painting; financial skills; skills in music making; administration. It has been wonderfully encouraging that every time there has been a perceived need for a job or a task to be undertaken that God has provided that individual and gifted them for that specific task. So it has been a year of discovery of the rich gifts that God has given us as His people.
Our thanks go to our clergy team: the Rev. Helen Bence who has made a good contribution in 2003 despite suffering from poor health in the last quarter of the year; the Rev. Mandy Flaherty who joined the Parish in July and has already made significant contributions in many areas of church life, including a trip to South India to establish a link with St. Peter's Church, Transjore. The Rev. Ken Bastock who has continued to make important contributions to Thursday morning and Sunday noon Holy Communions.
Vital too to St. Peter's in 2004 has been the developing work of our Children's & Youth Worker, Jayne Lewis. The Christmas Nativity Play was a shining example of the great progress that has been made in children's work. Others too find their belonging to St. Peter's enriched by being part of a smaller group -the Youth Club; those who go to Greenbelt; the choir, Mothers' Union; the bell ringers, and for the very youngest, Little Fishes. All of this points to the rich diversity of St. Peter's and to the vitality of it present life in Christ. There are, of course, areas which need to be developed. Discernment of and training of lay people to lead worship will be one of the hallmarks of the church of the future. There could be more work undertaken in terms of Christian nurture. There needs to be continued understanding of why we offer a diverse range of services on Sunday mornings that aims to cater for people of all ages and tastes. Stewardship needs greater commitment. But overall there is much more to celebrate and 2004 has been a year when the church has gone forward in many ways.
Buildings: there has been extensive work on St. Peter's Church in 2004. The Spire and parts of the building itself has been re¬pointed and some stone work has been entirely replaced. While the scaffolding was up, the Church Clock faces were repainted. All of this has been paid for out of the St. Peter's Church Maintenance Account. It is our long term aim to raise the amount of the money that has been expended over the coming years. Major work on St. Peter's Church Hall (now renamed St. Peter's Centre) did not get underway until the beginning of 2005.
Nevertheless, a review of Health & Safety triggered some vital internal work such as new fire doors; the kitchen extension; and most recently the new store used by the Lighthouse Christian Fellowship. Throughout 2004, there were detailed and complex negotiations throughout 2004 to establish exactly what the building project should be. This involved employing an architect, a quantity surveyor, a structural engineer, and a Planning Officer. It was finally agreed to undertake a building project of £120,000 which would bring about the Infill between the Main Hall and the classrooms. The building contract went to Joe O'Gorman and the work began in mid-January.
Work on the Infill indicated at an early stage that at least part of the roof of the Classrooms required re-roofing and this work is now being undertaken. As well as providing new facilities, new ramps are to be made both from the Main Hall and from the Green Room thus providing ramped access to all levels and improving safety as a result. While Leicestershire Social Services will contribute substantially towards the costs of the building work in exchange for 5 years rent free accommodation, the rest of the amount has to be met through the St. Peter's Appeal over the next two years. By the time of the Annual General Meeting on April 2151 2005, most of the building work will have been completed and parishioners will be able to see for themselves the dramatic improvements made to St. Peter's Hall as a result.
Staff: Christine Tippin retired in December 2004 after 30 years of outstanding service in running the Parish Office. Christine was known and loved by many from St. Peter's. Her courtesy, helpfulness, and efficiency have been appreciated by many over the years. The Parish is deeply appreciative. At the beginning of 2005,2 appointments were made: Mairi Marcus as Secretary and Dana McLaughlin as Hall Administrator. From April 2005, Marylyn Chamberlain has begun to work in the Office in a voluntary capacity for 2 mornings a week. Jayne Lewis started
initially as Children's Worker but when a need emerged to develop work among young people, her role was re-evaluated and developed to include Children's & Young People. The emphasis on enabling St. Peter's to b'rOW younger is already evident. Margaret Winters has continued to undertake vital pastoral work in her role as Pastoral Assistant.
A new initiative in February 2005 of inviting people to tea & Choral Evensong was wonderfully successful and a mark of the creative, caring work to which Margaret is so committed. Frank Winters has continued to make a remarkable contribution to St. Peter's as Verger & Hall Manager. The DCC in recognition of his ever increasing role has at the beginning of 2005 given Frank 2 days off a week. Ivor Stapleton has ably assisted Frank as Assistant Verger and retired in December 2004 from this role. Our thanks go to Ivor for his help over the years.
Dr. Simon Ainge has given generously of his time as Director of Music and Andrew Young has been an inspirational Tower Captain. The Mothers' Union has been wonderfully led by Gywnneth Roy.
There are of course many others undertaking important tasks in the life of St. Peter's -most notably, our Wardens' Team of Don Smith, Marylyn Chamberlain, Philip Coomes, and Pam Cundill, as well as our DCC Secretary, Brenda Thompson. Deryk Wills and Ivy Gillett have continued to produce the magazine each month. Anne Wills has headed up the flower guild. Special thanks (as mentioned in other reports must go to Ivor Bentley for his unstinting work as Head of Properties). Our thanks go to all who give of their time and talents in the service of Christ's church.
Pastoral Issues: 2004 was marked by the deaths of Thelma Clarke and Pat Williams. Both had been regular worshippers at St. Peter's and will be greatly missed. To all those who have been bereaved we extend our deepest sympathies.
Finance: as the accounts indicate, St. Peter's had a good year in 2004. Two new initiatives were successfully launched: the St. Peter's Appeal which aims to raise £100,000 overall and in the 6 months from its launch in the summer of 2004 raised £20,000, and the St. Peter's Appeal which has 56 members so far that will raise an annual total in excess of £800. There was an increase in Stewardship giving, but not on the level that is really needed. Hall Income, however, shows a marked increase of over £7,000 which shows that the strategy of developing the Hall is beginning to pay dividends. Our thanks go to the Finance Team of Rita Shrigley, John Thompson, Les Owen, and David Foulds for all their hard work. Like a growing child, a growing church needs more spent on it. It is my hope, as Rector, that people will continue to support St. Peter's financially both in their stewardship giving and support for the Appeal and the Friends.
Conclusion: St. Peter's is working hard to sustain its continuing Christian presence here in Oadby as well as reaching out with new initiatives to engage more effectively with those parts of the wider community that will not automatically come through the church doors. The giving of time and the offering of people's creative skills has brought a new dynamism to the life of St. Peter's. All of this is hugely encouraging as we seek to offer back to God the gifts which he has imparted to us. It is a great joy to see these gifts being used to further Christ's kingdom here in Oadby.
Michael Rusk. |
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St Paul’s Church Report
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In last year’s report, I described the hope we had that 2004 would see St Paul’s grow. Twelve months on, it’s wonderful to be able to see the ways that growth has come.
At the end of 2003, the DCC made four key commitments to work for growth. These have been guiding principles for me personally, and it’s worth reminding ourselves of the kinds of growth they have supported:
Growing younger – our work among young people continues to be vital and fruitful. We have appointed Derek Bowering to lead our Childrens and Young People’s work and we look forward to better supporting our gifted and hard working leaders and helpers. Our relationships with Brookside, Manor and Woodland Grange schools have all blossomed. We have tried to deepen the awareness that our young members are fully part of our church community, with the Nativity and Mothering Sunday services being outstanding examples of how the young can lead and minister to us in worship. The age range of our adult members is also broadening, with several new people joining us who are in their twenties and thirties.
Growing by encouraging exploration of faith – The Emmaus course saw a group of people learn and deepen their Christian commitment. Dave and Sarah Spence ran an excellent Youth Emmaus course and we celebrated the confirmation of seven people in the Autumn. Our housegroups continue to play a key part in our growth in discipleship and mutual support. We have strengthened and invested in this by introducing regular housegroup leaders’ meetings and appointing Paul and Teri Webster to co-ordinate this area.
Growing in diversity – One of the most difficult things to balance in church life is to be a community that is both inclusive and is also concerned to hold to important truths. This is hard to measure, but I am encouraged that we are becoming less defensive and more confident in handling difference and diversity. We might sometimes be invited to settle for models of church which are neat and narrow but I am convinced that our best shape for mission is to be real about the things on which we disagree and united in our common identity in Jesus Christ. Our new patterns of worship model this diversity and stand against the consumerist culture of ‘I want things my way’.
Growing through confident engagement with our wider community - As Oadby changes, St Paul’s remains a focus in the neighbourhood. We are seen less as a venue for various activities and more and more as a partner in the transformation and serving of community needs. Our profile in the neighbourhood is growing and our relationships with others are deepening. The welcome service for Sheila Knight, the new head teacher of Manor School, reflected this kind of positive engagement with our locality. The story of our service to the community through buildings has been dramatic, seeing a more than two-fold increase in our income and a very substantial increase in the groups working with us.
We can be encouraged that morning, afternoon and midweek services have all seen growing numbers coming each week. But growth in less measurable ways is harder to judge. The financial contribution of the congregation to our mission is, frankly, quite staggering. The last year has seen a 20% increase in our regular stewardship. Members of the church have also come forward to help in new ministries. Wendy Ellis now ensures that the environment is kept to an extremely high standard. Ian Johnson is administering our buildings to growing effect. David Bowering and Tom Hales help prepare the church for worship.
Could it be that the frustrating struggle with our building repairs and refurbishment has enabled us to grow in reliance on God and in his leading? It would be good to have written a report that included a description of a refurbishment that was almost finished. In fact it feels that despite hundreds of hours of work, we have hardly begun to make an impact. But in recognising afresh that buildings are only a means to an end I hope we’ve made a choice for the kingdom of God, rather than looking for security in structures and fabric.
I sense that this will be the foundation on which the next phase of our church life will develop. We must find ways of keeping the focus on the relational, rather than the structural, aspects of our mission and ministry. Whether the topic is evangelism, service to the wider community, worship, children’s work or
housegroups, we must pay attention to the person-to-person and community-to-community dimensions of being disciples of Jesus. We’ve heard each other say many times in the last year, “people first, buildings second”. I trust and hope we’ll see great transformation in our church building this year, yet I will count this year as truly fruitful only if we can look back in twelve months time and see ways in which we are more fully the persons-in-community which God calls us to be.
I am very grateful to many people for their contributions to our church community. It’s difficult to pick out individuals, but this year I want to emphasise my gratitude to our musicians for their skill, imagination and generous leadership in worship. I also want to say, on behalf of us all, a big thank you to Colin Chettle and Vivien James for their prayerful, faithful and patient ministry as Church Warden and Deputy Warden. It has been a privilege to work with them.
Simon Harvey
March 2005 |
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The Lighthouse Christian Fellowship Report.
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"The Lighthouse" continues to meet each Sunday in The Sandhurst Hall. No, we haven't moved again, just the name of hall has changed ! We have gradually settled into our new home and have been made to feel welcome (especially by our good friend Frank Winters, to whom must go many thanks from us all) Although we mostly meet at 10.30am, we have on occasion held a Family Service at 3pm, but attendance in the afternoons has been disappointing so far. One innovation, is that a small group of people meets for half an hour before each service to pray.
The Leadership Group meets twice monthly, once for prayer and once for a business meeting, We have also met on two Saturdays during the year. Also, at present, The "D.C.C." is scheduled to meet quarterly. Over the past year, every meeting has had a full and varied agenda, requiring much prayerful discussion and thought, as we seek to discern God's will for the growth and development of The Lighthouse. Once a month too, we hold a members' evening prayer meeting. Our three housegroups continue to meet weekly and in the Spring, one housegroup ran an Alpha Course
During the summer, church members met weekly to pray, and it became clear that God was asking of us that all members should be seeking what He wants from each of us, in order to raise up ministries from within the congregation.
Obviously, because of our move and change of name, we needed to make our presence known and with this in mind, two thousand leaflets were distributed to houses in the surrounding area by church members. We have also purchased an outside notice board. Thanks are due here to Fran Desjardins and Richard Greasley for their part in design and production of these.
In late Summer, a group of adults accompanied many of our young people to a Soul Survivor camp and all returned full of enthusiasm. This has led to the formation of a Friday evening Soul Survivor group, meeting weekly during term time. The aim of these meetings is for the young people themselves to exercise their evangelistic gifts. Especial thanks here to Linda Lodge for all her commitment and time in leading this. Also, some of them have formed a youth band, mentored by Fran Desjardins and have begun to take part in Sunday worship time.
Another recent venture, is a weekday afternoon meeting for fellowship and prayer at the hall, led by a small group of ladies from The Lighthouse. It is hoped that this small group will flourish and be a fruitful part of our outreach.
A visit to a farm, at the end of September, was enjoyed by many members of all ages. A time of recreation and a picnic, was followed by Thanksgiving/Harvest Service in a barn!
Sadly, Richard and Lynn Greasley have found themselves unable to continue as members of The Leadership Team, and resigned in February. We have to thank them for their hard work over the years. Richard continues in his preaching ministry and they both continue with their other roles at The Lighthouse.
We are a small congregation, and this necessitates almost all of our members taking on some role within the church. This past year, some new roles have been undertaken. Nick Williams has become responsible for Mission and taken on the role of link person with our Tartarstan contact (Through Radstock Ministries) and also become our Tearfund Representative. Louise Deacon has become Christian Aid Representative. Judith Mears will be our Representative on Churches Together in Oadby. Steve Vickers is now our Treasurer and Lesley Snarey coordinator of the emergency prayer line. Our thanks go to all the above and every member for their energy and commitment, and to Michael Rusk and Helen Bence for their help over the past year.
What next? A meeting is arranged in early April, to which all members have been invited, giving an opportunity to share insights and giftings, put forward ideas, ask questions, pray together and hopefully, give us the basis for an "Away day" later this year. We are all very much aware of the amount of work to be done for The Lord and continue to put our trust in Him to guide and enable us.
Maggie Smith.
March 2005 |
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