| Editor: Sonia Marshall | Layout: Dave Merchant | Web version: Mark Warrick |
To:
Scripture readings for Sunday
I write just after our day conference, "Thy Kingdom Come", and already the Pastoral Committee has met and begun to discuss strategy in the light of comments made at the conference. A report about the conference appears elsewhere, but I should like to take this opportunity to thank all those involved in its smooth and efficient running, and all those who attended and made it the worthwhile occasion it was. The very fact that so many came and so many contributed to the discussions said so much for the vitality of this church, and if we did nothing else we did get to know one another a bit better.
I was personally very heartened by some of the remarks made in the first session, on our church as it is now, that in recent years there has been an atmosphere in which people have indeed felt able to contribute to the life of the church in the very way that the conference was seeking to encourage. We are the church together, and everyone has a part to play. The Holy Spirit is the director of the church's whole enterprise and will both lead us in the way we should go and give us the spiritual gifts needed to carry out the mission he gives us. In seeking a strategy for the church's mission we are seeking to work with God and to seek the gifts of the Spirit which will carry us forward.
Ultimately our goal is nothing less than completion of God's reign on earth, that his Kingdom come in all its fullness according to those words which many of us pray daily, "Thy kingdom come." We do not rest until we have achieved this aim, and I hope and pray that in some small way our conference moved us on towards that goal, and that as the PCC, committees and action groups take up conference suggestions we advance the Kingdom yet further in the community we serve.
I'd like to thank all who completed and returned the questionnaires on the re-ordering of the church interior. We had a good response and some interesting answers. At the time of writing we have not yet analysed some of the details, but have learnt enough to proceed with a faculty application for a scheme which we hope will please everyone to a very great extent.
Every single reply voted for the new arrangements in preference to the old, and a very large majority opted to have the original communion rail adapted and placed at the new location for administering holy communion. We shall look into the work which this would entail and decide exactly how to carry it out, but the PCC has a clear intention to retain the basic layout at the front of the church as we now have it and to place the communion rails, suitably adapted, at the lower set of steps. The short temporary rails can then go back to the Lady Chapel where they belong.
The removal of the front three pews and the placing there of the lectern were also very popular changes, and the PCC also decided to have the radiators moved to match the new location of the front of the seating block. (This will make the choir area a little colder, but will give much more flexibility in the use of the space we have created).
There was less clear voting on where the large brass cross should be placed, although there seems to be a preference for the present, central, location. There is also a view that the servers' seating could be tidier and perhaps some review is needed of the detailed layout of the sanctuary. Now that we have done this consultation, the faculty procedure can be begun and hopefully we shall have things made permanent and proper before much longer. Further consideration will meanwhile be given to the worthwhile suggestions some of you made on the forms, and some minor alterations may result from that.
If you know anyone who wants some very long and heavy oak pews, please let me know, so that I can recover the space in the Vicarage coach house before the winter!
On Trinity Sunday about seventy-five adults and fifteen children attended a gathering at the Church Hall, Deeping St James to discuss the life of the parish church now and in the future as the first stage in developing a strategy for the mission and ministry of the church for next five years or so. Organized and managed by Martin Fisher for the PCC, the activities lasted from 11.30am when the "ten o'clock" people had had their coffee until about 5pm when the closing "songs of praise" service ended, and the time passed really quickly with hardly a minute spent not doing something productive.
At the heart of the day was a half-hour talk from the Bishop of Grantham, the Rt Rev Alastair Redfern, who sopke of the need for us to ensure that we serve three different "circles" of parishioners: the "inner circle " of those who are regular worshippers and are closely identified with the local church - just the sort of person who was likely to be at the conference, in fact; the "middle circle" of occasional attenders and people who feel a real belonging to the local church even though that is not necessarily expressed through frequent attendance - just the sort of people who might be reading this magazine; and an "outer circle" of those who had little contact at all with the local church and had no interest in having such contact. How to reach the people in these groups and what to say to them when we do reach them comprised the discussion for the afternoon, the short section before the shared lunch comprising a group discussion on where the church is now, concentrating on the changes made over the last few years. When westopped and thought about it, we were amazed at how much we had done, even in the (almost) four years since our present Vicar arrived.
The day was divided into three parts, each having a talk (the Bishop's being the middle one), a group discussion and a feedback session where we all heard what the groups had said. There were ten groups for each discussion and a system of coloured, shaped and printed cards had been devised which ensured that the groups were thoroughly shuffled between sessions, so that everyone had several opportunities to meet new people or to speak to people they had known for years without really knowing them properly.
The third section was the most difficult. Following a group discussion and feedback on how to apply the Bishop's vision for the church to our own particular situation, the Vicar introduced a discussion of the practical things we might consider doing in the next few years, drawing together the ideas from the groups along with his own thoughts on how we might reflect Kingdom values in our local community. Again, when you stop to think about all that we do and all with which we have some connection, it is amazing how many people we already reach in all three of the Bishop's circles. But still there is some way to go in each, as well.
It is too early yet to say what will come out of it all: there is a lot of paper to sort and ideas to consider, but there is a lot which will be discussed by our committees over the coming months, and there may be some groups set up to discuss specific areas, too. The idea was to generate a strategy for several years rather than a task list for the next few weeks! Not only did we get this process off to a good start, but had an enjoyable day in the process and built up the fellowship of the church. Some have said we should do it more often, and it may be wondered if there is some lesson here for our annual church meetings, which are never such exciting occasions but which potentially could be so.
As reported in last months issue, we had a visit from the local Brownie pack. 21 Brownies, 3 leaders and one parent helper Were shown the bells and how they work. Before they left the tower each one was given the opportunity to chime the treble (smallest) bell. They all enjoyed their trip.
If you've ever been exasperated with a priest, spare a thought for bishops, who have to work with hundreds of them. Here are some assessments of clergy, made by bishops whose patience was perhaps wearing thin..
'Mr Smith believes his last parish made him a scapegoat, as did his three previous parishes.' 'Mr Brown would be out of his depth in a church car park puddle.' 'Miss Green has delusions of adequacy.' 'Mr White, having reached rock bottom, has started to dig!' 'His last parish would follow him anywhere - but only out of morbid curiosity.'
Two recipes for the children to try this month
Serves 4, or makes 4 individual ramakin dishes.
We welcome to the Lord's Family
We commend to God's keeping:
We congratulate:
This is only an extract from some of our magazine. Residents of Deeping St James can subscribe to the printed version.
Copyright © 2001 Deeping St James PCC
Created by WebEdit, 2 June 2001