There are lots of interesting reports in the printed booklet which has been made available in advance of the APCM next week. I thought I should share through the blog the report which I wrote for St Paul's:
I often welcome people to funerals at St Paul’s with an encouragement that our church is a safe place for laughter and for tears. In this last year, I believe we’ve shared together in joy which transcends a spirit of fun and that we’ve experienced tender care for our sorrows.
The highlight for me has been the wonderful Alpha Course, which has just finished. Nineteen guests joined us for a series of ten evening sessions and one whole day. Of these, thirteen had connections with St Paul’s which were only slight or non-existent. The greatest thrill is of sharing in the forming of trusting friendships as people experience the good news of the gospel. At the end of the course, over half the group want to continue in a follow-up group or join an existing home group.
Alpha has flourished because of our Lord’s presence, working in and through a wonderfully gifted team of leaders and helpers. Izzy, Anita, Ruth, Graham, Paul, Gill, Vivien, Colin, Anne, Gillian, and Gill have worked so hard and served so effectively. I sense the energy and motivation in Alpha has spilled over into other areas of our church life, so that a number of people have commented that St Paul’s has a particular ‘buzz’ about the place at the moment.
Numerical growth is important in any church but for the longer term the quality of discipleship and depth of faith are even more significant (and harder to measure). I continue to be heartened and humbled by the generous, faithful and prayerful commitment of the church community. We do count numbers though and here the news is encouraging: the steady trend of growth continues. On average, the number of adults attending worship was 82 in Dec 2004, 90 in Dec 2005, 89 in Dec 2006 (affected by the refurbishment) and 95 in Dec 2007. In the year to December 2008 the increase was about 7% and the attendances in the first quarter of 2007 have been strong.
We welcomed new people who have joined us, including June, Anna, David, Stephen, Lindsay, Helen, Daniel, Graham, Virginia, Gilbert, Alistair, Iain, Steve, Khosi, Linda, and Carey. They each bring unique gifts and I trust they feel very welcome among us.
In September we gave thanks with Steve Carter for the journey he had shared with us as a member of St Paul’s for many years. Steve had decided that the future for him lay as a member of a Baptist church rather than within the Church of England. We are very grateful for his ministry at St Paul’s, his prayerful teaching ministry and his total commitment to serving our Lord. It’s a pleasure to continue to meet Steve at CTO events in Oadby.
We also said farewell to Irene Townsend who moved away after many years with us.
We were thrilled when Chloe Thomas was selected for training for ordained ministry and last autumn waved Chloe, Gwion, Angharad, Huw and Sian goodbye as they set off for Ripon College, Cuddesdon.
Sadly, we lost dear Jack Cooper this year, whose sudden death shocked us all. The church was packed for Jack’s funeral and the praises we sang and the love that surrounded Grace and the family in their bereavement were a testimony to the affection in which we held him. In Jack’s last weeks his bold and fervent faith was apparent in a very striking way. We miss him.
For a long while, St Paul’s was one of a rare number of Anglican churches whose ministry in weddings, funerals and baptisms was minimal. I’m delighted that this is no longer the case and that we serve the wider community through the whole range of these ‘occasional offices’. This couples with our outreach through our buildings (again at record levels) and the work in our local schools to ensure we are fully engaged in mission to our neighbourhood.
I jotted down a list of the words and themes which have been familiar in our mission this last year. I don’t believe that a specific blueprint for anything as dynamic as a church community is appropriate. But I am certain that a sense of direction, strategic planning and openness to the Spirit’s leadings are vital. If you’ve been around at St Paul’s this list will probably be familiar to you:
“opportunity church”
gratitude
truthful, powerful storytelling
personal welcomes, public goodbyes
“you’re invited to share in cake after the service!”
silence
flowers
intentionality
simplicity
attentiveness (especially to the small voices)
just being there
quality (offering the best to the Lord, especially in worship and witness)
laughter and teasing
Breakfast at Barney’s
blog
hospitality
reverence
grace, gratitude and growth
As I learn more in ministry I am convinced that the work of the church is simple-but-demanding. I contrast this with the kind of novel, complicated-but-easy solutions that we sometimes fantasize about. They just don’t exist. In reality, the church’s work is what it always has been – loving service, faithful witness, devoted worship, patient prayer. Simple but demanding. In the power of ourselves, impossible. In the strength of the Spirit, transforming.
This requires a team effort and I am grateful to all my colleagues in ministry for their gifts, patience and kindness. In closing this year I want to single out two people for a special mention. Dinah Cheney has retired from her role as Church Secretary after 20 years of service and I am very grateful for the co-operation and collaboration we have enjoyed in the past five years. It’s also time, under the rules of the Church of England, for Vivien to step down from her role as Churchwarden. We are all enormously indebted to Vivien for her tireless work, prayerful devotion and always-positive attitude.
Above all, we give glory to God and trust him for the year that lies before us.
As I said during a sermon in March, I rejoice at being able to echo the words of St Paul, “In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.” Colossians 1.3-6
