The Rector Writes – October 2009
Dear Friends
During the September meeting of the Parochial Church Council we received, with regret, the resignation of Michael Fletcher as People’s Parish Warden on grounds of health. Mike has had varied experience of this role in various parishes and in connection with several of his postings in the RAF. We are grateful for his contribution to the life of this parish over many years and in many ways and we are glad that he will continue to serve on the PCC. I have particularly valued his company at the Diocesan Conference one Sunday afternoon each June for the past three. Our prayers are with him and Rosina.
We will need to elect a new Parish warden to serve, in the first instance, until the Bishop’s Visitation next Spring. This will take place at an extraordinary Vestry meeting to be held after the 11 am service at the Parish Church on Sunday 15th November. Nominations should be in writing, signed by the candidate, proposer and seconder and submitted to the Rectory no later than the day before the election.
At the same meeting I reviewed the feed-back sheets which had been completed by the mid-morning congregations at our two churches at special services on 19th July, when I made an initial presentation of some teaching and discussion resources from the Diocese of St Asaph, which we agreed to call ‘Investing in the Church’s Work’.
Based on the experience of a fellow-clergyman, the liturgy was shortened to allow for an extended set of readings on the subject of our material possessions, each of the readings being followed by a short pause for reflection. In the sermon I set out various reasons why we should give to the different organisations which we belong to, and especially, the Church. There was then an opportunity for members to fill in a feed-back form, to such questions as: What would you like to see the church achieving if it increased its income? Which topics would you like to see addressed in later sessions?
As you can imagine, this act of worship was somewhat different from average and I am sorry that the few people who had missed my introduction to it in previous weeks in the these pages and from the pulpit had felt unprepared for it. However, several responded that they found the cycle of Scripture readings and silence helpful. Some had been surprised at the one which described Jesus himself paying the temple tax.
As to what we could achieve if our income increased, members mentioned: a new entrance to the Parish church, more effective outreach to people in need of the church, making the church more welcoming to young people and families, employing a part-time youth-worker, deepening our spiritual life and more training for members to help with pastoral work. This summary is necessarily brief and neither includes all the suggestions nor does it state how many people supported each one, but the process did enable the person-in-the-pew to have some means of expression on the future and purpose of the church. Not all of these suggestions depend on increased income. Action can be taken on some at any time, but this exercise gave members the chance to say how they perceived their priorities for the church.
The most frequently occurring request for future presentations was a simple break-down on what the church is spending its money on. This may be done through the pages of this magazine as well as in church. Our annual accounts satisfy the requirements of the diocese, but not everyone is able to read a balance sheet, and a summary to answer the queries of members may also be required. There was some debate at PCC about how helpful it would be to set out such figures as average giving per week per member, in view of our very varied incomes and commitments, and the average giving per head throughout the diocese and throughout Wales.
Most parishes which have addressed this material have had to modify it because they considered that only a small proportion of their members would attend the small-group discussions mid-week which were originally intended. However, those which took the opportunities of Sunday services to encourage feed-back and discussion seem to have been surprised at how readily their people will express a view-from-the-pew given the chance. Perhaps the Holy Spirit should be granted more scope to speak in this way!
Yours sincerely
Martin Snellgrove