Vicar’s Report AGM 2010
‘Actions speak louder than words’
And so, here it is! The Hall! Our non-verbal, concrete, report for this last year! It is here!
It is right and proper that we celebrate the success of building this hall, after many years of hard work and planning, setbacks and final success. We give thanks to God, and I give thanks to each of you; to every person, present and absent, who contributed in giving time, talents and money to fulfilling this dream. It is a time to celebrate; a time to step back for a moment and appreciate the arrival of this moment. Just as a hiker, after a long hard walk up a steep hill, will stop, and appreciate the view, glance back at the rough terrain she has has travelled, and catch breath - so we do the same.....
.....But not for too long! The hiker must not stop for so long that muscles become stiff, the body become cold, and the sense of determination wane! And neither must we!
We must walk on (and to quote the song), we ‘walk on, with hope in you heart’. (All together now!)
And I believe we stand now, as a Church community, at the start of a new section of our walk together with our God. An exciting, promising and challenging section of our walk together.
As we prepare set forth, to move forward together, we hear the words of Scripture.
‘He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.’ Micah 6v8
We are being invited by our gracious God to walk humbly with him into the future. Are you coming along? Are you ready? Let’s go!
And may I remind you of our Gospel verse at our morning services today: John10v27 ‘My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me’.
Our Lord knows us, personally, you and me. And we seek to hear his voice - of guidance, encouragement and challenge. And we mover forward, following Him. Are you coming along? Are you ready? Let’s go!
Where do we sense God is leading us? To serve this community of Stopsley. We now have many more opportunities for that. Whether it is the lunch clubs, the listening space, Tommy’s Toddlers, the youth group, and many other things. Are you coming along? Are you ready? Let’s go!
Whether it is serving the elderly, the bereaved, carers, toddlers, parents, young people - and many others. Are you coming along? Are you ready? Let’s go!
So let us mover forward together. We all need to be a part of this, every one. I would like to particularly challenge you to do one thing today as part of your commitment to move forward with us. Join an ACT. We are forming an ACT for each area of our church life. An ACT is an ‘Action Committee Team’. Not merely a committee, a talking shop. We want actions, not words. The stress is on action and teamwork. Working together to get things done.
Ideally we want everyone to be part of at least one ACT. To be part of a team that is working for our move forward together. Not having endless meetings discussing things, but getting on with serving God, his Church and our community and world.
So please fill in the slip (below) indicating the ACT you feel you might like to be involved with. You might not be certain - you can always change later, it is not a life sentence! You might not be certain in what way you can be involved - or you might have very clear ideas! We are keen on ideas developing, not being fixed in stone. You might not be sure of how much time and energy you can promise. That is fine, we are aware that different people have different possibilities, each in their own situation. We are not looking only for people with lots of energy and time on their hands. But everyone to be committed, even if you have little time available to do much, to one area of Church life, one ACT.
So please fill in your slip. How are you going to be involved? How are you going to ‘walk humbly with our God’? How are you going to follow the Good Shepherd?
Are you coming along? Are you ready? Let’s go!
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Copy this, fill in, and email to me :
Name:
Tel No:
Email:
Which ACT would you consider joining?
Pastoral Care
Fabric
Finance
Children & Youth
Mission
Community & Social
Evangelism & Communication
Worship & Teaching
Comments..............
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Before I finish some words of particular thanks, although I am aware that I am bound to miss someone important out - please forgive me, I thank you all for your support.
Jane, John and Donna, John, Sarah, Grace, Gabriel.
Bob Gunn and Peter Alexander.
Arthur Devlin, Jim Hearnshaw, John Kairis, and David Newbound
Alan Murkett (now retired), and the PA to the Vicar, Linda Clitheroe
Churchwardens, Bryan and Janey.
Sanctuary assistants, servers, sidesmen/women, readers and intercessors
Jean Stephenson, Anne Dolby, Maureen Austin and others who provide refreshments.
Treasurer, John Kingham, and our Stewardship Secretary, Les Sims.
Tony Clitheroe and all involved with the magazine
Pastoral Care Team
John the Organist, Janey, Choir
David and Debbie - pastoral and meditation
Cleaners, decorators who gave much time!, those who have worked in the churchyard, especially Ian Clitheroe
Sunday Club leaders and all who work with young people
And this year especially everyone involved with the Church Hall ACT: Jim Gabriel in his meticulous attention to detail in the design, Peter Raven in his supervision of the work in his role as our Site Agent, and John Kingham and Les Sims in their handling of the finances and fundraising.
