|
Our Church - Vestry
Annual General Easter Vestry 2009
Thank you all for coming this evening. This is the 13th such meeting at HTW that I have addressed and when I sat down to write this address I wondered what was there that was new or fresh to say. Looking back over the past 13 years of addresses it is quite amazing to see how the same people are at the core of the life of HTW and that is often the same in many churches. I think we would all agree that there are familiar faces on a Sunday morning and that we have very much become a settled community of faithful Christian believers. Yet we also see many new faces in our congregation and that is important also.
It is important that as a congregation we acknowledge those who give of their time and their gifts to serve Christ by serving us at HTW. I want again this evening to thank the leaders of all our organisations. Our youth leaders carry an every increasing burden on their shoulders. I know our leaders can sometimes feel unappreciated and taken for granted but I want this evening to put on record our thanks to them and to assure them of our continued support and prayers for them. I as the rector of this parish want to say to them that I feel very privileged to have such godly leaders working within the organisations here. It is such a blessing to know that men and women in leadership in this congregation are committed to Christ and to the building of His kingdom above all else. Thank you for serving Christ by serving us.
The extra burden of government legislation is taking up more and more time and I want to thank them for their patience and their understanding as we have sought to get all the Safeguarding Trust records accurate and up-to-date. I know it has been a frustrating task and I want to thank Sam Skelly for persisting with it, we are almost there and I ask you again to please be as helpful as you can when we ask for information.
Jack Blair - continues to play a vital role in the life of this congregation. I know that each year I thank him for his ministry and I want to do so again this evening. As a congregation we are blessed to have such a man of God amongst us and who serves with humility and faithfulness week by week in this congregation. I personally thank God for Jack's wisdom, selfless service and for his loyal support to me personally. There are times when Jack sees pastoral needs that I have failed to see and he has graciously, and I mean graciously, brought them to my attention, not to correct me but in order that someone in need might be helped and I am grateful to him for those occasions.
Flowers - may I thank, on your behalf, those who give financially and those who take the time to arrange the flowers each Sunday for the sanctuary and at those special times of the year. Again we often take such things for granted but without them the sanctuary would not look as beautiful as it does each Sunday.
Wardens - I want to thank Bill Lunny and Vic Wootton for their faithful work as our church wardens each week. I thank them for ensuring that all things necessary for the public worship of God are in order each Sunday morning.
Colin McIlwaine - thank you Colin for organising the reading and prayer rota for Sunday worship. It has been good to see new faces and to hear new voices at the front. Recently a visitor to our morning service commented how much they appreciated that it was not a one-man show leading worship but how many people participated on a Sunday morning. We think that it is normal for people to read lessons etc but it is not in many congregations and I thank Colin for organising the rota so that all ages within are family participate in worship.
Lisa McIlwaine - Lisa will be returning to teaching in September. I want on behalf of the SV, and the congregation to thank her for her work over the last two years in youth initiative. There have been many different aspects to this work and I thank her for her commitment and faithfulness to Christ in serving here. As a congregation you see the public organisations and events that Lisa has organised over the past two years but what you do not see is the preparation in beginning and maintaining those projects and also the building of relationships with children and young people behind the scenes to enable them to share their faith with their peers. I know how much Taylor has enjoyed 'Godzone' and 'Leapfrog' and as a father I thank her for teaching my daughter more of the Christian faith in an age appropriate way. We pray that God continues to bless her as she goes back to her teaching career, but the good thing is that we are not losing her from our congregation.
Choir/Music Group/Organists etc - I want to thank all those who over the past year have participated in the musical ministry of our congregation. Without you we simply would be unable to praise God as we do. I think one of the highlights of the year was the launch of the CD. I know that over 80 people participated in making the CD and copies have even gone as far as Africa and America. We pray that the CD helps others to worship God. Thank you to all who lead us in praise by serving Christ with their musical abilities. I don't want any of you to think that we ever take you for granted. I personally thank God for the amazing gifts and abilities that are made so willingly available to lead the singing of His praise week by week and on special occasions. Thank you for being faithful with those gifts and abilities and I pray that it may long continue.
Potter's House, J Club, G1 and Bible Class - thank you to the teachers and leaders of each of these organisations for faithfully teaching the bible to our children and teenagers. There is no greater gift that we can give our children than a love for God and His Word. There are many programmes out their to entertain children, even within the Christian church, but the faithful teaching of Scripture is the only thing which will bring lasting blessing and fruit in a child's life. Can I say to you as parents, and I know many who should hear this are not here, you do a disservice to God and your children by not supporting (by the presence of your child) these leaders and the teaching of the bible to them. I was saddened to hear in this past year of parents, who claim to follow Christ, who thought that too much of the bible was being taught in our youth organisations and that is why their children were not attending. I am sorry if that is how you feel and I would, as humbly as I can, say to you that there is something seriously wrong spiritually in your life if you believe that a church organisation teaches too much of the bible. I ask you as a congregation to be faithful in your support of these leaders and to be positive about the teaching of the bible to your children.
Select Vestry - I want to thank the SV for their work over the past year and for their faithfulness in attending to the business of this parish. I thank them also that the business of vestry remained confidential and that enabled us all to discuss with openness the issues pertaining to the life of this congregation. Thank you for that unseen work but without which this parish would simply not function.
Thank you to the teams of people who over the past year came together to clean the building, to paint and to generally maintain this building. I am saddened to report to you that we have had some vandalism over the past year. Cupboards have had doors smashed, the entrance door to the main hall was damaged and only a few weeks back someone shattered a window in the Bennett. None of these were accidental as some considerable force was necessary to do the damage on each occasion. I am sorry that such events happen and that proper respect is not shown for this building. I believe that how we treat this building and the upkeep of this building reflects something of our respect and reverence for Almighty God. I believe that is something that we all need to take on board and to pass down to our children and the young people of this church. There is no place for irreverence, disrespect or vandalism in a place dedicated to the glory of God. I know God does not reside in buildings but this building has been set aside for the glory of God and we all need to remember that and treat it appropriately. On that note - can I once again ask, and I know you have heard my voice raised to my own daughter concerning this, that on Sunday morning children are supervised, especially after the service, not least for their own safety with hot tea and coffee being served, but also because many within our congregation are genuinely offended, and I believe rightly offended, by what they see as irreverence and disrespect for a place of worship. I am not advocating a return to children should be seen and not heard but neither should they be allowed to see that Sunday morning is a playground. For example - I constantly have to ask children to not use the communion rails as a climbing frame etc- it is not that I believe inanimate objects are holy but those rails were presented in memory of Mr and Mrs Joyner, they are for communion - it is why we screen off the sanctuary because the furniture there is not for everyday use but has been dedicated and set aside for the worship of God and should be treated accordingly. So parents, and I include myself in this, can I ask that the children be kept from the front of the church and from running around on a Sunday morning.
Over the calendar year of 2008 our congregation averaged around 250 and sometimes up over the 350 at morning worship. I know numbers are no measure of the spiritual strength of a church but it is encouraging to see that year on year we continue to grow numerically. Having said that I am often at a loss to explain how on any given Sunday there will be between 50 and 100 people missing from our congregation. For example on Easter Sunday this year, which I must say was a wonderful service, the congregation was 351 and yet I counted 70 or more people missing from the congregation. It appears that the weekly discipline of attending worship is becoming a thing of the past for a sizeable number of people and families within HTW. The sad reality of this is that if it continues we will be raising a generation of young people who will believe that coming together with the people of God each Sunday is unimportant and eventually they will stop attending public worship. It is a trend that we need to address and it is one that we all need to play our part in addressing. To that end I have asked some people within our congregation to help form a 'pastoral group' who will look out on a Sunday for people who are missing and to follow them up. I want to say to you, so that no one misunderstands this initiative. It is not a roll call exercise and nor are they going to take the place of the rector in the pastoral work of this parish. I will continue, as is my calling, to give to the best of my ability pastoral care and support to all the families within this congregation. This group will help me to do that and one of the simple ways of beginning that is by encouraging people to be here on a Sunday to worship God.
I am also setting up a team of people to help me plan out the preaching and teaching programmes and to plan special events, like the one we recently did for Easter day. Again I want you to be clear as to the purpose of this group so that there is no misunderstanding. As your pastor I wish to teach you the bible faithfully and with relevance. It is of immense help in doing that if I know where you are spiritually as a congregation. One of the tasks of this group will be to feedback such information to me and then together we will plan out appropriate teaching programmes and services to meet the spiritual needs of this congregation and to enable us to present the gospel to this community.
Jack and I have drawn together a cross-section of people from within the congregation to serve on these two groups. I want you all to be very clear on this - they are not the 'favourites' and they are not deemed by us to be the 'spiritual elite' of this congregation - we choose people to represent all ages, both sexes and different stages of life so that we can hear all the voices within this family. This is a new thing we are trying but we both believe that it is the right step in helping us as the people of God to grow spiritually and to be faithful to the great commission of making disciples of all people.
Prayer Ministry Team - personally I believe this has been one of thee most significant developments in the life of this congregation. I want to thank those people who meet each Thursday evening to pray for people and who offer of their time to pray with people each Sunday. They have gone about their work with faithfulness, with humility and without any seeking of self-glory. Thank you is inadequate because the work that you do in praying for this congregation is of eternal value and one day we will all be amazed when God reveals to us what has been done by Him through answering your prayers. As a congregation we thank you. As a pastor I am, and will be, eternally thankful that you pray for me and on many occasions I have known the blessing of God and the strengthening of His Spirit because of your prayers.
Building Fund - I don't want to linger on this because Edwin will bring the financial report in a few moments. I do want to thank Edwin for continually guiding the SV on this issue and for his godly manner in keeping this before our eyes without taking away from the main purpose of this church - the worship of God. I also want to thank those who serve on our fund raising committee and I ask us all to commit to supporting their events. There is no getting away from the fact that we need to seriously look at what we are doing in meeting the building debt. The new SV needs to take on board the urgency of this debt because to be very honest with you it is quickly becoming a millstone around our necks and it prevents us doing many other things within this church and it prevents many of our organisations from doing events etc. There have been times when I have wondered did we make a wise decision in building a bigger building and then I walk into the BB, the GB or the youth club and even on a Sunday morning and realise our old building would simply not meet those needs. The key to all of this is getting the hearts of our people right. If our hearts are fully committed to God then we will meet this debt because we will want to honour God in our giving as well as the other areas of our lives.
The future - what of the year ahead? The truth is none of us knows what lies ahead of us but in my quiet times I have been reading through Exodus and parts of the OT. Time and time again the people of God recall the faithfulness of God in times past and that is the basis on which they move forward into an unknown future. We are no different. It is on the basis of God's faithfulness in Christ and of my experience of his faithfulness in the past that I, with all my failings and doubts, step out each day as a pastor to serve him by serving you. It is on the basis of his past faithfulness that we as a congregation have great hope for the future, the greatest hope being the resurrection to new life on the last day. So the year ahead I pray that we, together as the people of God step out in faith knowing that we have a faithful God who is with us each step of the way.
I want to share some information with you which comes from research into Carrickfergus commissioned by the town council. The following is a brief summary of quite a detailed report:
Carrickfergus is the second fastest growing population in Northern Ireland.
The average age is 36.5 years which is slightly higher than the NI average (35.8)
We have an average of 4.60 persons per hectare compared to the NI average of 1.19
18% of the people are over 60 years;
36% of births are to unmarried mothers
49% of marriages are in the registrar's office.
On average 300 or more people die in the borough each year.
19% have a limiting life-long illness
14% of police time is taken up with youth matters
65% of the people in the borough said paramilitary activity was the major issue to be tackled.
The average earnings in the borough is £300 per week which is £20 less than the average for NI.
To you they might just be statistics but it helps to paint the picture of the community that we are seeking to reach with the gospel of Christ. It is a community of which we are a part and yet the danger for us as a church is that we will remain aloof and separate and never truly engage with this community. I know we do engage and often very effectively but I do not wish for us to become complacent but to keep looking up to God for strength and out to this community for opportunities to serve them.
Personal - I want to thank you all for your love and support to Janet, Taylor and I. I especially thank you for your prayers and support during Janet's illness over Christmas. I said to Janet during that time that I realised how blessed we are to be part of this family. Christmas was not an easy time and I thank you all for supporting us as a family at that time. I thank God that Janet has made a full recovery and will return to work next Monday, not least so I can have quiet in the house again during the day???? Thank you also for continuing to create a church where Taylor is loved and which she loves being a part of. Last Monday evening at the BB display I sat back and listened to her answering questions in the bible quiz round - I can only thank the Potter's House, GB, J Club, Godzone, and leapfrog because I know I haven't read all the bible stories with her or taught her all that she knew of the bible. Thank you also for welcoming Callum, he will be coming to stay with us on a regular basis for respite care. So that there are no false rumours it is foster respite care and it is not a preliminary to adoption. I just wanted to clarify that because some people had asked me if we were going to adopt him.
Thank you for your continued prayers, love and support to us and for us as a family. It is an immense privilege to be your pastor and it is not one that I take for granted. Thank you for allowing me to serve Christ by being your pastor.
Amen.
|
