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Our Church - Vestry
Annual General Vestry Address 2010
This meeting marks the 10th Annual General Vestry of Holy Trinity. On Easter Day 2010 we were a parish for 10 years. If we look back over the past 10 years we can see remarkable growth - in terms of congregational size, the building, in our organisation numbers and in our finance. Most important of all we have grown spiritually as a body of believers. God has been good to us. He has richly blessed us over these past 10 years and to Him alone we give the praise and the glory this evening. The new Select Vestry which will be elected by you this evening will need to take stock of the past 10 years and prayerfully seek God's guidance for the years ahead. I believe that should be their main objective in the year ahead - to produce a vision statement, a way forward for this congregation that ensures we continue to walk according to God's Word and in step with the Holy Spirit.
This evening I want to thank once again the two wardens for their dedication and hard work over the past year. Vic and Billy have been here faithfully Sunday by Sunday ensuring that everything is in order and ready for Sunday worship. Many of their tasks are unseen by the congregation but if they were not done then worship here would be the poorer. On your behalf, and on my own, I say thank you to them both. I want to say also a very big thank you to Bill for the tireless work that he and his brother Alan do in maintaining the grounds around Holy Trinity. I especially appreciated the plums from the tree last year.
I would also like to thank the two glebe wardens and the trustees for the work that they have done in maintaining and upgrading the rectory. For us as a family we have deeply appreciated the kindness and generosity of the Select Vestry in maintaining the rectory.
I want to thank Jack Blair for all his hard work, support and encouragement as our lay reader, bible study leader and for his work in pastoral care in this parish. I know many people speak to Jack on pastoral issues and from their comments I know they have appreciated his wisdom and his care. Personally I thank him for the times, especially in the past year, when he and Hazel have welcomed me into their home and when Jack has interrupted his work schedule to listen to me share some pastoral issues that I needed another wiser counsel on. Those rare occasions were very important in helping me see God's way and will for certain situations and I thank Jack for those occasions.
I want to thank those who help lead us in worship each Sunday. To Maurice Langley and Colin McIlwaine who over the past year have drawn up the parish magazine and the reading and prayer rotas. It is important that people are informed about what is going on in our congregation and it is an important biblical principle that all participate in worship. It is a blessing to hear many voices in church reading God's Word and leading us in prayer.
Thank you to Drew Buchanan for maintaining the parish website and for the podcasts of Sunday morning sermons - which has helped Potter's house teachers and others to hear the Word of God preached. I receive emails from different parts of the world from people who have accessed our websites, even one from a pastor in India who thanked me for the sermons online.
Thank you to Andrew Hanley and now to David Saunderson who look after the laptop, to the sound desk team led by Neill Piddock. To those who come week by week and put out chairs, welcome people at the door, serve in our crèche and serve tea after the service. Thank you to Hazel and Sandra for the flower arrangements and to all those who generously give so that this building can be decorated for worship.
Thank the Choir and Roger and Selwyn for playing the organ. I want to say that over the past year I personally think the choir has grown in confidence and as a consequence we sing better as a congregation - though there is still room for improvement with our singing.
Thank the music group - we are richly blessed by the musical talent in our congregation. Thank you to the members of the group who give of their time and talents to lead us in the worship of God.
Potter;s House, G1, J Club and bible class - thank you teachers, helpers and leaders. Thank you for giving of your time in preparation to teach our children and young people the Word of God. As a father I appreciate all that Taylor is learning from God's Word through your teaching. There is no greater gift than the teaching of the Word of God.
BB, GB, youth club - thank you to all our leaders in each of these organisations. We congratulate Drew Buchanan on the well deserved award of an MBE for services to the BB. There cannot be many churches where the BB and GB captains have been so recognised. Thank you to each of your leaders and helpers for their work each week with our young people. Between the BB, GB and youth club we touch the lives of almost 500 young people each week. That is significant and we as a church need to be much in prayer for our leaders and in a very practical way be much more supportive of them. Please remember these organisations, the children and the leaders regularly in prayer. As a congregation we desperately need people to come forward and to serve in leadership in these organisations. If we do not address this in the year ahead then we will reach a situation where these organisations will not be able to function as they will be breaking the law in regard to leader/children ratios. So please pray about this and consider coming forward to help in these organisations.
I want to thank David Sprott, Elaine Gray, Irene Moffett, Edwin Moffett who each week record and bank the offerings given here. This is a work most people never see or even think of. I know they would be delighted if anyone else could spare even one Sunday a month to help them with this task.
I want to publicly thank Shirley Moffett, who last year took on the role of looking after our building. Thank you Shirley for all your hard work in keeping this place clean and tidy.
Thank you to Sam Skelly who has over the past year worked tirelessly, and sometimes without much thanks, in getting our organisations up-to-date and Safeguarding Trust compliant. I don't have to tell you all how important it is that we comply with the legislation and how important it is for the protection of not only our children but also our leaders. The scandals that are now rocking the RC church go back 30 or more years - that is why records need to accurate and kept - to protect you as leaders from unscrupulous and unfounded allegations in the future, as well as to protect the children entrusted to our care. Thank you Sam for the hard work.
Over the past year we have had many opportunities to welcome others to worship and teach here. Rev Chris Broddle, chief army chaplain, spoke at harvest and many spoke highly of that service. It has been good to hear Brian Courtney and Trevor Johnston preaching. We were blessed by the weekend we had with the Voices of Life Choir from Uganda and on behalf of Fields of Life can I thank all the host families and you as a congregation for the ongoing support to FOL. The GB and BB enrolments continue to be significant opportunities to welcome people to church who rarely attend. However, it would be such an encouragement to our leaders if more of the congregation were to support these services. The Carol service is now well established, as is Christmas Eve HC and both are a blessing to many and form part of their Christmas celebrations. It was good to also see G1 leading worship one Sunday morning and I want to put on record my appreciation of Neill's preaching that Sunday morning. It was a daunting task to stand up in front of your own congregation and preach your first sermon, but I thought he handled the Word of God rightly and spoke very well.
I want to put on record my special thanks to the prayer ministry team - they meet each Thursday to pray for our parish and the wider community. They are here faithfully each Sunday to pray with people after the morning service. This is such a vital ministry in the life of Holy Trinity. Personally it is a great blessing and source of strength to know that people pray each week for the work of God at Holy Trinity. I know they do not do this ministry for recognition or praise but for the glory of God but I want them to know we appreciate their ministry amongst and for us.
Spiritually - we have continued to grow as a parish and we continue to see people come to faith and others grow in their faith. Spiritual health is difficult to measure, in fact it is almost impossible. Yet the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22) should be seen in a church that is spiritually healthy. I believe we do see such fruit in the lives of the people of Holy Trinity. I think Easter Day 2010 revealed that in a public way when so many people were prepared to stand up publicly for Jesus.
However, I would say to you that we still have a significant number of families who are members in name only. We still have significant fluctuations in church attendance. Bible study groups tend to be small. There is a lack of commitment at times in HT, which as a pastor worries me. Over the past year that lack of commitment to the spiritual life of HT has worked itself out in many lives in a lack of moral character and discipline. Pastorally each year in ministry seems to get more and more difficult. I believe the two sermon series that we preached through from last September were in God's providence timely for the life of many in HT. I want to say to you all - my sole aim as a pastor is to be faithful to God and to His Word. There have been, and there will continue to be, times when that will make me extremely unpopular with people. There have been times in the past year when I have faced a backlash from people because I have sought to be faithful to God's Word and refused to compromise on the moral teaching of Scripture. I want to say those times have caused me great pain. I want to say to you all that I would never knowingly hurt someone as a pastor but I will not compromise the Word of God for anyone because it is my very life that I would be compromising if I did so. I have said many times from the pulpit and at Easter Vestry - everyone is welcome at HT but not every behaviour or lifestyle will be accepted at HT. We will welcome everyone but we will love them enough to challenge that which is sinful and unbiblical so that they might repent and come to a true and living faith in Christ. I make no apology for living by the Word of God. I do apologise and ask your forgiveness if by my manner or my speech I have not presented the Word of God in as loving a way as possible. For that I am truly sorry. But please do hear me when I say that I will not compromise the truth of the Word of God, even if people walk away from HT as a result.
Holy Trinity is an amazing place to be the pastor. God has blessed this congregation beyond my expectations. I have been in Carrickfergus for 17 years, 14 of those years in charge of Holy Trinity and on September 14th I will be the rector for 10 years. I desire with all my heart that this fellowship continues to walk faithfully before God and reaches this community with the gospel. I have no doubt that the years ahead will raise many challenges as well as opportunities for the gospel of Christ in this community. As a church we need to seriously start looking outside this fellowship in how we reach this community. The new Select Vestry will need to look at every aspect of our life here and see where God is calling us to new work and ministry in order to reach the lost of our congregation and community. We are called to go forward each day with Christ. Our biggest danger is contentment. Let us not be content but really be a pilgrim people journeying together to heaven. Let us be a people who are known for their love for one another and for this community. To that end I would ask the new Select Vestry to set aside time in the year ahead to listen to God, to listen to this congregation and to the community and see how we advance the gospel witness of this church.
Personal Reflection
Allow me at the close of this address to speak very personally. The past year has been a good year in this parish. At times it has been challenging, rewarding, draining, exhilarating and amazing to be the pastor. Sometimes I have quite literally wanted to run away and other times I couldn't wait for Sunday morning to come round again.
Over the past year many situations have arisen, the nature of which, I have never encountered before in ministry and personally I thank God for His strength and guidance through those times. It has been a blessing to me to have Brian Courtney living nearby and his willingness to listen, to pray with me and to give me advice has been of immense value. It has also been a real blessing to have my best friend George in the next parish for similar reasons. As I said at the beginning of this address it has also been a blessing to have a colleague like Jack who has listened and prayed with and for me through some of those situations. I want also to publicly thank Janet for her support in the past year. Janet is not just my wife but my best friend. She is also the one person who can say things to me that others would only think but never have the courage to say. Her godliness, wisdom, courage, and faithfulness, is a wonderful blessing in my life and a godly example to me. There have been times in this ministry when without her support, encouragement, correction and cajoling I would not have moved forward with God. I thank her for that support.
One Sunday morning I walked in to HT and sat at the front just watching people come in for worship. As you all filed in I was praying thanking God for this place and I remember saying - this place can be a real mess at times but I love the mess because you as a people love us as a family and show that to us in many ways. I want you to know that for me personally Holy Trinity is a place of amazing contradictions, as I am sure it is for you, but it is also the place where I know God has called me to be the pastor. There have been phone calls, sometimes quite tempting conversations, about other places but God has always put in my heart that this is where you are supposed to be. Last year there was an unsettling period for me. Many factors contributed to that but the wise counsel of a bishop helped - when he said that maybe God was unsettling me to enable me to put deeper roots down at Holy Trinity - I believe that is what has happened over the past year and I thank you all for your patience with me if that unsettled time showed in my ministry amongst you.
Last year was tough because as you know Janet was quite ill for a long period of time and with different things happening from last summer till now we have not had a break together as a family. I know you all think that my two weeks in Uganda with FOL is a holiday but you can come sometime and see for yourselves that it is no holiday. I need to remember my family and to be a husband and a father before I am a pastor. To that end I ask you to be patient with me and to understand when I sometimes say 'No' to a request. Taylor sometimes comes into my study and, as only a 9 year old daughter can, reminds me that she is alive and that I have not spent five minutes with her that day. I need to be reminded by Janet and Taylor that after Christ my first relationship is with them. I need you to understand that at times my family take precedence over the parish.
Thank you for loving us as a family. Thank you for all the kindness that you have shown to us. Thank you for looking after Taylor and making this a place where she sees the love of God in people each week.
Forgive me when I appear and come across as unapproachable. I know that many of you see me in such a light. It was something I was not aware of until recently. I know I can come across as sharp and grumpy, Janet often points that out to me - I don't mean to be and I hope you all know that my bark is worse than my bite - but please do correct me if I bark. God is changing me and I pray that in 2010-11 I will be a better pastor than I have been in 2009-10. As I close I want to remind you of the reading from Acts 6.1-7. We have been studying Acts in our parish bible study. I want to say to you all - every one of you has a valid ministry at HT. Without your ministry this church would not function as a healthy body of Christ. My personal ministry is summed up in verse 4 - this is my life as your pastor - devoting myself to prayer and the Word of God - so that I might be a pastor to you - God's people in Holy Trinity.
Thank you for your patience. Thank you for you love and support. May God richly bless us all as we journey together towards heaven.
Amen.
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