Andrew’s sudden deterioration in health led to his very reluctant resignation as our treasurer. It was always his intention to train someone up to replace him in that role. He was very sad to have to hand it over with no successor in place. And while we cannot deny we have a problem, it is also something of an opportunity.
Andrew’s life reminds us that serving is an essential part of belonging to a church. This is not just because the church needs people to do jobs, but because God has given each of his people gifts. The Parable of the Talents was told by Jesus to remind us that using our gifts is not an optional extra. Jesus reminds us that serving God is a source of joy and blessing both for ourselves and others.
Over recent years, Andrew has taken more of a back seat. But those who have been around for a while have only to reflect on how different our church would have been had he not used his considerable gifts in the way he did.
So we are taking the opportunity of the vacancy in the role of treasurer to examine the whole idea of our ongoing service as a congregation. Everyone will be receiving a brochure on this subject from Sunday onwards.
As for the treasurer’s role, Andrew never envisaged anyone doing the job exactly as he has done it. He realised that paper ledgers, cheques and calculators were giving way to automation and simplification.