Please don’t throw out your brochure “It’s Not about the Pilot”. Every church member should have received one by the middle of this week. Just before the summer holidays is the last time of the year I would think issuing something like this.
July is not the time the time of year when people think about new initiatives. In July the congregation tends to be focused on sunscreen, travel insurance, sleeping bags, malaria pills and getting everything done before everyone goes away.
We will pick all this up again in September when we return. Instead of looking at a book of the Bible, we will be looking at ourselves, seeing how far we have got since the days of that Quest, and where we need to go.in the future. The whole Church of England has recently been running a Renewal and Reform programme. (That’s to a large extent where the Pattern Church has come from.) We will be doing something similar in St John’s, initiating our own local Renewal and Reform programme.
That being said, some things can wait until September and some cannot.
The treasurer’s role can wait a little longer. This is because we have a provisional team in terms of our churchwardens, Rod and Sharon, Joan, currently looking after the ledgers, and Tony all keeping us on track. We want to hand the books over in good shape. In fact, “books” may well become a thing of the past.
PCC needs to do some more work on our expectations of the treasurer’s role before the holidays, and we will be looking at that subject again on Monday. We need to be clear in our own minds about what we want our new Treasurer to do.
But some things won’t wait until September. We need to be ready.
Scramblers: We are saying farewell to Althea. Althea has helped with the Scrambler class for five years, and done a wonderfully conscientious job. She is one of our three Scrambler leaders, and we need to replace her. This is not something we can start to think about on 9th September when our children’s work restarts. We need to have a new leader in place.
In addition, we are losing the services of Rachel, who has been acting as an assistant leader for the last few years. We are really grateful to Rachel, who has done this in addition to working on Saturdays, and going to college during the week. Full marks for effort there.
That means will need at least two assistants for next year and one Scrambler Leader.
Parents: as chief beneficiaries of children’s work, are often active in helping. That is as it should be.
We also want to say a special thank you
…to those who continue so faithfully with this ministry. It is wonderful to look out on a Sunday morning and see some many children in church.
And it is great to hear from parents and much the children love their groups. This is due to the dedication of our children’s team. We thank them for it.
So If you have not yet got involved with our children’s work, here is an opening. We need you to have a short interview as part of our Safer Recruitment Policy, and to provide references. You will also receive Job Spec. But most importantly, you will feel part of the wider team and know you are contributing to the lives of children in the way the matters most.