RECRUITMENT DRIVE - YOUR CHURCH NEEDS YOU!

During the summer months we open the church on Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays in June, July and August from 10am to 4pm. This is achieved by having 18 people a week taking a two hour slot being a welcome face to any visitors.

It would be a great help if as many of the congregation took part in this task as possible. You need no skills other than an ability to welcome our visitors and hand out leaflets, last year the church benefited financially from our visitors leaving donations. Are you able to find two hours a week for the benefit of the church, below are the times required, two people per session.

Tuesdays           Wednesdays            Thursdays
10am-noon        10am –noon            10am – noon
noon – 2pm       noon – 2pm             noon – 2pm
2pm to 4pm       2pm – 4pm              2pm to 4pm

Thank you for considering the part you can play in this delightful task welcoming people into God’s house. You can choose your slot either on Sunday at the back if the church or alternatively by phoning Addie Clarkson.

ON A MORE REGULAR NOTE

We are hoping that you might consider filling the following posts:-

1 Door duty once every five weeks at present Sunday 9am to noon.

2 Cashier with same hours and frequency as above.

3 Sound person and a Projection person, for which training will be given.

If you can help in this please call the office on Tel. 01557 330489.

Thank you for all your consideration of these points. I look forward to welcoming you into the work of the Kingdom

Many Thanks.

Irene Robertson

And on the theme of volunteers….

I hope you have noticed that the Name Plate by the Church Hall door is looking bright and clean. Our grateful thanks to Leslie Purdy who offered to re-paint it, and to Alex Kinnell for taking it down and replacing it with some assistance holding the ladder. Our Parish could not function without these people working behind the scenes to look after our buildings.
 

ELDERS' CONFERENCE - A JOURNEY OF DISCIPLESHIP

A short report from Addie and Irene individually on their experience:-

Addie - We had a pleasant trip and our accommodation was really good, after registering and dinner we adjourned to the lecture theatre for the start of the conference. Our initial Worship began with prayer and singing of How great thou Art and Psalm 23 (modern rendition). It is a long time since I was moved by singing to the point that the hairs on my neck stood on end I realised this conference was going to be something special.

There was 30 workshops of which we had to choose five each Irene and I choose different ones and met up at mealtimes.

I chose:-

1) Employment Essentials for Congregations

2) Law Matters Being a trustee in the Church

3) Young Adults in Eldership

4) The Invisible Church

5) Communication Engaging the Church with the Media.

All were interesting and informative and I secured a number of email address for more information if we need them. All the Keynote talks I found Inspiring delivered by gifted speakers from diverse backgrounds.

What did I gain from my experience knowledge, humility regarding my own shortcomings I was inspired to comeback and put my learning into practice?

I will never forget the organiser of the whole event, Hongsum Um, who was always available day and night with a smile or a chat the Holy Spirit just seemed shine out of him.

Thank you for making it possible for me to attend this weekend.

Irene - Meeting and chatting with lots of committed Christians was such a joy and all the activities during the weekend all bought into Promoting Positive Change. It is difficult in such a short report to give you the sense of the Church’s willingness and desire to change and move forward. Personally I found myself refreshed, motivated and raring to go. And just a little high
on enthusiasm.

Key note talk by Rev Norman Smith called “Sharing Faith” explained what he calls our default culture our ABC in that we put our focus on our a) Attendances b) Building c) Cash flow stating that if this is our only focus D being Death will occur. To change this default culture we need to move to a Faith Sharing Discipleship explaining that coming to church is not as it was 20 years ago with different work patterns, different leisure patterns and complex family arrangements.

What inspired me most was that the speaker has “walked the walk”. I spent some time with him should we want him to come and speak to us he would be happy to do so.

Two of the five workshops I attended were appropriate for our church at present:-

1) “So now you are in Vacancy” the main point learned was that preparation was crucial for a good outcome.

2) Understanding the Local Church Review which is a new initiative from Presbytery working out a five year development plan for growth.

The remaining three I choose for my personal growth each having a different focus on a better understanding of your Faith.

In total these put together gives me great confidence we can manage change to a positive outcome.

It was a truly inspiring and motivational weekend thank you for supporting my journey.