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1 June 2018 What s happening in the life of St Andrew s and St Bartholomew s We ve come home! We finally found somewhere to genuinely call home! Home means all sorts of things to all sorts of people. I will never forget sitting in FUEL one night, whilst I was still attending theological college trying to understand all this ordination business, and realising that God had led me home, at least in the earthly sense! God, as ever, knew what he was doing and lo it came to pass that I would end up as your Curate. Three years down the line I can honestly say that every time we have gathered to worship together, and especially on Sundays, it s just felt like coming home. I ve even felt little pangs of guilt at times, because it feels wrong to be enjoying it so much! But I believe that church and home share some sacred common ground. Let me unpack this a little... For me home has to be safe: I need to feel like I can be me, I want to be uplifted, encouraged, restored, reminded of who s I am and sent back out into the world again. Home is the inner place - the sanctuary, but it s also the collaborative place where times of festival light us up, and we rise like Chinese lanterns into the night sky, glowing and burning bright as we go. This is how you, the family of St Andrew s & St Bartholomew s have been for us Thank you! The thing about Chinese lanterns is that they are incredibly fragile, and yet when handled correctly, immensely effective. They must be caringly assembled, held with a light touch, ignited from a source of fire and released to travel as the wind pleases. Each one of you has played a part in our assembly, holding, igniting and now you must release us its time for us to be led where the Spirit pleases. OK, time for some simple home truths. The whole team in this unique church are amazing, and it s my delight to recognise two people in particular. Jonathan & Susie have held us with a loving kindness all too rare in this world. Please never forget how ordinary they are, I mean it they are really ordinary! But Christ in them the hope of glory transforms them from ordinary to extra-ordinary. It s what Jesus does to each of us, when we let go, and let him. Jonathan is a true friend, mentor & master. I hope by his example, to be the same for someoneelse someday. When we started at St Andrews & St Bartholomew s Jonathan said, If its not fun, we re not doing it!. Fun?... It s been a blast! We finally found somewhere to genuinely call home. We have seen it, felt it heard it, smelt it, known it, loved it and been loved, and now we shall share it. May the gift of God s blessing, his richness and fullness, rest upon you all, Amen. Ben, Tammy & Zebedee 1

2 OUR CHURCH UP IN - OUT 5 YEAR PLAN IN ACTION WE NEED YOUR HELP At the APCM in April we learnt from our Treasurer that last year our church finances ended up with a deficit of 22,500 through no particular reason except a general increase in costs all round. This was OK because we could cover that with reserves but this is clearly not something we can continue to do. With God s grace, we also had two unexpected gifts of 25,000 and 10,000 which also offset the deficit. I took that as a sign that the Lord has our backs, but we must continue to be faithful in our finances. We continue to watch our expenditure carefully. This coming year we are investing in people, and in particular the provision of a robust ministry to children, youth and adults. We are employing three new posts: An Associate Vicar. This is to help me with all the clergy duties in the parish, and to further the growth of the congregation. I will not be getting a Curate anytime soon, so we need another clergy staff member. A full time Youth Minister. After Jay left, Jack and Daisy have been holding the fort with our youth admirably. I am very grateful to them for their ministry. Our new Youth Minister, Harry Bennett, starts in August and we are looking forward to him joining us. A full time Children s Minister. We have been so blessed with Alison in this role for 16 years working part-time. I hasten to add that she has put in many more hours than that. She has been supported this year by Laine Lewis on 10 hours a week. Between them they are paid for ¾ of a full-time role. Alison is stepping back from her role as Children s Worker, and Laine is taking over full-time. These are three excellent posts but they need to be funded. The extra cost to us will be: The Associate Vicar will cost us an extra 35,000 which the Diocese are giving us at half price! A good deal! The Youth Minister will cost us an extra 6,000. The Children s Minister will cost us an extra 9,000. In total we need to find an extra 50,000. This current year, as they will only be in post from this summer, that amounts to about 18,000. (That works out if everyone gave 2 more per week!) So, my friends, we need your help. Contrary to popular opinion, we are not flush with money, but if everyone helps then we can easily cover these important additions to our church life. Here comes the hard bit for me. I can t persuade you to give. I can t force you to give. I can t entice you, manipulate you, inspire you, cajole you, guilt you or bribe you to give. All those methods will fail. There is only one person who will convict you to give. It will come from within you not from without. It will fill your heart with joy to give. It will be a necessity to give, not because you have to but because you can see the need is good and godly. Only the Lord can prompt you to give. I can t! But I can urge you, plead with you, beseech you and 2

3 encourage you to pray. Pray this: Dear loving Lord. You are a good, good Father. You will never let me down, and when I give your blessing on me is much greater. Freely I have received, so help me to freely give. What would you have me give regularly to the ministry at St.Andrew s for your glory and the extension of your Kingdom? In Jesus name, Amen. The next step is to: Either talk to Rachel Limbrick, our Treasurer, about giving. Or pick up a Parish Giving Scheme leaflet from the concourse and start the process. As always, I am very grateful to all of you who already give generously. The Lord is on our case. He loves us and wants our church to flourish. May you be encouraged as you partner us in the Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ. If you have any questions, do please ask me for further details. Jonathan May 2018 Hey everyone, I m Harry, the soon-to-be Youth Minister at St Andrew s and St Bartholomew s. I m married to the lovely Perdie and we have a 2 year old son called Reuben (He s very cute). I grew up in a Christian family in Gloucester and have been a member of Kingfisher Church where my Dad is now the pastor. After completing my degree in youth work we moved to London where I have spent the last year working for The Diana Award charity as part of their Anti-Bullying team. We have loved our time here and God has used this experience to grow and develop us immensely. However, I feel so ready for this exciting adventure of leading the youth ministry in Churchdown and cannot wait to use my passion for sharing the good news with non-believers and for developing young Christian leaders, in this role. We re so looking forward to meeting you all and to joining this wonderful family, See you soon. INTRODUCING OUR NEW YOUTH MINISTER The Bennetts THANK YOU FOR PARTY IN THE PARISH Thank you to the many volunteers who helped make Party in the Parish such a success. About a thousand villagers attended for four hours in the glorious Bank Holiday sunshine. As well as a BBQ there was face painting, climbing wall, football, frisbee, rounders, bouncy castles, surfing, tea rooms, concerts and messy church activities. A great Mayday day out for all the family. Do come next year. Jonathan 3

4 MOTHERS UNION MU has been working to end the commercialisation and sexualisation of childhood through their Bye Buy Childhood campaign which was launched in The wellbeing of our children, valuing them as children and not consumers, is part of our relationship with God. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. Matthew 18:5 The campaign was taken to MPs and the Prime Minister, highlighting the commercial pressures on children and the impact they can have. This resulted in the Government commissioning MU s then Chief Executive, Reg Bailey, to carry out an independent review into the issue. His 2011 review Letting Children Be Children made 14 recommendations to industry and the UK Government. We can all help with this by informing MU, through their surveys, whether or not industry guidelines are being applied in our area, and on TV. You can look at the surveys on the MU website, pick one up from the church concourse, or speak to Janet Ross who can let you have a copy to fill out. Completed surveys can either be posted to MU at the address on the survey or given to Janet to send for you. For more detailed information please go to MU s website: Janet Ross JUNE MEETINGS Since then significant action has been taken by Parliament, industry and regulators to ensure that marketing and goods aimed at children are appropriate, and to support parents and carers in managing the impact of the commercial world. ParentPort.org.uk is one way you can respond if you see or hear something unsuitable for children on TV, online, in a film, advert, video game, or magazine. MU continues its input, responding to Government consultations on the issue, meeting with decision makers, and feeding back on whether the guidelines are being adhered to. 4

5 Song, Prayer and Welcome. Couple more songs. Notices, Kids go out. Everyone breathes and moves round a bit, now there are enough seats for everyone and there s no more whispering or hysterical giggling and you haven t got a small person being held by a parent in the row in front blocking the words Thank goodness for the children s groups right?! It s hard not to feel like this sometimes; as a Mum of two I feel like it frequently! Yet children s work is so much more than a blessed relief for the rest of the congregation. We are aiming to grow disciples and strengthen faith. We want to provide the foundations for a Christian life that will grow and develop as the children grow older. We want to equip them for situations they will face at home and school. Helping them to connect with a God that is relevant to their lives and who loves them enough to die for them. What children s work is and is not Children s groups are not just babysitting, they are there for a purpose. Children s work is an important ministry, they are our first form of evangelism. No one is just a helper. Everyone is needed to connect with the children. It is important that things are done correctly and safely: these are God s children we are working with. So we ask you to have a little think about how you feel about our children s work. Do you have skills you could share with us? Do you have a heart for telling people about Jesus? Do you have a passion for sharing the Gospel? For seeing people grow in their faith? Do you want to help others have a personal relationship with God? Children s groups should be a place of fun and safety where they learn the basics of the Christian faith through Bible Stories and where they learn that the Bible is relevant and that prayer is important. So often how we as adults approach children s groups sets the tone for how our children engage with them. Therefore we need to bust a few myths that are common in all churches not just ours We are specifically looking for the following: Three people to join a rota as helpers for school year 5-6 (top of juniors) group, in the loft. Two people to join a rota as leaders for school year 5-6 (top of juniors) group, in the loft. Two people to join a rota as leaders for school years 2-4 in the Hall. Full training and support given as well as lots of prayer and biscuits. Thank you for prayerfully considering these roles. Alison and Laine 5

6 FINANCE MATTERS cese, continues to increase. And from 2010 to 2017 we have seen an increase of 20% in this cost. During At the APCM on 26 th April, I had the pleasure of presenting the Annual Accounts to those present at the including new PCs for the office. The church also sup we invested in some needed new IT equipment, meeting. The Accounts had been approved by the ported the Away Weekend to Hothorpe. We also continued to pay off the loans that were used for the re- PCC two weeks earlier and for the first time this year they are available on the Church website. I would like ordering of the church. to highlight two of the slides that I presented to the Annual Surplus / Deficit. During 2015 we made a APCM. slight surplus of 1,000. In 2016 we made a surplus Annual Income. Our Income over the past three years has ranged from 384k in 2015, 387k in 2016 and 383k in The income consists of Planned Giving (56%), Donations (16%) Activities for Generating Funds (10%), Charitable Activities (16%) and Miscellaneous (2%). Planned Giving is either through the Parish Giving Scheme or regular giving direct to the church and approximately 150 people use this method (this figure includes some couples). As stated in the published accounts there were 499 people on the Parish Electoral Roll. Donations and Legacies fell during 2017 and by their very nature, it is extremely difficult to forecast the level of income we may receive from these sources of funding. Annual Expenses. Our Expenditure over the past three years has been 383k in 2015, 372k in 2016 and 406k in There was no one particular reason why the expenditure increased in 2017 as there were lots of little increases across the board. Our Parish Share i.e. the amount we have to pay to the Dio- of 15,000. However in 2017 we had a deficit of 22,500. We are fortunate that we can cover the deficit by our reserves, however this is something we cannot sustain. We are a growing and healthy church. However to run the church takes many people. We currently have 11 people employed (the majority of these are part time) and many very willing volunteers, without whom we could not function efficiently. Finance is a dry subject but Finance Matters. Thank you to those who are already giving, if you are not, or would like to know more about planned giving scheme, please take leaflet from the concourse, or speak to myself or a member of the staff team. Thank you. Rachel Limbrick, Treasurer. 6

7 AETHELFLAED ANNIVERSARY There has been a buzz of excitement about one of our stained glass windows recently. This has included people visiting St. Andrew s Church to see the window, someone writing a feature for a magazine, and planned events for celebrations in Gloucester! What is so special about one of our stained glass windows? Well, the wonderful window we have, which is situated at the far right hand side of the raised seating area at St. Andrew s, features Aethelflaed, daughter of King Alfred the Great, and also known as the Baroness of Churchdown. Aethelflaed was one of the most powerful women of her time: a warrior who fought the Danes and the Lady of the ancient kingdom of Mercia. I was intrigued why we have a stained glass window on Aethelflaed and did not previously know she was the Baroness of Churchdown. It is thought that she founded the first church here at Chapel Hay. The foundations were discovered somewhere between the present church and the Churchdown Club. In fact, 12 years ago, when the tennis courts were renewed, they discovered bones from the first church site and Jonathan conducted a posthumous funeral service. So it seems that the first Christian church site in Churchdown was not up at St.Bartholomew, but was probably near St.Andrew s, and founded by a woman. Do look at the window in St.Andrew s in the elevated section dedicated to Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians. If you would like to find out more by taking part in the Anglo Saxon Festival, please look at Chantal Whitehouse & Jonathan On 12 th June it will be 1100 years since her death. Celebrations take place in Gloucester to mark this occasion including a Saxon funeral procession, and music and performance at St. Oswalds Priory, which Aethelflaed founded and which became her final resting place. Tours of the streets of Gloucester will take place because Aethelflaed originally designed the grid formation of streets. There will also be other events and talks on Saxon life. Aethelflaed, as depicted in a manuscript in

8 All services will be at St Andrew s unless otherwise stated 3 rd June Trinity 1 9am Holy Communion 10.30am Family worship (NB Note change) 6pm Evensong@St.Bartholomew 10 th June Trinity 2 9:00am Holy Communion 10.30am All Age Communion (NB Note change) 11am St.Bartholomew 17 th June Trinity am Holy Communion 10.30am Family Worship 24 th June Trinity am Holy Communion 10.30am Family Worship 6pm Holy Communion at St.Bartholomew 1 st July Trinity 5 WORSHIP FOR JUNE am Holy Communion 10.30am All Age Communion 6pm Evensong@St.Bartholomew USEFUL CONTACTS The Vicar Jonathan Perkin Curate Ben Lillie Children s Workers Alison Summerskill & Laine Lewis Reader Alison Summerskill Youth Pastors Daisy Cordery & Jack Neave Creative Pastor Rhiannon Davies Churchwardens Richard Badley Kevin Sadler Administrator Loraine Yates Chantal Whitehouse Treasurer Rachel Limbrick Assistant Treasurers Alice Oakes, Di Rowe PCC Secretary Enid Castle Weekday Services 9:00 am Monday to Friday in the Quiet Room - Morning Prayer 10:00 am every Thursday in the Quiet Room Holy Communion St Andrew s Church Centre Station Road, Churchdown Gloucester GL3 2JT T: admin@standrewschurchdown.org.uk Office Hours Monday-Friday pm 8