Priorities for 2001

(Mark 8.27-30)

For the past few years many people had been thinking and talking about the Mew Millennium.

Remember all the talk and speculation about the 'Millennium Bug', ...how at the stroke of midnight aeroplanes might fall out of the sky, ...power stations might shut down, ...even our washing machines might stop working.

Well its a sobering fact that the year 2000 is nearly over, ...and a new year is rapidly approaching.

As a church, much has happened during the past 11 months. You may remember that we had six priorities for this year, ...they were printed in our year book, (show it) ...and I want to briefly summarise where we have got with them.

1. To reach out to people in our community.

We've had two special events to help us do that, ...one was the J.John mission at the cathedral, ...the other was our guest service a few weeks ago with Roger Murphy.

And our Christmas services provide other opportunities to invite people to something special.

2. To build up friendships and fellowship

We started the year with our Millennium Party, ...and then had another party to celebrate the 40th anniversary of our church. We've also had a beetle drive, a quiz evening, a barbecue, and a parish walk, ...and of course, another New Year's in a few weeks time.

3. To start another youth group

This was launched earlier in the year, and caters for our 11 - 14 year olds on a Friday evening.

4. To climb the 'Second Mountain'

Remember how we needed an extra £100 a week to balance our books, ...and we had a great response at our Gift Day in March.

5. To develop 'Our Parish Project'

I want to say more about that in a few minutes.

6. To set up a ministry leadership team

This we have now done, and I'm pleased to say that Bishop Anthony will be coming to our church on 7 January, at 4:00 pm, in order to authorize the team.

It's quite an honour, because normally he sends a representative, ...but for us he has offered to come in person.

Being the first Sunday in January, the 10:00 am service will be an all-age service. Then at 4:00 pm, Bishop Anthony will be authorising the MLT during a communion service.

If you've not got young children, and you can only come to church once on that day, ...can I encourage you to have the morning off, and to come along to the afternoon service.

During the next 3 years each member of the MLT will be giving up hundreds of hours in service of the church, ...it would be great if as many people as possible could come and show their support.

So I hope you agree that we have taken a big step forward with all six of our priority areas for the year 2000. And we hope that work in these areas will continue to grow. But with the dawn of yet another new year, the PCC have been discussing our priorities for 2001. It is this that I mainly want to focus on this morning.

But first I want to draw your attention to the fact that in different times in Jesus' ministry, he too had different emphases.

I don't know if you've ever been puzzled by the last verse of our Gospel reading this morning. Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am?", ...Peter answered, "You are the Christ", ...and then Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

It seems strange that Jesus would say that, isn't it?

Especially since earlier on in his ministry Jesus had sent them out, two by two, to spread the good news. ...and then after his resurrection he told them to go and make disciples of all nations.

Now one explanation of this is that there were times when Jesus wanted his disciples to get out there, to spread the Good News, ...and there were times that he wanted to draw them back in, to teach them and build them up, ...in order to prepare them for going out again.

I feel that 2001 should be a year of consolidation, ...to lay the foundations for our next phase of reaching out to people.

So what are the foundations that we need to lay?

1. To develop the prayer life of our church

For a Christian praying should be as important as breathing, and should be as natural as breathing, ...but often its not.

We want to encourage people to develop their own personal prayer life, and also to develop our corporate prayer life as a church.

I'm please to say that Brian Bailey is the member of the MLT who has agreed to oversee this area of ministry, ...(ask him to stand), ...and so if you've got any ideas about how we should go about this, please have a word with him.

A heathy prayer life is probably the most important foundation that we can have as a church.

2 To grow more leaders

In several areas of our church life we are coming up against the same brick wall, ...a shortage of leaders.

It's great to see the number of children growing, ...but we need more leaders for our children's groups.

It's great to see that when our children are starting secondary school, most of them still want to be part of our church. We now have about 20 young people in the 11-14 year old age range, ...but we desperately need more youth group leaders.

It is lovely to see about 30 adults enjoying our current Alpha course, and we would love to offer them a follow-up course, ...but we can't because of a shortage of leaders.

There are so many other things we would like to start, (for people of all ages), ...but once again the problem is a shortage of leaders.

For leaders to work effectively they need to be trained, ...and they need on-going support. This year we want to establish a leadership training course, ...and we want to put in place an on-going support network.

3 To move forward with Our Parish Project

Let me update you with what's been happening over the past few months.

Having completed the roof, which was Stage One of Our Parish Project, we asked everyone who uses our building to make suggestions about what needs to be improved.

These were fed to our architect, who we paid to conduct a feasibility study. As far as I know, this was the first time that anyone had looked at the building as a whole, and thought about our dreams for the future.

Our architect produced some drawings showing different options, and the PCC decided which they liked, and which they didn't. Our architect, and John Clarke, then estimated some typical costs for the various suggestions, ...and the PCC decided which things were essential and which were of a lower priority.

What we've ended up with is a Three Stage project.

Stage One was the roof, (and that's complete).

Stage Two is the essential work which must be completed. You've each been given a leaflet which gives an outline of that work, ...and in the Hall you can see the architects drawing. But let me give you a few more details:

- We need a new heating system. The current one is about 20 years old, and the gas engineer tells us it's on its last legs, and could fail at any time.

Imagine a new heating system that is quiet, warm and efficient.

- We need to modernise our kitchen, because it no longer meets the latest hygiene requirements.

Imagine a kitchen that's a bit bigger, (because we can remove a cupboard between the kitchen and the meeting room), ...and which has a bigger serving hatch facing the hall, and an extra serving hatch into the Meeting Room.

Imagine a kitchen which has new units, a double sink and drainers, a proper non-slip floor, a new window, and an instant hot water heater.

- We need to provide better facilities for people with disabilities, (and this comes into effect by law). The same facilities will also benefit people with young children.

Imagine:

- A brand new toilet, wide enough for wheelchairs, and proper baby-changing facilities.

- More ramps for wheelchairs and buggies

- A loop system for people with hearing aids.

- We need make some safely improvements, (again, some of these are now required by law).

Imagine a fire alarm system, and emergency lighting, ...an Emergency Exit from the Meeting Room, ...and some rewiring.

- We need to improve our toilet facilities, (especially the gents where damp and leaking roofs means the plaster is falling off the walls). But also because the drains aren't right.

Imagine swapping over the ladies and the gents! (This means the ladies now have the bigger room). Then completely gutting the new ladies, putting in three cubicles, tiling the walls, and a non-slip floor).

- Also imagine new windows in the Meeting Room, and a few other repairs.

I think you'll agree that all this work is essential, and it will greatly improve our facilities here.

So far we've received £18,000 of grants. We need a lot more, and that is something we'll be persuing next year.

But I mentioned we are looking at a three stage project. Stage Three is the other work we would love do tackle when Stage Two is complete.

Our architect has done a drawing of this work too. It's got some great ideas, ...and if you're interested, there is a copy in the Church Hall which you can look at over coffee.

5 To introduce 'Common Worship'

As I've mentioned before, we have no choice about this, because it effects every Church of England church in the country.

The ASB, (which we are using today), is being superseded by this book, (show Common Worship). We can either buy copies of this, or else we can print our own service booklet, which might look like this one.

The new services have much more flexibility regarding what you can keep in, or take out. If we wanted to, we could choose an order of service that's almost identical to the red book. Alternatively, we could introduce a few variations. This is obviously something that we will want to seek your views about.

6. To review our Child Protection Policy

Once again this is something that all churches are doing, to keep in line with current legislation.

We must ensure that all our children are safe from harm when they take part in activities organised by the church.

We've already made a start on this, and have improved the way in which we collect and use information that parents tell us about their children, (eg medical conditions, food allergies, etc.). But we also need to review other aspects of child protection.

So you can see, there's much to be getting on with in the year ahead:

- To develop the prayer life of our church,

- To grow more leaders,

- To move forward with Our Parish Project,

- To introduce 'Common Worship', and,

- To review our Child Protection Policy.

I hope that this time next year, I can tell you that we've made big steps forward in all these areas. As I said earlier, I see them as being important foundations upon which we can build the future work of our church.

In the meantime, if you've got any views about any specific aspect of any of these things, please have a word with any member of the PCC. We would love to here your views.

...and please pray for us as we try to move forward together.