Vicar's Annual Report 2006-07

Proverbs 19:21

Many are the plans in a man's heart,
but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails.

There have been and are many plans. These need to be set in the context of the Lord's purpose. We have been discussing various plans and projects that are important for our ministry and mission to Beckenham. These have been in the areas of people resources and property needs; they present challenges not only to our finances but to our flexibility - change will be necessary and inevitable.

We need to decide before God what we as a church community and PCC need to do to ensure that our decisions further his purpose.

Church LIFE

Since the '40 Days of Purpose' & Church Weekend away in May 2006 and the ensuing discussions, five steering groups were developed to provide Leadership In Five Emphases (LIFE) Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship, Ministry and Mission. This has been a great encouragement as a fulfilment of the prayer and purpose presented at the last APCM that "we will be able to develop five teams to have oversight and leadership for the church's life in each of the areas of 'purpose', with 'worship' being concerned with the whole of our life."

There is a poster in the Church publishing the purposes and leaders of each Group. During the year there have been 8 meetings of the PCC, 6 meetings of the Church LIFE Leaders, and two combined Days Away. The minutes of the Church LIFE meeting are circulated to all LIFE team leaders and PCC members. Suggestions, ideas and involvement are welcome from members of the congregation to members of both groups, with whom there is significant and helpful overlap.

The LIFE teams have gone through a process of searching how they should function, discovering the needs in the church and considering how changes can be made. Their work has been foundational and is still in a formational stage although there have been changes and moves forward, as I will review under the five headings.

Worship

This involves the whole life of the church, not just our Sunday services, and it is appropriate here to mention leadership and staff changes.

Staff changes

You will no doubt be aware that on Sunday I announced Simon's resignation as Youth Minister. This comes after two years of discussion with regard to his role and the future direction of his ministry. He has increasingly felt that he is no longer called to Youth Ministry but rather to ministry outside the traditional church and to the 'unchurched'. His last Sunday with us will be the fifth of August, the concluding Sunday of the Holiday Club, and we will, of course, be saying "goodbye" to Simon and Joy more fully. This is the right time, however, to put on record our appreciation of Simon's leadership of the youth ministry over the last six years. The back pages of the Ministry Reports present such a positive picture of all that goes on in the children's and Youth Ministry, which is based on the same five emphases that shape our ministry as a whole, with the purpose of making "disciples of young people, to the glory of His name." Simon and Joy will very much appreciate your prayers as they conclude ministry here and seek God's direction for the future.

We are already looking to appoint a new Youth Minister as soon as possible. Initial enquiries have already commenced and Simon, the Churchwardens and I have begun discussion with regard to the recruitment of his successor.  In the meantime, we are already discussing preparation for Simon's departure, interim arrangements for leadership of the ministry and the detailed requirements to ensure a smooth hand-over to his successor.

You will also be aware that for four years we have been understaffed while we have been searching for the right person to join us as Associate Vicar. I am pleased to be able to tell you that on Monday (23/04/07) the Bishop of Tonbridge emailed me confirming the appointment of the Associate Vicar "subject to usual procedures" (CRB clearance and medical checks). While I cannot as yet announce personal details, I can quote from the reference of his present incumbent which, like the others we requested, provides enthusiastic endorsement of his ministry. He says, "You will appreciate that he did not arrive from Theological College inexperienced, having spent 6 years church planting with YWAM in inner city Glasgow, 2 years of self funded theological training at Trinity Bristol before spending a further 5 years as Outreach Minister at a large suburban church before returning to Trinity College to train for ordination and coming to his present position where he has been for four years. He is first and foremost a gifted evangelist with a heart for mission. He is also a leader and would make a significant contribution in this respect. I would consequently commend him warmly to you without reservation."

It is often good to look back over time and see the points at which the Lord's leading has become apparent in a way that is not always clear on a day by day basis. The PCC has been keen to develop a number of improvements that will help the ministry and, in parallel with the search for an Associate Vicar, we have also become convinced of the need to ensure that the accommodation for him and his family meets the demands we are likely to make on them all. During 2006 it became clear that 78 The Drive would not be able to meet these needs, even with significant extension and adaptation works. In January 2007, on the day after the needs that the PCC had identified were presented to the first of the sub-committees, we had the offer of a house of suitable size and location. With such a significant matter, the whole church has been given the opportunity to think, pray and express views about the way forward, and that has been of great help to the PCC in understanding the Lord's purpose. The three months since the first offer have tested our faith, our understanding of each others' opinions, our capabilities to respond to a challenge that is beyond our known resources, and our dependence on the Lord to sort things out. Other people wanted the new house too, and offered more money than we were able to, but it was then offered to us on acceptable terms and the PCC has agreed to buy it. Our faith is still being tested in the matter of the sale of 78 The Drive, but we have received so much encouragement over the new home, that we can be confident that He will bring this matter to a successful conclusion that gives Him all the glory.

Services

With regard to our Sunday worship, we are very much aware of the concerns with regard to audibility and visibility. 2006 saw the hard work of the East End Steering Group, helped by the Buildings Committee, come to a view as to how this part of the church can best be improved. This needs to be put to the congregation as part of our funding needs for the coming year, so that the whole space of the church can meet our ministry and worship needs. Ken Short is now overseeing the recording, copying and distribution of the tapes for Sunday morning services. While the quality of the recording has improved, further improvements will be possible when the issues of our sound system have been addressed.

We are grateful to all those who assist with our services, whether taking part or in the technical aspects. We are blessed with a wealth of musical talent and are thankful to Christian, Helen, Nagisa, Nick, Paul and Jack for their leadership. The newly formed planning group for the All-Age Service Organising Team is now in operation for an initial period of 6 months and the first services with which they were involved were on Mothering Sunday and Easter Day. The LIFE Team is also considering the formation of a sub-group to develop the prayer life of the church, both training those who lead in public prayer and organising prayer meetings and triplets.

Fellowship

Our desire is to be a welcoming church and the LIFE Team seeks to welcome and incorporate newcomers as well as oversee all points of contact and care with the church congregation. The Welcome Desk has proved a positive step and team members have a good knowledge of information and available literature for those who enquire. The last New Comers' Tea in November was a success and now we are able to plan them more frequently, as required by numbers.

There is a great deal of care taking place on a spontaneous basis in the church concerning members of the congregation, however there are times when it is felt that some needy people are not known about. The last Breakfast for Women raised the issue of bereavement and the need for a support group in the Church. Gill Vevers and Chris Lumgair have met and are working on the formation of a Bereavement Support Group.

We reviewed the Church Weekend Away which was so significant, as 'Day 41', in taking forward the '40 Days of Purpose', as well as providing a valuable and enjoyable time of fellowship. It was agreed that this is one of the most effective ways of getting to know people and of incorporating those who have recently joined the church. In fact, the next one has now been planned for the first May Bank Holiday Weekend 2008.

Discipleship

'242'

The '40 Days of Purpose' led on to a revised pattern for our mid-week programme, called '242' after Acts 2:42: "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." Recognising the demands of busy lives, we have planned this programme to be as flexible as possible so that individuals can be involved as much as they are able. There is a united meeting once a month which is for everyone, whether or not they are involved in any small group or other meetings during the rest of the month. These have had various themes, with the most recent being 'Christ in the Passover'. We have been greatly encouraged by these times. As someone commented, "this is church as it should be, coming alive!" I am grateful to Alan Gardiner for all his work on this.

Our small groups meet in the other weeks of the month, on different days, at varying times and in different homes in the area. This year, in addition to the ongoing home groups, two groups were formed during the Lent period to study the Beatitudes, as the short-term group last year was particularly appreciated by some.

The frequency of meeting will depend upon the individual group. Discipleship is a particular purpose of our small groups, as we pray that lives may be changed by the Holy Spirit as God's word is studied and applied. The flexibility of this new pattern of mid-week meetings is intentional, so that we may live a life of worship, furthered through our fellowship, discipleship, mission and ministry. Each of these emphases is important in the life of our church and small groups. Our purpose, if we are to follow the model of the early church, is to bring people to Jesus and fellowship in God's family, to enable them to grow in discipleship through biblical teaching, to equip them for their ministry in the church and mission in the world, in order to live a life of worship to the glory of God.

Our Commission

Our commission is to make disciples, baptising them into membership of the body of Christ and teaching them to obey everything the Lord Jesus taught. We do so, as Howard Norrish reminded us last week, with the authority of the risen Lord behind us and his presence with us. We have discussed how we may be more effective at this. Training courses, which we intend to develop, are an integral part of the five aspects of the Saddleback programme, the aim of which is to build Christians up to maturity and equip them for ministry.

Ministry

Ministry is the calling of every Christian. When you read the Reports of Ministries you will see how greatly we are indebted to a marvellous team of people who are engaged in the many ministries which make up our life together. Thank you. They will always be glad to have more join them! We are aware of a need to assess what is going on in the church and who is involved in the various programmes. This will then help us to determine where the needs are and what further ministry training is needed.

The role of those who are 'ordained' is to equip God's people for the work of ministry. I'm thankful for those engaged in this with me: John Anscombe, Ken Short and David Overington. There are people in the church who would like to be involved in the ministry of the church but do not know how or where. Information needs to be available at place where people can ask what the needs are and how they can be involved.

Steve Ashfield has now been off work for four months but is making progress and we send our best wishes for a steady recovery. During his prolonged absence stalwart work has been done by those who have carried on and, in particular, Colin and Geraldine Burstow. The Churchwardens have been and are a marvellous support. That they and we have been able to carry on is, however, due to Shirley Hutchings who, in addition to all that she was doing, has managed magnificently with additional work required. The two Anns in the office work splendidly to produce the regular printing as well as the reports and booklets required for meetings like this.

One particular ministry I would like to mention is the Baby & Toddler Clubs led by Diana Weaver and her team of helpers. It is remarkable to see about 100 parents/carers plus children gather on a Wednesday morning. The aim of this has always been to build bridges into the community and it has been particularly encouraging recently to see this working, with two Mums coming into membership of the church. An imaginative initiative which is developing out of this is 'Coffee & Conversation', a ministry of the church to those who wish to improve their spoken English.

Mission

One of our aims is to develop a programme of monthly events to which church members can invite their friends. This is part of an evangelistic strategy which builds from the 'community' to the 'committed'. Events like the brilliant 'Evening with Jonathan Veira' are planned as occasions to which we can invite non-churched friends with confidence as a first step. Programmes such as Alpha are towards the end of that process, with a presentation of the Gospel and the challenge of commitment. In connection with this we are compiling a 12-monthly calendar to build an overall picture of events and identify where the gaps are.

One of the Associate Vicar's roles will be the development of our mission and the re-establishment of our Alpha courses. The Breakfasts for Women continue to be a highly effective element in our evangelistic strategy, thanks to Harriet and her team. The response at the last two Breakfasts has been most encouraging with about 30 women from each Breakfast requesting follow-up and, from the most recent Breakfast, 12 will be starting an enquirers' Bible Study this Saturday.

Currently a summer outreach, 'Love your neighbour', is being planned to help build relationships with the people around us. Increasingly, with people working longer hours and living in smaller family units, people do not know their neighbours even when they may have lived in a location for years. The aim is eventually to create bridges of friendship leading to opportunities to witness to our neighbours. A pilot scheme will be taking place in one or two roads in the Christ Church parish. Neal Writer is doing a great job in taking this forward with Marjorie Murphy who is also initiating ?

Street Pastors. This is an interdenominational response to neighbourhood problems; "engaging with people on the streets and in night-time venues to care, listen, dialogue and offer practical help." Christ Church is one of the Beckenham churches committed in principle to starting this scheme here and six people have so far expressed interest in becoming involved.

On a very practical level we want to improve our communication with the 'outside world' which observes our posters and checks out our web site. As a start a new fixture has been installed in the Church foyer to improve the display of posters.

Site Development

Mission has always been the guiding principle for our site development which has been beset by frustrations. This, too, has been a great opportunity to see the Lord's care for us here as His people. 2006 was a year of preparation, with a focus on ensuring that the unseen, preparatory work underneath the Main Hall was dealt with so that the improvements that are so sorely needed in that building can be planned for the benefit of our work and witness. The new WCs the lobbies and the Choir room are the first signs of those improvements. We are grateful to Charlie Grimble for the tremendous effort he puts into this. Just as that work was underway, the news that Central Tyres were ending their lease of the garage came both as a shock and a challenge. We clearly need time to build on the work done so far by the former SITE Board, and we need to try and maintain our income from the garage. The Lord has provided for both needs with an offer from Kwik Fit that has exceeded our expectations, and given us a 5 year breathing space during which we must plan the future use of that marvellous asset and the Halls that we enjoy, despite their need for significant investment. We must use that time wisely, so that in the meantime, we expand our ministry, and prepare for our responsibilities for the coming decade.

Overseas

The Anglican Youth Fellowships Choir proved excellent ambassadors for Christ to our local schools, while furthering our link with Uganda, and with St Luke, Ntinda. They also, incidentally, demonstrated the effectiveness of a good PA system! Our relationship with the church in Uganda has continued to be strengthened by mutual visits from and to Sam & Eva Kitalya and Zac Niringiye who will be back in June. In the same way it has been good to strengthen the link with Ann Lipson in Kenya. A number of our congregation, young and older, have been engaged in short-term assignments in these mission areas.

We continue to support all our mission partners and families and thank God for his generous provision through his people who have made it possible for 24% of our total income to be given to mission at home and abroad.

God's purpose; our purpose

As John Piper has said, "missions exist because worship doesn't." 1 Worship is what humans were created for and the vision which ignites mission is of a countless number from every race worshiping God. There is an intimate connection between worship and mission which is evident in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. In his breath-taking opening Paul, three times, speaks of the praise of God's glory and grace (1:6, 12, 14).

As our text for 2006 reminded us, "In Christ we were also chosen ? that we ? might be for the praise of his glory." (Ephesians 1:11,12) in chapter 3 Paul reflects on God's marvellous purpose for the church, that "now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known." (Eph 3:10) John Stott comments that no other human community is like the church: "Its diversity and harmony are unique. It is God's new society. And the many-coloured fellowship of the church is a reflection of the many-coloured wisdom of God." 2

But Paul's letter is immensely practical. He recognises the threats from our fallen nature, from false teachers and failings in our fellowship. He closes his letter to the Ephesians with a reminder that we are all engaged in a spiritual battle. Those embroiled in warfare know what really matters. This Easter, Canon Andrew White, who spoke at our ThankOffering Sunday, wrote, "Amidst the suffering and brokenness of Baghdad the Glory of the risen Christ was so real. It gives hope and purpose, the assurance of sins forgiven and God's glory with us now." When asked about the dangers of his Baghdad parish, he has observed that perhaps it is more dangerous in the suburbs! Here it is so easy to forget that we are in a spiritual battle; it is so easy to forget what our priorities are and what our purpose is.

George Verwer encourages us, for the sake of the mission of the church, to come out of our comfort zone. He gives a heart cry for a "grace awakening", warning of the lack of grace and the enemies of grace - legalism, negativism, perfectionism, criticism, pettiness and so many more - which hinder the work of God across the globe.3 John Stott has a similar thought, commenting on Ephesians which Paul wrote from the confines of house arrest in Rome. "How blinkered is our vision in comparison with Paul's. ? Easily and naturally we slip into a preoccupation with our own petty little affairs. But we need to see time in the light of eternity. If we shared the Apostle's perspective, we would also share his praise." 4

And so we come back to where we began. Many plans. A growing sense of God's direction in them. But, above all, a conviction that it is the Lord's purpose that prevails: that individually and corporately we might live to the praise of the glory of his grace: "worship Him ourselves by our words and deeds as the gracious God He is, and so cause others to praise Him too." 5