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Dear Church Family,
For us, and I believe for our church, 2006 has been a special and exceptional year. We continue to be so thankful for the way God blesses our children and grandchildren. Jacqui and Jonathan combine busy working lives with family and church commitments. They have led parenting classes and are deeply involved with support for other families and students who attend their church in Canterbury. Our grandchildren Aaron and Anna are a total delight to us and it is amazing that they will soon be six and two respectively.|
...our theme
for the year, "Foundations Stronger, Community Reached" Rev. Jim Hamilton |
| "...the buildings are proving to be a wonderful asset..." |
| "...the building is not the church; it is simply where the church meets." |
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| The grassed area to the rear of the new building for childrens activities in nice weather |
| "...21 baptisms including seven in the River Jordan in Israel and more are planned for 2007" |
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The new
main entrance in Thorpedene Gardens |
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Entrance to the
car park from Thorpedene Gardens |
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Helen Watts our
new Youth Pastor |
| "The Faith Cafe has been another major new development in 2006" |
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| For our church it has been a special year. The opening of our new building complex in April was a wonderful highlight – even in the rain – and it was especially pleasing that we were able to reach that milestone debt-free. Although there have naturally been teething problems, the buildings are proving to be a wonderful asset and are certainly the envy of many who visit from other churches. Many adjustments have had to be made and I am so grateful for all the hard work done in the office, administratively and in caretaking and cleaning. We must never take these wonderful new facilities for granted. Of course the building is not the church; it is simply where the church meets. You and I are the church and there has been much to encourage in 2006. We have had 21 baptisms including seven in the River Jordan in Israel and more are planned for 2007. We have also welcomed 38 new members during the year, more than in any year in recent memory, taking our present membership to more than 330 – a record level. Of course we have also lost some – 15 in all, by death resignation or transfer and it was particularly sad for us when John Raven and Florrie Snape went to be with the Lord. It has also been encouraging to know that around 240 people regularly attend our Small Groups and our prayer is that this number will also increase in 2007. It has been a year of change and transition. Helen has taken over as Youth and Children’s Pastor and Rich has combined being our Church Based Student with being Pastor for the development of our Small Groups. He and Alison have also moved from their large manse into a small flat on the Saxon Gardens Estate because they have a real heart to reach the people in that area. I feel it to be such a privilege to work with Helen and Richard, two such passionate, energetic and visionary people who are constantly such an encouragement to me. With great input from them and our Eldership and Diaconate I believe that 2006 saw a real step forward in our accepting, grasping and seeking to fulfil the Vision of our church to fulfil God’s purpose in our community and beyond. It was exciting to realise that we could send out more than 300 invitations to people who are involved in service in any way in our church to a meal and time of appreciation at our Value and Vision weekend, and that weekend was, I believe a real milestone and landmark in the journey we are on together. |
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| The Faith Café has been another major new development in 2006 and Richard Brown and his team have done a brilliant job. I pray that this will go from strength to strength, especially with the development of the foyer into a more welcoming, user friendly meeting and coffee bar area, and the potential of this whole project is tremendous so long as we see it as a tool for fellowship and above all outreach to our community. 2006 was also a remarkable year for our Alpha Courses with the introduction of a lunchtime course for those involved with Playgroup and the initiative with Saturday Club. Again we are rejoicing with those who have come to faith and / or a deeper experience of God through these courses. The contact with local schools and especially Shoeburyness High School continues to develop, especially through the involvement of Life in Abundance, and we look forward to this relationship developing further in exciting ways throughout 2007. There have been many other exciting things happening in and through our church in 2006 and I apologise if I haven’t mentioned you or what you are involved in personally. I do want to say a big thank you to all of you who have been involved in any way and who have supported, encouraged and prayed for Pauline and I during the year. We believe it is the most wonderful privilege to have a part to play in our church – a church that we believe to be so special and that has received so many blessings. God willing, we will have been here for 25 years in November 2007 and we could never have imagined when we arrived from Scotland in 1982 just what an amazing journey we would have with you. None of the buildings that were there then are here now but we are so grateful for those of you who were here then and are still with us, having accepted all the changes and new things that have been introduced. 2007 will present us with many challenges. At the time of writing we still have not found a replacement for Peter as our Church Treasurer. Peter will be very hard to replace, but we know that there is someone amongst you whom God is calling to this roll and I pray that this person will soon be found. We also continue to seek the person God is calling to our Pastoral Team and we need to be open to what God is saying to us about this. Our Vision remains before us and our theme for the year, “Foundations Stronger, Community Reached,” introduced at the Value and Vision Weekend in October continues to be in place. We are not adopting a theme verse now for the year and the bookmarks we usually distribute at New Year were replaced by the pens given out at the Value and Vision Weekend. We explained some of our intentions at that weekend to enable us to fulfil this theme and some of them are already in place and others will soon be launched. A vital part of this will be our “Forty Days of Community” initiative in the autumn as well as our Community Survey and we hope that as many of you as possible with participate in these. Richard will be developing the Small Group activities and there are already some real encouragements being found through his initiatives. I believe that God has great things in store for us in 2007 if we remain loving, faithful, focussed, prayerful and committed. Please pray for me as I sense a greater and greater burden of responsibility to preach, teach and inspire in ways that will make a difference to the way we live and that will make an impact in our community and beyond. Let’s truly make 2007 a year where foundations are made stronger and more in our community are reached. With love in Jesus Jim Hamilton |