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Annual General Meeting 2009

Albert Roxborough and Len Gooding were re-elected as parish Churchwardens

Elected to serve on the PCC for three years were:

Elizabeth Bartlett, Andrew Benzies, Michael Carney and Ray Skinner.

On the PCC they join the Vicar, the 2 Churchwardens, the deanery Synod representatives (who serve for 3 years):

Louise Amende, Len Gooding, Ruth Hicks and David Holtham.

and other members of the PCC whose 3 year term of office continues:

David Amende, George Barber, Trevor Hanson, Sandra Hauxwell, Betty Hitchcock,Carol Horsley, David Lawson, David Pickup, Claire Short and Dorothy Smith

Please remember them in your prayers:

Almighty God,

you have given your Holy Spirit to the Church to lead us into all truth:

Bless with the Spirit's grace and presence the members of this PCC

Keep them steadfast in faith and united in love,

that they may manifest your glory

and prepare the way of your kingdom;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen

PARISH REVIEW DAY REPORT

Growing in faith together

“Old-fashioned, uninteresting and irrelevant”. Or could we become ‘trendy’?

Observations

Going to church is like coming home! St Peter’s and All Saints are both very welcoming churches with a friendly atmosphere. The two churches offer a good balance of worship opportunities in terms of content and variety. St Peter’s is the larger church; its worship is enhanced by the beauty of the church building, music and flowers. All Saints is smaller and more intimate and has a less formal, more relaxed approach.

The style and formality of worship at St Peter’s may be off-putting to younger people, although the traditional services appeal to adults who have grown up in the church. The choir and organ playing are both greatly appreciated but perhaps we should include more hymns suitable for children and young people on a more regular basis. We already have some special services. People enjoyed the special services for Holy Week and especially Good Friday. Perhaps we could extend this to offer more user-friendly services for people who don’t attend church regularly and for young people. Children and young people could be more positively involved in the services, too.

There are a number of ways in which Sunday morning worship at St Peter’s could be improved. One note of criticism was clearly expressed and that related to noise before the service. Services could be more ‘streamlined’ with announcements about page numbers as we go through. Newcomers might be confused, because services can be difficult to follow. We could offer to help them through the order of service.

A number of criticisms were put forward about ‘Second Sunday’ services. Many people feel it is becoming a baptism service only, with little to offer the regular congregation. Wouldn’t it be better to have baptisms taking place in the middle of a normal Sunday Eucharist? The Sunday evening service at St Peter’s is a beautiful service offering a chance for quiet reflection – a prayerful service. However most people don’t attend – for a whole variety of reasons. Should we consider alternative forms of worship for Sunday evenings? A midweek evening Eucharist would also be welcomed, but this could be quite informal.

Church attendance is falling. This is mainly because churchgoing is no longer a regular part of people’s lives. Families prefer to spend Sunday as a family day after the long working week. But some churches are successful in attracting people – and some even attract young people! Perhaps we could learn some lessons from All Saints, Preston and the Oakwood Centre? We could do more to advertise our services and consider ways in which people might be drawn to the church – perhaps through activities other than worship. St Peter’s has a lively, diverse congregation but do other people perceive us in this way? If we maintain an active programme of social events our image might improve.

Our welcome to people on arrival is generally good but newcomers often feel excluded during after-church coffee. Parents of young children are sometimes made to feel unwelcome, too. Most of us don’t mind if children make a noise but we need to clearly demonstrate how much we value their presence. We should also ensure that we keep in touch with our existing membership and make contact with people who are missing from church. Good communication is all-important. At All Saints numbers are smaller and its easier to keep track of people. They have a birthday book and cards are signed by everyone and sent. We need to make it easy for people to come to church – and keep coming. Personal contact is all-important so “bring a friend” might work!

Most of us do not read our bibles as regularly as we feel we should. Many of us received our faith from our upbringing, by being involved with church from an early age. We need more instruction in faith, perhaps bible study, in addition to the existing Advent and Lent groups. Perhaps those of us who were confirmed a long time ago need to re-learn the meaning of worship? People lack confidence in talking about their faith so it would be helpful to have more opportunities for discussion. These could be held in people’s homes (though some people are less comfortable with this) and we could consider re-introducing house communions. Our sermons – both by our own clergy and by visiting preachers - are a very positive and helpful source of instruction but perhaps we could have opportunities to discuss them, too? Newcomers need instruction, too. Could we introduce some form of introduction for them? Perhaps an Alpha course would fill this gap.

People get to know each other better through active participation and involvement. We can’t assume that people will volunteer their services. Many people lack the confidence to do this. We need to invite people personally to take on a new task. But we could also publicise the names of the key contact people in the church so they know who to approach if they are bold enough!

Suggestions

· Review the Sunday School. Could a new, less stuffy name be found?

· Organise Bible Study and discussion groups. Continue Advent and Lent groups and encourage more people to come along. Create opportunities to discuss the sermons and quote from sermons in the parish magazine. Discuss other denominations and faiths. Encourage long-standing members to join confirmation classes.

· Arrange a variety of non-worship activities which might attract more people to become involved with the church. These might include a Toddler Group, and a Youth Group (possibly with other local churches).

· Visit All Saints, Preston and the Oakwood Centre to see what they do to attract younger people.

· Advertise services better with attractive and colourful posters, a new notice board Make information available in schools, community centres, hotels and libraries.

· Organise special services for young people. These could take place on Sunday evenings and could include more modern music and a band.

· Arrange transport to church for those who need it.

· Review the Second Sunday service and consider making it a baptism with Eucharist service for all the family.

· Hold special services for children and invite the local schools. Involve children more in all worship activities.

· Make it easier for people to follow the service by making announcements about page numbers and the Eucharistic prayer, and have a second hymn number board half-way down the church so that everyone can see it. Encourage people to sit with newcomers and help them to find their way through.

· Introduce a mid-week evening Eucharist and re-introduce house communions.

· Remember to greet people with a smile when they come into church.

· Invite more people to get involved in the whole range of activities on offer and/or ensure that the people responsible for each activitiy are clearly named in the magazine and bulletin.

· Introduce some new hymns.

· Have a short time for quiet reflection before the Sunday service.

· Offer the church buildings for more community activities.

Reaching out to others

Trad vs. Mods. Tweaking or wholesale change?

Observations

Some fundamental questions are being asked by people who attend St Peter’s and All Saints. Should we expend a lot of energy on work with young people or should we focus on support for our (mainly 50+) congregation and try to attract more young adults with young children. Are we thinking of the benefit to St Peter’s or the benefit to young people? Are we a church which can welcome children and young people? There are some Christian organisations in this area which are successfully working with young people – such as the Oakwood Centre and the Crusaders Club at Rosehill School. Is it important for young people to attend our churches, or should support others who are already doing good work in this respect?

The whole youth culture has changed over recent years but we haven’t changed with the times! If we are to work with children and young people we need to find out what appeals to them. Youth clubs were once popular but are maybe not considered ‘cool’ today, in the age of television, computers and mobile phones. We need to establish activities for all age groups and review our worship to ensure that it has something to offer them. We could learn from other churches but develop our own individual approach. It might be that we could reach young people better by offering mid-week activities such as a computer club or drop-in coffee shop. We would need to find suitable premises for these kinds of activities and would probably need to employ a paid youth worker.

It’s not always easy to know how to make contact with people. We could have a higher profile in local schools. Are leaflet drops really effective? We should analyse the outcomes of those we do at Christmas and Easter.

All Saints is in an area where there are more young families and they have special needs, too. They seem to prefer a less traditional service than the one we offer at St Peter’s. The Sunday School at All Saints is thriving but the Sunday School at St Peter’s needs to be reviewed.

There are lots of things we could do to ensure a warm welcome to newcomers and to retain our existing membership. An effective congregation is one which reaches out to people and encourages mutual support. Some people think that All Saints, with its less formal style, is more effective at welcoming. It’s important to get to know each other by name. It’s also important to ensure that communication is effective. We need a regular newssheet giving details of all the activities of the parish and we need to invite newcomers personally to get involved. Do we offer social events suitable for people of all ages and interests?

We need to reach out to members of our congregation, too, especially at times when they are unable to attend church. Many people are isolated within the community and would appreciate a visit. It’s important to notice when people are missing from church and to follow this up. We do try to keep in touch with children who are baptised in the church but could we do more? People who have been bereaved need personal contact, too. And we could follow up people who get married in the churches. We could initiate a ‘road warden’ or neighbourhood scheme to welcome newcomers and keep in touch with parishioners.

We should rebuild and foster our relationships with other churches and make contact with people of other faiths, people in ethnic minority groups, and asylum seekers.

Suggestions

· Consult children and young people about what they want.

· Review our existing provision for children and young people and try to establish activities for each age group – Toddler Group, Sunday School, Explorers, youth group.

· Organise non-worship activities for children and young people, such as after-school clubs, computer club and youth club. We could use venues like Arlington Park and link up with The Corner House and The Lighthouse. A youth club could offer activities like discos, skateboarding and organised games. We could link in with the government’s initiative to provide more sporting opportunities for young people. Advertise these through the local schools.

· Make worship more appropriate to the needs of children and young people. Have more child-friendly hymns. Get children and young people more involved in worship, in taking the collection, reading, music making, handing out books, and maybe even leading.

· Organise a music-making afternoon for children and young people and call on people in the parish who have musical skills.

· Appoint a paid youth leader. The youth worker could be shared with other parishes or work part-time just for us.

· Organise a visiting team to visit those who are sick, lonely or bereaved.

· Develop a ‘road warden’ scheme to welcome newcomers to the area and to offer support to parishioners. Keep in touch with people who are missing from church by informal visit or phone call, or by dropping in a pew sheet.

· Include more information about activities in the bulletin and magazine.

The Church in the Community

We’ve got lots of talent and lots of concern. Are they enough to bridge that enormous gap?

Observations

All Saints serves its own village of Hartburn, but the community around St Peter’s is diverse and transient. Many of the congregation live outside the parish. The church membership is not representative of the community.

The church keeps in touch with the local community in many ways. We’re active in the provision of baptisms, marriages, funerals and bereavement services. The clergy work with local schools, The Corner House, the Richard Hind Centre and Billingham Forum. Schools visit the churches and use them for carol services. We support a number of voluntary services in the parish and give money to them. We do a door-to-door leaflet drop at Christmas and Easter and for special services. All Saints hold a Good Friday witness service and Christmas services in Hartburn and make the church available for use by community groups.

There is much room for improvement! We have insufficient knowledge and understanding of our communities and need to improve our communication with them. We could work more closely with other local churches. And we could improve our follow-up to baptisms, weddings and funerals. We take communion to care homes for older people and the choir sings at Butterwick Hospice, but we could have more contact with care homes. We could have much closer links with people who work in the community such as community workers, health visitors, social workers, teachers, community police and the Neighbourhood Management Team, and should be more aware of the needs of people like students, older people, the homeless, prostitutes, drug addicts and people of minority ethnic and religious groups. Before we can take action, we have to know what is needed.

St Peter’s Church is rather insular. We welcome those who ‘fit the pattern’ but turn our backs on those who are ‘not our sort of people’. We’re rather preoccupied with our own affairs and not sufficiently concerned about issues affecting the people in the local community. We seem to be afraid to take risks, or perhaps are overwhelmed by the problems we face. We could share our skills and learn from others, and work more closely with other groups. Above all we could celebrate the diversity of our community. We could keep the church open more often and make better use of the space it offers to serve community groups. If the church was open at lunch time it could meet the needs of local business people for lunch and quiet time. We could offer photocopying and email facilities. We could go out to people more, rather than waiting for them to come to us. We should advertise what we have to offer.

Many people support a return to using the church hall and it is felt to be important that more social events are held in the Parkfield area. Since local people come to the church for baptisms and funerals these are good starting points for building relationships. We offer bereavement services following funerals, so why not a special service for baptism families? We know there are families with young children so perhaps we could offer practical support in the form of parent and toddler groups. This could develop into pram services. We need to be more aware of people who are vulnerable, lonely, housebound, disabled.

Suggestions

· Celebrate the diversity of our community. Learn to trust and to take risks.

· Keep the church open more often - lunch-times would provide a good opportunity to build links with local business people. The church could become a multi-purpose resource if we are prepared to remove pews and restructure the interior.

· Build relationships with key people in the community – both those who work for it and those who live in it, Find out more about what is needed and how we can help.

· Improve links with local schools, care homes and voluntary groups.

· Follow up baptisms, weddings and funerals, perhaps offering special worship opportunities for each group.

· Build a new church hall or bring the old one back into use.

· Set up a parent and toddler group and other activities which could provide practical support to people.

· Advertise what we can offer.

· Engage with and learn from other churches.

************************************************************************************ Annual General Meeting 2009

Albert Roxborough and Len Gooding were re-elected as parish Churchwardens

Elected to serve on the PCC for three years were:

Elizabeth Bartlett, Andrew Benzies, Michael Carney and Ray Skinner.

On the PCC they join the Vicar, the 2 Churchwardens, the deanery Synod representatives (who serve for 3 years):

Louise Amende, Len Gooding, Ruth Hicks and David Holtham.

and other members of the PCC whose 3 year term of office continues:

David Amende, George Barber, Trevor Hanson, Sandra Hauxwell, Betty Hitchcock,Carol Horsley, David Lawson, David Pickup, Claire Short and Dorothy Smith

Please remember them in your prayers:

Almighty God,

you have given your Holy Spirit to the Church to lead us into all truth:

Bless with the Spirit's grace and presence the members of this PCC

Keep them steadfast in faith and united in love,

that they may manifest your glory

and prepare the way of your kingdom;

through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen

PARISH REVIEW DAY REPORT

Growing in faith together

“Old-fashioned, uninteresting and irrelevant”. Or could we become ‘trendy’?

Observations

Observations

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Annual General Meeting 2009