This Sunday we celebrated the Feast of St Michael and All Angels and fittingly launched our Stewardship campaign.
Our parish is spreading its wings in all directions. We now offer a wider variety of services than ever before, appealing to diverse groups of people with our Jazz Vespers, Healing and Pet Blessing services; our new Youth Eucharist, and Compline and lay-led Matins at St Mary’s, to name just some.
Our outreach is growing too. Our wider community has started to acknowledge us as a local resource and wants to get involved. Our food bank provision has quadrupled; we are seeking to sponsor a Syrian refugee family; we offer bereavement services and a chaplain service at court. Increasing amounts of people, desperate for help, knock on our doors. Plus, we’re planning a winter night shelter for the homeless.
Our Youth Ministry activity has doubled. Our young people are not just the church of tomorrow, but of today. Our Youth Council has a seat at our table and our new monthly Youth Eucharist services were designed at their behest. Josh, our new youth worker, has been funded fully by grants and donations (including one very generous one from a parishioner with a passion for youth ministry).
The parish office IT system has been upgraded in time to benefit from the new Church Desk system we are moving over to. We are offering more training to our volunteers, from welcoming to lay-led ministry.
Our church is growing, relevant and outward looking. We already do a lot, but there’s so much more we could be doing, if we had the resources. This is where our parishioners come in.
If you’re still using the yellow or white envelopes, or donating by standing order, we’d love you to switch to the new Parish Giving Scheme – this is the easiest way that you can help. Just switching over automatically saves us money, but will also help us budget for and plan our activities. PGS forms can be found in church, and if anyone has any questions or would like to discuss donations or planned giving, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Of course, our parishioners are our most precious resource. From helping out on our farmers’ market stall, delivering our food bank items, or attending our social events – there are plenty of ways you can help.