Minutes of the Meeting of the PCC held on 21st November 2016.
Those present: Revd. Cheryl Coverley (Chair), Mrs. A. Lockett, Dr. I. Rawlings , Canon B. Renshaw , Mrs. E. Killey, Mr. K. Stackhouse, Mrs. G, Hughes, Mrs. D. Garner, Mrs. E. Roberts
Opening Prayers. Cheryl opened the meeting with prayers and a reading from John 15.
Apologies for Absence. These were received from Mr. S Willson, Dr. I Casson, Mrs. L. Roberts, Mrs. S. Hargreaves and Mrs. J. MacDonald.
Minutes of the PCC Meeting held on 28th. These were approved by the meeting and signed by the Chair.
Matters Arising (i). Mrs. J. Walters has kindly volunteered to take over running the Electoral Roll. (ii). Cheryl has talked to the man who removes the flies, but at that time it was too warm to carry out the treatment, as more flies would still arrive. However, as it has turned colder Cheryl would now re-contact the man. (iii). Coffee in church has proved to be a great success and will be continued. (iv). Phil’s leaving event had gone very well, and Phil was pleased with everything.
Deanery Synod Lay Forum Meeting on 7th Minutes had been circulated before the meeting. The guest speaker was Mr. Martin Smith the Diocesan Advisor on Giving and Pastoral Reorganisation. He theme was Christian Giving, which we cover for our parish in the next agenda item.
Giving for Life – Continuing the Journey. Before the meeting the PCC members had been asked to fill in the Giving for Life PCC Questionnaire, and the meeting looked at our answers. Thanks to the work of our Giving Officer, Betty we did extremely well, doing all the right things, with the possible exception of query 7, which concerns the Parish Buying Service. Julie will be looking at the possible options on offer here. Betty told us of the concerns that the Church has with the current low investment rates, and the fact that a lot of Church givers are elderly. For our parish, Betty and Julie expect our giving income to be down again next year by thousands of pounds. We will continue to follow best practices, but we need extra events to generate more income. Our priorities on Giving should be Prayers, Preaching and Thanksgiving. At the moment, our giving options are restricted, and giving is stagnant or falling off. We need to enrol new members into our giving scheme. However, until we can we need to raise an extra £10K a year through fund raising events. Cheryl gave us a New Year Challenge of looking at new ways in which we can raise £10K next year. Julie reported that the £6K that we donate to charitable giving has now all been paid, There have been no unexpected out goings. However Julie has had to transfer £6K from the reserves into the current account. We must pray that we make the best use of our resources.
Vicar’s Report. Cheryl had brought an orchid to the meeting, and although she has several such plants at home, there has never been a time before now when none of them were flowering. She then asked us to think about growth, and how every branch with growth needs to be pruned to be more fruitful. As a Church we are now in a fallow part of the cycle, and we need to be patient and wait for growth to come. Phil has spread the Gospel message into the community for the last four years. The seeds have been planted. The challenge for us is to keep our Church going even though nothing appears to be flowering at present. We have done the things we identified in our Growth Action Plans over the last nine years. We need to see where God wants us to go. Here lies the importance of prayer, because without prayer we won’t be able to hear what God is saying to us. We should all pray for growth, and special sessions of prayer are planned for next Saturday (Nov.26th) and the Saturday after (Dec 3rd). We are not the only parish finding it difficult to grow. Nationally our Church is in decline. People are antiauthoritarian, and many see our Church as part of the establishment. However, there are signs of growth to be seen. The Pentecostal Church is growing, and a large portion of the Romany population is now Christian. We must all be open to God’s ideas. Cheryl next reported that the Diocese had approved the faculty for the new porch, but due to Paul Broadhurst being ill we have not yet received the formal faculty notice for us to display.
The Carol Service by candlelight featuring the new choir will be held on the Sunday before Christmas (Dec. 18th). The Christingle Service will be on Christmas Eve, and will include a dramatic presentation. The midnight service will start at 11.15, and on Christmas Day there will be services at 9am and 10.30am. On the following Sunday – New Year’s Day – there will be one service at 10am. At present, there are no plans for use to go carol singing around the parish, but if someone is willing to organise this can they let Cheryl know.
A course for those working with children will be held on January 14th at Church House.
Any Other Business. The Christian Bookshop in Birkenhead is opening a trading outlet in the new entry way of our local URC Church. It with will be open from 10am until 2pm ever Wednesday until January. If it proves successful it will continue to open in the New Year.
The Chernobyl Children’s Charity is bringing children over next year and is looking for families to put them up during May and June. In November, ten severely disabled children will be staying in North Wales.
The meeting closed with Prayers
Dates of Future Meetings. Standing Committee: Monday 12th December. PCC: Monday 23rd January and Monday 13th March.