Pressing on

I have spent a couple of days trying to write my AGM report for my two churches. I always try to look forward as well as back. This year I have focused on regenration so I thought you might like to read what I am submitting tomorrow.

I am in two minds to whether to sing "Pressing on" at the end... perhaps not!


Erringden Benefice AGM 2008:
Pressing on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of us Philip. 3:12b (NIV)

Introduction
It was nearly ten years ago when the churches of this Diocese were asked to lay out their aims for the new millennium. I had a look recently at what we wrote and our aims for the two churches were:

St John’s
To have a growing youth group
To develop links with local schools
To have a confirmation service in the benefice every year
To have more of our congregation involved in the work of the church
To have more clergy involved in the benefice
To seek to help our congregation reflect better the profile of the parish
To increase giving of all kinds in our church
To make our church more visible in the community
To increase the sense of security that our church will continue to witness to our community

St Michael’s
To have a growing youth group with good links with other youth groups in the village
To continue developing links with the local schools
To have a confirmation service every year as new Christians come to join our church
To have more of the congregation involved in the work of the church
To have more clergy in the benefice
To grow our congregation by at least 10% per year and to seek to help it reflect better the profile of our parish
To increase giving of all kinds in the church
To make our church visible in our community
To have a well established Sunday School with teaching appropriate for all ages

Many of these of course are still priorities for us, but many of them have become the reality we now walk in. We don’t aim to do these things, we are doing these things. In many ways, we are, to coin a phrase “Living the dream” we had nearly ten years ago. So is now the time to rest, relax and consolidate? You may not be surprised to know that isn’t! What we should do but rather, as our motto for this year suggests, is to press on. Part of the way I believe we will be able to press on is to learn form others who are involved in long term projects and in particular form those involved in regeneration.

Lessons from regeneration
I suspect by now that some of you might be wishing you had a vicar whose obsession is playing with his train set and not regeneration! There are so many lessons I am learning from the places God is taking me in regeneration that I thought it would be good to share some vital lessons that we need to learn as a church this year. Before you get worried be assured that many of these things that others have to learn from regeneration God, has already taught us.
1 Partnership
The first lesson of regeneration is the need to make partnerships. “Who are you with?” is a key question in today’s world and if we are to develop and grow partnerships will be at the heart of what we do. St Michaels is already beginning to experience the fruit of partnerships. At a basic level we benefit through our work with Yorkshire Forward through the training they have provided for me and others in our church that are in the regeneration business. They are funding my sabbatical and this has already had an impact through the learning mentor they have attached to me. The future holds out many more fruits as we seek to walk alongside those who share our common aim to build community and to make our neighbourhoods a better place. St John’s is beginning to make links with the Cragg Vale Community Association which can only in time enable us to do more together than we can do apart. It’s difficult because partnerships are always complicated, ask anyone who is married! However if we are to reach out to our community, partnerships are clearly the way to go. Not so much “Come and join us!” but also “can we walk with you as we seem to be going down the same road?”

2 Outcomes and Outputs
The second lesson of regeneration is more difficult. One of the more unpleasant aspects of working with people in regeneration is that they are always asking about Outcomes and Outputs. It has taken me a long time to get a handle on this but, I think, an outcome is what you intend to achieve and an output is something measurable that you intend to achieve. These are a real challenge to those like me who like things to be open and ill-defined. However they are a great tool for us as churches because they force us to ask the question of anything we are trying to do: “why are we doing this?”

3 Engagement
The third lesson of regeneration is one that we have the learnt the lesson of over the years, it is the need for engagement. Our basic calling as Christians is to be “in the world but not of the world.” We have to engage with the communities to which God has called us to deal with the place he has sent us in such a way that we maintain our distinctiveness but don’t make that a reason to turn our back on our communities’ needs.

4 Sustainability
The final challenge of regeneration is sustainability. To create structures in such a way that they continue we have made great strides forwards in this but we are still not there. Finances are still not secure in either of our churches, many of us are working a bit too hard and need space to reflect and renew our weariness. This question is one which our diocese is facing and we need to ask hard questions about.

Four areas for us to bear in mind this year then: Partnership, Outcomes and outputs, engagement and Sustainability, but how do they impact on our two churches?
St Johns
Last year we felt as though we had been waiting and waiting and nothing much was happening as far as the hall and church development were concerned. This year with acquisition of planning permission finally we are beginning to move again. However the wait has caused damage to us, there are areas that need a bit of repair and healing. I am conscious of the toll the ups and downs of the planning process and record here my grateful thanks to Church Wardens, Treasurer, Gordon Nelson and all other members of the PCC who have so valiantly and unitedly fought this particular fight. Grateful too to my fellow clergy who this year more than any other have become a tight knit team who together can do far more than we could do apart.
We need to re-engage with our community, we need to look at our giving, we need to forgive one another, we need press on. We need to get the building done as quickly as possible so that we can get on with God’s other building project that of building the kingdom. We need to look locally and further a field for the partnerships that are so essential as we seek to regenerate our community. These partnerships must involve the community association, they must include the school and they must include our sister church in Mytholmroyd.

St Michaels
It’s been a roller coaster of a year with the ups and downs of being a vibrant Christian Community. Lows have included the loss of good friends, but also the many struggles to raise the money we need to keep this church running. Highs have to be topped by the completion of our wonderful hall extension. Highs have also included the growth of the choir, the arrival of Nancy and the continued success of our midweek congregation Angels and the introduction of ecumenical service MIX. All of these activities have been supported by the many prayers, doers and organisers in all areas of our church to whom I say a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart. What comes next is potentially even more exciting…
Firstly it is becoming increasingly likely that we are going to be able to get funding towards the later phases of the hall project. This is great news but means that we might have a disruptive year as the works progress.
Secondly with a growing choir it is becoming more important that we buy a new hymn book, to increase our repertoire and to enhance our worship. This is going to need a substantial fund raising effort.
Thirdly, when we have finished on the hall we need to start thinking about the church building itself. Especially we need to think about our entrance ways.
Fourthly, I am about to spend three month sabbatical studying how faith communities can more effectively become involved in regeneration and so I hope I will come back with new ideas and renewed energy. I think it will also help our other clergy to develop in their ministry as they are able to get on with things without me getting in the way!

Conclusion
Our two churches are about to have some of the biggest changes of the life, we need to be ready for it, not to be scared for it but open to all that God can do, with us, through us, and despite us!
God has had his hand on these churches, he has taken hold of us and our dreams and has helped us to walk in those dreams. His message for us this year is that we need to press on to take hold of that for which he took hold of us.