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June Update

05 June 2018 07:58

Dear Friends,

There’s a few things that are coming up which I’d like to highlight, and then I’ve written a bit more detail in preparation for our church meeting on 30th June.

Matthew Mulvenna’s Funeral

Matthew’s funeral is going to be held in St Mary’s Church, Littlehampton (primarily due to space) on Wednesday 13th June at 3pm, with refreshments afterwards in the hall. Everyone is welcome to come and give thanks to God for our friend and brother Matthew.

Chat about Summer Outreach

Last year we did three pop-up fun mornings on Heo Green in Wick between July and September. After the service this Sunday (10th) there’s a chance to chat about what we could do to get to know those around us this year as a first step towards sharing the gospel.

Church BBQ

On Sunday 22nd July, from 1-3pm we’re hosting a BBQ for the church in the vicarage garden (with the small hall available if it’s wet!) We had a great time last year so please put this in your diary and come along - meat, veggie and gluten free options available. If you can bring a drink, a salad or a pudding to share that would be lovely.

Church Away Day

Saturday 15th September, 9.30am-3pm at Clymping Church Hall. The PCC felt it would be a good thing to go away together for a mix of worship, teaching, prayer and getting to know each other better and having some fun. Further details about food and refreshments, shared lifts, and a programme for the day will be coming soon but please mark this in your diary as we’d love to have as many as possible together.

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Seeking God for Growth - Where we’ve got to so far...

I hope this gives you a chance to think and pray, and then to share and feedback on the 30th, or through your homegroup or direct to me via email. At the PCC in July we will then take on board all that comes back and see how we believe God is leading us forward.

The issue is really one of space, not just seating capacity but how we can ensure our space is helpful for worship and fellowship, particularly on a Sunday morning. We are a growing church in a small building, and, we hope and pray, God will continue to call people into his family in Wick. Several first-time visitors have commented on the warm welcome they receive from us as a church, but a few of them have also said that arriving to what seems a full building is quite intimidating. People who arrive close to 9.30 are often struggling to see where the spare seats are. We regularly have 80+ people (sometimes 90+) in a room with about 100 seats.

Also, only having one room means that our chance to chat and encourage each other over tea and coffee is very limited. Sometimes the queue for drinks reaches close to where people are trying to have private prayer ministry. It’s difficult for the refreshments team to manage without hot water and with the sink in another room.

I believe that we should be seeking God for how to ensure that we use our space to it’s optimum. To me, the least faithful thing would be to become comfortable with having a fairly full building, when there’s still so many people around us who don’t know the Lord.

Whatever we do doesn’t need to be a permanent solution. It may be that one thing is right for a while, until another option becomes viable. Also, whatever we do, we can try it for a fixed term, see how it goes, and then review.

The PCC have initially envisaged three main ideas, but you may be able to think of others:

  1. Move to having multiple services. It could help with space, and is probably the easiest option to try. But, many of the issues remain and we would lose that church-family togetherness that we have. It also means doubling up volunteers in all sorts of roles.

  2. Do something to All Saints Building to increase seating capacity and space for fellowship before and after the service. The big drawback on this one is whether this is possible with our land - it may be - but also the cost.

  3. Move our morning service to a different location. This has pros and cons too - we could solve the space issue fairly well, but would we lose something in a different space? The hall would be an obvious option to look at, especially after the great service on Easter Sunday, but there may be other options too. At the moment though, using St James is not one of them. If we tried a different location, we could think about how best to make that space helpful for worship, and continue to use All Saints for other services and events.

From our initial chats with the Bishop, the Diocese would (in principle) be happy and supportive of any of these suggestions. Please think and pray, and although there may not be one solution that solves all issues, let’s keep that togetherness as we work through what they say is ‘a good problem to have!’

On the 30th we will look at the issues in more detail, pray, share our thoughts and listen to one another as we seek God’s wisdom. If you can stay beyond 12pm, please bring a packed lunch so we can finish that morning with a fun time of sharing food together.

Thank you, and God bless,

Tom