Parish Handbook etc
.
.
.
What will St Anne's mean for us and the next generation?
Over recent months the Pastoral Parish Council together with parish groups and many individual parishioners, have spent a lot of quality time thinking about St Anne's and trying to chart a new direction for our future.
Planning for the future is vitally important but it is always very difficult, because we simply cannot know what is going to happen.
All we can do is our best - using our God-given gifts and intelligence, but also listening to others and to God in prayer.
|
Our starting point was the creation of a Parish VISION or confirmation of WHERE we want to go i.e. "That St. Anne's be an open church such that we might spread the Good News and all work together in the way Jesus taught us." This was summarised as the easily remembered: "Making our church an open church" The next job was the creation of a Parish MISSION or confirmation of WHAT we need to do to achieve our Vision and HOW we intend to go about it. "To learn about God's love and to share it." But what does this actually mean in practice and just how will we achieve it? 1. Providing meaningful and uplifting celebration and prayer. 2. Increasing our understanding of the Word of 3. Welcoming all and creating opportunities for everyone to be involved in parish life. 4. Offering love, care and support to the wider community. |
We must now set our Parish OBJECTIVES and confirm them into a Parish ACTION PLAN to achieve those objectives and so achieve our Mission. One objective, for example, is to have our parish groups align their activities with the Mission Statement.
We must ensure we set SMART objectives so that we can have a reasonable chance of succeeding:
S - SPECIFIC M - MEASURABLE A - ACHIEVEABLE
R - RESOURCED T - TIME BOUND
We each have a responsibility to ensure a future for our church here in Buxton. Together we can achieve this.
The Third Parish Assembly will be held on Sunday 7 November from 4pm - 6pm and EVERYONE is invited to attend. We would really like to see a representative attend from every family and parish group.
As the man said, "If this generation couldn't care less then the next generation will care even less than that"
Approximately 40 members of the parish were present.
1. WELCOME
Fr Dennis welcomed parishioners and opened the Third Parish Assembly with a prayer.
2. INTRODUCTION
Mike Watson, Chair of the Pastoral Parish Council summarised the progress that had been made by the Council since the last meeting in July, most of which had been well publicised on the website and in the Church. A lot of activity had taken place throughout the parish on the development of the Parish Mission Statement. The Parish Vision - 'Making our church an open church' expanded to the statement - 'That St Anne's be an open church such that we might spread the Good News and all work together in the way Jesus taught us' - had already been agreed. Work has now been completed to provide our Mission Statement and how this can be achieved. The next step is to set out an Action Plan to achieve our objectives.
More detailed reports on parish activities would be given by the individual group representatives.
3. PARISH VISION AND MISSION STATEMENT
Mike Monaghan reported on the work that he, Frances Reynolds and Bruce Thomson had done to provide the individual preparation and group discussion packs which had been used for the wide consultation that has been carried out throughout the parish. The Draft Mission Statements from all the discussion groups had been fed back to him to summarise the responses and provide a single draft Mission Statement. This summary took account of the all the views of the parish groups.
This was discussed at length at the PPC meeting and the Mission Statement was agreed as "To learn about God's love and to share it."
It was agreed that this could be achieved by:-
* Providing meaningful and uplifting prayers and celebration
* Increasing our understanding of the Word of God and having the courage to face the new challenges of putting our faith into practice
* Welcoming all and creating opportunities for everyone to be involved in parish life
* Offering love, care and support to the wider community.
All the work carried out by the Parish Groups is on display in the church and on the Web-site.
We have been asked to share our work on the Mission Statement with the Follow through Team from the Diocesan Group working to make the Assembly come alive.
Bruce Thomson explained the need for a Parish Action Plan so that all the members of the Parish and its individual groups were working to the same goal.
In the light of the agreed Vision and Mission Statements and the way in which these can be achieved, members of the individual Parish Groups were requested to reflect on their Group's purpose and agree the specific ways they can help to achieve our aim.
Bruce provided a detailed action plan for individual groups to work to and requested that they are completed by the end of January 2005 so that Group activities can be included in the Parish Action Plan.
5. MAIN GROUP REPORTS
Adult Education - Bruce Thomson
The main work of this group over the last few months has been to formulate the Draft Mission Statement and in the immediate future to assist Parish Groups to align with the Parish Mission Statement. Books have been purchased - Communities of Hope, Pastoral Parish Councils and Making the Eucharist Matter which are available for Parish Groups to use.
Future involvement with University of Derby students is planned.
Liturgy Report - Margaret Robinson
Readers - Contact has been made with a Diocesan Liturgy Group who offer a range of free courses. Readers' Handbooks are now available through Jay Dobson. A meeting will be held in November.
Eucharistic Ministers - Meetings have been held to discuss the book 'Making the Eucharist Matter'. It is planned to open these discussions to parishioners. Margaret summarised the book for those who had not read it
Children's Liturgy - The Children's Liturgy Groups are now to be split into three groups - Infants to age 6; middle group to age 10 and a new group of Year 6+ (10+years). The new group will be run by Aileen Warneford and will commence the first week of Advent.
Music Workshop - Planned for Saturday, 13th November run by Chris O'Hara. Music from the Workshop will be included in the Saturday Evening Celebration.
Youth Report - Frances Reynolds
Schools - Regular contact is now made with both our Schools with notices of Parish events on display.
Work by the children of St Anne's is on display in the Church and further work for Advent/Christmas is due shortly.
Mrs Sierotko, the new Head Teacher at St Anne's, plans to bring the children to attend occasional weekday services. Volunteers may be needed to escort the children.
A special celebration of thanksgiving for the dedicated work of the Presentation Sisters is to take place at St Anne's School this week.
Outreach Report - Joan Howard
The Presentation Associates - Kaoma Orphans - Coffee morning raised over £200. The money from the boxes has not yet been counted.
Gifts of chocolate biscuits will be distributed to the housebound before Christmas; these have been provided by Dale Road Dairy.
Trade and Justice - A programme to commence 2004 - 2006. This will involve trying to discover how trade works, what are the values and to pinpoint the areas where we can do something together.
Charles Jolly, United Reform Church, will be one of our speakers in the New Year to talk about Fair Trade.
The Visiting Group - The new Colour Supplement has been very well received by the sick and housebound, it keeps them in touch with the Parish and makes them feel involved.
More volunteers are required for visiting, particularly with the Presentation Sisters leaving shortly.
There will be a talk on Dementia on 23rd November at 7 o'clock.
The Welcoming Group - More people are required for the Saturday evening Eucharist. It would also be nice to include younger parishioners.
Church Property Report - Andrew Etchells
Gardening - More volunteers are required for this group, particularly after the winter months.
Parish Centre - A major problem has arisen with the roof in the Parish Centre. Contractors are at present assessing the work.
The floor in the Centre has been painted and varnished by the Probation Service and is now complete.
Sound System - The system has been checked in the church and a 'loop-system' for the deaf/hard of hearing is to be fitted. This is a mandatory requirement.
Communications Report - Robert Aldous
Robert reported on the vast amount of information that is now available on the web site.
The second issue of the Colour Supplement is now being put together.
The 'pigeon hole' table has now been completed and is at the back of the church for letters and information to be distributed amongst Parish Groups.
A number of Notice Boards are now available at the back of the church.
A 'Suggestion Box' has been provided at the back of the church by Andrew Payne. Andrew reported that so far most of the suggestions have been given verbally.
Mike Watson gave particular thanks to Robert for the vast amount of work he has carried out for the Parish.
Social Committee - Mike Watson (on behalf of Margaret Swift)
The first meeting of the Social Committee was held on 12th October, but unfortunately was not well attended.
A social event has been planned for 13th November after the Music Workshop. This will be a 'Hot-Pot' Supper followed by informal entertainment. Lifts will be provided for people without transport.
Discussions were held on possible future events - i.e. Children's Christmas Party, possibly organised by the Junior Liturgy Group, regular social evening - Valentine's Evening - but these would depend on participation from the Parish.
Parish Christmas Cards - As we exchange ever-increasing numbers of Christmas cards amongst fellow parishioners, using time, money and natural resources we are offering a simpler way that could help those in needs.
Christmas Wishes can be placed on a 'tag' and hung on the Christmas Tree in Church and the money saved donated to two African Children's charities - The Kaoma Children's Charity and Dr Barnardo's Homes in Africa (no longer funded by Barnardo's).
Parish Finance - Father Dennis
Father Dennis reported that the Parish has now paid off its £20,000 debt to improvements at St Thomas More School. Further funding is now required for improvements at St Anne's.
A preliminary application has been made to the Lottery Fund for assistance with the roof repairs to the Parish Centre.
Andrew Etchells has been given an overview of the Parish Finances so that he would be able to assist me if necessary. This is in line with the PPC Draft Contingency Plan which is being produced to try to anticipate the actions that would need to be taken to keep the parish functioning in the event of Fr Dennis being unavailable to undertake his normal duties.
6. QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION
Parishioners were asked whether they had any questions or required any further information:-
Presentation Sisters - Query regarding the collection for the Sisters. Fr Dennis said this would be dealt with after Christmas as the Sister's Leaving Presentation from the Parish was not being held until June, 2005. No date has yet been given when the Sisters actually leave the Parish, this will depend on the sale of the Convent.
Churches Together - No mention had been made about Churches Together, which should form an important part of our Mission. Lynn and Aileen are the Parish representatives on Churches Together and it was agreed that they should be included in the Outreach Group and should liaise with Joan Howard to raise issues with the PPC.
Welcoming Group - Not all members had received an updated calendar.
Gift Aid - It was suggested that the donations from the Christmas Cards could be Gift Aided. Enquiries to be made on form of words. (AMD)
Positive Comment - A parishioner wished to highlight the many positive things that were now happening in the Parish.
7. Date of the Next Assembly
Sunday, 13th March, 2005.
This would be the Annual General Meeting and would involve elections for the Pastoral Parish Council.
