Annual Group Reports

St Michael and All Angels Church

2012

Contents: General Synod Report 2012 ...... 2 Diocesan Synod Report 2012 ...... 3 Deanery Synod Report 2012 ...... 4 Warden’s Report for 2012 ...... 6 Planned Giving Report 2012 ...... 7 Cleaning Team Report ...... 7 Drop Inn Café ...... 7 St Michael and All Angels Rambling Group ...... 8 The Prayer Chain ...... 9 The Coffee Rota ...... 9 The Church Centre ...... 9 Bible Fellowship Notes ...... 9 The Children’s Society ...... 9 St. Michael and All Angels Mothers' Union ...... 10 PCC Report 2013 – Readers ...... 11 Mission Committee ...... 12 Refilwe Prayer Group ...... 12

1

General Synod Report 2012

The General Synod of the is the elected body that includes Archbishops, Bishops, Clergy and Laity. Their role is to decide on legislation, policy and direction for the Church. The meetings normally take place at Church House, Westminster in the first week of February, followed by one week in July at the University of York. (However, in 2012 this pattern changed with a further three day meeting in November in London).

In 2012 General Synod business was dominated by the proposed Draft Bishops and Priests (Consecration and Ordination of Women) Measure. This is the legislation that will enable women priests to become Bishops in the Church of England. It has been on the agenda, in one form or another, for twenty years and the Church still has divisions on which agreement has not yet been found.

In 2011 the proposed legislation had been debated at parish, deanery and diocesan level and the returns gave a consensus in 42 out of 44 dioceses. There were still issues raised about the provision for those who could not, or would not, accept women in the Episcopate. These views are rooted in tradition and in theological beliefs. So when we convened for the first of the 2012 General Synod sessions on Monday 6 Feb 2012, at Church House Westminster, we were prepared for a debate on an amending Motion coming from the Diocese of Manchester seeking further provision for those who would not accept the current legislation. This motion was defeated.

The Diocese of Southwark Motion asked Synod to pass the legislation without further amendment. However, Revd Canon Pete Spiers (Liverpool) proposed an amendment to the Southwark Motion requesting the House of Bishops “not to amend the draft Measure substantially”. Following a lengthy debate, Canon Spiers’ amendment was carried. It was now down to the House of Bishops to consider what had been said during the debate and to bring back to Synod, for the July meeting in York, their final wording. As is now well known, the House of Bishops surprised everyone by amending the Legislation, and in the view of most people, the amendment was not acceptable and considered to be “substantial”. Therefore, when the York General Synod session convened in July, both the House of Clergy and the House of Laity voted to suspend the debate and ask the House of Bishops to think again. In order to avoid further delay in bringing this matter to a conclusion, Synod was asked to reconvene again in November at Church House, Westminster. The House of Bishops reconsidered the earlier changes and substituted a slightly amended form of wording to their earlier amendment Clause 5 (i)(c), suggested by a woman priest. So when we travelled to London in November, we were both hopeful and apprehensive of the outcome. In the event, we were not prepared for the result that followed, with the Legislation failing to get a two thirds majority in the House of Laity by a mere 6 votes. In the House of Bishops and Clergy the vote gave a clear two-thirds majority.

Since then, many have been working to mend the hurt caused to our women priests and to give them our assurances of how much their ministry is valued. In addition, Parliament, the General Synod, the House of Bishops and Dioceses are undertaking a consultation and review process that we hope will eventually bring about the right conclusion to this long awaited decision. We expect a new form of the Legislation to be presented to General Synod in July at York, as the rules governing this Synodical legislation do not allow us to debate the lost motion again in this session of Synod, and Synod would have to wait for a new General Synod to be elected in 2015. General Synod did undertake a great deal of other important and worthwhile work during 2012. The Archbishop of Canterbury (Dr Rowan Williams) opened the February session with a Loyal Address to HM The Queen on the occasion of her Diamond Jubilee. In his address, Archbishop Rowan reminded Synod that “Sixty 2 years ago today King George VI died, aged only 56, and as we begin to celebrate Her Majesty The Queen‘s Diamond Jubilee I would like first to pay tribute to the memory of her father, recalling his courageous acceptance, at a time of crisis, of a role he had neither desired nor expected. His exercise of this role won him great respect and affection, and his equally courageous leadership of our nation through its most testing time in modern history left a permanent legacy of gratitude. The Diamond Jubilee celebrates much more than the length of Her Majesty‘s reign.”

Some of the other subjects debated included: The Independent Commission on Assisted Dying “That this Synod express its concern that the Independent Commission on Assisted Dying is insufficiently independent to be able to develop proposals which will properly protect the interests of vulnerable and disabled people.” The motion was carried in an amended form, 284 voting in favour and none against, with 4 recorded abstentions: Parochial Fees: final approval was given to this order. The new Fees Order for weddings and funerals came into force in January 2013. ‘The Clergy Discipline Measure 2003 (CDM) The draft Measure before Synod made both substantive and technical amendments to the Clergy Discipline Measure. The revision of the draft Measure was committed to the Steering Committee in respect of its final drafting. Appointment of Archdeacons: Chichester Diocese proposed that this Synod request that Canon C 22.1 be amended to read ―No person shall be capable of receiving the appointment of archdeacon unless he/she has been six years complete in holy orders at the time of appointment. The motion was lost. The Church School of the Future: The Chadwick Report opened a new approach to the structures of Church schools, including the recommendation that the central organisation become one with a single Church of England Education Office; that Diocesan schools need new types of guidance and support including greater collaboration between Diocesan Boards of Finance and Boards of Education and a re- thinking of partnerships with local government. The Living Wage: A Private Members’ Motion brought by Chester’s John Freeman “affirm the Christian values inherent in the concept of the Living Wage and strongly encourage all Church of England institutions to pay at least the Living Wage” received overwhelming support. Children helping with the distribution of the Holy Sacrament: It was agreed that children could help if the Diocesan Bishops agree to this request from the Incumbent or Head teacher in a Church school.

Youth Unemployment: Synod approved a motion encouraging the Church, and parishes in particular, to support young people back to work by providing opportunities for work experience.

At our November meeting in London, we said farewell to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams. After almost ten years of service to the Church of England at the highest level, the Synod recorded its gratitude for his outstanding ministry to Church and Nation, and offered him and Mrs Williams its very best wishes for the future.

2013 will bring a new leader in Bishop Justin Welby, Archbishop Designate. We look forward to what his leadership will bring, but most of all we hope for a new stability and common purpose for our Church and its future. Diocesan Synod Report 2012

At the March Synod we debated the Draft Act of Synod Adopting the Anglican Covenant submitted to Dioceses by the General Synod. This was carried. The Synod also received reports about the work of the Committee for 3

Ministry from Bishop Robert. The Archbishop of Macclesfield reported on the work of the Committee for Social Responsibility and the Bishop of Birkenhead reported on the Committee for Education. Canon Michael Walters reported on the work of Foxhill Retreat and Conference Centre and the , Professor Gordon McPhate reported on the work of Chester Cathedral.

The June Synod commenced with the Annual General Meeting of the Chester Diocesan Board of Finance (DBF) when the Accounts and Reports for 2011 were presented by the Chair of DBF. Financially, it had been another challenging year with the impact of the financial crisis being felt with reduced investment returns. However parish share collections had remained steady. The DBF Chair also presented the Outline Budget for 2013 and reported on the constraints the financial downturn was imposing on the Diocese. Synod agreed new fixed terms of office for Deanery Lay Chairs of 6 years, and for the Chair of the House of Laity and Clergy a fixed term of 9 years will now operate. The , Mike Gilbertson presented the outcome of the Parish Share Review. The responses from parishes showed that they were mainly content with the system. The Review Team had proposed some minor tweaking of the system and proposed to address the findings of the 2011 Census when they are known in 2013.

In November, the Synod was privileged to have the Diocesan Chancellor, Judge David Turner to preach at the opening worship of the new Synod at Hartford Church. The DBF Chair presented the Budget for 2013 representing total expenditure of £12,266 million largely funded by Parish Share of £10,500 million. The Budget proposed an increase in Parish Share of 3% and an increase in the Housing budget of £100k to meet the growing need and costs of clergy housing repairs and maintenance. A formal consultation on The Church Workers’ Pension Fund was agreed with a view to changing the retirement age from age 60 to 65 and the accrual rate form 80ths to 60ths. The budget predicted a shortfall of around £106k linked to a Parish Share collection rate of 95%.

The Synod then had a most interesting presentation on the Diocesan visit by the Bishop of Birkenhead to ARU Diocese in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is also available on the Diocesan website.

Canon Betty Renshaw, General Synod and Chair Chester DBF

Deanery Synod Report 2012

The Deanery Synod meets four times a year at various churches in the Wirral North Deanery. Representatives are elected from each congregation, the numbers being governed by the totals on each electoral roll, and together with the clergy make up the Synod. There were four Synod meetings last year, consisting of three meeting of the whole Synod and one Lay Meeting. th The first of the four meetings was held on 13 February at St. Chad’s, Irby. The synod discussed the evening’s main topic, The Anglican Covenant. The Covenant was an attempt to find a way of dealing with disputes within the Anglican Church. In recent years disputes had arisen over such issues as homosexual priests and bishops. Signing the Covenant would mean that provinces would agree to proceed with care over controversial issues. Ultimately the Covenant would mean that a Province could end up being suspended from the Anglican Communion. The Covenant should enable provinces to live together and provide a mechanism to ensure that this happens. The members of the synod had been provided with pre-reading on this topic, and the meeting was next divided into smaller groups to discuss the topic, and report their conclusions to the meeting. After seeing the complexity of what was being proposed, the groups expressed as to whether the covenant could ever work.

4

The covenant was described as woolly and wordy, and “An Anglican Fudge”. Many at the meeting shared Bishop Peter’s view on the covenant – that it was “Dead in the Water”. The groups were asked to forward written versions of the conclusions from their discussions to the Chair. The second meeting was held on 11th June at St. Marks, New Ferry. The main topic that was Young Vocations, and the guest speaker was the Revd. Jenny Bridgman Jenny started her talk by describing her role as Young Vocation Advisor, a task she does for one day a week. She gives advice to young people in the age range 16 to 30. Jenny herself had a sudden calling at a young age, and started her ministry training aged 21. She works with the Revd. Ray Samuels the Diocesan Director of Ordinands finding out where God is working with young people, and making those young people aware of opportunities for their spiritual growth in the diocese. Jenny then told us some depressing statistics about out Church. The average age of church goers is now 61. Only 4% of children now attend Sunday School compared to 55% some forty years ago. In 1967 70% of ordinands were under 30 years old, in 2001 only 14% were under 30. The average age of an ordinand was currently 46. Much of the problems associated with the current age profile of our clergy goes back to the late sixties, seventies and eighties, when young people who felt called the ministry were dissuaded from becoming ordained. They were told to go out into the world to gain experience before becoming a priest. This approach is now regarded as very wrong because those made to delay ordination by say twenty years, have been prevented from giving an extra twenty years of service to the Church. Also in the NHS and the Armed Forces the senior consultants and officers have spent their entire working lives in their professions learning their craft. Neither of those professions told those seeking to join at a young age to go away and come back 20 years later. Research has shown that the age of a congregation tends to be mostly within plus/minus ten years of the age of the minister. Also we now want the clergy to be representative of the whole range of ages of the congregation, rather than the previous ideas of having no clergy aged under 40. Younger ordained people also have more time to develop the skills needed to take on the leadership role of bishops. The lay people of the Church need to do all they can to encourage young people to come forward and follow any callings they hear to become ministers. The third synod meeting was on 4th Sept. at St. John the Baptist, Great Meols. This was Margo’s last meeting as Lay Chair, and Mrs. Lesley Young was appointed by the meeting as our new Lay Chair. This now leaves a vacancy for the Deanery Secretary’s position. The main topic was A Report and Discussion on Mission in the Deanery. The meeting was first shown a collection of slides prepared by the Deanery Mission Committee. These slides showed data collected from our parishes. It included such things as the percentages of people in the parishes on the electoral rolls. In our Deanery St. Bridget’s, West Kirby has the highest percentage at 5.8%, whilst St. Andrew’s, West Kirby has the lowest at 1.86%. Our parish is in top half of the list, slightly above the average of 3.5%. Other slides showed which parishes had youth workers, which had schools, which parishes have parishioners who are School Governors, and which ran outreach courses. However the significance of this information was later queried, as in many parishes a significant number of parishioners do not worship in the parishes in which they live. After being shown the slides the meeting was told of opportunities for mission and growth that have been identified by the Mission Committee. These included Messy Church, which some parishes are now trying, Discipleship and Nurture Courses, and Café Church (which only we do it on Sundays).

5

The last synod meeting was held at meeting at St. Michael’s. Pensby, on 24th November. The main topic was An address by Bishop Keith. . He started his talk by telling us how much he loved Deanery Visitations. He loved seeing the Churches in our area growing, and he loved meeting local parishioners. Bishop Keith then went on to address the most serious issue of the day – that of Women Bishops. He likened the results of the last vote at the General Synod as a “train crash”. As in a real train crash, people have been hurt. Furthermore, it is one thing to be in a situation when one believes that Women Bishops will happen in the near future. However it is completely different to be in a position of thinking that Women Bishops might never happen. We as a Church must be aware of what outsiders think of our decisions. Some in our Church have been put back in touch with issues that they thought that they had said good bye to. We must all acknowledge the pain, and our reaction must be Evangelical. Even those who apposed the idea of Women Bishops are not happy with the situation we now find ourselves in Bishop Keith said that the 75% rule for deciding on an issue in elections was in place for a good reason. It helps to maintain the body of the Church. He thought (like Jonathan) that the big problem here was a lack of trust. We now need theological reflection, repentance and humility. We must work out what God is saying to us through prayer and by listening to God. The train crash has happened. We have to decide how to get our train back onto the track and going again. We should use the Gospels and start by asking others to forgive our trespasses as we forgive them. We do not want anyone to think in terms of Victimhood or Victorhood. We must not care too much about what the world is saying. We must remember that God can use train crashes for his purposes. I. Rawlings, Deanery Synod Representative.

Warden’s Report for 2012

Firstly I would like to thank everyone for all the love and support that we have received throughout the year, making our job much easier than it might have been. Secondly, thank you to everyone who has in any way supported the running of the church. I am departing from tradition here by not naming anyone as I believe that everyone is of equal value. Over the year many people have stepped in where needed and worked as a team for the good of the whole…..Thank you. We are now in year three of our Growth Action Plan and we have fulfilled most of our objectives for the year. We said that we wanted to be a people of prayer who are flexible and open to change, who are growing spiritually and in numbers and developing as a family. To this end we changed our service patterns at the beginning of the year and now have a traditional eucharist every week at 9.am and a more relaxed family orientated service at 10. 30. A particular success has been the Café Church on the third Sunday of the month. Also we have held several community based events. At Easter Jeanette organised the Easter Gardens of Newton which was a huge success and will be repeated this year. We also held a wedding Fair and a marmalade fair, both of which attracted visitors from outside the church. In the Summer we had a Family Fun Day which was fun in spite of the weather . However we were blessed with good weather for the barbecue and barn dance held here as part of the West Kirby Mission . Later on we held our usual Autumn Fair and “Bethlehem in Newton” at Christmas, again encouraging many people to enter the church, some of whom had never been inside the building before .The mission team organised another pamper evening and have several events planned for this year. The Drop in Café celebrated its first birthday in October and continues to serve delicious lunches every Friday. Financially we are just about holding our own. The centre has been well used this year and made a small profit. We have also appointed Betty as Giving Officer and she has introduced a giving for life leaflet which explains the need of regular giving to the church. 6

We have a new and more relevant web site to reach out to people in the modern way which you can visit at www.stmichaelsnewton.co.uk We have carried out routine maintenance tasks on the building and Richard and his team have looked after the grounds. In December a tree fell during a storm . This has been removed and the other trees on the site have been examined. In November we were blessed by being able to welcome Phil, Helen, Hannah and Will into our church family. Bishop Keith licensed Phil in a happy and joyful service attended by many parishioners of the church that Phil was leaving in order to join us. Phil joined us as a Mission Pioneer and has thrown himself into the role with love and enthusiasm. Will has made a huge contribution to our worship in the 10.30 service with his drumming and Helene and Hannah have both helped with the singing .We look forward to working with them for the next four years . One of the first things Phil did was to produce an information leaflet to hand to people on their first visit to St. Michaels. This year we celebrate our 50th anniversary and intend to use this as a springboard to launch us into the next half century, an opportunity for us all as a church family to reach out and serve the people of Newton together. I thank John, my fellow warden for carrying out the lion’s share of the work while I have been unable to do as much, he has done it so willingly and relieved me of any guilt, Thank you John and everyone else who has stepped into the breach. John and I thank Cheryl for working tirelessly for us and continuing to smile when sometime she probably doesn’t feel like it. We respect her as a priest, love her as a friend and trust her to guide us on our spiritual journey .

Planned Giving Report 2012

95 members of our congregation contributed to the Planned Giving Scheme during the year. These were split between those who give by Standing Order and Envelopes. The total giving for 2012 amounted to £53,485. For those who are able to Gift Aid, we have been able to reclaim a further £13,739. In addition, a smaller number of our congregation give to the plate collections. We are very grateful to all who give of their time, talents and money to enable us to maintain our Ministry, outreach and upkeep of our Church. We are also very grateful to all who work to raise additional funds to enable us to meet our financial commitments in full.

Canon Betty Renshaw, Planned Giving Officer

Cleaning Team Report

The cleaning teams still come regularly to keep the Church looking at its best. We would always be glad of extra help if possible. Each group of two or three choose the time and day that suits them, mostly a Friday morning is popular. As alternate groups come on a weekly basis it never gets too arduous. Mrs. Pauline Worseley

Drop Inn Café

The drop Inn Café is now well into its second year. This venture was set up to meet the Growth Action Plan objective of reaching out to the community. Since October 2011 enough funds were raised to purchase the

7 industrial dishwasher, which has made a big difference to parish events and Sunday morning coffee. The café has continued to flourish and a total of £1125 has been raised this year. Over sixty members of the congregation and friends have dropped in for a snack or light lunch and the café serves, on average, eighteen people each week. One regular customer is Jackie who comes each week with her two grandchildren. “They eat better at the Drop Inn café then they do at home” Jackie says with a smile. Although the first menu was vegetarian, new dishes have been added and now include the very popular Bacon butty with chips and All Day Breakfast. If you have started the New Year with a diet then look out for the range of baked potatoes, skinny soup and fat free yoghurt. In the kitchen the team, led by Jeanette Appleton, aim to cook each order to the customer’s preference, whether that means adding extra custard to the apple pie or syrup sponge puddings or ensuring the bacon is really crispy. The front of house team ,led by Julie MacDonald, not only give service with a smile but also have time to chat with people and sometimes are asked to pray for a particular situation. If you would like to join the Drop Inn Café team then please get in touch, you do not need to have any formal food hygiene qualifications to work in the kitchen, and even if you only have an hour to give on a Friday we would love to have you join us. Open every Friday in term time from 11.30 am to 2pm you can be sure of a warm welcome, so mark next Friday as Café day and bring a friend with you. Mrs. Jeanette Appleton

St Michael and All Angels Rambling Group

When through the woods and forest glades I wander and hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees: when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, and hear the brook, and feel the gentle breeze; Then sings my soul…… Mission Praise No 56

When I sing this verse from that great hymn ‘ How Great Thou Art’ I am always reminded about our beautiful countryside and how lucky we are to be able to go out and enjoy it. In the same way when I am out walking in any weather I often think of this verse. Here at St Michaels we are fortunate to have an active Rambling Group that meet on the second Saturday in the month and enjoy the love of walking. This has been made possible by the many people who go out and check route and then lead us on the day. However before all that can happen someone has to put together a programme of walks and for the last 10 years (at least) this task has been undertaken by Brian and Peggy Dodd and we all would like to thank them for all the work they have put in to giving us a great assortment of walks over the years. We have walked locally on Wirral, in Cheshire, Wales, Derbyshire, Shropshire, Cumbria and Lancashire to name a few areas. The Rambling Group also has a long weekend away early in October each year staying at a HF Walking Centre. In 2012 we stayed at Derwentbank in Keswick. This weekend has grown over the years and we have been joined at times by non-walkers who enjoy the fellowship but are also able to go out and do their ‘own thing’ during the day and join in the fun and fellowship afterwards. We thank Graham and Lesley Wilkinson for arranging these weekends. Long may they continue to do this for us! At the Annual Parish/Ramblers Dinner held at The Heatherlands in January, Brian and Peggy were presented with gift vouchers and flowers along with a card signed by past and present ramblers as a token of our thanks. Ken and Pam have agreed to take over the task of programme co- coordinator starting in January 2013 and we have with the help of members put together a programme of walks which we hope all will enjoy. 8

Ken & Pam Stackhouse.

The Prayer Chain

The Prayer Chain continues to be a source of comfort to those who use it, and is always confidential. Liz Tunn is now my very willing assistant so thank you to Liz for all the support you have given me over the past year. If you wish to join the chain as a person who prays for those who are sick or in difficulty or if you know of any one who requires intensive prayer then please contact Liz or myself. Lesley Wilkinson.

The Coffee Rota

This past year has seen a change in the way we serve Sunday Coffee. We now have fresh filtered coffee and this is produced by using a new style coffee system. People are now able to help themselves and this has proved very popular. Of course we still have tea and soft drinks for those who don’t drink coffee. A new rota has been started with a few people, but we are always in need of more help. If you think you can help please speak to me. Lesley Wilkinson.

The Church Centre

The Centre is still well used by regular bookings, and also by different Church organizations. In spite of the rise in gas and electricity costs the Centre is still paying its way. Mrs. May Powell.

Bible Fellowship Notes

Eighteen people still take the notes, which I hope helps them to understand the Bible. Mrs. May Powell.

The Children’s Society

A “Thank You” letter has been received from the Society for the amount of £506.79, which was raised by members who have a Society Box in their home. We have also had a Christingle Service which raised £117.40. So the total sent by St. Michaels this year amounts to £624.19,helping their work with vulnerable children and teenagers. Mrs. May Powell.

9

St. Michael and All Angels Mothers' Union

We have had an interesting year with a varied programme of events. Our first speaker of the year was Ben Simpson who talked to us about his experience at Refilwe which obviously had a profound effect on him. So much so he planned to visit again. He and his friends were overwhelmed by the joy shown by the children there who had nothing in comparison to children in this country.

March was a busy month beginning with a visit from the chief executive of Crossroads Care, a charity which supports carers and the people they support. Our Wave of Prayer was held on Sunday 11th March, in room A as a service for Refilwe was being held in church. Then on Sunday 25th March the Wirral North Deanery Lady Day Service was held at Christ Church Barnston and some of us found ourselves helping children make banners. Also this month one of our members offered her garden for the MU display for the Easter Gardens of Newton. She was thrilled with the result which made it all worthwhile.

In April we had a DIY evening where we were all encouraged to put interesting memories into boxes and then share them with each other. The evening was full of laughter as we walked down memory lane.

Our speaker in May was Sue Barker from Forum Housing a charity we as a church have supported for many years. Also Margaret Sentamu spoke at the Diocesan Festival in Chester Cathedral.

Another highlight of last year was the Thank you for the Music evening which was held in Church and we are planning another musical evening this year when we will hopefully be singing a lot of our favourite hymns.

In July we held our annual strawberry supper, but with a slight difference as we held it in the church hall relieving the committee of transporting dishes, chairs etc. to another venue, and we kept it simple by having just strawberries.

We have no meeting in August but this was the month of Mothers' Union on the Move. This event organised by Jeanette and involved MU members travelling in relay from Lands End to John O'Groats on public buses to highlight the work of the MU across the world. Members travelled a staggering 1,066 miles in 7 days and raised over £2,000. Along the way they were met and entertained by different groups of MU members. Jeanette herself travelled from Exeter to Dumfries a true act of dedication, especially as I know she is not a good traveller.

As usual we held a welcome back service in September and Jeanette spoke to us about her MU work in October.

We had a return visit from Michael Murphy in November who told us about some women who in his opinion should be more famous and in December our Advent Service was followed by a sing-along led by our own music group.

2012 has been a difficult year for many, globally, nationally and locally. We have seen and continue to see conflict in many parts of the world and natural disasters, both here and overseas. Some people in this country have experience major flooding more than once, and charities such as the Charles Thompson Mission are struggling to provide help to the needy.

10

In 83 countries around the world, Mothers' Union members are involved in a wide range of community projects, and MU Relief Fund provides emergency financial help for communities affected by natural disaster or by conflict. In 2012 amongst other things the MU has sent £10,000 to Mothers' Union DR Congo to feed and resource refugees from conflict, over £15,000 to South Sudan to help families displaced by conflict and flooding and £15,000 to Tanzania to help people affected by crop failures and conflict.

So what about 2013, in this branch our numbers have dropped as some people have found a new spiritual home and joined the MU branch where they now worship, which means that they are not lost to the Mothers' Union and of course will be most welcome to attend any of our meetings.

As Mother Teresa once said "We can do no great things only small things with great love" So let us follow her example, and while we all are doing our "small thing" let us have fun and fellowship together.

Yvonne Murphy Branch Leader.

PCC Report 2013 – Readers

This has been a year of comings and goings. We welcome the arrival of Phil Brown as Church Army captain and minister with the bishop's licence and fully expect to support him in his role as Community Mission Pioneer, while we say farewell to Brian Dodd on his move to St Bridget's with thanks for his long and valuable ministry at St Michael's.

The team continues gladly to share the work of ministry under the leadership of Cheryl as vicar, preaching, teaching and leading services of the Word, bringing home communion to those who have requested this, and sharing in many aspects of parish life.

As the new pattern of services settles down, the team meets with Cheryl regularly for prayer and service planning, especially for the major festivals of Christmas and Easter in which Readers are fully involved.

In accordance with the Readers’ working agreements, continuing ministerial education is an important feature of the work of preparation undertaken by Readers in the parish.

Richard Appleton and David Hall have continued to lead the monthly Taizé worship that has developed its own particular niche, with occasional Sunday evening Taizé worship with live music thanks to Tom and Helene Lockett. Anthony Hart has reported separately on the delivery of the mission programme ‘Christianity Explored.’ David Hall has begun a short series of explorations on the opening chapters of the book of Genesis.

We thank you all for your continued support and prayers to enable St Michaels to thrive and grow to the glory of God.

David Hall

11

Mission Committee

The Mission Committee was set up by the PCC to look into ways we might reach out into our community with a view to growing our church. The committee consists formally of Carolyn Hart (chairman), Cheryl, Phil Brown, Ian Gilmartin, Anthony Hart, Jenny Rowlands, Eirian Taylor and Lesley Wilkinson, but with several others helping out as we plan and hold events.

This year we have run (with the help of Julie Simpson) two very successful pamper evening for ladies. The first was in May and the second one was in November. They both were well attended with approximately 40 to 50 ladies joining in. The evenings seemed to appeal to a broad age range and there was a good mix of regular St Michaels members and guests, all having fun together. We plan to follow on from the success of these events with some more evenings this year, but with different themes, which hopefully will still appeal to our non- church friends.

In the autumn we ran another Christianity Explored course. This is a ten-week course looking at the basics of our faith; this is now the third year we have run this course, and we are able to re-use material developed in previous years (which reduces the work considerably). As previously, we held the course in the church, using the overhead screens to good effect. The first part of each evening includes sharing a meal together, cooked (always excellently!) by volunteer parishioners (thank you again to all who helped). Everyone on the course, some of whom are not regular worshippers here, benefitted from the teaching and discussion; the feedback was again excellent. To see what past attendees have had to say about Christianity Explored, have a look at the “testimonies” tag on the St Michaels website. Please pray about who you feel God is calling you to invite to this years course (or perhaps He might be calling you to come along yourself?) Carolyn Hart

Refilwe Prayer Group

The group started meeting some years ago and is open to anyone who would like to pray for the work of Refilwe and to help keep the link going between our church and the project.

We meet once a month, usually on a Monday evening, at Carolyn and Anthony Hart’s house. Attendance averages at around six people. Before the meeting we usually e-mail Refilwe and find out what’s going on there and what they would like us to pray about. The meeting includes a time of sharing news from Refilwe, a Bible reading to get us into a good frame of mind for praying and then a time of prayer.

We have had many answered prayers. We are also very aware of how important the support we give is and how much Refilwe values the continued link with St Michael’s. I know that everyone within the group finds it a great privilege and blessing to be able to pray and support the wonderful work Refilwe is doing. This year though we have struggled to meet monthly due to life’s busy-ness, but we have met faithfully whenever we could.

A great encouragement to the group has been the involvement of Calday School, especially some of their past pupils, who have been organising fundraising events for Refilwe. Their big plan is to fund a volunteers’ accommodation block at the site (which will cost about £250,000), so we are doing our best to support them in this.

12

This year has been an eventful year in the life of Refilwe. Last March Jaco (Refilwe’s project leader) was in the UK and he made a brief visit to West Kirby. It was great to see him and catch up on all the latest news from there. In the summer the Calday fundraising team organised a 50 hour sponsored football event. We supported the event in various ways. In November we heard the sad news that Jaco had resigned from leading Refilwe; to date no replacement has been appointed (so please pray that they find / God sends the right person).

As I write, eight of us are just about to visit Refilwe for a week of mission/support. I think this is a good time for us to revisit Refilwe and offer our support at a time of great change for them. As always, your prayers for Refilwe are much appreciated, and we would love you to join us in praying for and supporting them in this crucial work.

Carolyn Hart.

13