Annual Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Councils of Legbourne Raithby Woldmarsh For the year ended 31st December 2020 Aims and Purposes All Saints’, Legbourne Parochial Church Council has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish of Legbourne the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical, as well as the maintenance of the fabric of the church at Legbourne and the churchyards at Legbourne, Burwell and Muckton, and the church yard and cemetery at Little Cawthorpe. Woldmarsh Parochial Church Council has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish of Woldmarsh the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical, as well as the maintenance of the fabric of the churches and churchyards at Strubby, North Reston, Belleau, Swaby and South Thoresby and the churchyards at Gayton-le-Marsh, Aby, South Reston, Withern and Authorpe. Raithby Parochial Church Council has the responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish of Raithby the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical, as well as the maintenance of the fabric of the churches and churchyards at Raithby, Tathwell and Withcall and the churchyard at Haugham. Objectives and Activities Together the three parishes form the BeneQice of Legbourne Woldmarsh, an Anglican Christian community, worshipping in - and working from - nine churches, in villages across the Lincolnshire Wolds and Marsh. We are inspired by the Bishop of Lincoln’s call for ‘faithful worship, conident discipleship and joyful service’. In our mission to the people here we seek particular encouragement from the mobile ministry of Jesus Christ amongst the rural communities of his homeland, as recorded in Luke 8: ‘He went on through cities and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God.’ It is our sacred duty and joy to continue his work, aided by the Spirit, in the villages of Lincolnshire. As God's pilgrim people we move around our churches for worship, being prayerful, active and present in all of our communities. The PCCs are committed to inviting and enabling as many people as possible to worship in our church, to have access to the sacraments of the church and to become part of the Christian community. In summary, we eXist to • communicate a comprehensive and glorious vision of God and the nature and purpose of his creation, • to help people to be formed into the image of Christ and to live out their faith as his disciples • to nurture human Qlourishing and the common good according to God’s will. We primarily aim to achieve this by • Worship, prayer and catechesis • Provision of pastoral care • Missionary and outreach work. Achievements and Performance Worship, Prayer and Catechesis At the beginning of the year the parish Eucharist was the central act of worship, taking place on a Sunday morning at 10.30am. According to the longstanding beneQice rota this happened at All Saints’, Legbourne on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month, and in Woldmarsh parish on the 2nd Sunday, and in Raithby parish on the 4th Sunday. Numerous members of the congregation read the lessons from scripture, and actively assist the priest by administering the chalice, under licence. A weekly celebration of Holy Communion according the Book of Common Prayer was held every Thursday at 10, following on from morning prayer, at Legbourne. Attendance was never high but is valued by those who do come, including two who were not previously part of our worshipping community. The daily ofQices were said publicly Monday – Thursday (Friday being Fr James’ day off), at Legbourne, eXcept for Morning Prayer on a Tuesday at Swaby, and Evening Prayer on a Thursday at South Thoresby. The bell is always rung before the ofQice to let the village know they are being prayed for! On top of this a Taize Prayer Group met at Legbourne during the Spring and Summer on Saturday mornings and Fr James was involved in running a Messy Church group in Louth, and a deanery Lent Group. On Sunday 9th Feb 2020 we gathered for a special service for the Patronal Festival at St Vedast’s, Tathwell. As well as commemorating our patron saint, we also remembered a former incumbent of Tathwell, the Rev'd Bertie Hibbett, whose war letters were the subject for a deeply moving talk by his daughter Elizabeth. All of our usual patterns of worship, along with our plans for the year, were suspended with the commencement of a national lockdown in March, and a Qirm order from the government to stay at home, following the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. This unprecedented situation placed great strain on individuals, living under severe restraint and at a time of great anXiety, as well as on our parishes, cutting off our usual sources of fundraising and income, and limiting the ways in which our worshipping community could gather and grow. The pandemic also placed the church in a position of great responsibility, as we responded to the needs of the communities and institutions which we seek to serve. During the irst lockdown, we were initially instructed to close our church buildings, as well as suspending all public worship. The already depleted deanery clergy made the decision to continue on the trajectory that we had started on, and work as a united team to maintain a full weekly programme of worship and teaching, as well as pastoral care. Taking in turns to record and broadcast services online from our homes, the daily ofQices, including compline, as well as two Eucharists and a homily were live-streamed or made available own the Parish of Louth website. It has been a steep learning curve regarding the use of this technology, aided by some investment at St James’, Louth in an i-pad and better internet connection. In May the deanery ministry team introduced a weekly online series introducing different methods of prayer. Fr James led a session using the rosary. When the original series Qinished, a prayer group has continued online, alternating between lectio divina and Ignatian prayer methods. Occasional ofQices have been badly hit by the lockdown, with only funerals going ahead, and under very restricted conditions. Initially only 5 were able to attend, which were often held by the graveside. When lockdown restrictions began to be eased in June, it was an emotional moment welcoming the congregation back to church. Worshippers had to be 2 metres apart at all times, washing their hands on entering and leaving, and wearing a face mask. Communion is given in one kind only, and the names of those attending are recorded. There was a ban on singing hymns. It was decided that All Saints, Legbourne was the only church building suitable to host worship under these conditions, due to its size and location. It also made sense to focus on one location, where we could establish safe practice. The Sunday service was moved to the later time of 11.15am, due to time pressures on Fr James, and alternates between Holy Communion and Matins for the same reason. The church could be open for private prayer, as long as it was stewarded, and so All Saints was opened up on Wednesday afternoons, for this purpose. These rules and this pattern has stayed in place since its introduction in June. The lightening of lockdown rules allowed for two weddings to be held in the beneice, on 5th September, at St Vedast’s, Tathwell, and, following the second lockdown, on 12th December at Legbourne. A second national lockdown came into force in November 5th. Public worship was again suspended, with Fr James celebrating the Sunday Eucharist on behalf of the community. This lasted until 2nd December. On Armistice Day a small group of representatives gathered at the war memorial in Legbourne churchyard. After the observation of the 2 minutes silence wreaths were laid on the cenotaph and war graves. Fr James was sister by Hank Green and local cadet Toby Precious. A pared-back Christmas programme was able to be put on, with an evening of folk songs and readings at Raithby, ending with carol singing under moonlight in the churchyard, midnight mass at Legbourne, and a Christmas Day Eucharist at Belleau. These services were ticketed for safety. Special thanks are owed to Hilary King for, amongst other things, performing the duties of sacristan, and making sure the church was clean and safe during this turbulent time; to our reader Helen Marsden for her dedicated ministry, and to Liz Marshall for enhancing our worship greatly with her organ playing. We are also grateful to Keith the tower captain at Legbourne and our team of bell ringers for announcing our worship so wonderfully (a sound we have missed greatly since March); and our lower arrangers and church cleaners, who help enhance the beauty of our church and our worship, and our committed volunteers who cut and maintain the church yards. Deanery Synod The beneQice is currently only represented on Deanery Synod by 2 members of Raithby PCC, as well as the incumbent and reader. The synod was able only to meet once this year, in November, and that could only happen virtually via Zoom. A budget was approved and it was noted that the contributions from the PCCs across the deanery towards running costs of the deanery ofQice were making a big difference. The diocese’s Resourcing Sustainable Church programme was reported on. A series of groups have been working out how the diocese can reduce its annual deicit (which is signiicant) and turn around the church from decline to growth.