Contents
Vicar’s report 2
The Queen’s 90th Birthday 2
A new Joy Slide 2
Developing our buildings 2
Stan Catton 2
Sabbaticals 3
Developing our discipleship 3
Urban Missioners Report. 3
Curate’s Report. 4
Readers’ Reports 5
Penny Molyneux 5
Adrian Greenwood 6
Benefice Administrator’s Report 6
Bermondsey Christian Training 7
Online presence 7
Bluegrove and Rock Grove 7
Occasional Offices 8
Diocesan Synod Report 8
Deanery Synod Report 8
Mission Shaped Ministry: Key Reflections 9
St Anne’s Financial Report 10
St Anne’s PCC Report 11
Electoral Roll Report 11
St. Anne’s Warden’s Reports. 11
St Anne’s Safeguarding Report 12
What is 'Safeguarding'? 12
Whose Responsibility? 12
Who is an 'Adult at risk'? 12
To Whom Should You Report Your Concerns? 12
Suppose I am a Vulnerable Adult who is being Abused and I want the Abuse to Stop, but I don't want the Police to be Involved? Should I keep my Mouth Shut? 13
How Does the PSO (Jacky) Maintain a Level of Competence in her Role? 13
Ready Steady Grow 13
St James’ Treasurer’s Report 14
Church Warden’s Report 15
Increasing the use of the church building 15
The “Duty Church Warden” role 16
Friends of St. James Churchyard 16
Safeguarding 17
Ladies Bible Study 17
Sunday Groups 18
Little Angels 18
Monday Fellowship 18
Open church During the Week 19
Open Church on Saturdays 19
Bermondsey Brew 19
St James Church of England Primary School 20
Bellringers’ Report 21
Our team 21
Come and join us 21
Vicar’s report
The Queen’s 90th Birthday
Her Majesty’s 90th birthday offered St James and St Anne’s a wonderful opportunity both to join in the national celebrations and to offer a friendly welcome in the name of Christ to our community here in Bermondsey.
It’s known as the Queen’s weather and so, our planned for open air service had to be held indoors because of the rain, but we had a full church rejoicing and giving thanks for our godly, servant-hearted, monarch.
Later we spilled out into the churchyard for our community fun day and by this time the weather had improved. There was a barbeque, an ice cream van, side shows including the ever popular coconut shies, a full size Helter Skelter, kindly provided by Grosvenor, the owners of the biscuit factory, and a chance to meet the brave men and women of the London Fire Brigade (and to see the inside of a fire engine).
Lots of local people joined us and we gave away 1200 copies of the book ‘Our Servant Queen and the King she Serves’ in which the Queen spoke in her own words about the importance of her Christian faith that has sustained and guided her during her long life and many years of service to the nation and the Commonwealth.
A new Joy Slide
Many local people have happy memories of the joy slide that for many years was a feature of St James’s Churchyard. In 2016 the Friends of St James’s Churchyard, under the leadership of Adrian Greenwood, embarked on a project to provide a new joy slide for the 21st century in the churchyard, close to the existing children’s playground. Further details of the project will be available soon and a community fun day in aid of the project will take place on Saturday 22nd July in the churchyard.
Developing our buildings
Both churches have been taking steps to secure and improve their buildings for the future in the past year.
St Anne’s has been involved in a series of discussions with developers, council officers, and the Diocese as we seek to find the way forward for the church building which is badly in need of repair. The church is much more than the building, but the church needs a good building to serve its mission into the future and that is our aim through this process of exploration. We pray that God will guide us in his plan for St Anne’s.
St James’s Church is now open every day. There are an increasing number of users and hirers of the building. We are delighted that a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund will enable much needed repairs on the church stonework to be made before too long. We are grateful for this beautiful landmark building at the heart of Bermondsey which has witnessed to the message of God’s love for nearly two hundred years.
In 2017, on 24th September, we will be marking the 50th anniversary of the late Michael Whinney being made vicar of St James. Michael, then the warden of Cambridge University Mission, brought a congregation from CUM with him, and the church, which had been closed for much of the 1960s, reopened for worship, and the long process of restoring the building could begin. It will be good to mark with thanksgiving this process of new life and renewal, which began 50 years ago this year.
Stan Catton
2016 was the year that we bade a fond farewell to Stan and Pat Catton on their move to Sidcup. Stan and Pat are lifelong residents of Bermondsey and together they have made a huge contribution to God’s work here through the Cambridge University Mission (now the Salmon Youth Centre) and St James’s Church.
Stan was one of the early Ordained Local Ministers in our diocese. With Snowy Davoll, and Bill Garlick, Stan was part of a group of people who trained for the ordained ministry to serve here at St James and St Anne, bringing a huge knowledge and experience of our local community to their work in the parish.
In addition, to leading and preaching at Sunday services, weddings, funerals and baptisms, Stan did a huge amount of practical work around the church building, and his kindly pastoral and caring approach to everyone endeared him to our two congregations. We miss him, but we are glad that he will keep in close touch with us all in Bermondsey, and we wish Stan and Pat every blessing in their new home in close proximity to their family, and to their new church.
Sabbaticals
Our diocese operates a sabbatical scheme for clergy and licensed lay workers. It is a kind of ‘time out’, an opportunity to pray, reflect, study and travel, designed to provide refreshment and renewal for the full-time minister. Paul and I both consider ourselves very fortunate to be granted sabbaticals in 2017 and we look forward to sharing the results of our time away with the congregation in due course.
Developing our discipleship
On the day of the Ascension, as Jesus bodily left the earth to return to heaven, he gave what has become known as his ‘great commission’ to his church. He said (Matthew 28.18-20): “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
‘Go and make disciples’ was his challenge to his church, not mere believers (‘I believe in God’) or even church attenders (‘I go to church every week’), but disciples, followers, learners. All Christians are called to be disciples. All Christians are called to grow in discipleship. For the coming year that is our great challenge: to hear Jesus' call, and to grow in discipleship, learning from him, depending on his Spirit, living for him in every area of our lives.
May God help us to grow the number of disciples here in Bermondsey, and for those of us who are disciples already, to grow in our knowledge and love of his Son, Jesus Christ, in the coming year.
Canon Gary Jenkins
Vicar, St James & St Anne, Bermondsey
Urban Missioners Report.
Over the year I have continued to be an active part in many of the ministries of the church life. Leading and preaching on Sundays, taking funerals, assemblies and ‘Bible Zone’ in the school to name a few. I continue as a governor of Cherry Garden School and have also become a foundation governor at St James School during 2016.
St Anne’s remains an encouragement. Congregation numbers are good with some new people having joined us, however we have also said goodbye to some who have moved on. Occasional services like at Christmas and Easter the numbers remain encouraging. This Christmas we introduces a crib service on Christmas Eve. We had a good number of people attend, some that we did not know. We are now seeing some of the families from Ready Steady Grow join us occasionally.
I, along with 6 others have completed the Mission Shaped Ministry course run by the diocese. It was a great course that stimulated a lot to think about and will be valuable as we aim to reach out more into our communities and establish fresh expressions of church.
Men’s breakfasts have continued to be a popular event with the various speakers proving to be encouraging and challenging. The program is varied and interesting with a faith sharing time at each of the meetings. Numbers vary between 20 and 30 men. We aim to have a breakfast every 6 weeks or so, with longer gaps between them at Christmas, Easter and the summer. That amounted to 6 breakfasts over the year.
I continue to lead the Monday night men’s group. We meet each week throughout the year with the exception of the holidays. The autumn term was a bit more erratic for various but good reasons. Currently there are 4 or 5 of us that meet but we are open to others joining us.
Schools week in May was well supported by Riverside and St James Schools. Both brought all of their KS 2 classes to an interactive look at the events that happened after Easter. Each child joined in 3 activities where they heard about the Ascension, Pentecost, and the life of Paul. They then made a craft to take away and added their hand print to a collage which was sent to their respective school.
I am continuing to build meaningful relationships with some of the men that work on the Blue Market. We were again asked to hold open air service on Good Friday and carols at Christmas. I was involved this year in the Cherry Garden carol event at the market. As a governor of the school and minister it was a great privilege to see the children singing and signing the Christmas story through the carols and songs
The open-air service (sadly held indoors because of the rain) and community fun day to celebrate the Queens 90 Birthday was a great success. A very positive time was had by everyone with a large number of the books about the queen and her faith being able to be given away.
I think that all in all 2016 has been a good year in the missional life of the churches. . As we look to the future let us all keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and seek to proclaim the gospel in everything we do. A big thank you to the helpers that enable so much to happen each week. It would be an impossible task if it were not for you all.
Capt Paul Warren CA
Urban Missioner
United benefice of St James and St Anne’s Bermondsey.
Curate’s Report.
This has been a busy and enjoyable year for me. I have been given great opportunities in leading and preaching at St James and St Anne’s churches, give talks in St James’ School, Blue Grove and the Monday Fellowship as well as doing occasional offices such as marriages and funerals.
I have continued to provide written work and attend monthly training sessions with other curates from around Southwark diocese and this has enabled me to continue to develop friendships with ministers from the full variety of churches in the diocese. One of the benefits of this has to see how Christians from quite different traditions can come together to worship God in different ways.
My contract with the diocese includes a commitment to work for the Salmon Youth Centre, and I have continued to be involved with running adventure activities for younger children, and a twice-monthly Christian Event for 12-18 year-olds on Sunday evenings (5:30-7:30) to study the Bible and consider various Christian topics.
Jim Guild, who had been the heart and soul of much that goes on at Salmon died in the summer and another staff member, Robert Razz, was medically retired, has brought some increased responsibility for staff members at the Salmon Centre, including me, though this has been nothing but a blessing. David Davoll’s help has also been hugely important is helping Salmon transition to some of these changes.
Salmon Youth Centre once again organised a residential trip to Soul Survivor in August 2016 for those who attend Salmon Sunday, and this was, once again, one of the highlights of the year, as a dozen youth from Salmon joined staff in attending a camp for 8000 other youth from around the UK, studying the Bible, listening to music and worshipping God together.
God bless you all!
Jos Downey
Readers’ Reports
Penny Molyneux
One of the disadvantages of getting older is that I don’t sleep as well as I used to, and I often wake up really early in the morning. However God can use every situation in a positive way, and I came to realise that this is a great opportunity to have a good “quiet time” for reading the Bible and prayer before the alarm goes off and the busy day begins. I generally pray in my own words, but sometimes find myself using the words of hymns, songs and prayers used so often in church that I now know them off by heart. One of these is “The night has passed and the day lies open before us(me). As we (I) rejoice in the gift of this new day, so may the light of your presence, O God, set our hearts (my heart) on fire with love for you.” It is wonderful to be reminded first thing in the morning that every moment of every day is a gift from God, with the potential for unexpected opportunities and challenges to be seized – or allowed to slip away.
Our Diocese has as its motto “Hearts on Fire” inspired by the reaction of the two disciples who met Jesus on the road to Emmaus after the resurrection. When Bishop Christopher preached at the Readers’ Relicensing Service at the Cathedral recently, he finished with these words: “My prayer is that … the Spirit will lead you into all truth, and your hearts will be on fire as, through you, the Lord opens the Scriptures for his people.” Earlier in his sermon he had reminded us that our ministry covers several aspects: we are ministers of the book, called to study and interpret the Holy Scriptures in teaching and preaching; we are ministers at the table, sharing in the distribution of Holy Communion; and we are ministers of the road, ministering to those we meet along the way.