Jesus Church, Forty Hill, Enfield

Annual Vestry and Parochial Church Meetings
Thursday 18th April 2013 at 8.00pm

AGENDA

Vestry Meeting

  1. Prayer
  2. Minutes of last year’s meeting
  3. Election of 2 Churchwardens to serve for the coming year

Annual Parochial Church Meeting

  1. Opening devotions
  2. Minutes of last year’s meeting to be approved and signed.
  3. The consideration of
  • Presentation of Electoral Roll
  • Annual Report of the PCC
  • Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2012
  • Report on the fabric, goods and ornaments of the church
  • Report on the proceedings of the Deanery Synod
  1. Election of 6 PCC members
  2. Appointment of sidespersons for the coming year
  3. Appointment of an independent examiner for 2013
  4. Parish Report
  5. Any other matters of parochial interest (please notify chairman by noon on 18th April)
  6. Closing Prayers

Membership of the PCC and its Officers

This report covers the period January to December 2012

Background

Jesus Church PCC has the responsibility of co-operating with the vicar, Rev Ian Crofts, in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. It also has maintenance responsibilities for Jesus Church and the Charis Centre.

Membership

Ex-officio members of the PCC

The VicarRev Ian Crofts (Chair)

ChurchwardensNick Munt and Chris Bachelor

Deanery Synod MembersPhyl Weavers, Barbara Crofts, Jacky Flory

ReaderAilsa Bulger (Vice Chair)
Elected members of the PCC

Twelve members serve for three years – four retire by rotation each year. There is one vacancy.

Peter Bachelor / (until April 2012)
Richard Thacker / Treasurer / Jane Davidson
Sue Harper / Secretary / Diane Willcocks
Robert Davison / Harriet Parks
Katie Liversidge / (from April 2012) / Trevor Nesbeth
Jackie Kenealy / Jeanette Singh
Sue Spinks / (co-opted)

Services at Jesus Church

2012 / 2011 / 2010
Average Weekly Attendance Adults / 124 / 134 / 121
Chilldren / 48 / 55 / 45
Baptisms (under 1 yr) / 8 / 10 / 4
(1-12 yrs) / 7 / 14 / 13
Adult / 2 / 2 / 2
Confirmation / 4 / 5 / 7
Marriages / 8 / 5 / 11
Blessing of Marriage / 0 / 0 / 0
Funerals at Jesus Church / 3 / 4 / 2
Easter Day Communicants / 102 / 90 / 130
Easter Day attending Worship / 177 / 209 / 250
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Communicants / 72 / 145 / 119
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day attending worship adults and children (including Christingle service) / 310 / 421 / 309
Electoral Roll in March / 177 / 180 / 173

PCC Annual Report for the year 2012

2012 has been another year of challengein the life of Jesus Church and we continue to be thankful for the energetic leadership of Ian and Barbara and their enthusiasm for ministry and teaching here.

Spring into Faith

In the early part of the year the main focus of the PCC was on arrangements for the Spring into Faith teaching weekend held in March and led by Canon Andrew Dow. This was covered in last year’s report but since it took place in 2012 we mention it again here. Each session had a different focus. Friday evening’s Step into Faith’focused on work and employment, something not often discussed in church. The main sessions on Saturday and on Sunday evening focused on ‘Embracing Faith’, with worship and further teaching and there was a fun social event on Saturday evening. The whole weekend wasappreciatedgreatly both on a spiritual level and on a social level

Another Capital Idea

Early in the year the PCC had some thought provoking discussions about the ideas and challenges expressed in this report, commissioned by the Bishop of London, and their relevance to the mission and outreach at Jesus Church. It asked what could be done to encourage and sustain growth and what factors affected a church’s ability to do this effectively or possibly caused decline. The PCC honed in on how the welcome could be improved for the many newcomers who arrive at church during the course of a year. It was agreed it was the responsibility not only of the stewards but all PCC members to ensure that new people were welcomed and encouraged but in a low key way. A new Welcome leaflet was produced to provide key information to help new people find out more about what goes on at Jesus Church. Another Capital Idea also highlighted some of the difficulties that can arise in incorporating newcomers into the life and family of the church. Despite an increasing weekly church attendance in Londoneven families who regard themselves as members of a church attend less frequently than in the past, maybe only once or twice a month no doubt in part due to the many external factors that everyone faces today. However this does make integration and a sense of belonging harder to achieve and to churches were challenged to look at their service patterns to see if they were appropriate for the profile of their congregation. Given Jesus Church has many young families who can find weekends very pressurised, it was decided to trial a midweek evening service during the eight weeks running up to Easter. The PCC was very pleased to have trialled this but regrettably it did not prove viable going forward due to small attendance and resource issues.However the morning mid-week service was a service that had successfully evolved in 2011 into a more family friendly format to meet the need of that congregation; this growth has been maintained in 2012.Going forward the PCC need to continually look at what the Spirit is saying to us as to where effort and resources should be expended and how and when we should think and act differently.

Prayer Meetings

One result of these discussions was the decision to holdregular prayer meetings led by different people and parish groups so we can be open to the direction and guidance of the spirit. Since October there have been monthly prayer meetings and we have very much appreciated the variety of approaches taken by the different groups.

Outreach

It is a wonderful gift to us that so many families and children come to Jesus Church. A new Welcome leaflet was prepared to help those coming to Jesus Church for the first time. Baptism preparation and Christianity Explored courses were run throughout the year for those who want to explore faith further. It is encouraging that many of those who attend go on to baptism and confirmation.

Community

During Lent many members of Jesus Church attended Lent courses run by the Local Ecumenical Partnership (LEP) and were given the opportunity to bear witness to many shoppers etc at the outdoor Good Friday Service in Enfield Town Marketplace. Our connection with the local and wider community furtherdeepened through involvement with the Enfield Food Bank. We have a donation point in church and the goods received are regularly delivered to the Food Bank – over 1600 people have been helped this year. The PCC has also agreed for the Charis Centre to be as an assistance centre in the event of a local emergency.

Other Events

Among the many activities this year we againhad a Pancake Party on Shrove Tuesday and we took part in the Jubilee Big Lunch. The weather was not so good and we were grateful to be able to use the Charis Centre. We also held a Harvest picnic, again indoors, and a first QuizNight in October which proved very enjoyable thanks to Dianefor compiling all the hard questions! Robert ran two series of the Readers Appreciation Group during the year, reading ‘Cider With Rosie’ by Laurie Lee and ‘The Help’ by Kathryn Stockett. The Group is a great outreach as it includes not only church members but also people from other churches and none. Each session concludes with a Bible thought.

Another Christmas Craft Day in November gave us opportunities to chat with new people over our creative efforts – we are grateful to Ailsa for putting it on.

Teaching at Jesus Church

During the year in the morning services sermon series ‘Going Deeper with God’ based on the message of Jonah, ‘Pictures of God’ challenging our preconceptions of God: as King, Mother, Father, Bridegroom, as Alpha & Omega. Then after a series on David in the autumn another much appreciated series on Searching Issues. Many of the morning sermons are available for download on the church website. The evening series were mainly based in New Testament letters, 2 Corinthians, 1 Peter and Hebrews, with deeper studies of aspects of Christian Living.

We appreciated the visit of Archdeacon Fr Luke Miller who celebrated communion and preached at our 6.30pm service in October. Fr Luke comes from the Anglo-Catholic tradition. It was really interesting to hear about the deep meaning and symbolism behind various parts of the service and to experience it. Thanks too to Fr Luke’s family who came and helped during the evening.

Throughout the year Fellowship Groups continued to meet in term time. In general they follow the sermon series but sometimes use other resources. Recently we have been using John Pritchard’s book ‘Living Jesus’. In these groups we get to know each other really well as we talk about faith and our own lives and give and receive encouragement and support.

Other Parish Activities

There are many other Parish Activities that are integral to Jesus Church and we are so grateful for the unstinting and unsung service given by so many volunteers.

Enfield Deanery Synod Report

Phyl Weavers

There have been three meetings of the Deanery Synod this year. The first meeting in June was held at St. John’s Church, Dysons Road. Neil Hook, from the London Borough of Enfield, spoke about “Borough Regeneration: partnership with the parishes.”

The September meeting was a discussion on “Capital Vision 2020 – the future of our church and city.” It was led by the Area Dean at St. Thomas’s Church.

The February meeting at St. Alphege Church was also led by the Area Dean, and was entitled “What makes a healthy church?” There was an opportunity to discuss our core values with members of other churches.

Electoral Roll Report

Derek Weavers

The Electoral Roll is the formal list of names and addresses of a church’s membership.Those on the list are able to stand for election and elect our PCC and Deanery Synod representatives. This year we have completed an entirely new electoral roll, as have all other churches in the Church of England. All names previously registered have been deleted, with new forms having been completed by those wishing to be on the new roll.

Our new Electoral Roll for 2013 amounts to 111.

Church Fabric Report

Nick Munt and Christine Bachelor (Churchwardens)

2012 has fortunately been a relatively quiet year on the fabric front.

In late September the Quinquennial Inspection was undertaken by the church architect Bob Wilson and the formal report was received in March 2013. He reported “that the church has been carefully maintained and monitored since the last report and the building is being well cared for. Generally, the building remains in good condition and many of the defects noted require monitoring rather than intervention at present” Two of the three items that were listed as urgent have already been undertaken and all that remains in this category is an Electrical Test which will be arranged as soon as possible. Items that need to be undertaken within a year should be manageable and a plan and costings will be drawn up to discuss at PCC.

At the time of the annual service of the church heaters and the gas safety check for all gas appliances one of the heaters in the chancel was condemned and there is a plan to have it replaced during the summer months.

During the summer problems were experienced with raising and lowering the bollards on the north entrance due to stones being knocked/washed into the holes and getting trapped. Work was undertaken at the end of August to dig out and concrete around the bollard area to prevent any further problems arising.

In August we commissioned a survey of all the trees within our demise. As a result of this a report was delivered that outlined the essential works required to ensure all the trees remained in a safe and stable condition and further works that would be beneficial for the trees in the longer term. After consideration of the respective costs and the church finances it was decided to proceed only with the essential works at this stage and these were undertaken in the late Autumn.

Finally we would like to take this opportunity of thanking everyone who has contributed to the care of the building whether it be cleaning the inside of our buildings, tending to the gardens and grounds, or helping with items of maintenance and repair. We also recognise how fortunate we are to have in Ian a vicar who is very interested in the buildings and their workings and is always willing to pitch in and help when needed; this is very much appreciated.

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