Vestry Meeting
Welcome and Prayer:
Apologies: Nothing available for the website
Election of Church Wardens:
No report of this available for the website.
APCM
No reports were made available for the website for the following:
Electoral Roll:
Appointment of the Independent Examiner
Election of Deanery Synod Reps
Election of PCC Members
Election Sides-people
Devoran Religious Education Trust
Safeguarding New Recruiter
Minutes of the meeting held on September 27th 2020:
Matters Arising:
Presentation of the Accounts
The Accounts of the Parochial Church Council of St. John the Evangelist and St. Petroc, Devoran are available on request.
This website has not received confirmation that they have been independently examined and agreed.
There is therefore no Independent Examiner's Report available for the website, or information as to his/her name and qualifications or contact details.
Annual report of The Parochial Church Council for 2021- 2022
Vice Chairman Canon Bill Jewell. Church Warden, Anne Ramsden. Readers, Jane Darlington, David Watson. Deanery Synod reps, Kate Robinson, Clare Chipman, Adrian Walker. Treasurer, Trish Holmes. Secretary, Clare Chipman. Elected lay members, Bill Jewell, Elizabeth Dover, Chris Booker, resigned 10/2021, Janet Boxall, Shirley Morrish, Will Charnley, Rosemary Crocker, Mandy Walker. Co-opted, Natalie Shaw. Electoral Roll Officer, Alicia Skeplorn. Safeguarding Officer, Anne Ramsden.
The PCC approved the appointment of representatives to the Waterside joint council.
Much time has been spent on the provision of disabled access to the Church and the provision of some disabled car parking spaces in the Vicarage car park. The Vicarage is now a Diocesan House, and to date, there has been no action from them.
The heating group have been actively exploring the replacement of the oil fired boiler with more reliable and environmentally friendly system of heating for the Church and Parish Centre.
Churchwarden’s report for APCM April 2022
The last year has been a busy one, interviewing and welcoming Rev Karen Wilson to be our priest in July of 2021. We feel we have two for the price of one with her husband Chris, thank you both for your input to the parish. We were very lucky to have Jonathan walking alongside us while this process was going on to worship with us, help with prayer and advice. We wish him and Hilary all the best in their new parish in Winchester.
We have also been working with St Feock Church and St Pirans and are now a benefice, discussions will continue to bring the 3 parishes together as a cohesive, sustainable and fruitful group. Communication is one of the greatest assets we have, and we should continue to talk, discuss and become 3 parishes that compliment and support each other. We continue to work in partnership with Christians together up the creek as an important ecumenical partnership and involve St Piran’s in the worship.
Worship
The last 2 years in particular have given us some trials and tribulations to keep the church open as much as possible and continue to minister to the congregation and the greater community. We opened the church for private prayer during this year at first leaving only a few pews open so that they could be cleaned then gradually opened every other pew for social distancing as we got back to providing public services on Sundays. From there we opened one side of the church and then the other fully. The Sunday congregation gradually returned to the main service of the week. We started the midweek service on a Tuesday morning, although the numbers had been dropping but felt after a while that it was not sustainable and everyone who attended that service now attends on a Sunday. We have returned to Evensong twice a month.
At this point I would like to thank David Watson who came and took evensong for us once a month and had in the past done the occasional morning worship, travelling from near Bodmin, we shall miss him, but he says he will come and join us in worship sometimes. We will now be looking at a different type of service with Rev Karen for the 2nd Evensong of the month.
Youth work
There has been a lot of discussion about youth work and the 8 to 12yr old group had been identified before lockdowns as an age group that needs some support. Many of them have come through W4A and Messy church but now need some more specific support and age-appropriate worship. This is on the table for discussion and will be started up later in 2022. W4A has started again and continues monthly and messy Church will be reinstated in the middle of 2022.
Church building
The painting is now finished even though we have had problems getting the final fittings completed. Discussions about renewing the heating have been taking place and a new 3 phase supply will be fitted by WPD to facilitate this and update the electricity supply. As the plans move on information about it will be put up in the church for everyone’s perusal. I have started to talk to some of the younger members of the congregation to work on forming a maintenance team, it is getting to be too much for Bill who has been covering the work for a while now. Thank you Bill. The major work that needs doing apart from the heating is the painting of the woodwork outside the Parish centre, which should be tackled this year.
Safeguarding
There have been no safeguarding issues.
Churchyard
In the absence of a churchyard committee a small group of people have been working hard to keep the churchyard looking good. The strewing bed in memory of the Lobb brothers has been cleared and the trees, of types they collected have been pruned to make them safe. I would like to thank those people very much for all the hard work they have put in. Our new gardener has been gradually clearing around some of the old graves as well. We are looking at ways to get the community involved in their own burial ground.
To encourage wildlife, and with the help of a couple of families, namely the Heyes and Charnleys , parents and children we cleared some of the ground near the Yew tree and built an insect hotel and the garden waste was removed to the dump. There are also 2 hedgehog houses I donated and placed in the church yard with the assistance of Katy and Benji Dainton. Thank you to these families who have got involved.
Flower team
Thank you to the wonderful flower team we have led by Jill and Mandy. The flowers always look lovely and with donations in memory of family members have been able to maintain a good show.
To end this report, I wish to thank everyone who has helped this year. I cannot mention everyone, but you know who you are. We do need to get the social, wider church and fundraising going again with some more formality and look at the committees that we can service. That will be a discussion for the PCC on how we go forward maintaining a fruitful and sustainable church that goes out to mission to the community. We have restarted the Coffee Spot as a community coffee session on Tuesday mornings that complement the Haire coffee morning in the village hall. I know we joke about the churchwarden’s wand and if I could wave it and conjure up lots of extra help I would do. We need to share and communicate so that it is not the same people doing all the work, ‘many hands make light work’ is very much a standard we should work to.
The Waterside Churches - Vicar's Annual report, 2022
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.’
(Luke 4:18)
The Waterside Churches Vision is primarily one of mission and growth within an open evangelical and missioned tradition, there is a firm commitment to a Gospel proclamation, which places the need for a personal faith in Jesus Christ at the centre of its theology.
We seek together to:
1. To bring the people of The waterside Churches into a committed relationship to God through Christ.
2. To be a benefice of churches which are inclusive, and which learns to value all persons, embracing diversity.
3. To become a benefice whose worship and life reflect the variety of ecclesiastical churchmanship within the parishes in an expression of the love of God.
4. To be a benefice of churches who embrace the Bishops Mission Order and engage with the needs of our communities.
5. To be a community of prayer and mission.
Benefice initiatives into 2022
· Continued ministry of the Benefice Clergy, LLM, our PTO The Revd Jeff James and Lay Worship leaders. We are looking forward to the return to a ministry role of our PTO, the Revd Canon Martin Boxall once that he is feeling well enough to do so. Mr Chris Wilson will be licensed as LWL as soon as Diocese paperwork is completed. The Revd Dr Jonathan Rowe will be moving to his new appointment in June of this year and his last service with us will be at the end of March 2022. My sincere thanks go to both Jonathan and Hilary for all of their support, love and for the blessing that they have been to the Waterside Churches. We wish them every happiness and may they be blessed as they are a blessing to others.
· The continued development of our commitment to build a new mission action plan which reflects the Bishops Mission Order.
· The JCC will continue to meet every quarter and will focus on mission/outreach within the three churches and their communities. The JCC have opened a benefice bank account in order to fund benefice mission and outreach plans. This will be overseen by the PCC treasurers.
· Ministry Team - The team is led by the Vicar and consists of our LLM, Mrs Jane Darlington, The Revd Jeff James, Mrs. Anne Ramsden, Mrs. Jenny Kemp, The Revd Canon Martin Boxall, Mrs. Janet Thomas and Mrs. Nina Davey. Mr David Watson will retire from his position as Reader at Easter. The team will continue to meet every quarter. Mr Chris Wilson joined the team in March 2022.
· The development of a new youth ministry team led by Mrs Anne Ramsden and our LLM, Mrs Jane Darlington, along with Mrs Chris Ryall. The team will support St Feock church to encourage and welcome young people to worship and events. We are currently seeking a member of the team from the St Feock congregation/community. Mrs Monica Derrick has offered to be the channel of communication with the team. We will be working closely with the schools in Devoran and Perranwell and their head teachers to co-ordinate links and events within the schools both to children and parents. Assemblies, Christmas and Easter events, possible summer events during 2022.
· The continuing work of the new Pastoral team - led by the Vicar with Mrs Anne Ramsden, Mrs Jane Darlington LLM, Mrs Jill Bray, Mr John Bray and Mrs Janet Boxall, to support the congregations and communities. This growth of this ministry throughout this year will help as we move forward in building our worshipping congregations as we move forward in a post Covid world.
· The W4ALL team will continue to meet and to lead a monthly service, encouraging the engagement with young people and their families.
· The twice monthly BCP Evensong service of worship will be reviewed in the next month, due to the retirement of Mr David Watson, Reader.
· Ecumenical links will continue with my coordination of the CTUTC group and the planned activities in the parishes: Lent Talks, Walk of Witness, Open Air Summer Service, World Day of Prayer.
· Advent course achieved.
· 4 x Lent lunches planned for Lent 2022
· Benefice wide Lent Course planned for 2022
· Easter 2022 Activities which are focused upon young people and their families. These initiatives are to be based in Perranwell and Devoran, with open invitations to all of the benefice.
· Men’s Breakfasts - to meet the pastoral care needs of those who are vulnerable to social isolation. These will continue once every three months in the Perranwell Centre and will be funded by the Vicar and Mr Wilson. Any donations are paid into the benefice bank account, to be used for mission and ministry.
· A consideration of how to adapt Non Eucharistic services to offer a more easily accessible approach to worship for those seeking faith.
· Summer Club for young people in the planning stage for 2022. Led by Mrs Chris Ryall and team.
· A programme of fundraising and outreach events are planned by each church for 2022 to encourage non church goers as well as our congregations/communities to attend our church buildings. We will maximise the outreach and fundraising opportunities that our church buildings hold.
· The Waterside Churches website (edited by Mr Paul Stuart) will hold a diary for all of the churches events and will continue to be a ‘hub’ for information, events and worship details. Each church has a dedicated page on the website which is open for additions by each of the churches. We are looking to increase our visibility on social media sites. Work will be undertaken to ensure that all church events will be well publicised in all areas. The Vicar writes a regular ‘Karen’s Corner’ for the website.
· The parish magazines will be utilised to advertise and to promote the worship/mission/outreach of the churches.
· As a new benefice The Waterside Churches will continue to form new working relationships and fellowship through Christ. We will work towards regularly worshipping together, encouraging one another, praying together (and for each other) and to support each other, as agreed during the transition process with the Diocese.
Finance:
(For individual Parish finance reports see reports by the respective treasurers)
The current financial issue faced by the churches is the full payment of our MMF. The MMF is the ‘fund’ that all parish Churches and Benefices have to pay into annually. This ‘call’ is the fund that the Diocese use to pay for the Ministry of the Clergy, covering in general terms their pay, pensions and maintenance of Clergy housing. These monies are the only monies that the Diocese have to cover these costs of Ministry and the monies provided are used almost exclusively for this purpose. Being able to meet our MMF commitments is therefore very important for the continued ministry of the Church both within our Benefice and in the wider Church. The importance of being able to meet this commitment has been highlighted by the Powder Deanery On The Way initiative.
I would ask everyone to very kindly consider carefully whether they can please give more either by standing order, Direct debit or weekly in the plate.
If you feel that you can help, then please contact the treasurer of your respective Parish, their details are on the website.
The Deanery plan:
As you may be aware the Powder Deanery has begun the On The Way initiative. We are part of the Truro Renew area. The On The Way Team is prayerfully considering how each of the eleven churches in our area can become fruitful and sustainable into the future. Parish consultations have taken pace with regards to the ‘fruitfulness’ of each of our parishes.
All details and documentation with regards to the development of the plan are published on the deanery website www.powderdeanery.org
Work on the new deanery plan will continue until 22nd June 2022.
Vocations within Parish Life:
1 Corinthians 12 vs 4 -7
‘Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.’
One of the biggest challenges for the smooth running of the Parish Church is the ability for Parishes to identify and encourage those with the necessary gifts to agree to take on the rolls needed for the effective running of the Church. In The Waterside Churches we are incredibly blessed to have wonderful, committed people who act for us in a whole variety of ways each week on Sundays and who support me with the regular ministry on Sundays, during Weddings Funerals and as members of the P.C.C.’s Treasurers, secretaries and Church Wardens, and they each have my huge appreciation and respect as a Vicar with 3 Churches the ministry of this Benefice could not function without you all.
In the passage quoted above the Apostle Paul makes it clear that each of us has a ministry of one sort or another and that these gifts are given to us by God through the Holy Spirits ministry. God calls us to recognise our gifts and ‘Step up’ within the life of our Churches in response to his love for us. I would be hugely grateful if you would all consider whether what it is you might have to offer in the coming year. Please consider carefully whether you can help in any of the volunteer roles are so vital to the churches.
The Waterside administration:
My thanks go to Esther who provided administrative support to me upon my appointment last summer. Esther has since stood down from this role and it has become clear that a dedicated administrator is required for the three churches. This is a position that needs to be discussed and considered by the JCC.
The Preaching and teaching of the Benefice:
The preaching and teaching of the Holy Scriptures by the Vicar is supported by the ministries of the our LLM Mrs Jane Darlington, Mrs Anne Ramsden, Mrs Janet Thomas, The Revd Jeff James, Mrs Nina Davey and Mrs Jenny Kemp are invaluable. The preaching cycle follows in general the lectionary of the Church of England.
The scriptural teaching within the benefice is supported by the seasonal Advent and Lent Courses. The Home Group is Perranwell is looking to begin again once the group feel comfortable to do so. The timing of this will be led by the lifting of restrictions/reduction in the number of Covid-19 cases in the area.
My thanks go to all those who have to all those who have supported the courses this year.
Pastoral care:
The Pastoral care of the benefice is being managed by the Incumbent and formally supported by the Pastoral Care Team who are kindly given of their time to care for parishioners. I am aware that here are a number of parishioners who informally support fellow parishioners and community members, my thanks to them for your continued support.
There are incidents of significant need within the benefice and the Vicar wishes the Clergy, P.C.C. Church wardens, and Congregations to know that she is keen to be made fully aware of such needs and is very happy to undertake the pastoral care of those who would like his input. The most important aspect in facilitating such care is communication and the incumbent would like to impress on all the need to fully inform her of those situations which require her care and attention.
A final thanks to all:
As the Vicar I am very much aware of the incredibly hard work that so many of you contribute behind the scenes on a weekly and monthly basis. These ministries are essential and hugely appreciated: those who help organise services, those who clean, those who make and serve coffee, those who decorate the churches with flowers, those who serve at the Holy Communion, act as sides persons, read at services, help with festivals and benefice services, the Choir who sing so beautifully and those who organise the music and play the organ, our very committed team of Bell ringers, those who serve on the P.C.C.’s and as Church Wardens and those who help with the admin. I am also grateful to all those who work hard within our benefice communities: visiting, helping to run village events, raising funds and supporting charitable events held within the benefice. These contributions and ministries help us all to feel more a part of one family. A very big thank you for all that you do.
We are living through challenging times. The Covid-19 pandemic impacted our churches in various ways and continues to do so. The steeply rising cost of living will continue to make an impact upon our communities. We will be alert and focused on the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of the communities as these higher costs bite and more local families are pushed into poverty. Our role will continue to be a visible Christian presence which is attuned to the difficulties that these issues raise and to find ways of sensitively dealing with them.
The invasion of Ukraine continues to be very much on our hearts and minds as we find ways to help those who have been displaced and who need our support over the coming year.
There has been much to celebrate in the last year and there have also been times of sorrow. We have celebrated weddings and christenings and we have also held the funerals of some of our local residents. Thank you to all who have supported grieving families and who continue to do so.
I commend this report to you in the hope that we can share this vision together.
With my kindest regards.
Karen
Deanery Synod Report
The Synod is in discussion with the Bishops about ‘On the Way’. The Waterside Benefice is part of the Truro grouping of the Powder Deanery, which will provide a pathway for mutual help and support in our plans for Mission, and sustainability.