APCM 2015
St. Peter & St. John the Baptist, Wivelsfield
Registered Charity No. 1130751
www.wivelsfieldchurch.org.uk
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Agenda for the Annual Meeting
of Parishioners and the
Annual Parochial Church Meeting
to be held on
Tuesday 21st April, 2015 at 7.20 p.m. in the Church
Opening Prayers followed by
ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS
1. Apologies for absence
2. Election of Churchwardens
ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
See Report on Page No
1. Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 8th April, 2014 2
2. The Vicar’s Message 5
3. Election of members to the Parochial Church Council
4. Presentation of the Electoral Roll 5
5. Annual Report and Financial Statements of the TO FOLLOW
Parochial Church Council for the year ended
31st December 2014
6. Appointment of Honorary Auditor -
7. Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of the Church Report 6
8. Worship Reports including 8
a. the Worship Committee,
b. Home Groups and
c. Healing Ministry
9. Mission report including 9
a. Christmas Lunch,
b. Posada,
c. Sierra Leone,
d. Lunch Bunch,
e. Playgroup Coffee &
f. Everybody Welcome.
10. Child Protection 11
11. Wivelsfield Church Hall 12
12. Mothers’ Union Report 12
13. Deanery Synod 13
14. Stewards’ and Readers’ Report 13
15. Organist’s and Director of Music’s Report 13
16. Youth Reports including 14
a. Children’s Ministry, &
b. Wicked Youth Club
17. Events Committee 15
18. Wivelsfield Monthly News -
19. Any Other Business -
Item 1
Minutes of the Meeting of Parishioners
and the Annual Parochial Church Meeting
held on Tuesday, 8th April, 2014 at 7.20 p.m. in the Church Hall
Chairman for both meetings, The Rev. C R Breeds
Opening Prayers
ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS
34 Parishioners were present. The vicar thanked the members for attending.
1. Apologies for absence were received from:- Mr G Perkins, Mr C Holden,
Mr P Welch, Mrs M Russell, Mrs J Davey, Mr H Billam, Mr R Brocklehurst,
Mrs A Wende, Mrs P Turner, Mr R Hope, Mrs A Hicks and Dr N Collins
2. The Vicar thanked the Churchwardens, the Treasurer and all members of the PCC for their hard work throughout the year.
3. Election of Churchwardens
Mrs P Wood Proposed by Mrs S Blair, seconded by Mrs S Crichton
Mr S Onions Proposed by Mr G Martin, seconded by Mr G Perkins
As there were no other candidates Mrs P Wood and Mr S Onions were declared elected.
ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETING
1. The Minutes of the Annual Meeting held on 17th April, 2013
The Minutes had been circulated. It was necessary to agree that they were a true record at this meeting. It was proposed by Mr D Billam and seconded by Mr S Onions that they be agreed. Votes in favour 26, no votes against, abstentions 10.
The Minutes were signed by the Chairman
2. The Vicar’s Message
The Vicar’s Message had been presented. He confined his comments mainly to developments in the mission of the church. We, as a church family, exist to serve our community and thereby demonstrate our love of God and our love of neighbour. He listed the ways in which we do this. He ended by pointing out that with regard to the refurbishment of the Church Hall, the PCC had chosen a path that was a tremendous leap of faith. He asked that all should be united in supporting the vision.
3. Election of members to the Parochial Church Council
The Vicar reported that Mrs A Martin and Mr R Meredith-Jones had completed three years on the PCC and therefore would be standing down. Mrs A Martin had served as a representative on the Deanery Synod for some years. The Vicar thanked her for all the work she had done.
The Vicar asked if there were any volunteers prepared to stand for election. There were none. It was pointed out that we had up to six vacancies to fill on the PCC. We needed more volunteers so that more of the work involved could be shared out.
Mrs A Martin pointed out that new people on the PCC brought new ideas.
4. Presentation of the Electoral Roll
Mr D White, Electoral Roll Officer, advised that the head count on the Electoral Roll stood at 154.
5. Annual Report and Financial Statements for the PCC for the year ended 31st December, 2013.
The papers had been presented with the Agenda. The total receipts on general unrestricted funds received were £92,668. However, the total income for the year amounted to £178,839 which represented a 60% increase on the previous year. The largest expenditure of the PCC was the sum of £63,713 paid to the Chichester Diocese for ministry costs. The PCC paid 100% of the Deanery allocation of parish ministry costs. The total expenditure for the year was £106,120. The Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31st December, 2013, had been agreed unanimously by the PCC.
It was stated that £7,500 had been allocated to be paid to various charities. It was the policy of the PCC that when possible 10% of our income from unrestricted funds would be paid to charities.
The Vicar thanked Mr G Perkins for all his hard work as our Treasurer.
6. Appointment of Honorary Auditor
The Vicar thanked Mr R Brocklehurst for once again carrying out the role of Independent Examiner. Mr Brocklehurst has agreed to continue to do this work for a further year. It was proposed by Mrs G Jeffrey-Cook, seconded by Mrs P Smitherman and agreed unanimously that Mr Brocklehurst should continue with this work.
7. Fabric, Goods and Ornaments of the Church Report
Mr R Wood has presented his report and this has been circulated with the agenda. The Vicar thanked Mr Wood for overseeing the fabric of the church for the past year. It was pointed out by Mrs V Clements that before long, new covers for the alter would be required.
8. Worship Reports
Reports have been presented as follows and circulated with the agenda. The Worship Committee (Mr D Billam) - Home Groups (Mrs S Blair) - Healing Ministry (Mrs P Sullens). The Vicar thanked all those concerned with these areas of church life.
The Vicar said that as Easter falls on a Cafe Church Sunday, the main Service will be slightly more informal to encourage families that attend Cafe Church, to come.
9. Mission Reports
Reports have been presented as follows and circulated with the agenda. Mission Team Report (Mrs S Blair) - Sierra Leone (Mr P Welch) - Posada (Mrs S Cox) - Christmas Lunch (Mrs C Godman Irvine) - Lunch Bunch (Mrs S Blair) All reports were most encouraging. The Vicar thanked all those mentioned but also all the others that assisted with these various activities.
10. Mission Action Plan
The Vicar explained that we had to have a Mission Action Plan. We needed more people to read it, take an interest in it and contribute to it.
11. Safeguarding Report
Mrs J Callaghan has presented her report and this has been circulated with the agenda. There were no questions regarding the report.
12. Wivelsfield Church Hall Appeal
Mr S Onions has presented his report and this has been circulated with the agenda.
He added further explanation. A small number of builders had been approached with a view to them tendering for the work. It was stated that we are applying for various grants and applications are being carefully targeted. A number of concerns were raised concerning this project. It was stated that there would be a meeting in the summer to bring people up to date with the project.
13. Mothers’ Union Report
Mrs J Billam has presented her report and this has been circulated with the agenda.
14. Friends of the Churchyard
Mr D Garcka has presented his report and this has been circulated with the agenda.
In addition, it was reported that once again we had received £2,000 from Wivelsfield Parish Council, towards the cost of keeping up the churchyard.
15. Everybody Welcome
Mr S Onions has presented his report and this has been circulated with the agenda.
It was reported that we have applied for a faculty so that the pews that had been removed to facilitate wheelchair users and for the children’s area, will not be reinstated. Mrs Sarah Cox was thanked for organising the children’s corner. The small team will continue to meet now and then to progress initiatives.
16. Deanery Synod
Mrs P Smitherman has presented her report and this has been circulated with the agenda. It was reported that Mrs A Martin would be standing down as a deanery representative in May as she had stood down from the PCC. It was proposed by Mrs P Wood, seconded by Mrs S Blair and agreed unanimously that Mrs P Smitherman and Mr D White be re-elected as representatives. Mrs J Holden volunteered to become a representative from May onwards. It was proposed by Mr J Olsworth-Peter, seconded by Mrs A Martin and agreed unanimously that she should be a representative from May onwards.
17. Stewards’ and Readers’ Report
Mrs J Billam has presented her report and this has been circulated with the agenda.
Please note that more volunteers are needed to be stewards at the 10.30 a.m. main services.
18. Organist and Director of Music Report
Mr and Mrs D Billam have presented their report and this has been circulated with the agenda. It was agreed that we are fortunate to have such excellent music in our church. The Vicar thanked Jenny and David for all they do with regard to the music.
Mrs J Billam said that some younger people were needed to help with running the Junior Choir.
19. Youth Reports
Reports have been presented as follows and have been circulated with the agenda.
Children’s Ministry (Mrs S Cox) - Wicked Youth Club (Mr and Mrs S Onions) -
School Children’s Social Club (Mrs A Martin). These were all interesting reports. The Vicar thanked all those who had been involved with these mission areas.
20. Events Committee Report
Mrs M Whear has presented her report and this has been circulated with the agenda.
Comment was made that the Events Committee had worked very hard organising a range of events during the year. The Vicar thanked all the committee for their hard work and the others who had assisted at the various events. Special mention was made of the Church Fete that had raised a record sum. Mr R Wood was thanked for organising this event.
21. Wivelsfield Monthly News
Ms F Holmes has presented her report. The Vicar thanked her for all her hard work producing the Monthly News. It was agreed that this work was done very well.
22. Any Other Business
The Vicar thanked all those not mentioned previously, for all the work they do for the church.
Item 2
Vicar’s Report
It has been another extraordinary year in the life of Wivelsfield Church. At a time when we are told that the Church of England is in general decline and we are in urgent need of an new reformation, and when other parishes similar to ours are struggling to survive, we are not only holding our own numerically and financially, but we are also successfully managing a major redevelopment of our Church Hall. In this sense I believe that we can all be proud of the time, effort and financial resources that we are putting into all of this. This is a truly magnificent effort and all of us can be proud of this.
When Bishop Martin came on his visitation last year to our deanery and our parish, I told him that it was my belief that no parish should sit back complacently believing that it had a divine right to exist. In this day and age every church congregation must earn the right to be valued, respected and supported by the people of the wider community if we are to survive and even flourish. In today’s post-Christian culture it is no good simply clinging on grimly to the old models of what it means to be Church, doing what we have always done behind closed doors on a Sunday and expecting people to turn up and support us with their presence, their time and talents and their money. It is self-evident that the impotence, indecision and inaction of the Church in many places have led to the current malaise in many parishes. The radical view of Church life mentioned in the Bible involves a number of important characteristics, and we can use them as a yardstick in order to discern if we are getting it right. These are listed in the Acts of the Apostles:
1. Studying Scripture, especially the Gospels, and learning from them.
2. Faithfulness in fellowship through worship, Holy Communion and prayer.
3. Selflessness, mutual care and generous, sacrificial giving of oneself.
4. Gladness and sincerity of heart, issuing in praise of God.
We are told in the Acts of the Apostles that all of the believers were united in heart, mind and purpose, and in the power of the Holy Spirit they testified to Jesus and his resurrection. One of the most important ways in which we can testify, or bear witness, to our faith in Jesus and his resurrection is through the way we live out our lives. Yes, we must be faithful and positive in the way we demonstrate our love for God and for each other. Yes, we must be faithful in praying and worshipping together, but the whole purpose of this is to equip us and empower us to joyfully show God’s love and care for our community through Mission. Rather than trumpeting the modest numbers of people attending our church services, or the fact that we have a healthy bank balance, or even that we have raised most of the money required to develop our Church Hall, I would want to rejoice in our achievements in mission to our parish. Mission means going out or being sent by God to do his work and to make a difference for good in the lives of the people out there beyond the walls of the church building. We are called, in effect, to be the Church body, building God’s kingdom in the parish, so I rejoice, not only in the Sunday worship, but also in things like: