Meeting dates for 2011/2012:
26 May ; 29 June; 04 August; 29 September; 16 November; 08 December; 11 January; 16 February; 28 March. PCC members: these dates are all crucial; if you have conflicting appointments, put the PCC first! Suggested date for APCM 2012 is 15 April.

At the Annual Parochial Church Meeting held following Mass on Sunday 10the of April 2011 the following people were elected to serve for the coming year (and in the case of Deanery Synod Reps, for the next 3 years):

 PCC Members : 
Sally Green, David Allen, Jan Giles, Jacquie Sarsfield-Norman, Shaun Hooper, Mandy Hodgson, Cynthia Hoggett,
Maureen Ife, Peter Green.

Deanery Synod:
Jan Giles, Brenda Stephenson

Sides persons :
Janet Allen, Ann Hotson, Sheila Munks, Linda Byrne-Smith, Cynthia Hoggett, Jane Wilson Smith, Olive Smith, Chris Barton, John Glover, Lesley Scrimshaw, Stewart Jackson, Maureen Ife, Violet Okongwu, Muriel Boyden.

At the meeting of parishioners that preceeded this meeting Susan Elwood and Alan Jackson were re-elected as Church Wardens. Carol Lewis and Stewart Jackson were elected as Deputy Church Wardens.

We assure them of our thoughts and prayers as we face a challenging future together, but a future underpinned by the God who calls us all by name and gives us grace to fulfil our callings.

Vicar's Report to the Annual Parocial Church Meeting 2011

Well it has been a strange year for me in many ways; and because of this in some ways it will have been a rather strange year for you too, because you will have been affected directly. From my very personal perspective the ill-advised prescription of a particular cholesterol medication from my GP in 2008 eventually resulted in more than 18 months of clinical depression which eventually became moderate-to-severe – a side-effect of which the GP didn't seem to be aware (since he treated me with anti-depressant drugs, rather than discover the root cause of the chemically-induced depression)... But whatever, my mental state until the end of 2010 can't have helped the way in which I have offered leadership in this parish during much of the last 12 months. I think I'm better now – and probably back to ‘normal' – whatever that might mean! I suppose at least I might now have some new insights into some aspects of mental illness. But it's a piece of learning I would have preferred to gain in a less personal way.

So, thank you to those who carried a greater responsibility during that time – though, to be honest – I think I managed to function reasonably well in some ways (especially on Sundays when we gather to do the main thing we need to do as the Church), but PCC meetings were much less effective gatherings because I was ill, as some know to their cost… But some people just continued to get on with things, in their own way, taking proper responsibility for the roles they had previously accepted. Peter (Green) ably took up the reins as Hon PCC Treasurer – though he has categorically said that he will only do that job for a total of 2 years – so we need now to be active in finding his replacement before this time next year... Janet and Sally have continued to sort out the practicalities of money. David Allen has taken and reproduced PCC Minutes; the churchwardens have fulfilled their particular rôles in their own distinctive ways. Maggie has conscientiously taken care of hall bookings and sorted out the payments from several less efficient users. Others have cleaned the church on their rota-ed week, some other folk (though too often, the same folk…) have prepared refreshments; Ray and his serving team have unobtrusively enabled our liturgy to happen in a dignified manner, Shaun and the choir have grown into their new celestial musical home and led us in our singing; Anne (Reeve) has led a small team who do wonders with floral artistry. Brenda and Fr David have shared their theological insights with us through their preaching and leading of worship. Ray, in another and perhaps even more significant rôle, provides us with a website that enables both the regular congregation and the casual enquirer to know what's going on here. Replacement joints notwithstanding Carol has sorted out cleaning rotas, made clean altar linen available, topped-up oil candles, and ensured lots of other things are fit-for-purpose. Claire has been tenacious in pursuing the Appreciative Inquiry project with us. Others have led our Junior Church work. Jan has started a walking group that is growing in popularity. Stan and Jacquie have abandoned their French pied-a-terre at times to enable us to feast together. And so on.

To these folk, and many others, I say “thank you” on behalf of us all.

After the excitement of the previous few years, with lots of thinking, planning and doing, the past 18 months or so have involved a time of consolidation and growing-into our new building. It's still a work-in-progress in many ways, but at least it still has a few blank canvases upon which we – and future generations – can create art worthy of its place in this temple. Yes, it would be nice to get on with some of that, but discernment about what is right doesn't happen overnight, and there's only so much energy one can spend in this way.

And there are lots of others things which we need urgently to address as the Christian community in this place, rather than allow our energies to become too focussed just on the building – important though it is as both a tool in our mission and ministry, and as the place where we do the most important thing we accomplish each week: i.e. offer the Eucharist.

The coming year brings us lots of exciting new ventures. At Petertide we will have the privilege once again of welcoming a new stipendiary curate to train, serve and live alongside us. Margaret Gallagher comes to us with a wealth of experience gained before her ordination training at Westcott House in Cambridge , and with a readiness to be formed for priestly ministry in community with us. All of us welcome her wholeheartedly; for most people at St John's the arrival of our first woman priest on the staff team is a development which has been too-long in coming; but for a small number of this church community there will be a new challenge of discerning the ways in which their own current convictions about womens' priestly ministry can be honoured whilst giving to Margaret the very fullest personal affirmation.

Our diocesan bishop, the Rt Revd Paul Butler has spend the first 12 months of his ministry with us in the diocese of Southwell & Nottingham looking, thinking, discussing and praying before he has now revealed his vision for the future. The old mission statement of the diocese has been developed so that it now reads “Joining together in the transforming mission of God”, a task we are to achieve by “Living Worship, Growing Disciples, and Seeking Justice”. I know that some people might be cynical about such ventures as developing mission statements; nonetheless we are part of this larger entity the diocese, which is asking us to focus our minds in these particular ways, and we certainly need to be proactive in discovering the ways in which our local church is to be engaged in these core activities in the future.

We cannot live on the ‘capital' of the past, in terms of money or in terms of ‘spiritual capital'. We have no financial capital to bail us out in our (sadly too-notional) commitment to paying our Parish Share. As a look at the back pages of the annual report of the diocesan Board of Finance shows, we were almost the biggest defaulters in paying parish in 2010. Only 3 parishes in the whole diocese have a worse payment record for 2010 than we do…

And we cannot live on the ‘spiritual capital' of the past either. We can't just say “We're an Anglo-Catholic church”, as though that explains everything. What does that mean? Is it even true?

The Appreciative Inquiry project aims to try to build on those aspects of our common life which we believe to be important. In order to succeed it needs all of us to commit rather more time and energy to the St John's project in the coming year. And maybe the Bishop's vision statement is not such a bad place for us to start this new year, as we work to discover what the future might mean for us in this church?

What is “living worship” in ‘our' tradition? What might we (i.e. not just the vicar!) do to “grow (more?) disciples”? In what ways might the “seeking (of) justice” become a clearer focus for us in 2011/12?

These can't just become targets for me, as your vicar, or for those folk who like that sort of thing. They will need to shape our whole common life if they are to make any difference.

We need to be clearer about the fact that things can't (just) continue as they were in the past. The old resources are running out. There are new challenges to be faced. The old ways of doing things aren't necessarily the right tools for communicating with those generations who haven't a clue about who we are, or why we're here.

Our heritage is one of our most valuable tools. But we need to learn how to celebrate it with those whose grasp of even the most basic tenets of our faith (let alone belief in God!) is minimal.

But nonetheless the future is bright, because it's God's future. May we use this coming Holy Week and Easter as an opportunity to renew our strength in the overflowing generosity of the God whose love knows no bounds.