Articles - Miscellaneous

Chairman's Report to the Annual Church Meeting

 23^rd March 2003

Someone was asking me the other day how long I had been Vicar of St. Edmund’s. I took a deep breath and said: ‘Seven years this May’. ‘Odd, that’, came the reply. ‘I still think of you as the new Vicar’. I didn’t really know what to make of that remark, but the passage of time is certainly evident when I consider my own family, with three Primary School children in 1996 now all being at High School. Some things don’t change, however: Huddersfield Town are still struggling in the nether regions of the Football League – and St. Edmund’s continues to be the supportive, energetic and challenging Christian community to which we came as a family nearly seven years ago. I have frequently remarked on the diversity of ages and backgrounds from which members of our worshipping community come, but I do believe it is something for us to celebrate and to cherish. Sunday by Sunday we can number amongst our worshippers people whose roots may be Methodist, Baptist, URC, Roman Catholic, House Church – or even Anglican! I like to think that this diversity has an effect on our worship and wider church life and hope that, across the year, we are able to provide appropriate spiritual sustenance for all who seek it here.

Before commenting on one or two specific matters I’d like us to reflect more widely on the fact that, as Christians, we pray daily for God’s Kingdom in heaven and on earth. At a time when the future of Iraq and the whole Middle East is so uncertain it is good for us to remind ourselves of the responsibility we all have to be builders of God’s Kingdom on earth. The ways in which we are gifted to be such builders will be many and varied, but as we read in the Letter of James: “what good is it for people to say that they have faith if their actions do not prove it?” We serve Christ by serving one another, by being his body in the world.

In this connection I am grateful to the One City, One World Group, convened by Jean Livesey,  for keeping issues of social justice on our common agenda. Working for justice can be fun, as those of us who enjoyed the Garforth Community College’s Gospel Choir concert last year will remember: it was a great evening’s entertainment and we raised over £400 for the Leeds Emmaus House which, when up and running, will become part of a nationwide network of houses that enable people who have had few chances in life to live independent lives with dignity. One City, One World even had two foreign envoys during the year, with Jo Curtis, one of our churchwardens, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro to raise funds for St. Gemma’s and my colleague Rachel visiting Sri Lanka under the auspices of Christian Aid. Rachel raised the funds for the trip herself, much of it coming from her sponsored boundary run. No pain no gain, Rachel – and I guess that goes for Jo as well!

Yet as well as building God’s Kingdom on earth we look, as Christians, to the city that is to come. Part of our role as disciples of Christ is to bear witness to the promise of eternal life that has been given to us through the cross and resurrection. So although we mourn the death of those who have worshipped among us we rejoice that they have passed into eternal life with God. Today we can give thanks to God for all those in our worshipping community who have died since the last Annual Meeting, including Betty Halmshaw, Arthur Connor, Bill Thompson and Jack Webb.

As I hinted in my opening paragraph, the past year has not been without challenges and the most significant of these have been financial. We were pleased that we were able to clear our 2001 arrears of Parish Share during 2002, but we ended the year with  two months’ worth of arrears once again. The Finance and Stewardship Committee addressed itself to some of the underlying issues and under the leadership of Richard Brett a steering group was formed to co-ordinate a Stewardship Campaign. This was remarkably successful and resulted in pledges that will increase our income in 2003 by over £14,500 per annum. With tax relief this will yield nearly £19,000 which, we hope, will do much to stabilise our position. I would like to pay public tribute to the work of this steering group.  However with a larger than expected increase in Parish Share for 2003 we need to continue to be alert to the challenges that lie ahead. Financial record keeping for 2002 was made difficult by the serious illness of our Treasurer, David Everett. Most of you will now know that David was eventually diagnosed earlier this year as having cancer of the bone marrow and we continue to hold him, Mandy and their children in our prayers: the practical difficulties we experienced as a result of David’s illness are trivial in comparison. Nevertheless it is important for us to thank all those who have done various bits of the Treasurer’s work over the past twelve months, especially David Prior and Roy Lancaster who each spent many hours writing up the cash book at various points in the year; Brian Burtonwood from St. Chad’s, Far Headingley, who did an enormous amount of work towards preparing the accounts; John Tinker who has managed to produce the accounts themselves and the churchwardens who have wielded the cheque book and negotiated endlessly with the bank about arcane procedures that have driven some of us nuts.

One of the social highlights of last year was Rachel’s wedding. Several hundred people gathered here for what was a memorable and happy day and Rachel and Jon are now together in the curatage. This is a good moment to pay tribute to Rachel’s ministry  at St. Edmund’s. From my point of view Rachel is an outstanding colleague: all of us, myself included, have benefited from Rachel’s subtle and challenging theological insights, her immense pastoral gifts and her sincere friendship. I would also like to pay tribute to my other colleagues on the clergy and Reader team – to Louise, Patricia, Maureen and Kathryn. Their loyalty and commitment to St. Edmund’s is a great encouragement to me and, I know, to many others. But as I said last year ministry at St. Edmund’s is exercised in many ways, both formal and informal. I don’t think we should ever underestimate the extent to which strangers and newcomers are impressed by the quality of our welcome as a worshipping community and by the care with which relationships are nurtured here. All of us have our part to play in that, whether through hidden ministries such as flower arranging, church grounds work and cleaning or in more public roles on the sidespersons rota or the refreshment rota. I also want to pay tribute to those who enable and lead our quite remarkable range of work with children and young people. Creche, Scramblers & Climbers, Explorers, Pepper Poppers, Eutychus Crew, Choir & Music Group and NEXT at various points on a Sunday. Deeper, our teenage bible sessions during the week, and the weekly music rehearsals. Together these groups nurture well over sixty children and young people. I wish that time allowed me to mention by name all those adults who make it all happen; as it is I hope they will all accept my sincere thanks on behalf of the whole church – and I mean by that not just St. Edmund’s, but the wider church that will benefit in the future from the ministry of those that are being nurtured here today.

There remain a number of issues on our collective agenda, reminders that we can never be complacent and that different priorities emerge over time. One is the building in which we are sitting. I am acutely aware that the Floor Space Focus Group’s work has not been taken forward and that consideration of our buildings remains a vital issue. Meanwhile our thanks are due to the Hall Committee for their continued care of a difficult building and in particular to Anne Hepworth who has been a remarkably efficient and good humoured manager and who has indicated her wish to step down. We also need to think very deeply about the next stage of our covenant with our two sister churches, especially with the prospect of a closer relationship nationally between the Church of England and the Methodists; finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is the question of how we continue to engage in ministry and mission in, to and for our wider community. We are in the business of Good News for all, not just ourselves.

In conclusion I want once again to thank my wife Anne for her support, which runs very deep, while Felicity, Faith and Chad continue to be living proof that it is possible to thrive in a Vicarage.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay - Charity Number 1131904