STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

At this time of year each church has to have it’s Annual Parochial Church Meeting. For us that’s today! As well as being something we have to do it’s a good chance to look back over the previous calendar year - 2007 - to share what we’ve been up to, how we’ve spent the money, how we’ve looked after the building, what state the Electoral Roll is in... and generally look at our life together over the year just gone. In other words, how have we been the people of God in this place over the last 12 months: what have we done with our opportunities, how have we risen to our challenges; what’s our vision for the future - what a greta opportunity to say who we are and what we’re about!

Again this year the accounts have been audited rather than just examined, so we’ve had to make a fuller and more detailed report than in previous years, and I’m very grateful in particular to our acting Treasurer Penny, to out going Treasurer Clive and PCC Secretary Celia for all the hard work they’ve put in to getting the reports together.

WHY ARE WE HERE?
It’s an appropriate opportunity to go right back to basics and ask “Why are we here?” What is Church all about? Why do we exist? What’s our job? The answer is simple, but not easy to live out! The Church exists for two purposes: to worship God and to serve our neighbours - everything we do ought to fit into one of those categories. The APCM is an opportunity to assess those two activities during 2007: how has our worshipping life developed? and how are we serving our neighbours in prayer, love, outreach, service, availability, welcome and evangelisation?

St John’s is a rich diverse and thriving Christian community. We are growing in numbers (our average weekly attendance figures were up to 110 adults, 10 children; communicant figures at Christmas were down - possibly because of the day of the week Christmas falls, but Easter was up quite substantially). Much more difficult to quantify is how we are growing in experience and in depth of discipleship; how we are growing in our love for God and our neighbour. But as your parish priest, or Care Taker - as one charged with some spiritual oversight of this church, I am as convinced as I can be that growth is very definitely happening in these areas. I’m encouraged by what I see and hear, what springs up and what develops naturally. Personally I am still very excited and privileged to be your parish priest. I love this church (the building’s not bad either...) I’m very proud of St John’s; your commitment and acceptance, your vulnerability and honesty, and your love and support make it an easy place for us as a family to be.

A HOSPITAL FOR THE DYING??
St John’s seem to continue to be a congregation who attract the wounded and dispossessed - those who have had unfortunate experiences of other churches seem to find at St John’s a safe space, an authentic welcome and no pressure to be anything else other than the unique and precious people God has made us to be. Having had experience of many different churches in 15 years of full time ministry, this is a great gift and makes St John’s a unique and very special church.

And yet we’re not a convalescent home for old soldiers! People don’t come here to collectively lick their wounds, sit around moaning about the state of the Church in general and doing nothing...

We have some very active groups, and a lively PCC agenda each session.

In our worship we try to include as many people as possible: the choir, the serving team, different preachers, readers and intercessors, the FROGs, sides people as well as the whole congregation. Our aim is to stand together and get caught up in the worship of Almighty God, using all our senses, and our brains allowing God to polish our tarnished and jaded lives and allow God to make us into the people God has fashioned us to be. We try to do Grown Up church: but to learn together. We try to take God’s call seriously: but we seem to spend a lot of time laughing. We try to be disciplined in our prayers, our worship and our study: but we also have a very high theology of food!

VOCATION
We talk about vocation in its widest sense - about when we are most ourselves - and how vocation can be realised in our role in life and in Church when we listen to how God has made us and what skills gifts and experience God has granted us. And so at St John’s when we need a new Church warden or Treasurer or PCC member, or helper for the Tuesday Group or whatever, we ask in terms of vocation - not for a press ganged volunteer, but for somebody who will find themselves in that role.

That way we create a brilliant team of people who enjoy and thrive on the roles they have and who serve the Church with an infectious joy.

So what did we do? 2007 was another encouraging, packed and exciting year. I hope it might be helpful to divide things into three sections: Fabric, Ministry and Mission:

In terms of FABRIC
I wonder whether churches and fabric are rather like buses - you get nothing for ages and then all of a sudden 5 come along at once... well 2007 was The Year Of The Buses: we replaced the heating system; a piano with a cracked frame; 250 chairs; the carpet on the dais and lectern step, and acquired a fine and unique holy water stoop created by David Spice as a memorial to Hazel Freedman. In addition the floor was re sanded waxed and sealed. Some lighting in the St Peter’s chapel has been replaced.
The outbreak of pigeons in the bell tower was addressed and appropriate eviction took place!
Trees were felled on the boarder between St John’s and St George’s language school.

In terms of MINISTRY
We continued to be involved with the Churches Together in this area including an Act of Witness on Good Friday and open air songs of praise. The Lent course in 2007 was an ecumenical one and attendance from St John’s wiped the floor with the other churches!
Penny was ordained deacon, started working full time and hopefully will be ordained priest - in this very building - at 10.30am on Sunday 29 June this year. We are very fortunate to have and enjoy her tremendous gifts for the next few years.
Elaine our Reader had a Sabbatical.
We had a parish weekend away at Aylesford Priory led by Bishop Laurie Green; bookings have been taken for 2008.
Grown up FROGs have become PIGS: a fledgling youth group consisting of the older Sunday School children has started on a once a month basis at Jenny Privett’s house and this is attracting a significant number of our older children. FROGs as you know stands for FRiends Of God - the older group decided to name themselves PIGS - that’s People In God’s Service...
The quality of our after mass coffee shot up noticeably in 2007 as we signed up with a company who provide Fairly Traded coffee and the equipment to brew it.

Treasurer Clive Potter stepped down at the end of 2007 after 4 years intensive and appreciated efforts; Church Warden Jude Harvey stepped down after 6.5 years very hard work; Organist Norman Illman retired after nearly 40 years dedicated service; PCC member Jack Pennington retired after a valued stint. We’ve been v grateful for those who have stepped in to help during these vacancies - especial mention must go to Peter Lane who drilled the choir through Christmas in a most impressive manner.

In terms of what it costs to have a priest, St John’s is paying 69% of it’s Parish Quota (£37,000 of £54,000).

In terms of MISSION:

• St John’s offered three candidates for confirmation; seven children were admitted to communion before confirmation; eleven people were baptised; five weddings were celebrated; 33 funerals took place.

• The last Sunday of the month has become a FROGs Sunday and we are slowly developing that all age aspect of our worship.

• The annual Newcomers Lunch hosted an invitation for approx. 20 people.

• St John’s hosted two Readers in training on their 12 week placements (Linda Byrne & Kathleen Langridge)

We continued to circulate the whole parish with an Easter and Christmas Parish Newsletter to invite people to events, and the PCC is very grateful to all the dedicated Delivery People and Abbeyfield’s team of folders!

Concerts and other social type of events come under Mission because they are about celebrating musical and other skills; they are about making our building available to our community and they are about opening our doors not just in worship, but in an accessible way and they are about worship in the wider understanding of delighting in skills and gifts offered to God. So during 2007 we were pleased to be able to welcome Opera South East; Julius Weeks’ Choir A Piacere; a Ceilidh; the Sara Lee Christmas Fayre; Derek Norcross memorial concert; Battle Choral Society and the staging of an opera. The Craft Exhibition, opened by BBC Radio 2’s Alex Lester in November was a great success. A “Scratch” Messiah (co-ordinated by Jenny & Alan Privett) was performed in December with a huge turn out, great acclaim, and it proved to be a good fund raising venture. Four very successful Quiz Nights were undertaken, and St John’s shared a Flower festival with the Sara Lee Trust which proved very popular and successful.

All this is of course on top of the usual socialising activities and the day by day worship, house groups, funerals, weddings and baptisms that make up our regular diet of being Church.

AND THE FUTURE?
So what of the future?

Particular challenges face us in 2008 and beyond:

1. the fabric of the building
We’ve just had another quinquennial, and there are extensive works outstanding from the previous quinquennial including some major work on the south (sea facing) side. We have to find the money for this - not the diocese or the council.

2. our stewardship
We face some serious bills: not just in paying our quota to the diocese for having a priest (Penny comes for free because she’s a training curate and is Non Stipendiary); but the other costs - such as repairs, development, ordinary running costs all have to be met by us. I will be writing to each of you in the next couple of weeks, because we do need to consider whether or not we can increase our weekly giving - even if we can only put up or standing orders by the price of a pint of beer or a Sunday newspaper, or something similar, that would be tremendously helpful.

3. Our development
And our big mission and maintenance based project over this and the next few years is the Development of the Church hall complex. Plans and ideas are coming on a pace and 2008 should see some interesting progress which we will share with you.

It’s been a busy but satisfying year; and 2008 doesn’t look like being any less stuffed to the gills!

The foundation stone in St John’s is engraved with words which we can take to heart as we look back over a year gone and look forward to another full year ahead: the reason the stone was laid, the building constructed, all that we do connected with St Johns and all that we are as a community here, is “to the greater glory of God”.

I think we’re doing all right here at St John’s! Thank you for all that you have done - and are continuing to do - for God in this place and attached to this community: I think we are headed in the right direction and I’m thrilled to be a part of St John’s - I hope you are to!

Fr Andrew Perry

Rector, St John the Evangelist, Pevensey Rd, St Leonards on Sea