CTW - Minutes

By clicking on the links below you can find out what we discussed at last year's Annual Meeting of the (formerly known as) Woodley Council of Christians. Details of this year's recent meeting will be published soon.

Ross Coad

The visiting speaker was welcomed and gave a very interesting presentation about the Storykeepers series and the various resources available. He summarised the history of how it began, and concluded by talking about how the materials can be a valuable aid in reaching out to primary school children. He spoke of the ingrained unhappiness in many children today and the urgent need to introduce them to the Gospel message. The videos are particularly valuable for children aged up to 7 or 8, since they will watch them repeatedly and will therefore learn the stories easily. He told of several instances where ‘Come with Marcus’ (video/CD + Mark’s Gospel + game card) had been given to school children and there had been a very good response to follow-up parties, with parents as well as children showing interest.

Minutes

The minutes of the July meeting were approved and signed. Arising from the minutes:
         a)         Information about Christmas services is still required from Christ Church, Emmanuel, St. John Bosco (same as last year) and St. Johns because theirs has been mislaid. WAC requested if possible fewer streets to deliver cards to and not as widely separated as before.
        b)         Dates: Jan 18^th at St. James will not be possible: changed to Monday 15^th. July 4^th at Christ Church also will not be possible: moved to July 5^th. MC & JH to arrange a date for the October meeting: St. John Bosco was offered as a venue.

Treasurer’s report

i) The Treasurer presented the Annual Accounts, which show a slight but not significant overspend. There is sufficient in reserve.
ii) He then presented the proposed budget for 2006-7. With a small increase in subscriptions this will reduce the balance over the year by approximately £70. The Treasurer was thanked for the Budget and the Accounts, and he proposed that:
We accept the Accounts and the Budget as presented, and increase the level of suggested subscriptions to £240 for the larger churches and £120 for the smaller churches.
The proposal was passed unopposed.

News from the churches:

Woodley Airfield: The Sponsoring Body, Churches Together in Berkshire, are currently conducting the second 5-yearly Review of the Airfield Church. This is intended to enable the church to re-evaluate what they are doing and how, and to highlight any issues which need to be addressed. The last one was in 2001 and led to many ideas for more effective working and outreach.

St. John Bosco: The Roman Catholics are being re-organised into Larger Pastoral Areas, which is intended to encourage more involvement of laity. They consist of groups of Parishes, co-ordinated by a Pastor, and it is hoped that it will reduce administration by enabling Confirmation classes, for example, to be done jointly. Woodley are grouped with Twyford, Whitley and Earley.

Emmanuel: They have been seeing some growth, both in numbers and in faith. The Team Ministry is in the process of being reviewed in order to decide how to be effective in mission and ministry. They are not sure what the future holds, but there is a great deal of hope.

WBC: They are currently advertising for a full-time children’s worker but have only one application so far. They need to install a lift (required by legislation) and the project is now under way. Because it will necessitate also replacing the stairs, the cost could be as much as £200,000. They hope to start this winter: it will take 16 weeks or so. They are also considering the possibility of doubling up their morning services as well as other options. Their leadership is also being reorganised: there will be a Leadership Team which will then generate Ministry Teams as required for different areas of church life.

St. James: They are very busy. The PPC were away for a day recently to look at future strategy for growth. Their GLU service celebrated its 1^st anniversary with a party for 36 children and their parents. It started a year ago and now get 20 -25 each week, so this is very encouraging. They are hoping to start Toddler Church in the new year. Their Wednesday Alpha group has 6 guests and the daytime group has 1. A Craft Fair is planned for November and they will be using the Back to Church Sunday service, also in November.

Christ Church: The Disciple 3 course is now running, lasting 32 weeks, with a group of 15 people. In December the Reading Male Voice Choir will be giving a concert in aid of the Church Project: half to CCA, half to the Organ Fund. They also recently held a very successful Harvest Supper with an Auction of Promises. The Rainbow Café has been going very well and they are now planning an after-school Youth Café.

St. Johns: This has been a difficult year. Ann Douglas has now moved to Swanage, so they are now without a Vicar. No appointment can be made until major decisions have been made, so it is not likely to happen before next Autumn. Jon is Acting Priest in Charge and Jason will be moving on soon. Numbers have diminished somewhat, but there are a few new people.

Future events

i) Woodley Winter Extravaganza: A meeting is scheduled to plan for this event, scheduled for December 3^rd . They are considering offering an opportunity for prayer – either on the spot (perhaps for healing?) or by providing a mechanism for prayer requests. We have been asked to provide carol-singing again and a Nativity with puppets (12:30-1pm). All puppet groups from the churches are invited to take part.

ii) November United Service: This will be at Emmanuel, on November 12^th at 6.30pm. It will be led by the Fish Youth Group and will probably start with coffee.

iii) Christmas Cards: In hand: see Matters Arising.

iv) Pulpit Swaps: It was agreed that this should go ahead, and that the Fraternal will arrange the details.

Regenerate

The meeting heard that Back To Church Sunday is coming up, which involves using a set service on a particular Sunday. It was felt that not all churches would want to do that, but that all would make visitors especially welcome on that day. MA agreed that St. James’ advertising would encourage people to return to any church, not just St. James. There will be a Commissioning Service for the Regenerate Mission on January 24^th. Representatives will be invited to take a candle up to the front of the church to symbolise the church’s commitment to their chosen mission activity. There will also be a Good Friday walk in Reading with the Bishop, but it was felt that it would not be right to cancel the Woodley walk to support it. Some representatives from Woodley could go on our behalf.

Any other business

i) It was reported that the Woodley Open Day was cancelled at short notice, but that St. James were not notified. The team was very disappointed. They were thanked for the work they had done on the display.

ii) Lent Groups: all small groups in the churches are to be invited to take a break during Lent so their members can attend the ecumenical Lent Groups. There will be a central meeting on Shrove Tuesday at Christ Church, with Malcolm Duncan from Faithworks (Oasis Trust). He has a reputation as a very good speaker. There will be 5 weeks of small groups, both daytime and evening, then Malcolm Duncan will preach at the Palm Sunday United service. The study material might be home-grown, or we might use “Intelligent Church” from Faithworks. The churches will also try to continue the theme for each week’s study into their Sunday services. Leaflets will be produced (with a tear-off strip) and distributed after Christmas. There is a possible candidate for administrator for the groups. Group Leaders’ training will start in January. Please encourage everyone to take part. It was noted that in the past many people had made a plea for the Lent group material to be specifically relevant to Lent / Easter.

iii) Pilot Light Trust: At a recent meeting, the Trustees had noted that their trading company, Pilot Light Trading Ltd., has never been used. They had agreed that if it would be helpful, they would be happy for any of the churches to use it if they had the need of a trading company. The offer was received with thanks by the meeting.

iv) The Secretary presented the latest CTB newsletter and asked representatives to take them to their churches.

Minutes of Annual Open Meeting