Minister's Report 2010/11

Revd Terry Hinks

2010 marked the midpoint in our church’s sharing in Vision4Life – the URC programme which is aims to help us all to refresh our use of the Bible, our relationship to God in prayer and our sharing of our faith with others. The Bible focus continued with a series on the key Bible themes, hosted by Brenda and Alan Green. The 2010 Prayer Year included a number of events and in particular the May Prayer Challenge which encouraged all of us to look at different ways to pray together and alone. November saw a new venture with our first Church weekend at Ivy House in Warminster. Entitled A faith worth sharing, it prepared the way for the launch of the final Vision4Life Year (the Year of Evangelism) on Advent Sunday 2010. The banner we brought back from the weekend has become a feature of our worship area and has been joined by a series of panels telling the story of Jesus (produced by Hilary Castle). The second Sunday evening discussion is now an established part of our worship and has enabled us to look at the booklets produced for the three years; in February 2011 we began to look at Evangelism and our call to share faith in word and action. The aim is to build our confidence to speak and our sensitivity to listen. This in turn will be leading onto next year’s anniversary celebrations (350 years since the founding of our church) and the United Reformed Church’s national advertising campaign.

Fundamental to the life of the church is the care of people within and beyond its life. I would like to pay tribute to the Pastoral Group and especially its convener Daphne Purver. Daphne stands down as elder and pastoral elder this year, having faithfully worked in the background to care for our church fellowship. As an example of this work she has ensured that flowers are sent from the church to people who are having a hard time or celebrating a special event, as well as visiting many people herself. Thank you, Daphne. It has been good to see new pastoral work develop and I was particularly pleased that we were able to launch Balm – the Bereavement and Loss Meeting – in February this year. I am sure the pastoral group will continue its good work and hope that new ways of caring for people of all ages and backgrounds can be developed in the years ahead.

I was delighted that we were able to appoint Roy Macartney to be our Church Secretary in 2010 and thank him for all the work he has been doing behind the scenes. The elders all play an immensely valuable role in our church’s life, bringing their different gifts, insights and personalities. My special thanks to Angela Bevan who, like Daphne, is standing down this year. Angela has done an immense amount for our church, convening the Outreach group, being involved in ARC and Hope Committee, Tiny Tots, crèche, the Lunch Club, preaching etc etc. Thank you Angela – we pay tribute to your enthusiastic and gracious service.

I was glad to stand back from some of my work in Synod in 2010 when I came off Synod Executive, but continue my involvement as Convener of the Synod Silence and Retreats Group. Other work in the wider church includes being on the board of Ministry Today which aims to enable ministers to ‘survive and thrive’ in their ministries and my writing on prayer. The latter comes to fruition this year with publication of the first of a series of books on praying with the Gospels.

Terry Hinks

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Minister's Report 2010/11