Secretary’s report
to Amersham Free Church AGM – March 2021
I
could not have imagined when I presented my report at 2020
AGM that it would be the
last time we would meet
together for some considerable time. Lockdown was imposed the following
week, churches were forced to close,
and the course followed
by
the pandemic needs no elaboration from me. Suffice it
to say that this past year has seen us treading uncharted waters; it has highlighted people’s strengths and weaknesses; it has brought out
the
best (and the worst!) in our community; it has challenged us all in ways
that we could not
have predicted; it
has introduced us to a
whole new vocabulary such as lockdown, Zoom, social distancing, tiers. As we
arrive close to the light at the end of the
tunnel
we reflect on the year. We mourn
the loss of much loved
people
from our community but we celebrate their lives; we regret
the
lack of social
contact but rejoice in new found ways
to come together;
we give thanks for the skills
previously untapped which are to be found in our congregation
members and we
look forward to the time,
not too
far off, when life almost as we remember
it can
resume
in some
form;
we give thanks that
we have striven to fulfil our Mission Statement to the
best of our ability despite the
difficulties.
Since the last AGM we have
lost 9 church members
through death. It has been
sad that all funeral
services were so restricted
during the year
that full celebration
of lives was not possible and many
families hope
to hold proper services of celebration in
due course. I can
not mention all people
in
detail here but we hope to pay proper tribute in the coming months. April - Jim
Collins was our longest serving church member having
been received into membership in 1946. He and
his wife Jean were closely involved in many aspects of church
life in that time. Keith Pulford ran many
choirs in the area
including the
AFC one, and the
church
benefited hugely from
his talents. Catherine Dolman regularly
attended AFC
despite increasing ill health and we will all remember
her lovely smile and
her enthusiasm for so many things. May - John Fox,
and Derek O’Connor
– we hadn’t seen either of them for quite a while
because of increasing ill health. July - Ella Munro,
who had been in a
home for a few
years, was the driving force of Sycamore Club,
using her training as a geriatrician and devoting
much of her time to ensuring the well being
of
those suffering from
dementia and
their
families. September
Tricia O’Connor,
shortly after her husband, and
had been in care for some years. October Melva Judd who had been very
active amongst us
just before lockdown but sadly
spent
a lot of time in
hospital just before her death.
Christmas Day, Ann Patchin, a long standing member
who
will always be
remembered for her
beautiful
pulpit falls which
are changed with the seasons. We lost
other
good friends through
death
as well – Darrell Hamley,
Helena White and our much-loved
former
Associate minister, the Revd
Alan Kirkcaldy. We welcomed one new member
– Jill
Graham, who became a member just before the church was closed for in
person worship, in fact
on the day of the
previous AGM.
This
year, three elders retire after serving six years – Margaret
Howard, Hazel Richardson,
and
Anne Wright are
not
now eligible for re-election for a year; Liz Waumsley, coming to the
end
of three years,
is eligible for re-election for a further three year
term. We have
been so grateful for
the service of all the elders but in particular the
three retiring ones who in all cases have served previous periods of
six years or more. All
elders have now undertaken the first URC online safeguarding training
and the second level has been completed by half of them
so far. Elders’ meetings have taken a very different form this year and for a while
the
smaller team of Ian, Erna, Janet and
Bob held regular ‘team’
meetings and reported
back
to elders. Any decisions needing
to be taken were initially
done
by email
before we were
able briefly to meet in private gardens and in the AE Hall
before reverting to Zoom meetings by which time all elders had the technology to
enable this. Early decisions taken
by
the team related mainly to
ensuring
that the building
was
secure and that
it was
maintained in such
a way that when in person
worship was once again
allowed it
was a ‘Covid secure’ place. To
that end careful risk
assessments were
carried out and hand sanitisers were
installed at various points, for the installation of which we are very grateful
to Laura’s husband,
Damian. Peter Waumsley was responsible
in large measure for
checks
on the
building going down a
checklist each day. We
have been very grateful for his help
with
all
1
matters
to do
with the building
and
the bookings (when
these
were
happening) and
were sorry when he
handed in his resignation
towards the end of the year. Regular
checks continued to be carried
out,
during the third lockdown, by
Gillian Munro and Bob Marshall, along
with Laura Sawyer who still
worked either on the premises or from
home. Income from
bookings was reduced
to a few retainer fees and only a few bookings allowed under the
rules
of the
time and usually involving children continued for a
short
while. Patrick Carroll has done a sterling job for us over the years
in increasing our income
from bookings and
Laura has now taken over this
job entirely. Patrick
has assured us that
he
is not going away, and if any help is
needed he will be on hand. We are so grateful
to him and thanked him
formally at the
last Zoom church meeting. We also give
thanks for Laura who
has
carried on throughout the
year going the extra
mile where needed and juggling the needs of home schooling with her church work.
She
seems to be unflappable and is a quiet, efficient, hardworking and much
valued presence. I can’t
now imagine how
we managed without
her!
We managed, despite
the
restrictions, to hold
our statutory
three church meetings this
year – the first
two in person, and then a
bit of a gap until the November
one via Zoom.
As last year I propose to reflect on our mission statement
as it is a helpful way of assessing the extent to
which we have fulfilled
our
aims. ‘To offer worship to God
through our Lord Jesus
Christ and to celebrate the gospel sacraments of
Baptism and
Holy Communion.’
This has happened regularly
throughout the year
in ways that we could not have imagined. Ian
was put on his
mettle, and with very little
notice, given the instant nature of the first lockdown, decided that an audio
service could be produced
and made available via the internet. This could
not
have
happened without his
vision, but equally could not
have been implemented
without
the
technical skills of Michael Autton who
since
22nd March has
been responsible
for producing over 50
Audio services. Contributions
were
encouraged from members of
the congregation
and as confidence increased in the use of IT many were able
to record parts of the
service for themselves, and those who could not were enabled
to do so in other ways. The practice
of recording previous AFC services meant that there
was ample material to draw on and Sara spent many hours trawling through services for suitable hymns and
for a short time, given that
we
as a congregation
were not allowed to sing, ensuring our small group of
‘Chancel singers’
were enabled to sing on
our behalf during live worship. For
those
without internet access, CDs of
the service were distributed
by Peter
Wilkinson and others as part of the daily permitted
exercise! Michael and Sara together made
a huge commitment and
maybe didn’t imagine
at the outset that it
would
be for so long! Matthew Green
also, with his musical
and technical skills arranged many pieces
of
music, ensured that we now
have a much loved ‘theme tune’, and I
suspect rescued his father on
a number of occasions in
the early days of coming to terms with the new
technology. Once we resumed ‘in person’ worship for
a short time, Rachel Green faithfully
sat
in the gallery recording the services
which were then uploaded to You Tube in the
afternoons.
For us as a
church the challenge is
now how to proceed with this aspect once
normal service
is resumed. The use of information technology requires a
very
different skill set, and we
need to explore the
possibilities in our
new
‘post COVID’ era.
Baptism and Holy Communion
proved
more of a challenge, but
again monthly audio communion
services were produced,
and people
were able (with
their own bread
and wine) to celebrate Holy Communion in their own homes. For the ‘in
person’ worship,
the elements were all
prepared in
advance as before but delivered to
each chair before
the service started
to
minimise any
risks. Baptism of course
presented a whole
new set of
problems and while there are possibly one or two pending ones,
these will
be delayed until we are
able
to get
together safely in larger numbers.
‘To make the good news of Jesus Christ
known, in Amersham and beyond, through
words, actions, lifestyle and pastoral care.’ ‘To encourage
the growth, both
in numbers and spirituality, of our own congregation and the
use of their gifts in church
and community
life.’
Whilst this has been more of
a challenge this year, people
in the congregation have shown their own strengths in
pastorally caring for each other. Elders were encouraged to keep in regular
phone contact, particularly
with those who
were
alone with limited
family
support and other members of the
congregation have
quietly
been supporting others
less able to get out for themselves. This has been
much
appreciated and
has
helped to keep folk
abreast of what is going on within the
church and wider
community. Services at the residential homes have obviously been on hold this year, but CDs were delivered to Rayners
Extra
Care Home particularly of the
online carol service which was produced
jointly by
the COTHA churches. They were also encouraged
to listen
to the audio
services and were given
the link to enable
this to happen. Leaders of Women’s Own, also unable to
meet for the year,
made
sure that they kept in
touch by phone or by sending cards, particularly at Christmas time. Many
of the
Life
and
Faith groups continued in some form
or the other. Zoom meetings, or
regular emails encouraging communication
with
each other and ensuring that the process of developing in the faith continues.
Family News has
been
a vital link to
all of the congregation –
available this year only online,
it has, month by month
been full of the most encouraging signs of the
continuing vitality of
our community.
An editorial
team is responsible for
this, but it has to
be said, it wouldn’t
exist without
the dedication, for some years now, of Anne Marshall, who
will
be very
cross with me for saying so! For those without
internet access, copies
of
Family News were faithfully delivered as were weekly
letters from the minister and extracts from the website.
One of the great
joys as Christmas approached was
our
ability to hold our Christingle
service in person before we
were locked down again. Whilst we
could not open this up to the wider community as we would normally do, our own
church families relished the opportunity to experience a bit
of ‘normality’ and
for many it was the only
time they were able to
attend church in person. Liz Waumsley has
faithfully kept in touch
with the children and young people of the church and tried
to ensure that at least once a month, activities
were available for them. They have
also met occasionally
via Zoom.
As part of our wish
to serve our community we
have been able to offer
our buildings to the
NHS for ‘drop in’ Covid
testing. The council worked
with us to set
up the Alfred Ellis Hall in
such a way that
it
was suitable for all
those
without
symptoms to be tested
quickly to ensure they were safe to go into work. The NHS
and council have been
very grateful to us and have
appreciated our cooperation
with
this. When we return to ‘in person’ worship, there is no additional risk to us since they only operate 5-6 days
a week and ensure thorough cleaning is
carried out each day, several times a day in addition to our
normal cleaning routines.
COTHA activities have necessarily been limited, but
two joint services were produced as usual, with the
ministers and members of AFC and
other
churches contributing. AFC is
the host church this year, and in recent weeks invitations were
sent from AFC to St John’s and St Michael’s encouraging attendance
at our Zoom Monday night
Compline services. It has
been so
heartening to see these invitations being
taken up.
Apart from ensuring
that
everyone who wanted
to was able
to
worship God on a
weekly basis it became apparent that those
who did not
often
attend church, AFC or any other, were
tuning in and
listening to our weekly services
with
pleasure. Truly an
unforeseen way of spreading the Gospel. Many people listen in each
week, not just members of AFC, and
a ‘donate now’ button was added
to our
website in view of expressed wishes from
one
or two outside the church
to make
a contribution towards
the work
of the church.
In addition, in an attempt to ensure that
when we do return to ‘in
person’
worship, people are not excluded
from
taking part in the service
by reason of physical frailty, handrails have
been installed at either
side of the steps generously donated by
a church member. These have
been
designed to be in keeping with the
design of the
rest of the church and
will remove the anxiety of climbing
the steps unsupported.
‘To work and
pray for Christian unity, world mission,
global justice and peace.’
Our ongoing commitment through
our links with the other churches on
the hill has already been
mentioned. A new
development for
us this year has been
the formation of an eco church group. The ‘Eco Church’
award
is given to churches
who fulfil a number of criteria, outlined on the
A Rocha website
and
already described
in some detail at earlier
stages of the year. There are five main areas to work on,
and
at the time of writing
we have
already achieved the
Bronze level. In
order
to reach the Gold level
much work has still to
be
done and through Family News and a
dedicated
section of our website
we are trying to
educate
and encourage
people
to re-evaluate
their
lifestyles and
pray
for global justice. Environmental issues are
regularly highlighted
in worship and
in articles and talks, and on
the last Sunday in February a service of
worship
took
place dedicated
to Climate change, its effects and
issues of
global justice. We aim
to work with the community in some recycling activities, improve the grounds surrounding the church to encourage wildlife, and generally
consider the impact
that our
buildings and
their maintenance
have
on the wider
world. Sue Wale has been the
driving force behind this and
her enthusiasm has meant that this will
now become a focus for much of our thinking in the coming years.
Recognizing
our human
weakness, we pray
for God’s strength
to fulfil these
aims.’
As I conclude this report I hope that you, as I
do, feel encouraged
that
despite
the trials of the past
year we do seem to
have achieved a lot! We can take heart that God has supported us through
the
difficulties
and that we have learnt skills, developed in our faith, and
been
active in most aspects of our
church life even if for some our contact has only been
‘virtual’. We give
thanks
to
God and look
forward
to the
coming year with excitement
for what it may
hold.
Janet Reid
March 2021
