Secretary's Report for the AFC AGM 2021

 

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

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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