St Christopher’s Church

Church of England

Hinchley Wood

Diocese of Guildford

Vicar’s Letter

Dear Friends,

 

It’s that time of year again!  Summer is now here, albeit intermittently, Wimbledon is in full swing, school terms will soon be over and exams forgotten, and for many of us summer holidays are just around the corner.  This July & August issue of the Medallion marks the end of an eventful first half of the year at St Christopher’s.

 

The rest of the year promises to be every bit as busy as we embark upon a crucial Parish Funding Programme under the guidance of Tony Hennessey-Brown from the Mission Evangelism and Parish Development Department of the Diocese.  A small working group comprising Glyn Jones, Sue Haycroft, Linda Newman, Teresa Furmston and myself will organise the Parish Funding programme with support from the parish office.  Our aim is to achieve targeted increases in Planned Giving so that we begin to rebuild the financial resources essential to re-establishing our financial viability as a church by 2013 when financial support from the Diocese will come to an end.

 

We shall be approaching every member of the congregation and  on the electoral roll asking them to review their level of regular giving and to increase it if at all possible.  No one should be in any doubt that the Diocese cannot subsidise us indefinitely, so please, when you are approached, please do consider the request very carefully.  Increased giving from the church membership however, will not in itself be enough to avert closure - we have no future as a church unless we  attract new members.  So we must ensure that our community recognises our contribution to life in Hinchley Wood as a truly community oriented church.

 

A major concern of the Parish Funding Programme will therefore be to communicate our vision of God’s purpose for St Christopher’s beyond the congregation, to the wider community of Hinchley Wood.  St Christopher’s is doing a lot of good work in our community reaching out with initiatives such as the Ember Youth Worker Project, Lunch Together, Local Youth Work, hiring out the church building as a venue, and the launch in September of Babes in the Wood Café on Wednesday mornings, to name just a few.  We must ensure that the community knows all this, recognises that the church “adds value” to the community and understands that we need its support to remain “open for business”.

 

A great opportunity to show people in the community what our church is about will be Harvest Thanksgiving on Sunday 28 September as this is also Back to Church Sunday a national initiative in which we are participating.  If you have a friend or neighbour who used to go to church, but who has lapsed for whatever reason, this is your opportunity to invite them back to see what has changed (and what has stayed the same too!)  Invitations will be available in church in due course.

 

There are many signs of new life emerging at St Christopher’s and that is encouraging for us all.  The times are challenging for us, but we are discovering many new and exciting opportunities as we face up to that challenge.  Bishop Ian reminded us when he preached on the Sunday after the Garden Party, that like the Apostles, we are all called not only to be drawn into the life of the church, but we are called also to be sent out into the world to proclaim the Good News.  When we start doing that, things will begin to change.

 

With every good wish for a refreshing summer,