Change Ringing

"We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps." Proverbs 16:9

There is a lot happening right now-

First up is the St Silas' Carols By Candlelight Service on Sunday night at 7.30pm. Bring your friends and family. It will be good! Come early to ensure a good seat.

Then there is the Hogmanay Ceilidh, 7.30pm to very late/early. TIckets are £5 and £15 for families. BYOB. Good music and fun are guaranteed.

Completion on the hall now looks likely to be delayed until the New Year. internally, the building looks great and is very close to being finished but externally the extreme cold is delaying the external works. At vestry last night, I likened it to being like looking at a Christmas present but not being able to open it. We're used to waiting....it's an Advent thing.

We are busy planning how we might structure our life together in the coming years. We are a comfortable church and could trundle along merrily without much to disturb that, but if we want to grow, both as individuals and as a congregation, we need to configure ourselves a little diferently and be moved out of our comfort zones. We've generally been good at navigating through the waters of change and innovation, and I hope this coming year will see us doing that well again. This is all tied to our vision booklet which will be published early in the new year. This is a time of change for us as a church, and that can bring some pain, but as we talk and pray through things, I'm confident that what the Lord has in store for us is good.

Vestry have now taken the decision to put the rectory on the market and hopefully buy somewhere nearer the church. Missionally this makes sense - having the Rector in the area will work well (I often say that I sleep in Jordanhill but live and work in the West End). It might well release a significant amount money to go towards the hall. The hope is to buy a large flat within ten to fifteen minutes walk of the church. Practically, the rectory is just too big, requires a lot of money and time to maintain/heat. That means I might be in for a busy year! Time to start decluttering......

Comments

[ryan]

A Vision Booklet? Sounds like the sort of thing I'd buy in Forbidden Planet (very much a compliment!). With a title like that, I hope it's printed with 3-D or, at the very least, **Glittery** text! :)

[ryan]

Selling the rectory?! That sucks. I know I've joked that evangementalist culture is a bit piggily materialistic, but big houses for the clergy is a long, noble and arguably necessary tradition! I remember attending Alpha and confirmation classes at the rectory in my long-ago youth, so it's not like its size was squandered,worldly, on guitar and games rooms (which, frankly, is what I would have done ;0))

Can't you at least get the cash difference of the sold house and the new flat, in the spirit of that fine clergyman Ted Crilly? ;)

[[email protected]/uk]

great decision!

[Kenny]

Sounds like exciting times ahead! We'll be praying for you at St Aug's having done all that stuff, minus the vision bookie, last year!

[Andrew T]

Er, don't really know the dimensions of whatever ground is left, (if any), round the church after the building of the hall but perhaps a GV wing could be built?

Or is that a daft idea?