At our annual meeting on Thursday 11th May, we had a rather poor number turning out, but a good positive discussion.
We shared and gave thanks for what was going well:
- For all our workers and volunteers
- Cafe4All and Time4All growing community and new friendships
- Warm and friendly welcome for new people
- Claire, our curate and especially her work with the young people
- Good links with St. George’s and encouraging joint services and events
- Good social events
- Growth in numbers attending church
- Improving music
- The younger members and Youth Initiative
- The recent Quiet Day for women
- Good relationships between newcomers and existing members
- Good recovery post-covid and the starting of new teams for Cafe4All and the Creative Team
- The daily prayer meetings
- Good teaching and collective worship on a Sunday and the growing team of preachers
- The restarting of Study Groups and focus on discipleship
- For all the hard work put in behind the scenes for the community, both local and church family.
- For support for community initiatives like Community Pastors
We elected Andrew McMillan and Brenda Walters-Erlam to serve for another year as Church Wardens and elected James Patterson, Willow Whybrow and Pam Elmes to the PCC. They will join the two Deanery Synod representatives (Alison Hawthorn and Mike Turner) and four other PCC members (Pauline Emptage, Audrey Tucker, Lekan Asa-Afariogun and David Perkins) who did not to be re-elected this year.
We ended the meeting by considering questions you might want the vicar to consider during his Sabbatical as he reflects about St. Luke’s. Suggested questions included:
- What do we need in terms of resources and skills to enable discipleship across all age groups, backgrounds and abilities?
- How can we engage our families more?
- What things might be preventing discipleship? What are our current limitations?
- Where can we use opportunities of community engagement to grow disciples – moving from just belonging to faith?
- How can we make space for God and go deeper in our services?
- How can we make the church fully accessible to all?
- How can we develop prayer ministry?
- How do we take church out as well as having a passion for new people to come in?
- How do we strengthen connections with schools?
- How do we stay true to God’s word in the light of growing LGBT concerns?
Further questions suggested at St. Luke’s PCC:
- What strategies / culture / teaching will help encourage every-member ministry?
- How can we be more relevant?
If you have any suggestions for questions for the vicar to think about then, then please let email him before 8th June.
St. Luke's Church Ramsgate 