Churchwardens’ Report

July — August 2009

Since the last newsletter many events have taken place. The church was full for the Songs of Praise and about fifty people enjoyed a barbecue afterwards in the vicarage garden on a beautiful sunny evening. There have been two breakfast meetings, with excellent speakers. One was held in the church with cereals, croissants and fruit, the other at the Birch Hotel with a full cooked breakfast. (There are no prizes for guessing which one was the men’s breakfast).

On Sunday 14th June the PCC treasurer Lynne Watkins spoke to the congregation about stewardship. We last had a stewardship campaign in 2005 which was very successful, but since then the growth in St Augustine’s level of ministry has been significant. We now have a Youth and Families Misssioner, Tom Robson, who organises the youth groups and the after school club FEAST. These are well attended by many children from the local community. Tom also leads the music group and helps with the All Age Worship and the children’s activities during the normal services.

Our greatest expense is the Parish contribution, which is our financial commitment for having a priest in Scaynes Hill. In 2008 we operated at a £7,000 financial loss, with our day to day running costs exceeding our general income. We all know that running our home costs more year on year, the same is true of our church. Lynne has asked us, if our own income has risen in the past four years to prayerfully revisit our person stewardship and giving to our parish church, St Augustine’s. Standing orders are the most effective way of assuring regular income and if you would like to know more about this please contact the treasurer Lynne Watkins on 831278.

On a more cheerful note Maria Sitford announced her engagement to Phil, and we congratulated them both with a celebratory drink after the service.

In June Julie Sear has been on placement in our parish as part of her formation for ordination. She has been leading services and preaching. At the Riverside Fellowship she told us about her first year of training for the ministry. We are looking forward to the church “away day” in Barcombe’s church hall when Julie will be leading us.

As I write this we are preparing for Village Day when we will be serving the refreshments. We pray that it will be a happy and enjoyable occasion for the whole community.

Wishing everyone a good summer.

With best wishes.

Sue and Ursula

Churchwardens

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