From Matt

Dear brothers and sisters,

As I write this it's almost 6 months since I arrived in Christchurch and I thank God for all your welcome and support as we have settled in. Over those months I've also had a growing sense of God's vision for the future direction of our parish. My initial thoughts were discussed at vestry and this has helped me to refine the vision further. I will be sharing that vision at all 3 services on Sunday 14th March, which I have designated "Vision Sunday". I would love it if this starts conversations which then flow over into our worship and witness. It may also be that the vision prompts people to stand for election to vestry for the year ahead. Vestry has an important role overseeing the direction of our parish and should be made up of a range of different people. We need a balance between St Tim's and St James, older and younger, "nuts and bolts" practical people and "ideas and prophetic" people.

I also want to thank Alison McMillan for all her hard work launching our new pastoral care team. Alison's role is as Pastoral Care Co-ordinator for the parish, and I have been working on a job description for her. She is certainly not expected to do all the pastoral care—but she will be co-ordinating a team that is able to support people at particular times of need. Please let her know if there is anyone in the parish who is unwell or has some other cause for concern. However, in pastoral emergencies please continue to contact me by one of the numbers on the weekly newsheet.

Yours in Christ, Matt

For Lectionary Readings for the week click here