Latest News - 9th November 

Welcome to a bumper edition of Christ Church’s News. There’s so much to tell you this week, you might want to grab a cuppa and a digestive and sit down…

Firstly

Firstly, a reminder that this coming Sunday, 11th November,  we will be having an Act of Remembrance during our 10am Gathering, as well as Holy Communion. There will be groups for children as usual.

Can we mention Christmas?

Yes, it’s not that far away, so here is all the Christmas related news in handy bite size chunks:

It's already started!  Here's the very soggy Christ Church choir singing carols in the rain at the lighting of the Clifton Village Christmas Tree last Wednesday night...?

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  • Christmas Publicity: On Sunday 18th November we will be delivering Christmas invitations to houses and streets in Clifton as part of The 10. To enable this to happen, our children will go straight down to groups, and the Gathering will end shortly after 11 am, when those who wish to do so will take bundles out to the homes of Clifton.
  • Clifton Christmas Market: Can you give two hours on Saturday 24th November to help make this event a great success? We need help with the coffee shop, welcoming, giving out flyers and pack down at the end of the day. To sign up please click here.  
  • Brown Bags: This Sunday we will be giving out brown bags, to collect donations for the homeless in our city. These gifts will be given out during the December lunch runs. Please return to church on Sunday 25th November.
  • Christmas Services and events: A full list is now available on our website.

Meanwhile in other news:

  • Help needed tomorrow: Andy Murray has been in touch as he has a load of timber and stuff to clear out of St. Andrew’s so the builders can clear space to get the scaffolding down next week, and press on with the next set of jobs. If you are strong and willing to help just turn up at St. Andrew’s Church Avonmouth, BS11 9FE, anytime between 9:30am and 11:30am tomorrow morning.
  • Half Night of Prayer: As we prepare for Christmas, as individuals and as a church, you are invited to an half night of worship, reflection and prayer to start advent on Friday 30th November from 7pm to midnight. The evening is a corporate prayer gathering in church although there will be plenty of space for your own prayer within the evening. You are invited for the whole evening although you can come and go as necessary. Having a whole evening to worship and pray together can sound daunting, but we would encourage you to come along for as much as possible as these evenings build a sense of momentum that, together, makes the time fly and leaves us all wanting more.
  • Do you have personnel skills: The PCC’s Personnel Sub Group is looking for people with HR or line management expertise to join the group that helps the PCC care for its employed staff. We meet about 6 times a year. Contact Mark Parsons in the office for more details.

News from the PCC

Finally, the Church Council met on 20th October. We asked Dave Newton, the PCC’s Treasurer, to share his reflections…

This was one of the occasional meetings on a Saturday morning, so I found myself wandering over from Kingsdown early one foggy autumn morning. One of the good things about having a daytime meeting once in a while is that there is a bit more time so we don’t have to rush through the agenda quite so fast. We began by hearing from Nick Carter from the Admin team, and it was a real eye-opener to find out just how much they look after. They are not just a ‘back office’ they are often on the “front-line”; Nick welled up just recalling an encounter he’d had with a homeless person who came to the office, and it was impossible not to be moved by his description of the range of activities the team is dealing with day by day, all on our behalf as a church.

I won’t dwell on my bit as Treasurer; we are putting next year’s budget together and I needed a steer on a couple of things from the PCC, particularly on how much of our income we devote to the ‘Parish Share’, which goes back to pay for the costs of the mission and ministry in the Diocese. The discussion was lively but good-tempered and very helpful – we are meeting the Diocesan finance people later in November so watch this space!

In my experience, PCC discussions are mostly about short-term issues and problems so it was good to spend some time thinking about long term planning. We talked about the transitions that have been taking place in Christ Church over the last few years and the further changes that will be needed as the Vision comes to fruition. These changes are by no means clear yet but the direction of travel feels right and there will be lots more discussions about this, both in the church leadership and the small communities’ leaders meetings.

Graham Stuart (Churchwarden) commented that many members of the congregation don’t know who is in the PCC. Lanyards have been ordered, and I promise I’ll wear one in church most weeks. If you happen to see me wearing it, do come up and say hello and ask me about church finances (or anything else), I’d be chuffed! You can also see a list of PCC members and minutes of the meetings on the church website.

Phew! That's it.