Church News Volume 4, Issue 11

Dear friends,

I hope you have enjoyed the summer, either at home or away on holiday.

September is a busy month after the comparative quiet of August in the Benefice. Meetings for the Autumn to plan for the end of the year's events and services, Harvest Festival services in every church of the Benefice, and harvest suppers to attend.

After having time away from work it is difficult starting again. But hopefully after a break we might see things with different eyes, find a new enthusiasm, return with new ideas, hopes and aspirations.

The nights will draw in, the long lazy, hot days of summer will seem like a lovely dream, and something to look forward to next time round.

I always regard September as the start of a new year of planning and looking forward in the life of the church. A time to consider where we are going in the next twelve months and how we are going to try and achieve this goal.

We have had changes in the Ministry Team of the Benefice to take into account. Revd Bob Torrens, our retired priest who helped with some services in our churches is about to move to Bury St. Edmunds following his recent marriage. We thank Bob for his ministry among us and wish him and his new wife every blessing in their new (retired) life together.

Gill Green has been a Reader for many years in the Benefice, living in Ousden. Gill has been accepted by the Church to proceed with training for the Priesthood over the next two years. This means that Gill will cease to exercise a reader ministry in the Benefice although not move out of Ousden. She will concentrate on her studies and have a placement in another parish or Benefice in the Diocese. We shall of course greatly miss her ministry in the Benefice, the worship she so prayerfully led. She will of course continue to worship with us whilst training.

It is a great honour for us as a Christian community, that one of our own has been called by God and the Church to ordination. But this comes with a responsibility that we must support Gill (and Rupert of course) with our prayers and as a Benefice we shall do all we can to help Gill with the books she will need for her studies. If you would like to make a donation in thankfulness for Gill's ministry in the Benefice as a Reader, towards her training, please let me know.

This does all mean that we will not be able to carry on with the level of services that we have been receiving around the Benefice churches over the last few years. It does mean that we must be more prepared to travel to where the services are on a Sunday, as indeed many of you do. Our fourth Sunday will continue as a Benefice Sunday.

I believe that we must now seriously consider having a second Benefice Sunday, maybe on the second Sunday of the month, and as with the fourth Sunday service, moving around the different churches, maybe also offering an Evensong on that day.

PCC's, and the Benefice Committee, will be discussing the implications for the service rota. If you have any feelings or ideas please contact me or one of the Church Wardens

Revd Ian M. Finn

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