Dear Friends,
Does anyone remember anything about the last AGM we held here? It must have been in 2019, which is three years ago. AGM’s of any society have a reputation for being extremely boring and hardly anybody turns up. You just listen to reports of what has happened during the past year (most of which you know anyway), examine lists of figures which not everyone understands but you put your hand up to agree because the powers-that-be require a vote. I have been intrigued over my years in ministry by the various tactics used by groups to get people to attend their AGM. One group in my previous church held the AGM as a prequel to a most delicious supper and no, you were not allowed to turn up too late for the meeting and just in time for the supper. Our Pre-School hold their AGM during the interval of an annual Quiz Night – even more difficult to turn up at the right time for the quiz and the wrong time for the AGM. A church in Wales held their AGM immediately after the Morning Service on a Sunday and there was no option to leave between the Blessing and the Constitution of the meeting…….
But it IS three years since St John’s Church held an AGM and we have one scheduled this year for Wednesday 18th May at 7:45pm. And I can assure you that it will not consist of listening to reports of what has been going on over the past three years. Since March 2020 our regular monthly Newsletter has been supplemented by a weekly bulletin and our newly upgraded website (in 2020) has been kept up to date with news. And when it comes to exchanging “Covid news” we have found all kinds of ways of doing that ourselves.
No, we need this AGM as a means of planning for our future. There are serious discussions to be had on our worship, on our youth and children’s work and on our re-gathering as a faith community after two years of uncertainty and isolation. We desperately need to be together, talk and pray together about the direction God is leading our church. As members of the United Reformed Church, in the “Reformed Tradition” we are called to believe and trust that when church members come together in prayer and discussion, the will of God is discerned. It is not about the Minister telling you what to do nor even the Elders. In our tradition authority is in the Church Meeting. The pandemic has prevented us from holding regular church meetings, although we did try to engage in some zoom discussions, which gave members the opportunity to talk together. Now it is time to return and let God speak to YOU and through you to our community as a whole.
Let’s make it an AGM to celebrate!
With love and good wishes to you all,
Jennifer Millington
