Dear Friends,

One of the things I’m always conscious of as we enter the months of July and August, is how grateful we are for all of our volunteers in church.

During these months things sometimes quieten down a bit in terms of groups taking a well-deserved break after the busyness of the yearly programme.

Throughout these months we hope people will get the chance to take some rest whether it is around our homes or a bit further afield.

I was trying to do some calculations recently about how many people volunteer around our church and the more I thought about it, the more the listexpanded.

We have leaders and helpers from groups that work with children and young people like Sunday School, YouthFellowship, Messy Church and the Creche. We have our Toddlers’ Group, the Anchor Boys and the Boys’ Brigade. We have groups that focus on the ladies in our church like Mothers’ Union and the Ladies’ Friendship Group and the Cregagh Crafters. There are active pursuits like Pickleball and Pilates. We have those who volunteer with leading worship in the Choir, the Praise Group and the Technology Team who stream and broadcast our main morning service each week.

We have volunteers who look after the church grounds, cutting grass, tidying up, clearing drains under the guidance of our Glebewardens. We have those who arrange flowers and count and bank money. We have the Select Vestry who oversee the governance of the church and those who have heavy responsibilities with our finances and correspondence. There are those who help to oversee safeguarding policies, those whopost and update on our website and Facebook page and social media channels. There are teams of people who prepare and serve food and. refreshments at funerals and those who serve refreshments after weekly services on a Wednesday and Sunday. There are groups and individuals who pray and fundraise for the church and groups we are involved in supporting.

We have a caretaker and churchwardens who voluntarily come early to set things up for services and assist and welcome visitors and all who come. Sometimes people comment on how they have experienced the church coming together around them perhaps in a time of illness or bereavement and when all these different parts work together, it’s an incredible force for good and for encouragement and blessing in people’s lives.

If you are reading this magazine, either online or in its printed form, there was another team involved in getting it to you.

There is a danger in church life that we fail to acknowledge or recognise all those who are involved in so many ways andthe reality, when it comes to our worship and witness, is that we couldn’t do any of it without you.

I want to say thank you for all you do and all you have done throughout this past year.

Maybe in the course of an activity or a meeting of an organisation you had a conversation that really made a difference in someone’s life at that moment. Maybe they felt stressed or overwhelmed by whatever was going on in their lives and you listened. Maybe you told them you would pray and those simple words gave the person hope and courageto keep going. Maybe as you contributed to worship, you helped someone who is housebound or in hospital to still feel a part of their parish church. The likelihood is that you might not have felt you were doing very much, you quite possibly looked out on a dark night in November and thought I don’t really fancy going out the door, but because you did, someone came into a welcoming space or knew that someone else cared enough about them to make that activity happen.

People in our church give a lot of themselves and I want to say thank you. I also want to encourage you to rest and recharge over these months.

We hope during late June and July to offer a space to meet our neighbours for our community picnics on Tuesday nights from 5.30pm – 7.30pm. We don’t want these nights to be an additional burden but to allow some simple opportunities to unfold where we meet our neighbours, have space for individuals and families to gather, eat some food, play some games and get away for a bit, if you wish, to the church for private prayer or if you’d like someone to pray for you.

We hope you get some rest and refreshment wherever you find yourself in the coming months. If you are going away please do take the opportunity to visit a local church and worship with the people there. They will be so encouraged by your presence and you will be blessed by the worship.

Could I alert you to a special date for your diary in September. We hope to have a Community Fun Day on Saturday 12th September where there will be fun and activities for all the family as we launch our autumn programme and make people aware of the different things we do and the different things we offer. We hope to host the Fun Day in the afternoon.

Our goal in all these things is to point people to the love of Jesus and the joy of living our daily lives in His presence and for His glory.

Thank you so much for being part of this wonderful journey with us.

With very best wishes,

Jonathan Pierce (Rector)

Telephone 02890 793822