Hallelujah He is Here - Chataway

[DutchOma]

Well here you are then I don't post often, but just to save Nickel a job...

Heaven help me, it looks like I'm going to become a churchwarden on Sunday...

hehe Mary we had our AGM yesterday :)
Caused a bit of a stir...
They had nominated me to become a member of the PCC, but according to our vicar I am not allowed to, as I am employed by the PCC... I said that I was quite sure that it shouldn't be an objection... but he kept saying that according to a law in 1921 I wasn't allowed and he was against it blah blah blah... I then went out and they took a vote, DH also said why it would be good if I was on the PCC as a voting member. Before AGM I was on as on observer and I'm only allowed to talk about the work I do (which is ridiculous). I am on the electoral role and an active member of church outside of my job so why shouldn't I be allowed to have my say.
The vote was a tie...
Of course I hadn't brought the proof with me that I am allowed so next PCC we will tell the vicar he's wrong

sorry for the long post, had to get it off my chest... I hate injustice and people making their own rules

Ah Blue that's hard. I know clergy can't be PCC members as such but hadn't heard about those employed by PCC - daft!! Hope it gets sorted!

Panda - how's things today - hope and pray it's getting sorted out. Keep on trusting....I know it's not easy.

Oooh Mary, you'll be great :)

Jaffa - that Titanic band playing thing always gets me too.

Having more problems at school with dd. I feel the teacher is not being objective. We'll see what today brings. I'm feeling pretty wretched about it all.

happy easter milly - meant to post that yesterday, but completely forgot!

Other organist played Nearer my god top thee in various registers as his voluintary yesterday, which was a lovely tribute.
felt weird though after all the jolly easter type music.

Blue your vicar was talking baloney. anyone can be on the pcc, even employees! i think churchwardens are officio members (so not voted because they have to be there)

we've advertised for our vicar now, so apply if you want to!

Panda - "Was such a fab service - lots of flags and dancing and 4 drummers playing bongos in the band, then we went outside to take communion around the foot of the cross which stands in the middle of the church campus. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah!"
that does sound fab, actually (sorry for delay in commenting )

:) It does sound fab doesn't it.

Is the incumbency advertised anywhere nickel yet? I might know a few people...

yes, it is.
not sure where...
I'll try to find out and let you know. :)

here it's team vicar - St mary and St michael sittingbourne.

Lovely parish profile nickel
We are in the process of writing ours, not easy!

Long time lurker here - just wanted to say something about the PCC/employer thing for blue. Quite recently (ie within the last few years) the government brought in a rule saying that you could not be a trustee for a charity (which includes PCCs) if you were also employed by the charity (ie by the PCC) - or so our diocese told us.
Our vicar asked DH to check the relevent legislation (he's a lawyer) and it doesnt actually say that - you can be on the PCC but if anything concerning your job comes up (eg your pay, or whether or not your job should change/ end) then you should leave the room first and not be part of the discussion and that should all be minuted.
Our diocese gave out a blanket ban just cos it was easier...
when we told them what it actually says and how we get round it - that was deemed ok.
hth

bellatmum thanks for that! that's what I found out as well! :)

nickel that is a really excellent profile, such a lot of information, some we looked at were barely a page, it's great. Hope the right person comes along soon :)

Hello bellatmum :)

house move no further forward. Yesterday's issues appear to be resolved, new ones today. If we don't exchange by 12 tomorrow, we can't move on Friday. Will have to pay for removals twice as had already booked them in good faith we would complete on Monday when we didn't on Friday. We've worked so hard to get packed up, an dit looks like we will be living out of boxes over the weekend - we've packed leaving out just what we need to use. Bed dismantled, wardrobes in pieces, leave from work booked. Trying to trust but finding it very very hard.

oooh Panda that must be so frustrating. I know we had to wait a long time before we could finalise the moving date...

Oh Panda sorry. That is so hard, it happened to us once when completion was delayed because of some sellers up the chain, so very frustrating and you feel so helpless. Praying things will work out very quickly for you.

Yes, churchwardens and Readers are ex officio. We had someone who was employed wanting to be on PCC, I think we agreed the same - so long as she stepped outside when there was a conflict of interest, but that never happened, so not an issue!

Today I feel stupid and tearful. I was given something to read last night, about the future of ministry in our diocese, and its important to be able to read and understand it, but it doesn't make sense and says ridiculous things like "being deep in our DNA as Christians", which is wrong, what does our DNA have to do with it? So I feel stupid. Should I say something? Its written by the bishop of my diocese. I could contact him, but would he respond appropriately and sensitively, I wonder? Or will I just get fobbed off and feel worse than before?

why were you given it to read?
if it's to mull it over, then, yes, let him know what you think of it.
I was always led to believe being a christian is a conscious decision, so the dna thing doesn't make sense at all.

don't feel stupid, though! you saw errors/inaccuracies in his statement, so of course you should tell him about it.

and

yes, bella - we have the same thing.
our parish administrator is on the pcc (which i actually think is an important thing relevant to her role), and when we discuss her pay/job, she's not allowed to be involved.

thanks for the compliments on the profile :)
I noticed quite a lot of errors in it (proofreading pedant alert!)

but it is a good profile, and accurate in content.
One thing that made me think when i read it was that St Mary's seems to be the church that's worried about a new vicar wanting to change things.
the way st michael's is talked about, it looks like "this is set in stone, been proved over decades" and st mary's bit is "please let us carry on doing it like this, it's new but it seems to work!"
I always felt st mary's felt like they had the stronger position being very children-oriented, but i don't think they feel that way.

sorry to hear that panda :(

I was given it because every parish in the diocese has been given 4 copies. Its a step on from Mission Action Planning. So he didn't hand it to me personally or anything. Apparently we are also all "cross-shaped people". Very weird. Makes me very cross

ow!
yeah, you've got to say something then
what a bizarre submission!

I don't think he intended that kind of cross shaped people

Ah yes Mary I've read that kind of language in other documents of that type. I can see how annoying and confusing it must be to some people. Cross-shaped I think is simply a (overdone) way of describing people who base their lives on the cross to the extent that it effects all of what they do, and the DNA thing is similar, a way of saying being a christian should permeate right through who you are, so becomes your DNA so to speak - I can see it's not a helpful description. Sometimes I think the writers of these things get lost too far up their own literary derrieres and lose sight of the fact that these things should be easy to read and understand to all groups. I definately think you should say something, because if no one does the poncey language shall go on. Aaaagh!!!

I prefer the term "Easter People", which I DO understand... Its available online if anyone wants to read it. Can you believe that in the printed copy I have, the text is so small, its 20 characters to the inch!