Andrew's Retirement
Our rector, Andrew Dow, recently announced his retirement after 39 years in the ordained ministry he will be retiring this Summer, 8 months short of his 65th birthday. His last service with us will be on Sunday 27th June before he and Miriam move to Stratford upon Avon. Please remember them in your prayers as they prepare for this next phase of ministry. Nearer the time we will be thanking God for Andrew's and Miriam’s ministry amongst us.
The next year or so will obviously be a time of change for St Mary with St Matthew and the Wardens and I are keen to make sure that everyone is kept fully informed and involved. Leading up to Andrew's retirement and during the time of 'interregnum', there will be regular updates in the notice sheet, and from time to time we will be talking about plans in our Sunday services. I also hope that in the months ahead our monthly church Prayer Meetings will become more of a priority for us. These meetings will give the whole church an occasion to hear the latest news in more detail and most importantly, to pray for the future.
So what does lie ahead? The Monday following the announcement there was a meeting of the PCC and alongside the normal business of the PCC they took time to hear news, ask questions and consider what this change will mean for our church.
The first steps were taken at our PCC Day on Saturday 30 January. During this day the PCC continued working on a project we began last term called Vision on a Postcard - capturing the core aspects of our ministry in a postcard form. We will also spent a lot of time praying and mapping out the interregnum process. Then on Monday 1 February we met for our monthly church Prayer Meeting where I was able to report on some of the work done on the PCC Day.
I hope that this time of change will be a time of real growth for us as a church family - growing in unity of purpose and growing in our loving support for each other. Above all I hope that we will grow in confidence in our God, who is wonderfully working out his purposes in our world. Over the next few weeks do please be praying for the whole staff team, for the Church Wardens and for the PCC.
“Then I praised the Most High; I honoured and glorified him who lives forever. His dominion is an eternal dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" Daniel 4:34-35
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