Opening Doors!
‘Behold I stand at the door and knock if anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in…..’ Revelation 3v20
In this season of Covid-19 when we have had to shut the doors of our church building, what a welcome invitation of freedom and release these words bring. The Lord’s presence is not confined to our communal places of worship, it is not bound by buildings, but He lives within us wherever we are. Many of us have been grateful also for the wonders of technology, opening virtual ‘doors’ that have enabled us to join in services not only from All Saints, but also with other church services throughout the country.
Nevertheless, there is something special about being able to come through the doors of a church building, especially All Saints, where generations have gathered together to worship the living God.
So it is, that the doors of All Saints will be open once more, initially for private prayer only, on Wednesdays and Sundays between 9.30-12.30 from July 1st. Once inside you will find that changes have been made to minimise potential areas of risk: the kitchen and toilets are closed, as are the cupboards and pigeon holes. The upholstered chairs have been replaced with wooden ones and the Bibles have been removed, so please come with your own Bible and a cushion if you wish.
There will be people on hand throughout these mornings to welcome you and to guide and help you in any way. For further information please click here.
In due course we will be able to hold services in church, and the Ministry team, led by Dave Coleshill and a PCC group, are exploring all options around when and how we may safely gather to worship together again. This will be something we will very much look forward to!
Vacancy News
At the beginning of June the Churchwardens and Parish Representatives received notification from the Archdeacon for Sheffield and Rotherham, Malcolm Chamberlain, that All Saints has been given the ‘go ahead’ to proceed with the appointment of an Oversight Minister at All Saints.
This is good news, however, it does mean that our Parish Representatives, along with others involved in the appointment process, will have to discern how best to move forward through the selection process.
The Parish Representatives, Alison Fletcher and Michael Gordon, along with the Churchwardens, Sarah Leighton and Ruth Watkin, met with the Archdeacon and the Patron’s Representative: Archdeacon John Hawley, via Zoom, on 23rd June. This meeting gave all parties an opportunity to discuss the proposal to appoint a Priest in Charge at All Saints who, along with the Priest in Charge at St.Gabriel’s, will have strategic oversight of the Mission Area of Ecclesall Bierlow and Greystones.
The process to appoint a new Minister at All Saints can now begin again. This starts by looking, again, at the Role Description and Person Specification, to ensure that both of these include the new criteria stated by the Diocese, as well as the specific requirements already identified by the All Saints PCC. It also involves work on the Parish Profile to ensure that this is up-to-date at the time of advertising. Work on all three of these documents has begun in earnest with the Vacancy Working Group working to produce new proposed documents to bring to the PCC as soon as possible.
Once the All Saints PCC has approved these documents, the Parish Representatives will work with the Archdeacon, and others involved in the appointment process, to produce the advert and discern the selection process. This would take time under ‘usual’ circumstances and is likely to take longer due to the current situation. It is, however, underway and this is good news. Please continue to pray for all those involved: the Vacancy Working Group, PCC and Parish Representatives; for wisdom, patience and understand as we discern the way forward and update the documentation.
Please continue to pray for the person God is preparing for All Saints, that He will stir in their hearts a desire to apply, and an excitement to come and minister at All Saints.
APCM update
As the church family are aware, we were not able to hold the Annual Parochial Church Meeting on 20th May 2020 due to the Covid 19 pandemic.
We very much hope that the All Saints PCC will be able to set a date for this meeting, along with the Annual Parish Meeting, in the Autumn (at the end of September or early October) but this continues to depend on government guidance regarding how restrictions are lifted.
The Annual Report was due to be made available prior to the planned APCM in May and work on this was taking place when lockdown began in March. Unfortunately, it was necessary to pause work to put together the annual reports to address challenges and changes brought about by Covid 19, and having to work and conduct the governance of the church in a different way.
Work on the Annual Report has now begun again and this will be brought to the All Saints PCC for approval as soon as possible following which it will be made available to the church family.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.