The New Service

I am really thrilled that Cornwell Community Church are joining us at St Catherine’s … although this may be news to you, the discernment process has been going on for several months, since November last year in fact, when we realised that we needed to pray into the situation at Cornwell. There were three main reasons:

1. Lack of Geographic focus, little impact on ‘their’ area – which questioned their purpose. What were they doing there if they are not reaching the people they originally went to reach, as part of Dawn 2000, a nationwide initiative to have one church for every 1,000 homes?

2. Falling numbers - Sunday attendance has halved in the last 5 years.

3. Concern over succession and leadership with the recent loss of several key members, for varying reasons.

The Strategy Action Group (StAG) met and prayed 3 times during December, Cornwell Leadership team were consulted, and then the Cornwell congregation were given a survey, the results of which were shared at their Annual Church meeting.

The congregation were asked to put five aspects of why they attended Cornwell into order, and Service Style and the People came out top, with Building least.

The Cornwell Leadership team discussed the findings, and came to the conclusion that it was right and fitting to move to the St Catherine’s building and help us outreach to families and children, specifically through developing an all age service, with Sunday school, based at St Catherine’s.

The StAG and I have agreed that the best case scenario is for this new service to begin at 11.00 am.

An 11.00 service puts the 9.30 service under some pressure….Should we shorten it by reducing the number of songs we have, not having the sharing time?

After much consideration, and to enable a time of having coffee after and before both services we felt that, with Cornwell making such a big move and being pretty sacrificial in doing so, it would be good and right that St Catherine's make a change too and the two congregations move towards one another.

So:

• The 9.30 am service will move back to 9.15 am.

• We will start the St Catherine’s 9.15 am service on 19th May.

• The current plan is that Cornwell will join us at Pentecost (9th June).

This will bring with it change for all of us - and so we will all need to be sacrificial, kind and gentle with one another.

Rev Gill Rowell

Stop Press

The new 11.00 am service is to be called: Allsorts @ 11