View From The Vicarage

Au Revoir

I am sorry to say good bye to many good friends across the Dever benefice after serving you as your incumbent for the past 2 ½ years.

We have enjoyed moving around the delightful villages in the Dever valley, involving ourselves in the diverse and hugely enjoyable activities supported by each village. Also seeing God work in remarkable ways through the churches, through home groups, men’s breakfasts and a plethora of one to one interactions.

Sheelagh and I wish the benefice of 7 churches well. The future of the churches is necessarily uncertain. That is very much the nature of Christian ministry where through the uncertainties we see the hand of God working out his purposes and promises amongst us.

Our 30 months with you has seen us all pass through unprecedented times with lockdowns and pandemics sweeping across the world and our country.

We have had to adapt, bringing services online and posted on YouTube, administering the churches through online PCCs and encouraging discipleship through multiple on line courses week by week. Its stretched our faith, our ingenuity and our technological skills.

The Christian faith is essentially a transformative faith. As we enjoy each other's company, as we learn about Jesus through scripture and preaching, as we enjoy the times when we come together, we are slowly changed into his image taking on the nature of Christ, as Paul explains in his letter to the Romans.

It has been one of the most fulfilling and exciting components of our time amongst you to see lives changed, to see relationships turned around by exposure to Jesus Christ’s way. Should we expect these things to happen? Yes !!

Does God want these things to happen in the Dever valley in the future? Yes!!

We need to open ourselves to God and his words in the Bible if we are to see this transformation. We turn from our own way, our own thinking and begin to live as God has planned for us all. Its been such a privilege to encourage you along that path during our time here.

Sheelagh and I will move on to other challenges from February 2022. We will be living nearby and will make ourselves available to the benefice until a replacement clergy person can be found and installed.

John and Sheelagh Rennie