Services
Sunday 25th November saw the church full with around 200 adults and 40 children and youth as we as a Church Community said goodbye and thank you to Campbell and Henrietta. A very appreciative thank you to all who helped organise and put on this event, especially those who helped organise the food and the church cleaning. Campbell ceased to be our Vicar on 4th December and we are now officially in what the Church hierarchy calls a “vacancy”. For the moment, this means there is no “Vicar” as such of Brenchley. We are being assisted and helped by Revd Andrew Cameron and his wife Sue: Rev Andrew Axon (Area Dean and Vicar of Lamberhurst and Matfield) is also helping with pastoral matters. In addition, other visiting clergy are taking services, notably Revd Ian Aveson and next Sunday 17th December Revd David Kitley (who is the Bishop’s adviser on overseas mission and recently visited Tanzania with + Jonathan).
Thanks to these clergymen services are planned to continue more or less as before for December and January. And thereafter…….
The other aspects of church life continue, dependant as always on our members to volunteer. You will have noticed the excellent condition of the churchyard thanks to Richard, Moira, John and many volunteers. Ted Fisher has stepped forward to help with operations and is acting as “Quartermaster” replenishing essential supplies for the church. Please speak to him if you observe something missing from or running short at church. He can be contacted via email at tedinbrechley@gmail.com.
We will publish, early in the New Year, a new “who’s who” with contact numbers and emails for All Saints. We are gradually identifying and mapping the various roles which people have played over many years to keep our Church going. We will be asking everyone to let us know all the jobs they have done, both large and small over the years, so that nothing gets missed as we change leadership. Our last PCC meeting in November saw a
demonstration of a new church web site-thank you to Jim Young who created it working with Ruth Parnell. Increasingly information about the working of the church will be included on this site.
In terms of Ministry, you will have noted that we are again offering individual Prayer after many services. Please do not hesitate to come forward if you would like prayer for anything which is concerning you. This will normally be lead by Sue Cameron or Moira but there are others in this team. For those of you who might be interested in participating a course on healing prayer is offered by Goudhurst church, a number of our congregation participated a couple of years ago and are thinking of joining in a follow up. For information on this and our prayer ministry generally please contact Moira. Clergy visits for those who would like ministry at home can also be arranged.
As we enter a time of uncertainty regarding our Church’s future, it is important to pray specifically for this. With this in mind, on Thursday 7th December from 10.00am finishing with Holy Communion at 1pm led by Andy, those, who can, will be meeting to pray specifically about this. The idea is that those who can drop in for as long or as little as they feel lead and are able to do so. Children are very welcome and there will be activities for them too…..
Wreaths and Churchyard
There will be a sale of wreaths at the lytch gate on Saturday 9th December at 9.30am to 12.00pm and a small team will be getting together to make wreaths on the afternoon of 7th December in the church at 2.00pm.
Finances
As mentioned previously church expenses, such as essential repairs. have increased so we would ask you all to prayerfully consider how much you give going forward.
The Future
Little has changed in terms of our understanding since the November newsletter. As many of you are aware, the Diocese are considering reducing the number of Ministers in our area and have been looking at combining Ministers in Brenchley and Matfield and also Horsmonden and Lamberhurst. Interestingly, the recent message from +Jonathan in his recent address to Diocesan Synod is that the number of Ministers will increase very slightly and he says that he is prioritising fruitful Parishes. Representatives of our PCC have been in discussion with St Luke’s Matfield about what we would look for in a joint Minister. Whilst we will continue to work with and cooperate with Matfield wherever we can it, seems for the moment that the two churches have different aspirations in terms of a new minister and so we understand that the Diocese are now looking at a “Plan B”. We don’t know what Plan B is. We are trying to meet with our Archdeacon to consider the future but as yet no meeting to do this has been arranged. As you are all aware we have been trying to plan for this future since late 2022 so patience with prayer has become a necessity.
At a recent training session for Wardens in churches going into interregnum or “vacancy”, it was stated by one of those running the course that it was perfectly normal for a vacancy to last a year. We are doing everything in our power to put our church into a position where we can move to recruit another minister as quickly as possible The PCC on your behalf will do all that it reasonably can to ensure that the vacancy is as short as possible, and, if necessary being tough with Diocese about this.
In parallel to this, we are also considering what we need to do to enable our church to flourish should this timetable prove to be the case. For those who think it cannot be possible for an organisation to plan to function like this, we would suggest you look at the Save The Parish website ( https://www.savetheparish.com/) for experiences of churches around the country. We are doing our best to cooperate with the Diocese and hope,
despite the above comments, that we can move to recruit a replacement earlyish in 2024. We would ask you to pray for your PCC, for wisdom and patience.
What on earth are we here for?
We are now well into Advent. The first candles have been lit (thank you Andy!). It is important to hold the above in the context of the great joy which God sending his son Jesus into the world brings. We aspire to be a welcoming church, especially welcoming those from minorities or disadvantaged circumstances. Or simply facing difficult times. This time of year sees many routines and traditions from carols to food. Behind it all is the true story of how God came to earth in the person of Jesus. If Christmas seems to you to be the same boring grind every year, we can recommend a book for you to read: Timothy Keller – Hidden Christmas. This sets the familiar story in context and brings out why it is so much more incredible than we can articulate. With all our issues around Parish succession, it reminds us to show the joy of knowing God’s Saviour to the world especially at this time of year. It also reminds us to look out for the Shepherds, the lonely and outcasts and all those facing difficult times in our local society.
This year our Christmas collection will be split between the Community Storehouse in Paddock Wood whose good work (of feeding those who cannot afford to feed themselves and their families) we strongly support. We are also giving to Fr Kevin Cable and his wife Jen (our linked missionaries) who are working directly with refugees in Jerusalem and supporting the displaced from Gaza.
We pray you will all enjoy the Peace and Joy of Christ this Christmas.
Moira and Robin
Wardens
5/6 December 2023