At last Tuesday’s PCC, we had another full agenda to grapple with and some excellent discussion. We welcomed Melanie Jackson to her first meeting, and were pleased to accept with delight Ian Young’s offer to become PCC secretary, freeing David Rudeforth up to be churchwarden at the meetings and not churchwarden and secretary. We also admitted some new names to the electoral role, noted a new CRB clearance, gave permission for summer activities for Pathfinders and JJs and noted the success of the stewardship campaign.
The major item on our agenda was an excellent paper prepared by Jackie Howell on our baptism practice and policy. She outlined what we currently do and how she approaches her visits to baptism enquirers, but then went on to explain how we might approach the preparation for baptism more effectively, noting the advantages and disadvantages of providing a course for enquirers over several weeks. Following the presentation, we thought about how we might more effectively prepare families for baptism and several ideas were floated. We agreed to circulate Jackie’s paper so that people could think about these issues over the summer and we will return to the discussion at the next meeting. If you would like to see a copy of Jackie’s paper, please have a word with her – it is available by email or on paper.
At the request of the PCC, the staff group had been thinking about a short version of our mission statement and presented some ideas as work in progress to the PCC (see below). We agreed to fundraise for nurses for St Anne’s hospital in Liuli, but also to set up a standing order of £17 to provide a regular sustained amount to go to this fund.
The PCC also looked at the regulations provided by the Bishops regarding the admission of children who had been baptised to communion before confirmation. The regulations are quite rigourous and require permission from the parish priest, PCC and bishop before a child may be so admitted. The PCC noted the regulations, and the fact that permission given by a bishop in another diocese or parish would be transferable to this parish.
We confirmed a new policy for the use of bouncy castles by groups using the church hall, and received a report from Daniel on the recent meeting of churches together in Lincoln – he is now preparing a web site for Churches Together and is on the standing committee of the group.
Our next meeting is on September 16th. On the agenda for that meeting, we will, among other things, be looking at the new arrangements for qualification for marriage in church (this was highlighted in a recent edition of this bulletin), receiving a report from Sue Brennan about our healing ministry and following up on Jackie’s thoughts on baptism preparation. If you would like anything raised at the PCC, please do have a word with any of the PCC members, who will be pleased to give you any further information about items discussed last week.