|
The
Kirk Session met in the Church Hall on Wednesday 21st. November to
consider plans for the Christmas Season, to review the work of the
Church this year and to plan for next year.
Initial
discussion, based on the minutes of the previous meeting, centred on
the pleasure of the Session about some of the events which had
recently taken place. The Church Anniversary Service and
Congregational Lunch had been a great event, well supported and fun
to attend, as had been the Congregational Bar-B-Cue. The Songs of
Praise evening service led by the Kirk Session had been appreciated
and the Session had enjoyed taking part. The new film shows, at which
religious films had been shown, had been appreciated by those who attended.
Tom
Stewart had given a great deal of thought to the proposal to start a
Parish Magazine and now agreed to produce a first edition to be
issued on Christmas Eve and then to be distributed throughout the
whole parish, while Jim Kelly had taken forward the idea of recording
services and making them available to housebound members of our
community. He told us that everything was now in hand to enable a
recording to be made - and the first tape would be recorded and
issued before Christmas.
Attention
turned to our Christmas programme. A series of Advent services will
mark the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and on the first of
these, Sunday 2nd. December we shall welcome our friends from Luss.
On Sunday 16th. December at 6.30 p.m. in the evening we shall have
the traditional Service of Nine Lessons and Carols and the following
Sunday, 23rd. December, we shall meet for carol singing at the head
of the Loch at 5 p.m. making our way to the Church for 6.30 p.m.
where there will be hot drinks and refreshments (arranged by Retta
Deerin) and a Christingle Service. The Carol singing will be arranged
by Jamie MacTavish with music provided by Tom Stewart.
On
Christmas Eve there will be a Watchnight Service with the Church lit
by candle-light and there will be a family service on Christmas Day
at 11 a.m.
On
the last Sunday of the year there will be a Service of Christmas
Readings and Music at 10.30 a.m. and in the evening at 6.30 p.m.
there will be a service at which those who have died and who are
named on the stars on the Christmas tree are remembered.
In
the lead up to Christmas there will be open house at the Manse on
Friday 21st. December from 7 p.m. and in the first days of the new
year there will be a Christmas Pantomime prepared and presented by
children from the community. It was agreed to produce a short handout
with details of the Christmas programme and a poster with the
highlights on it.
With
Christmas planned the Session began to review the year. It was
encouraging to see so many people coming regularly to worship. It was
encouraging to see the building so near completion (it is expected
that everything will be totally completed by the time of our next
anniversary service in October, 2002.) It was encouraging to see that
the congregation is moving nearer to being self-sufficient (with aid
being gradually phased out over the next three years.) Our target for
next year in terms of congregational development is to encourage
those on the fringes of the congregation into more active membership,
to visit and invite those in the community who are not involved in
the Church, to provide a warm welcome for those who do wish to be
part of our congregation and to provide training and learning
opportunities for those in our congregation who would like such opportunities.
Thus
discussion moved naturally on to next year. The main thrust of our
programme in the first stage of the year is a six week programme
leading up to Holy Week. This programme is entitled 'Discovering
Faith' and will run on the six Wednesdays from 13th. February each
evening from 7.30 - 9 p.m. This will not be the only learning
opportunity, however, as a Bible Study Group will be launched in the
Church Hall to meet on Tuesdays in the period between Christmas and
Easter. Aware that a similar group meeting in Luss had been examining
the first chapters of Genesis, the Session asked that this new group
should also start by looking at Genesis. Both of these new
initiatives will lead into a series of Holy Week Services.
As
part of the discussions about next year, it was agreed that future
meetings of the Kirk Session would be planned for Wednesday 9th.
January, Wednesday 10th. April, Wednesday 14th. August and Wednesday
13th. November, each meeting to be at 7.30 p.m. in the Church Hall.
Already a busy agenda has been agreed for our next meeting. We shall
discuss our plans for 'The Year of the Child', the arrangements and
programme details of our 'Discovering Faith' programme, the
appointment of Elders as representatives to the different
organizations which meet in the Church and Hall, and how often we
should celebrate Holy Communion. The Kirk Session also agreed to be
responsible for a further Songs of Praise Service, to be held on
Sunday 3rd. February at the unusual time of 3 p.m. - this to enable
people who don't normally get out to attend - and the service will be
followed by afternoon tea!
The
meeting ended shortly before 9 p.m.
|