Arrochar Parish Church Kirk Session Report
		The Kirk Session met in the Church hall on Wednesday 12th. February, 2003 at 7.30 p.m. This was a happy meeting with everyone present except for Jamie who was taking children to curling. The Church books were attested and a report was heard on the work of child protection. Everything was in order according to the procedures laid down by the Church of Scotland and everyone who worked with children had undergone the appropriate training. Some discussion centred around the future of our own congregation in terms of the presbytery plan. We noted that the presbytery presentation would be brought to us by our visiting team some time soon. We felt a sense of sadness that although the visitation teams had now been set up for three years, still we had never had a visit. We noted that plans for a loch-side parish seemed to have fallen through and took the opportunity of reaffirming our position that we belonged in a rural grouping rather than with the congregations of the Vale. Perhaps our future lay with Garelochhead or even Lochgoilhead; certainly we are convinced it lies with Luss and would be happy to consider a more formal union with them at some time in the future (and not necessarily the far-off future!) We were pleased to learn that Christian Aid were bringing a development worker from Haiti to spend a day in our parishes. She would visit our schools and both congregations, including a meal in the Arrochar hall with members of the congregation. We also reviewed all that happened since the last meeting. Our Christmas services had been good and had been well attended. We would continue with the same programme next year except that we would not plan an earlier evening service for Christmas Eve as this had not been well-attended. The highlights had been the children's Christingle Service and the Memory Star Service both of which had been especially appreciated by those who had attended. We discussed the rehearsals for Joseph which were continuing. This was a very small-scale event and the value was probably not so much in any future presentation so much as in the relationships which were being created with folk who might come forward into a future leadership role within the congregation. It was also reported that the special commemorative mugs had resulted in a profit of £170 for each congregation, ourselves and Luss. Looking to the future a new elder was required to replace Tom now transferred to Luss). It was agreed that approach be made to Neil Black. It was also agreed to have a full programme of Holy Week services. Looking further ahead, discussion ranged over what we might do to provide something for children in our Parish. This is something we will return to again and again over the year. Sunday evenings haven't really worked, would an after school activity be better? Or should we gear up to a week of special activities or concentrate on occasional outings such as the one to Inveraray last year? We also discussed a possible Flower Festival, possibly for the second week in August. This would be a missionary outreach - a way of showing off our Church and meeting new people. A theme might be "The Community of Arrochar and our role in it." We have a number of our own groups who might provide a display - the Guild, the Kirk Session, the Congregational Board, the Community trust, the Sunday School, our Joseph Group, and others which use the hall such as the Keep Fit, the Slimming Club, the Gala Committee, the School Board and then there is Christian Fellowship and the Roman Catholic Church. We will talk more about this at our next meeting after we have sounded out other folk! And so our meeting came to an end. It was just nine o'clock.