Parochial Church Council Report For The Year 2006
The Church Council met regularly throughout the year and dealt with a considerable variety of issues concerning the Mission of the Church in this place, the maintenance of the Ministry and the upkeep and management of the Church buildings and grounds.
The big event of 2006 was inevitably the departure of the Rector, the Reverend W R Stuart-White, "Bill" as we liked to call him, who had held the Living since 1998. During his time at Camborne he had endeared himself to all groups and sections of the Church and will be very much missed indeed. He always had a good listening ear and was an excellent pastoral Parish Priest. Many in the congregation and Parish will testify to his thoughtful and personal Ministry to them. A whole coach load of Church members, and some cars, went to Stoke Climsland Church in September for his welcome service as Priest of Stoke Climsland and Linkinhorne with Upton Cross, as well as Diocesan Rural Ministry Officer. This followed our own farewell service on 23rd July.
With the departure of an Incumbent the PCC has had to consider the very important and weighty matter as to what type of person should next lead this Church. The Council has chosen its two Parish Representatives to liaise with the Diocese and interview prospective candidates, these being Penny Menear and Edward Pascoe, while a small Committee was also set up to compile the Parish "Statement of Needs" and the more important "Parish Profile", which will be sent to prospective applicants for the post. This Committee consisted of the Reverend Olive Stevens, David Gill, Buck Carveth, Barbara Christie, Marlene Carveth, Susan Voisey and David Thomas and a 16 page document has been compiled and sent to the Diocese. Five key points were emphasised about the prospective new Priest for Camborne.
1) A prayerful person
2) Bible based in faith and ministry
3) A good pastoral heart
4) To work as a "team player"
5) Be supported by an effective family network
During the course of considering all of the above the Bishop of Truro also wrote to the Church Council, following a recommendation of the Diocesan Pastoral Committee to suspend the Right of Presentation of a candidate to the Living by the Registered Patron of the Benefice, the Church Society Trust, for a period of five years. After discussion the Council unanimously concurred with this decision which means that the next Priest for Camborne, although they might be called "Rector", will be a "Priest in Charge", and will not have the full legal rights of an Incumbent. This gives the Diocese a degree of flexibility for potential pastoral re-organization in this area, if the need arises.
On 7th September Bishop Bill also visited the Parish and commissioned no less than 15 new Worship Leaders to assist in the leading of the services. It was a great pity that not more members of our regular congregation turned out on this Thursday evening to support those who had undertaken the necessary training and had put themselves forward in important worship leadership roles for this Ministry. It also marked a very important step in their own spiritual developments and personal lives. Having so many new Worship Leaders also means that there is no shortage of persons to help lead and enrich our worship. There have been some memorable services over the last twelve months.
The departure of the Rector has also meant that our Curate Olive has had to step up to the role as being "Curate in Charge" in effect of what is a very busy Town Parish which involves much visiting for Baptism, Marriage and Funeral purposes and other Parish work and duties. Accompanied by her dog Skip she has become a very familiar figure in the Town and her Ministry is very much appreciated and valued by Church and non-Church people alike.
The year also saw the inauguration of the new Parish Office in the sub-divided Choir Vestry with a Parish secretary to assist in lessening the administrative burden on the staff. Our initial secretary, Saranne Holmes, was unable to continue in the task after a short while, but the post is now very ably filled by Sheila Bennett who is very much an asset to the life of the Church and Parish.
Apart from the usual round of regular services and events the Church made local and national headlines when three teenagers stole a handbag and some keys during an evening service on January 29th The Boys' and Girls' Brigade Enrolment service took placed on 5th February, while a fire was averted in the organ chamber on 19th February. Compline with an interactive sermon was held on 26th February and a Taize service on 12th March. The Church changed its hymn book to "Hymns Old and New" from Palm Sunday while there were services in Church throughout Holy Week, including a Tenebrae service with stripping of the altar on the Wednesday before Easter. The Good Friday procession of witness and United Act of Witness were followed by a Churches Together in Camborne service in Centenary Methodist Chapel. A similar occasion was held in Commercial Square at Pentecost. Early June saw the Church open 24/7 for a week of prayer while the usual memorial and healing services were held at intervals. Children were admitted to Holy Communion for the first time on 9th July following a PCC decision. A Deaf Church beach service was held at Godrevy on 23rd July, which also acted as the Deaf Church farewell to the Rector, and an Animal Blessing service took place on 15th October. There were the usual packed Church services for Harvest Festival and Remembrance Sunday. The Civic Service was held in the Parish Church again this year and was well attended. A United Advent Carol service took place at St John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church on 3rd December. The Nativity service on 17th December included the dressing of the crib by the children while the year concluded, as always, with large Christmas congregations in a beautifully candle lit Church. David Thomas, Lay Chairman
CURATE'S REPORT: APRIL 2006 TO 31ST MARCH 2007.
In April last year Bill announced that he would be moving to a new post and parish within this Diocese. I think that we understood from the beginning that this was not going to be a short vacancy so Bill and I started planning and preparing. The first job undertaken was the division of the vestry to provide office space in the church building. David Rogers got to work very quickly and by June we had the parish office up and running with a part time secretary in post. We then looked at our resources and inline with Diocesan policy began to encourage church members to prayerfully consider their role in church life. A Worship leader's course was arranged and as a result 15 worship leaders were commissioned by the Bishop in September 2006. I am delighted, as I am sure, you are with them and the way they have enhanced our worship. It may seem that there are suddenly so many worship leaders but their contribution has meant that things are kept running at an acceptable level. I have been able to fulfil most other commitments and Barbara has been free to continue her ministry as a Reader, her duties include church services, taking services at St Martins and St Clares, visiting, running the WF and helping with the Tea Service. Marlene is coming to the end of her training and our next big event is to celebrate with her as she is ordained Deacon on the 30th June. We are all looking forward to having her back with us.
A new house group grew out of last years Lent groups and meets regularly for bible study and fellowship. We now have 4 house groups and along with Wives group, Women's Fellowship, the group who meet at Advent and Lent in church after Wednesday communion and Jubilate Dance group we have small groups where people can get to know one another. Marlene led our Advent group in November and we had 5 Lent groups. All valuable times of study and prayer.
We have worked with our partners in Churches Together in Camborne. In June we hosted the 2nd 24/7 week of prayer. In July we had a visit from Steve Price a Christian magician and followed his show with a tea. We ran 2 Working to Well Being courses; hit the headlines with 'Jesus was born in Camborne' and a front page picture of Mary, Joseph and the baby in the stable in the town square! A repeat of the 'Pew Swap' in Christian unity week and a more social focus for our evening events has been popular and meetings have been well attended. In Infant school, Explorers Club, the after school 'weekday Sunday school', has run 4 times each term and there have been between 20 and 30 children with parents for each session. From September we have held 'Nightwatch' sessions. The Church is open on Saturday evenings and into the early hours of Sunday morning to pray and to make connections with the young people who are around at that time. We are still in early stages and see the most important part of this as praying together for God's guidance into a way of serving the young people of our town.
Those who attended the service at the cathedral on March 10th were encouraged by the Bishop's vision for the Diocese 'journeying on' and the adopted motto 'With God we Can'. Our journey is part of a process of helping one another to know and use our gifts within our communities. Churches can be places where difference s delighted in and celebrated. I believe that Camborne Church is a church that can accommodate, that can delight in and celebrate difference. On our journey we need to be able to accommodate changes. Although inevitable, change is rarely easy but if we work through changes together we should be able to make the changes work to our advantage and come through stronger. As we learn from mistakes our faith individually and as community of faith can grow and we can become the witness we are called to be. 'Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit'.