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Website last updated on 30th Aug 2010. |
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Our Minister
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Telephone Number: 01252 544823
Email: linda.phillips@theinvernet.co.uk
Linda writes (taken from our September 2010 newsletter) ...
Dear Friends,
Another new Church year begins in September, with the prospect of all our regular yearly events, Harvest, Remembrance, Advent, and the one I won’t mention yet! After the August break, whether we have been away on holiday or not, I hope we’ve all had a bit of a breather from church activities and are ready to enter into all that is planned in the months ahead with enthusiasm.
I’d like to take this opportunity of explaining to you one thing that will happening for me in the coming year, which is that I will be taking a Sabbatical. The Methodist Church offers all its Ministers this opportunity, firstly in the tenth year of ministry (as it is for me), and then every 7 years thereafter. Normally a sabbatical is for three months, but I have chosen to use this time in three separate blocks of around a month each, firstly in October, then in February/March, and finally after Easter. This time is offered for the purposes of rest and renewal, but it isn’t three months holiday! Ministers are expected to use this time for study, research and spiritual exploration and renewal – and sometimes just for doing something totally different, which can be as refreshing as an actual holiday.
My programme for this time involves various activities. Continuing throughout the whole year, from September to July, I will be undertaking a part-time course of study – Mission Shaped Ministry. The focus of this is the whole subject of new ways of being church, what is often called Fresh Expressions, how we can take the Gospel into new situations where traditional church is not reaching people. I’ve taken this on particularly to help me with the new responsibilities I shall have from September 2011 with The Chapel at Ash Vale, which has been set up as a Christian community arts centre.
Secondly, I shall be undertaking a project about preaching, as I’ve become very interested in discovering the kind of subjects and themes that are being talked about in our services, with the aim of exploring whether our preaching is meeting people’s needs or not. To do this I shall be visiting different churches in the Circuit to listen to other preachers, and may even turn up at Sandhurst one Sunday, to sit in the congregation for a change!
I will also be doing some computer training, especially to learn more about the PowerPoint programme and other material involved in the use of multi-media in church services. I will also take the opportunity to go away on a Retreat at some point during my three months, to give me space for prayer and reflection on my ministry.
Two other slightly more light-hearted activities are, first of all, taking time to share with our daughter the occasion of her wedding in May, and being available then to help her in whatever way I can. Secondly, the refurbishment of the Manse Greenhouse!! I have an ambition to grow some tomatoes there, and if you could see the state of it at the moment (inherited, not caused by us) you would understand the need for extended time in which to do this.
During the times when I am on sabbatical other ministerial colleagues in the Circuit will be providing cover, and our Church Stewards will be a first point of contact for you if you need to get in touch with one of them. I have a support group working with me on preparations for my sabbatical, arrangements for cover during it and reporting back afterwards, and Margaret Picken is our Church’s representative on that group.
Please pray for me during my Sabbatical, that the time may be fruitful and beneficial to my ministry in the churches of our Circuit and in the wider community. This time away from normal duties is a great gift from the church, for which I am very grateful, and I look forward to sharing the results with you in the course of the coming year.
With Christian greetings,
Linda