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Update December 2002 Update June 2003 Update April 2004 -'The Importance of Connecting' Update August 2004 -'Jesus be the (Parish) Centre' Update December 2004 -'Parish Centre, our Submission' Update April 2005 'Living Stones Project - Building to Grow' Update August 2005 'Living Stones Project' Update February 2006 'Now finish the work' Build Up to Pledge Day April 2006 -The waiting is over...now is the time! A Big Step Forward June 2006 -Development Project update following 'Pledge Day' Financing our Future August 2006 -Thoughts on funding the Development Project A Moving Contribution November 2006 -Update on the Development Project 'Brampton is Paradise' November 2006 -Tidying up the Church Yard 'Passion for Progress' October 2007 -Eileen Balch gives us encouragement St Thomas' "Fun"draising January 2008 St Thomas' "Fun"draising June 2008 Living Stones -Giving God the Boot? Living Stones -Sponsored Cycle Ride Across Britain Introducing St Thomas' Development Project (August 2002 edition of magazine) Following from the vision statement "Share the love of Jesus" the St Thomas' Development Project aims to adapt our current buildings to provide a Parish Centre for the worship of God and the service of the community of Brampton. We seek to:
Why do we need this? There are three main reasons which are now driving the project which are to improve:
We know that some of you have been waiting a long time for this project to take shape -17 years in some cases! Well, we still have a long way to go, but we believe that God's timing is perfect and that NOW is the time to go forward with this project. The target is to dedicate and open the new building in autumn 2003 - an ambitious timescale but we believe it is achievable. Your role in the project More than anything, please PRAY for the project, that we may have faith, courage and generosity in abounding measures! Graham Brown Update December 2002 (December 2002 edition of magazine) St Thomas' Parish Centre - keeping you in the picture How many of you can remember what was in the August / September edition of Ploughshare? Some of you may be able to lay your hands on a copy (which would be very impressive!) and some of you may remember that there was an article in that issue all about the project and plans for a new Parish Centre, based at St Thomas'. Well, a few months down the line, the Team would like to keep you in the picture and invite you to be more involved in shaping the future of our community. First to recap - and a repeat of what we said last time (for those of you who can't find that issue too easily!). There are three main reasons that are now driving the project, which are, to improve:
Underpinning all of this, is a call to prayer - we want to proceed with this project in the secure knowledge and conviction that it is God's will, and that at every stage we are trusting Him and acting accordingly. Graham Brown Team Leader Finance & Fabric Leadership Team Update June 2003 (June 2003 edition of magazine) Our proposals to establish a 'Parish Centre' to replace our existing, inadequate meeting room block and Portacabin facilities, and enable us to reach out to our community were first presented to the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC - the Church of England's planning authority) on 4 November 2002. You may well be asking what has happened since then. This article provides a review and update on the progress we are making. Formal Approval Since our submission to the DAC last year we have received an initial response which invited us to both clarify certain details of our proposals and approach the statutory bodies and amenity societies which hold an interest in the development of our church facilities, namely; the Local Planning Authority, English Heritage, the Georgian Group, and the Victorian Society. Further to our more detailed response to the DAC and our approaches to the above organisations we have agreed to bring those involved to a meeting to discuss all the salient issues in a common forum, and thereby avoid any circular iteration. Whilst this should enable us to agree a way forward acceptable to all parties, it has proved very difficult to find a mutually convenient date. The latest (2 July, which is provisional at the time of writing) represents our third attempt to stage the meeting and would, if it is confirmed, occur some five months after it was first proposed! I confess I have found the above delays 'challenging'. In part because they have slowed the progress of our development project, but more fundamentally because they have resulted in others determining the rate of progress of our plans. However, now that I believe we are about to make progress again, I am beginning to understand there may be more to these delays than first meets the eye. That is, I sense God has been at work prompting us to reflect on how we should prepare for the next stage of our project. And as I shall go on to explain, I believe we are now much better placed to progress our plans than we were previously. Community Survey At the last count there were no fewer than five proposals, at different stages of development, to provide some form of 'community facility' within the Walton and West Wards. These include; our own proposals, St John's, a scheme being considered for Walton by the Walton and West Community Forum, an outline development proposed as part of a desired relocation by Chesterfield Rugby Club, and a requirement for Brookfield School to be 'open to the community' now it has achieved sports college status. It is not yet clear how many of these schemes will come to fruition, but they are not necessarily competitive or mutually exclusive. One of the key drivers for our development project has been our desire to reach out to our parish community. I believe this aspiration is more relevant now than ever as fewer people encounter the Good News through their cultural upbringing than previously. During our enforced project delay I have come to reflect that we didn't previously understand how best we could reach our community. That is, it is one thing for us to recognise a potential community need, quite another to properly understand what the community itself might be thinking and feeling. I am therefore very pleased that on 23 April we started work to survey the views of our community and the potential users of our parish centre. These views will help us understand the community demand for use of our facilities, and also how best we might reach out to particular groupings. It seems to be stating the obvious now, but clearly these views are critical to the success of our project. This survey work is being carried out for us by Links, the Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire Council for Voluntary Service and Action, and is being paid for by the Derbyshire Community Foundation. Indeed, somewhat remarkably, the grant we have been awarded for the work matches almost identically its cost! Rest assured we will keep you all informed of the result of the survey. Churches for All Another of the key drivers for our projects is our need to comply with the Disability Discrimination Act, which comes into effect at the end of next year. By this time we need to ensure that our facilities are accessible to all, or at the very least we must be in the process of implementing an action plan that will ensure that they are made so. But aside from our facilities, how accessible is our worship at St Thomas'? We have a hearing loop its true, but how accessible are we to the physically, visually, or learning impaired? Not very according to an initial assessment performed under guidance from a "Churches for All" resource pack. In fact we don't qualify even for the most basic award on offer! And yet it is vital for our worship to be accessible. The good news is there is a lot we could do to improve the situation. It is not sufficient for us to sit back and await our parish centre project and assume that it will solve all our current shortcomings. It won't. Some are attitudinal. We have therefore decided to put together a small team to devise a plan of action to make St Thomas' more accessible. This won't amount to a quick fix, more an on-going programme to ensure that we become ever more inclusive in our worship. If you would be interested in helping us in this work please let me know. Ground clearance In February this year we held the first of our ground clearance days, initially with a view to clearing a space in the area of our new building 'footprint' to permit a ground survey. We have since held three other clearance days and plan to continue with these on the first Saturday of each month. You may well be asking "why now?" There are a number of reasons. Firstly, we have a responsibility, legal and moral, to ensure that our churchyard is safe. There is some question as to whether ours is, and as such we are planning to commission a survey of the trees and headstones in our churchyard to ensure that those that require it are made safe. Secondly, whether we like it or not, our churchyard makes a statement about our church and by implication our worship. Consider what first impression would be made in your mind upon a first visit to St Thomas'? Thriving, 'living', relevant, or something else? And what impression might you have of St Thomas' as a neighbour with a house backing onto our churchyard to the rear of our Portacabins? Suffice to say that David Mouncer commented upon the state of our churchyard when he visited for interview. Thirdly, and fundamentally of most importance, is the potential of our churchyard. It is not just 'for the dead'. Indeed "The Living Churchyard Project" has been designed specifically to help churches and others to see the potential for enhancing wildlife interest in the management of churchyards. As the project explains: "The core of a churchyard embraces many factors which our present generation can relate to - a concern for conservation, both of our wildlife heritage and of our architectural heritage, concern for solitude and beauty away from the pressures and stresses of life and a desire to find significance in resolving the mysteries of life and death. Our churchyard provides an opportunity for us to relate to the wider community amongst whom we live." And given the level of interest in our work and the number of positive responses we have already received from our neighbours I would have to agree. And I sense God does too! Graham Brown Update April 2004 -'The Importance of Connecting' (April 2004 edition of the magazine) I am writing this article just two hours after receiving feedback from the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC) on the revised 'parish centre' building plans we submitted for its formal consideration this week. I am rather excited about their response. A point I shall return to. One of the defining principles of our project has been to reach out to our parish community - hence 'parish centre' - to share our love of Jesus. Quite simply we aim to help implement our vision statement within our parish. One way in which we can do this is to 'connect' with our parishioners by responding to their needs. Our Community Survey of last year has helped highlight what these are and has confirmed a real demand for our proposed new centre. Once this is built we will have the opportunity to welcome and communicate with many new users of our centre, a majority of whom will not be regular church goers. This is not to suggest there are no other ways for us to 'reach out', but the thought of our church becoming the centre of the parish community, rather than being an irrelevance for many within it, has long inspired me to progress our project. The DAC's feedback is the most positive we have received to date. The Committee now accepts and supports the principle of an extended building solution, as justified by our detailed 'Statement of Need'. It further accepts the repositioning of our main entrance and foyer from the west to south, which will enable us to present a welcoming face to Chatsworth Road. The DAC is less 'comfortable' with the current detailing of the link between the new building and church as "The extension should appear subservient to the existing church and the architectural form of the existing building should still be able to be read." A different 'connection' point we shall now address. In the meanwhile we have been encouraged to approach the Local Authority, Georgian Group and English Heritage for their views. This is as much as we could have asked (and I for one prayed) for. Since the turn of the year I have been conscious of our development project gathering momentum. This had largely dissipated during the interregnum following the DAC's decision in July 2003 that it would rather we await the arrival of a new rector before progressing our plans, and its further decision in November 2003 that now he had arrived it was not supportive! This year has been very different. So many things have been 'falling into place'. There has been the re-doubled commitment of our architect, the timely, generous and wise contributions of many people (thanks to them all), and the committed prayer support offered by the church family. One thought recurred to me during our times of prayer for the 8 March DAC meeting, namely that whatever we ask in God's name he will provide. I believe our Lord has provided. And it's been a privilege to have 'connected' with His will. Thank you all for your continued prayers and support for our development project. There's still a long way to go before we can welcome the first users of our parish centre, but we have taken an important step forward, and what's more, God willing, we will complete our journey! Graham Brown Update August 2004 -'Parish Centre, our Sumbission' (August 2004 edition of the magazine) Earlier this month our church architect, David Werrell of VWB Architects, formally submitted a planning application to Chesterfield Borough Council for St. Thomas' proposed 'Parish Centre' building development project. This relatively simple act represents the culmination of months of work to plan, test and refine proposals for a new extension designed to enable the continued growth of church and community activities at St Thomas'. It also represents the start of the next phase of our project. The formal submission of our plans to the Local Authority has started a process of consultation which will likely run up to the end of the calendar year, at which point we should receive feedback on our proposed scheme. This could be fully supportive, or may recommend that certain changes be made prior to a resubmission of a suitably revised scheme. The Local Authority's feedback will have implications beyond the Council planning application as the Diocesan Advisory Committee, the Church of England's planning authority, is awaiting a view from the Council before arriving at its own decision with regard to its Faculty approval we must further secure. Not to put too fine a point on it, we have reached a key stage in our project. The development project team have from the outset sought God's will for the Parish Centre project, rather than to impose our own preferences upon it. Inevitably with a project of the scale and complexity of our Parish Centre scheme we have received a range of views from members of the congregation, parishioners, and amenity societies as to how our proposals might be defined and/or improved. Equally inevitably some of these suggestions have been mutually exclusive. The thought that 'you can't please all of the people all of the time comes to mind', but happily I know that we need not try to do so. That is, as Christians we should submit ourselves to service that will honour our Lord and realise His vision for St Thomas' and not our own. I would like to thank everybody for their support and prayers which have helped us to progress our project to its current stage. Your continued prayer support would be greatly appreciated as we approach a 'defining moment' for our project towards the end of the year. The development team will accept and respond to the feedback from the Local Authority, whatever it may have to say about the proposed scheme. All we ask is that His will be done. Please join us in praying this same prayer over the coming weeks. Graham Brown Update December 2004 -'Jesus, be the (Parish) Centre' (December 2004 edition of the magazine) Further to the Local Authority's belated response to our parish centre proposals, we have discussed the next steps to progress our development project with St Thomas' appointed architect David Werrell. These appear much clearer and somewhat 'smaller' that they did just a fortnight ago when we had still to receive any substantive feedback on our proposals. The Borough Council has now finally, but helpfully, committed to writing its reflections on our proposals. These amount to three key observations: a) The current buildings are wholly inadequate for our purposes [not the most surprising of observations] and our parish centre scheme "represents an opportunity to propose an appropriate extension" [a wording which is very encouraging]. b) The Local Authority considers unnecessary our reworking of a main entrance in the position of the South Porch given the perceived scope for emphasizing the existing west entrance, which it thought to be sufficiently prominent to Chatsworth Road. c) The Local Authority would find it difficult to imagine a "sympathetic" 2-storey link between the church and new building, but would prefer to see a "simple glazed link" [a choice of material we would have proposed]. Strikingly all three points are consistent with the latest response from the DAC. A point that is not wasted on us as we reflect upon our initial proposals.... "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. We have already acted to respond to Local Authority's observations by instructing David Werrell to produce a revised version of our proposals to address points b) and c), which we plan to submit to the Borough Council in the form of a full planning application. The process we intend to follow is to produce revised 'massing' drawings for consideration by the Leadership Team, church family and Council during July, to seek approval to work them up into a full submission during August. Early feedback from our architect suggests that it should be possible to revise our proposals as requested whilst ensuring we will retain a workable solution, which will likely cost less than our initial proposal. More importantly it may well address satisfactorily the concerns expressed by both the DAC and Local Authority, which would serve to ensure that we receive the necessary formal permissions to enable us to implement our plans. Your continued prayer support for our project would be greatly appreciated at this time. Graham Brown Update April 2005 -'Living Stones Project - Building to Grow' (April 2005 edition of the magazine) The above church motto, chosen for St Thomas' Year of Mission project, encapsulates literally the vision for our church development project. That is, we are planning a new church building so that we may grow, both as a church and spiritually through our service to our parish community - as 'living stones' - in His name. As Ploughshare readers will know we have formally submitted our planning application to the Borough Council and we are now fast approaching the conclusion to 'the period of determination', i.e. decision time. During this period we have furnished the Council with a number of supporting documents; a statement of need, community survey, topographical survey, ecological survey, highways survey and at the time of writing we are close to completing a tree survey. In short we have provided the Council with all the information it has requested in order that it may make a well informed decision in relation to our planning submission. So what now? An initial reaction might be to merely wait for the Council to make its decision. But I suggest that now is the time we should get really busy - in prayer. The project plans to 'build to grow' should not be 'our plans' but His. Throughout the project we should seek to grow and support His mission in our parish and not our own. Now is the time for us to redouble our commitment to prayer to ensure that come the planning committee meeting the members may arrive at a decision pleasing to Him. Graham Brown Update August 2005 -'Living Stones Project' (August 2005 edition of the magazine) On 31st May Chesterfield Borough Council approved our planning application, which means we can now move to the next phase of the project. I invite you to contact me to learn more about becoming part of the team and to ask God how He would like you to be involved. We'd like to fill the following roles: Prayer partners - we need people willing to commit to praying for the project on a regular basis, on their own, and together in a prayer team. Project Management - we need to manage all aspects of the project using tools such as Gantt charts! If you know what one is perhaps you could help? Communications whiz-kids - do you have a way with words? We recognize we must work hard to keep people informed as the project progresses, through publications, the web site, letters and face to face meetings. Could you help? Fundraising - maybe you have experience of writing funding applications, or of presenting complex costings in a simple format. If so, we'd like to hear from you. Muscle - we would like to keep costs down as far as possible by completing some of the grounds work ourselves. Could you lend a hand (or two)? If so meet us at Church on the first Saturday of each month, anytime between 10am and 1pm. We appreciate you may like more information before committing yourself. If so please contact me. Graham Brown Update February 2006 -'Now finish the work' (February 2006 edition of the magazine) 'Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.' 2Cor. 8:11 As we start 2006 we can look back on a year when we crossed a key threshold in securing a full planning consent from Chesterfield Borough Council to progress our Living Stones development project. It would perhaps be premature to argue that we are now in the “home straight” of our project, but we should not lose sight of the fact that we have never previously been so far forward with plans to erect a new church centre building. Indeed, having committed so much last year to building a thoroughly well researched case to support our planning submission, now is not the time to relent. As Paul might say, now is the time to demonstrate our eagerness to finish the work! Over the coming weeks leading up to Palm Sunday we shall be informing / reminding everyone of what our project is all about. We shall set out its objectives and underlying principles, detail the proposed project, master plan, and anticipated timescale for completion, and we will also highlight how we believe we should finance its implementation. There is no hiding the fact the project is ambitious. Indeed, had it been any more so (in scale terms) the Borough Council would have refused us planning permission! But as well as being ambitious, crucially, our plans have been shaped to be appropriate - were they not so we would not have been granted a planning consent. From the outset our plans have been carefully prepared to respond to our current and projected future needs and importantly our growing mission into our community. Now is not the time to enter into their detail, not least because there are a number of important dates planned for March and April when we will do just this, namely: 19 March when we shall set out the details of the physical plans, for which our planning consent was granted. 26 March when we will outline how our new building will facilitate our missionary work into our parish community. 2 April when we will hear from St. John’s about their experience of building a new church. 9 April when we will have an opportunity to pledge our commitment to the realisation of our project. We will provide information on each of these topics to all three Sunday services on the above dates. All we seek from you is your attendance and interest. May God equip us with the eager willingness to finish our work! Graham Brown Build Up To Pledge Day -'The waiting is over...now is the time! (April 2006 edition of the magazine) After many years of planning we are now at a stage to build -except we need the money to do so. Although we are looking at external funding to help, a large preportion will have to come from us, the members of St Thomas'. We have had a number of pledge and gift days in the past enabling us to build the Church Centre at St John's, re-order St Thomas' and extend St Peter's. Our Pledge Day for the Development of St Thomas' is 9 April 2006, -Palm Sunday. The four Sundays starting 19 March will be a build up to this. On the 2 April we have a member of St John's Walton coming to tell as about their recent building project: the rebuilding of St John's Church. There will be a 'Faith Tea' at St John's with an opportunity to look at their new church. Remember: although we need a huge sum of money, over £1m, if we trust in God, all things are possible.
Sunday 26 March
Sunday 2 April
Sunday 9 April
A Big Step Forward -Development Project update following 'Pledge Day' (June 2006 edition of the magazine) I thank the Lord for our church family’s generous response to Pledge Day. With over £290K raised in a single day – at that rate we could raise all the necessary funds within a week! – and more than 120 of our ‘giving units’ (individuals /couples /families) committing to supporting the project, I feel we have taken a big step forward towards our vision of a parish centre at the heart of our community. So what now? A number of you have been asking how much funding we were hoping to raise through Pledge Day and how we intend to bridge the remaining gap.To answer the first point, we set no financial target, but sought a clear sign that the church was committed to realising the vision. I feel this was answered clearly both through the large sum raised and the number of pledge forms returned, which was essentially the same as the number of ‘units’ who give on a regular basis. Put another way we have the church’s full support for our project. The second point requires a more detailed response as there are in essence four ways in which we can raise further funding for our development project, each of which is explained in more detail below. Giving Having just concluded our Pledge Day the thought of further giving may not be uppermost in everyone’s mind, but there are at least a couple of ways in which we could ‘dig deeper’ to progress our project:
There are a very large number of activities which could generate income. These could include meals, concerts, and other events, all of which have been suggested to me. But there could be many more besides. Further to our PCC sub-committee’s consideration of this issue, Karen Riley has kindly offered herself as ‘fund raising co-ordinator’, to guard against any duplication or confusion and ensure we plan our activities to be as appropriate and effective as possible. With this in mind, please do approach Karen if you have any bright ideas. Grant Funding There are many and various grant funding organisations to which we could apply for funding to support the development of our centre and/or the activities it could help facilitate. Some of these funding agencies attach conditions to their offers of grant, which we may or may not consider acceptable. Others may be considered inappropriate sources for us to turn to on moral or other grounds. For these reasons Alison Prentice and Gaynor Roberts are busy researching the available funds and the conditions that would apply to the relevant agencies’ funding. In addition we will be holding a debate about the acceptability of certain external funding sources, including the National Lottery, on the afternoon of 4 June (further details will be separately notified). Please do come along and get involved Borrowing A number of other churches have borrowed money to finance their community centres, which they have paid back through generating an operating surplus from their facilities. We could potentially do the same and intend to discuss this concept with you following on from our Lottery debate. Suffice it to say we already generate lettings income from the many user groups who hire our church, meeting room P L O U G H S H A R E and even our portacabin facilities, but we have yet to produce an agreed lettings policy. There is much in the above that could benefit from your prayerful consideration and feedback. We shall endeavour to capture this through the series of open sessions that we are planning, starting with our debates on the Lottery and our lettings policy. Please do come along and get involved and help us to discern our Lord’s will on these issues. Graham Brown on behalf of PCC Development Project Team Financing our Future -Thoughts on funding the Development Project (August 2006 edition of the magazine) To all those who attended our last development project meeting a big thank you. Thank you for your interest, your enthusiasm, and in particular your clear guidance on how you feel we should progress our project. I refer here to your encouragement for us to proceed as quickly as we are able on the basis of a business plan for our centre that recognises its potential for income generation. A little background is necessary here for those who were unable to attend our last session… A number of church centres – including my sister’s in Wales - are operating on a quasi-commercial basis. This has rather less to do with income generation per se and rather more to do with bringing forward planned developments and ensuring the facilities are fully utilised once built. Our development project has both ‘internal’ and ‘external’ dimensions. On the one hand we wish to improve our facilities, in particular to better support our youth and children’s work. On the other we wish to position ourselves At the Heart of the Community in which we live, through ‘reach out’ facilities and activities, with the ultimate aim of encouraging others to join us in worship at St. Thomas’. The two dimensions are of course related, which makes it all the more important we should recognise both of them in our business plan. Our project requires a large sum of money to finance the building works. The necessary funds could be raised beforehand, repaid afterwards from future earnings, or some combination of the two. We now have a much better view of where we should strike the balance for our project following the very clear message you provided during our last open meeting. Does this mean we will now plan to maximise the centre’s future profitability by displacing the least financially attractive activities? No. In fact we already take many bookings for our Church, Meeting Room, and Portacabins, which is very encouraging in terms of future interest and usage. But what we have not done previously is proactively encourage new users to take advantage of our facilities. In practice we have not needed to given that demand has long been high and there was no investment to repay. But with the advent of our new parish centre we will have five times as many meeting rooms, much greater room flexibility and appropriate, modern supporting facilities. All of which will enable us to accommodate many more community activities – which as I have explained above is a key premise underpinning our project. The fact that certain of these community activities will offer us the potential to generate income will merely enable us to bring forward our plans by borrowing money against our future income. Our definition of and agreement to a detailed business plan for the future operation of our parish centre is therefore THE key next step for our project. It will enable us to forecast in detail our future capacity for lettings and our potential for income generation, which must be justified by an agreed lettings policy, assessment of demand and the market value of our facilities. All of these assessments must be supported in a sufficiently robust manner to enable us to make a business case for a commercial loan. The stronger our case, the lower the perceived risk and interest rate levied. If you feel you could assist us in this vital work, perhaps you have experience of preparing detailed business plans, or have financial acumen, please make yourself known to one of the project team. Your assistance with this key task could make a big difference to the date we are able to start on site! What am I bid? Further to discussion at our last open meeting we are planning to stage an auction at St. Thomas to raise proceeds towards our growing development project fund. The concept is simple. We would like to encourage you all to consider offering: a) any unwanted items that are too good for jumble or throwing away, and b) the promise of service, e.g. to tidy a garden or decorate a room. We will then arrange for all of these items to be catalogued and offered for sale via a professionally run auction to be held at St. Thomas’ on Friday 27 October. The concept of a church fund raising auction has been tried and tested elsewhere and with your encouragement we feel ready to apply it to St. Thomas’. We have received a very generous offer of assistance from Parkers who would help run the event for no charge, thereby enabling us to maximise the contribution towards our development fund. The event itself will be marketed widely to attract interested parties from across Chesterfield and in the process of so doing provide much indirect publicity for our project. A further benefit will be the opportunity for us to meet members of our wider community and perhaps share a time of fellowship with them over a cup of tea. Indeed the event may provide us an opportunity to witness. One for diaries I’m sure you’ll agree. Graham Brown On behalf of PCC Development Sub-Committee A Moving Contribution -Update on the Development Project (Spotlight December 2006) St. Thomas' development project is moving in the right direction following the amazing commitments made during a Pledge Day held since the last issue of Spotlight went to press. Almost £300,000!! was pledged by more than 120 church family households which felt moved to commit their own money towards the realisation of the parish centre plans (which we previously reported as having been approved by Chesterfield Borough Council). Many will be the sacrifices made; foregone holidays, new cars, other material possessions, entertainment etc. All of which begs the question "Why?" - why are so many people giving so much for no apparent personal benefit? In short because we at St. Thomas' share a vision for a better Brampton. A vision of St. Thomas' serving the local community by providing facilities and services appropriate to the needs of our parishioners. A vision of a functional, fitting and flexible building where people of all ages can come together in fellowship and faith through a range of church and community activities. And most importantly, a vision for how we at St Thomas' can share the love of Jesus with those who have yet to come to know our Lord. We would consider it a privilege to be able to serve in this way - hence our pledge day commitments. We appreciate our project is ambitious. Indeed, even the generosity of pledge day is modest compared with the full sum (-£1.5m) we require to finance our new parish centre. But in faith we know we can move mountains, so further fundraising should present relatively few problems! In fact at the time of going to press we are preparing for a Grand Auction to be held at St Thomas' on 27 October, the proceeds from which will go directly to our building fund. We have other ambitious plans too, which we will expand upon in the next issues of Spotlight. Graham Brown On behalf of PCC Development Sub-Committee 'Brampton is Paradise' -Tidying up the Church Yard (Spotlight December 2006) A quote often used by my late father. It is obvious to me now that he hasn't looked behind St Thomas' church - I think wilderness would be more apt. But amongst this wilderness has sprung a vibrant community centre, serving many of Brampton's community groups. A new building is desperately needed for them to continue and to be able to grow to support the people of Brampton from toddler to OAP. As a step towards getting our new building we are clearing that wilderness, so once a month on a Saturday morning you will find a mixed bunch of us working away at clearing the old trees and brambles etc. Its a time of great fun, friendship as well as hard work. So next time you see a group laughing and working behind the church why not pop along to see how we are doing. Greg Hewitt 'Passion for Progress' -Eileen Balch gives encouragement for St Thomas' Development Project' (December 2007 edition of the magazine) At the St Thomas’ Development open meeting on 14 October 2007 Eileen Balch talked about ‘Passion for Progress’. The transcript of what she said is printed here. The PCC asked if I would speak to this title and I do so aware of my own limitations. The past year of 2007 has proved to be a difficult journey in the life of St Thomas as far as the Development Project is concerned. The vision, that has been before the church for many years, has involved a great deal of hard work, time, effort and prayer, especially by the Development Group. We, the wider church, owe them a debt of gratitude. However, the year began facing the stark realities of how we would finance such a large project. At the open meetings held this year it became clear that the various options under consideration were not viable for one reason or another. For example, selling Rose Cottage was not an acceptable option for the ongoing ministry at Holymoorside. Furthermore, St Thomas’ Brampton, does not fulfil the necessary criteria for large funders such as the Coal Board Regeneration Trust or the Lottery. And the option of a commercial loan was rejected by the majority of those present at the meeting held in July. This progress, or lack of it- for many has been surrounded by a variety of emotions, anger, confusion, dismay, and even disillusionment! Can this vision ever come to completion? We are aware of the hard work done by David Mouncer, in particular, and also the PCC, over the summer months in the modification of the original scheme and the suggested way forward. And all this coming to the church in the midst of the breaking news of David’s departure. It seems that nothing could have been more humbling. Rather like a rigorous pruning exercise, for any gardeners among us! All this has affected the whole church and it has been painful! I would now like to refer to another matter that was brought to the leadership of the church in July. A mature member, both in years and spiritual standing received some verses of scripture, which was believed to be a specific word from God for St Thomas’ at this time. The verse comes from the 2 Chronicles 7:v14-16. This person immediately brought these verses to David’s attention and they were then put before the PCC for consideration. They agreed that David should at once communicate the content to the leaders of the home groups for further consideration and feedback in due time. This was done. Then the vast majority of the church went on holiday, home groups closed for the summer recess, the person who had originally brought the message was almost immediately taken ill, and the church now stands on the brink of an unexpected interregnum, with the extra burdens placed upon those in positions of responsibility together with a sense of uncertainty about the future! What does that particular portion of Scripture have to say to us today? Does it in fact speak to the heart of the situation that confronts the whole church currently? I believe these verses from 2 Chronicles chapter 7 v14-16 to be very relevant in speaking to the heart of the complex situation that confronts St Thomas’ at this time. If I may I would like to look at these verses and make some brief comments. 1. “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves…” To have the scheme that you have spent many hours, weeks, months, even years modified is, I believe, a humbling experience. In addition, the church both individually and corporately has come to terms with the fact that no outside body, however we view them morally or spiritually, is going to come to our financial rescue. To acknowledge that the financial responsibility falls mainly on us is humbling and sobering. 2. “And pray and seek my face…” From my stand point, I can testify that there has been prayer in St Thomas’, both individually and corporately regarding this Project. Furthermore, St Thomas’ has been set a real example and precedent by David in his ministry to us these past four years as to the high priority of prayer. We are grateful to him for that. So I am confident that we will continue to pray into our future, seeking God’s guidance and “His face” now more than ever. 3. “And turn from their wicked ways…” This verse must be open to our individual interpretation of it! I leave that to you! My own private conjecture is whether the reservations regarding the original scheme prevented the real unity necessary for us to go forward. If that is so, then we all need to repent. But one firm indication of solid ground would be, if we could determine to unite, stand together, with an agreed agenda, and embrace a common vision. Such a step of faith gathers up the whole church. It would enable us to move forward holding on to each other, including the young and the old, the sceptics and those full of faith, the strong and the weak, the timid and the bold. 4. Last, but not the least. These verses continue with a promise from God. “Then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place. I have chosen and consecrated this temple so that my Name may be there for ever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.” This is a promise from God to answer and provide for our needs. Such a promise can only be proven when we take that step of faith to go forward. Decisions have to be taken, and they are essentially corporate decisions when it comes to a project of this magnitude. The next few months are crucial ones for us. Do we give our assent to this scheme OR do we abort it and allow the local Council to come and demolish the portacabins? If the latter, then the church will have to go back to the drawing board under new leadership and a new Leader of leaders whenever that person arrives! That has serious implications. But take heart, we are not the first church to stand in this place. There are precedents set in scripture. The early church in Acts had a big issue to resolve. Read it for yourselves. In chapter 15. Note v28 where Luke writes these words “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.” This verse describes an attitude that was not triumphal nor arrogant but full of humility. They discerned their way forward. That is where I believe we stand today. Big decisions lie ahead of us. On the one hand they seem daunting and fearful, (for it is still a great deal of money) but on the other hand it is tremendously exciting and full of promise as to what God may do in our midst. Eileen Balch The meeting then split into groups to discuss and pray about the project. Listen or read about the whole meeting here St Thomas' "Fun"draising (February 2008 edition of the magazine)
Pictures here Development page here St Thomas' "Fun"draising Update (June 2008 edition of the magazine) Over the last couple of months a number of events have been held and initiatives taken as our fund raising for the St Thomas’ Development Project continues. These include: Coffee morning and flower sale by St Thomas’ Flower Arranging Team. Car wash by the 3rd Brampton Scouts. Concert by John Prentice. Making and selling jewellery and cards. Car boot sale. Foreign coins collection. Coast to coast cycle ride. Pictures here Development page here Living Stones -giving God the Boot? (June 2008 edition of the magazine) Julie Lomas tells us about the car boot sale she did with Rosie Welch for the Living Stones Project and why these “fun”d raising events are important. May Day Bank Holiday Monday – 5.30am – rise and shine?? Not usually known as a “morning” person, I do admit to having two large and strong cups of tea before setting out with Rosie Welch for the showground at Bakewell and our very first car boot sale. It was pouring with rain in Loxley Close and if someone had given me an option to go back to bed I would have taken it – but they didn’t. So we set off in convoy with Tim and Sue Wheeler who were also doing their first sale (raising funds for Joshua’s year with Youth for Christ). Once in Bakewell, our sat nav system (which is on the blink) announced “You have crossed the border” and sure enough we had gone over the river and were now on the south side of Bakewell where it stopped raining and warmed up considerably!! We had been warned to take care on arrival as we were likely to be overwhelmed with swarms of car booters pouncing on our goods – in fact they are all far too polite in Bakewell for that sort of carry on, and we were able to set up stall with just one or two sales before 7.15am! And so we were ready…. And what fun we had doing this bit of “fun”d raising for the Living Stones Project. All the items were left over from the Nearly New Sale back in February, with one or two late additions. Rosie and I soon got into the swing of selling – an early purchase by one lady – a pair of wellies for £1 so she could get round the rest of the muddy site! Another little lad was distraught when his mum told him he couldn’t have the video he had found even though it was only 10p because he already had it on DVD and they didn’t have a video player any more – ah shame! Rosie’s “used only once” shortbread mould went for 50p to a lady who had no intention of using it – rather it was the missing link in her collection and she was delighted to have found it. All sorts of stuff was on display and we sold almost all of it raising £122.70 in the process. What was left fitted into a few boxes and has been donated to Ashgate Hospice for their shops. So, why “giving God the boot”? For me, the best part of the last six months has been the variety of ways in which we have all been able to give something to God for the Living Stones Project. I have seen more people, and had time to talk to them at events such as the Nearly New Sale; the Just Desserts Evening, and the Flower Team’s Coffee Morning. I have been in awe at the creativity that has come out in card, jewellery and cake making, flower arranging and so on. I have been encouraged by the collections of loose change in rubber gloves and margarine pots. And if I have had these reactions, how much more has God taken delight in our efforts? Ok – so we are not at our target figure yet even with our magnificent car boot contribution – but: - It has given us £122.70 more than we had the previous week; - goods that might otherwise have ended up in the bin have a new lease of life and brought pleasure to a new set of people; - Rosie and I got to spend time together and know each other that bit better now. I firmly believe that having “given God the boot” of our car, He can transform what little we bring Him into something so much bigger than I can even imagine – read the story of the feeding of the 5,000 to see what I mean. Julie Lomas Pictures here Development page here Living Stones -Sponsored Cycle Ride Across Britain (June 2008 edition of the magazine) Steve Lomas, Graham Brown and David Frost are cycling from Southport on the west coast to Mablethorpe on the east coast, a total distance of 220 miles, to raise funds for the Living Stones Project. The plan is: Southport to Warrington, 24th May -40 miles Warrington to Chesterfield, 25th May -90 miles Then have a few days off to recover (apparently they aren’t that young!) Chesterfield to Mablethorpe, 31st May -90 miles Pictures here Development page here |
