Seven Churches in South Oxfordshire

From the Rector: Sunday 8th September 2019

Welcome

Dear friends,

A very warm welcome to this service, wherever you are worshipping in the Langtree Team Ministry area. The change of season into (meteological) autumn brings change for us too in our churches. We have said fond farewells to Revd Alan and Margaret Gates as they begin their retirement, and next week will see Revd Claire and Chris Alcock’s final service at Whitchurch. Claire and Chris and their family have been with us for nine splendid years, and we wish them (all) much joy as they move into full time ministry in Reading. Claire’s licensing service will be held in Reading on 2nd October, and more details about this will follow in the next few weeks.

Revd Claire Alcock
Revd Claire Alcock

Lastly Revd Linda Smith will be relinquishing the Area Dean’s duties at the end of this month (three years seem to have flashed by) and will be returning to full time duties in the Team, and hoping to increase her portfolio of spiritual direction and discipleship training. We await Bishop Colin’s announcement of Linda’s successor as Area Dean of Henley.

What now?

To put you all in the picture as to where this leaves us in the Team, we have made alterations to the service rota so that your services are covered until the end of November and ministerial cover is in place for your church. The recruitment search process for a house for duty priest at Ipsden and North Stoke has also begun. You can see the advertisement and job profile for yourself on the Team Ministry website. Please do pray for someone to be called to join us in our mission !

The church house at Whitchurch is let for six months whilst my recent application for a curate is considered. If this is not successful we will be asking Bishop Colin to allow us to recruit a house for duty priest at Whitchurch in due course. If anyone has any questions or is interested to know more, please talk to your churchwardens in the first instance, or you are welcome to get in touch with me. In the meantime, thank you all for your prayers, support and encouragement, and the gracious way that you work with all of us on the staff team to share in our common calling to serve Jesus in our places.

Team Council Meeting

Members of the Team Council will shortly be receiving an update letter from me. By mutual agreement our provisional September meeting has been cancelled. Our next meeting (for budget setting) will be on Tuesday 7th January 2020, at Checkendon Rectory, at 8pm.

Grace and peace to you all in Jesus’ name.

Your Rector                                                     Canon Kevin Davies

0 Comments

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *