Dear One and All,
Happy new Connexional year!
O God our help in ages past, our hope for years to come; be thou
our guide while life shall last and our eternal home.( Isaac Watts:132 Singing the
Faith)
And so a new Connexional year begins. The season of Harvest festivals will soon be
on us and then Remembrance. Not too long hence it will be Advent and then
Christmas and I am writing this on a very warm August day. So the year goes.
I am about to begin my second year at the Mint and I should like to thank all those
who have been so supportive, particularly during an enforced absence due to an
injury. What will the year ahead bring?
I mentioned in a recent service the Russian word Sobornost which is a sense of
spiritual unity among a religious community. In the year ahead, particularly as I now
have responsibilities at Temple (Budleigh Salterton), Sidwell Street, Honiton Farway
and oversight at Wonford, we at the Mint will need that continued spiritual
undergirding of Sobornost. It is through such unity we shall hold together, ever
remembering that God has always sustained us and in and through his grace we shall
continue in mission and service.
For me, a key area I want the church to pray about and discern the way forward, is
how the church will function and develop its mission over the coming years. There
needs to be a common vision and purpose, combined with a means of succession
planning which will allow the church to grow and deepen, in its sense of being called
into God’s future for the Mint as the body of Christ.
I am hoping a new minister will come to the Mint next year and I am looking forward
to working alongside that person who will also have responsibilities at Wonford and
Temple. In an era of ministerial scarcity the importance of the effectiveness of lay
leadership should not be lost; lay leadership goes to the core of Methodist history
and practice. It should be honoured and recognised as an essential Methodist ‘good’.
This may be a wonderful opportunity to revive and renew our shared undertaking as
disciples of Christ; lay and ordained united in Christ and inspired by the Spirit.
In the year to come let’s remember Isaac Watts’ words and hold them as a prayer.
Every blessing,
Revd Simon.