Aberdeen City Centre Parish Grouping
"Commentary on the Basis of Grouping of Aberdeen City Centre Churches"
The aim and purpose of the Parish Grouping is to enable the neighbouring churches (Queen Street , St Mark's, The Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting) to work together in order to be more effective in developing their common ministry and mission to the communities which they are called to serve. By agreeing a 'Basis of Parish Grouping' the congregations do not lose their separate identities but do agree to work collaboratively in agreed areas such as youth work, pastoral concern, mission, staffing, or whatever areas are appropriate in the particular area of the parish grouping."
This first Grouping page (and its continuation) will deal mainly with issues considered by the Development Group and Page 2 with contributions submitted by each congregation for publication as a current supplement to our individual Parish Magazines. The third page will hold an archive of previous magazine supplements.
Development Group Meeting June 2010
Ian McIver, the Outreach and Development worker reported on his continuing round of Parish and Congregational visitations. He will submit a formal report at the September meeting with will identify options for projects and initiatives for the Grouping to consider pursuing. Ian also agreed to prepare the "Grouping" page of the joint magazines' supplement in future. The Group approved Ian's attendance at a conference to be based at Barclay-Viewforth Church in Edinbugh and at Tulliallan in the period September 2010-June 2011.
All three churches had now confirmed committment to explore further the aspects of Team Ministry and arrangements were in hand to obtain formal training utilising the expertise of the URC Field Officer.
"Big Issue" sales have suffered slightly from the recent price increase to vendors, from 75p to 85p and retail price of £1.70. On the positive side however we have been allocated vendors from the Fraserburgh/Lossiemouth areas resulting in extra sales of around 500 magazines per week.
It was confirmed that the joint service on 20 June would now be held at St Mark's due to the ongoing repair works at Queen Street. Arrangements for the joint choir and organist had been hampered by the necessary change of venue but it was confirmed during the meeting that the Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting organist would play for the service and rehearse the choir in the morning.
Arrangements for the next joint Kirk Sessions meeting would be confirmed when dates for training by the URC Field Officer were clarified. The Social event previously discussed was agreed to be a fund raiser for Abigail Ministries and to be held in St Mark's on Friday 12 Novemebr with a Scottish theme.
It was confirmed that the Group's proposed changes to the Basis of Grouping were to be submitted to the June Presbytery meeting by the Parish Development Committee and that similar arrangements with the URC Synod were in hand.
The Group will next meet on 23 September and again on 28 October.
Summer 2010 from the St Mark's "Messenger"
Ian McIver, the Grouping Development and Outreach Worker, was formally welcomed into our joint church family on 21 February 2010 by Maureen Simpson, the Presbytery Moderator’s representative. Ian however had been in post for some time before that and has been seen all around the Grouping Parish and elsewhere meeting groups and individuals we will be working with as the Grouping develops.
Development Group Meetings March/April 2010
Our success with the Big Issue has been well documented but there is much more need throughout the City Centre that we can help with and over the coming months the Development Group will be considering the direction we should be taking. When we next meet we will have news of a new Chairperson, as Rev Graham Dean’s term of office comes to an end at the June meeting. The Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting will provide the new chair and we look forward to find out who that will be. We also look forward to the induction of a new minister for St Mark’s although at the time of writing that still looks to be some time away.
Our joint social for Valentine's day was a very enjoyable evening and thanks must be expressed to all those from our three churches who took on the organisational roles necessary to make the evening such a success. We now look forward to the pulpit exchanges on Sunday May 2 when Rev Graham Deans will be at the Kirk of St Nicholas Uniting, Rev Stephen Taylor at St Mark’s and the St Mark’s Interim Moderator, Rev Mark Rodgers at Queen Street. We also look forward to the next Joint Service on Sunday 20 June at Queen Street. (STOP PRESS ~ Due to ongoing remedial work at Queen Street the service will now be held in St Mark's.)
The Development Group's proposals for our formal structure with a view to increasing the membership from each congregation and formalising Ian McIver’s position within the Group were approved and ready to be submitted to the PDC and Synod.
Spring 2010 from the "St Mark's Messenger"
A well attended joint service of the City Centre Grouping churches was held in St Mark’s on Sunday 21 February 2010. This was followed by refreshments in the hall, with donations made for soup being given to the Girls’ Brigade, and a Fair Trade stall to mark the start of Fair Trade Fortnight.
During the service, Maureen Simpson, representing the Moderator gave a formal welcome, on behalf of Presbytery, to Ian McIver, our new Community Development and Outreach Worker. Ian also spoke down in the hall and Marjorie Lord presented Ian’s wife Donna with a bouquet of flowers to mark the occasion. The Editor hopes that Ian will provide some details of his work within the Grouping churches for a future edition of the Messenger.
Regrettably, due to logistical difficulties there is no Grouping Supplement in this quarter’s magazine but it is hoped this will be addressed in time for the Summer edition.