Logo

 Aberdeen City Centre Grouping  Page 2

Development Group Meetings December 2010 - April 2011

At its meeting on 9 December 2010 the Development Group considered the feed-back from the Joint Kirk Sessions' meeting on 27 November.  The Chairman had summarised the procedures adopted and the headings used for our 7 year vision of the Grouping; Worship & Prayer, Relationships, Mission and Communication.  He passed out the results of the voting and commented that under some items votes could readily be combined to give even higher scores for some categories.  He also made reference to what were seen as the priorities for 2011.  At the JKS meeting it had been commented that the Development Group would look at the top two items in each area with a view to coming forward with a positive recommendation for action. As a result, plans were laid to produce a Grouping magazine, to develop further work on homelessness and to consider an open-air service. 

In January 2011 we heard of the progress made by our Big Issue distribution initiative and of gift vouchers given to each vendor which could be used to buy warm clothing or boots etc for the winter weather.  At our meeting on 3 March 2011 the name of the proposed magazine was announced as Triskeles News (named after our logo) and we noted plans for publication prior to Easter.  It was also agreed to attend the Lion's Club International Family Fun Day on 29 May and to participate in the Celebrate Aberdeen march on 11 June.  It was recognised that in order to ensure full compliance with regulations etc much more time was needed to plan an open-air service.  Plans were however furthered for a Joint Kirk Sessions meeting on 9 April.

At our meeting on 14 April we agreed to a banner advertising, "Aberdeen City Centre Parish Grouping, showing Christian care for the homeless in Aberdeen City centre" in relation to the Celebrate Aberdeen march.  Although it was noted that arrangements had been made for a Drop-in centre in King Street the Development Group agreed to support our Homelessness Group in on-going discussion regarding a facility in the City centre.  Discussion on feedback from the Joint Kirk Sessions' meeting on 9 April were curtailed due to the absence through illness of one of our members and we agreed to continue discussions on Team Ministry until after the joint service on 8 March.

Development Group Meeting September 2010

We heard that Presbytery had approved the changes which we had proposed to the Basis of Grouping.  Each congregation will in future have five representatives on the Development Group, the Minister & Session Clerk plus three others.  In addition Ian McIver will be a full member of the Group.

The main business however was to receive Ian's report on his researches into the City Centre. 

New Chairman, Bill Ross invited Ian McIver to speak to his report which he commented was a comprehensive and thought provoking piece of work.
 
Ian spoke of the nine months he had spent getting to know each Parish and Congregation and the numbers of people involved in the City Centre he had met and spoken to.  He felt that his report took a realistic view of where we were now and where we might want to get to recognising the gathered and generally aged nature of each congregation.  He foresaw the possibility of the three churches becoming one in as little as 10 years.
 
It could not be denied that the congregations were a compassionate and loving Christian community but there were limitations on what could be done given the nature of each church family.  He saw partnership working with other organisations as the way forward, utilising their expertise and professional staff. He encouraged eg contributing to the work of Street Pastors with the congregations or grouping meeting the £300 per volunteer training cost.  He confirmed that 3 volunteers had already come forward as a result of intimations put in each churches Pew leaflets. Anne Haining (QS) and Margaret Durie (QS) in addition to himself.
 
Ian spoke of the need to explore new ways or times of worship if we are to connect with the unchurched, we need “more joy” in worship. We need to establish “a real vision” for mission and to use the power of prayer to strengthen ourselves and others.
 
Jim Merrilees commented on the original remit for Ian’s post and the difficulties this brought to the PDC.  However Ian had more than fulfilled the extremely demanding remit we had agreed.  In agreeing with the Chair’s remarks on the comprehensive nature of the report he suggested that perhaps it was “too big” for a joint Kirk Sessions meeting but that perhaps Ian could provide a selected presentation with the document available for consulting.  Rev Graham Deans commented that the report was a “first step” on the way forward but that it certainly gave food for a joint KS meeting.  Alex McConochie, in continuing this theme, suggested that perhaps the Development Group should select a limited number of topics from the report for further study.  Bill Ross also expanded on this view suggesting that somehow we “distil” from the “hopper” particular themes or ideas. Rev Graham Deans felt that as three different churches our priorities would differ and that we might want to look separately at the report.
 
Jim Merrilees spoke of the definite thrust of passion in the report which needed to be got across to the three Kirk Sesions.  Norman Haggart suggested that the only person to be able do this was Ian.  For his part Ian stressed the need for purposeful prayer to seek God’s guidance and he agreed to prepare a presentation of the themes in his report for a joint Kirk Sessions’ meeting on Saturday 27 November at St Mark’s (subject to confirmation or a neutral venue) at 9.30 – 12.00.  It was agreed to start with devotions and end with refreshments.  A follow up meeting would be held in February 2011, date to be confirmed.
 
Audrey Skinner gave an update on our Big Issue initiative.  Sales had reached £49,734.80.  Donations had been given to Bethany Trust (£2,000), Aberdeen Cyrenians (£1,000), Salvation Army (£500) and Instant Neighbour (£500).  £700 had been spent on Mackay’s vouchers to vendors and £480 on Greggs vouchers, some of which were still available. 
 
There had been a drop in the number of volunteers and Audrey suggested intimation be put in magazines, Pew leaflets etc. 
 
A balance of £2,000 for distribution was currently available and after discussion it was agreed to give a further £1,000 to Bethany.  Members agreed that although Bethany had received by far the biggest contribution from the commissions received it was an organisation which chimed with the aims of the BI distribution in relation to homelessness.
 
It was agreed to buy 10 BI Tabards at £15 each for sale to vendors at £5 which would be refundable if they gave up selling and returned the Tabard.  It was also agreed to repeat the Christmas distribution of £25 Mackay’s vouchers and to give further consideration to a Christmas meal event at the next meeting.
 
Kathleen Innes confirmed that the social would take place on Friday 12 November at 7.30 - 11.00 in St Mark’s.  Confirmation of all of the entertainment was awaited but tickets would be available soon at £8.00 each.  This was to be a fundraiser for Abigail Ministries, there would be a raffle with attendees invited to donate prizes and a finger buffet supper.
 
The next meeting will be on 3 November (to avoid a clash with Rev Diane Hobson's Induction on 28 October) and next on 9 December, both at 7.30, in addition Team Ministry Training will be held at 7.00pm on 20 October, 17 November and 22 January 2011 all at Queen Street.
 

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.

 

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.

 

Back to Grouping Page 1         Go to Page 3

Back to Top



Aberdeen St Marks Church of Scotland • Rosemount Viaduct • Aberdeen • Scotland • AB25 1JY •
stmarkswebmaster@btinternet.com • 01224 640672 • Charity No: SC015451 •
Website by Zebra Web Design