On Sunday 15th May, we had a very special Family Communion service, as welcomed three of our children to receive the sacrament of Holy Communion for the first time. Imogen, Isabel and Jack had all spent time preparing for this special day and we were delighted to welcome them into this new stage of their life of faith.
Children are invited to participate in our separate FunDay Sunday activities at 10.15am on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month and attend our more family-friendly services on the 1st and 3rd Sundays of the month (5th Sundays vary).
The Choir will sing at our more traditional services of Holy Communion at 10.15am on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of the month.
Christian Aid will be making a display of boats at COP26 climate summit in Glasgow. Everyone is invited to contribute a boat, with a prayer or message to world leaders.
There will also be a display in Leeds, to which MPs will be invited. Here, at St Mary’s, we have decided to join in with this important installation to demonstrate the depths of people’s concern about the climate change emergency and, as Christians, to stress the responsibilities we share as stewards of God’s creation.
So we will be providing opportunities at Church events to make your boat, but we have also included details below if you would rather make one at home.
You could also sign the Christian Aid climate justice petition here:
www.christianaid.org.uk/get-involved/campaigns/climate-justice-2021
You may not have realised it, but a dedicated group of volunteer supervisors have been enabling us to open Church to provide a place for people to come to pray, to weep or to give thanks, for the last year (whenever restrictions have allowed). Apart from a few regulars, we have seen many members of the wider Garforth community come in, often in times of desperate need. It has been such an important service to local people, so thank you to everyone who has been involved.
Tomorrow, 19th July, we will be able to resume our practice of having Church open every day from Monday to Saturday, 9am-3pm.
Please do come into Church at any time during these hours, if you need a space to be quiet, to open your heart to God, to pray or light a candle. All are welcome.
In our main service today, we presented Revd Jonathan for
the gift from St Mary’s in celebration of his ordination to the priesthood on
26th June. The chalice, paton and candleholder had been
specially made for him and inscribed underneath with the words ‘Ordained Priest
26/6/21’.
It may have been 3 weeks late, but we hope it was worth the wait!
Congratulations Jonathan and thank you for your ministry here over the last year.
At our Annual Parochial Church Meeting on 25th April, Revd Jane offered a review of 2020 and encouraged us to look forward with hope and confidence.
A copy of the full text may be downloaded HERE.
A Season of Remembering in 2020
November is traditionally a time of remembering, when we would gather in church to think about those we have loved but see no longer and also to honour those who have died or been injured in active service.
But this year, we will be doing things differently, and although it will be different, it does not mean that we will not still be remembering them. We can take time to stop, think, and remember, wherever we are; it need not be in the church building.
St Mary’s Church, Garforth, extends an invitation for you to:
· Join us online for A Time to Remember service - streamed live on Facebook @stmarysgarforth on Sunday 1st November at 4pm . If you have lost someone in the last year and you would like their name to be read out, please get in touch (see below). The service will also be available after 6pm on our website and YouTube channel.
· Join us online for A Community Act of Remembrance - online on Remembrance Sunday 8th November at 10.45am , involving local community representatives. Tune in to watch on FaceBook or YouTube by searching for St Mary’s Church, Garforth, or visit our website: stmarysgarforth.co.uk/service-videos.
· Drop in to our church to find a quiet place to remember, pray and light and candle, between 10am and 12noon on Wednesdays and Saturdays. (NB we occasionally need to close on Wednesdays for funerals).
· Visit churchofengland.org/prayers-for-the-moment to help you pray and remember those who you knew and loved but have lost, either recently or long ago.
· Visit churchofengland.org/prayers-for-remembrance to help you pray and remember the fallen wherever you may be.
· Light the Spire in memory of a loved one. Requests can be made via our website: stmarysgarforth.co.uk/support-us.
· Request a prayer card for yourself, or someone you know,
to use at home.
· Get in touch if we can help at all, even just in providing a listening ear.
To contact us, please email us at admin@stmarysgarforth.co.uk or call Revd Jane Brown on 0113 286 3737.
We hope you can join us, in some way, and experience the love and peace of God at this special, if difficult, time of year.
ST MARY'S ANNUAL MEETING
will be held on Saturday 14th November 2020 at 10.30am.
Normally, of course, we would hold our Annual Meeting in person, but this year we are unable to do so. It will be held over Zoom video meeting, with phone-in options. We are investigating ways to make voting as inclusive as possible.
As we begin the preparations for the meeting, we are required to give notice of the revision of our Electoral Roll - that is the list of people who are members of St Mary's and able to vote at our Annual Meeting. Being on the Electoral Roll demonstrates belonging and commitment to St Mary's Church.
You can join St Mary’s electoral roll if you are baptised and aged 16 or over. You also need to be a member of the Church of England (or a Church in communion with it) and resident in the parish or regularly attending St Mary’s (more details of exactly what this means can be found on the form).
Each year we review our electoral roll before our Annual Meeting, usually held in May, but delayed this year for obvious reasons. We now need to give notice that the Church Electoral Roll will be revised, beginning on Saturday the Tenth day of October 2020, and ending on Saturday the Twenty Fourth day of October 2020.
The official notice is available here.
If you would like to request a form to join the Electoral Roll, please email: secretary.stmarysgarforth@gmail.com
More information about the Annual Meeting will follow in due course.
WE ARE GRADUALLY RE-OPENING FOR PUBLIC WORSHIP IN OUR CHURCH BUILDING
We will also continue with our services online and over the phone. Please bear with us over the next months or so, as we adapt to the new arrangements. We have set out the service times for the next few weeks below:
SUNDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER
8am Holy Communion
9am Phone-in Service
10am Morning Worship, live on Facebook (and uploaded later to the web
and YouTube)
SUNDAY 20TH SEPTEMBER
8am Holy Communion, in Church
9am Phone-in Service
10am Morning Worship, live on Facebook etc…
SUNDAY 27TH SEPTEMBER (subject to the arrangements having worked as planned)
8am Holy Communion, in Church
9am Phone-in Service
9.30am Holy Communion, in Church
11.15am Morning Worship, live on Facebook etc.
Once we are happy that the arrangements for the two earlier services are working well, the 8am, 9.30am and 11.15am services will all be open for people to attend in Church.
The phone-in service will continue and we will still live-stream the 11.15am service.
MID WEEK
From 16th September onwards, our midweek services will follow a set format:
WEDNESDAYS
9.30am Holy Communion, in Church
8pm Night Prayer, live on Facebook
THURSDAYS
8pm Phone-in Night Prayer
WHAT TO DO IF YOU WANT TO ATTEND A SERVICE IN CHURCH
As we can only fit a small proportion of those who normally join us on a Sunday, we will need to operate a booking system (for Sunday services only) to ensure that we can manage capacity safely.
We have worked hard to develop a system that allows fair access to all.
To book a place at a service in Church on a Sunday morning, please either :
1. TELEPHONE 0113 287 7553 and leave a message clearly stating:
a. your name,
b. telephone number,
c. which service you wish to attend (you may wish to say you will attend any, but give a clear preference for one)
d. and how many places you wish to book for your household.
2. EMAIL servicebooking@stmarysgarforth.co.uk stating:
a. your name,
b. which service you wish to attend (you may wish to say you will attend any, but give a clear preference for one)
c. and how many places you wish to book for your household.
- You must leave your message by 6pm on the Wednesday before the Sunday in which you wish to attend.
- You may only book for one week at a time and only for one household.
- Please assume you have a place, for your preferred service, unless someone calls/emails to let you know we have no space.
RESULTS OF SURVEYS: WORSHIP AT ST MARY’S – SUMMER 2020
We were really pleased how many of you took the time to respond to our surveys – thank you!
We had 56 response forms from people who were already ‘regulars’ at St Mary’s before lockdown. As one form may be from a couple or family, we estimate the number of people covered by responses to be 80+ in total. That is a good response rate.
We had 3 response forms from people who had only joined us online since lockdown.
Many comments were received, with a wide cross-section of views. This summary seeks to express a range of those views and to help us all understand each other and how we might go forward as a Church.
Direct quotations are indicated in italics and are not attributed, however should any individuals be identifiable, please be sensitive when discussing with others.
EXISTING MEMBERS
Profile of respondents:
Most respondents (31) were over 70 years of age. 11 were between 45 and 69 years. Another 11 were between 17 and 44 years. One was 16 years or under and 2 preferred not to say.
Of those responding, 30 forms came from people who attended Church as an individual; 16 from those who came as a couple and 8 from those who came to Church as a household or bubble of more than two.
Families with children:
Of the respondents 7 told us they brought children to Church with them; 6 of those brought children of primary school age and 3 brought children of secondary school age.
Attendance at services if we were to open for worship in September:
Around two thirds of respondents were ready to return to services. More people than usual were considering attending the Wednesday Communion service.
Those saying that they would not attend public worship yet, the following reasons were given:
- ‘still be happy to use ‘Phone-in’ services’
- ‘we are still unsure of September being too early’
- ‘I would like to enjoy the organ and the choir and hymns’
- ‘we prefer formal service of communion and to keep to on line worship for other services’
- ‘I am concerned that if we move too quickly to get back together for any events we are putting everyone at risk. I am quite happy to worship via zoom and Facebook. I do not feel I need to take communion at this time’.
- ‘unsure how much we'll be able to participate in services with no children's activities, so we might come some weeks but probably not as regularly as before lockdown.’
- ‘don’t want to take up places if space is limited and someone else can’t go’
The activities you would like to see continue longer-term:
21 forms asked for phone-in services to continue; 21 for online Sunday services to continue; and 25 for online night prayer to continue.
What you hope might change in our services, after the experience of lockdown:
We had a wide range of differing (and sometimes competing) views.
Some (7) hoped for no change, just a return to things as they were.
Other comments included:
- ‘More parishioners would be drawn to the Church and God’
- ‘I like having readings in advance to read and think about’
- ‘As social distancing will be in place ….I think the services will be more devout and prayerful’
- ‘A critical review of how we worship on a monthly cycle ranging from very formal to very informal.’
- ‘Get those screens in! Hymns and songs could be on this media.’
- ‘A bigger variety of services to appeal to wider audience. We need to encourage more young families into the church.’
- ‘No robes for clergy, don't mind robes for choir, more from Music Group, less formality.’
- ‘Go back to formal attire e.g. cassock worn for services’
- ‘Services need to be a little shorter.’
- ‘More informality and more variety in the music……….. without Communion, on more than one Sunday a month. Our "traditions" can and do create barriers.’
- ‘Mix of old and new approaches’
- ‘It would be great to continue streaming/recording services, even when we can meet in person’.
- ‘We need a variety of styles of worship to suit all.’
- ‘More creativity and flexibility in the service structure’.
- ‘More participation in the services by the lay congregation such as music, prayers, and reflections.’
What you have really been missing that you hope we will return to:
Here there was much more unity in the responses with three areas coming up consistently: Holy Communion; fellowship (in worship and in conversation); music/singing. In addition several people specifically mentioned Sunday Club.
Your ideas about what more we could be doing to keep our community together online or in other ways:
Several people said they could not think of anything, and many people were full of praise for what had been done during lockdown (thank you!).
Areas we might be able to work on included:
- Exploring ways in which we could help the congregation connect with each other (“pairing and sharing?) so as not to lose the benefits gained during lockdown – ‘ if we are a "church family" then we need to look after each other’.
- ‘Continue with online coffee mornings. Something similar in the evenings for people who are working. More encouragement for people to contribute on the Facebook group’.
- ‘review and extend our pastoral work’ and ‘include families, not just the older and housebound’
- ‘offer more for children and younger families online’
- ‘reducing cliques over coffee’ (when we are allowed to return to it)
- whether we can hold outside socially distanced events (within legal limits)
A small number of people offered to help in some way.
NEWER PEOPLE
All 3 of the respondents were individuals and were in the 45-69 years age bracket. They had all had pastoral contact with St Mary’s in the past and had found that online services enabled them to participate in worship. All 3 indicated a desire to try out services in the Church building, but also wanted online services to continue. One had tried the 10am service in the past but found it overwhelming. One expressed a desire to know more about the Christian faith.
