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New Church Council 2006
June 2006
A positive and encouraging Annual Church Meeting was held on 30th April. As well as receiving reports on the past year, and the Vicar's summary report, there were elections of both a new church council and a new churchwarden.
The church council members are: Eileen Ashitey, Isobelle Loughrey, Rose Gardiner, Marvia Wint, Susan Regis, Betty Smith, John Widdowson (DCC Secretary), David Eldridge (DCC Treasurer) and Marge Gun. Perla Boyce and Mary Massey were elected as churchwardens, Louise Smith, Deputy Warden. Mary (deanery Rep) succeeds Stella Watson who retired after 15 years in the post.
Stella has been a member of St Matthew's church since 1985, and has been involved in several areas of service including Vicar's warden, member of house prayer group, Bible study group and served as a link person with St Saviour's Church warden (the late Kent Jupp). Stella is known in the community as a Christian whose faith in the Bible and her conversion story is known to many who shared their personal stories with her. Her special gift is in detecting and mending spiritual cracks both in the lives of believers and the church building.
Stella says, "I know that a traditional way of expressing a living faith in God is changing, even if the content of the message, now called a testimony, is the same. However, my testimony hinges on Jesus Christ. I know that the Bible teaches that man's sin has created a barrier of guilt between him and his creator. However, Jesus accepted the responsibility for human sin (my sin I committed in life) and willingly took its penalty on the cross. I now know that there is a new relationship between me and God because of what Christ has accomplished for me on the cross.
This new relationship is now my "testimony" and is available for those who will respond to the good news that their sins can be forgiven. I have had that experience and I am persuaded that I am forgiven. I was a rebel, but that has been replaced by friendship. Those who unite themselves to Christ are viewed by God our Father as though they have never been rebels at all. Indeed, God sees me now as a new person altogether. New in my heart, mind and soul."
We wish Stella the best in her retirement and hope that God will continue to use Stella in her mission of the church.
"The Da Vinci Code"
The three challenges the church-people of God must face today are: Medical, Ethical and Financial. These challenges, which many of us face now, all bring opportunities in their wake.
The Medical Challenge. The film of Dan Brown's blockbuster book "The Da Vinci Code" poses that. It plays to a cultural mood that wants to believe conspiracies rather than and "establishment" and distorts and perverts Christian claims and history as it does so. It also means that people will speak of Jesus, history and the New Testament who would not normally do so! Dan Brown is providing opportunities for the Gospel as well as challenges. Both this site and some books on our Quarterly Sale provide resources to equip us to make the most of them.
The Ethical Challenge. Although Lord Joffe's Assisted Dying Bill was defeated in the House of Lords, few doubt that it will re-surface again. It raised the issue of euthanasia, life and our attitudes to it. To sit back and wait for the next bill to appear before Parliament and then protest seems a defeatist approach. The cry for autonomy has been a driving force in the arguments greater than the compassionate plea to end unnecessary suffering. We must learn to expose this ultimate self-centred view of life - expressed in other forms for example in the homosexual virus today corroding church leadership and the body of Christ.
The Financial Challenge. This is a constant one to keep us at St Matthew's in a position where we can make the most of Gospel opportunities. Our East London position, in a multicultural community both heightens the challenge and increases the opportunities. This years mission project - agreed in principle - rebuilding a shattered community provides telling ways to further Gospel ministries. A Gift Day is rightly labelled a Thanksgiving Sunday - an opportunity for faith's gratitude to be expressed financially. God is good, God has been good to us over the past year and many of us have known his ample spiritual and material blessing.
Modicum
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Cast your care on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
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Psalm 55:22, Holy Bible NIV
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