Annual Report Summary

 I just counted it up on my figures and I have been in the MA just nine months, but in a good way it feels far longer than that. For all of us, I think it is fair to say that the last year has been challenging. But because of the faith and hard work of so many people we are today in far better situation than we were a few months ago. When you are getting on with the job whatever it is you forget what has been achieved and more importantly where God has been in the situation.

I like doing the annual report as it allows us to look back at all that we have done with God’s help in the year past. I always write down a list and then sit back and think did we really do all that. The answer is yes. Because of the faith and hard work of the congregation this year the list is very long and in a way inspiring.

Back in September I went visit all the wardens and sub wardens of all eight churches, along with lay readers and other key lay people and priests. From these meetings we set out five main projects to work on and a new committee structure to oversee the work. New committee structures sound very boring but the idea is to help every member of the congregation know what is happening and have a say in their church. It is by setting up this new structure that we have been able to do everything else so well.

The five projects we undertook were:

Sorting out our finances

Safeguarding

Communications

Setting up a ministry advisory group to oversee worship and discipleship

Setting up a new youth service

Finance:

This project is still ongoing but we have made very good progress. We have a new finance policy to control spending across the MA. We have brought Aberdare’s finances into the MA. We have designated the money held by each church as a fabric fund, this ringfences the money and allows each church exec committee to spend this money on their buildings. Finally we have submitted the 2023 accounts and will soon submit the 2024 accounts to the charity commission. This will make us legal as a charity. We are already in far better standing with the charity commission as we are less than one year behind. There is a huge amount of work gone into this project and my thanks to Tony our MA treasurer and the finance committee for undertaking this work.

Safeguarding:

Andrea has done a lot of work ensuring our safeguarding is up to date. We are now fully compliant with safeguarding with only a few people in need of training. Again, a lot of work has been done here and my thanks go to Andrea.

Communication:

Since February we have produced a single ministry area wide notice sheet which after some initial blips is now working very well. This has led people from different churches being able to attend service across the ministry area both in the week and on Sunday. It has also led people to support various events in different churches helping us come together a ministry area. We have also upgraded our tech with the use of Churchsuite so we can email people easily about events and services. We can also have a shared diary which has helped with all our planning of future events across the ministry area and St Elvan’s trust. This has been a lot of work and my thanks to Robert Jones, Peta, Criag, Anastazia and Andrea for all their work on this project.

Ministry Area Advisory Group:

In response to my visits we saw a need for the retired clergy, lay ministers, lay people and clergy to work together in planning worship across the ministry area. Through this group we planned the Lent course, Passiontide pilgrimage and Easter services. All of which were well received. We have also reformatted the service sheets which makes working across eight churches easier and dramatically cut our printing bill. It has also allowed people to go to different churches knowing the service is similar with each church maintaining it’s own distinctive worship style. By working in a group we can be more creative and different ideas have come to the for and have been refined to work even better.

Youth Services:

Since February we have held five youth services with excellent attendances from our young people and older members of the congregation. Although this is the beginning of these new services the signs are good and working a team from across the ministry area has been very fulfilling and creative. My thanks to Peter, Marion, Angela, Peta, Claire, Sarah and Tiff.

In December Fr Robert was suspended from ministry and we went from two full time priests to one. I have to say that the people of the ministry area have been overwhelmingly supportive of myself and each other during this time. Especially the retired clergy who have stepped in to take services until a new MAL is appointed. My thanks go to Fr Norman, Tad Hywel and Peter Godsall. This situation led to the formation of two more projects which are currently underway.

Lay worship leaders training:

It has been amazing that 8 people have stepped forward to be trained as lay worship leaders. Canon Tim Jones is currently teaching the course authorised by the Church in Wales and the group will be commissioned at the end of the year. I have also been thankful for the support given to the new lay ministers from the congregations across the MA, especially in St Matthews, St Lleurwgs and St James who have gone to a worship pattern of two lay led services per month. Also it has allowed services such as Stations of the Cross to be held without a priest. This new pattern of Sunday worship allows us to be sustainable as a ministry area. My thanks go to, Jannette, John Llew, Martyn Silezin, Martin Poole, Alison, Elizebeth Peters, Elizabeth Morris, Marion and Julie.

Ministry Area Profile:

In January Bishop Mary instructed us to put together an advert and MA profile for a new Ministry Area Leader. In March we completed the profile and sent it to the Archdeacon. The Profile and Advert have now been signed off by Bishop Mary and the job advert will be posted in the next few weeks. If we have a suitable candidate we could have a new priest joining us as early as the autumn.

All of this work has been done in addition to everything else that goes on in the ministry area week by week. It has been a very intense eight months but hugely encouraging. In some ways this report is incomplete as so much more goes on and has gone on for many years. This is simply the projects which have been undertaken to move us towards recruiting a new priest. With the coming of an extra team member we should be able to move on from a difficult few years towards a flourishing MA working together to bring the good news to the Cynon Valley. Most of all I would like to thank everyone for the welcome I have received and the work they have done in making so much possible in such a short time.