Following a year of Interregnum, we are immensely grateful for the Lord’s generous provision on the St Mary’s staff team; Jon Drake completed his first year as our new Vicar, Ian Miller stepped up from Curate into the role of Associate Vicar in July and Adam Curtis joined us as our second Associate Vicar in September. All three have settled into their new roles very well.
Jon continued to lead the 9.15am and 11am congregations until September when Adam Curtis joined the ministry team as the second Associate Vicar and took on the leadership of the 9.15am congregation. Jon will continue to lead the 11am service. Also, in September, Richard Crane moved from his full-time staff role to part-time as he starts his ordination training. Richard continues to lead the 6.30pm congregation. Ian Miller stepped up to Associate Vicar in July and continues to be responsible for the 4pm and 8am services.
This year, we had both the Parish and Quinquennial inspections in October and November respectively. Both reports were very complementary on the standards that are being maintained at St Mary’s and we give great thanks for the Operations Team who manage the site and operations so effectively.
All of this took place against the challenging and disappointing backdrop of General Synod voting in favour of prayers of blessing for couples in same sex relationships. This took significant time investment from the PCC to think through and implement our response, which included diverting a portion of our Parish Share to supporting gospel ministry within faithful churches in the Diocese, and sadly, writing to the Diocesan Bishop to inform him that we can no longer be in communion with him or the three area Bishops whilst they continue to deviate from scripture on this matter of primary importance. We continue to pray for a change of heart from the Bishops, and we ask God to watch over us and protect us from any distraction from our primary task of ensuring the gospel is heard at St Mary’s and the community around us.
Finally, we give huge thanks for God’s blessing of a faithful church family, who continue to give so generously of their time, money and resources to St Mary’s. This is something we do not take for granted and we are very grateful to be in such a position going into the new year of 2024.
Below are a few key areas of focus as we review 2023 and consider the challenges that lie ahead:
2023 was a year of change with a number of staff changes.
We said farewell to two much loved sisters from the staff team; Kate Wheatley retired as Children’s Minister after many years of fantastic service and having coached and mentored Nick McDonald over an extended period to step up into the role (Kate continues in her role of Safeguarding Officer). We also said goodbye to Melinda Stylo, our Youth Minister, who sadly had to step down due to ill health, having done a tremendous job across the last few years in building this critical ministry. We miss Kate and Melinda very much and thank them for their loyal service, and we are grateful for their continued fellowship in our church family. Rachel and Jane continue to serve faithfully in the team and we are extremely thankful for them.
We advertised and had a first round of interviews in November for a new Youth Minister but concluded that none of the prospective candidates were ideally suitable. We had a second round of interviews in February 2024 and we are delighted that Johan Schoeman has been appointed as Youth Minister-in-training to start in August 2024. In the meantime, Adam Curtis is helping to lead the youth ministry, ably supported by an army of volunteers who give their time sacrificially for both the children’s and youth ministries weekly. We thank the Lord for blessing us with these ministries.
On the operations side, John Blackbeard announced that he would step down as part-time operations manager in Q2 2024 and we thank the Lord that Dick West is able to take on two extra days a week. Due to Jan and Elna Strydom’s move to Wales, Jan could not continue in his full-time role and agreed to work two days a week. Scott Bedford was appointed in September to work together with Jan to ensure the efficient and smooth running of the church facilities.
We advertised for the Director of Music in 2023 and we are pleased that we have appointed Jonathan Hayward who will start as part-time Director of Music in July 2024.
We give thanks to the Lord for our staff team: a group of godly and humble people who love the Lord and their calling to St Mary’s to minister to the church family and to make Jesus known to our parish. We thank the Lord too for their unity in supporting one other during a year of changes.
Challenges, Opportunities and Looking forward:
There are many challenges facing our church in the coming year and it will be too easy to be overwhelmed. Under the leadership of our vicar Jon Drake and the PCC, we have been able to plan our responses to these challenges in measured and considered ways.
Prayer for Love and Faith
The PCC met each development with a proportional manner whilst at the same time keeping the church family updated. We are continuing to react appropriately to the ongoing changes as they develop and upholding the veracity and integrity of scripture.
Making Jesus Known
As the parish church in Maidenhead, we are ideally positioned to make Jesus known to the people of Maidenhead. Many have come to join our services due to the proximity of the church in the centre of town. This gives us the ideal opportunity to make God’s word known to those in Maidenhead and beyond.
Church Unity, Love and Dicipleship
St Mary’s has remained united with the desire to be true to scripture. We are conscious that there may be those in the church family who may be sensitive to the events as they are developing. It is important that as a church family we embrace the differences in views and love one another.
Looking Forward
Looking towards 2024 and 2025, the church is committed to take God’s word to those who are strangers to grace. We are exploring initiatives by engaging the church family which will encourage wider participation in this most urgent task of making Jesus known.