Vicar’s Address
Annual Parochial Church Meeting – 1st May 2025
It was a joy to have so many church family members at our St Mary’s Thanksgiving Celebration and Annual Church Meeting on the 1st May. For those not able to be there, here is the address I gave as part of the evening.
Jon Drake
Vicar’s Address at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting 2025
As a church we have a vital job to do. A God-given responsibility. A thrilling mission entrusted to us by our Saviour.
We try to express that task in our St Mary’s Mission Statement. Our vision is to know Jesus and make Jesus known.
I’d like to start this Vicar’s Address by saying that there is no more important or more wonderful mission we could possibly have than to know Jesus and make Jesus known.
Writing in Philippians 3:8, the Apostle Paul says: What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…
Everything is a loss when compared to the surpassing value of knowing Christ. Because to know Jesus is to know God. To know Jesus is to be made right with God through his death on the cross. To know Jesus is to be indwelt with God’s Spirit. To know Jesus is to have a certain future of resurrection life with God.
There is nothing that could possibly be better for us as a church than knowing Jesus and getting to know him better and better. There is nothing more loving or more important, that we can do for our friends, neighbours, for the people of this town and area, than to help them get to know Jesus, who alone saves and gives life with God.
Within our mission statement we have three essentials. Three things we know are vital. Dependent Prayer – because we express our trust in God as we pray to him. Biblical Teaching – because the Bible is God’s word through which he works in us. Loving One Another – because this is how we show we are Jesus’ disciples.
And we have three priorities. Three activities we put first. Engaging Maidenhead with the Gospel of Jesus. Growing Mature Disciples of Jesus of All Ages and Backgrounds. Partnering with Other Churches to Make Jesus Better Known.
Working Together to Make Jesus Known
Every part of our Mission Statement is important, but in April last year at our Annual Meeting I asked us to have a particular focus on Working Together to Make Jesus Known. Over the last twelve months we have been particularly praying and working to make Jesus known to those who don’t know him yet.
As I look back over the last year I am conscious of a huge amount to thank God for.
It has been wonderful to see Growth Groups and others working together to deliver St Mary’s Here for You cards, Christmas invitations and Easter invitations to each household in the parish.
The Working Together to Make Jesus Known Survey led to many helpful ideas being sent in by church family.
It has been a joy to see church members emboldened to invite friends and neighbours to our Sunday services. And a good number of new people coming and keeping coming to church to engage with God’s word.
We were inspired and equipped by the Everyday Evangelism day conference held here in June.
I am encouraged by the amazing ministry taking place week by week to share Christ in our Toddler’s Groups, New Parents support group, 7UP, X and Shift Focus, Minor Key, Youth Growth Groups and Sunday children’s and youth ministries. I am humbled by all that is happening to make Jesus known to Internationals through the language classes, asylum seekers suppers, Ukraine + Welcome Hub, iCaf and to the older generations through TTT and many other ministries.
It has been particularly thrilling to see really well attended Christianity Explored and Christian Foundations courses over the last twelve months. And a joy to see the baptism of 10 adults and 3 infants through the year, and 9 confirmations and 1 reaffirmation of baptism vows.
In thanking God for the last year, I would like to express my appreciation for all my colleagues. It is a joy to lead a staff team who are godly, servant-hearted and faithful. We have been joined in last year by Johan Schoeman as Youth Minister in Training and Jonny Hayward as Director of Music. It has been invaluable to have Sharon Bedford continuing as Biblical Counselling Intern. I am equally thankful for the hundreds of church family members who volunteer in all the ministries of the church. Thank you for what you do serving so sacrificially. Truly we are a body where each part is needed with a vital role to play.
As we look back on a year of Working Together to Make Jesus Known there is much to thank God for. I am conscious too of the huge need there is in our growing town where tens of thousands do not know our Lord Jesus. We cannot be self-satisfied or complacent. We must continue to work together to make Jesus known. I am also conscious of our human weakness. And our utter dependence on God in this task.
Growing in Prayer Together
This takes me to our focus for year ahead: Growing in Prayer Together. Again, every part of our mission statement is important. But this year I’d like us to particularly focus on how we can grow as a church in prayerfulness.
Scripture urges us to Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. (Romans 12:12). And to pray continually. (1 Thessalonians 5:17). It encourages us that: The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. (James 5:16b). Yet it is so easy for us to forget what a privilege prayer is and to neglect it.
Calvin said ‘Prayer is the chief exercise of faith.’ Prayer is the main way we express our faith, our trust in God.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if this next year was a time when as a church we grew in dependent prayer.
Those in the 9.15am, 11am and 4pm congregations know that this month we will have a four-part sermon series, repeated in all our congregations, on prayer. In these talks we are asking God: Lord, teach us to pray.
Let’s ask God to show us again what a privilege prayer is and to grow our own personal prayer lives. Let’s consider how we can develop prayer in our Growth Groups and amongst our families and friends. Whatever ministry you are involved in – children’s, youth, music, welcome – whatever it is, please talk and pray about how you can grow and develop the prayer element of that ministry. And I would like us all to consider how we grow in prayer in our Sunday services not only in the formal part of the service, but also in our times together before and after. Please do think and pray about all this and send suggestions in.
There is much for us to pray about in the year ahead. Please pray for on ongoing work in Men and Women Flourishing in Ministry, as we try to ensure that women and men in all our diversity can use our gifts to serve Jesus in our church family. Please pray for the leadership needs of the 6.30pm congregation. Richard Crane will go full time in his studies from September. We are seeking the Lord’s will about whether we bring another minister onto the team or share our responsibilities between the existing team for a time. We also want to grow in prayerfulness for our Mission Partners and our partner churches, including the new church plant in Bracknell. We want to become more prayerful for each other in our church family. Often we don’t know how to help those in need, but we can pray. And we want to grow in prayer for the people of town who don’t know Jesus and for us as we connect, love and share Jesus with them.
This year, alongside the other parts of our Mission Statement, let’s especially pray and plan and work to grow in prayer together. Not as a religious duty but as part of an intimate relationship with God and the chief way we express our dependence on God.
If God grows our prayerfulness as a church the impact will be huge. As Hudson Taylor the mission leader said: “When we work, we work. But when we pray, God works.”
There is no greater privilege we could possibly have than prayer. There is no greater mission we can imagine than to know Jesus and make Jesus known. So, brothers and sisters in the year ahead let us go forward, trusting in our great God, to grow together in prayer. And to know Jesus and make Jesus known.