Who's who at St Andrew's Church 

The Rev'd Udobata originates from Nigeria where he served as an Archdeacon. He has extensive knowledge of the UK church scene, and has written extensively on a variety of subjects. Udobata came to the parish of St. Andrew from CROSSLINKS, a Birmingham based Christian organisation that works with mainly Anglican Churches throughout the world promoting God's word. His good lady Dorothy is a Paediatric Consultant in Birmingham.

This directory lists the dedicated persons who work for the Glory of God and serving this community in the Parish of St. Andrew's Grange Church.

PCC Annual General Meeting

Chairman's Report

ST ANDREWS’ CHURCH, GRANGE RUNCORN

The year 2007 came to a successful end with a lot of challenges and progress. We moved towards the set goals and targets but we are yet to get there. The joy is that we are still on the move.

Spirituality- Our services were kept and ministration of Sacraments continued. Our Wednesday Midweek Eucharist is on but the attendance has declined. The Healing Service is poorly attended and has not moved on with vigour. Our Sunday Evening Services continue with a few disruptions from yobs who cause trouble occasionally. The Bus Service did well and will resume at the end of March after a few weeks break. The B2C Sunday was given a new boost. Our Junior Church is being developed and we hope to continue to encourage parents and young families to take advantage of it. Our Lent Lecture Series was enjoyed by the members who attended them. We studied Our Lord’s Prayer and it was most refreshing and reassuring. More people are showing interest in participating in our Worship Programmes.

Physical Growth and Development- Membership is declining due to death and weakness of some members. We have got a few new members but there is still room f or more people to join us. While the plans for Re-ordering are still in progress, we have not been able to have a final word on the Church Hall. The DAC will come to assess what next step we have to take. In spite of the numerous attacks on the church windows and roof by vandals and thieves, there has been constant maintenance of the building to the standard recommended by the Diocese.

Re-ordering Project. The sketch is out and on display. The final draft is yet to be made. The Pledge Money has crossed £4000. We shall soon appoint a Church and Community Development Worker to embark on the work of sourcing for funds and other resources for the Church project. The Grant of £28,000 from CUF and PMF will be used for the payment of the staff. We got a grant from the Community Forum for our printer. Another grant was got for Children’s Programme and will soon be utilized.

Finance- the faithful few are still doing their best but our giving has greatly dropped. We are short in the payment of our Parish Share and regular monthly maintenance of the Church. We need to see what other means we can device to raise funds locally. Our Hon Treasurer resigned in September 2007 but has continued to help until we appoint a new one. He has done a lot to keep our finances alive and afloat. We thank him for his great services to God in this regard. Please pray for a new treasurer who will continue with the good work especially as we embark on massive Fund Raising Programmes.

Pastoral Ministry and Areas of Need- We shall continue to reach out to the entire community with the Gospel of Love. Our two trainees are doing well in their programmes and will be given full placement positions in the next quarter. We have had several baptisms but none of the families returned to full membership of the Church. We are preparing two young couples for wedding this year and three young people for confirmation. We need to ask our members to show more interest in Person – Person evangelism and outreach. Such personal touch brings more souls to Christ. Our Publicity network- website, pew sheet, quarterly gazette have been helpful in our dissemination of information to the outside world. We are out with Good News daily. Please visit our website regularly as it is updated weekly.!

Conclusion. We thank all the faithful few who have continued to serve the Lord in this parish. Although the number is small, the faith is big and God is honoured by this. The various groups in the Church have performed to the best of their ability and we thank God for them. We continue to work with the Police and Security Experts for the protection of the Church from the persistent vandalism of our property. Thieves ripped off our roof again this year and we have been advised to fix security cameras and cover the glass with some protective sheets.

We want to thank the members of PCC who will not be returning and welcome those who will be joining for the first time. May God bless you all. God is good and faithful.

Thanks yours in Christ

 

 

Venerable Professor Udobata Onunwa. PhD

Priest in charge.