Annual Church Report
Introduction
Our annual church meeting is on Wed 15 July on Zoom (details will come out in our weekly email).
It will be a prayer meeting, with time to look back and give thanks to God, as well as to pray for the future.
This report gives an overview of what’s been happening at CCE over the past year. Actually, a bit more than a year, because Covid lockdown has delayed this year’s annual meeting by a couple of months!
Please take time to read through the report. Naturally we will tend to read the reports about things we are involved in ourselves – but this is a great opportunity to find out about things that you aren’t part of too.
At our annual meeting there will be time for any questions or comments about any aspect of church life. We will also be appointing new members of our church council – we are looking to fill 5 places this year.
Overview of the year
by Ed Pennington
It’s hard to sum up the life of a church in a few pithy paragraphs. Christ Church Endcliffe is our home – a family to belong to, to turn to, to listen to. For 11 years now it has been a church that has been a joy and privilege to be a member of. For 11 years now it has been a church that has been a joy and privilege to serve. What follows are a few reflections on the past year and a bit of that.
Since our last annual report we have had teaching series on the Fruit of The Spirit, the second half of Romans (much of which is about life in the Spirit), Malachi, Luke 1-4, Jonah, 1 Peter, Psalms 23-27 and now Mark’s gospel.
One of the overarching themes has been the faithful character of God – one who saves according to his mercy, who keeps his promise, who has compassion on the lost, who understands the suffering of the world, and who is with us to shape our hearts to be like his own. In a year where much has happened to remind us how little we are in control, it is great to know the one who is.
I think the past 14 months have been significant. Last year we were still feeling the effects of going from two services back to one. In the months that followed, we realised another issue – we had inadvertently become a church where young families felt immediately at home, but others found it much harder. Symbolic of this was that we were providing food after services for children, but for no-one else. Evidence of it being a problem was that we had had only four people join us in the previous two years who were not a family with young children.
A focus on how our time together on Sundays worked led to a different system: simple meals for everyone, better use of the building to allow quiet(er!) conversations among adults, and conversations trying to address the wider issues. All of this amid the backdrop of increasing numbers of families.
The work is not done. And the recent death of George Floyd in the US has prompted a new set of questions: how can we be a church that people of different race, or ‘class’ can come together as one and without there being a majority subculture to which all minorities feel forced to conform? But whilst striving for more, we can give thanks to God for the change that we have seen.
The year has been one of marked numerical growth. Having had about 150 people at church each Sunday for a few years (and with the number of adults within that slightly decreasing), this year we saw a big increase so that before Covid lockdown set in we were seeing over 190 each week.
The children’s work has continued to expand in both age range, and overall number. About a month after we saw over 70 children for the first time, we had over 80 one Sunday. And during the week Forge (for 14+), and Pathfinder Bible studies (11-14s) have been added to what was already happening.
Our membership list has also increased from 97 at the last report to 105 today (with 8 having left and 16 joined).
Our growth has brought the capacity issues in the church building back to the fore, and options for how we seek to continue to grow will be on the agenda for our church council in the coming year.
I often go to Diocesan events, or national conferences where “every member ministry” is talked about as a desired, yet somehow out of reach, ideal. My response is always humble gratitude for the amazing way in which the church family at CCE are so involved in serving the Lord and each other in so many varied and gifted ways.
It’s also a great joy to be part of the staff team. This year we’ve been joined by the Tanner family as Ben serves as our curate, and although technically I am supposed to be training him… (you can finish the sentence!). He’s also had the same bag of mints on his desk all year, and I’m not sure he’s realised that I’ve kept refilling it when he’s not looking. I’ve been hoping he would think it was like the widow’s jar in 2 Kings 4.
Anna has also started serving as church administrator, and not only streamlines the way we work, but brings a great warmth to the task – a great gift since she sends out the majority of communications to the church family.
Sarah continues to be involved in lots of our front-line children’s ministry, and also leads the children’s teams which in total include over 60 people. There really aren’t many churches which have children’s work as large as ours, and this is in no small part due to the way she had led this ministry over the past few years. This year, she has been amazingly assisted by Lucy, who has done more and more children’s work, in part out of the necessity of her being the only trainee this year, but also because it is helpful preparation for next year when she will leave CCE to become the children’s and youth worker at Holy Trinity Norwich. Lucy, we will be both delighted and miserable to see you go!
Rob’s gift of encouragement makes him a great blessing to any team. As well as overseeing our growth groups and pastoral care on our “building up” side, he has also headed our enquirer groups – starting 3 brand new courses as well as repeating CE and LE that we’ve done before. His commitment and love for individuals is a great example of Christ-likeness, and a great blessing as a friend.
Finally, special thanks to Jon Bradley and Lucy Hinds who have been serving as our wardens. They are faithful pray-ers for our church, and for the staff team in particular. And they have given wise counsel, challenge and help.
It would be easy for this year’s report to mention Covid-19 in every paragraph! I’ve tried not to do that, but it has of course brought significant and unexpected changes.
We are thankful that so far none of the church family has died from the disease, but many have been directly affected by having to shield, or by working on the front line of the NHS. And the wider effects have changed life for us all.
Church online is…OK. It’s been great that we have been able to do what we have been able to do – and it’s another debt of thanks to the staff team in particular, who have been able to adapt so quickly to a new set of challenges. Maintaining family life this way is hard though – and if that’s true for those of us who have been at CCE for many years, it is much harder for those who are new, or even who have joined us since lockdown.
The general sense seems to be that people are finding their Christian life harder than before. In a way, that’s as it should be – it shows that normal church family life is a blessing that does us good! However, we can pray for and expect extraordinary grace for an extraordinary time, and we are safe in the hands of our God who promises that he will keep us from falling, and present us before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy. To him be the glory.
Ministry Reports
It is amazing to see the many ways in which people serve in the life of CCE and of course, this is but a small part of whole lives lived following Jesus. Much more could be said about how Christ is honoured and served in the workplace, in family life and in the community.
To all those involved in all these ways: thank you for all that you do as part of Christ Church Endcliffe, and for the partnership in the gospel we all share.
You can expand the links below to read reports from our different ministry teams. Thank you to everyone who has contributed.
by Sarah Bradley
Cabin is our weekly Friday night “Youth Group” at church. It is for all those in Pathfinders and Forge plus any friends they’d like to bring along. It fits into both our “build” ministry area as we aim to encourage our own young people in their faith, and also the “reach” ministry area as we seek to reach out to the friends that our young people bring along.
Our numbers has decreased slightly as our older young people (Forge) have outgrown it but we regularly have 10-12 young people, and we play games, (a lot of table tennis!) do crafts and have a short 5-minute talk to introduce the young people to Jesus. We will need to work out how to cater for the Forge age young people, and are considering if we need to have something else for them on a Friday evening (Y10+).
Two highlights have been the Cabin Day of Fun when we went to a trampoline park had lunch, and caught the train back to church for the service, with a film after and the Christmas Posh Nosh. Both occasions saw non-Christians coming along and enjoying the activities, but also hearing the gospel clearly explained.
Prayer Points
- Please thank God for the team who work extremely hard every Friday and Sunday to look after our young people. Please ask that God will sustain them as they write talks and spend time talking with the young people. They have not taken a break since lockdown and are still working hard each week with various groups.
- Please thank God for the young people who come along. For those from Christian families, please pray that they will take ownership of their Christian faith, that they will decide for themselves that Jesus is the only way, and may their lives reflect that. For those who don’t yet know Jesus, please pray that they will come to know him, and love him as their Lord and Saviour.
by Andrew White and Jenny Hills
Catering has continued to enable more people to stay around after the Sunday service, enabling greater informal interaction and encouragement. It also serves to enable a better welcome to visitors each week. Sunday catering is only possible thanks to the willingness of the head chefs who take a lead on producing a meal for a particular growth group when they are on catering, and others in the growth group helping out with preparation, serving and washing up. Over the last year we have been reviewing catering provision and trying different meal options, looking to balance sustainability and quality with value for money.
The various events that have catering have been catered for by different teams, and we are thankful that people have been willing to lead the catering at these events.
Please give thanks for:
- The people who serve in the kitchen
- Each growth group having at least one person willing to take a lead on catering
- Members of each growth group supporting this ministry
- Food being generally well received
- The meal enabling families to stay around after the service, enabling greater informal interaction and encouragement
- Safety and good hygiene with food preparation and serving
- Minimal waste each week
- Ongoing review and refinement of the meal provision
Please pray for:
- Succession planning – equipping others to be able to cater and ensuring that all those leading on catering have a food hygiene certificate.
- Jenny Hills as she takes on oversight of the catering
- Wisdom in establishing what catering looks like as and when it can restart
by Lucy Hinds
One of the ways we aim to reach out into our community is by partnering with Christians Against Poverty (CAP) to run the Life Skills course. Life Skills is designed for people living on a low income, helping to equip them with skills in budgeting, healthy living and healthy relationships. It also provides a place of community and belonging, with opportunities woven in to share the gospel and invite members to be part of the life of the church.
Our hope is that as we reach out practically and build relationships, people will come to understand how much they are loved and valued by God, in a society where they may feel unloved and undervalued, and to hear how God can meet all our needs.
Since 2018 we have run 3 courses, with a small number of people attending, from a variety of backgrounds. We thank God for the opportunity that each of the course members has had to hear the gospel and to experience something of the love of Jesus through being part of the group.
Thank God for:
- The work of CAP, equipping the local church to provide practical help to those in need
- The recently invigorated team, with enthusiasm to continue the work we’ve begun
- Those who have already been helped through the course, and for the impact of the gospel in their lives
Please pray:
- For wisdom to know how best to run the course in light of the COVID19 restrictions
- That as a church, we would show God’s love and compassion for the poor
- For opportunities to build links within our community, to reach those who would benefit from the course
by Sarah Bradley
Children’s Church meets every Sunday during the service and takes children from Y1-Y6 – this is the first year that we have had children in every school year.
We have 32 children in the Scout Hut and they are split into five age groups (Y1, Y2, Y3-Y4, Y5 and Y6) where we explore the same Bible passages as the adults, using games, craft, drama, talks and Bible studies at age appropriate levels.
The main aim of Children’s Church team is to support the parents of the children in their role to bring up their children to know and love the Lord
We are currently too big to fit into the Church building and so we walk down to the Scout Hut on Botanical Road, which can be time consuming and awkward on days when it’s raining/snowy – and next year we will be even bigger again!
We have increased the number on the team to help reflect the increasing demands of more children, and children needing extra support and safeguarding advice. The team are incredibly hard working and dedicated to the children in their care. They think creatively, teach faithfully and pray for each child.
The Team have really benefitted from the 2:45pm mini-service, hearing the sermon for themselves and also just before they are about to teach the same passage to the children has been both helpful and refreshing
Post Lockdown
The aim of what we are trying to do in children’s church hasn’t changed at all -the responsibility of the child’s spiritual life still lies with the parents, and so our role as supporters of this is to now supply materials so that parents can do “Children’s Church” at home. Obviously this will look very different in each family and so notes are written each week to go alongside the passage we are studying on a Sunday, but with the aim of being really flexible so each family can tailor them to their own needs either throughout the week as Family Worship Times or as a session on a Sunday. There are also sheets provided to keep them following the sermon as best as possible (though these often need parental interaction which can be tricky when they’re trying to listen to the sermon themselves!)
We have begun to send out a weekly newsletter to all the children in Children’s Church and Sparklers with games, challenges and videos from their leaders to encourage communication and let the children know we still love them and miss them!
Prayer Points
- Thank God for all the children that come along. We love teaching and encouraging them. Please ask that each one will accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
- Thank God for the Children’s Church Team!
- Please continue to pray for Sarah and the trainees as they prepare the materials each week. That the notes would be helpful, creative and above all biblical – so that God can be clearly seen through his word, and through the person of Jesus in the Holy Spirits power.
- Pray for parents as they navigate parenting through this difficult time.
by Daniel Timms
This year at ECC we’ve had a lot to talk and pray through, with the purchase of Bannerdale Road, changes in the Sheffield diocese, ongoing conversations about church family meals, and more recently working out how to continue as a church family while we cannot meet in person. In all this we have felt really supported by the church family.
I joined ECC a year ago as secretary, and (as well as having to brush up on my minute-taking skills) it’s been a privilege to be part of these conversations. The last year has seen our church family growing, and that raises lots of “good problems to have”, like how we best use the building, how we make sure people are being looked after, and where we should use our resources to best invest in God’s work through our church. It’s been amazing to see how God has provided for us financially. Each ECC member is a “link” to a few ministries – I link up with women’s ministry, tiny toes, and tech. I knew very little about what was going on in these ministries before taking this on – it’s been great to learn more about how God is working through big events and weekly meetings to bring more people in contact with his gospel.
Finally, I’m grateful for being part of a supportive and friendly group, where everyone is committed to our church vision of glorifying God, reaching out, building up, and sending out. Disagreements are worked through in a spirit of wanting to come to the right decision. Every month we meet in a different member’s house (until recently) and it’s great to be together and catch up over the coffee breaks (and excellent accompanying biscuits).
by Gillian Smith
In crèche we aim to support a safe and happy environment for our babies and toddlers. The majority of the time we have free play; with a story time, singing and a snack towards the end. Depending on the children we also sometimes have a craft.
It is such a privilege to serve the youngest members of our church in this way, as well as serving their parents. We hope to make the crèche an environment children feel is a positive place to be, so that parents are free to be in the service. For many parents, this is the only opportunity they have all week to sit and listen to God’s word without interruption.
Our main change in the past year has been moving crèche to behind the screens in the hall. This has made the environment much safer, especially for those keen to escape. We thank the Sparklers for being open to change and for those keen to set up after the service for waiting for all the children to be collected before moving the screens.
Thank God for…
- A growing crèche!
- Continuing to keep our children safe in crèche
- Providing a dedicated team who have read hundreds of books, played with all sorts of toys, comforted those feeling sad, and have sung about every colour tractor imaginable!
- That before our children even reach their first birthday, they our hearing about God’s love for them. What joy to see such small children learning actions for songs that praise God.
Please pray for…
- When lockdown ends the transition back to crèche will be very difficult for many of our toddlers and babies as well as some parents. Please pray that we would help them feel secure and happy.
- Continued safety for the children
- That each and every child would come to love Jesus as their Lord and Saviour
by Sarah Bradley
The Den is an after-school club that meets once a month for children, with Reception to Year 2 meeting as “The Den” in the church hall, and Y3-Y6 meeting as “Den+” in the church worship area. The Den/Den + is one of our ‘reach out’ ministries at CCE, which means it exists to give an opportunity for our children’s friends and other children in the local community to meet Jesus in a fun and exciting way. We aim to do this through engaging activities, such as games, craft and bible teaching. This year we have been exploring stories Jesus told.
We have averaged about 18 children in Den and 10 in Den+ and about a 50/50 split of non-Christians/Christians, for the second year running which is absolutely fantastic. We are very grateful to God and the parents and children who bring their friends along each week.
We are yet to see any of these families come along to church, however we have seen them at other events which has been encouraging.
Our session structure has continued much the same, video/talk and discussion time at the beginning of the session – once everyone has arrived – with a quick “settle in” activity beforehand and themed craft and games after for the remainder of the session.
Team is generally made up of staff team, CCE ministry trainees and whoever else we can manage to recruit in the week leading up to the event. This means that managing the team has been particularly difficult this year with one or two months when we have only just had enough people to go ahead with the session. This has continues being a real exercise in trust, with God will providing either fewer children on that week or a team member at the very last minute!
Parents are continuing to meet for coffee whilst their children are at the Den. Give thanks for the parents who put their time and resources into this, and please pray that this area of the ministry would continue to grow, and that God would bless them with opportunities to build relationships, talk about their personal faith, and invite families to church.
In October we held a Den Big Day where we were all Spies along with Joshua in the wilderness and marching around Jericho. We had a blast (pun intended!) with lots of games, craft and the return of the super fun inflatable obstacle course. Everybody seemed to have fun – including the team!
Prayer Points
- Please thank God for so many children coming to The Den/Den+ and Holiday Club this year. Thank him that we have been able to speak about Jesus at all of these times, and that we have been able to have discussions with the children about who they think Jesus is. Please pray that these chats will plant seeds in the children’s hearts and minds, and that they will come to understand who God is and he has done for them, especially as we haven’t been able to meet since March.
- Please pray for a clearer idea of how to move forward with The Den – with physically meeting up being a long way off – how can we love and serve those who have been coming along?
- Please pray that if we are to re-open our doors that God will provide committed team members.
by Rob Bridgewater
Over the past year we have been able to change – a little -how we help newcomers find out about Jesus, how to have faith in him, and the difference it makes knowing him as Lord and saviour. We’re realising a few things about explorer’s courses and series:
They don’t have to be seven weeks.
They don’t have to be for non-Christians.
They don’t have to be done face to face.
They don’t have to be led by a minister.
They don’t have to be explicitly about understanding Christianity.
They don’t have to end after, one, two or even three series.
Of course, we knew all this. Yes, the traditional course-type events such Christianity Explored and Life Explored still have a place in the life of church. They take seven weeks, and they are thorough and high-quality resources. They are great to use, but…
… we’ve run a couple of shorter series: 3-2-1, which takes the perspective of the trinity. We also now have Taking a Look, which can run in four or five weeks and was developed in South Yorkshire. They’re flexible to run in small groups or 1:1;
… people from church have benefitted – and I hope regained their first love – by going through Christianity Explored years after coming to faith;
… we’ve just finished running The Word 121 via Zoom – and it works surprisingly well;
… Wayne and M.E. Rebello, along with Wilkie Ludenyi have run “the Breakfast Club” as a follow-up chat to some of the series. And there have been several 121s taking place, and the taster sessions for the Word 121 helped equip some to use this elsewhere;
… sadly COVID-19 put the brakes on running the Marriage Course as a gently evangelistic event, but with several people having done the online version, we hope to run this for those outside church later this year.
… for some, Christ and Christianity seems really strange at first, and so being able to run several different kinds of event has served us well – those with an enquiring heart can continue to engage with God in all sorts of ways.
Around twenty people have been part of these courses since we last reported – with some strengthening faith in Christ, and some coming to faith for the first time. But there have been disappointments too – preparing for an explorer group with no takers can make the heart sink a little. But we’re simply called to be faithful because God has been to us.
What can you do? Give thanks to God for growth. Have a look at what resources there are for you to use. Pray for us all to be a little bolder at asking people if they’d like to find out more, and – most crucially – for the Holy Spirit to do his work among us.
by Ed Pennington
Equip is our discipleship and training programme.
When we first went back from two services to one, we had very regular Equip sessions on Sunday evenings. In the past year we took a “less is more” approach – instead of trying to have as many Equip things as we could fit, we decided to target sessions. When our teaching series raised an issue or topic, we could then have an Equip session (ideally the following week) to explore it more thoroughly.
So linked to our Romans and Luke 1-4 series, we had sessions on our relationship to government, on forgiveness, on predestination, and on the reliability of the Bible. These sessions generally had 10-20 people, and lasted for about an hour and a half.
In early 2020 we had some ministry team specific training. The music and tech team did the “Dwell Richly” course, and there were double sessions for the preaching and teaching team and the welcoming team.
Lockdown has rather put a stop to Equip sessions. I think that Zoom actually would rather lend itself to some styles of seminar teaching – but so far it’s remained on the wish list rather than the to-do list!
by Rob Bridgewater
Among the highlights this year was one event just days before lockdown – the Andrew Peterson concert on March 12 was three days before our last normal service. The church building was full, and he spoke to many through great music and words – including one or two who wouldn’t call themselves Christians.
This was a great example of how events should run. Rather than an events team for the whole year, our aim now is to have event-based teams. John Goepel kept a tight rein on all matters and the wider team served admirably in this case.
Similarly, the Ladies Christmas Craft evenings (run by Sophie Bryant and others) this year proved to be more popular than ever. Two evenings took place toward the end of November and as ever it was really popular, it enabled women to invite many non-Christian friends and to hear the gospel in a great context. The Pie & Carols event will be noted elsewhere.
A second Curry & Quiz (with easier questions this year) took place in October – ran by the Cabin team.
A good few things have taken place – they take time and energy, but please give thanks to God for those who have been committed to making them work so well, and pray for us to be able to run more in time to come.
by Lucy Morley
I am very thankful to the church family for their support in another year of CCE operating as a Fairtrade Church!
We have had two Fairtrade events, including a great Fairtrade Fortnight where we focused on thinking about injustice in the cocoa industry and how as Christians we can respond to it. I have, again, been really encouraged by the many conversations I have had about the Fairtrade movement and hope that people will continue to be inspired to support it to help in the fight against global poverty.
Going forward, Fairtrade will need to respond to the aftermath of the Corona virus pandemic. Millions of lives and livelihoods have been devastated by the pandemic and it is a real concern within the Fairtrade movement as to how we can best support the farmers, artisans and their families around the world. As a result I plan to bring this issue to the forefront of my ministry.
Although I am the only named person on this ministry team I really believe this a ‘whole church’ ministry area and one which we can (and should!) all be involved with, so please do talk to me about any ideas, comments and questions that you might have. And please do uphold in prayer the Fairtrade suppliers for whom life was already difficult and who now face immense uncertainly, pressure and exploitation in the wake of the pandemic.
Our monthly FoodBank collection has continued to grow, and it’s a rare week when the box we put out for people to fill isn’t flanked by extra bags of stuff that can’t begin to fit in!
The Jubilee Food Bank that we support have continued to do a great work serving those in need, and providing opportunity for wider care and engagement with the gospel.
Since lockdown Foodbanks across the city have been operating a bit differently according to their situation. Jubille Food Bank has paused, but we have been supporting the central foodbank charity, with any “Sunday meals” money still being given by the church family now being passed on to the foodbanks.
Thank you to everyone who has been donating, supporting and praying!
by Lucy Cross
Forge is our Sunday evening youth group for our small group of 15-18s, which was started up in November 2019, and has been running weekly (during term-time) since. It fits into our “build” ministry area as we aim to encourage our teenagers in their faith
It usually comprises of a bible study (we’re currently looking at Exodus), a time to catch up and pray together, and some time for games. While we’re currently going through a book, there have been weeks we’ve done more thematic sessions on issues our teenagers face, such as sex and relationships, anxiety and suffering, and contentment.
Occasionally (i.e. some weeks during school holidays) we’ll meet for a social – or a “Play and Pray” as we’ve dubbed it! Other weeks, when there was a particularly appropriate “Equip” session after church in the same time-slot, we’d go to that as a group instead, and learn alongside the adults in the church family about topics such as “What exactly is the church?”, with designated Forge groups to chat things through at an appropriate level.
Initially, we met at church after the service and meal on a Sunday evening – obviously now that has changed to be meeting over zoom, but the set-up and timing of the sessions has changed very little otherwise. We’ve even been able to find a good repertoire of games that we can play over zoom!
As this is quite a new ministry, we’re still finding our feet a little in terms of how everything will work now and in the long term. One major development that has occurred during lockdown is maintaining a consistent leadership of myself (Lucy Cross) and Tom Fantham each week, to give a bit of continuity and help us bond as a group.
Prayer points:
Give thanks for:
The opportunity to look in detail at things that are deeply relevant to our teenagers’ lives
It’s been really encouraging to meet as a group, and everyone seems to get a lot out of it in their own way
We’ve been able to bond well, and are able to chat quite freely and truthfully when it comes to sharing prayer points/life updates
Pray for:
That we can be wise in how we best run things to cater for our teenagers and make things work even better for them – both now, and when planning for a post-lockdown world!
A female leader to replace Lucy when she leaves in late August.
For our teenagers – We’ve already mentioned lockdown has been hard on our youth, and additionally with the Forge group, as Y10s/Y11s, they’ve all had key GCSE years messed up by lockdown, and are at a bit of a loss of what to do and how to prepare for heading into Y11/Y12 next year
That Forge would continue to be a place where our teenagers can come and enjoy spending time with each other, digging into God’s word together
by Rob Bridgewater
What we knew last year has become even more apparent during the last three months: without Growth Groups, CCE would be in a difficult place today. I am so very thankful for our Growth Groups, and thankful to the leaders: Ben & Hannah Christmas; Chris & Sophie Maden; Rachel & Dave Prosser, Andrew & Catriona Senior; Pete & Iona Sewards; Rachel & Dave Turner, and Jo & John Yianni. Included in that group is Liz & Jamie Shepherd who stepped down in mid-2019. An eighth group started in Autumn 2019, ably led by Sammy & Sarah Salter.
Joining one is one of the chief commitments we ask people to make when we choose to make CCE our home church. Growth groups have been the primary means by which we pray together, work through God’s word together and care for one-another within the church family as well. Around 140 adults, including associate student members, are in groups.
Growth Group leaders have had to work very hard this year – with me being off for the first couple of months, and then COVID changing just about everything, groups have had to change rapidly without all the support we’d normally hope they’d have. Nevertheless, groups continue to meet weekly – online – and provide important fellowship for others. Please praise God for his faithfulness, give thanks for the sustained work and the leaders and pray for the groups to grow in every way.
by Ian and Carol Forbes
Christ Church Endcliffe has continued to be involved with international student ministry. This consists of two parts.
Firstly, supporting the city-wide work of Friends International Sheffield, a charity that seeks to help local churches reach out to and support international students. This partly involves helping Friends International run a weekly international cafe which is attended by international students from across the world as well as Bible studies for both Christian and non-Christian international students. Volunteers from CCE and other churches in Sheffield organise and run these events, befriend international students, and invest in their spiritual development (as well as serving them practically, socially and emotionally!). Please particularly pray for creative and effective strategies to reach out, engage, befriend, serve and follow-up new international students over the summer and into the next academic year.
Secondly, CCE aims to support international students who attend this church and see them grow as disciples of Christ. Thank God for those international students who have joined CCE, including one who has come to know Jesus for the first time! Also thank God for those who joined CCE households for Christmas dinner. Please particularly pray that these students can settle into and grow within growth groups and that all of us will go the extra mile to welcome and include them in everyday church life.
by Jon Bradley
It was a pretty normal year to start with. We had possibly the wettest Dad’s & Kids camping trip on record which also included a trip to A&E. Despite all that however we had a great time walking, talking, eating, sleeping(ish), eating some more, playing some games AND enjoying an outside worship time learning about and praising God for his amazing power shown in creation.
The first rule of Men’s Discipleship is ‘you DO talk about discipleship’. The second rule of Men’s Discipleship is ‘someone should always be eating’. So next in the diary was a BBQ for all the men where we did more talking and more eating.
Men aren’t always great at this relationship stuff and so our aim is to give us all a gentle nudge to get to know each better so we can be the kind of friends who share their lives with one another. We want to praise with one another, mourn with each other, challenge and rebuke each other and generally help one another be more Christ-like. As a whole church we’re wonderfully fed from God’s word and so our focus is to get us talking so we can live out the things we’re learning.
Another high point of the year was the now infamous Pies & Carols evening. It’s intended more as outreach than discipleship but it’s such a big event on the men’s calendar that it warrants a mention. Can you guess what we did? We talked and we ate (obviously) but we also sang and heard a great encouragement from James Meiring about living out our faith in hard situations and “always [being] prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks [us] to give the reason for the hope that [we] have”.
During all of this we have a WhatsApp group that provides the means for men to share stuff easily (if you’re a man and you’re not on it chat to Rob, Rich or Jon). As life turned upside down with the arrival of ‘the virus’ this proved to be more crucial than ever. We’ve had some peaks and troughs, but Rob has done sterling work in sharing regular encouragements from
the Bible, and an off-shoot reading group has also started where we’re working through various books and essays and sharing our thoughts.
We’ve been challenged, particularly during lockdown but back in normal times too, that it’s very easy for men to feel quite isolated. Please pray with us that we’ll work together as the ‘Men of Endcliffe’ (sounds like a hymn) to really love and encourage one another in a Godly way. This feels particularly important at the moment but it should always be a priority for us.
* TOO LONG;DIDN’T READ!
by Ed Pennington
It was great to have Ed and Katie back with us for a few weeks in 2019, and they did a great Sunday evening session for us on what their ministry in Central Asia is like, alongside us enjoying a Central Asian meal.
This year we’ve also welcomed back the Meiring family as they returned from Malawi.
We’ve also continued to support and pray regularly for
- Chris and Lizzie working for IFES in Bologna
- Pete Longbottom working for Friends International in Sheffield (Pete has recently stopped this role, but we’ll be continuing to pray fro the wider ministry).
- Katie Shaw working for UCCF in Sheffield
- The Bell family at St Andrew’s Leyland
- The Brown family at St Thomas Kilnhurst
- The Lawes family at Oak Hill (and soon to move to Christ Church Fulwood)
It’s always encouraging at our prayer meetings to see a full page (and more) of prayer updates and requests from them all – and we look forward to sending out and supporting more CCE members in the future.
by Mark Hinds and Martyn Lorimer
by Sarah Bradley
Our Pathfinders are those in Year 7-Year 9 and they meet together alternate Sundays, with times in the service and times helping other teams in between.
We have been following the same passage breakdowns as the adults when meeting as a group, with a short talk, games, bible studies and time to pray. These have been valuable times with the young people when we have been able to challenge their ideas and talk through how to apply what we’re learning through God’s word. It’s been an absolute joy seeing the young people grow in their faith, and in their relationships with each other.
When the young people are in the services, the preacher prepares a “Companion sheet” – a sheet that walks through the sermon with things to look out for and prompts to help the young people to follow what’s being said. These have proved really helpful, and have been used as a springboard for discussion after the sermon in the side-chapel – just to clarify any confusion or answer any questions that the young people may have.
Serving in different teams has proved very popular with the young people – especially Sparklers! Others are with creche, and a couple on the food and tech teams. They are expected to join in as much as possible as a team member – though with reduced responsibilities due to their age.
Last June we took a small number to the Midlands Youth Convention where we had a great day thinking about what it was like being “Not of this World” and attended some great seminars. We were hoping to go again this year…
Post Lockdown
Pathfinders Bible Study groups are now meeting over Zoom each week, with a Y8 boys group and a Y8 girls group. We have wanted to add this for a while, and this has been a great “excuse”! The groups have looked at some “Christian basics” and team have found it immensely encouraging as the young people have thought through the gospel and grappled with whether this is something they believe for themselves. We are hoping that these groups will continue long into the future and will carry on being a source of in depth study, friendship and encouragement
Prayer Points
- Please thank God for the team, who often are juggling demanding jobs and young families. Our team has grown in order to help with this, so please pray that they will settle in well and that they will enjoy getting to know the young people.
- Please thank God for the young people who come to our church. That they are growing in their love and knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and that they will want to do so for all of their lives. Pray for those who are yet to make a commitment to Jesus, and for their families and leaders. Please ask that we will be committed to each young person in prayer
- Prayer for the young people during this time would also be much appreciated. As a generation that is often wanting social interaction yet are feeling increasingly isolated this situation is incredibly difficult to navigate as a teen. Please pray that they will love God more than anything else and turn to him for comfort. Please also pray that they may be able to love and support each other as Christian brothers and sisters.
by Mark Daniell
The Prayer Team serves the church family at Christ Church Endcliffe by praying with people after our Sunday service roughly every 3 weeks. Prayer Team members offer an impartial ear for people to speak about what is going on in their lives and wherever they find themselves in their walk with the Lord. Our desire is to listen closely, empathise well, and then pray with each individual, aiming to bring our requests and petitions before God, asking for His wisdom and guidance for that person and situation.
It has been a joy and a privilege for the Prayer Team to continue serving the church in this way after our Sunday services, being able to be there when people most need support and care. It is encouraging to know that church members who are part of a Growth Group also benefit from a close network of believers to share ongoing prayer requests with too. During the current lockdown period we will be offering a remote version of the Prayer Team following some Sunday services via Zoom. We hope and pray that the work of the Prayer Team has been and will continue to be a blessing to the congregation at Christ Church Endcliffe and that people will come to realise the importance and power of praying to our Creator God who has the ability to do amazing things!
by Ed Pennington
What do the following have in common?
- Cabin
- Children’s Church
- Church Prayer meeting
- Den
- Equip
- Forge
- Sparklers
- Sunday service
Answer – they are all places where someone gives a Bible “talk” to a group. Sometimes they all happen in the same week – so there’s lots of this type of Bible teaching going on.
The preaching and teaching team is really the sum of all the ministry teams involved in the list above. We aim to encourage and train each other in this task.
This year we had a training weekend at home because the centre we had booked was going to be too expensive when the other churches we had hoped would be involved had to pull out. Everyone prepared a 10 minute talk (on a bit from Luke) and received feedback from their small group. And we had a couple of seminars on going from text to talk. We also had a separate two-session Equip course on Sunday evenings.
Prayer:
- Give thanks that the Bible is taught faithfully and regularly
- Give thanks that Bible teaching is central to our ministries
- Pray for the individuals and teams involved in giving Bible talks – that they would teach from a place of joy in gospel truths.
- Pray that the P&T team would help to train and equip people for word ministry.
by Ed Pennington
ReNew is a network of Anglican churches that we are part of.
It’s vision is to seek Healthy Local Anglican churches throughout the country, by pioneering new churches, and establishing and securing existing churches.
There’s a national conference in September that a few of us went to, and leaders from ReNew churches in South Yorkshire went away for a day together in January.
We pray regularly for the other churches in our renew network – listen out during the prayers on Sunday and at CPM and you’ll start to recognise the different names. We’re always looking for more ways that we can partner and work together too. For instance, CCE people have been to help with music or preaching at ReNew churches, we’ve had people come to help us with children’s work for weekends away – and we’ve used some of our Covid Relief fund to support another ReNew church too.
by Iona Sewards
As a church we seek to protect our children from harm and abuse of all sorts. We are very blessed with a large team of people who serve our children every week on Sundays and at midweek groups, providing a safe environment from them to have fun and explore the gospel together.
Having a large team also brings challenges; diocesan recommendations require a “safer recruitment” process to be followed – including application forms, references, DBS checks and up to date training for each team member. We have continued to make good progress in this over the last year.
We have had two successful Foundation (previously known as C1) training events led by Chris Herbert, the Diocesan Safeguarding trainer. Several people have made use of the online Basic Awareness (C0) online course and we encourage everyone involved in children’s ministry to complete this training until further Foundation training can be arranged.
Give thanks:
- For God’s continuing protection of the children we serve at CCE, and that there have not been any safeguarding incidents involving children.
- That 83 people have valid DBS checks, including children’s team members, Church Council members and a number of extras. There have also been two well attended training events in 2019-20.
- For the willingness of team members to engage with the safeguarding process.
Please pray:
- That no harm would come to any of the children we serve over coming years, and that we would be able to maintain robust child safeguarding processes.
- That children would remain safe during the Covid-19 lockdown, and that team members would be vigilant to signs of abuse in any contact they have with children.
- For wisdom for the church leadership to divide the various safeguarding roles in a sustainable and practicable way.
by Helen Pennington
Sticky Fingers seeks to continue to provide a friendly, warm, safe place for families with pre school children to gather and meet with their friends for chats, play, crafts, stories and songs with a Christian message each week. This either happens ‘in the flesh’ in the hall every Thursday morning in term time or more recently through interacting with our You Tube presentation of the story, songs and crafts each week. We have been thrilled to provide fun videos for everyone to watch and join in with each week. They are all available on the Youtube channel and are great for a watch with a cuppa one day even if you don’t normally attend Sticky Fingers – they’ll give you a brilliant sense of what we’ve been up to and are guaranteed to warm your heart! The team and their children have shared the load of making the videos (a great fun activity in itself, if occasionally stressful!) and we have then shared photos or videos of each other enjoying the time or the crafts they have produced afterwards – Thursday morning has remained a time to look forward to just as it was when we could meet for real. We are so thankful for all these things and the fellowship we share as a team in planning and getting excited about what we can be doing to serve our Sticky Fingers families better. God has given us a large and diverse team of leaders with many different skills and gifts and in this He has been very kind.
Obviously as our main goal in the ministry of Sticky Fingers is to deepen relationships with carers and children we are privileged to meet and to lead them to know more about Jesus as a result, this has been something we have had to work hard at this term and are considering ways we can do this better. It has been a frustration not to know who (apart from regular church families and a few others) is joining with us in the Thursday video slots each week. The recent Sticky Fingers grown ups Zoom quiz night was lots of fun but didn’t reach many beyond the team itself. We would ask for prayer that the relationships that are already deeper than just meeting on a Thursday would remain so, with folk managing to keep in touch and for their link to SF to continue to the point when we can get together properly again.
Please ask God to help us get to know and keep welcoming those who were new to the group just before lockdown (quite a few folk).
Ask please that God will use the seeds of gospel knowledge that people already have and would keep rumbling round in their heads the words of our simple kids Christian songs . Ask that people would consider God more deeply in the everyday stuff and frustrations or sadnesses of life at this time. We have directed people to our online service each week as we do when we are together in the hall. Ask that they would join in or look at the Blog ‘Questions People are Asking’ section and that we would be approachable as a church for those who want to ask for help or comfort.
Please pray for our September school starters (17 of them – a bumper year!). That their ‘leavers party’ on zoom on Thurs 16th July would go well and for their families as they deal with the changes afoot. We will miss them all and the teaching and activities we plan will then need to readjust to a much younger average child when they’ve gone!
Leadership changes – please pray for Marianne Daniell assisted by Rachel Tanner who will take on the role of leading and coordinating the Sticky Fingers team from the Autumn. Give thanks for a recent useful teaching session from ‘Growing Young Disciples’ on the role of a Jesus centred toddler group. Pray for these new leaders as they follow government guidelines and make wise decisions about the type of activities that will be allowed to happen in the hall in the future – it may well mean quite a different looking Sticky Fingers than what we have been used to! Thank the Lord he goes ahead of us as he has for the past 11 years!
by Ben Smith
It’s been another funny year on the student team where we’ve struggled to define the student ministry and have once again ended up trying lot’s of different approaches with no one way of doing things leaping out as the best fit.
That said it’s been a year of huge encouragement as God has brought back and brought new students with a real heart to walk before him, lay down their lives, take up their crosses and follow their saviour and have the fruits of the spirit grow and ripen in them.
We began the year with a series of welcome events that were once again quite poorly attended. This will need a lot of thought and prayer for the start of the coming year as it’s not yet clear whether welcome events will be able to take place in person.
We have had an encouraging year though with 4 new students joining us in September. We’ve chosen to stick with regular “Training Field” sessions on a Sunday with breaks for “Equip” and socials (including getting to sample some excellent south Indian food). These have not always been very well attended and we’re still thinking through and chatting with students about whether these are really benefiting our students who also attend many midweek church and CU events.
Since Christmas, we’ve been trialling reading through a book a chapter each week and discussing it together. We think there’s a way this could work really well and hopefully with some thought and work it might be one of a few new additions to “Training Field” moving forward.
We’d still really value prayer for wisdom with how and when to have training field going forward and particularly for wisdom in thinking about developing a 3-year “curriculum” for training field (spot the teacher).
We’d hoped this year for each student to have an older Christian or a Family looking out for them, inviting them round for food and generally sharing life with them this year but mainly through lack of organisation by me that’s not happened to the extent we’d have liked. This will be a big push at the beginning of next year as we feel it could be a huge encouragement to our students and the older Christians looking out for them.
That said our students have really enjoyed and valued being part of growth groups this year and it’s been really encouraging to hear what God has used them to encourage a number of students (and vice versa).
This year we’ve said hello and goodbye to Wilki as a member of the student team. She was a real encouragement to us all and God used her to encourage and challenge the students in equal measure. We miss her!
There’s still some uncertainty about who will be on the student team for next year and in particular, we need to find a new female member of the team for next year. Please pray that God would provide someone and please let us know if you’d like to get involved!
We’re hugely blessed by having a group of Godly students whose desire is, by the work of the spirit, to more and more fulfil the most important commandments. We look forward to having them back and pray that they’ll be able to return next academic year!
by Tom Fantham
A week where you don’t notice the tech team is probably one where everything has gone well! Our role is to serve the family at Endcliffe by enabling everyone to hear clearly and participate when we meet together.
We are responsible for the setting up and running of the audio and visual equipment at our main Sunday meetings and other events which require it. This involves arriving before the music team to unpack the equipment from the cupboards into the main room, set it all up, sound check, and then run the audio and projector during each service packing it all away again at the end.
At the beginning of this year, we did some training alongside the music team. This involved the Dwell Richly course by Music Ministry UK, thinking through the motivation / theology behind how we do tech on a Sunday. This was done alongside some practical training where there was the opportunity to practice mixing, aiming to improve skills for ‘undistracting excellence’ – one area we thought about during the Dwell Richly course. Please pray we would remember what we have learned and that we would be serving our church family effectively through good tech!
We are also looking at installing new speakers to replace the ones currently installed in the church building that suit the needs of both CCE and St. Augustine’s. Some of the more attentive amongst you may have noticed we trialled a new set of speakers shortly before lockdown which we were very pleased with and are currently in the process of moving forward with. Please pray that discussions with St A’s and the diocese would go well.
by Sheila Turner and Lucy Morley
The Christ Church Endcliffe bumps and babies group, Tiny Toes, is the same every week but also different every week. So much depends on who comes, how life is for them and how their children are feeling that day.
We meet every week on a Wednesday afternoon, apart from Christmas week, from 1.30 to 3.00pm, either in the side chapel at church or more recently on Zoom. Anyone who is pregnant or caring for a baby who is roughly in their first year is really welcome to bring the baby and to share friendship, ideas, support and problem solving with one another. Nowadays those attending have to provide their own food and drink but integral to the physical group are the tea etc and home-made cakes – which also promotes recipe sharing. At a natural pause in the conversation around 2.00 we have a short thought for the day which takes a bible verse and applies it to life, especially life with a small child, and serves as a reminder of how much God loves his children. For those who don’t yet have a commitment, it is a chance for us to share our love for Him and encourage them to think further about their own lives.
Endcliffe and associated families have committed themselves to the group and become so important for the welcoming and supporting atmosphere that is generated week by week. We are thrilled to have regular members who are not part of any church community but very much part of real, virtual and WhatsApp fellowship. There are also people who dip in and out and our prayer is that they will be welcomed but not overwhelmed when they come and that it is outside things that get in the way of their attending again or more often rather than something we have done.
Please pray for:
Faithful preparation and sharing of the thought for the day and that this will be helpful for all those who attend and a way of opening the way to discuss our faith with those who do not yet share it. Use of this time to promote church services, Sticky Fingers and other events and groups.
Opportunities of all kinds to invite others to the group in a way that makes them feel individually chosen, and while using Zoom, that this will not get in the way of new people feeling confident enough to join.
As the current Endcliffe families find their children’s ages and their own return to work change the focus of their days and the appropriateness of continuing to attend, that newer parents will be inspired to take their places.
Health of babies, leaders and children so that we can continue to be there every week.
by Caroline Bridgewater
Welcome is something we might not notice happening if it’s done well, but we miss it if it’s not done! At Endcliffe we are very blessed to have lots of visitors and new people arriving regularly, even during lockdown. Let us keep on thanking God for this.
Welcome is something we are all part of as a church – including our children – but there is a team who lead in welcoming both new people and regulars every week. We are very keen for new people to join the team and help us think about what welcome looks like as an online church. Please do get in touch with any of the staff team or me directly if you would be interested in getting more involved.
In the last year we’ve worked hard to ensure new members are welcomed well – for some in the past we’ve not made it as easy as we could have done for newcomers to get stuck in. As an example, in the last year ‘Welcome lunches’ started every few weeks. These work best when a few new people come together as they can be introduced to each other and find out who else is new. We’ve also a couple of busy new member evenings as well in November last year, and even in May this year, albeit online.
An Equip session in March help us think more widely about welcoming others to the church family. It was a real encouragement to see 14 people stay to explore more together about how we can be welcoming and review the processes and materials we have in place. As you know we haven’t really had chance to implement any of the things we discussed as our last meeting together was the following week!
by Marianne Daniell
In Titus 2, Paul instructs the older women to train younger women and this is our hope for women’s discipleship at Endcliffe. Women’s discipleship is a building up ministry with the aim to encourage and equip the women in our church to reflect God’s image uniquely in our femininity. We want to be a group of women growing in maturity of faith and rooted in God’s word so that we are supporting the overall vision of the church and loving our brothers and sisters at Christ Church Endcliffe. Whilst evangelism isn’t our main focus, we want the teaching and encouragements of our events to equip and help women at Endcliffe to share Jesus with their friends and be bold in living out their faith in the world.
We organise a few events each year, some regular and some one-off, each event has a focus point where we hear from women in our church; from teaching the Word, to testimonies, to book reviews. Each event is also an opportunity to have fellowship, grow friendships and support networks.
Spring Seminar
We have Bible teaching from one (or some) of the women in our church on a topic. This year was meant to be on the topic of ‘Valuing the Old Testament’, but it has been postponed for obvious reasons and we hope to run it when we can.
September brunch
This is a time where we catch up, share our lives and meet those we don’t know in a relaxed setting, with a yummy brunch. Last year for the focus time, we heard from ME, telling us a story from her mission work in London, which was particularly encouraging for those of us who are reluctant evangelists!
Northern Women’s convention: to ‘encourage women to live for Christ’
We receive great Bible teaching, praise God with women from across the region and have great chats on the journey.
Daytime and evening Bible study
In normal circumstances, our daytime Bible study is fortnightly on a Friday morning, we study God’s word, pray and support one another.
Our evening Bible study is normally once a month and is perhaps a more ‘in depth’ study of God’s word, with preparation to do in advance. The effort is more than worth it; greater understanding of who God is with time and space to delve deep into His word.
Lockdown newsletter
During lockdown we are producing a fortnightly newsletter including some encouragements from women in the church, recipes, reviews and details of the Zoom book club that Hannah Sutton is running, the first book is ‘Choosing Love in a broken world’ by Heidi Johnston.
Finance Report
by Phil Turner
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” “ Corinthians 9 v7
As I reflect on 2019 the church has seen many cheerful givers. We started 2019 looking at a projected deficit of £23.6k and finished the year with a surplus of £42.9k. We bought a house in which Ed and Helen Pennington live. This was achieved thanks to you, the church family, through your prayers and through your generous giving and/or loans.
Income: The majority of the Church’s income is by way of monthly donations, this totals £197,707 (2018 – £178,535). Included in this figure is the tax recovered by way of Gift Aid £36,950 (2018 – £34,294). In addition, one off donations totalling £55,918 including Gift Aid £8,275 (2018 – £33501 Gift Aid £4,275) were received.
Expenditure can be summarised into four main areas:-
Staffing: This includes the amount we pay the Diocesan Board of Finance for Ed and Rob, together with their associated housing costs. Also included are the salaries and expenses of our Staff and Ministry Trainees.
Buildings: This includes rent of the church office, use of the scout hut, plus our share of the maintenance costs and utility bills for the church.
As part of our agreement with St Augustine’s we are liable to contribute annually up to £5,000 towards major repairs
Ministry: This covers everything else that happens in the church
Mission: The Church Council have previously agreed that 12.5% of that given to the church is set aside for World Mission outside Christ Church Endcliffe. In 2019 this totalled £27,536 (2018 – £25,343). A full list of our mission partners whom we support financially are included in our financial accounts.
A copy of Christ Church Endcliffe CIO’s full annual accounts can be accessed here. Please contact me if you have any questions or require further explanations.
From an accounts perspective I was looking at 2020 to be a year of consolidation. Our budgeted total income of £242,500 (including trading income), if achieved, would enable us to meet the mortgage covenant placed on us by CAF Bank. Since the pandemic, I am pleased to report that our monthly donations have slightly increased whilst expenditure is reduced. We have also received a number of gifts for our Covid 19 Relief Fund and have been able use this fund to give assistance to those suffering financial hardship.
Thank you all for your support and your generosity. Let us all thank our God for his generosity to us.